Wow eBay is AWESOME! Can any CAG vouch for its greatness?

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icecubedx5

CAGiversary!
To make a long story short, I've got $450 saved up for a Wii. I never had the GC and am on the hunt to get some of the top GC games to play on Wii. Only one problem, I am like an OCD madman and want my games "non-Best Seller" and "non-Player's Choice." I was disheartened because I figured since GC wasn't as popular, it shouldn't be hard finding a non-PC Zelda: WW or RE4 at my local K-Mart but I tried like 5 surrounding stores and all were PC.

Everyone always recommends eBay. The only problem is eBay might be a legit site, but it is still the same as a "garage sale." Meaning your buying goods from a person that owns something and not "inventory" from a store. I found some original black label GC games for "PC" prices like $18.99 and under.

They all have photos of the non-PC games (personal photos, not stock). I check the feedback, they are pretty good. Here is the dilemma. I never did eBay before. Is it safe? Do I just create an account, transfer some funds into PayPal and thats it? Will the seller be scared even if I have "no feedback" cuz I just started? Basically I'm asking if eBay is a good source to get things because like I said, they goods bought by a person and not a store.
 
Ebay is an excellent source... just email the seller if you have any questions, I always answer all my questions on things like that because I know how important it is to people.
 
What does it mean when it says PayPal with confirmed addresses? That means they will see your name, where you live, etc?
 
[quote name='icecubedx5']What does it mean when it says PayPal with confirmed addresses? That means they will see your name, where you live, etc?[/QUOTE]

Yeah, when you send payment to them, so that they can ship your goods to you.
 
First you have to be 18 to sell or buy on eBay.

I think that for most games non-GH/PC/PH games go for nearly the same amount as the value label version on eBay so I don't think it's terribly odd to see this.

Assuming you are seeing the seller's photo and not the stock photo then you can probably assume it's the non-PC version, but as Roufuss said it doesn't hurt to fire off a quick question.

You don't need to transfer any money before paying for something. PayPal will draw the funds as you make payments. Although if you are paying from a bank account it could speed things up by having it in your account.

And most sellers don't mind 0 FB buyers. I don't as long as they pay. :mrgreen: If the seller mentions something about 0 FB buyers in their listing just send them a question letting them know you fully intend to pay and hope they won't cancel your bid.

Confirmed address means that you have to get your address confirmed on PayPal. Check their help for more info, but basically they verify your address against your CC or bank account I think. And of course the seller will need your name and address. Think about that question for a second.
 
I'm starting to like this eBay thing...:bouncy:

1 quick question to anyone that sells.

I have a few things I want to sell, not-ultra rare stuff, but "not bad" stuff. For example I have Time Crisis 3 with Dual Guncons. If I start it off at 99 cents, obviously it would go up. But what if the bids don't and the auction ends? Is there a huge chance I would have to sell it for $1.50 or does the prices of goods ALWAYS go up to "normal" prices?
 
Most items go up to reasonable prices but it can vary on the item and sometimes a listing can end at a crazy price. An example is DDR Disney for Nintendo 64. Most copies were selling for $25 to $30 or more. I somehow won an auction for the starting bid of $2.00 plus shipping. I bet the seller wasn't happy about that one.

I wouldn't start the bidding at a price much lower than you are willing to sell it for. Like if you are expecting $50 for the Time Crisis 3, I would start the bidding at $24.99 just so you are guarnteed at least that.
 
One more question. Sorry about being a pain. Alot of the auctions obviously have "timers." Suppose a bidding says there is 1 minute left and I have the top bid of $25.00 on the item. If there is one minute left, is it best to quickly bid $5 more bucks just to ensure my bid stays on top in the last 10 seconds?

Also, what is the minimum bid you can tack on. For example, you probably can't bid a penny more can you? Take my example above, suppose someone has a bid of $40 on an item I want. Within the last 20 seconds, should I bid $40 and 50 more cents so I can get a last minute victory?
 
[quote name='icecubedx5']I'm starting to like this eBay thing...:bouncy:

1 quick question to anyone that sells.

