reviews and guides: new on ebay ebay members share their
TRANSCRIPT
Exploring eBay! The Basics
Spring 2006
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What is eBay?
Founded in 1995, eBay is an internet-based version of a traditional auction.
However, there’s no fast-talking auctioneer online and your contending bidders can be
located anywhere in the world, as long as they have Internet access. It operates 24
hours a day, 7 days a week. eBay is just a marketplace to buy and sell, nothing more.
eBay does not get involved in transactions between seller and buyer. The seller pays a
small fee to eBay – similar to renting a booth at a flea market. As of November 2005,
there are 168 million registered users in 30 countries. It is a massive operation with
roughly 4.8 million new listings per day. eBay members’ sales for 2004 reached $34.2
billion.
Why would you want to eBay?
• Buying goods for less money than elsewhere.
• Buying from a large selection of goods (e.g. close-out brands by
manufacturers).
• Buying goods not otherwise available conveniently (e.g. rare/collectible
items).
• Buying for resale (e.g. buys at or below wholesale and sells retail).
• Having fun or bidding for the thrill of winning. However, by bidding, you are
entering a contractual agreement and the winning bidder is obligated to buy
the item auctioned.
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What can you find on eBay?
Practically anything from common items such as clothing, school supplies,
consumer electronics, and used vehicles to more pricey items such as aircraft engines
and houses for sale in Las Vegas. Services such as musical instrument repair and
laptop diagnosis service can also be found on eBay. More peculiar items/services such
as ‘a box of dog hair’ and ‘hilarious singing on the phone for four minutes’ also exist on
eBay. Websites such as http://www.whowouldbuythat.com/ would track unusual items
posted and sold on eBay. Rules on ‘Prohibited and Restricted items’ are posted on
their website at the address: http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/policies.html . Alcohol,
prescription drugs, and human body parts are a few examples prohibited on eBay site.
How does eBay work?
• Seller posts an item for sale and sets the time limit on auction time (1, 3, 5, 7 or
10 days)
• Buyer finds what he’s looking for and can bid on an item, thus becoming a
bidder
• Highest bidder wins and is then notified
• Winning Bidder makes payment
• Seller ships the item
How trustworthy is bidding/selling on eBay?
eBay has an outstanding system for establishing reputations. The reputation
(feedback) system comprises the focal point of the eBay system. It is a system that
eBay members use to rate their buying or selling experience with another eBay
member. After a listing is completed, the buyer and seller can leave a rating (positive,
neutral, or negative) and a comment about each other. Feedback cannot be erased.
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The feedback you give is permanent, so be sure to make only fair and factual
comments. These become a permanent part of a member's profile and can be viewed
by the rest of the eBay Community. However, eBay offers members the opportunity to
withdraw feedback ratings by using Mutual Feedback Rating Withdrawal. A member
can also make his or her feedback profile private and only be accessed by him or her.
However, while the comments will be private, other members will still be able to see the
number of positive, neutral and negative comments on a member profile. To see a
member's full feedback profile, click on the number in parentheses next to their User ID.
The feedback system helps you build your reputation on eBay and helps you check the
reputation of other members of the community. Following is an example of what a
member with private feedback profile looks like.
For every positive feedback, member gets +1, 0 for neutral, and -1 for negative.
Based upon the total points, the Feedback Score is the sum of all the ratings a member
has received from unique users. If your total feedback score (adding together both
positive and negative) is -4, eBay will terminate your membership. In most cases, a
high feedback score is a good sign, however one should also check a member’s profile
to read comments from other members.
The Feedback Star indicates the level of Feedback Score an eBay member has
achieved. For example, a Yellow Star next to the member User ID means, the
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member has feedback score 10 to 49. For more information, check on
http://pages.ebay.com/help/feedback/reputation-stars.html.
eBay Time
The official time of day at eBay headquarters in San Jose, California goes by
Pacific Time Zone. Timing on eBay is more essential for eBay sellers. Sellers should
time their auction to end when most potential bidders will be online.
eBay Pulse
eBay Pulse is a daily snapshot of current trends, hot picks, and cool stuff on
eBay. It is changing dynamically. It’s a great way to catch a glimpse inside the world of
eBay marketplace.
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How to get started
Registration is not required just to browse the eBay website. However, before
you can bid or buy anything on eBay, you are required to . register
Let’s get Browsing
Type www.ebay.com in the URL address bar area and let’s go over some
features of the eBay’s homepage.
Enter your search words here if not sure what category to use.
See Brief explanations below.
If you know specifically what you are looking, selecting one of these categories will return fewer, but more- defined listings.
