Welcome to eBay!  Whether this is your first or fifty first time, these are things I wish someone had told me before I started buying/selling on eBay.  I'm going to deal mainly with Homework in this guide.

YOU FOUND SOMETHING YOU CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT

aka

I JUST GOTTA HAVE IT!!!

Ah, the joys of shopping on eBay!  If you can imagine it, you can probably find it here.  I once, just on a whim, looked up 'wad of paper' and was surprised not only to find it, but it would come in the color of my choice!  All fun aside, let's deal with something more realistic.  I sell hats, so let's go with that.  You've found the hat of your dreams.  It's gorgeous and you've just gotta have it.  Now What?

HOMEWORK BEGINS HERE...

Just like a kid in school, there is a certain amount of homework to do before purchasing an item on eBay.  The first part of doing homework for an item you are interested in is making sure you are getting a good price for the item (we'll get to postage later). 

1.  COMPARISON SHOP!!! Check out other sellers with the same or similar items, even if they don't have exactly the same thing.  For example:  You've found a used black fedora that you love.  Look at several black fedoras even though they may have different brim sizes, crown sizes, or different colored hat bands.  Get a feel for what the average cost of a used fedora.  While you're at it, get a feel for the cost of a new one.  Check out other venues, such as hat stores locally where you live, online hat stores, discount stores, swapmeets, etc.  Now ask yourself if the the asking price of the one you love is fair.  Remember that just because you found it on eBay doesn't mean you're getting the best possible deal.  I wanted to purchase a handsoap that I fell in love with while staying at the Marriott in Mesa, AZ.  I searched eBay and found it for $10 (average price - the low was $7 - the high was $13).  Before I bid, I went to the company who sells that product and found that I could get the same product, new from them, for $6 full, regular price!  Same thing with the big discount stores like Costco and Sams Club.  Just because they carry it, doesn't mean it isn't less expensive to buy somewhere else, even in smaller quantities.  I went to buy toilet paper at Sams, and priced their mega pack of 40 rolls per roll.  The local grocery store had the exact same brand, 12 rolls, for less per roll.  So take a few minutes to at least check out a few other sellers and at least one website to make sure you're getting the best deal possible.

2.  Check out the seller!!!  This is impairative!!!  Don't just look at their percentage rating.  Check out their actual numbers.  Read their good reviews and comments.  More importantly, check out their bad reviews and comments.  One of the things I wish I had known was to check out their bad comments.  And not just to see what the problems were/are.  I think you learn a lot about a seller by how they respond to those problems.  A sure sign I'm not going to do business with someone is when I see that there have been several problems and they are never to blame or resort to name calling.  For example:  I've seen sellers who are 98%.  Very good you think.  But 98% may be misleading, especially if they done thousands of deals.  You can have hundreds of negative remarks and still have a high percentage if you have enough sales.  I actually read the negatives.  I really love the sellers who make comments like 'the freeloading jerk didn't pay' (name calling is not the way to treat any customer, even a bad one).  Another thing to look out for is when it is always the customers fault.  'The deadbeat buyer wanted something for nothing' is one of my favorites.  One of these isn't a red flag, but check further and see how many times a seller blames it on the buyer.  Remember that you are about to be the next buyer!  READ THOSE REVIEWS!!!

3.  Check out the seller's Return Policy.  If your item isn't what you ordered, or if your hat isn't what the seller said it was, or for whatever reason you feel ripped off when you receive it, will the seller take it back?  How much will it cost YOU to return it?  One of my personal favorite return policies reads 'returns are at buyer's expense'.  Even if the seller made the mistake!  Yeah, that's fair!  But Wait!  There's More!  You, the buyer, will probably end up paying the postage to return the item and then paying the postage to have the correct or undamaged item sent back to you!  Make sure you understand their return policy.  Make sure you can live with it BEFORE you bid.  Myself, I once bought a CD for $7 something, plus $5 something in shipping, for a total of $12 something.  I received the CD and it was cracked from poor packaging.  I sent an email asking the seller to replace it.  They told me that they would replace it, that all I had to do was ship it back to them at my cost and include the original shipping costs in a money order so they could ship the new one back to me.  OK, I was born at night, but not last night.  The total to pay for all that shipping, and remember this was happening because the seller failed to pack it securely in the first place), came to almost $15!  For a mistake I didn't make.  I learned real fast to read the fine print regarding returns.

4.  BEWARE OF HIGH POSTAGE COSTS!!!  Let's say that the hat you're jonesing for has a current or starting bid of .99 cents.  You're thinking to yourself 'Very Cool'.  You read the listing and find out that the postage, combined with the shipping and handling, total $34.00 for parcel post (more commonly referred to as Standard Shipping Flat Rate).  Now you can't base postage costs on what your deal.  I've listed hats for .99 and only received one bid, but postage is still postage and you aren't going to see a hat shipped for less than .99 anywhere.  But even a novice knows that $34 is too much for ground postage!  I often see items like computers listed for a penny, but postage is $1200.00!  This is cheating.  Sellers don't pay eBay fees on postage, they only pay on the final value of the item.  So, in essence, they are stealing from eBay by circumventing fees.  If you see something like this happening, report it by clicking on Report This Item which can be found at the bottom of the listing.  Look for sellers who list the weight of the item, or the shipping weight of the boxed item, or both weights.  You can easily check the cost of shipping these items by going to the USPS or UPS websites.  If the weights aren't listed, and you think the postage may be too high, ask the seller how much the item weighs.  Remember that most sellers add a small (and eBay approved) shipping and handling charge.  I myself usually charge $3 for s/h because it helps cover supplies like boxes, tape, ink, gas, etc.  I also list the weight and s/h charges right up front along with the website address of USPS for customers to check.  Even if it is a good deal with the postage being higher than it should be, you shouldn't do business with these types of sellers because they are already cheating the system.  If they'll cheat eBay, how do you know they aren't cheating you?

OK.  Let's review.  EBay is a wonderful place to shop.  Most sellers are very reputable and will absolutely steer you in the right direction and give you a good deal for your money.  Most of the items you find here on eBay are excellent deals.  But it is up to you to figure out who is who and what is what.  The only way to do that is to Do Your Homework.  Even then you may find a worm in an apple, but it won't be because you didn't Do Your Homework.  I've given you 4 ways to Do Your Homework.  They are successful ways and as long as you use them, you will be okay 99.9% of the time.  If you don't Do Your Homework, you may be paying too much, too often, to too many irresponsible sellers who are hoping you won't Do Your Homework.  You're better than that.  Being an informed buyer is easy and makes it worthwhile for everyone on eBay, buyers and sellers alike!!!

GOOD LUCK AND GOOD SHOPPING!!!

If this guide has helped you in any way, I'd appreciate it if you checked the 'YES' box below.  If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me via the eBay email system.  Thank You for your time.  I sincerely wish you the best auction experiences!!!