eBay Bidding Tips for New Bidders and Buyers

We all hate to get burned by a seller, especially on any high ticket item, and even more so when it happens to be the perfect wedding gown that you've wanted and thought you could never find.

So if you're specifically looking for your wedding gown, I would highly recommend buying it from an individual who only has one wedding dress for sale at a discount price. Some offline discount stores who buy their inventory from eBay sellers are having problems with sellers "switching" the dresses after successfully selling them to their highest bidder.

You'll see on eBay a lot of the identical gowns being sold by different vendors-just look around and you'll the same stock photos being used by different vendors. The auctions or ads may or may not that the item is located in China, but most of the time they are. Yes, you might get lucky and get a great deal, but as always with eBay, Buyer Beware.

For all other items like the perfect centerpiece items that you've looked everywhere for, and oh, those candles will make perfect favors! here are some eBay bidding tips before you go shopping:

• Please always check the Seller's feedback and not just the numbers.
• If their feedback rating is high, 99.1% or higher, with several thousand feedbacks, you can be pretty sure they're a trustworthy seller looking to maintain a high quality positive rating.
• If their feedback rating is less than say 98.5%, READ their feedback to see what other buyers are saying about them. Not all lower feedback ratings mean a disreputable seller.

  Sometimes the seller's had the misfortune of dealing with some pretty ignorant and super-picky buyers who, instead of contacting the seller first, they immediately jump to leave negative feedback.

  You'll mostly see this with users who have very little to no feedback built up yet, indicating they're new to the eBay experience.

• Always try to pay for your winning bid through PayPal so you can file a claim if anything goes wrong. If you're the winning bidder for a pretty high ticket item, or anything over even $25, it's best to pay for your item through PayPal so you have a solid recourse for getting your money back in the event the seller doesn't ship the item or ships the wrong item.

Happy Shopping!