<p>As the title says, I’m a novice at this Ebay stuff. Info on buying, selling, Paypal, previous posts, etc. is all good and much appreciated. Let the bidding begin…</p>
<p>I’ll give my little plug for Paypal. I am not a huge e-bayer but I have ventured in. I had a situation with a counterfeit item and paypal and e-bay immediately refunded my money and handled the seller. One other time I received a damaged item and when I did not get a response from the seller within a reasonable time I contacted paypal. They handled it quickly and got my money back for me! They definitely stand behind their service.</p>
<p>I tried my hand at selling a few things - it was not too bad, but timing is everything. I listed a Nordictrak ski machine and got no bids. A few weeks later I tried again and got $150 !! Not bad since it was just sitting in my basement collecting dust.</p>
<p>Good luck to you!</p>
<p>Photos. Do not list on-the-cheap and neglect photos. Photos will sell your item; lack of photos will harm its sale chances.</p>
<p>Set a low starting price. If you really truly cannot bear to let it go at a possible low bid, set a Reserve price. But don’t overprice to start with.</p>
<p>And Paypal goes without saying anymore.</p>
<p>Don’t forget the check out the feedback on the seller. Any negative feedback should be a warning flag. Personally, I wouldn’t buy from anyone with less than a 98% positive feedback. Also never buy from a brand new ebayer; also a warning flag. Finally, insist on PayPal; never sell or buy from anyone not on PayPal.</p>
<p>Something you also have to consider is that you’ll have some bad transactions. This should have been a red flag to me, since it was right before Christmas. I won an auction for a very popular item one year; the seller, however, had a family emergency and had to leave the country didn’t suspend her auctions before she left. I won the auction, then nothing. When she finally got back to me, she mailed me the wrong item. I sent it back, she promised to refund but didn’t. Ebay came to my rescue. I was very disappointed, because it was to have been a Christmas present.</p>
<p>Goes without saying, but just in case: don’t every send a money order or cashier’s check for payment. If they don’t take paypal, I wouldn’t use them.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. Sounds like PayPal is the currency of choice.</p>
<p>What do you think of those storefronts for selling stuff, like I sold it on Ebay?</p>
<p>When checking feedback, be sure to click the tab that brings up only feedback for transactions in which the person of interest is the seller. Some people have lots a wonderful feedback as buyers, but not much of a track record as sellers.</p>
<p>I have also learned to snipe, after losing one too many auctions in the last few seconds. I use esnipe.com.</p>
<ol>
<li> Paypal is essential for buying and selling.</li>
<li>Pictures are essential.</li>
<li>Read the listing carefully- make sure the item is exactly what you think it is. </li>
<li>Feedback is key. Agree that less than 98% positive is a deal-breaker.</li>
<li>Be careful of new sellers- with 0 feedback. They may have re-surfaced after getting kicked off.</li>
<li>Check shipping charges. The cellphone charger you are buying for the great deal of $2 isn’t such a good deal with $20 shipping.</li>
<li> Respond to emails promptly and pay promptly. Do unto others, etc.</li>
</ol>
<p>I’m a fan of buy it now. Before buying anything online from another source I check ebay and search for my item then search for only “buy it now”. Easier than keeping track of when auctions are closing and sniping. When buying, read the sellers notes carefully. I do not buy from anyone overseas. If the listing sounds like the seller is a difficult person, they probably are. Don’t buy from them. Of course, check feedback.<br>
Also, ebay doesn’t like it but I have bought from sellers on ebay before and then been able to email them when I want to buy similar items and buy privately before they list on ebay.
You ONLY want to do this for very specialized items where you know what you are buying and where you have multiple experiences with the seller because of course you do not have ebay or paypal protection.</p>
<p>Isn’t sniping the thingy where you have a burlap bag and go looking at night for a snipe?</p>
<p>I have bought at great prices from sellers with zero feedback. But I mostly buy stuff like yarn and it’s not very expensive, so it wouldn’t be that big a deal if I got ripped off. I haven’t been.</p>
<p>Watch the fine print in the listings.</p>
<p>Sniping is used to refer to overbidding someone in the very last seconds of a auction, usually after not having bid at all earlier in the auction. This prevents others from overbidding you, and prevents the price you pay from going too high.</p>
<p>In theory anyway.</p>
<p>Be careful with PayPal. I once awoke to find $120 missing from my bank account, only to discover that someone had charged it through a direct transfer from my PayPal account. I check my bank account daily, and I had PayPal reverse the transaction, but if it’s not done in a certain length of time your money could be gone! People have been scammed for worse. I removed both the bank account and the backup credit card associated with my PayPal account for security purposes.</p>
<p>Hmm. I’ve never had that problem with paypal but since it’s been mentioned I will note something. I usually prefer to pay with my credit card on paypal. I do that because you have the extra backup of the credit card company if the purchase doesn’t go smoothly, goods don’t arrive etc. In order to do that you have to “force” paypal to take your credit card. When you log into paypal the automatic default is a direct immediated transfer from your checking account. You have to mark the circle for backup credit card. Then the next screen tells you that paypal will protect you and are you SURE you want to use your credit card. Click “yes”, if you hit enter the default is “no” and voila, you are using your credit card and not your bank account to pay. </p>
<p>The buyer does not have access to your paypal account and cannot see your bank account number.</p>
<p>I am also annoyed by the pressure to use the bank account rather than a credit card. For one thing, I get goodies (airline miles, Upromise $$) when I use credit cards. And, as noted by ebeeee, the credit card companies will back you up and reverse charges if there is a problem.</p>
<p>Get to know what Paypal looks like. There is a very common phishing scam in which you receive an e-mail purporting to be from Paypal - it really looks a lot like Paypal, but they won’t solicit you directly in that fashion. They are happy when you report the scam.</p>
<p>I agree with cangel. I have been phished several times from what appears to be Paypal. They are trying to get your bank account numbers. Please report them if that would happen to you.</p>
<p>Thanks for the phishing tip. When I registered for Paypal they only required credit card info. </p>
<p>Hey, keep the comments and the bids coming…</p>
<p>PS - to report phishing attempts to Paypal forward the email to … <a href="mailto:spoof@paypal.com">spoof@paypal.com</a><a href=“for%20ebay%20phishing%20attempts%20…%20use%20%5Bemail%5Dspoof@ebay.com%5B/email%5D”>/email</a></p>
<p>Before you start to bid on an item determine what your maximum bid is … DO NOT get caught up in a competative bidding situation to try to <em>win</em> the auction. I actually figure out my max bid and enter it as a “sniping” bid … then I max my odds of winning and can not bid more than my max.</p>