Ebay Auction Techniques That Work

If you're buying collectibles (or anything, for that matter) on ebay or other internet auction sites, then here are some techniques that I've refined over time to find great deals and sell for top dollar.

If you're buying:

1. click on "newly listed' and "buy it now"...sometimes that thing you're looking for was just posted a few minutes ago at a very cheap price. If you see it first, you win. Just like $20 bills lying on the sidewalk...they do exist, but only for the guy who gets there first.
2. click on "auction only" and "ending soonest"...then put in a good bid lowball bid. Sometimes the other bidders don't show up and you get it cheap. If you lose the auction, there will be another one along soon. Note that this really works well with auctions that end in the middle of a weekday.
3. click buy it now and then sorting from lowest to highest price. Or if you don't want to wade through the junk, sort from highest prices to lowest.
4. If you see a dealer who has a genuinely good price on something, be sure and check to see what else he has. Sometimes its just a guy who has to make his rent payment and he's blowing stuff out to make sure he raises the cash.
5. If you search by keywords (like I do), be sure and check on mispelling. I've found cheap, rare volkswagen parts because they spelled "volkswagen" as "volkswagon"

If you're selling:

1. Do a market study and figure out what your competitors are selling for. Shaving 50 cents off your price to make yourself the cheapest can really help.
2. Make sure your auction expires in the evening when people are off work, and if possible during the weekend. Be sure to factor in time zone differences.
3. Make sure you think of all of the important key words. Look at other auctions to gather them up. After weeks of searching for and buying double die obverse nickels, I found that some dealers would only write "ddo". I never thought to look for that acronym so they missed some sales. If they'd have put in the word "double" I would have found them and bought their stuff.

4. If you're selling multiples of a commodity, be sure and have a sweet policy on combined shipping. I was selling silver proof sets, so I advertised that the shipping charge would be $4 no matter how many they bought. One smart buyer bought them all after realizing they would have a real low unit cost that way. I was happy about it...only had to ship one package.
5. Take lots of photos. It provides a sense of security for the buyer that more than makes up for the cost on all but the most inexpensive items. Whats interesting is I've noticed that comicbook sell for much more money when they are photographed from an oblique view lying on a desk. The buyers need help visualizing what it will look like at their house, I guess. Non-clinical photos work.
6. Want fries with that? For God's sake, mention your other ebay sales in your ad...even casually. People will look and some will buy.

7. One that I haven't tried, but I'm really thinking about doing is providing a link to a movie that you put in photobucket. Selling a raw currency note or an antique check might be hard, but if you're confident in it and you provide a movie where you handle it and really show it off, flipping it over, etc., that would probably result in quick sales. Crap, now that I've said this, everyone will do it and it will dilute out my own successes. I did sell a vehicle like that, and it worked really well...gave a video tour of the car and let them hear the smooth running engine...sold it really quick.

Collector Steve