While most items on eBay end with hundreds of bids, other scores of them are still crawling with but a few bids all day — or even shockingly enough, none. Auction activity is almost always slower in summer than winter. Overall, eBay selling has slowed a bit each year as more and sellers flood the marketplace in search of quick profits. Here’s how to cash in on slower auctions, to snag the best bargains for yourself:.
Delay Bidding
Hold off on your bid. The more bidders there are, the higher it is likely to go in pricing—engaging in a competitive struggle with so many other people. Moreover, this way, if you do it at the last minute, there will be very little popularity at that auction, and the price won’t rise that much. You might end up picking it up really cheap at the end of the auction.
Make an Offer
If they reach the end of one of their auctions and they have not sold one of their ‘Buy It Now’ items, they might consider accepting an offer using eBay’s ‘Best Offer’ system. If they have listed, or relisted, an item more than once, they can become increasingly frustrated and prepared to sell for a low offer price.
Sell to the Competition
Build an alliance with other bidders if you can find two auctions for identical items, with very little bidding competition for either item. Of course, such collusion would need to extend to an agreement not to bid up the price at either of the auctions. Of course, relationships can lead to a long-term collaboration on future auctions with fellow buyers.
Adopt a Discriminating Attitude
This can be done by seeking the seller out with queries regarding the selling item and perhaps inadvertently self-positioning as an extremely discerning buyer; subsequently, this will make him more willing to sell at a reduced price, so as to be sure that you are satisfied with the quality.
No Seller Guilt
As such, flooding eBay with many sellers has resulted in many often listing things at very ridiculous, low prices, making it impossible for many sellers to remain in business. This, of course, is the result of demand versus supply.
Make It a Point to Buy Ample Amounts
Many of the slow-moving auctions are handled by desperate sellers. One can get an upper hand in the price negotiations over items if making an offer to buy more than an item at a time. Sellers are usually desperate to offload their stock, so this can work in your favor, especially if you are coming back for more.
Get experience
The more time you spend on eBay, the better your ability to find literally all of the cool deals becomes. In fact, after getting this experience, you are likely to run into some of the strangest and most surprising things ever to be auctioned on the market. The next email is on the strangest things to ever be sold on eBay.
