Tips for Easy and Safe eBay Buying
eBay marketplace has something in it that makes you feel like being attracted to some hidden charm. eBay buying can be too much infatuating after you know a bit about eBay and its bidding/buying systems. You have learned about secure payment using paypal and safe shopping after reading buyer-seller reviews. There are simple things you need to know to keep yourself happily on the safe side.
Use Paypal
Use Paypal for payment. You get buyer safety protection under eBay and Paypal security policies.
Pay quickly
Pay sellers quickly. Stick to this policy and pay your seller whenever you win a bid or purchase something under the Buy Now option. This will help you build reputation as a buyer and sellers will be happy to do business with you.
Be careful with negative feedback
Be careful with posting negative feedback. If you have a real negative impression about a seller, make sure you post your thoughts about the seller for the sake of other buyers. However, there is a chance of scathing feedback attack against you by the seller. If you want to publish negative feedback and don’t want to get a negative feedback, you can try posting the negative feedback on the very last moment of the feedback session. You can post feedback up to 90 days after the transaction is complete. Post your feedback on the 90th day, with just a few minutes to go. Your seller will not be in a position to respond and post a negative feedback about you.
Create positive feedback
Send a thank-you email to your seller. Send an email to appreciate the transaction between you and the person that sold you the item. You can also ask him or her to reciprocate your feedback. This is the quickest way to create some real good positive feedback. If you want to read about reputation on eBay of the academic point of view, the University of Michigan School of Information offers a paper about The Value of Reputation on eBay: A Controlled Experiment.
Place a maximum bid
Bid it and forget it. Accurately guess the maximum amount you are willing to pay for a product. For example you see a nice Tiffany lamp and you feel like spending up to $ 250 on it. Use eBay Proxy Bidding System to place a maximum bid of $ 250. This system will bid only $ 100 if the nearest competition is less than that amount. This automatically protects you from falling into bidding wars that takes a toll on the last moments of auction. Otherwise, the thrill of out-bidding takes you too far and you end up paying more than you like on a product.
Use Sniping Tools sparingly
If you like a product and want it so badly, you can use some sniper programs like BidSlammer to bid for you. There are desktop programs and online programs that help you bid for your favorite item.
Look for different sellers
Browse similar products from different sellers. Keep track of the bidding auctions on same type products by different sellers. Thus you will have a backup even if you don’t win two or three auctions. However, keep in mind not to bid all of them unless you will be happy buying two or more of the same product.
If you want some more tips, the Hawaii Department of the Attorney General offers useful information on safe eBay buying.