Buying On E Bay

[emmie]

i have i hope bought my first item on e bay - can anyone advise whether it's worth it,
bargains by the looks of it, but as i am new to this, did you get your items, good price?

[Old_Geezer]

Advise

[emmie]

thanks for the advice

[margarettom]

I shop on eBay regularly. Always pay with PayPal. Easy returns, though I have very rarely needed this. Always check the seller and the feedback. My favourite shopping site.

[Maydup]

As a beginner I would also advise ticking the UK only filter (scroll down the left hand side) when searching for items, and always double check that you are on ebay.co.uk and not ebay.com. I have not had a bad experience on ebay but I do like to stay in UK for purchases.

[pastafreak]

I've been buying I eBay a good few years. Only 2 or 3 "bad" experiences like lost in the post or seller didn't have, and I always got refunded. I use PayPal...it seems the safest way to go.
I've bought everything from footwear to clothing...mostly second hand but always good to excellent condition...supplements, vintage jewellery, pet supplies, and houseplants-dozens of them!
Always check the sellers ratings and reviews. I always stick with those who are 98% and up. I check the reasons for bad reviews too.
I'd say prices have gone up since covid.

[Dagman]

Tip.. Put a - immediately before any words you dont want to be included in your searches, eg, if i was looking for a "dvd player" but was presented with ads for dvd cables or discs too, then in your search put -cables and -discs, no gaps! It will then get rid of all ads with those words.

[dannyk13]

I have been paying E-bay by debit card for quite a few years and never had a problem.

[barry1010]

I must have bought hundreds of things from eBay sellers over the years but can now often find goods much cheaper elsewhere. Often eBay sellers have their own sites where they sell the same items cheaper (no eBay and PayPal fees). Last week I needed to buy a new drill and found it £40 cheaper than anywhere else including eBay and Amazon at B&Q with free next day delivery.
It always pays to shop around.

I've had a couple of bad experiences with eBay and PayPal but not enough to put me off using them.

[Tuvok]

Barry100 is right - sometimes the same seller will be on Amazon and Ebay, as well as having their own website - and the price for the same item can differ.

Don't bid too early (eg. days in advance) - and make use of the proxy bid (automatic bidding).

Don't stick to round figures eg.
Fred bid £2,
Barney (proxy bid) £2.50
Wilma then bid £3 but Betty had a proxy bid earlier so her bid was accepted not Wilma's
Barney then had another proxy bid £3.50, but Betty also had a Proxy bid of £3.51 (in this case her maximum bid was set at £3.51) - Betty won!

[dannyk13]

Tuvok, A couple of times recently I have ordered goods on E-bay and they were delivered by Amazon.

[pastafreak]

I always bid an odd number...and I usually don't bid until the last minute. I want to bid knowing that I really want the item.

[Tuvok]

I bought 4 of 1 item and I received 4 Amazon boxes (through the post) - the items would have fitted in 1 box!!!!!

[dannyk13]

Packing small items in large boxes has always been a fault of Amazon.

[woofgang]

yes and I know why....they have algorithms that are concerned with the stability of their in warehouse transport system and their warehouse to local hub transport system. The choice of box is so that collections of boxes form stable cubes for shipping.

[Cloverjo]

I’ve had one bad experience on eBay. I was hoping to buy a record player but only got the innards which are still sitting in a box under the stairs.

You get the odd dodgy seller but mostly it’s fine and a bargain.

[smurfchops]

Are you in UK? Beware buying from sellers abroad, especially China. I only buy from private sellers, not professionals, and check their feedback.

[Canary42]

I've bought over 500 items over the last 16 years, and only one or two gone bad.

Just keep your wits about you, be very wary of where the seller is situated (China can be risky I've found, especially if you want to return the item), don't get "caught up" in an auction by going above your decided price, do a bit of looking round to see if prices are realistic. There are some sellers coming on to eBay now (especially in the Collectors category) with ridiculously inflated prices because occasionally they will get a mug paying it. Sometimes there is a reason for above average prices so you might need expert advice (take a look at £2 coins if you want to see an enormous range of prices, some of which I can't believe are justified, but I'm no expert).

Anyway, good luck with your eBay trading.

[Canary42]

One almost-scam which a seller got away with a few years ago was to post a picture of an expensive item and only carefully hidden in the small print description was it made clear that the item for sale was indeed just a picture (or in some cases just the box). eBay may have clamped down on this now.

In my early trading days it was mainly individual private sellers (like myself on a couple of occasions) selling by auction, nowadays there are hundreds of "traders" with eBay shops and selling with buy-it-now fixed prices. As always, the good old days were much better.