17 Tips Every Buyer Should Know

1. Your bid is a contract. Bidding is not a game. If you do not intend to buy, don't bid.

2. Do not bid on the first item you see. Do a little research. Someone else might have it listed for less or with a lower BIN. However, if you DO bid on the first item you see, keep in mind that retracting a bid because you found it cheaper elsewhere is against Ebay's rules.

3. Do not trust the picture. Read the description carefully. Make sure it does not say "design may vary." Check for size and color. Make sure if it's new or used. Look to see if the description says the item will be drop shipped, which means the seller does not have the merchandise in stock. Look for descriptions of flaws, imperfections and/or damage.

4. Read the terms. Do not assume you can combine shipping or dictate your own shipping preferences. Find out which forms of payment are accepted and that you qualify for them. Many sellers do not take checks from buyers with a low feedback rating. Make sure you are eligible to bid on this auction. Some sellers will not take bids from someone with no feedback or minus rating. Some sellers will not ship Internationally. Find out how much the seller charges for shipping and if the item will be shipped immediately.

5. Check the seller's feedback. Do not buy big ticket items from sellers with excessive negatives or who have no feedback. Check the feedback for an overall pattern. Do a lot of the complaints say the same thing? For instance, if a seller has a lot of complaints about the quality of his packaging, you might want to purchase insurance. Remember, a lot of sellers get retaliation feedback from deadbeats, so be sure to keep that in mind and look for patterns.

6. Contact the seller within three days. Most sellers will contact you, but if they don't, send an e-mail to them through Ebay's "Ask Seller A Question" feature.

7. Read the seller's confirmation e-mail. Even experienced buyers are guilty of not doing this one. Do not assume that every confirmation e-mail is alike. Sellers usually include information that is necessary for you to complete the transaction. A lot of times they also ask for some information from you. Don't just send your payment with PayPal and ignore the confirmation e-mail. That's how a lot of problems get started.

8. Buy insurance. Too many buyers spend $160 on an item, but won't cough up the extra $3 to insure it. Believe me, you will kick yourself if something happens. If you're not sure if you want insurance, ask yourself this question. "Will I be upset if this item arrives damaged or doesn't get here at all?" If your answer is yes, BUY insurance. If the seller does not offer it, ask for it.

9. Be patient. The mail system has slowed down in many areas since the terrible events of 9/11. It may take longer than you expect for your payment to reach your seller. If you are paying by check, that means it will take longer for your check to be deposited before the standard ten day clearance wait can begin. Also, the holiday mail slow down is upon us. It's going to take your merchandise longer to get where it's going.

10. Ask, do not threaten. If you want to check on the status of your order, send a polite e-mail to your seller asking for the information you need. Do not send ten e-mails over a weekend and then get angry when you get no reply. Many people do not work on weekends, so your mail will not be read until Monday. Do not threaten your seller with negative feedback if they do not respond as quickly as you would like them to.

11. If there is a problem, stay calm and friendly. Most sellers are not brick and morter stores, but individual people working from home. They have not been trained to deal with angry customers and will likely become angry themselves and unwilling to work with you. Again, do not threaten negative feedback if things are not worked out to your satisfaction. No one likes to be threatened. Give your seller a chance to make you happy.

12. Leave appropriate feedback. Do not blame the seller for something that was outside of his control. It's unfair to give him a negative, because he would not combine shipping when his listing says he won't combine shipping.

13. Avoid misleading feedback. A positive that states something took a long time to get to you (when the postmark clearly proves the item was shipped immediately) is misleading, and therefore not really a positive. It's not the seller's fault it took a long time to get to you.

14. Do not use feedback to warn customers about mistakes that were your fault. For instance, do not leave a neutral telling people to get insurance even on low cost or supposedly unbreakable items. Yes, people should buy insurance, but if they don't, that's not the seller's fault and his feedback should not reflect your personal regrets at your own short sightedness.

15. Do not harass sellers for feedback. The feedback system is voluntary. No one "owes" you feedback. Many sellers do not leave feedback until the transaction is complete. This means you must contact the seller to let them know you got the merchandise and are happy with it. Other sellers leave feedback in batches. Once every two weeks or so, they'll leave all of the feedback they need to at once.

16. Do not be afraid of retaliation feedback. Sellers investigate feedback. They know when someone has left you a negative out of revenge, and they will not hold it against you. Feedback is the primary means of protecting buyers from fraudulent (or just bad) sellers. If you withhold a neg out of fear, you've allowed that seller to get away with it, not just to you, but to the next guy that wasn't warned off by your feedback.

17. If you have a question about an item, a seller, terms, shipping, feedback or anything else, ask BEFORE you bid.

I know it's just my opinion, but I think these are the top 17 things that all Buyers should know before bidding on any auction. Hopefully someone will find them useful. Sralos

The above page is maintained by: sralos( 269)

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