I have a few things I want to sell, not-ultra rare stuff, but "not bad" stuff. For example I have Time Crisis 3 with Dual Guncons. If I start it off at 99 cents, obviously it would go up. But what if the bids don't and the auction ends? Is there a huge chance I would have to sell it for $1.50 or does the prices of goods ALWAYS go up to "normal" prices?[/QUOTE]

It should go up to normal prices BUT NOT always.
Last month, my minty fresh complete copy of Zone of Enders 2 ended at $15.50 (in case you are wondering, that is really low). Yet at the same time, my complete, but used copy of Kindom Hearts 1 (notice the big fat ONE) ended at $25. In the long run, the prices are pretty "normal" (the high outliers and low outliers cancel out). "Normal" as in MSRP for used products.
:)
 
I believe confirmed addresses are tied to your credit card billing address.

A bit of advice about auction pricing: try not to price auctions for anything less than you'd accept. If you start your auction at $0.99 and only one person bids throughout the entire auction, then you'll end up being forced to sell at $0.99. Auction prices go as a high as one increment above the second highest bid (unless it's a dutch auction).

Now, if you search completed auctions for Time Crisis with guncons and they've consistently sold for prices a lot higher than $0.99, then you might consider setting your auction at $0.99 and saving yourself on some listing fees. There's always a risk when setting up low starting bids.

eBay has guidelines for minimum bid increments.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/bid-increments.html

You should definitely read up on eBay's proxy bidding system. http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/proxy-bidding.html

If you see an item at $40, you still wouldn't know the high bidder's max bid amount- proxy bidding only goes as far as it needs to keep the high bidder in the lead, which is usually one bid increment. If an auction shows a price of $25, and the current high bidder actually placed a bid of $40, you could bid $40.01 and win the auction by a penny.

For someone who's new to eBay, you have the right idea about bidding late in the auction- it's called sniping. Bid once, bid late, bid your max; you shouldn't have to constantly rebid. You could try to bid even later; I usually place a bid at around 5 seconds or less. Tacking on several cents to your bid helps breaks ties.
 
While I'm not an ebay seller, I can help answer your questions based on my experience as a buyer.

When you auction things, you take the chance that you might not get as much as you want for it. You also could more than you expected as well (if two bidders end up in a bidding war). By putting an item on ebay, you are taking a chance that you won't get much for it, just like any other auction.

Typically, you want to make sure your auction ends at a high traffic time and not 4:00 AM EST. Make sure that you put in enough keywords so that any typical search will find your item (I saw PSO 1&2, PSO III, SC2, and ToS, all for GCN, stagnant in a Buy it Now for $35 shipped. Typically, the PSO's would sell for about that price by themselves, but the seller abbreviated all of the names, which limited the amount of searches that would find it). Give a good description of the product that you are selling (included items, condition, anything else that makes it more appealing and that the buyer should know).

If you're really worried, place a reserve price to ensure that you get a certain amount, though this may deter some buyers from bidding.

I took a bit longer than I wanted to typing this, so it's a little late.
 
Thanks for the responses. You guys rock. But could a "buyer" answer my question on the "last minute" bids? Like if I really want something, is there a way to "steal" a bid by bidding only $1 more buck during the last 30 seconds of the ending time?
 
Generally, ebay will give you the amount you need to enter to raise your bid. A good piece of advice is bid as high as you are WILLING to pay, in other words, if an auction has 30 seconds to go and it is at 11.99 and it is telling you to bid 12.75, but you know you are willing to bid up to 21.50, put 21.50 in RIGHT AWAY, you don't know how high the current bidder has his bid set, so you 21.50 might LOSE or you could end up getting it for 14.40 In last minute auctions, there's just not enough time to bid by increments, the system takes care of it for you though.

As for who to buy from, I'd always buy from sellers with

1. personal pictures of the item

2. coherent descriptions of the item

Okay: "Up for auction is a used, but in excellent condition COMPLETE copy of Legend of Zelda Wind Waker"

Not okay: "Zelda game for Gamecube with everything"

Even "old ladies" can read, so if some woman can't take the time to read the title and copy it you don't know how wrong she could be about what you're getting. I've taken the risk before and while I get the product I want, I've received manuals with missing pages, horribly scratched up discs, or greatest hit copies in original cases or the wrong game and sometimes even the wrong platform.

