You won't find Marsha Collier fighting for a mall parking space on the Friday after Thanksgiving. The author of Santa Shops on eBay and eBay for Dummies practices what she preaches and does all of her holiday shopping at the world's biggest auction site.
See Marsha's books on Amazon:
Collier, who lives in Los Angeles, recently chatted with Rocky Mountain News reporter Joyzelle Davis about the best strategies for holiday shopping on eBay, even for first-timers. Collier, who started shopping on eBay 10 years ago when it was Auction Web, also teaches eBay University courses offered through the company.
Why do you focus on eBay and not other online retailers?
I love all online shopping. But to be honest, when it comes to finding the unique, the different, the wonderful, I have found more unique gifts - the kind of gifts where you say, "how cool," through eBay.
Such as?
If you had planned ahead, there are sellers who will put pictures of children on a purse. That's the perfect gift for grandparents. You'd have to shop hard around your neighborhood to find that.
Try running the person's last name through the search engine. You might find some antique advertising. I once found for friends some antique beer glasses with their last name from a small brewery that's since gone out of business. They didn't even know it existed and wouldn't have without eBay.
What about shoppers who are worried about fraud?
You can't walk into a new store in your neighborhood and see comments from the last hundred or thousand people who were there. On eBay, only one feedback is allowed per shopper so they're legitimate numbers.
What about shipping?
It's the seller's duty to ship the item, but make sure that the seller charges extra for insurance. Getting an item that isn't what it was described is one thing, but if you saw a picture in the listing that was in one piece and it arrives in six that's another. FedEx and UPS include up to $100 in insurance, but they tend to be more expensive than the Postal Service.
What if you don't know what to get someone? Don't you miss browsing for a good idea with eBay?
Wandering around and browsing is what gets me in trouble. Make a list ahead of time on who you want to give presents to and what amount you want to spend. Any kind of shopping takes a bit of pre-planning so you don't shoot your budget in the foot.
I have a friend who loves her little dog, so I bought a pink fake fur stole and hat that cost $9. And for the man that smokes cigars, it's apparently the ultimate to light a cigar from a cedar stick. I bought 25 sticks from a seller in Estonia, and the whole thing cost $5 including shipping. In other words, don't limit your imagination.
What's something about shopping on eBay most people don't know?
Sharper image has an outlet on eBay. Oreck - the maker of vacuum cleaners - has an outlet, as does Hewlett Packard. They may be unsold merchandise or returns that have been checked over by their tech people.
You know that high-end FrancisFrancis Espresso machine? You can get the really fancy X5 machine from their eBay outlet store for half-price.
No comments:
Post a Comment