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eBay Motors: eBay Motors has become the world’s largest market place for car
auctions. You can search for a hard-to-find model or hunt for a potential great deal.
eBay Stores: An eBay Store is an online selling platform tied to eBay. These are
special pages on eBay featuring all the items offered by an individual Store seller. eBay
owner pays the monthly subscription fee corresponding to the Store level. Search
results will bring up items from both the auction area and Stores area of eBay. For
buyers, eBay Stores are a great way to find unique items you can buy right away.
(eBay Shop, on the other hand, is a Web site offering officially licensed, quality
merchandise with the eBay logo.)
Live Auctions: eBay also has “Live Auctions” on where interested bidders can log in
as registered user of eBay and bid “Live” on pre-scheduled “Lots” - Live Auctions term
for "item". Each lot is comprised of one or more pieces that are sold as a group during
the preset live event. Potential buyers bid on the lot as a whole. The usual time given
for Live Auctions is 12 hours. However, most of them are done within a few hours.
Browse at http://www.ebayliveauctions.com/ if interested.
Reviews & Guides: New on eBay – eBay members share their expertise and
comments. With each review, you submit a product rating and write your opinion.
Readers can then vote on your review based on its helpfulness. The most popular
reviews are given "Top Review" status. Guides allow you to be creative in both the
topic and design of the page. Writers can insert pictures, special formatting, eBay links,
and headings.
Want It Now: Want It Now lets buyers post requests for hard-to-find items and allows
sellers to respond to those requests with eBay listings.
eBay Business: Designed for entrepreneurs who want to expand their retail business
beyond selling on eBay as a hobbyist can become an eBay Business owner. For more
information, please consult at http://www.entrepreneur.com/ebaycenter/0,6316,,00.html.
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Categories
The set of categories by which items are organized on eBay, such as Antiques,
Books, Computers, Musical Instruments, etc. You can browse the categories and look
at the lists of items until you find something you’re interested in. This is an alternative to
doing a keyword search, where you enter words and get a list of items that contain
those words. If you are looking for a unique item and know exactly which category to
use, it’s the best way to get the defined search. Selecting the most appropriate
category is essential for a seller to ensure maximum exposure of his/her listing.
Successful searching on eBay
• First and foremost, eBay searches are not case-sensitive.
• Imagine which words a seller might use to describe the item that you’re looking for.
Try several different options and combinations – but do not use more than two or
three words at a time to ensure a variety of results. Search commands are ways of
narrowing your search to get more specific results. Use Advanced Search
Commands for more specific searches.
• Use specific words for more-targeted listings. For example, use Bee Gees posters to
look for posters. Do not type in Bee Gees only.
• Place quotation marks around the group of words if you’re looking for items
containing certain words in a particular order. For example, “Gone with the Wind”.
• Place a minus sign immediately before the word to be excluded (no space) if you do
not want that certain word to be included in your results. For example, Dr. Scholl’s –
sandals will not produce any sandals by Dr. Scholl’s. You can place all words that
you want to exclude from your search in parentheses separated by commas such as
Dr. Scholl’s –(sandals,sandles). This example will catch those sellers who may
misspell sandals.
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• If you’re looking for items that contain either term, place them in parentheses
separated by commas. For example, (Christmas dress) (green,red) will look for
green or red Christmas dresses.
• If you’re looking items that contain words starting with a particular sequence of
letters, use an * at the end. For example, chin* buddh* will retrieve items that
contain words such as China, Chinese, Chinos, Chinook, and chintz, as well as
words include Buddha, Buddha’s, Buddhist, and Buddhism.
• Specify a date, color, or brand for a closer match. For example, type Barbie dress
196* when you’re looking for a Barbie dress in the 1960s. Type red Christmas dress
to look for Christmas dresses in red colors.
• Do not limit your search in titles alone. Check “Search title and description” box to
ensure more results.
• eBay, in some cases, will expand your search to include a plural and/or an
alternative spelling of your search word(s). Searching for book, will retrieve items
containing the keyword book or books. Searching for grey would bring back items
containing the keyword grey or gray. Thus, if you want to only search for a specific
spelling of word, simply enter the keyword or phrase in quotes. For example,
searching for “Tom Clancy” book will only retrieve items that include exact keywords
Tom Clancy Book or Tom Clancy Books and not the additional items that may
include the term Tom Clancy.
• eBay’s search engine searches for and, or, and the just like any other word. Do not
use those terms unless in cases of looking for items with particular terms such as
“Truth or Dare”.
• Do not use extra punctuation unless it’s expected to appear in the title or description.
Examples include Dr. Scholl’s, N-Sync, and t-shirt.
