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Sometimes you want it quick, sometimes you want to "Buy it Now," and sometimes you just want it CHEAP! But searching for the best deal can be extremely difficult in the thicket of listings that eBay has become. You know that amazing deal is out there, waiting for you, and we are going to tell you how to get it. Here are our Top 3 Secrets for getting the absolute best deals on eBay. We hope you can use these tips to get some great deals on eBay in the future!
Tip #1 – Know When to Place Your Bid.
It is no secret that the best time to place a bid is in the last few minutes of an auction. Placing a bid before then just drives the price up even more. However, because this practice of waiting until the last minute is so common, the final sale price may end up being just as high. The more bidders bidding on an auction in the final minutes, the more bids the items gets, and the higher the final sale price. The goal is to find an auction which is not likely to have very many bidders in the 15 minutes just before it ends. One way to do this is to bid on an auction which ends when the fewest people are online, and therefore the fewest people are bidding on the same item as you at the same time as you. Statistically, the fewest people are online on Friday nights, for obvious reasons. The later the better. Statistically, the worst time to bid on an item, the time when the most people are visiting the site is Sunday evenings from 6 pm EST to 11:30 pm EST. Mondays are a no-go as well. I have found some very, very good deals just from searching Ebay late on Friday nights in the middle of the summer, as that is the low season for online traffic.
Tip #2 – Find an Inexperienced Seller.
Although buying from an highly experienced seller with high feedback such as us, Vista Products, is always your best bet, you can often find great deals from early sellers who just don’t know the value of what they are selling. Look for sellers with low (but of course mostly positive) feedback, offering a “Buy It Now” price on an item they really should be putting up for auction. A few years ago, a friend of mine told me he wanted to sell his antique chess set. He was clearing out his attic, and wanted a quick sale, so he called me to see how much he should try to sell it for. He was going to put it up for sale with a Buy It Now price of about $50. I told him to put it up for auction instead, and start the bidding at $50 to see what happens. The set ended up selling for something like $200… The lesson here is that many inexperienced sellers underestimate the value of what they are selling, offering an item for Buy It Now for much less than what it is worth. Combine this with the last tip to find some truly great deals. Just beware of deals that look way too good to be true, and if you are worried about fraud, just remember to use PayPal and you will be covered.
Tip #3 – The Misspelled Word.
This is perhaps the greatest secret on eBay. Are you ready? Here it goes! When searching for a product on eBay, try spelling it wrong. Nobody is going to bid on an item that is misspelled, because nobody is ever going to find an item that is misspelled, unless they misspell it as well! (Did I spell that correctly?) Instead of Abercrombie, type “Aberombie.” Instead of searching for diamond necklace, search for “daimond necklace.” You will no doubt be surprised to find that there are tons of sellers who constantly spell products and brands incorrectly on eBay, everyday. These items often end up selling for much, much less than they should. Their loss is your gain! I have personally found absolutely ridiculous deals doing just this method. There are even a few websites out there which are devoted solely to this secret. This website has a great program which allows you to type in a search term, and the program will actually give do an eBay search for you with every possible misspelled combination of that search term… Combine this with the last two tips and, well, you get the idea! But shhh - don’t tell anyone these secrets; the less people that know, the less special they become, and the less likely your chances of getting a super deal. And finally, when you get the deal of a lifetime, don’t forget who told you the secrets: Vista Products!
Tip #1 – Know When to Place Your Bid.
It is no secret that the best time to place a bid is in the last few minutes of an auction. Placing a bid before then just drives the price up even more. However, because this practice of waiting until the last minute is so common, the final sale price may end up being just as high. The more bidders bidding on an auction in the final minutes, the more bids the items gets, and the higher the final sale price. The goal is to find an auction which is not likely to have very many bidders in the 15 minutes just before it ends. One way to do this is to bid on an auction which ends when the fewest people are online, and therefore the fewest people are bidding on the same item as you at the same time as you. Statistically, the fewest people are online on Friday nights, for obvious reasons. The later the better. Statistically, the worst time to bid on an item, the time when the most people are visiting the site is Sunday evenings from 6 pm EST to 11:30 pm EST. Mondays are a no-go as well. I have found some very, very good deals just from searching Ebay late on Friday nights in the middle of the summer, as that is the low season for online traffic.
Tip #2 – Find an Inexperienced Seller.
Although buying from an highly experienced seller with high feedback such as us, Vista Products, is always your best bet, you can often find great deals from early sellers who just don’t know the value of what they are selling. Look for sellers with low (but of course mostly positive) feedback, offering a “Buy It Now” price on an item they really should be putting up for auction. A few years ago, a friend of mine told me he wanted to sell his antique chess set. He was clearing out his attic, and wanted a quick sale, so he called me to see how much he should try to sell it for. He was going to put it up for sale with a Buy It Now price of about $50. I told him to put it up for auction instead, and start the bidding at $50 to see what happens. The set ended up selling for something like $200… The lesson here is that many inexperienced sellers underestimate the value of what they are selling, offering an item for Buy It Now for much less than what it is worth. Combine this with the last tip to find some truly great deals. Just beware of deals that look way too good to be true, and if you are worried about fraud, just remember to use PayPal and you will be covered.
Tip #3 – The Misspelled Word.
This is perhaps the greatest secret on eBay. Are you ready? Here it goes! When searching for a product on eBay, try spelling it wrong. Nobody is going to bid on an item that is misspelled, because nobody is ever going to find an item that is misspelled, unless they misspell it as well! (Did I spell that correctly?) Instead of Abercrombie, type “Aberombie.” Instead of searching for diamond necklace, search for “daimond necklace.” You will no doubt be surprised to find that there are tons of sellers who constantly spell products and brands incorrectly on eBay, everyday. These items often end up selling for much, much less than they should. Their loss is your gain! I have personally found absolutely ridiculous deals doing just this method. There are even a few websites out there which are devoted solely to this secret. This website has a great program which allows you to type in a search term, and the program will actually give do an eBay search for you with every possible misspelled combination of that search term… Combine this with the last two tips and, well, you get the idea! But shhh - don’t tell anyone these secrets; the less people that know, the less special they become, and the less likely your chances of getting a super deal. And finally, when you get the deal of a lifetime, don’t forget who told you the secrets: Vista Products!
Guide created: 12/12/07 (updated 05/06/09)
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