Ebay Tips and Tricks for the New Ebayer

This guide is meant for anyone that buys anything on Ebay - especially those of you who are new to Ebay. Some of the things I will try to help you with is how to avoid making a bad purchase on Ebay. Also how to keep from getting outbid on the things you want, especially at the last minute. There are numerous guides on how to use Ebay, but I've never seen a quick and easy reference to use that gets right to the point. So here goes.

70 percent or more of bids are placed during the last few minutes of the auction
Place an odd bid amount - Never an even dollar amount
Avoid auctions that offer an item for 99 cents but they say in big bold words to email first
Don't fall for the word RARE on anything
Never buy anything from email offers outside of Ebay
Avoid auctions that ONLY accept payment by wire transfers, Western Union, or cash
Familiarize yourself with all Ebay features before bidding
Always check a users feedback rating
Research the item before you buy it
Be cautious of sellers from other countries
Never click on anything in an email from Ebay or Paypal
What to do if you receive a fake email?
Lastly - if it looks to good to be true, IT IS !!
As I think of more tips, I will update this guide. There's no sure fire way to avoid getting ripped off on Ebay, but hopefully these tips will help you avoid that headache. So here's the details....

70 percent or more of bids are placed during the last few minutes of the auction
TRUE - You're probably wondering how someone outbid you at the last second on an auction you bid on 3 days ago. To be like most people and place a last second bid, the best trick to use is go to the auction item. Then click on the web page address, highlight the whole address, then right click and select copy. Now open a new browser window and paste the address (right click and paste) and hit enter. Now you have two web pages open, both to the same auction.

Now here's the trick...In the second webpage, go ahead and enter your bid and click on the place bid button. If you go to a page that asks for your user name and password, go ahead and enter it and click submit. Now you should go to CONFIRMATION page. This is the final step before you actually place your bid. DO NOT CLICK SUBMIT just yet. You can leave this page open for as long as you want too. Now, go back to the other webpage you have opened - the first one. On this webpage, you can keep refreshing the webpage and watch the timer count down. Once the auction gets down under 30 seconds, rush back to the second webpage and click SUBMIT. You just placed a last second bid called a snipe bid.

Once under 30 seconds, you decide on when to hit the submit button on the second webpage. Depending on how daring you are, you can wait until the very last second. BUT, keep in mind that it takes about 3 - 5 seconds for Ebay to confirm your bid. So if you wait a little too long, you could still lose out and your bid not be accepted.

Place an odd bid amount - Never an even dollar amount
Never place an even bid such as $3.00 or $10.00. The trick use to be was to place your bid for one penny more. This way you would win over someone that placed an even dollar bid. But, most people have caught on to that trick. Now you have to bid an odd amount. If you're going to bid on something for $5, place an odd bid for $5.05 or $5.12 or something similar. You will have a better chance of winning the auction. The only people that place even dollar bids are people who are new to Ebay.

Avoid auctions that offer an item for 99 cents but they say in big bold words to email first
This is normally a scam. Look at the sellers other items by clicking on View Seller's Other Items. If all or most of their auctions have this same text, avoid this seller like the plague. It may say you have to be pre-approved before purchasing this auction. The auction may even contain text telling that they are selling you the purchase info only, not the actual item being sold. The only pre-approval needed for ebay auctions are normally in the Ebay Live auctions or in the Ebay vehicles categories.

Don't fall for the word RARE on anything
Very few things on Ebay are actually rare. It's all a marketing scheme. Words like rare, one of a kind, unique, the only one I've seen, etc... are all marketing words to pull you in and help cross that line of to buy or not to buy. I've written another guide specifically about this problem. But, the basics are, research what you're interested in. Email the seller. WHY is it rare? If they give you a vague answer, run. If they give you a specific answer and can even tell you a little bit of history on the item, then it probably is rare. Is everything the seller has listed marked as rare? Search Ebay and the internet. If you find more of the same item listed on Ebay, chances are it's not rare. Just put the word rare in the search engine on ebay and see how many listings come up. You should see at least 200,000 listings. Can there really be that many rare items for sale on Ebay?

Never buy anything from email offers outside of Ebay
If you bid on an auction and lost, you might receive an email from the seller offering a second item at the same winning bid. DO NOT go for this unless you know and have dealt with this buyer before. Ebay says to NEVER accept offers like this. This is one of the main reasons Ebay has offered a new service for sellers called Second Chance Offers. You can get a second chance email from the seller, but it will be for the highest bid you placed. Not for the highest bid in the auction. As long as you make a purchase through an Ebay auction, you have a very good chance of not getting ripped off.

Avoid auctions that ONLY accept payment by wire transfers, Western Union, or cash
If the seller only accepts these payment methods, run! You have a very good chance of getting ripped off. You can not get your money back by any of these payment methods. Once you send the money, it's gone. If you don't receive the auction item, there is nothing you can do to get your money back. The best way to protect yourself is use Paypal. There are no fees for sending money. All fees are charged to the seller. Most sellers on Ebay are legitimate and accept Paypal. If you've been ripped of and did make a payment this way, you can report the crime to the Internet Crime Complaint Center. Just look them up in any search engine and it will take you to their webpage. The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C).