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• Finally, do remember that sellers misspell words. Trying some misspellings can find
items that do not get much traffic specifically due to the misspelling. In that case,
you may find an auction with very little bidding competition. There are websites that
are designed to search items with misspelled words on eBay site. Try
http://www.fatfingers.co.uk/Default.aspx and
http://www.auctionlotwatch.co.uk/auctionspeller.html to find your luck to take
advantage of searching eBay items with misspelled words.
Types of Auctions
There are four types of auctions on eBay.
1) Normal: Similar to a silent auction and is designed for one item (or package). The
seller sets a minimum bid to start things off.
2) Reserve: A reserve price is the minimum price a seller is willing to accept for the
item. A bidder can still use a minimum bid just as in a normal auction, but the reserve is
the secret minimum to buyer. Only once the reserve has been met or surpassed, the
term (reserve met) will appear beside the bid amount. Until that happens, the reserve
has not been met and the caption will read (reserve not yet met). If you do not see
either of these, it’s not a reserve auction. The seller is not obligated to sell the item if the
reserve price is not met. The winning bidder must meet or exceed the reserve price and
have the highest bid. If your maximum bid is the first to meet or exceed the reserve
price, the effective bid displayed will automatically be raised to the reserve price. This
type of auction is also designed for one time (or package) only.
3) Dutch: An auction-type where the seller is offering multiple, identical items is called
a Multiple Item Auction (also known as a Dutch auction). Unlike a regular eBay auction,
Multiple Item Auctions can have many winners. When you bid on a Multiple Item
Auction, you specify the number of items you're interested in and the price you're willing
to pay per item. Winning bidders will pay a price equal to the lowest winning bid.
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Winning bids are selected in order of bid price per item. You cannot use eBay's
automatic bidding system to enter a maximum (or “proxy”) bid. The following is the
reprint from eBay site explaining how a Dutch auction works.
Example: For a listing with 10 available items and 2 bidders:
o Bidder A bid for 8 items at $5 each.
o Bidder B bid for 3 items at $6 each.
In this case, the lowest successful bid is $5. So the outcome of this listing is:
o Bidder B wins 3 items at $5 each.
o Bidder A wins 7 items at $5 each.
• Winning bidders have the right to refuse partial quantities. This means that if
you win some, but not all, of the quantity you bid for, you don't have to buy
any of them. In the above example, Bidder A bid on 8 items, but won only 7 of
them. Bidder A can refuse to complete the purchase, because Bidder A did
not win the quantity they bid on.
• Bids are displayed when you click on the "Bidders list" link. Bids that are not
currently winning show their bid prices, but bids that are winning show the
price that they would pay if the auction ended immediately. This means that,
in the Bid History, all winning bids show the same price per unit – the lowest
winning bid. To place a winning bid (a bid that wins at least some units); you
need to exceed this price.
• The ranking of the bids affects the allocation of the items.
4) Private: In this auction, the bidders’ identities are kept secret though the seller is
notified the winning bidder’s identity, and only the winning bidder’s.
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A. Step by Step searching on eBay
Click once in the box and type in your search words here. Then, click ‘search’ button!
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1. Let’s start with a simple search by using a search entry box in the upper right
hand corner. Let’s suppose that we are looking for a ‘toy’ or a ‘figure’ on
Television Character, “Diego” from “Dora the Explorer” Children’s show. Type in
“Diego” without any quotes in the search box.
PLEASE REMEMBER ANY OF YOUR SEARCH RESULTS WILL NOT LOOK EXACTLY LIKE THE EXAMPLES FOLLOW FROM HERE ON. EBAY IS A DYNAMIC WEB SITE AND UPDATES ARE BEING APPLIED ONLINE EVERY SECOND.
Result of this simple keyword search will bring any item that has the word “Diego”
in the title. The large number of items found tells us that we need to refine our
search. Notice the results fall under “Matching Categories – Sports Mem, Cards & Fan Shop” which does not seem to fit for our ‘toy’ or ‘figure’ search.
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Also notice eBay suggests Related Searches that include all possible other
search words more suitable for our purpose.
2. We can click on the first suggested search words by eBay: diego doll. The
result would look similar to the following page:
The results seem to be more manageable and the categories seem to match our
purpose. However, we want ‘figure’ NOT ‘plush toys’ which seem to be
dominating the results.
3. Click on your search box, highlight the word ‘doll’ and replace with ‘figure’ as
follows. Click on search.
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Search results produce our intended hunt – ‘Diego’ figure from ‘Dora the
Explorer’ plus other figurines that have nothing to do with our TV show character.
Since we know the theme of this particular toy is associated with ‘Dora’, it would
be a smart thing to add the search word ‘Dora’. The results should look similar to
this:
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4. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. You will find our search items featured in
eBay Stores by various sellers with price option. See the sample below.
