online-auction-info.com

eBay e-mail alerts service

bargaineer — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:44:25 +0000

Want to get a jump on the other eBay buyers? If so, check out this eBay alerts service website, Ebuyersedge.com.

You can set up very specific eBay searches and save them, so that you’ll receive an e-mail whenever a matching item is listed on eBay. You’ll then have the advantage over other potential buyers, especially for good deals listed as “Buy It Now”s. Still, the service would be effective for auctions as well.

EBuyersedge will also search for, and allow you to save (and receive e-mail alerts about) misspelled listings.

When an item is listed with an important keyword(s) misspelled, most people who would be interested buyers will never see the item. This gives you a great opportunity to get a good deal, if you can find them. I have seen that some people claim to buy these bargains and then turn around and sell them back on eBay, with correctly spelled titles. I don’t know about the validity, but it definitely seems possible. At the least, you should be able to find yourself a good deal if you keep at it and check your e-mail alerts soon after receiving them.

In addition to original term and misspelled listings, the site will also search for “in description, not in title” listings, and again, and allow you to save them.

I’m not sure how helpful this sort of search is, but people are unpredictable. A seller could overlook putting main keywords in the title of the listing, but then include them in the description. That is what this type of search would be good for.

as mentioned above, you can make your saved searches very specific, choosing which eBay category/subcategory to search, defining a minimum and maximum current price for the item, number of bids, words to exclude from resulting items, which eBay site to search (Us, Uk, etc.), and if the item is listed as a “Buy It Now”.

The site even has some popular keywords as links, so that you can click on them to see the results on eBay, and if the search looks promising, you can then just check a box next to it and add it to your Ebuyersedge account. That makes it a little quicker and easier for you to get started. From there, you would just look at the results sent to you in the alert e-mails, and then fine-tune your search (add some words to be excluded, etc. etc.).

The site can be very useful and valuable for purchasing agents as well as individuals. Give it a try and let me know if it helps you to get a great deal on eBay.

an eBay tool to check out

bargaineer — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 16:58:26 +0000

Here is a link to an EBay tool that is being tested right now that looks as though it has a lot of potential to help you get some good deals on eBay:

click here to check it out

It is a unique set up from what I have seen out on the net as far as eBay tools goes. It is a buyer’s tool rather than a seller’s. However, if you do the “eBay arbitrage” thing - buying something on eBay at a cheap price that you can then relist yourself to sell for a profit, then this search tool can help you in that way.

It allows you to save eBay searches and then get notified when there is a listing posted on eBay that matches your search criteria.

There is also an affiliate program that you could join, so that you earn some residual income as well as save money.

The idea is to save you time when initially getting set up using it, but ultimately, for best results you will want to customize your searches even further, which you can do if you register to be a member, which is a very quick process.

When your welcome e-mail is sent to you, you’ll have to confirm your e-mail address so the site will know that you have submitted your correct e-mail address, but that only takes a couple of seconds and initially signing up doesn’t take much more time than that.

Give it a try or at least give it a look to see what you think and see if it can help you.

Now, about the “Tips for Buying on eBay, Getting Deals on eBay” series of posts I have been making - or actually not making, lately.

There have been a few changes at eBay since I started posting the series, and there are more changes coming from eBay. It looks as though they are trying to increase the number of fixed price or “Buy it Now” listings and move away from auctions.

I have seen a couple articles about this speculating why eBay is doing this, figuring that many people do not want to wait for an auction to end to buy what it is they want, they want it now.

I highly doubt that auction going to completely disappear from eBay, I’m curious to see what happens. I am wondering if one of the other smaller auction websites out there will finally step up and actually give eBay some competition.

Complaints from eBay sellers seem to be all over the Internet nowadays, it seems that someone could take advantage of the situation and possibly offer these sellers an alternative, but it has not happened yet and eBay has been upsetting both buyers and sellers for quite awhile now.

I will do a bit more research about that and make a post in the near future, and finish up the other series I started.

In the meantime, I suggest that you check out the link that I posted above and see what you think.