3. Sensible shipping, $5 to ship a video game is okay, $14 isn't. By thinking about the actual cost of things, you can avoid the scammers.
 
Sometimes buying from people with no picture is fine too... just check the feedback and see how descriptive their auction is.

I have no digital camera, but I've sold tons and tons of things (I think I'm at 400 positive feedback right now, all 100%) but I had in every relevant piece of information I can find into my auctions, and I answer all my questions extremely fast.
 
First thing to do whether you've been there for ages or are brand new, is to check the sellers Feedback rating. The number next to their name is how many positive comments have been left about the person. Click on the number to see what percentage of comments are positive.

Sometimes you'll find a person with what you think is a high number, but clicking on the feedback score, you see the guy has only a 90% positive rating. Depending on how much you'll be spending at any one time, you may want to look for someone with a higher percentage.

This is no guarantee. Even someone with 100% can screw up. But check the photos well. If they're stock photos, ask for specific details about the item (for the most part with games, you want to be sure the discs have no scratches). Also don't be afraid to ask specifically about the packaging. If you're a purist, and don't want the Platinum Hits/Player's Choice/Greatest Hits packaging, it's perfectly fine to double check that the case art is exactly what you're hoping it is.
 
It's all about your description. If it's organized and structured like into sections for condition, payment, item description, shipping, etc., then you should get a good amount of bidders. I've sold hundreds of items, started them all at 99 cents, and have usually gotten more than the average on eBay (sometimes even with generic pictures). People like to know exactly what they'll be getting and when they will be getting it.
 
[quote name='icecubedx5']Thanks for the responses. You guys rock. But could a "buyer" answer my question on the "last minute" bids? Like if I really want something, is there a way to "steal" a bid by bidding only $1 more buck during the last 30 seconds of the ending time?[/QUOTE]

Read all the answers again as it appears some people are replying to you right before you post a question and you might have missed some good info.
 
Well I made my 5 bids lol. eBay is fun! I set up a PayPal account. I sent the seller a question because all 5 bids were from his store. I asked if I could ship everything together for one shipping price. He said yes after all auctions have ended. My question is how does this happen? I already bought something with PayPal and it doesn't seem like it knows how to "stack" shipping items.
 
Some sellers have a shipping discount applied automatically and PP will do that for you when you make your multiple item payment. That's how I do it.

If it doesn't deduct anything automatically simply ask the seller to please send you an updated invoice with the shipping discount applied.
 
Someone needs to teach me the art of fucking bidding. Basically its an all out bidding war between me and this other guy trying to get a copy of Pikmin 1 original balck label. I could tell he is cheap (rofl) because I look at his history and all his bids are like $10 wins. I think I might have been stupid bidding past him so quickly. Should I have waited till the last minute to try to "steal" his cheap bid? Because now its up to $20 bucks.
 
[quote name='icecubedx5']Someone needs to teach me the art of fucking bidding. Basically its an all out bidding war between me and this other guy trying to get a copy of Pikmin 1 original balck label. I could tell he is cheap (rofl) because I look at his history and all his bids are like $10 wins. I think I might have been stupid bidding past him so quickly. Should I have waited till the last minute to try to "steal" his cheap bid? Because now its up to $20 bucks.[/QUOTE]

assuming you really want the item.
unless you're making a relatively decent bid (AKA above average), you should just bid in the last minute (if the item is still within your price range at that time).
 
I plan on selling many DS games on eBay. I get scared that a game like Mario Kart DS might only have the winning bid at $10. Is it unlikely? I mean does eBay truly have the law of averages where things will balance out evenly? Because MK DS sells for $15 at GameStop, and with the $10 extra with 3 games, that's basically like adding $3.33 ($10 divided by 3) to the $15 making it $18.88. In a case like this, is GS better or eBay?
 
well the fact is Ebay is killing my wallet since I could order things from left to right and never leave home besides for work. Heck I don't have leave home I could just run some crub bum webpage and have UPS or USPS send out my items.
 
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