5. Notice, each search result has all the words ‘Diego’, ‘figure’, and ‘Dora’ in their
titles. However, not all sellers might use the words in the title to describe their
auction. Try checking ‘Search title and description’ box in case the seller puts
important keywords in the auction description but not in the title. The search
would bring more items that match not only the title but also in sellers’ description
and should look similar to this. (Note: As soon as you check “Search title and
description” box and click on search, the listing of eBay stores at the bottom
seem to be gone. However, clicking on the “See Additional Buy it Now items”
from the bottom of the page as follows will bring you the eBay Stores pages
again.)
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For this training, let’s analyze the following search results page carefully without looking
at additional Buy it Now items.
• On this page, the All Items tab on the top is activated – that means we are looking
at all items mentioned below:
1. Items that are being traditionally auctioned.
2. Items being traditionally auctioned and, at the same time, sellers offer buyers
with “Buy It Now” option.
3. Items that are only listed with “Buy It Now” price by sellers.
If you are interested in looking at items on auctions only click on the Auctions
tab. Similarly, to look at items with options only, click on Buy it Now tab.
Some items may appear in both categories, since a seller can post an item in
auction style and at the same time give buyer an option to purchase the item
immediately with option.
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Setting a Price on eBay
There are a number of options that a seller can use when setting a price on
eBay.
1. Auction-Style Listing Price: List an item for sale by setting a minimum bid for a
fixed length of time and let the market decides the price.
2. Buy it Now Feature: These items are identified with “Buy it Now” icon
paired with “Buy it Now” price on search result page. There are two ways for
sellers to use this Buy it Now option.
a. Auction-style: Seller sets a minimum bid for an item and at the same time
offer a “Buy it Now” option to potential buyers who may desire to avoid
bidding and make a purchase immediately. If a buyer is willing to meet
Buy It Now price before the first bid comes in, item sells instantly and
terminates the auction. OR, if a bid comes in first, the Buy It Now option
disappears. Then auction proceeds normally. (In Reserve Price Auctions,
Buy It Now disappears after the first bid that meets the reserve.)
b. Fixed Price: Most common alternative to using auction-style format. It lets
you list an item for an unchanging, set price, with no auction-style bidding.
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From our search result, we can tell at least there are “66” items found from “Toys &
Hobbies”, and “60” items fall specifically in “TV, Movie, Character Toys”, etc.
Let’s examine the right part of the search result page as follows.
1. This is an example of pure auction style. Seller accepts PayPal payment
system for this item; got 2 bids so far; the highest bid being at $7.29; charges
flat shipping rate $5.00; and the auction is ending in 3 hours and 39 minutes.
2. This is an example of a combination of an auction paired with option.
Seller accepts PayPal payment system for this item; has gotten no bid yet;
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the minimum starting bid price is at $8.99; however, an interested buyer can
but at $11.99 by using option right away and terminate the auction;
charges flat shipping rate $4.00; and the auction is ending in 13 hours and 10
minutes.
3. This is an example of pure option by seller. Seller accepts PayPal payment system for this item; the fixed-price for the item is $149.99 with the
flat shipping charge $29; the auction is ending in 15 hours and 14 minutes.
All of the steps taken above to find a figurine (not a plush toy) “Diego” from “Dora
the Explorer” TV character can all be carried out all at once by using the Advanced
Search form. Not only that, we can also further limit our search to specify items fall
within our price range, items from a specific seller by using seller’s User ID, items on
Completed Listing list, items available in US only, etc. See below.
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In addition, eBay allows searching for items that have ended over the last 15
days, for free of charge. Since many of these listings ended with a winning bidder or
buyer, you can look at them to determine how high you should bid or what the market
price is. As a seller, you can also decide what starting price you should use in an
auction-style listing. Check the box on Completed listings only in the Advanced Search
form to do a research on the price of the item before you buy or sell.
For serious eBay users, eBay introduced a new service called eBay Market Research in November of 2005, as a new subscription service to give buyers and
sellers a view into millions of eBay listing, bidding, and pricing trends. The paid service
gives subscribers access to data, charts, and graphs, that show the prices eBay’s 168
million users have paid in any auction over the past several months, based on their
subscription levels. For more information, check out at
http://pages.ebay.com/marketplace_research/detailed-comparison.html.
Further, there are special pages where members can post messages to the eBay
Community about various topics. There is a discussion board for just about any eBay
topic you can think of. You can post questions, learn valuable tips, share your
experiences, and connect with other eBay users. Check out at
http://pages.ebay.com/community/boards/index.html to learn more on the Community
Group.