Tips for Buying on eBay, Getting Deals on eBay, Part 8 - eBay Misspellings

bargaineer — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 01:31:30 +0000

In the last article we covered sniping and using an eBay sniping service (Hidbid.com is recommended) to place bids for you.
Once again, we’ll go back to a technique/tool to use when searching eBay - searching for items that have misspellings in the title.
It would be impossible to get an exact number, but I have read that there are hundreds of auctions listed every day with misspellings in the title. If the main keyword is misspelled, most of the potential bidders looking for such an item will never see the auction listing. If you can find these items, you have a big advantage and the opportunity to get some great deals.
It would take too long for you to think of and then type in each misspelling of a keyword that you wanted to search for. Luckily, there are tools available that automatically generate misspellings from a keyword that you enter, TypoJoe.com being a website with one.
Using TypoJoe’s eBay misspelling tool is simple. Select which eBay you would like to search from the drop-down menu, and type in keyword that you want to search for into the “Enter search term or phrase here” field.
Next, re-enter the keyword into the “Exclude these words” field (make sure that the box is checked next to it), and click on the “Search” button located in the lower left-hand part of the search table.
The rest of the advanced search features aren’t really needed in my opinion. With most if not all searches, there won’t be enough resulting misspelled listings to make narrowing down your search necessary.
Once you click the “Search” button, you’ll be taken to eBay and shown the resulting item listings with possible misspellings.
If you get a lot of resulting listings that are not related to what you are looking for, you can go back to TypoJoe and add a word or words to the “Exclude these words” field and do another search to eliminate these listings from the results.
If you don’t have any luck with the generic term, “computer”, for example, try using the brand name - “Compaq”, or the model - “Presario”.
The longer and harder to spell that the keyword (search term) is that you’re searching for, the more likely it is that you’ll get some good results, unless it is a rare item.
Some sellers might not do a good job of describing their item in the auction title so always start broadly with your search. For example, search for “PlayStation” rather than “PlayStation 3″. You can always come back to Typojoe and narrow down your search if necessary.
It may be worth trying synonyms for your keyword also, “blouse” instead of “shirt”, “slacks” instead of “pants”, etc.
When you find an item that looks good, follow the guidelines mentioned in the previous articles in this series as far as evaluating the auction listing and asking questions.
If it is an auction listing not a “Buy it Now” listing, I recommend that you go against my earlier advice and place a bid on the item immediately, not scheduling a snipe for the item, unless the item already has at least one bid on it.
If an auction listing, a specially one for a popular item, has no bids placed on it, the seller may get anxious and eventually end the auction early or analyze their listing and discover the misspelling(s) in the title. The opportunity for the potentially great deal would then be gone.
When you have created a search that gives you good results, you can save that search and have notifications automatically send to when an item is listed that matches your search criteria.
This post is long enough, I’ll explain how to do that in the next one.

Tips for Buying on eBay, Getting Deals on eBay, Part 7 - Using an eBay Auction Sniper Service

