Ebayers--How do you go about deciding if you going to bid on a item?

I usually check the seller's feedback before I bid on an item. IF there is several negative feedbacks left in the current month, or previous month then I usually don't bid. However, I do check to see if the negative feedback has an explination from the seller on what happened. Sometimes if I feel like the buyer let the negative feedback on things that the seller can't control for example; the package took a little longer to deliver, or there was a holiday. Sometimes the buyer will put seller didn't respond to my email. Sometimes it doesn't go through to a sellers email. I know there was a time when I had problems with my email and I had someone say that they had been trying to get ahold of me. When I explained what happened they were very understanding. So when I bid on an item the number one thing I look at is the feedback. Next is the price of the item and the third is the amount of shipping and handling. Thanks for posting such a wonderful question.

I am a huge eBay freak, I am on there every single day and buy and sell on it also. Most times when I am wanting something specifically I rarely check the feedback score, it is just something that unless it is a low score will I look at it. I usually pay with Paypal so if I don't receive the item I can always get my money back. I have been scammed, spammed and not paid for items many times over so having someone with a bad feedback is not an issue, whether they can deliver on the item is more important to me. Guess I am too forgiving.

I have been using ebay for about 7 years or so now. I have been scammed once, and Paypal got part of the money back to me. It was a new user, so now I don't wont bid if they are a new seller. The first sale I made was kind of funny. I still had the wedding dress from my first marriage and decided it was time it went to another home. I listed it and it was an active auction. When the auction ended the winner's ID was similar to my daughter's grandmothers email address. She came over that night. I asked her, "Did you bid and win a wedding dress on ebay?" she said "Yes, how did you know? I bought it for Rachele (another grandchild) we were online looking and she fell in love with it. " I told her it was my auction. She asked if she could just write me a check and take it with her. I let her. I always look at there rating if it is lower than 97.5% I won't even bid. If it is 97.5% to 99.5% I look to see why someone gave them a negative rating. Sometimes it is just someone trying to get something for free. They want to give a seller a bad rep. Other times it could be the seller has gotten so busy, that they have gotten neglectful in shipping out in a timely manner. I like ebay. It is cool to search out things, that people have listed so wrong and get it really cheap. New sellers I will sell to, but I won't buy from till they have at least serviced 10 people that have left positive feedback.

When I am trying to decide whether to bid or not I tend to look at the feedback of the seller first. Not just the percentage rates but I also read the comments made, it gives an idea of how the seller is viewed. I've been with eBay for three years now and have only had a couple of bad experiences, so I look carefully now. I won't buy from a seller with less than 75% positive, and if I have doubts, then I don't bid

Before I bid, I will always make sure they have at least 95% positive feedback (thats if they have lots of feedback). If they only have like 20-30 feedback, I think it shouldn't be below 90%. Also I make sure they take a payment of paypal, and I know EXACTLY what I am bidding on. I would not consider buying from a new member of ebay.

i'm just new in ebay and have just purchased 9 items since.. but i have never been scammed in those 9 items.. but before i bid, i first look at the feedback, like you do.. well, as for the feedback score is concerned, i want to bid on a seller that has a 100% positive score.. but i can still reconsider scores from 95% and up.. but not lower.. and i also make sure that i read what the negative feedback says.. coz you know sometimes, the buyer is the one with the fault and not the seller.. so also look at the seller's side of the story.. well, i hope i will never get scammed in the days to come.. i have saved a lot from my ebay purchases in the past.. and i'm still looking forward to buy other items from there..

I've only bought a few things so far. But if I see a product that I like with a decent price, I'll consider it. I do check the seller's feedback, and as long as the item is cheap and they have positives, I don't mind if they're new. I'm new myself. I also go by the shipping price. If it's realistic and doesn't make the item cost more than I could find it for locally, I'll go ahead and bid.

well for us we use ebay a fair bit and get some great bargains on there as well but we don't tend to bid on anyones auctions who has less than %98 and we tend to bid only on things we need so we have not been stung that often but i had a business that i was using ebay with and i got stung a fair few times and all through paypal so i don't sell anymore.