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B. How to learn more details about an item
When you click on an auction title, the first thing you see is the basic information
on the auction. Note that the auction title and the auction number are at the top of
the page.
Current bid: shows the accurate current bid for that moment. It is crucial to
refresh your browser button to learn the latest current bid from time to time.
Time left: tells how much time has left on this particular auction.
History: gives the bid history with number of total bids for that moment. By
clicking on the number of bids shown next, an interested buyer can find out which
eBay user bid at what time and what was his bid amount but not their maximum
bids that may have taken place days or hours before a listing ends. Not only
that, you can find out the exact remaining time of the auction on that page such
as:
Time left: 2 days, 6 hours 3 minutes 17 seconds
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High bidder: gives the User ID of the highest bidder (Not the winning bidder) for
that moment.
Item location: indicates where the seller lives or does business. That will
determine whether a buyer will have to pay sales tax if he wins the auction.
Shipping costs: when seller uses flat shipping rate, no matter how far the item
has to be shipped, the shipping cost will be the same. Mostly, sellers of these
types limit their shipping to certain geographical area. However, when seller
uses a method to calculate shipping costs, location of an item will make a
difference in total cost of winning an auction. Also note that some sellers make
their profit on shipping and handling. They charge a lower price for the item and
a high price for shipping and handling.
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Clicking on seller’s User ID will provide you more information on seller’s ID
history, other items for sales by the same seller and a chance to look into
seller’s eBay Store if has one as indicated by the eBay Store sign . Take
the time to read feedback comments on seller especially if you are thinking of
bidding/buying on a pricy item. The color star next to the number indicates
the level of feedback score points.
By scrolling down the page, you will get to the auction ad where seller has a
chance to provide all the information necessary to help the buyer make a
decision to bid. As a bidder, this is your chance to get all the information you
need to make an informed decision. If you are not satisfied with what seller
provides in that section, you can always contact the seller to get more
information by using Ask seller a question.
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The remaining page describes the seller’s shipping, payment and return
policy. Seller’s payment instructions may include more than the usual
payment method. Seller may also state that he would not be able to ship the
item until 7 days after the bidding is closed since he would be out of town, for
example. It is crucial that buyer beware any particular requirements and
statements made by the seller before bidding. You can bid without proper
information, a choice you may regret later.
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C. Bidding on an Item
You will need to register with eBay before you bid or buy anything. Registration
is free, fast and easy. You will choose an ID (your eBay name, which is a login
name) and a password. (Note: For security purpose, NEVER use your birth
dates, your children’s names, addresses and MOST IMPORTANTLY, YOUR
SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER as password. An alphanumeric combination that
is nonsensical and only unique to you is recommended. Also never use the
same password for more than one website or service.) At the bottom of the
auction webpage, you can place a bid. If you have not registered or signed in
yet, you will get a webpage that requires your login and password when you click
Place Bid> button.
Above the input is the current minimum bid. Your bid must equal at least this
amount plus one increment higher. The bid increment is the amount by which
a bid will be raised each time the current bid is outdone. It is predetermined
based on the current high bid. Click on the Place Bid button when you are
ready to submit your bid.
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eBay can automatically bid on your behalf up to your maximum bid
(Automatic or Proxy bidding). Proxy bidding works as follows:
1. When you place a bid, you enter the maximum amount you'd be willing
to pay for the item. Your maximum amount is kept confidential from
other bidders and the seller.
2. The eBay system compares your bid to those of the other bidders.
3. The system places bids on your behalf, using only as much of your bid
as is necessary to maintain your high bid position (or to meet the
reserve price). The system will bid up to your maximum amount.
4. If another bidder has a higher maximum, you'll be outbid. BUT, if no
other bidder has a higher maximum, you win the item. And you could
pay significantly less than your maximum price! This means you don't
have to keep coming back to re-bid every time another bid is placed.
Note: This bidding system does not apply to Multiple Item Auctions (Dutch
Auctions). In Reserve Price Auctions, if your maximum bid is the first to be
greater than the seller's reserve price, the eBay system will automatically
jump the price up to meet the reserve, and bidding will continue from there.
Tips on Bidding
1) Only bid on what you decide to buy. Make every bid a serious one.
You will earn negative feedback from this practice and after enough
infractions you will be permanently suspended from eBay.
2) Learn all you can about the item. Thoroughly review the item
description. If not enough information given, ask the seller
questions.
