Listing Policy Clarifications: PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii Pre-Sales, and 'Canned Hunts'

Ebay has just announced the following update to their listing policy.

Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii Pre-Sales

These highly-anticipated video game consoles will be in extremely short supply during their initial launch. During the launch of the similarly-released Microsoft Xbox 360, we saw a high number of well-intentioned sellers unable to meet their pre-sale obligations to buyers due to restricted supply, as well as an increase in fraudulent listings for these items. To prevent similar problems with these latest releases, the following restrictions have been placed on pre-sales for the PS3 and the Wii:

• Only one of each console can be listed per eBay account prior to the launch of the console (PS3 is expected to be available on 11/17/06, Wii on 11/19/06)
• The seller must only accept payment through PayPal, and have at least 50 feedback with a 98% or greater positive rating so that they qualify for PayPal Buyer Protection
• The pre-sale item must be listed in the 3, 5, 7 or 10-day formats, and cannot use Buy It Now
• The listing must include a photo of your pre-order receipt in the description.

"Canned Hunts" Restriction

After working with the Humane Society of the United States, we have decided that listings for canned hunts that guarantee the killing of an animal violate our Animal & Wildlife Products policy and will not be allowed.

Click here for the official announcement

Strange how EBay's Pre-Sale Listing policy seems contradictory to their policy that a seller must have the item in their possession at the time they start the listing. There are exceptions for people who use a dropshipper of course.

Selling when the market is hot

Frequently items on ebay hit a spike in bid prices. This is common when selling sports/collectible related merchandise for teams that are playing in the playoffs/post season and championship games.

Take a look at Detroit Tigers and St Louis Cardinals merchandise on ebay right now, it is going crazy. World Series apparel and other collectibles are selling higher on ebay than they are directly from MLB.com right now. People get caught up in the bidding frenzy and do not bother to consider how much the item costs new from the original supplier of even their local sporting goods store.

Other waves of bidding occur when events or people are hot items in the tabloids or other news outlets. Waiting to sell that autographed picture of a famous actor you got on vacation a few years ago? Wait until there are a few news stories making the headlines about them and post it on ebay.

For instance, if you have a that new hat you bought during the 1999 NHL Stanley Cup series to sell, do not sell it during the summer when the league is in their off-season, demand for that item will be at its lowest. Wait until the posts season begins and post it for sale with as much detail as possible and watch the bidding!

Take this into consideration when you have an item to sell.

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Do your Christmas shopping on ebay

Each year, more and more people are doing their shopping online. If you do your homework and have the patience, you can do most if not all of it on ebay!

Some tips for striking deals while shopping on ebay:

1) Know how much items are at local retail stores or at your favorite online shopping websites. It is easy to get caught up on a nicely formatted ebay listing or in a bidding war with another bidder. Know exactly how much you will spend, including shipping charges.

2) Understand any and all additional charges. Be sure you know exactly how much shipping will be and look for any other charges some sellers add like handling fees and sales tax. I always email the seller BEFORE bidding and ask how much it will be to ship an item if it is not listed in the auction description.

3) Use different combinations of keywords in your search. It is a good idea to narrow your search criteria, but be careful not to go too narrow as you may miss some potential deals. Ebay has a nice page on keyword searching, I suggest reviewing it to get some tips. Ebay University

4) Include common mis-spellings in your keyword search. This is a method I use frequently, this is one of the easiest ways to strike a nice deal. Considering most ebay buyers just search for what they are looking for by using the properly spelled terms, many item with mis-spellings go overlooked and don't have the amount of bidders as it normally would.

5) Pay attention to the seller feedback. I know it isn't the best possible system out there today, but it is one of best ways to help determine if the seller is trustworthy.

6) Use Paypal. Payapal is free for buyers and there are alot of buyers that only accept Paypal as payment. It is the fastest most secure way to pay for items and can result in very quick turnaround on your transactions.

Using these tips as well as the learning tools on Ebay, you can do all of your Christmas shopping on the number one auction site available!