How An Ebay Buyer Can Negoiate Like A Pro - by Mary Greenwood

How An Ebay Buyer Can Negoiate Like A Pro - by Mary Greenwood: "When you are buying on eBay, you must use common sense, good judgment and caution. Although most of the sellers on eBay are honest, there are some unscrupulous sellers and you must take proper precautions before bidding on an item. There are also many scams and fraudulent schemes on the internet so you want to protect yourself. The following rules will help a buyer negotiate on eBay.

1) Learn About The Seller Before Bidding.

See how many negative feedbacks and total positive feedbacks the seller has. If he has less than 10 feedbacks, he may either be a newbie (new on eBay) who does not have much knowledge of eBay or he may have sold under a previous identity and recently started a new account with a different ID. This sometimes means that the seller had a lot of negative feedbacks on the old account and has opened a new account to get a fresh start. From the buyer's perspective, this is usually not a good sign. If the seller has 100 per cent positive feedback and many transactions, that is a positive sign. However, see whether the feedbacks are for the same kind of items as the listing you want to bid on. Some sellers have accumulated positive feedbacks for relatively cheap items and then committed fraud on a very high priced necklace or plasma television. If there is negative feedback, see if it is an isolated incident or whether there are several negative feedbacks for the same kind of conduct. Some buyers bid on an item and then are surprised when the seller treats them the same way he treated the buyers who left negative feedback. Also see when the negative feedback was given. If fairly recent, that might be a red flag. If the feedback was last year, it is probably an isolated problem. If the seller has a website or eBay store, check that out to see what "