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Feb 17, 2003 I have been a registered user of the leading internet auction site for around 7 years now and over the past few years I have seen the sellers change their ways. In the beginning you could get great deals on auction sites because the sellers were selling items that they either had lying around or had bought at a garage sale. In fact the auction sites were like a huge online garage sale. Today this isn’t true, most of the auctions you see now are items that are bought from wholesalers or drop shippers. The majorities of the items you see are either refurbished, discontinued, broken, or generic items that are built with very poor quality and therefore are inexpensive. Why has there been such a change? The reason is simple, people want to make money with little or no effort on their part, for a merchant to use a drop shipping company all they have to do is list the item, wait for a buyer and then give the drop shipping company the buyer’s shipping information and it will be shipped. This means that the online merchant lists the item and then passes the shipping information on to the shipper and their job is done. What does this mean to the consumer? Well, it means that most likely the consumer is buying a product for a higher price than what the merchant buys it for when they most likely could have found the product on another site for a lower price because most drop shippers will also sell to the public. Auction sites have also added new features to make the sites more like an online store rather than an auction. Most of the items you will find on these online store auction listings are not deals at all. I have found that many of the items that are for sale and available for immediate purchase are higher priced than what you could possible get the item for by bidding on it. I have also found that the best way to go about an auction is to set your “proxy bid” to the highest amount that you are willing to pay, as it was intended to be used. This way you don’t wind up paying more than you wanted to pay for an item because you bid just to win the auction. The proxy bid feature will automatically outbid any bidder that doesn’t bid higher than your proxy. This way you set a price that you want to pay for it and if you don’t win then you find another listing for the same item. Chances are there will be another listing for the same exact thing you are bidding on unless of course it is an exclusive item, a rare item or a limited edition type of item. You can get a good deal on auction sites if you use your head and don’t get overexcited with bidding. Many people bid on auctions and when the auction gets towards the end they often end up battling it out with another user and it turns in to a contest to see who can bid the highest before the end and win the auction. I often find myself asking why people would bid high and wind up buying the item for the retail price or even more if you add shipping and handling costs. Many buyers do charge shipping and handling which I consider to be a good way to have buyers look for other sellers with the same items that do not charge handling. Handling is nothing more than the buyer charging you for their time to sell the item to you. If you use auction sites, bid smart, don’t get overly excited and bid more than you are willing to pay, and be sure the item you are bidding on is the quality that you are looking for. Email Jack Smith: jrsmith@hot.rr.com ------------ Comment on this column in the forum. ------------ |
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