bargaineer — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 07:11:55 +0000

You’ve found an item that you want to bid on. Instead of placing a bid right away, I strongly recommend that you use a sniping service such as Hidbid.com, to place your bid for you.
What is eBay sniping, what are the benefits of sniping, and what is a sniping service?
eBay auction sniping at the act of waiting until the last few seconds of an auction to place your bid. The point of sniping is to keep your bidding intentions secret. When an item has a bid on it, it magically seems more attractive to other potential bidders. The more activity that an auction listing has (number of bids, questions publicly displayed), the more attention that it is going draw. More attention usually equals a higher ending price.
Sniping can save you money by not drawing attention to the item that you are interested in. Also, you’ll avoid emotional bidding wars that can drive the price of an item way up. In the heat of a bidding war, some bidders will see the auction listing as a competition that they MUST win, and rational thinking goes out the window. You yourself may get caught up in the excitement of a bidding war and bid higher than you would normally.
Automated sniping (using a sniping service) saves you time because as soon as you find an eBay item that you want, you can schedule a snipe for it and then go about your day, not having to be at the computer when the auction ends.
Another benefit of using a sniping service is that you can change your mind and cancel your snipe before it is executed (as long as there is at least five minutes left in the auction - when using Hidbid at least) without having to retract your bid on eBay. eBay, and definitely sellers, frown upon bid retractions and is a bit of a pain to do.
An eBay sniping service is either a web based service or desktop program that automatically places a bid for you that you schedule. Again, I recommend Hidbid.com because it is the service I am most familiar with, it is reliable, easy to use, free, and because I had it created myself. So, Hidbid is the service I will be referring to below.
To get started sniping, go to Hidbid.com, click on the “Sign Up” link, and follow along. It only takes a minute to sign up.
I’m not going to describe how to set up a snipe in this article, but it is very easy and quick to do and any questions that you may have can probably be answered by viewing Hidbid’s FAQ page. I will cover a couple of points that you should be aware of when using Hidbid, and when sniping in general.
First, you will have to submit your eBay login information to Hidbid when scheduling a snipe. This is so because Hidbid must essentially log in to eBay just as you would when placing a bid. This makes some people very uncomfortable and understandably so. There’s just no way around this. Hidbid uses SSL security (industry standard) throughout the site and it encrypts any sensitive information that is temporarily stored on it’s server.
Ideally when sniping, you want your bid placed too late in the auction for a manual sniper to react but hopefully before any other snipe that is scheduled for the same item. If two bids on an item are the same or there is not enough difference between them to meet the minimum bid increment for that item, the first bid in wins. In my opinion, five seconds (Hidbid’s default setting) is ideal because you’ll beat out the manual snipers and also if there is a slight delay in the communication (4 seconds or less) between Hidbid and eBay, your bid will still be placed.
Scheduling a snipe for an item does not guarantee that you will win it. You still have to have the highest bid.
There is also the possibility that your bid will not be placed.
Problems or delays in communication between Hidbid’s and eBay’s servers, a Hidbid or eBay system error, or having the incorrect eBay login information are all potential reasons that a scheduled snipe would not be executed.
Even with these potential problems, sniping is the best way to bid on items, and I snipe every auction that I bid on. It makes no sense not to.
Despite popular belief, sniping is not against eBay’s rules. I have seen a quote somewhere from an eBay staff member stating that, and others stating that sniping is part of the auction process.
I’ve also seen it claimed that eBay sellers hate snipers because the result of sniping is lower final prices.
Obviously, sellers would like to get as much as possible for each item that they list for auction. However, speaking as an eBay seller myself, I definitely do not mind when someone bids on my auction, sniping or not. Many buyers would not bid at all if their bid had to be placed early. Smart sellers who also buy on eBay are snipers themselves.
Okay, this article is too long already, so give sniping a try with your next eBay aution listing that you want to bid on.
Also, watch for the next installment for more eBay buyings tips including how to find great deals available with misspellings in auction titles, and a summary of what we’ve covered in all previous articles.

Tips for Buying on eBay, Getting Deals on eBay, Part 6 - Searching eBay, Deal Making

bargaineer — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 21:46:02 +0000

Okay, you’ve found an item that you want, analyzed the listing, asked and received a response to any question(s) that you have, and everything looks good.
Let me sort of step back for a minute and add a couple things that I skipped over in previous articles.
First, when searching for an item, the more general the keyword(s) that you search for, the more results that will be returned. So, if you are getting too many resulting listings, narrow down your search. Add a brand-name, model number, size, etc. to your search keywords. Conversely, if the results shown are too few for a search that you do, you may have to get more general in the keywords that you use. Some sellers might not include the keywords in the auction title that best describe the item that they are selling. Again, by putting in a little extra effort you may find the items with poor titles other potential buyers may miss, meaning better deals for you.
Also, when you conduct a search, you’ll see the words “Sort by:” next to a drop-down menu, shown at the top of the results listings, just below the “search” button.
If you choose “Time: newly listed” from the drop down menu, you can get a jump on most other potential buyers for an item. This works really well for “Buy it Now” listings.
Now, about evaluating an auction listing.
The availability of the item that you want will be a major determining factor in whether you should jump on the first item that you see or wait a bit and look for a better deal. Obviously, if the item is more rare and you “must” have it, you’ll have to be prepared to”Buy it Now” or bid on an item when you find one and pay fair market value, and very likely more.
If the item has a “Buy it Now” price that you feel would be a good deal, jump on it before someone else does.
If there are many of the same item from the same or other sellers and you don’t need your item right way, you can be more choosy, sifting through the similar items to find the best deal. It’s up to you to decide whether the amount that you can possibly save is worth the extra time you put into searching for and evaluating items.
Now back to the “everything looks good” part.
You can send the seller a message (using the roundabout method mentioned in an earlier article) offering to buy their item immediately. You could mention that they will get their money sooner if they accept your offer and not have to wait for the auction to end. The worst that can happen is that they reply with a “no thanks”. They may reply back with a counteroffer, or they may not reply back at all. In any case, you’ll be no worse off than you were before sending the message.
If you have something of value, you can also offer them a partial trade. If your partial trade offer is accepted, working out the details may take some time to be a bit tricky. A seller will rarely accept such an arrangement as most want or need money. Again, it doesn’t hurt to ask.
If the seller does accept an offer, I advise that you not complete the transaction outside of eBay, bypassing the fees. That can get you kicked off of eBay, and you also have no sort of protection for your purchase. eBay will not protect you on the trade portion of the deal however.
If no deal can be made, and the item that you are interested in is an auction listing, and not any “Buy it Now” offering, then it is time to be conventional and place a bid.
To do so, I strongly recommend that you use a sniping service, such as Hidbid.com, to place your bid for you.
We’ll cover eBay sniping in the next article in this series, watch for it.

