1 Easy Trick to Pay 50% Less on eBay
When I’m buying something on eBay, I gravitate towards the auctions.
It just seems like there’s that chance you can get away with a good deal because people won’t pay attention to it, it won’t be labeled correctly, or some other factor could let you win something for $5 that normally goes for $30.
Of course, the reality is people normally don’t start the bidding wars early — they wait until the final few days of the auction.
And then someone will swoop in with 3 seconds left and outbid you.
We’ve all been there.
Recently, I’ve stumbled onto a strategy that allowed me to win an eBay lot for 45% less than the listing price.
Here’s how it happened.
Watching Best Offer eBay Items Pays Off
In the sports card market, I’ll either watch cards I already own to keep an eye on price movements or cards I don’t own but want to see what other people will pay for them.
Some of the items I watch are auctions, while some of the items I watch are “Buy Now” listings that include a “Best Offer” feature. With the Best Offer feature, you can send the seller an offer and see if they accept, decline, or make a counter to your offer.
But when someone is watching an item, eBay is also keen to let the seller know there is interest in what they are selling.
It suggests to the seller that they should send an offer to the buyer.
That’s incredibly powerful to know when you want to buy something on eBay. There are a few reasons why someone would want to do a Buy Now listing with a Best Offer option included over an auction, but one of the big ones could be that they just want to clear out their inventory to free up some cash.
They put a Buy Now price out there to see if they can get it but, if it hasn’t sold in the time they are expecting, they may be much more willing to offer a discount to anyone watching the auction to get it sold faster.
For example, I was recently watching a Buy Now listing for a card lot that was going for $22. It wasn’t a bad price, but I thought I could get it for less.
After a few days with no one buying the lot, I was planning to send an offer for $17.
Before I did, I received an offer from the seller.
They reduced the price to $12, which was a 45% discount from the original listing.
Sold!
If there is an item or something that you’re collecting that you don’t need right away, start watching multiple Buy Now listings. Keep in mind that you aren’t going to receive a discounted offer for every listing that you are watching.
When you do receive a discounted offer, it may also not be anywhere near 50% off. As I’ve made watching Buy Now listings a part of my strategy, I’ve received discounted offers that were only 5% less than the listing price.
But by watching these items, you are putting yourself in a position to receive a good deal.
Give it a shot and let me know how it works out.
JD — Founder of All the Murrays
