Going, Going, Gone
Written: May 20 '04 (Updated May 21 '04)
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| Full Review |
Warning: Ebay is an addictive site. When I first joined it was only to bid for one thing, but over a year later I'm still there every couple of days, checking out what deals I can get, trying to make a profit out of old junk I had lying around.
Ebay is like one big garage sale, you can find almost everything you could possibly want, and a lot of stuff you don't! They have everything going on there, from cars and property to diet pills. The good thing is, in there amoungst the junk, are thousands of really really good deals. Some of the things I've ordered have been mobile phones, sporting goods, electrical equipment, and I don't think I've once paid more than half their price in a shop!
It is hard to search through all the junk that is being sold to try and find what you want at a good price sometimes. Searches often bring up a lot of results that have no relevance to what you were searching for, but I think it's worth taking a little time to search through the items to find the right one for you at the right price.
A good feature of ebay is the 'my ebay section' here you can 'watch' items easily to check how high the bidding has got on all the items you are interested in without going to each one individually (I think you can watch about 30 items at a time, which I find is plenty) and also keep track of items which you are selling.
The notification services on ebay I find are quite good, emails are sent when you win an item, you sell an item and also to warn you of the end of an auction on any item you are watching 1 hour before, so you don't miss out on last minute bidding.
I am a more fequent buyer than seller, but any time I have sold I've found the fees to be pretty reasonable, however as I have not used any other auction site I have nothing to compare the prices to. Although it does cost extra to get special features added to your auction, such as 'buy it now' or a reserve price, I think the services offered are worth the cost and I always have gotten my money back in the sale.
One thing people are very wary of, that constantly gets said to me is 'what if they're conning you'. I'll admit, this can and probably does happen, that people recieve your payment, but the goods never arrive, or the goods aren't as advertised. This is a risk that is taken, however the feedback system is a very good way of minimising that risk. How this works is that everybody you either buy or sell to leaves you either positive or negative feedback, which others can then see before they deal with that person. This means people are very careful to try and provide a good service to you as otherwise they fear you will leave them bad feedback and lose them future sales.
All items I have bought have arrived on time. There was one case when the item did not work, however in this case I dealt directly with the seller who was very helpful in sending a replacement and I had no need to deal with the customer services.
Bidding on items is made very easy, with a section to bid on the item on each page, and an automated bidder, so it will keep bidding up to a maximum limit which you set, saving you having to keep checking the auction.
Different dealers from ebay accept different methods of payment, including paypal, postal order, cash, credit card, etc. So make sure to check this before bidding.
Overall, I've found ebay to be a totally addicting site, easy to use, with good service and good deals. You just have to be willing to search a little to find what you want, and don't forget to check feedback before bidding!
Recommended:
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About the Author
Reviews written: 17
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