Tips for Buying on eBay, Getting Deals on eBay, Part 5 Contacting Sellers, A Trick

bargaineer — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:03:49 +0000

Okay, in the last article we covered what things to look at when you find an item that you may be interested in bidding on. Such as:
1. Closely reading the item description to know the condition of the item.
2. Look for a refund policy.
3. Check out the feedback of the seller.
4. Item’s availability to you.
5. Shipping cost and insurance.
6. What forms of payment the seller accepts.

We left off when it was time to send the seller a question.
Normally, to ask a question, you would click on the “Ask seller a question” link located in the “Meet the seller” table shown on the upper right hand side of the auction listing, just below the seller’s eBay ID.
However, here is the way I suggest that you do it:
Click on the “View seller’s other items” link that is located two lines below the “Ask seller a question” link.
If the seller does have other items for sale, click on one of them and then click on the “Ask seller a question” link for that item.
Now, enter your question about the item that you are actually interested in that they are offering for sale.
If the seller does not have any other items for sale:
Copy the seller’s eBay ID (username) and then go back to the eBay search page.
Enter a new word into the search field and then click the “Search” button. The word can be anything that will have some results shown for it (Xbox, Nike, etc.).
Click on one of the resulting item listings.
Now, click on the “Advanced Search” link shown next to the “Search” button located at the top central part of the page.
Next, click on the “Items by Seller” link you’ll see in the “Search” table located on the left-hand side of the page.
Paste the seller’s eBay ID into the “Enter seller’s User ID” field, check the box next to “Include completed listings” and then click the “Search” button.
The page that will appear should have the seller’s eBay ID shown at the top central part of the page, click on it.
Now, scroll down a bit and click on the “Contact member” link shown in the table on the left-hand side of the page.
If there’s information regarding the item you’re interested in at the top of the contact form, then the trick didn’t work. However, that shouldn’t be the case.
Now you an enter in and send your question to the seller.
Doing these things may seem complicated and like a lot of work but using either method will take less than a minute and they’re both very simple to do after one time.
Why do this?
When a seller responds to a question about a particular item, they have the option of adding the question and response to the auction listing by checking a box.
Using this round-about way prevents this. The seller could still add the information to the auction listing manually, but many may neglect this, being a bit more work for them. Less information about the item to the masses could equal a better deal for you.
Also, asking a seller a question this way can help you because it can hide your interest in the item from other potential bidders. The more “action” or attention an item gets, the more attractive it seems to others, usually meaning a higher selling price.
I’ll go ahead and stop here for now, I don’t want this article to run on too long by starting another topic.
The next, and following articles will cover more tips, tricks, and techniques to use when buying on eBay.
Keep and eye out for them.

Tips for Buying on eBay, Getting Deals on eBay, Part 4 Searching eBay, Evaluating a Listing

bargaineer — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 12:21:51 +0000

Okay, now you are ready to start searching for and buying items that you actually want on eBay.
I am assuming that you know how to do a search on eBay since we’ve already went through how to do an advanced search.
Just type in the keyword(s) for the item that you’re looking for. If there are many listings for your search, you can add words to it to get more specific and narrow down the listing results that are shown.
Once you are getting the kind of search results you’re looking for, you can check the completed items to get an idea of how much similar items are selling for.
To do so, scroll down the results page and check the box next to “Completed listings” that is shown in the table with the yellowish background on the left-hand side of the page.
Now, click the “show items” button that is toward the bottom of that table.
After you have researched the completed listings, you should have a good idea of what the item is selling for and can now redo your search you can once again see the current listings.

