You can buy and sell just about anything on eBay. Millions of people use it every day. But few of them know all the ins and outs of using the world’s biggest and best Internet auction site. The following tools will put you well on your way toward becoming an expert.
Find rare items as soon as they are listed: If you’re looking for something specific and your searches come up empty, give eBay’s saved searches (in the My Account section) a try. Once you set up a saved search, eBay will e-mail you daily for up to one year when new items that match your search appear.
Automate last-minute bidding: As eBay veterans know, due to the phenomenon known as “sniping,” the only bidding that matters in an online auction happens during the final moments. Free application JBidWatcher tracks multiple auctions and submits your maximum-offer, last-minute bids in sequence automatically. You can also arrange for the app to refrain from bidding on any remaining auctions in a series of related auctions the moment you win one.
Track your profits and losses: If selling on eBay is more of a vocation than a hobby for you, head over to ProfBay, a Web site that tracks and graphs your eBay profit margins after subtracting your listing, shipping, and other selling fees from the equation.
Get a great deal on misspelled items: The most important thing a seller can do is to make sure that potential buyers can find the item being auctioned. But for buyers, a misspelled auction title spells G-R-E-A-T D-E-A-L. The Typo Buddy site searches eBay (and Craigslist) for all the possible misspellings of your search term–meaning that if you’re lucky, you may discover a mislabeled auction that eludes everyone else.
Developer’s Choice: Refine Your Searches
–Jim Griffith, eBay marketplace expert