Familiarize yourself with all Ebay features before bidding
Ebay has lots and lots of features that can help you with your buying experience. Everything from searching to discussion boards. For searching, make sure and use the Advanced Search feature. You would be surprised at the number of auctions you could miss by just using the normal search. Once you go to the advanced search feature, always put a check mark in Search Title and Description. This will make a huge difference. You can also search better by using a plus or minus sign in front of keywords. A plus sign means it MUST have that word. A minus sign means you're not interested in auctions that have that keyword. You can also search for phrases by using quotes. If you search for caterpillar model truck, it will bring up all auctions that have any one of those keywords in it. Such as automotive auctions for any kind of truck. But, if put the three words inside quotes it will ONLY bring up auctions that have this phrase in the auction.

The discussion boards can be a source of a huge amount of info and help. To get there, just click on the Community button at the top of any ebay webpage. This will take you to a page of different categories for discussion boards. The best one to click on is go to the first one - Discussion Boards. In here you can discussion boards on everything from buyer complaints to category specific questions. You can spend hours reading thorough all the comments. This is a good place to ask questions about anything.

Always check a users feedback rating
If a user has a lot of negative feedbacks recently, avoid this seller. But, you can take it with a grain of salt too. If the seller in question has 500 positives in the last 30 days and only one or two negatives, then that's probably from a few disgruntled buyers. More than likely these are difficult customers and there probably wasn't anything the seller could do to make them happy. Human nature is too ALWAYS try to blame someone else for their mistake. Ask any little kid if they did something wrong even when they did. The usual answer is "I didn't do it". Human nature at it's purest and most honest form.

Research the item before you buy it
If you're not sure what you're buying but it's something you want, research it. You have one of the most powerful research tools right at your fingertips. The INTERNET. Use the many different search engines to research your item. Find out if it's rare or really worth what the seller is asking. Use the internet to help you decide what you would pay for the item. You can also use Ebay as a research tool. It's one of the few places you can search past sales. You can't do that at a brick and mortar type store. Use the Advanced Search feature and put in your keywords for the auction item you’re interested in. Put a check mark in Completed Listings Only. This way you can search completed auctions only and see if this item has been selling and if so, for how much. The bad thing is Ebay only keeps closed auction on the books for 30 days. So you have to remember that you're search is only for the last 30 days. You can also email the seller. Most sellers are knowledgeable about what they are selling. There may even be a unique history behind the item you’re looking at. Just ask...

Be cautious of sellers from other countries
This one is tricky. Make sure and research the seller carefully. Look at his/her feedback rating. Email them any questions you have. Most sellers from other countries are just as honest as any other seller. But, you have to decide if you want to deal with someone in a foreign country. There may be language barriers, customs issues, extra shipping charges, etc. I've bought a lot of things from sellers outside the U.S. I've only been ripped off once. That one was my own fault too. I knew it might be a bad idea, but for the low dollar amount, I took the chance. At least I got the opportunity to leave the appropriate feedback for that seller.

Never click on any links in an email from Ebay or Paypal
There is a new security feature from Ebay now. When you receive an OFFICAL email from Ebay, it will also be sent to My Messages in your My Ebay page. NEVER click on any link in an email from Ebay or Paypal. Neither company with EVER send you a link inside their emails. Even if the link looks legitimate, there's a 100% chance it's not. If you do click on it, it will always take you to a webpage that will look exactly like an official Ebay page. If you think you have an official email or announcement from Ebay, open up a new browser window and type in www.Ebay.com. Then click on MyEbay and sign in. Then down on the left side, click on My Messages. If there is no copy of the same message in there, then the email you received is fake. It's called a spoof email. What the sender is trying to do is get you to go to their webpage and enter in your ebay id, password, credit card info, billing address, ccv # on the credit card, social security number, mothers maiden name, etc... for whatever reason. With this info, they can not only use your Ebay account to rip off other people, they can also steal your identity. With the power of the internet, once you enter this info, the fraudulent charges can start as quickly as within an hour. If I sent you a letter through the mail and asked you fill out all this same info and send it back to me. You would say "HELL NO". So why would you do it from an email? Again, to play it safe on the internet, NEVER EVER open a link in an email unless it's from someone you know such as a relative or friend. Other than that, NEVER click on a link in email. By following this simple rule, you will save yourself a ton of trouble.

What to do if you receive a fake email?
If you think you've received a fake email from either Ebay or Paypal, simply forward it to one of these addresses: For Ebay, forward the message to SPOOF at EBAY dot COM. For Paypal, forward the message to SPOOF at PAYPAL dot COM. (you have to change the words AT and DOT to the appropriate symbols). You should get a reply email usually within minutes telling you if it was a fake email or not.

Lastly - if it looks to good to be true, IT IS !!
This one works every time. There's a reason this saying has been around longer than you or I. It always works.

Hopefully you got at least one good tip out of this guide. If you have any questions, you can email me. I will always try to answer them to the best of my knowledge. Don't forget to vote below if you found this guide helpful of not. Just click on yes or no - that's it.