When you see an item that looks promising there are some things that you should check out.
1. Read the item description closely to be sure that you know exactly what you’ll be getting. check to see if the item is brand-new, used, broken, missing pieces, etc.
2. Look for a refund policy. Some items are offered as is, with no refund policy of any kind. In such cases, you have to decide if purchasing the item is worth the risk.
2. Check out the feedback of the seller. If the seller has 100+ total feedbacks, they should hopefully have a 98% or better positive rating. When an eBay member doesn’t have a high number of feedbacks, one negative can really bring down the percentage and the eBay member could actually be an excellent seller/buyer. It is impossible to please everyone and some members leave negative feedback without giving it a second thought. Apparently they don’t understand or don’t care that many members rely on eBay for part or all of their income.
Before you ever leave negative feedback, it would be nice to first contact the buyer/seller to try to work things out. I would guess that 90% of the time or better, when problems arise, they can be worked out to both party’s satisfaction without the need for negative feedback.
If the seller does have some negative feedback, read the comments that accompany them. If there are a few with similar comments, there is probably an issue that the seller has with with a particular part of customer service or describing products.
2. Make sure that the seller is willing to send the item to your location. Normally, this is an issue only when you are in a different country than the seller.
3. Look at the shipping cost.
Sometimes the shipping charge is a flat fee, sometimes it varies according to your location, and sometimes it is free. Also, if the item is very large, it may have to be picked up from the location it’s at by you.
There are usually a couple of choices as far as the shipping services offered. Media mail, Priority shipping, Express, UPS, Federal Express, etc. could all be options depending on the item that is being offered. The faster the delivery, the higher the cost.
Also see if insurance is included in the shipping cost. If not, look to see if insurance is an optional Offering by the seller. If the item is worth purchasing, it is worth purchasing insurance for.
If the seller does not offer shipping insurance, then you should find out if they will refund your money if you do not receive your item.
4. Look to see what forms of payment the seller accepts. As mentioned before, PayPal is the most popular and sometimes the only form of payment accepted. PayPal payments, like credit card payments, are processed very quickly. You can usually receive your item much more quickly when using these payment options.
Money orders and checks are also sometimes accepted. If the seller has a very good reputation and requests either of these forms of payment, it is probably okay. With sellers that have a lower feedback rating and that haven’t been a member of eBay for very long, I wouldn’t be comfortable with using these payment options, a possible scam alert goes off in my head.
In such a case, if you are still very interested in the item, send seller a message and then decide if the response eases your concerns.
I feel the safest both when buying and selling when PayPal is the payment method used.
Also, if everything is not perfectly clear to you, send the seller a message asking for clarification. If you bid on an item without being sure about all of the details, you’re just asking for trouble.
There is a little trick to sending messages to sellers that I will cover in the next article, along with more eBay buying tips.
Keep an eye out for it.

Tips for Buying on eBay, Getting Deals on eBay, Part 3 Spoof Emails, Sending Messages

bargaineer — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 18:37:02 +0000

In the last article we covered using PayPal to pay for items and how to build up your feedback rating very quickly.
If you read it, you may have a question such as:
“Why do sellers list items for such a low price, losing money with each item that they list this way?”
There are a few possible reasons.
1. First, they could be doing the same thing as you, but building up their feedback as a seller rather than a buyer.
2. The seller could be offering an ebook that promotes a higher priced affiliate product. If you go ahead and buy that product, the seller receives a commission.
3. It could be that they are hoping that you buy a higher priced item that they themselves sell. In other words, they hope to upsell to you.
4. To build up an email list that they can send future offers to.
Here is another possiblity:
The seller wants to acquire the email addresses of eBay users to send “spoof” emails to.
Spoof e-mails are made to look just like they came from the actual source, in this case eBay and sometimes PayPal, but are actually fakes that are used to lure you into submitting your login information.
I started saving eBay and PayPal spoof e-mails a couple of months ago in the e-mail account I originally used for one of my eBay IDs and I already have about 150 of them.
Don’t be tempted to open any of them just to see what they look like because the sender probably has some kind of tracking code that will detect when they are opened, and that will just open the floodgates to many more spoofs.
Because of these things, you should be choosy when buying the cheap ebooks. Try to buy from sellers that have been registered on eBay for at least 6 months and have preferably a 50 + positive feedback rating.
You never know, there could be Powersellers out there hoping to hijack your eBay or Paypal account, but I’d say that that likelyhood decreases with sellers with higher feedback and longer registration periods.
I don’t want to scare you away from eBay, I’m on their website every day. Just be aware that there are people online that don’t have the most noble intentions.
You can still use the method I described in the last article. Just do these things:
A. DO NOT open up any eBay messages in your e-mail account, go to eBay and look to see if there is a message there for you. Any message that comes from eBay will have a duplicate in your “messages” folder on eBay, where you can open and read it knowing that it is genuine.
B. After you have built up some positive feedback buying the cheap e-books, change your e-mail address that you use for eBay as soon as eBay allows it. Then, if someone is sending you spoof e-mails, they will be going to the wrong e-mail address.