3) Research the item’s value. Print sources such as catalogs and
price guidelines available in your local library, local market ads,
regular online merchant stores, and other auction websites such as
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http://auctions.overstock.com/ and www.ubid.com can provide
valuable information on possible market price of an item.
www.yahoo.com has a shopping page where your search of an
item would provide list of vendors selling a particular product with
comparisons on prices. www.froogle.com is also a price engine
website launched by Google Inc and does the similar thing as
Yahoo.
4) Check the feedback about the seller. Normally, higher feedback
score is a good sign. However, check on actual feedbacks,
especially negative ones, to find out how serious the problems that
earned the seller the negative points. Often, you will also find
seller’s rebuttal to the buyer’s negative feedback.
5) Decide the maximum you're willing to pay for the item.
6) Make sure the item is legal and allowed.
7) Use extra caution if an item is listing significantly below the
manufacturer's suggested retail price. Without seeing and touching
the item yourself, authenticity is all in seller’s promise.
8) Don't assume without confirmation that claims about an item's
condition or value are true, or that photographs are accurate. Get
an escrow if you cannot lose more than $500. Get the item
appraised by an expert agreed by both you and the seller for
valuable items.
9) Time your bids. Watch the “Time Left” for an auction. Click on
“Watch this item” feature to track the items you wish to buy. If you
bid too early you may drive the price up prematurely. However, if
you are not going to be around at the closing time and you really
want the item, consider “proxy bidding”.
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D. Retracting a Bid
You can retract a bid if you desire, but you open yourself to negative
feedback. Unless you have a darn good excuse, you should not retract. There
are, however, a few exceptional circumstances (described in the User Agreement
you agreed upon signing up with eBay at registration) under which you may
retract a bid. These are if:
• You made a typographical error and entered the wrong bid amount. For
instance, you bid $99.50 instead of $9.95. If this occurs, re-enter the
correct bid amount immediately after you retract your bid. If you do not
place another bid, the retraction will be in violation of eBay's policy and
could result in your suspension.
• The description of an item you have bid on has changed significantly.
• You can't reach the seller. This means that you tried calling the seller but
his or her phone number doesn't work, or you have tried emailing a
message to the seller and it comes back undeliverable.
• Someone has bid on an item using your User ID and password.
E. Following up with your bid/Watching
Go to My eBay on the navigation bar. It features a record of your bidding.
See below for an example summary page of how you can keep track of your
biddings, items you are watching, and other convenient eBay services. You can
also check messages sent by other sellers, buyers and email confirmations on
your bids from eBay immediately after your bidding. eBay also sends you an
email message acknowledging when you are outbid or when you win the auction.
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If you are not in a hurry to buy a particular item, or if you cannot find what you
seek, search for an item in Advanced Search, and from your results page, click
on Add to Favorites at top right. Indicate that you want eBay to email you for a
specific time period whenever items are listed which match your search terms.
Sniping: It is placing a high bid in the closing seconds of an auction-style listing
is within the eBay Community. Sniping is part of the eBay experience, similar to
raising your hand at the last second at an open auction, and all bids placed
before a listing ends are valid - even if they're placed one second before the
listing ends.
If you are online at the auction ending time, and there are (or if you anticipate)
other bidders, open the auction page in two windows so that you can be
prepared to make quick follow up bid. It’s a good idea to SIGN OUT of eBay and
SIGN IN again to avoid delaying the bid, if eBay asks you to sign in right after
you bid. Make sure to reload the auction page to see the latest current bid.
Shill Bidding: It is a prohibited practice on eBay when a bid is deliberately
placed just to raise the price of an item artificially. To avoid appearance of
involvement in this activity, family members, friends, and individuals living or
working together, or sharing a computer should not bid on each other’s items.
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F. Payment Methods on eBay
• PayPal is the preferred payment method for most eBay buyers and
sellers. Buyer needs to set up a PayPal account by using a checking
account, credit card, or Paypal balance, and then send the payment to
seller quickly and securely online. Seller has no access to buyer’s
banking information. You can only use this method when a seller offers
PayPal as a payment method for their listing. It’s free to buyers, but sellers
pay fees.
Advantages
1. Payment is traceable. You can track the status of your
payment using My eBay or your PayPal account.
2. Is immediate and convenient. You pay directly from the item
listing page and payment is deposited directly into the
seller's account.
3. Does not require you to use your credit card online (you can
transfer directly from your bank account). Sellers don't see
your credit card number (it is safely encrypted through
PayPal's server), which limits the risk of unauthorized use.
4. Offers PayPal Buyer Protection on qualifying items - up to
$1,000 in free coverage. Additional limited protection is
offered through PayPal's Money Back Guarantee.
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• Paying with a credit card Certain Sellers are set up to take credit card payments. This will
require you to provide your credit card information to the seller.
