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• Online Buying Tips
• Arm yourself for the eBay auction wars with a superior bidding arsenal.
• If you have never shopped on eBay before, you are missing out on some amazing fashion deals. Below we will show you how to capitalize on the phenomenal deals waiting for you on eBay.

Some basic tips:


• Before buying anything, check the seller's feedback. Make sure they have a reputable track record with feedback in the upper 90%. A simple check on their "My World" page will give you this info.
• Read the seller's "terms of sale" in their listings. Make sure they offer a fair return policy with a full money back guarantee.
• Some sellers only allow store credits.
• Some sellers charge a re-stocking fee (some are as high as 25%!) for a return. So if you pay $100, and want to return the item, they will only refund you $75.

Killer buying tips for auctions:


• For items with low to modest demand:
• 1.The "box out bid":
• Often times when an item is not a super hot rare treasure, one bid will usually take it home. So on items with a modest demand, bid early in the auction. Be the first bidder. Mark your territory. Stake your claim and “box out" the competition. Other potential bidders will not fight over a typical item with modest demand, they know another one is right around the corner.
• For items with moderate to high demand:
• 2.The "Proxy bid":
• A proxy bid is a bid that is higher than the current minimum bid. Why would anyone put in a much higher bid than required? Simple. A proxy bid is not an over bid, it is simply the maximum amount the buyer is willing to pay for the item. Once a proxy bid is entered, the buyer does not have to hang around and wait for the auction to close. EBay will continue to place bids for the buyer up to that maximum dollar amount they entered.
• For example:The opening bid for a hat is $25 and you are willing to pay $40 for that hat. So you enter $40 into the “make a proxy bid” text box. Now if another buyer makes a bid for $25.25, eBay will automatically place a bid for you in next minimum bid amount of say $25.50. And so on, until the bidding hits $40. Then eBay stops placing bids for you. This is an especially useful strategy if you know you will be unable to catch the end of the auction.
• Dynamite proxy bid tip: Utilize "Penny Power". Pennies can add explosive power to your bidding arsenal. Why? Because utilizing pennies correctly can gain you a free final bid. TNT on eBay. And it works like this: Always place a proxy bid for a strange amount. Do not use ordinary whole numbers like $40.
  Why?
  Because everyone else is using them.
  
• For example: In the earlier example we placed a $40 proxy bid on a hat. A more optimal bid would have been something like $40.04. Now if the bidding hits $40 at the close of the auction, which is a fair, common, old fashioned round number another bidder would be likely to enter, eBay will fire out that final .04¢. And you will win the hat by only going 4 pennies over. Kaboom! Your opponent never saw that coming.
• To recap: Use proxy bids on items that are in moderate demand and/or when you will be absent at the auction's close. Bid in odd increments. Buyers usually bid in round numbers, so add some "Penny Power" to your bid and you just might win that Prada handbag by just 1¢.
• For items in high demand, prepare to arm yourself for the bidding wars.


• 3.The "Snipe bid":
• (Sniping means bidding in the last few seconds an auction is open.)
• How to Snipe: (This takes impeccable timing and it is also helpful to have a fast internet connection.) Back to the $25 hat. You really want it and this particular hat happens to be Gucci and in high demand. You anticipate a real bid war. A proxy bid will not cut it, unless you plan to put in an unreasonably high bid. Which would make no sense at all.
  So it’s time to Snipe.
  
• First you must remember to be present when the auction is coming to an end. With the proxy bid you got used to dropping down a bid and going out for cocktails. But not in a bid war. You must be front and center at the auction's close to surgically place your bid at the very last possible second. Ensuring that all other buyers will not have enough time to bid against you. Sound impossible? Not completely. With ultra high speed internet and with relentless practice, your timing will improve. But if this sounds like too much work and your still thinking about that proxy bid and those cocktails-your in luck. Because there are companies out there specializing in snipe bids that will combine all these techniques, creating one devastating nuclear bidding option for you.
• The way that these companies work is simple. Let's stick with the Gucci hat example. You log on to the snipe website and provide the site with your maximum bid for the Gucci hat, say $198.03. They then stalk the auction's close and in the very, very final closing seconds of the auction, their bot snipes in a bid on your behalf. Done. No contest. Enjoy your cocktail.
• Or you can do the dirty work yourself by purchasing a software package that assists you with auction sniping. These programs allow you to track all of your auctions and then will place the bid at the last possible second before the auction ends.

Some non auction buying tips:


• Now that you have a complete bidding arsenal, here are some tips for winning on eBay when the seller is using a different listing format called “Best Offer.”
• Best offer is a listing option that allows the buyer and seller to negotiate on the final price of the item. Once an offer is made, the seller can accept, decline or make a counter offer. The buyer can then counter the sellers counter offer. Three counter offers are allowed each. Many sellers use the make an offer option as a last resort, when the “auction” and the “Buy it now” option has failed to generate a sale. (Not every seller fits that mold, but many do.) This is good news for buyers.
• 4. Best offer tips:
• Most sellers place the starting price around twice what they normally would in an auction format.
• So make your first offer around 30-40% of the starting price.
• If after some bartering you and the seller cannot come to an agreement, click on the "Watch this item" option at the top of the listing. Often times these “best offer” items tend to sit on eBay for long periods of time. So in the upcoming weeks, monitor the listing. You may see the starting price come down, and if not, go ahead and make another offer. Chances are, the more time that has gone by, the more likely the buyer will be to accept your offer. Any successful seller knows that at some point they have to cut their losses and move foreword. Dead inventory takes up space and freezes up much needed capitol. Most sellers understand it's better to take a small loss if it means freeing up money that they can later use to turn a big profit.
• So take advantage of these items, tremendous amounts of dead inventory can be found sitting hopelessly in many of these "best offer" listings.

Bonus tip:


• When doing an item search on eBay, try punching in a common misspelling of the item or brand you are looking for. Like "Dolce gabanna" or "Salvatore Feragamo."
  Why?
  Because an item that is misspelled will not be found by the search engines. Anyone using the correct keyword spelling will never see the listing, which means no bids. No competition. So try messing around with different spellings on different items, you may get lucky. And if you stumble upon a quality item that is misspelled, one that normally is in high demand, it is yours. And for the minimum asking price. No penny power or sniping needed.



• Congratulations. You are now armed and ready to score huge savings on eBay.