by Ashley Harness

Created on: April 10, 2008

Research First

Before making any bids, on any items, anywhere online, you should always prepare for the possible buy with plenty of research on the seller. Of course, this doesn't pertain to little impulse buys, or buying postcards or paper clips. If you're actually investing money in a collectible item, worth something, then yes, make sure you know a little bit more about what you're buying, and who is selling it. eBay is the most well-traversed shopping marketplace on eBay. You can find anything on eBay, and usually at a decent price; but before you just start jumping into the fire, and bidding on stuff, prepare an optimum bidding strategy, that's going to best serve your collecting needs. Listed below are some tips to help you get started, or, even if you're more experienced, help you make better appraisals of the sellers on eBay.

Where's The Motivation To Sell?

The primary focus should be on, what is motivating this bidder to sell. Well, generally it's the desire to make more money. I mean, that's pretty much the entire point of joining any online merchant in order to sell your item. Although, some people do use eBay for idiotic reasons, such as seeing whether or not someone is actually stupid enough to bid on a bag or trash that they've been saving for eight years. But usually, the significant thing to pay attention to, is how much money they actually intend to make off of a potential sale, and an important thing to consider before jumping right into a bidding war.

Choice For Sellers

For instance, eBay has options for people trying to sell their goods on eBay, pertaining as to how they plan to do it. For instance, what's called a "reserve." It's a preset price for an item, and if, near the end of the bidding process, this price has not been met, the seller is not obligated to allow the winner of the auction to buy the item. This can be a great options for sellers on eBay; sometimes an auction can just be going really slowly, depending on the hour of day, or whether or not people are just bidding in minimal amounts, one after the other, without making any progress towards a minimum value of the item. However, the buyer sees it a bit differently, and usually figures, if they won, they should be getting the item. Or, sometimes a seller might put the reserve up too high, at a level which is more than the item is worth, in an attempt to get people to bid higher, or they'll lose the chance to buy it. In another situation, sometimes a new seller, trying to attract

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