the feedback section is a really good thing to go on for sellers but not for buyers i have an ebay account and the first time i went on i was just bidding not paying attention to the payment methods and when i couldn't pay the people i explained my situaltion and they were really understanding and gave me good feed back all the people on there look for is honesty and sincerity

My final decision usually depends on the current price (whether it's really worth what it's sitting at) & if i think there are others waiting to pounce on the auction the same time i do. As for negative feedback, i usually tend to go in to their feedback section & see what they were for, if it was for not sending something then i wont bid but if it's for other reasons like people being impatient with postage etc then i might put on a bit but will keep it pretty low just in case. I do find myself always buying from the same people though, ones i know get in new things & ones i have had good experiences with in the past. I am always willing to give new eBayers a chance, but i don't usually bid on expensive things from them just in case. Everyone has to start somewhere & i wouldn't have my almost 600 rating at 100% positive feedback, if people hadn't given me a chance in the beginning!

I am not an ebay addict. I only buy from ebay if the item I am searching for is not available in my country. Buying online is too risky and there are alot of scammers. Sorry for my opinion. But I seldom buy at ebay. thanks for reading though.

I make a decision by looking what has been the previous bid for the product and getting an rough estimate of the product as per market value, worth paying for that amount and discussing with my friends by mails to check if someone else needs it and if yes what is the price looking for and ofcourse if there if any feedback as well. I have been on ebay from couple of months. If there is no feedback and there is urgent need for that product we still bid. If they are a new seller with no feedback then what i have asked my friends to do is to look at the product for which u are looking at example how old is it and what if it is not worth then can u resell it.

hi I have tried to sell items on ebay but i have never manged to sell anything. I would like to if their is anyone here who is making a living selling on ebay. I would like to learn from them also please feel free to post your items for sale on my free classified website www.globaleflyer.com thank you

I've been on eBay for about 3 years much of that time as a seller. But when I do buy I prefer to buy from a seller who has a high feedback rating, the higher the feedback the more likely that I will buy from a particular seller. I also read the actual feedback to see what comments other buyers have left for the seller. As far as buying from a seller with no feedback, I would only consider buying from such a seller if the item is a low cost item. I figure that I would be more willing to loose out on a $5.00 item than a $500.00 item.

I don't buy that much on ebay, especiallly lately. Been registered for about 5 or 6 years. Just buy and sell off and on now. But I do take into account the feedback and rating percentage. But, I will also dig deeper and check into the person that left the negative. Like yesterday, something I was looking at, the guy had 1 negative for the past year, and it ended up being a brand new person, with 1 rating. Basically the person used the feedback instead of trying to email the seller to straighten the issue out. So I overlook that stuff. I also compare other auctions for price and quality etc. I don't really have a lowest percentage, but when it starts getting under 95%, I really look hard at it. Also what gets me, these power sellers will have a 98%, but when you look at their sales, it's in the thousands, and they'll have 100+ negatives for the last few months. I stay away from them. I generally don't mind a new seller either, but I did kinda get screwed by one, she misrepresented a picture I bought, I honestly don't think she did it purposely, just ignorantly lol. The cost of the shipping, and to ship it back to her, it just wasn't worth it. So that made me a little bit more leery of new users, but you got to start sometime. I think if you just follow a lot of the general buying guidelines, like make sure it's a real photo of the item, not one taken from another online source, you'll be ok.

Somehow I never trust items that are for auction., I only buy new item and at fixed price. Though I research on the net comparing prices and deals at different site first. Then I look at the sellers feedback by other buyers and then make the deal. I recently bought a 700$ digital handycam off ebay and got a great deal. Even the product turned out to be good and to my expectation,.

I am no pro at this ,but I try to look out for a seller with positive reputation.If there is a product that I like being sold by someone with a positive reputation and I think I could afford it,then I bid on it.I have been lucky with the items I have bid on.

i have also have experienced the same experience .so i want u to do only one thing is to get a bid of the discount oppurtunity & get the item you want to get...

i am not a member of ebay , so i don't konw , can you tell us what do you think ?

I shop on ebay several times a month. The first thing I do is look at the persons feedback , I check to see why the might have gotten a negative or neutral response , and finally I will look at the price of the itm.