This is exactly what iNumbr does for phone numbers. The free, temporary phone number you give out simply forwards to a number specified by you and then it will expire or self-destruct when you want it to!

It is a proven fact that by providing a phone number you are much much more likely to make a sale. It adds to your credibility as well as it shows you care.

Let’s take a look at how iNumbr can help you in your eBay auctions, classified ads or even to give out to girls you meet at a club. Wow that’s a good idea – too bad it’s about 10 years too late for me. Kids today and this new fangled technology!

When you arrive at iNumbr you will see a site that looks like this:

Simply click the link that says Get your Free iNumbr. You will need an email address and a phone number to have iNumbr forward your calls. Once you click the link you will get hit with a little human verification to make sure you are not a spam bot or something similar:

After you hit submit on your verification you will be sent to a page to set up your actual free temporary phone number. That screen looks like this:

From this screen you can choose your preferred area code. Most major United States markets are included in the list. These are:

• Atlanta 678
• Boston 617
• Chicago 773
• Cincinnati 513
• Dallas 214
• Detroit 313
• Houston 713
• Las Vegas 213
• Miami 786
• New Jersey 973
• New York 347
• Phoneix 602
• Pittsburg 412
• Portland 503
• Salt Lake City 801
• San Diego 213
• San Fransisco 415
• San Jose 408
• Seattle 206
• St. Lois 314
• Washington DC 202

If your area code is not included it might be added in a future release or you could always email the developers begging pleading asking nicely for them to add it!

Next up you choose when should they disconnect the free, temporary phone number (you can change this in your control panel later):

Then after you are finished, submit the form and you will be sent to a page with your information on it:

So here you will see how long your number is active for, what number and extension the caller needs to dial, where the call will be forwarded to and how you can record a personal greeting, as well as your password.

Now when someone calls your iNumbr they will be asked for their name. Then your phone will ring with the name that they left.  You can then choose to answer it or send it to voicemail.

This is a really nifty service! Do you use this or something similar? We would love to hear about your experiences in the comments!

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This progression was a very long and slow one, and I had to learn a lot of hard lessons along the way before I was able to become a very profitable PowerSeller. One of the most valuable lessons I learned along the way is that your sales page template has a tremendous impact on the probability of successful sales and how much your item will sell for.

Here at MakeUseOf, you’ll find a lot of awesome eBay resources, like Tim’s article on alternatives to the eBay smart search tool, Mark’s article on managing your eBay auctions with Nabit and many more listed under MakeUseOf’s eBay tips section.

In this article, I’m going to show you how you can find a free eBay seller template online and how to insert it into your eBay seller profile.

eBay’s Template Management System

Anyone who has been involved with eBay for an extended time has probably noticed the gradual evolution of this massive online marketplace. In terms of a “seller template,” all you had to work with was eBay’s seller form, with a play box that you could insert either straight text or text including HTML formatting.

Now, the formatting was nice because you could use cool HTML codes to spruce up your listing. Add a bold headline here, throw a color border over there – it certainly took some work to develop the first one, but after that you were golden. You could save the template in a text document, and each time you worked your way through the seller wizard to post another time, you’d just cut and paste the template, fill in the product details and then post.

While you can still do that when you’re filling out the product detail form in the seller wizard, Ebay now offers a handy management system for your various templates. This means that when you do download and save a free eBay seller template off the web – you can store that template right within eBay. With a click of the mouse, you can select the template of your choice and your listing is 90 percent done!

Now, before we get to finding free eBay seller templates, you’ll need to know how to load the templates that you discover into eBay’s template system. If you’re starting from scratch and have no templates in your list yet, just click on “Create templates.” When you do, you’ll need to go through the wizard, which first includes entering the category for your template.

Once you make it through the first part of the wizard, the next screen is the one where you’ll enter in the title and some minor details about the product, but primarily what you’re most interested in is the text box located further down the screen.

This text box is where you’ll enter in the code to either create your own product template using HTML formatting, or you’ll insert the code from the free eBay seller template you’ve downloaded elsewhere. One of the coolest new features that eBay added to this screen, by the way, is the “Inserts” drop-down box. Using this very cool feature, you can define small HTML code snippets to save you a lot of time entering the same sort of formatting HTML with each listing. Of course, if you just download and use the same seller template, you don’t have to worry about doing any coding yourself.

Where to Find a Free eBay Seller Template

Okay, now that you know where to go in your eBay account to insert the free templates that you find, it’s time to go out there and get some cool eBay seller templates!

Before you head out and start looking for sites where you can download an eBay seller template, keep in mind that eBay listings are straight HTML documents. So, if you’re at all skilled with HTML, you’ll probably pull the best template right out of your own efforts. However, if you’re one of those folks who’ve never learned a single line of HTML, there are a few options available to you.

The first, Template-O-Matic is one of my favorites. Unlike the others, it isn’t just straight HTML code that you copy and past – this website actually generates the HTML listing code for you based on your selections within the design form.

