Buying on eBay: What My Husband Learned About Negotiating

Posted by MMarquit under Finance
From http://www.allbusiness.com 4619 days ago
Made Hot by: Jed on September 9, 2011 4:51 pm

My husband discovered a new way of bargaining on eBay -- one that didn't include always having to get in a bidding war. He has two basic techniques that can also translate into other lessons on negotiating, no matter where you are.

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Comments

Written by Patricia Worth
4616 days ago

Hello Miranda. I couldn't comment on your post 'cause I had to log in. However, I think placing a 'buy now' option on Eebay may work as it's effective on Flippa, if you want to move your stock quickly.

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Written by businessavante
4619 days ago

Hi Miranda.

"Buy it Now/Best Offer" can go one of 2 ways depending on how the seller has it set up. Sometimes it means you can buy it for the asking price after lower bids are placed, other times, once a low bid is entered, "Buy it Now" disappears. If it's just :"Buy it Now" w/o "Best Offer", it remains at the asking price till it runs out. Sellers are unfortunately allowed to end offers early w/o warning.

The great thing about eBay is that it's nothing like the old days of shopping through catalogs - then they had only so much inventory - if you didn't buy before they ran out, you'd never see it again. The web has changed all that. There will always be another one coming up - maybe a lot cheaper. I prefer "Buy it Now" because I don't like the feeding frenzy during the last 30 seconds - it's fun to watch if you didn't bid, not when you see yourself paying top dollar after all. It helps to "lurk" - just watch stuff in your niche to see what it might go for. The more months you watch, the more low prices you'll end-up seeing - then you'll know a good ceiling (forget about collector's book values). Bid what it's worth to you - not one penny more.

Sellers will get in trouble if they approach or are approached outside of eBay - it might be OK to approach them through eBay after a sale - I don't know the right answer there.

Duncan

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