When you buy things on Ebay, its usually because you are looking to get a good deal on just about anything you can think of. Well, in order to get a good deal, you have to do your research. One of the first things you should look at is who you are buying from. Every Ebay member gets a feedback rating. Most are good, but some are, well, not so good. By looking at this rating, you can make a better decision on whether or not you want to strike a deal with the person offering the item you desire.

    Lets say that you want to buy a widget, and the seller has a feedback rating of 98.3. Another person has the same widget, for $10.00 more, but with a rating of 100. What I like to do is look at the actual feedback that has been left for the first seller. Is it a lower rating because of misrepresentation, or was the shipping just slow? Also, how many feedbacks does each seller have. A seller with a large number of sales behind them can have more dis-satisfied customers and a higher feedback rating than a seller with less sales behind them and one dis-satisfied customer. By looking at the ratings and taking into account the amount of sales for each seller and the reasons for negative feedback, you might save ten bucks. You have to look at ratings before you bid.

    Always check the shipping costs. If you see a "Buy it now" price that is too good to be true, it probably is. Lets face it, you get good deals on Ebay, but not many people are going to sell you that $500.00 item for $20.00. When you see that great price, fight the urge to pounce on the item before someone else buys it. I recently looked at an item that I wanted that was being offered at something like $5.00. I know the item retails for around $70.00. I was really excited until I saw that the shipping cost was around $60.00. If I had just gone off of the "Buy it now" price, I would have been locked in to a deal that really was not that great. Be cautious of sellers that try to lure you in with a cheap price, and then make up the difference with "shipping costs". It may still be worth it to you to buy an item listed like this, but I'm sure it would also be a real bummer if you thought you were getting your widget for ten bucks and ended up having to pay a hundred bucks.

    The final thing that I would suggest, is shop on Ebay with two windows open. One should have Ebay open, and the other should have your favorite search engine open. You came to Ebay to get a good deal, right? Well, when you find that widget that you absolutely have to own, use your search engine to look for the widget's lowest retail price. I don't know how many times I have wanted to bid on an item, but found that the bid had already surpassed the lowest offered retail price of the item. Now I'm not saying you should buy your widget from the other source, but maybe hold off and bid on the next widget on Ebay that is actually going to be a good deal. If the retail price is lower than what it went for on Ebay, just bide your time. The item will most likely be offered on Ebay for cheaper than you could find it elsewhere. This is a good thing for sellers to look at as well, because it helps them set a fair and realistic price.

    Good luck, have fun, be smart, and buy cool stuff on Ebay.