I am doomed. Utterly doomed.

[gerisullivan]

I just became a registered eBay user. It's my first time. Yes, of course I did so to bid on something. It's a very low-cost item. Yeah, right.

I am doomed.

I am not, however, going to increase my bid. Either I'll get it or I won't.

It's not even what I went looking for.

Of course it isn't.

Doomed. Doomed. Doomed.

I am suspiciously cheerful and confident for someone who has successfully avoided this fate for the last decade and more.

Film at 11. In the meantime, advice for an eBay neo would be very welcome. What mistakes should I endeavor to avoid? Well, beside the mistake of registering in the first place?

Comments

[casacorona.livejournal.com]

That's nearly all of it. Always check the seller's feedback before bidding. Always leave accurate feedback of your own.

Bid what you're prepared to pay, and walk away. Never just bid on something because it looks interesting: you might just win it, and there you are. Don't be afraid to buy from someone who has very little seller feedback, if they've been buying for a long time and have great feedback for that.

There are great sellers, and there are scam artists. I've been burned once, and had many very good experiences. I use Ebay when I find myself saying "gee, I wish I could get XX, but I don't know where to find it."

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

I ended up with an eBay account because I suddenly realized that the mechanical bank I want was quite likely on eBay. While I was searching for it, I stumbled across an auction ending in 9 hours for a really cool rocket-shaped bottle opener. There wasn't enough time to ask experienced-eBay-user Jack to bid for me. Besides, he'd successfully done so just last week -- asking again so soon was more of an imposition than I was inclined to pursue.

The bottle opener ended up going for 2.5 times more than the most expensive of the other 6 of the same thing that have sold in the last week or two. A couple of people wanted that thing a lot more than I did!