Sniffing Out The Best Online Auction Deals
Here are some tips:
Compare Prices
This may seem obvious, but many people forget to compare prices on eBay and other online auction sites. For some items, like certain video games for instance, you will find that the item goes for a *higher* price on eBay than at the major Internet stores like Amazon, Buy.com or Overstock.com. If you are looking for a new item, make sure to check around for the going price before checking it out on an auction site. Other helpful tools for comparing prices are the price comparison search engines like Pricegrabber.com and MySimon.com.
Check Seller Stores or About Pages
If you find a seller who offers many of the same item, you should also check their eBay store for similar items at a lesser price. You may also find a link to the seller's website on their MyWorld or AboutMe page. Sometimes you will find a better deal on the price of the item or a better price for the shipping, because on their own site, they don't have to pay auction listing or final value fees and may pass the savings on to you.
Check Other Auction Sites
While eBay is the granddaddy of auction sites, with by far the most auctions, sellers and choices at your fingertips, they are by no means the only auction site. Also check out Yahoo's auctions, Amazon's auctions, Overstock's auctions and the smaller auction sites like Bidz, Bidville, iOffer and uBid. If you are looking for a specialty item, like vintage glass, jewelry or memorabilia of some kind, there are also specialty auction sites specifically for these items. Check out InternetAuctionList.com for a big list of just about every type of auction site.
Searching
There are some advanced searching techniques that will help you. Not only should you do a general search for your item's name, you should also check the specific categories that correspond to the item. This will help make sure you see all the auctions for that item regardless of the auction title or description. Also, if you have trouble finding something, check common misspellings of the brand name, such as Weiss or Wiess for the famous brooch maker. You will often find auctions for both spellings and some other searchers will miss out on the misspelled auctions, further enhancing your chances of getting a bargain. You will also want to make full use of the Advanced Search feature on each site, there are often handy tools for narrowing and filtering your searches. Lastly, be sure to check the box, "Search Title and Description" when searching on eBay, you will usually find more items available if you search that way.
Description
Pay attention to the auction description. This seems like a no brainer but many people hit the bid button too fast and end up buying something they don't want. For instance, did you want that genuine vintage wedding dress? Or did you want that vintage STYLE wedding dress? There's a big difference between the two! Pay attention to the words used carefully as some sellers will try to mislead you in order to increase bids.
Extra Fees
Pay attention to any extra fees the seller may charge, some sellers charge a handling fee, packaging fee, transfer fee or insurance fee, in addition to the shipping charges. Take these fees into account when bidding.
Shipping
This is a big one, don't overlook the shipping charges! Many sellers put auctions up at ridiculously low prices, like $1 for a Nintendo game, but they'll charge you $19.95 for the shipping. Make sure you know what the shipping charges will be before putting in your maximum bid.
Feedback
Don't forget to check the feedback of the auction seller, to make sure they ship items out within a decent amount of time and there are little or no complaints about their auctions.
Sniping
One of the best ways to get a good price on an auction is to snipe. Sniping is simply using a third party tool to bid for you at the last second. This prevents you from driving up the price needlessly and usually helps to keeps the price of the item down. There are many sniping tools available, one of the best is Auctionsniper.com
Bidding
Lastly, when bidding, make sure you know what you are bidding on and take into account the true worth of the item, what the item is going for on other sites, the value of the item to you and also any extra fees and shipping. Take advantage of the proxy bidding feature as well, the proxy bidding tool will bid for you up to a certain amount and is also a good substitute for sniping, if you aren't comfortable with sniping.
Finally, have fun! Online auctions can be a source of great deals but it's also fun to participate in them!
Related Tags: deals, auctions
Lydia Quinn writes for SearchTheWebLive!, an up and coming search engine portal. Visit us at: http://www.searchtheweblive.com/
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