A Guide to Buying on Ebay

Thousands of items are sold on Ebay everyday. Ebay is the leading and most popular auction site on the internet, but peole get scammed everyday by sellers who don't send the items that are sold.. Also, I have seen where people pay a lot more than retail value on a product and think that they are getting a great deal. Here is a guide that will help keep you from getting scammed or paying too much.

1) When you are looking to buy an item, look for a while to try to find the best deal on a product. Many times what looks like the best deal isn't the best deal because sellers can charge a lot for shipping. So when looking for the best deal, also look for the lowest shipping price as well. Choose 4 or 5 items to look at further.

2) When you have the 4 or 5 best deals, start looking into the condition of the items in question. Check for things like scratches on CDs and DVDs, holes, tears, or anything else that might affect the use of that item. Drop defective items off of you list, they are obviously not the best deal. Try to keep at least 3 items on you list at this point. If you need more items on you list, go back to step one and repeat. The more items you have i your list, the better your chances are of making the next step work.

3) Now look at the sellers's feedback on every item in your list. Never buy from someone who has less then 90% positive feedback of all feedack received. The people with less than this amount ususally: a) doesn't pay enough attentionto their work and mess up a lot, or b) are activly engaged in scamming. Choose the sellers who have the highest positive feedback. Have at least 2 for the next step.

4) Now see which seller has the lowest price/ highest feedback combination. Many times, the seller with the highest feedback won't be the seller with the lowest price, so you may have to choose between the better price of the better feedback. This is a matter of personal opinion. When you choose, place your bid or Buy-It-Now. You have suseccfully chosen your item!

If you lost on your item, then go to the second choice in your list or you may have to start steps 1 through 4 over again. If you won your item, your not finished buying yet, proceed to step 5.

5) Pay as soon as you can. If you used Buy-It-Now, then you should pay-it-now. If you win in a regular auction, then pay as soon as you can after the auction ends. This will ensure that you get positive feedback from the seller if the seller leaves feedback.

6) It takes some time before your item arrives. Don't go crazy and start leaving bad feedback if your item takes a while to get to you. If the selleris in the same country as you, it should take no more than 3 weeks to get to you. If the seller is from another country, it can take a couple months for your package to get to you. The seller cannot control how long it takes to ship an item. Just keep in contact with the seller.

7) Remember to always leave feedback no matter if your experience with the seller was good or bad. and whether the seller left feedback or not. This way, future buyers will know how you have been treated. Also, usually a seller won't leave feedback until a buyer does, i don't know why, I always leave feedback when I am paid, but that's how it is.

Happy bidding!