No i'm not telling you that eBay is a scam or anything like that. Quite the opposite Ebay is still a great auction website where great bargains can be found. This is where the problem lies. Have you ever checked out any of the penny auctions on Ebay? In other words the dirt cheap auctions for items going for no more then a dollar, yet these can be great stuff. For example great jewelry can be found at dirt cheap prices when the auction ends. My sister has been taking part in some of these auctions in order to improve her rating out on Ebay and she told me that it can be lethal going out there and taking part in these auctions. If a person had enough money they could get carried away out there. As she told me she is fortunate she doesn't have that much money to spend out there because it would be easy to do so.
Just be mindful that the penny eBay auctions are based in China and it can take weeks to get your item. I once ordered some paint markers from China via eBay and they arrived 2 months later in a wet envelope. Have fun bidding, but don't expect too much.
This is interesting to me. I like ebay, but I'm usually looking for something specific, so I haven't really looked into these penny auctions. Is there a specific link to them somewhere, or do you just search by category and sort that by lowest price?
I know that eBay is quite lethal. I will get on there just to look at prices for items, and I always manage to find something that is just so cheap that I can not resist. I usually don't get off there without watching three or four items and buying one. You just trail from one item to the next due to their recommendations and wondering if they have something you have been looking for but were unable to find in stores, which they always do. I just don't understand how people make enough off of selling items. I used to do it, and the fee for selling it on top of the PayPal fees were just too much to be worth it for me.
I Figured that sellers make customers bid for a reason and this is probably it, because initially customers would think they are getting great deals but once addicted it can turn disastrous. Self control is really the key especially considering that you are shopping from home which just makes it way too convenient for people to spend their money as if it were nothing because it's too comfortable to do it when feeling at home.
You sort by lowest price first. That's actually why a lot of sellers can't make money on eBay. All it takes to lose a sale is for another seller to price their item a penny cheaper than yours.
Oh no! I didn't know this was a thing. Now I am immediately going to eBay to check it out. Let's hope I can make it out of the other side without any debt.
I don't know if I have the patience to bid on auction items. I usually prefer to look out for 'buy it now" options, although last time I was on eBay there weren't so many. Some people are so adept at bidding that just when you think you may be winning, they swoop in at the very last minute with an offer you can't compete with, and then boom! the auction ends while you're debating whether or not to up it LOL I find it exhausting, quite frankly!
DWL! I know what you mean @Lushlala , outbidding has happened to me quite frequently on eBay, however, as you also mentioned, it takes patience. I remember bidding for a camera on eBay and winning, I also won a phone. lol, I would rate eBay over Amazon because of the bidding component. I've won an item on eBay for way less than what I would have gotten it for from Amazon.
I didn't understand the premise of the heading. Rather than beware, I would advise people to run to these auctions. There are great bargains to be found! Sure, you can spend too much money if you're not reserved in your bidding, but we do that anyway, right?
There are scammers on eBay, but I know it isn't very common. I like to buy gift cards for a cheaper price, one time I even got a $50 Google Play card for $5! Still, the main thing is still, as you said, the "cheap" things that become worthless after the auction.
Obviously when you get to a point where you have millions and millions of people using a site, there are bound to be scams, and not so good deals there. Good example are those really cheap items that are from china, and they have 2 week shipping, which in itself is a long time for the average consumer. But then in actuality it might take months before you receive your item. I usually look at items in a way where I'm looking at not the lowest prices, because those are usually from scammers and just generally bad sellers. Go a little below the average price and you'll find good stuff.
Yeah, I can relate to the "lethal" aspect of bidding or buying on Ebay. You can get lots of stuff for 99 cents if you have no bidding competitor. However, some sellers don't ship the item if the sold item was too low and it is considered a loss if they ship it, so they either make an excuse that the item is out of stock and they will refund your money, or they won't send anything at all. Just last week, I won a 2 GB Micro SD memory card with card reader for only $1.04, and the seller said that it was "out of stock" and they don't know when it will be replenished. I just agreed to refund the money.
Ugh, that's terrible, something takes 2 months to get to you, and then arrives in a wet envelope? I would have been p*ssed. Did you send the markers back, or did you just write it off, so to speak?
Wow, good on you, ExpertAdvice! I think you also need to be VERY quick on your feet, and have a figure in your head as to how much you're willing to go up by. There's no point sitting there dilli-dallying because that's when someone else swoops in and beats you to it LOL. This has unfortunately happened to me, because I was debating whether or not to pay £5 more than what someone else had bid hehe
Has anyone tried looking at the completed listings before buying? If you do this you will get a feel for the price an item sells for so you can put in a bid that is more likely to win. It is annoying if you are outbid all the time. To do this you go to refine on the menu and scroll down to completed items. If you enable this then you see what items have sold for recently. This is a very useful toggle that can help sellers too.
I only purchase things from American sellers because I do not want to deal with duties or the long time that it takes for the item to arrive. My husband once bought me a tea set from China though and it arrived a week later, I was quite impressed. The company had sent it out airmail like the next day and the set was packed very well.
I have to go to ebay to some of those low auctions to get my feedback rating up. Any suggetions on what I should be looking for when I go there? I don't usually do auctions, I mostly work as a seller with buy now items.
@Pat, I suggest that you purchase tote bags, shades, earphones, and clothing. Just narrow down your search in such a way that the cheapest ones will be shown first, whether through Buy It Now or via Auction.
