The popularity of eBay now makes it difficult for you to find bargains., but that does not mean it is impossible. By leveraging seller sloppiness and a little eBay knowledge, you can get items at great prices. Use the steps below to find bargains, make sure you get great prices, and win the auction!
Step
Method 1 of 3: Knowing the Price of an Item
Step 1. Find out the price of the item you are looking for in a retail store by searching online, contacting the store, or visiting the nearest store
Use the lowest retail price as your initial benchmark -- you should find the lower price on eBay.
Step 2. Find out the price of the item in the online store
Once you know the price at a retail store, do a search on an online store, such as Amazon or Craigslist, to see if similar items are selling for less. Sometimes online stores are cheaper than eBay, and you can save on shipping costs by picking up your own groceries.
Step 3. Look for completed auctions on eBay
After knowing the price outside of eBay, now is the time to look for the price of the item on eBay. Perform a search with the Completed Listings option to display items sold in 90 days. Look at the highest bids and compare them with local and online prices, to see if eBay can be the cheapest option. If the highest bid on eBay is lower than the store and online price, use that bid as an estimate of how much you want to bid.
Method 2 of 3: Finding Cheap Items
Step 1. Consider buying second hand
eBay provides both new and used items, and you can save quite a bit by buying used items. However, since second hand items are not covered by warranty, be careful when buying expensive used items.
Step 2. Calculate shipping costs when searching
Shipping costs can be a sizable expense beyond the final price of the item, so sometimes you're better off buying things locally through a retailer or Craigslist. When you do your search, sort by option Price + P&P: lowest first to display the cheapest items including shipping costs. Before bidding, first check the shipping cost of the item.
Step 3. Do a search on the description, in addition to the auction title
By default, eBay only performs searches within the title. If you don't find the item in question, try clicking the include description option in Advanced search to search the description.
Step 4. Track the search
If you haven't found the item, or if the price doesn't match, you can track your search so eBay will notify you when the item you want becomes available.
Step 5. Find items that can only be picked up by yourself
These items are usually only available in certain areas, so not many people are bidding. Therefore, the price of goods will be more controlled. Find these items on sites like BayCrazy
Step 6. Search for goods overseas by clicking Worldwide in the Location option on the left of the screen while searching
Usually, clothes and gadgets from abroad are cheaper.
Step 7. Try typing the wrong item name on purpose
The trick to finding bargains on eBay is to look for items that aren't being looked at, because the more the item is looked at, the higher the price. One way to find an unseen item is to search for the wrong keywords (e.g. “diamond necklace” instead of “diamond necklace”), because if the item is not found, no one will be able to bid on the item.
Try using a misspelling tracking site, such as Fatfingers, BayCrazy, Goofbid or Bargain Checker
Step 8. Look for near-finished auctions with low bids at BayCrazy or LastMinute Auction
These items are usually cheaper than bargain items.
Step 9. Look for items sold by inexperienced sellers
While high-rated "senior" sellers offer more security, you can often find items at a bargain price from sellers who don't know the actual price of the item. Look for sellers with little but positive feedback to find cheap buy it now items.
Method 3 of 3: Get the Cheapest Price
Step 1. Do not enter integers when bidding
eBay has changed the way it works, so that the bid you enter is the maximum number you are willing to pay, while the bid that appears on the site is simply a multiple of the current bid until your maximum bid is reached. This means that you may end up paying less than the original bid. Generally, people bid with whole numbers, so to win, enter "$20.01" instead of "$20". This means that when someone else bids $20, your bid still wins.
Step 2. Use the highest bid history to take advantage of the best offer items
Some sellers may allow you to enter a best offer, which you may accept or reject.
- On eBay, do an advanced search, and tick accepts best offer.
- After finding the auction that received the highest bid, enter the seller's username in Goofbid's highest bid history. You'll see what items the seller sold to the highest bidder, including the average discount.
- Use that information to make a quote. For example, if the seller is willing to let go of an item for 25% below the price tag, you now know that bidding 25% below the price tag is most likely to be accepted, while still saving money.
Step 3. Bid at the right time
The fewer bidders in the last minute of the auction, the lower the final price of the item, and the more likely you are to win the auction. Therefore, you can save money by choosing auctions that end when not many people are using the internet.
- Find auctions that end in the early hours of the weekdays, such as Friday nights. In the early hours of the weekdays, not many users are online. The auction that ends Sunday 6pm-11:30pm EST is the worst auction to enter.
- Try using BayCrazy to find auctions that close at midnight.
Step 4. Learn the art of sniping
You are not recommended to bid at the beginning of the auction, because the price of the item will quickly rise. To ensure you win the auction at the lowest price, bid as late as possible, especially at the last second before the auction closes. You can do this manually, or take advantage of the help of a sniping tool.
Step 5. Use the sniping tool to automatically bid the price you want at the last second of the auction
It relieves the stress of entering an auction, and you can use it to enter a midnight auction while you sleep. However, sniping tools have two drawbacks: they are paid and sometimes ask for eBay passwords (which can be a security issue). If you provide an eBay password, make sure it is different from your other passwords (email, bank, etc.). Here are some popular sniping tools:
- Goofbid -- Free after signing up.
- Sniper –- After the free trial, the fee is 1% of the auction price, ranging from $0.25-9.95.
- JBidwatcher –- Free and available for Windows, Mac and Linux.
- eSnipe – The fee is 1% of the auction price, with a range of $0.25-10.
- AuctionStealer or AuctionBlitz – Provides a free version, and a priority version with a higher success rate. Monthly subscription fees start at $8.99, and monthly free access fees start at $11.99.
- Bidnapper – After a free trial period, charges a subscription from $7.99 a month to $49.99 a year. You can also pay for 10 bids ($19.99) or 25 bids ($36.99).
- Gixen – Free with ads, or $6 for an ad-free service with higher success rates.
Step 6. Try sniping manually
If you don't want to use the tools above for safety or savings, or because you feel you can do it yourself, do the sniping manually.
- Add the item you want to bid on to your watch list so eBay will notify you when the auction is closing.
- 5-10 minutes before the auction closes, open the auction in two browser windows. In one of the windows, enter the price you want to pay, then click place bid, but don't confirm your bid.
- In the other window, keep the page updated to see how much time the auction has left. Do it continuously until the last minute of the auction.
- Use the clock to count 40 seconds when the auction has 1 minute left, and confirm bids in a second browser window. If you perform the steps above correctly, you can "steal" bids from buyers who don't know this trick, but if buyers use an automated snipping tool that bids in the last 10 seconds of the auction, you can barely win.
Step 7. Try to bid, especially for items with buy it now status or items with a high opening price that have not yet received a bid
Click ask a question to contact the seller, then bid on the item.
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Be polite and professional when bidding.
"I want to buy item X that has not been bargained for at a slightly lower price, for example $x, may I?", would be more polite than "Just buy $x, okay?"
Warning
- Use PayPal to protect yourself from counterfeit goods or fraudulent sellers.
- Beware of counterfeit goods. Commonly counterfeit items include GHO hair tools, Mulberry handbags, Game Boy Advances, Ray-Ban glasses, branded golf clubs, artist signatures, Ugg boots and Montblanc pens. Generally, the more unprofessional the photos at an auction are, the less likely the auction is to be a scam, as fraudsters often take photos directly from the official website of the item.
