Sniping... or 5 Ways to Win big on eBay

I LOVE eBay. I both buy and sell items on eBay and I have scored some serious bargains over the years. 99 cents for a gorgeous persian carpet? Yes please! $2 for a ring that I get more compliments on than any of my expensive jewelry? Done! One of my favorite tools for buying is called ezsniper*. ezsniper lets you "set and forget" your bidding - which is super important if you are bidding on a budget, like I am! But there are other super simple tips to help you win big on eBay. Here are my six favorite tips for winning big on eBay:

1. Have a Plan
Know what you need, what its worth, and what you're prepared to pay for it. Yes, the last two might not be the same price. I often want to score a bargain or pay less than something is worth to justify the purchase. 

2. Get Creative with your Search Terms
Misspelled words are a great tip - if the seller put the wrong spelling in the title, other buyers might not find it. 

3. Set up Alerts
​You don't want to miss out just because you don't have time to log in every day! You can set up your eBay alerts to notify you by email or text or push notification on your phone whenever something that matches your terms is listed. This also saves you from being distracted by the hundreds of thousands of other things for sale! 

4. Use the Sort Feature
Put in your search terms, then sort up by lowest price, including shipping.  Then you can snipe all the things that match your list, starting with the cheapest options. Be sure to use the contingent feature in ezsniper so you don't end up with multiple items! 

5. Check out the Seller
TopRated Sellers are great but keep in mind that Top Rated Sellers have to sell at least 100 items every month or so to keep the rating. Smaller sellers - someone clearing designer items out of the closet once a season for example - might not sell enough to rank but might still offer amazing deals and great service.  For ratings, you want to see pretty high ratings, but one or two bad reviews isn't the end of the world, so I don't stress if the positive feedback rating is 98 or 99 instead of 100%.  You do want to see someone who has a few more than say 10 feedback ratings though. But 20,000 tells me I'm dealing with a huge corporate style enterprise, and that might not be who I want to support. 

6. Use a Sniping Tool
As a busy working mama of twins, I don't have time to sit and stalk auctions like some other folks do. I can pretty much bet that one of the twins will jump on my knee at just the time I need to be hitting that bid button! So a sniping tool saves my sanity. You put in the eBay item number, the max amount you are willing to pay, and walk away. Don't forget to add contingencies if you are bidding on more than one of the same thing, but only want to win one! 
 
What's your favorite eBay bargain?

eBay sniper