Advantages
1. Payment is traceable.
2. Payment is Immediate and convenient.
3. Provides limited liability coverage. Credit card companies
typically provide some level of identity and purchase
protection whether you are paying with your credit card
through PayPal, or directly to the seller. Contact your credit
card company to learn more.
Note: Since credit card purchases are generally protected by your
card company, if problems arise you must go through your card
company before applying to the eBay Standard Purchase
Protection Program.
• Paying with personal check, cashiers check or money orders
You can pay with a personal check, cashiers check or a money order
as long as your seller accepts this payment method. After you click the
Pay Now button and sent your information to the seller, you will receive
detailed payment instructions.
Advantages
1. Payment is traceable to a particular mailing address and
provides proof of payment.
2. Covered up to $200 under the eBay Standard Purchase
Protection Program (minus $25 for processing costs).
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3. Most banks offer a stop payment service if problems arise
before the check is cashed. Some money order services
may have the option to stop payment if problems arise
before the payment is cashed.
Disadvantages
1. Sellers must wait for funds to clear.
2. Payment is extremely difficult to recover in cases of fraud.
G. Security Concern
The Internet in general is a hotbed of fraud schemes, and eBay is
definitely an attractive place for these con artists. Anonymity provides an easy
path to cheating people out of money. Because of creative user names eBay
users are anonymous on the surface; however, eBay almost always knows who
they are. The good news is that eBay has a superb system for establishing
reputations. In most cases of fraud committed through eBay, the victims do have
some remedy. The reputation (feedback) system, in other words, Trust,
comprises the heart and soul of the eBay system.
In order to make buyers feel safer when making purchases on eBay, all
tangible items are automatically insured for $200. For buyers, as an incentive to
use eBay's PayPal payment system, most items purchased through PayPal are
covered up to $1,000.
In addition, eBay recommends independent escrow service at
http://www.escrow.com for any purchase, but typically is used for purchases of
$500 or more. It is a licensed and regulated company that collects, holds, and
sends a buyer's money to a seller according to instructions agreed on by both the
buyer and seller. Typically, once the buyer receives and approves the item from
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the seller within an agreed time frame, the escrow service then sends the
payment to the seller. Consult this eBay page
http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/payment-escrow.html before using one to
avoid fraudulent escrow services. Also, http://sos4auctions.com/ lists fraudulent
online escrow companies.
The most common type of buyer fraud is simply not paying for an item.
Sellers can deal with non-paying bidders by filing an Unpaid Item dispute. To
avoid buyer fraud:
• Always check the feedback of your bidders. If a bidder has excessive
negative feedback, you may be able to cancel the bid.
• If you accept a personal check as payment, never ship the merchandise
until the check clears. Keep in mind, however, that in purchasing via
credit card a buyer can always ask the credit card company for a charge-
back on an item with which he or she is dissatisfied. That creates the risk
that the seller ends up refunding the purchase price.
• If your buyer doesn't pay, always leave negative feedback so the non-
paying bidder has a harder time striking again.
There are two main ways that seller can commit fraud: The item the buyer
purchased is dramatically different from how it was described in the listing; or the
item simply never arrives. To avoid seller fraud:
• Always check seller feedback before placing a bid.
• Ask all relevant questions before bidding on an auction. Some sellers think
that if they don't say what condition the item is in, it's the buyer's fault if he
bids on the item assuming it's in good condition and it turns out to be a
piece of junk.
• Always leave negative feedback for unscrupulous sellers -- this makes it
harder for them to continue committing fraud.
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Should you have any unresolved disputes between you and the seller/buyer
even after using all resources to reach a concurrence, go to the eBay Security and Resolution Center to report your problem? If you see a SquareTrade icon:
next to the seller, it is one way to tell that the seller is
committed to high selling standards and agrees to participate in SquareTrade’s
resolution should a problem arise. SquareTrade also guarantees all listings with
a verified SquareTrade Seal for up to $250.00 against fraud.
Though eBay allows sellers to change their User IDs, it is not recommended
since a User ID plays an important role in a member’s reputation. A good reason
and example of changing a User ID would be when a seller wants to reflect a
new line of business. Normally, a member who has changed User IDs keeps the
same member profile. Change of a User ID would be indicated by icon next
to the User ID.
eBay Glossary: To find out what a particular eBay term or icon means, visit
http://pages.ebay.com/help/newtoebay/glossary.html.
eBay Acronyms list can also be viewed at:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/newtoebay/acronyms.html.
