EBay for Dummies (20 page)

1. From the top of most eBay pages, click the Advanced Search link.

This action takes you to the main Search page, where two links appear on the left side of the page, under Members.

2. In the box on the left side of the page, click the Find a Member link.

This link takes you to the main Find Members page, where you can search for other members of the community. When you find the member, you can see his or her About Me page (see Chapter 14 to find out how to create your own personal eBay Web page). You can also get a look at the feedback profile of a user (see Chapter 4 for details about feedback), find user ID histories of fellow eBay members (which comes in handy when you’re bidding on items, as Chapter 7 avows), or get contact information when you’re involved in a transaction.

If you’re involved in a transaction with another eBay member and feel that you need to contact the individual by phone, click the Find Contact Information link, which is under the Members heading on the left side of the screen. On that page you’ll need to type the transaction number along with the other person’s user ID. eBay compares this data with yours, and if you are indeed involved in a transaction with each other, eBay e-mails you the other person’s phone number (along with the person’s full name, city, and state). Your contact information is, in turn, sent to the other party.

Clicking the arrow in the Favorite Searches drop-down box at the top right of the page allows you to scroll through your My eBay Favorite Searches. You can tell eBay about the items you’re looking for, and it does automatic searches for you. You can also have eBay e-mail you when auctions that match your descriptions crop up. (Chapter 18 gives you more info on how this works.)

Chapter 6

Shopping eBay: The Basics

In This Chapter

Knowing the ins and outs of the Item Listing page

Knowing the seller

Figuring out the extras

Placing a bid

Bidding by proxy

Avoiding bidder’s remorse

Browsing different categories of eBay, looking for nothing in particular, you spot that must-have item lurking among other Elvis paraphernalia in the Collectibles category. Sure, you
could
live without that faux gold Elvis pocket watch, but life would be so much sweeter
with
it. And even if it doesn’t keep good time, at least it’ll be right twice a day.

When you bid for items on eBay, you can get that same thrill that you would get at Sotheby’s or Christie’s for a lot less money, and the items you win are likely to be
slightly
more practical than an old Dutch masterpiece you’re afraid to leave at the framer’s. (Hey, you have to have a watch, and Elvis is — er,
was
— the King.)

In this chapter, I give you the lowdown about the types of auctions and fixed-price listings available on eBay and a rundown of the nuts and bolts of bidding strategies. I also share some tried-and-true tips that’ll give you a leg up on the competition. Hey, I buy
almost
everything on eBay.

The Item Listing Page

At any given point, you have more than a million pages of items that you can look at on eBay, making item pages the heart (better yet, the skeleton) of eBay listings. All item pages on eBay — whether auctions, fixed-price items, or Buy It Now items — look about the same. For example, Figure 6-1 shows a conventional listing page with a Buy It Now option; Figure 6-2 shows a fixed-price sale; and Figure 6-3 shows a fixed-price sale with a twist — the Make Offer option. All item pages show the listing title at the top, bidding or buying info in the middle, and seller info below that. Below all this is a tabbed area that displays the complete description of the item, along with a tab for shipping and payment information.

The listing types have some subtle differences. Some auctions feature multiple pictures at the top left of the page, and others don’t, depending on how the seller sets up the sale page. (Some sellers insert pictures within the item description to save money on listing fees.) Some listings have set item specifics in the description (as shown in Figure 6-4). This area is set up by eBay and filled in by the seller to give you a snapshot description of the item for sale. If you search for an item and end up finding it available in a fixed-price sale, you won’t see the Place Bid button (as shown in Figure 6-1). But overall, the look and feel of these pages is the same.

When you come to a fixed-price listing with the Make Offer option, you have the ability to make your own offer on the item. I talk about the best ways to make your offer later in this chapter.

Here’s a list of stuff you see as you scroll down on a typical item page:

Item title and number:
The title and number identify the item. Keep track of this info for inquiries later. You find the item number in the box under the Seller Info area on the right.

If you’re interested in a particular type of item, note the key words used in the title (you’re likely to see them again in future titles). Doing so helps you narrow future searches.

Item category:
Located just above the item, you can click the category listing and do some comparison shopping.
(Chapter 5 gives more searching strategies.)

Current bid:
This field in an auction indicates the dollar amount the bidding has reached, which changes throughout the auction as people place bids. If no bids have been placed on the item, this field is called Starting bid.

Sometimes, next to the current dollar amount in an auction, you see
(Reserve not met).
This statement means that the seller has set a
reserve price
for the item — a secret price that must be reached before the seller will sell the item. If you don’t see this note on a listing item page, don’t be alarmed. Most auctions don’t have reserve prices. Also, the moment a reserve is met, the indicator disappears.

Buy It Now price:
If you want the item immediately and the price quoted in this area is okay with you, click the Buy It Now link, which takes you to a page where you can complete your purchase. This is also an option in an auction listing, as in Figure 6-1. In this case you can still place a bid for the lower bid price and the listing will convert to an auction format.

Quantity:
This field appears only in a multiple item fixed-price sale. It tells you how many items are available. If you see a number other than 1 in this field, it means that there is only one of the item left for sale (the others have been sold). You can be sure it’s a fixed-price sale because you have no opportunity to bid; you can just use the Buy It Now option for whatever quantity of the item you desire. You’ll be prompted for a quantity when you buy. But if a seller is selling two Elvis watches for the price of one, the item quantity still shows up as 1 (as in 1 set of 2 watches).

Time left:
The official clock keeps ticking down as time passes. When the item gets down to the last hour of the auction, eBay automatically starts an interactive clock that counts the minutes and seconds. This field tells you the time remaining in this particular auction.

Timing is the key in an eBay bidding strategy (covered in Chapter 7). Because eBay’s world headquarters is in California, eBay uses Pacific Standard Time or Pacific Daylight Time as the standard, depending on the season. Not a major deal if you live on the West Coast like I do, but it can be an issue if you live anywhere else.

Bid history:
This field (below the item title) tells you how many bids have been placed. To use the number of bids to your advantage, you have to read between the lines. You can determine just how “hot” an item is by comparing the number of bids the item has received over time. Based on the amount of interest in an item, you can create a time strategy (which I talk about later in this chapter). If you want to see the starting bid, you have to click the See History link next to the number of bids (refer to Figure 6-1). By clicking there you can also find out who is bidding and what date and time bids were placed. The dollar amount of each bid is shown in the bidding history, but bidders’ maximum bids are kept secret.

Bidding is more an art than a science. Sometimes an item gets no bids because everyone’s waiting until the last second to bid. You see a flurry of activity as bidders all try to outbid each other (called
sniping,
which Chapter 7 explains). But that’s all part of the fun of eBay.