1. Bad Feedback.

Always check the feedback and star ratings of your potential seller. If they have had feedback which is neutral or negative, read it and find out what other ebayers didn't find was up to speed. This has potential to affect you if you buy with this seller. As with star ratings (an example) if the seller has lower star ratings on the 'postage time' rating and you are buying a necklace that you would like to wear to a party next weekend; you may not have the item by then. Be especially wary of  bad feedback like: 'Never recieved', 'Added extra charges', 'Recieved in bad condition with missing parts' etc. If you spot any of this sort feedback; if you can, check the person who left this bad feedback's own feedback. If it is good, theres a fair chance that it was quite accurate bad feedback. If this situation occurs it is probably best to avoid any dealings with this seller. If you cannot check the bad feedback leaver's own feedback, still be careful if you decide to deal with the seller. Also some ebayers (not many) leave positive feedback but with a bad comment, watch for this type of feedback as well. If you are buying from overseas sellers, look to see if the seller has dealed with anybody from your country before, it might be interesting to see if sales went well. Check the feedback before buying.

2. Brand new sellers (selling on their first day of Ebay registration)

If you are thinking about buying with a 0 feedback seller or a seller who has just registered on Ebay, it might be a good idea to think of a few things before bidding. Say for example you often look at auctions on Tiffany and Co. and there is a seller who is mostly sells the same kind of earrings with the same picture on each auction of their shops(perhaps even the shop name in the picture). Then you may find a brand new seller who registed that day with the same picture as the usual trustworthy Tiffany and Co. seller. This to me seems a little dodgy. They might have added some other different pictures of the 'earrings', which sometimes vary in looks in each picture. This dodgy seller might have just gone to a google image search and searched; 'Tiffany and Co. earrings', saved the images and loaded onto their Ebay auction. Personally on Ebay, I have seen numerous auctions by new ebayers with the same image as a trustworthy seller. Some people fall into the traps of these sellers; happily thinking about how they won the auction and paying immediatly, only to find that they never recieved the item they payed for. The dodgy seller then may abandon their first Ebay account, having never sent the item(there probably was no item to begin with) to the winning bidder, gaining what they want: money and registering another Ebay account to start the process over again.

If the pictures are original and the new seller is selling other things with original photos, it is probably okay but still be careful just incase.

 3. Always read the full description before bidding

Yes, thats right just like normal ads Ebay sellers can try and hide any faults in their product. Always be sure to read the full description, even the stuff that will probably bore you half to death. If you don't read the full description, you can find that the product you wanted is not in the condition you thought you brought it in and various other things may be wrong with it. Not many people offer refunds, and if you are lucky enough to get a refund it might only be if it was broken in the mail or similar. If you buy from a store you are more likely to be able to get an item refund, if you buy it from a normal seller you might only have a choice of money refunds or perhaps none at all. Some sellers don't do any refunds, let alone ones in which you have changed your mind. Another common mistake made is after purchasing on Ebay, some people havent read the payment options and cannot pay the seller in the way wanted.

4. Ask any questions you have before bidding

Even if they sound silly, ask any questions you may have about the item. I would prefer to sound a little silly than to be dissapointed with the product I'd spent on.

5. Overseas listings

There are loads and loads of auction listings from overseas on Ebay. Places like: China, South Korea and Hong Kong are a few of the places the listings are from. Depending on what you buy from overseas, the quality often changes. You'll also find that most of the overseas sellers don't have 100% feedback. Some people buy from overseas but a lot avoid this because it can mean, long waiting before recieving the item, having trouble communicating (perhaps through language barrier or other things), trouble transfering money (unless through paypal), bad quality items or knock-offs of the real thing, never recieving the item (lost in the post through the long trip). As with any seller, here or overseas it is important to check their feedback before buying with them. If you found the item you wish to bid for on another countries' Ebay website, ask the seller if they would be willing to send the item to whatever country you are in and a quote for postage cost. Remember to be patient with postage because it can take quite a while.

6. Beware lying sellers

Once I had just purchased these silver drop earrings which had a flat postage rate of $4.00, So I thought I'd found myself a bargain: A pair of silver drop earrings that were $10.00 all up ($6.00 for the earrings + $4.00 for the postage). I brought the earrings only to find the seller once finding out my postcode had decided to up the postage rate to $5.00, this isn't what I'd bargained for. So I told the seller that I'd only buy them for $10.00 and stood strong for this. I wouldn't be forced to pay an extra dollar because of the seller changing their mind and I wasn't I managed to get my original price of $10.00. It is really important to get what you bargained for, sellers shouldn't change their mind and if they do (most sellers don't) stay true to the original sale.   

7. If things turn bad

Sometimes things do turn bad on Ebay, it can be particually distressing if a large amount of money is involved. If the person isn't willing to sort out problems, you may need open a dispute and always stay strong to your word. 

If you found my guide useful, please recommend it so others can find this guide more quickly.

I hope my guide helps; thanks for reading it,

- timmytoots2.