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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;jody526, post: 6617, member: 578&quot;]Let me take your questions, in the order in which you have asked them.</p><p><br /></p><p>1) You should pay most attention to the feedback left by experienced coin collectors. This will involve looking at what the person buys, how long they have been buying collector grade coins on eBay, what kind of auctions they bid on etc.</p><p>&nbsp;See if the seller has a lot of repete customers. Pay attention to feedback left by buyers. (not sellers) Make sure it isn&#039;t padded by fake auctions, such as 1 cent recipe auctions. Check their nuetral and negative feedbacks using the link for that purpose. Check their responses to negs. Check their feedback left for others.</p><p>I know this seems like a lot, but if you really want to get an idea of who you&#039;re dealing with using their feedback, you&#039;ll have to do your homework.</p><p><br /></p><p>2) Shilling is a major problem on eBay. Many sellers have alternet ID&#039;s, or cohorts, that will place dummy bids in order to bump up the selling price. If you find that one particular member is constantly bidding on one particular sellers auctions, that could be a sign that shilling is taking place.</p><p>The best way to avoid getting shilled, is to never bid more than you are willing to pay, and never bid until the last few seconds of an auction. (snipe)</p><p><br /></p><p>3) Yes, there are good deals to be had, but you really have to know your coins, and you really have to know how the eBay system works.</p><p>If you don&#039;t, you should stick to buying your coins from a reputable dealer outside of eBay.</p><p><br /></p><p>4) Shipping rates vary for a number of reasons.</p><p>Some sellers simply don&#039;t know how to keep their S&amp;H rates to a minimum. Others factor in all their overhead expences, and then add that as a handling fee. </p><p>The most common reason, I believe, is fee avoidance. You see, a seller pays final value fees to eBay, based on the ending price of an auction. The seller does not have to pay fees on any profit he makes as the result of S&amp;H.</p><p>You should always figure in the S&amp;H charge, along with your bid, to come up with the total amount you are willing to pay for a coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>5) There are honest eBayers on this forum. The most frequent poster that comes to mind is Tradernick. </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;Now, just a few tips about bidding on eBay auctions, that come to mind.</p><p><br /></p><p>Don&#039;t bid on private auctions.</p><p>Ask the seller any questions you have, and get those questions answered to your satisfaction, BEFORE you even consider placing a bid.</p><p>Always make sure the seller has a return policy, and that it is clearly spelled out.</p><p>Whenever possible, always pay for your purchases with a credit card. This is for your protection.</p><p>Don&#039;t buy coins from any dealer in Asia. There are just too many fakes comming out of those countries.</p><p>If you have any questions about a particular auction, or a particular seller, ask us. We will do our best to help you.</p><p><br /></p><p>This was all my opinion, based on my experience. There are many other factors to be considered when buying on eBay, and if any of this isn&#039;t clear to you, I will be glad&nbsp; to elaborate.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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