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Our
online bargain hunter, Mark Robertson, takes a look at online auctions
and helps you get the most out of them.
Where
to buy and sell
Before
you start your auction career on the internet, you have to find
a site where you can buy and sell. One of the most popular sites
in the world is eBay.
eBay
started trading in 1995 when Pierre Omidyar and his wife wanted
to trade Pez™ dispensers with other collectors. eBay was set
up to be a central location where collectors could buy and sell.
Since
then eBay has grown 'til now, where you can usually find 10 million
items for sale and auction at the same time!
Aside
from eBay there are many other auction sites.
Amazon the online bookseller has recently started an auction service
and in Europe, QXL have been one of the auction leaders since 1997.
Before
you start
Most auction sites require some form of registration so that you
are able to buy and sell items. The details required vary from site
to site, but most need:
» Name
» Address
» User name - this is the name you want to be known
by
» Password - lets you log on to the site
» Bank/credit card details - so you can pay for your
purchases/sales - this isn't always asked for.
Security
When dealing with the auction sites you are in a secure environment.
There is little chance of your credit card or bank details been
hijacked by some online fraudster.
Something
to look for on any website that is asking for your details is a
little closed padlock symbol at the bottom of your internet browser
window. This indicates that you have a secure connection with the
website that you are looking at.
Buying
Once registered with a site you can start buying 'stuff'!
Just find something you want; decide how much you want to bid for
it and bid. Then wait to see if you've won!
But there are a few things to remember:
• Other people may want what you are bidding on, so
the price could go very high.
• Don't bid more than you're willing to pay for an item.
• You might have postage costs/VAT to add to the final
price, so take that into consideration when bidding.
• Always read the item description very carefully -
make sure you are buying what you think you are buying!
• If the deal looks 'to good to be true' it probably
is! There are a number of people out there who just want to rip
you off!
Paying
for your purchases
There are different ways of paying for what you've just bought from
the auction. Some are traditional ways, such as cash, cheque or
postal order. Or by electronic methods such as credit card or bank
transfer. There are also third-party companies such as PayPal who
act as electronic money transfer service.
Selling
Once you've bought a few things from an auction site, you'll probably
want to start selling stuff too.
The
auction sites make this very easy to do, as this is where they make
their money! They usually charge a small percentage of the final
total your item sells for, plus other fees too!
Things
to remember when selling items are:
• A good description can help sell an item and raise
its final value.
• A good picture will do the same too.
• Describe the item properly and don't mislead people
- if it's broken or damaged, say so, people will still buy it!
• Work out a basic postage price for the item and say
what it is.
• Say if you will post the item abroad.
Have
a look at how other people list their items for sale, you can learn
a lot from looking at other peoples' listings.
Most
auction sites will let you put a reserve on your item, so that it
won't sell for less than a specific amount you think it's worth.
Not
an auction
Some auction sites now allow you to sell items for a fixed price
- basically selling the item rather than auctioning it. This will
usually cost you more, but you know how much you are going to get
when it sells!
If
this is more attractive than auctioning your items, you might want
to look at some of the small ads sites on the internet, such as
Loot or Exchange and Mart.
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