Auction Power Guide

Say I wanted to know how much a particular laptop, or a CD, or something like that. How would I view past sales?

first, search for the laptop or CD or whatever. When the current items for sale show up, go over the left side of the page and go down to "show only". Select completed listings. This will bring up the last 30 days (i think) of items. It will give you a rough idea of what prices they’re getting for stuff. If you’re looking to do market research on ebay and get into part time selling try one of these tools:

5 Years ago I was buying and selling stuff and making £500 a week PROFIT. these days You have to accept "small change" profit on the stuff you sell. I am going to sell my current stock and that is me finished with eBay. My question is….Do you think eBay has had its day.

Hey there …

There are so many discussions on the various PowerSeller boards on eBay that discuss this very topic.
There are a number of reasons why I believe its more difficult to make a $ on eBay now as opposed to say, 5 years ago.

Let’s consider –

New sellers who think they’ll jump on the bandwagon because they think that other people are making money in such and such a category so they’ll make heaps too! WRONG! The more sellers, the more competition, the lower the profit, the more newcomers who go broke trying to compete … That is … UNLESS the newbie seller has UNIQUE items – not the same ol’ same ol’.

Yes eBay have raised the seller’s fees and given no benefits to the sellers … that’s a HUGE reason for making less profit.

PAGE VIEWS in seller statistics clearly indicate that there are less buyers searching eBay … why? Possibly because of negative media pointing out the scammers that exist online.

Add to these issues, the influx of FOREIGN sellers ie. Thailand, China, Hong Kong etc. These guys are buying direct from the factory, selling at ridiculous starting prices, pay no import duties, income taxes etc. to the countries in which they list, therefore the sellers they are competing with for the sales, who do run their eBay businesses professionally and legally (and pay their taxes) are massively disadvantaged!

I really want this computer game, the aution ends tomorrow and no one has bid yet. Im planning on biding but i dont want to do it yet because i dont want it to attract other ppl. Then again, if i dont im afraid the person will take it down before it ends. Does anyone know if they have to wait until its over?

The short answer is: YES. The seller can even cancel the sale after the bidding closes.

OK, what you need is http://www.esnipe.com to do the bidding for you at the last minute. What esnipe does is take your bid and wait. You simply enter the maximum you are willing to pay. At some time before the bidding closes, usually 90 minutes, esnipe checks the current bid and if you are less than that, it emails you a warning that your bid is too low, giving you an opportunity to raise your bid. If it exceeds the current bid, it then places your bid a few SECONDS before bidding closes and you either win or lose. The whole idea is not to run up the bid exactly as you are fearing will happen if you bid NOW. Remember, this ONLY works IF you place your maximum bid at something realistic and others do not raise the bid above what you are willing to pay at most. If you try to "low-ball" the bid, you will be disappointed. The real question is, will this same item come up again and again? Or, is this a one time deal? If it will come up again and again, there is no harm in waiting for a decent deal by using a low bid. But if this is a one time deal, then you probably need a much higher bid to be successful. Only you can be the judge.

A while back, I was interested in obtaining an "astronomical" clock. This is a switch timer which adjusts itself for sunrise and sunset, which changes every day by a few minutes. These used to be used for flags which flew 24 hours to properly illuminate the flag at sunset until sunrise as is custom and tradition. These come up time again on ebay, and using esnipe, I was able to get one at a substantial saving when one came up and like you, it appeared no one was bidding. So, I got a $40 switch timer for $20 using esnipe after losing out on several that went much higher then the $20 I could afford to pay.

I wanted to ask specifically about spending (with regards to the current crisis), because I sometimes like to sell things online on the side, and nobody has really bought anything in the last few months.

Is it just me, or have there actually been studies/statistics recently showing that the crisis is actually scaring people away from purchasing things they don’t really need, such as consumer electronics and designer clothing and things?

I mean, has there been a drastic drop in sales in the last few months for retailers and sites like eBay and Amazon? I wouldn’t be surprised if it were true, considering the problems with unemployment, the stock market, rising prices, and most importantly, CREDIT. Seems like all of these things would adversely affect the consumer’s likeliness right now to purchase things they don’t need.

If so, I’m scared to think how long it may take for people to get back their "spending confidence."

There has been a decline in spending.

Much of our spending is financed by debt; hopefully this crisis teaches people to be more frugal.

Have you ever thought of anything to buy without knowing exactly where to go and get it? I honestly believe there is no such thing. In this century anything on earth can be sold and purchased, even Earth itself. If you like competition and bargaining, auctions can give you that kind of pleasure no matter which hamlet you live it; online auctions are open 24 hours a day for anyone willing to take a chance. Domain auctions are very fashionable nowadays; after all, domains sound like the real estate of the internet. People buy domains to drive traffic to their sites and for many other reasons, and you don’t have to search for long if there is a certain name you have in mind. Domains expire every other minute because people forget about them or just don’t need them anymore so you have a good chance to find what you are looking for in a very short time by only creating an account on one of those websites which organize expired domain auctions. The procedure is piece of cake. As soon as you have created an account in one of these ‘marketplaces’, you may start searching for thousands of domains available or visit www.auction-o-matics.com
Most of these sites offer a very good advanced search option so you won’t waste much time to get to the name that meets your needs. You will be able to see and monitor a significant number of current and future auctions. You may use the automated bidding system that most of these websites provide if you set the system properly, according to your bid limits. In this way, you won’t even have to follow the updates; the system will do it for you. However, it is wiser to sit in front of the computer and personally monitor the auction in its final quarter of an hour. Relying on email notification is not recommendable as we all know sometimes emails do not reach their destination because of errors beyond control. Some websites feature not only available auctions, but also auctions that will soon be available, so you may increase the chance to find the very domain you desire. As soon as you have chosen the domain names that you want to purchase, you will add them to your cart and select the bidding limits that you find appropriate you can visit www.auctions-profits.com
It is as simple as that; no time wasted, sweat or headaches. Sometimes you may be surprised to see that you are the only bidder. In that case, you will automatically win the auction and, what is more, you will get it for the minimum bid price listed.

http://www.auction-words.com
http://www.auctions-profits.com

Yet, there are many people who prefer the challenge of tight competition and will not take much delight in winning automatically for lack of competitors. So, what you need is a valid card to pay in case you win the auction. Sometimes there is an imposed time limit within which to pay for the domain but that doesn’t sound like a problem; if you have decided to place a bid for a domain name it means you are willing to pay. The best part for auctions fans is the three-day period in which the auction is open. You get email notifications if you are outbid so that you can place a better bid and not lose the domain you are after. Besides the fun that expired domain auctions offers, you are likely to obtain exactly what you need in the most comfortable manner, sitting in your computer chair.

meenakshi gupta
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/the-best-part-for-auctions-fans-is-the-threeday-period-in-which-the-auction-is-open-721319.html