Whenever you respond to a question that an eBay member sends you, always check the little box next to “Hide my email address from …”, shown under the field where you enter your reply that you want to send.
I have received messages before simply asking “what is your eBay e-mail address”, with the sender hoping I would willingly give it to them, or respond and not hide my e-mail address when I do.
Sellers more than buyers probably receive such messages, but I doubt that the con artists are too picky.
When you are initiating contact, sending a message to a seller that has a good reputation, do not check the “Hide my email address from …” box because they may then become suspicious of you.

Okay, now that you’re aware of that, Here’s a quick summary of what you’ve done to this point:
1. Scanned and Secured your computer Against viruses and other malicious programs.
2. Registered with eBay and PayPal.
3. Built up your feedback rating by purchasing cheap e-books that you found using the advanced search feature.
4. Changed your e-mail address that is associated with your eBay account.
5. Promised yourself that you’ll only open eBay messages from within your eBay account.

Now you have a solid foundation to work with. In the next couple of articles, will cover searching eBay, using an eBay sniper, and using an eBay misspelling search tool to help you find great deals on eBay.

Tips for Buying on ebay, Getting Deals on eBay Part 2 - Paypal, Building Feedback

bargaineer — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 16:48:01 +0000

We covered what to do to prepare for signing up for eBay in the last article so we’ll pick up from there.
Next:
1. Sign up with Paypal - go to Paypal.com and sign up for their service so you can pay for your purchases through their website. It’s free to sign up and send money, and there are many sellers that accept Paypal only, I am one of them.
eBay owns Paypal, so the system integration makes it very easy to pay for items, and you don’t have to give your credit card information to each seller that you purchase from.
Some eBay sellers have their own merchant accounts and accept credit cards themselves, but that is just one more entity that you’d have to give your credit card information to, so when you have the option, I advise using Paypal.
I have seen complaints floating around on the ‘net about Paypal, but I’ve never had a problem with them. They actually offer protection for purchases made on eBay from “confirmed” sellers and monitor for suspicious activity.
Again, you’ll need your financial information handy when signing up.
2. Build up feedback - you’ll want to build up your feedback rating on eBay so sellers won’t be wary of you, worrying that you’re not a serious buyer.
Also, some sellers put conditions on their auctions determining which eBay members can bid. A minimum feedback rating probably being the most popular condition other than specifying what country(ies) a buyer must reside in and that the item must be paid for through Paypal.
You can build up your feedback quickly and cheaply by buying cheap items, mostly ebooks, for as low as $0.01 (or C $0.01, AU $0.01, EUR 0.01, etc.).
To do so, go to eBay and click on the “advanced search” link, shown just to the right of the “Search” button.
Enter the word “ebook” in the “keyword or item number” field that you’ll see.
Scroll down to the “Items Priced” area and enter “0.10″ in the “Max” field.
Now, scroll down to the “Show only” area, click on the drop down menu next to “Buying Options” and select “Buy it Now”.
A couple of lines below that, check the box next to “Free Shipping”.
Now just scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the “Search” button, and you should be shown hundreds of results for your search, with all having a “Buy it Now” price of $0.10 or less.
Go ahead and go through the results and purchase 20 of them, making sure that you do not purchase more than one from the same seller because only one feedback from another eBay member is counted toward your feedback rating.
It may take you a little while to find 20, some sellers list many of the same item at the same time.
Don’t bother to try to find things that you’re actually interested in, the goal here is to build feedback.
Purchasing the items is a simple process, just click on the item listing, click on the “Buy it Now” button that you will see on the auction description page, and follow along. You will need your PayPal login information to complete the payments.
After you have purchased some items, go ahead and leave positive feedback for the sellers, and then send them a message asking that they do the same for you.
In some cases a message may not be necessary because some sellers use an automated system that the detects when positive feedback is left for them and it then returns the favor.
Depending on the responsiveness of the sellers, you could have 15-20 positive feedbacks within a day. If you do not receive as many as you would like, repeat the search process, keeping a list of the sellers that you have already purchased from handy to make sure you don’t purchase from them again.
If you don’t find items from as many sellers as you had hoped, you could repeat the search without checking the “Buy it Now” box on the advanced search page. You would then be shown auction items along with the “Buy it Now” items.
You could then bid very low amounts on these items and often win the auctions. When bidding on auctions rather than “Buy it Now” items, it would be a good idea to use an eBay sniping service such as Hidbid.com to submit your bids for you.
Sniping is the act of waiting until the last few seconds of an auction before placing a bid. We’ll Get more into details about sniping in a future article, the next article in the series will be out shortly if it is not already, keep an eye out for it.
For now though, head on over to eBay and build yourself up some feedback.

