EBay for Dummies (24 page)

Before you start an escrow transaction, make sure that you and the seller agree on these terms (use e-mail to sort it out). Here are three questions about escrow that you should know the answers to before you bid:

Who pays the escrow fee? (Normally, the buyer does, though sometimes the buyer and seller split the cost.)

How long is the inspection period? (Routinely, it’s two business days after receipt of the merchandise.)

Who pays for return shipping if the item is rejected? (The buyer usually pays.)

Shipping and insurance costs

Don’t let the sale go down with the shipping. If the item is not an odd shape, excessively large, or fragile, experienced sellers calculate the shipping based on Priority Mail at the U.S. Postal Service, which is the unofficial eBay standard. Expect to pay a minimum of $5.00 for the first pound and another $0.50 for tracking the item.

Some sellers smartly use First Class Mail for items that weigh less than 13 ounces once packed, and sellers of media will often use the slower delivery Media Mail for their items. These forms of shipping will save you big bucks!

It has also become somewhat routine for the seller to add a dollar or so for packing materials such as paper, bubble wrap, tape, and such. This is a fair and reasonable handling charge because the cost of these items can add up over time.

You may come across sellers trying to nickel-and-dime their way to a fortune by jacking up the prices on shipping to ridiculous proportions. If you have a question about shipping costs, ask before you bid on the item.

Before bidding on big stuff, like a barber’s chair or a sofa, check for something in the item description that says “Buyer Pays Actual Shipping Charges.” When you see that, always e-mail the seller prior to your bid to find out what those shipping charges would be to your home. On larger items, you may need to factor in packing and crating charges. The seller may also suggest a specific shipping company.

As the bumper sticker says, (ahem)
stuff
happens — sometimes to the stuff you buy. But before you give up and just stuff it, consider insuring it. eBay transactions sometimes involve two types of insurance that may have an effect on your pocketbook:

Shipping insurance:
This insurance covers your item as it travels through the U.S. Postal Service, UPS, FedEx, or any of the other carriers.

Some savvy sellers have signed up with a company called Package In-Transit Coverage (U-PIC) (
www.u-pic.com
). This company insures all the packages of its clients using an annual policy. This way, the seller doesn’t have to stand in line at the post office to get an insurance stamp from a clerk. The seller simply logs the packages and reports on them on a monthly basis. Sellers will let you know that they use this service when they ship your item.

Although many sellers offer shipping insurance as an option, others don’t bother because if the price of the item is low, they’d rather refund your money and keep you happy than go through all that insurance paperwork. Don’t forget that if you want shipping insurance, you pay for it. (See Chapter 12 for details on shipping insurance.)

Buyer protection:
Paying through PayPal provides excellent protection against all kinds of seller shenanigans. Depending on the seller’s status with PayPal, your items are covered for the full purchase price. (The details of this type of protection are covered in Chapter 16.).

Placing Your Bid on an Auction

Okay, so you’ve found the perfect item to track (say a really classy Elvis Presley wristwatch), and it’s in your price range. You’re more than interested — you’re ready to bid. If this were a live auction, some stodgy-looking guy in a gray suit would see you nod your head and start the bidding at, say, $2. Then some woman with a fierce hairdo would yank on her ear, and the Elvis watch would jump to $3.

eBay reality is more like this: You’re sitting at home in your fuzzy slippers, sipping coffee in front of the computer; all the other bidders are cruising cyberspace in their pajamas, too. You just can’t see ’em. (Be really thankful for the small things.)

When you’re ready to jump into the eBay fray, you can find the bidding box at the top of the auction item page. If the item includes a Buy It Now option, you see that next to the bidding form.

To fill out the bidding form and place a bid, first make sure that you’re registered (see Chapter 2 for details) and then follow these steps. After you make your first bid on an item, you can instantly get to auctions you’re bidding on from your My eBay page. (If you need some tips on how to set up My eBay, see Chapter 4.)

1. Enter your maximum bid in the appropriate box.

The bid needs to be an increment or more higher than the current minimum bid. The lowest amount you can bid is displayed to the right of the bidding box. (See “Bidding to the Max: Proxy Bidding” for more information about bidding increments.)

You don’t need to put in the dollar sign but
do
use a decimal point — unless you really
want
to pay $1,049.00 instead of $10.49. If you make a mistake with an incorrect decimal point, you can retract your bid (see “Retracting your bid” later in this chapter).

2. Click Place Bid.

The Review Bid page appears on your screen, filled with a wealth of legalese. This is your last chance to change your mind: Do you really want the item, and can you really buy it? The bottom line is this: If you bid on it and you win, you buy it. eBay really means it.

3. At this point, you have to sign in if you haven’t already. If you’re signed in, skip to Step 5.

4. If you agree to the terms, click Confirm Bid.

After you agree, the Bid Confirmation screen appears.

When you first start out on eBay, I suggest that you start with a
token bid
— a small bid that won’t win you the auction but can help you keep tabs on the auction’s progress.

After you bid on an item, the item number and title appear on your My eBay page, listed under (big surprise) Bidding, as shown in Figure 6-7. (See Chapter 4 for more information on My eBay.) The Bidding list makes tracking your auction (or auctions, if you’re bidding on multiple items) easy.

eBay considers a bid on an item to be a binding contract. You can save yourself a lot of heartache if you make a promise to
never bid on an item you don’t intend to buy.
Don’t make practice bids, assuming that because you’re new to eBay, you can’t win; if you do that, you’ll probably win simply because you’ve left yourself open to Murphy’s Law. Therefore, before you go to the bidding form, be sure that you’re in this auction for the long haul and make yourself another promise:
Figure out the maximum you’re willing to spend.
(Read the section “The Agony (?) of Buyer’s Remorse,” later in this chapter, for doleful accounts of what can happen if you bid idly or get buyer’s remorse.)