This is a pretty cool site, and it’s probably the easiest way to whip together some cool-looking templates. Now, if you’re just looking for a place where you can copy and paste a template, another site to try is the Web Design channel over at LoveToKnow where there’s a free eBay seller listing separated into sections.

You can copy and past the element you like – whether it’s the title and description, image section, or detail section – and just paste it into your own template box within eBay. Use one or several elements – they’re all free.

Another website with a fair number of free eBay templates is Shipscript’s Templates. The number of templates certainly isn’t pages long, but you can find a good number of clean templates, with a very easy cut and paste feature built-in.

Simply highlight and copy the HTML code (or click “Download file”), paste it into the eBay HTML box and your template is finished! All you need to do to post each product is to edit the sections highlighted “Begin Editing” with your information – cutting about 30 minutes of posting an item down to about 5 to 10 minutes. And when it comes to selling products on eBay, time is most definitely money.

Are you an eBay seller? Do you have any tips and tricks to offer about creating quality eBay seller templates? Share your expertise in the comments section below!

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Here we go.

eBay Desktop

The official eBay Desktop is an Adobe AIR app which mirrors all the searching, tracking, and bidding functionality of the site, plus filtering features, search history, and my favorite part, real-time updates. It’s refreshing to no longer need refreshing. Enter a keyword and watch the search results update by themselves.

Lastminute Auction

One of my favorite eBay tools is the Lastminute Auction search. Auctions featured here all have current prices under $1 (not including shipping), and all have less than an hour to go. Register to keep favorite categories handy, and you’ve got a good chance here to snatch up a great deal.

Typo Buddy

My new favorite eBay search tool, however, is Typo Buddy. From this site, you can take advantage of human error and hopefully find yourself a steal. When you do an eBay smart search for “Nintendo”, you get all the results with that keyword. What you don’t get are “Nintedno”, “Nintenro”, “Nihtendo”, or many other misspellings. Typo Buddy will find all of them, with the idea that the auctions’ low profile will let you swoop in and pay a lower price for the items.

Unwired Buyer

One more site to mention, not because it’s a search but because it’s a unique tool, is Unwired Buyer, which keeps an eye on your watch list and lets you place bids by phone in the closing minutes.

Not forgetting Nabit, an application which Mark reviewed a couple years back. Follow this link to read all about it. Unfortunately, the developers of Nabit has discontinued its distribution. You might still be able to get a copy of it online.

What’s your favorite way to search eBay? Give us some ideas in the comments.

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• Shop Like a PRO: 7 Tools to Crack eBay (15)
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Earning Income from Selling Hot Selling Items on eBay?

At first, it felt almost impossible to make a profit on eBay. I started with a few items from around the house. It was ridiculous what people were willing to buy – but the cheques that came in the mail were very real, and they started to add up. Before long, I noticed those giant eBay PowerSellers with an inventory of hundreds of expensive items for sale. I was curious how they did it. After a few years, I was not only able to learn how they do it but do it myself. The secret is this – you need a source. There are a variety of sources for hot selling items on eBay, including…

• Local auctions
• Local yard sales
• Electronic bulletin boards
• Overstock
• Buying in bulk
• Other online auctions

In this article, I’m going to share the top websites that other PowerSellers hope you hadn’t learned about.

Buying Items at Auction

Finding antiques at a local auction and selling them on eBay was one of the most significant ways that I was able to multiply my sales. In time, I learned how to recognize individual items at auctions that had huge eBay potential – but you still have to be very careful not to overpay for those items or you can lose your shirt. Using auctions as an eBay source is one of the best methods to become a PowerSeller, but finding the best auctions in your area can be difficult. One of the best sites I found to do that is Auctionbiz, which has listings for auctioneers all around the country, from the huge auction houses in the city to the smallest auctioneers out in the country.

Unfortunately, these listings are only available within the U.S., but another great site for European eBay sellers is AuctionGuide, which covers auctioneers from all across the world.

These listings are fairly comprehensive. Just be sure to work yourself up from the cheaper “country” auctions up toward the more expensive city auction houses as you earn more, and as you learn how to recognize the hot selling items on eBay. Also, if you plan to shop at auctions for your eBay merchandise, purchase a mobile device such as a smartphone with an Internet capable browser on it. While you’re at the auction during the preview session, simply visit eBay.com, click “Advanced Search,” and then search through past eBay sales for the items that you see at the auction. Make sure “Show Completed Listings Only” is selected.

This will show you how much the item sold for on eBay, before you buy it. It also tells you how much you should pay for the item without losing your shirt.

Local Yard Sales and Electronic Bulletin Boards

Another great source that I found for items at very cheap prices are local items for sale. These are the deals where you can create a fortune – if you’re diligent and quick to act. Back in February, I wrote an article on an application you can use to search Craigslist for your local area. Whether you use that application or not, Craigslist listings are a constant source of some of the best opportunities for eBay PowerSellers. For example, a recent search for “digital camera” in my area turns up a long list of great deals.