Tips For Buying on ebay, Getting Good Deals on eBay Part 1 - Getting Started, Security First, Signing Up

bargaineer — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 21:13:16 +0000

This is the first of a series of articles on buying on eBay - getting deals and avoiding trouble.
This first article isn’t so much about secret tips and tactics to use when buying on eBay, but how to get started on the right foot.
First of all, you need to register on eBay to become a member and bid on/buy items.
You should have 3 things ready and handy before registering:
1. A secure computer
You’ll need to submit your personal, financial information to eBay, there’s just no way around it, except maybe registering using your business information, if you have a business.
It’s smart to be cautious when providing such information, especially in the anonymous online world.
eBay is about as secure as a website can be however, and does a good job of keeping your private information private and safe. If your information is compromised, it’s most likely that you’ll be the one to accidentally give it to a scammer, not eBay.
We’ll get more into how that might happen more in a later article. For now, we’re covering security on your own computer.
First, you should have a good security/anti-virus program up and running on your computer such as Norton Internet Security, MacAfee, etc. There are lots and lots of programs floating around on the world wide web trying to infect an unprotected computer to steal information, change your programming, use your computer as a drone, etc.
There are programs out there that can infect your computer and record the keystokes you make and relay this information to the bad guys. So, if you were infected and signed up for an online service or paid for a purchase with a credit card, they would know your username, password, card number, expiration date, etc.
A couple free programs you can use to protect your computer and keep it clean and running faster are Spybot Search and Destroy, AVG Anti-Spyware, AVG Anti-Root kit, and Lavasoft AdAware SE. You can go to download.com, search for, and download/install each of these programs. I’m not recommending that you stop there however, you should probably have at least one paid for program to further protect your computer.
2. Your personal financial information handy.
3. An email address.
If you do not already have an email address, you can get one for free from Yahoo or Google (Gmail), just go to either site and look for a “mail” or “Gmail” link. Follow the instructions for setting up an account, it’s quick and easy.
Once you have fortified your computer and feel safe, have your email address and personal information handy, go forward with the sign up process.
Just go to eBay’s website and look for and click on the “register” link, right now shown in the upper central part of eBay’s site. They change their design periodically but I imagine they will keep the register link in this easy to see location.
Registration is straight forward, just follow the steps shown on the screen.
Your username, or eBay ID can be related to your interests, etc, and your choice isn’t as important as if you’re planning on being a seller. You can always change it in the future if you’d like, after you’ve been registered for at least a month.
Your password should include numbers and both upper and lower-case letters, ideally easy to remember for you but relatively complex as far as the mix of letters and numbers.
After you click on the confirmation link that eBay sends to your email address, you’ll be a member and can then buy and sell on eBay. Congratulations!
There are some limitations on what you can do, being a new member without any feedback.
We’ll get into that, along with other meaty topics like building up feedback, searching techniques, evaluating a seller, eBay sniping, finding misspelled items, and more, in the next and future article installments in this series. Watch for the next one.