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APPENDIX
The following pages show examples of phishing scams many con artists
are trying to use on eBay and PayPal customers. Phishing is sending an email
to user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate business or enterprise in
an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information such as
passwords and account numbers that will be used for identity theft. First and
foremost, neither PayPal nor eBay addresses you as in a general format, “Dear
PayPal” or “Dear eBay member”. Second, even though the link in the e-mail
looks like an eBay or PayPal URL, once you click on it, you can see in your
browser's address bar that you're not at eBay at all.
Phishing Email that appears to be from PayPal to a customer
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Phishing Email that appears to be from eBay to a customer
What do you do when you receive a phishing email?
DO NOT RESPOND TO ANY OF THESE EMAILS. You should
immediately delete it since it’s not only sent to you with the intention to steal your
identify but can be loaded with viruses. Upon opening the email, your computer
can be attacked by viruses.
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If you are a regular eBay and PayPal user, you should consider
downloading eBay Toolbar and Account Guard on your computer. You can
download the toolbar at http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/account-
guard.html. eBay Toolbar reminds you when listings you're bidding on are
about to end, and even lets you choose from a variety of alert times. On the
other hand, Account Guard warns you when you're on a potentially fraudulent
(spoof) Web site. It also lets you report such sites to eBay. If eBay verifies that a
Web site is fraudulent, the information will automatically be distributed to all other
eBay Toolbar members, warning them about the spoof Web site. After you
download eBay Toolbar and Account Guard, the top part of your browser should
look like this:
Once you have downloaded, your eBay Toolbar will always be there when
your open your internet browser. You can even search items on eBay by placing
search terms in your eBay toolbar search button without being actually at eBay
website. See example below.
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If you clicked on the link in spoof email pretending to be from eBay or
PayPal, your eBay Toolbar Account Guard will change into bright red and will
warn you as follows:
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ILLUSTRATIONS ON HOW A DUTCH AUCTION WORKS
1) The seller has 3 exact quantities of “Diego” figurine to sell. I started
bidding when the ‘current bid’ price was $6.13. Siminaz bid $6.13 for 1
quantity. Nasister1 bid $6.13 for 2 quantities. They were the two winning
bidders at the time.
2) Bid page required me to enter the next increment level $6.63 (50 cents
higher the latest ‘current bid’). I put in $6.63 as my bid price for 1 quantity.
Notice ‘Your maximum bid: US$ 6.63’ on the following page. This page
was presented as soon as I hit the ‘confirm bid’. However, notice the
listings of ‘Bid amount’ column, where my bid as mandalaycook still shows
as $6.13. The reason: In Dutch auctions, winning bidders will pay a price
equal to the lowest winning bid. $6.13 was the lowest winning bid at the
time.
3) By bidding 50 cents higher than the latest ‘current bid’ $6.13, I made
nasister1’s winning bidder ranking lowered. We can presume nasister1’s
highest bid at the time was $6.13. As this point time, he still wins but only
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1 quantity instead of 2 he bid originally. He could refuse to accept the
winning bid if the auction ended at the time. We can also assume that
siminaz’s maximum bid was also $6.63. He ranked first in the winning
listing because he bid before me. Notice the Time left was more than 5
hours.
4) The following confirmation email from eBay explains clearly that my
maximum bid was $6.63 but my current bid was $6.13 as a high bidder. If
the auction ended at the time, I could have paid only $6.13 (50 cents lower
than my actual maximum bid $6.63).
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5) 31 minutes before the auction ended, a new bidder peachmazie came
along and bid for 1 quantity. We can assume that his required maximum
bid was $6.63 (50 cents higher than the current bid $6.13). By doing so,
he pushed out nasister1 entirely from the winning bidder ranking. Since
there were only 3 quantities available and there were 3 bidders with the
maximum bid $6.63, nasister1’s previous bid $6.13 now becomes non-
winning bid at this time. No other new bid came along until the auction
ended and the top three winning bidder paid $6.63 each for 1 quantity
each.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
www.eBay.com
www.howstuffworks.com
Sinclair, Joseph T. eBay the Smart Way: Selling, Buying, and Profiting on the web’s #1
Auction Site. Fourth Edition. New York, NY. AMACOM, 2005. 381.177 Si616e 4th ed.
Sinclair, Joseph T. eBay global the smart way: buying and selling internationally
on the world's #1 auction site. New York, NY. AMACOM, 2004. 382 Si616eg
Miller, Michael. Absolute beginner’s Guide to eBay. Indianapolis, Indiana. Que
Publishing, 2003. 381.1702 M649ab.
Holden, Greg. How to Do Everything with eBay. Emeryville, CA. McGraw-
Hill/Osborne, 2004. 381.177 H726h.
Collier, Marsha. eBay: Timesaving Techniques for Dummies. Indianapolis, Indiana.
Wiley Publishing, 2004. 381.177 C699et
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