1. Do your Research.

How many of you’re eBay purchases are planned and how many are impulse
buys? If you intend to buy a costly item such as a digital camera, DVD recorder
or other medium priced item it pays to carry out some research. Decide exactly
which model or models you want. If you can visit local shops that sell the
items you are interested in. Find out what features the models you are interested
in offer and mostly importantly find the best prices available. You can then
go onto the Internet and search the non-auction sites to find the best prices
available for the product. Having done this you are now ready to start
browsing eBay.

2. Do not rush in.

The majority of bids are made in the last few hours of an auction so there
is little to gain by putting in a bid early. In fact by putting in a bid at
an early stage you can inadvertently draw other peoples attention to the auction.
The more bids an auction attracts the higher the final bid price will be. Click
on the “Watch this Auction” but do not actually put in a bid until
thee last few hours.

3. Set yourself a top price

If you have done your research correctly you will know exactly the value of
the item you are bidding on. Make up your mind what you top bid is going to
be and stick to it. Sometimes when you find yourself bidding against someone
else there is a tendency to try to win the auction at almost any cost. Whatever
you do don’t fall into this trap once the bidding reaches your preset
limit walk away.

4. Make sure you know everything.

When you make a bid on eBay you are relying on a great extent to the description
and photograph that the seller has supplied. Many times though due to inexperience
or just plain laziness the seller does not include all the information that
you need. In this case do not be afraid to use the “Ask the Seller a
Question “” feature to send an e-mail with any further questions
you may have Quite often a listing with a poor description will not fetch as
good a price as one with a more detailed one. This can sometimes give you the
opportunity to snap up a bargain providing that you can get the information
you need before you place your bid. While we are on this subject I am surprised
at the number of people who place a bid without first checking on what the
shipping or postage charges are. You should always be sure you know exactly
what the total cost of the item would be if your bid is successful.

5. Avoid the rush hour.

Research shows that Sunday afternoon and early evening are the time that is
the busiest on eBay. The quietest appear to be early on Monday and Tuesday
mornings. It follows that with less people viewing you could expect the final
sales price to be lower. I have picked up some bargains by getting up early
on a Monday or Tuesday morning and using the “going, going gone” feature
to find auctions due to finish within the hour.It can be a case that the early
bird really does catch the worm.