How to Ebay.

Like some of you, I admit that I'm addicated to Ebay for buying and selling.

It's a great way to buy and sell.

I have been using Ebay for years and have built half of my house using Ebay and also made good money from selling.

Example: I bought 52 sheets of Kliplock roofing 2 years ago for $250. It was already pulled down and re sold it for $1500 1 year later.

Below are some techniques I use. Please feel free to add your tricks.







Buying

1. It all happens in the last 20 seconds of an auction. There is no point in bidding during the duration otherwise you are just building the kitty.
2. Make sure the location of the item is within your area to get it.
3. Do you know exactly what the item is? Do the pictures and description ensure you are 100% sure of what condition It's in. If unsure at any point you need to phone or email the seller confirming your question.
4. When does the item end. I have won bargains on things that ended at midnight tuesday night when people are asleep.
5. 4x4 parts are available on Ebay. Most are copy imports. Does it matter that this item your bidding on is a chinese copy?
6. Check their feedback. Are they dodgy, have other customers complained about the same thing your about to bid on.
7. Remember, once you place a bid you still have 1 hour to take the bid back if you made a mistake. It's not a binding contract prior to one hour of the bid placed.
8. If you do make a mistake you can email the seller and make up a story to get you out of it. It does work and you won't be left with bad feedback.
9. What is the maximum you want to pay for this? Know this figure and do not go over. Remember, It's second hand and may not be "EXACTLY" what your after so consider this when bidding.
10. When putting in your bid I always have the amount typed into the field and wait until exactly 8 seconds left. Click the button and quickly click again to confirm. This normally leaves around 3 seconds for others to realise they have been outbid and there is no time for them to react. (please note: This is only based on adsl or adsl2, if you have standard dial up you should do this around 15 seconds).
11. Careful, it can be addicting, how much do you really need this item?
12. Be patient, don't just bid on something with the attitude "that'll do". I waited 6 months for a garage door to fit an opening of 3.5m, brand new costs $1500, Got a perfect condition door for $100.
13. If the item is bulky check on the access. A friend of mine had to pull down an entire kitchen that had 30 steps to the front door and a maze of hallways....NIGHTMARE!
14. If your lazy and don't like hard work then this is not for you. If you want it cheap you have to work for it. lifting, travelling, digging, carrying, removing and sweating. Gotta work for it but it pays off.

Selling

1. Default items that you sell have a duration of 7 days. Put your item up for sale when you want it to end. You can set times to list items but It's easier to just list the item on the time you want it to end.
2. You need to place items for sale when It's convenient for people to do the final bidding. i always sell items on Sunday or Monday night at 7pm. Everyone will be at home on Sunday or Monday night and are ready to bid on your item when it ends. If your item is ending at 3am Wednesday morning you could be missing out on a lot of bidders building the kitty at the last moment.
3. Don't lie about your item, be honest!
4. It's risky but list your item at a very low price. This builds a lot of watchers and in the final minutes of your auction you can have 20 people having a bidding war and you win!!! I have seen people starting bids at $500 and no one placed a bid. They re list the item with a starting bid of $100 and it sells for $700. People have an addictive nature and Ebay can somewhat be a form of gambling where they get so involved in wanting to beat the other bidders so use that to your advantage.
5. Double check your measurements or description of the item and make sure It's correct. I once sold a garage door and stuffed the measurements and it was embarrasing.
6. Be captivating with your title. When people search for items using keywords Ebay will only show your listing if the word(s) is in your title (not in your description). Encourage people to click on your add whilst including words in your title that people will search for.
7. Use a good camera so everyone can see your item clearly. Make sure your item is clean and if it looks great in the picture you will get a lot more money for it.

Good info andy for anyone that is a green horn to ebay

Yep, I have a serious Ebay problem!

Thanks Andy I don't play on it much myself due to a lack in funds but there sure is some good 4x4 stuff on it.

Cheers
Paul

used to be a lot more before hobzee went belly up