Clues for when not to bid on eBay

There are a few reasons not to bid on an item on eBay, you do not want to bid to early and drive the price up, there are unanswered questions or the auction itself is questionable. There are a lot of clues for when not to bid on eBay, you just need to know where to find them or interpret them. If some thing about the listing or the eBay seller does not feel right, that is a big clue to not bid. Never bid on an item at the last second unless you have already done your homework. This is how most people get taken for, when they try to snag a great deal but are in such a hurry that they do not fully read the ad or contact the seller about information missing in the ad, like shipping and handling costs.

If you want a good deal then hold off bidding until near the end of the auction, but do your homework first. This way you know what you are bidding on and what all the costs are, and you can try and get it at the lowest price possible. If you bid early on you can find the price going up as you bid against other buyers. If you hold off on your bids you can also see if the price is going to be more then you want to pay. Sometimes once you put a bid on something you can get caught up in the bidding and end up paying way more then you wanted to. You can see this all the time, one items price is way up there and going up as two people get into a bidding war. Then there is the same item right under it with no bids or only one bid and it sells for way less.

Unanswered questions are a big clue not to bid. If all the information you need about a product is not on the ad you do not want to bid until you have the information. This is so obvious but we all miss it, we assume and don’t question. If a listing has Silver you may assume it is sterling silver, but it could be silver in color, alpaca silver witch has no silver in it, or it could be sterling silver. If the eBay listing does not state that an item works or all pieces are there then you need to ask. Most people will indicate that some thing is as is or is to be used for parts when some thing does not work or is not all there. Some people don’t, they just do not say it works or everything is there. By contacting the seller you can get the answers you need and will often be helping the seller. They may not be getting bids because they never thought to let people know an item works or is all there. This gives them the chance to make some changes on their listing. On the other hand if the seller does not respond to your question before the auction ends, don’t bid, there is probably a reason why they will not answer.

The big unanswered question most people get caught on is shipping and handling cost. People assume the seller is only going to charge what it actually costs to ship the item, with maybe a little extra to cover packaging. Most of us learn this one the hard way. For me an auction was ending with in a minute, no shipping cost was given and I did not have enough time to contact seller before the auction ended. I bid and won a little girls dress for $1.00 and then end up being charged $10.00 shipping and handling even though the cost to send the dress was $2.00. The person did not list a shipping and handling cost so that if the price of their items were not as high as they wanted they just charged more for the shipping and handling. I had to pay or end up with a black mark against me on eBay. Don’t make the same mistake I did. Contact the seller to find out the shipping and handling before you make a bid. If they do not get back to you in time don’t bid.

If there are no pictures of the item or you cannot clearly see the item in the picture you may not want to bid. Not everyone has a digital camera and are unable to put a picture on, that is understandable but still risky for the buyer. You have no idea what you are actually bidding on, even with the best-written description. If the seller does have a very high ratting then it is probably ok. The real problem is when the picture is not clear. If a seller cannot be bothered to take a good picture then they probably don’t care much about what they are selling, and it is not in that great of condition or they are hiding something. Most people will make sure their product pictures are clear and easy to see the condition of the items. If some one puts a bad picture out you have to question their integrity and if you want to take the chance of bidding.

All that said and done the biggest clues for when not to bid is provided by eBay in the sellers feedback score. This is a great way to see what the volume of sales are, good and bad transactions and how other buyers feel about them and their products. If there is a problem it will show up here. Take the time to find negative feedback and see if it was a problem with the seller, the buyer or a shipping issue. If the seller has a poor track record you are not going to want to bid on their auctions. If some one has no sales yet then go with your gut, and remember every one started with 0 feedback. It is still not a good idea to buy a big ticket item from some one who has no or low feedback.

If something seems to be to good to be true it probably is. However if you do your homework you may end up just getting a really good deal. That is why we are all shopping on eBay in the first place.

Written by: Lori-Lee Craig
Medieval Magic
www.medievalmagic.ca