Remember, be smart about how you buy. For each item, search the completed eBay listings. If the Craigslist seller is offering the item at less than what it sells for on eBay, contact them immediately and ask to buy it. Drive over and pick it up so that you can save on shipping costs. The best website out there to look up local yard sales is one that MakeUseOf reviewed before called the Yard Sale Treasure Map – a very cool site that lists lots of yard sales in your local area.

Overstock and Buying in Bulk

If you have enough cash on hand, you can always invest in an inventory. Lots of sellers do this. There really isn’t any secret to it, except that you need to spend a bit upfront. Be careful about scam artists that “cherry pick” their pallets. These items typically come from store closings or overstock inventory. This is a field where reputation is king, and buying locally is your best bet. Just search Google for “wholesale pallets,” and you’ll find a long list of them. One good example is RhinoMart wholesale distribution.

The thing to look for are sites that offer good, clear photos of the pallets, and decent listings of contents. However, in most cases these items were all packaged quickly during store closings - so you simply get what you get. However, in the end you’re paying only a fraction of what the items are really worth, so this is usually one of the best ways to earn some significant eBay income.

Other Online Auctions

If you don’t have a fortune to invest up front, one of the easiest ways to make money on eBay is buying at smaller auction sites and then reselling on eBay. You’ll likely find far fewer items at these sites, but you’ll also find much better deals. A few of these include:

• OverStock Auctions – Auctions of “overstock” items
  
• uBid - Excess Inventory Auctions
  
• GovDeals – Pick up government surplus items at great prices
• ShopGoodwill – The popular “used goods” store is now an excellent Ebay seller source as well

One of my favorite online auction sites is the PropertyRoom Police Auctions, a fairly active website primarily for the sale of items confiscated by authorities.

You can find some pretty impressive deals on PropertyRoom, however competition for those items is getting pretty fierce. For now, there’re still some impressive lots of high quality items available, including computers, cars and jewelry.

The Hottest Selling Items on eBay are Everywhere

As you can see, becoming a PowerSeller on eBay is only a matter of finding a good source of low cost items. When I first started, the hardest part was finding those items. Toward the end of my eBay PowerSeller career, the hard part was keeping up with packaging and shipping. Once you find one or two product sources that work for you, you’ll have no problem making a tremendous income from eBay.

MakeUseOf has written a handful of great articles on eBay tips, be sure to check them out.

Are you an eBay seller? Share some of your own tips and tricks in the comments section below.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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To explain it clearer, Google tries to guess what other type of information the surfer would also like see based on his or her search query. For example, for “Britney Spears” you’ll see images and videos blended within the search interface and for “downtown Los Angeles” you’ll get local search results (i.e. maps.google.com).

The idea of pulling more data by one-click searching can be expanded. You do not have to limit yourself to the Google search engine only. This time I am listing a few cool FireFox addons that show you more relevant information based on your search query and provides you with more opportunities to browse through.

Add Multiple Search Engines to Google Search Interface

WebMynd offers to search a wealth of search platforms simultaneously with your Google search, by default: Twitter Search, Amazon, YouTube; but you can also add numerous other search options (e.g. Flickr, Wikipedia, Digg, LinkedIn, CNN, etc). The search results will appear right on Google’s results page in the right sidebar:

Additional great features of the page:

• send Tweets directly from your search results asking your friends advice related to your search;
• user-friendly interface: add/hide engines with one click, drag-and-drop ordering of pages.

Integrate Amazon.com and eBay Search:

GoogAzon adds the first ten search results from Amazon and eBay in a collapsed orange bar to the top of your Google results page (works also for Yahoo or MSN / Live search). The results include the title, price, and a mouse-over thumbnail image.

You can also quickly share the results with friends and access the actual Amazon / eBay search results.

Add Reference Information

Google Search Sidebar for FF3 (Greasemonkey plugin) adds relevant results from Wikipedia and Dictionary.com (as well as Flickr, and YouTube) :

See Your Browsing History

Infoaxe is a browser addon (both FireFox and Internet Explorer versions available) that will show your browsing history results based on your Google search term.

Note: it requires registration and access to your private data, i.e. browsing history.

See What Your Facebook Friends Have to Say:

SideStripe offers a handy Google Gadget that integrates with the Google search results page and searches your friends list for your search query.

The tool offers some more functionality (e.g. it invites you to ask your friends’ opinion on what you are searching) but I didn’t invite my friends to use the application, so I can’t say if it works. The search functionality works pretty well though:

Would you like to add more searching functionality or do you think “plain” Google is all you need? Do you use any tools that make Google better? Share your thoughts!

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I have some interesting tips to share with you MakeUseOf readers – just in time for the holidays.

eBay can be great to buy gifts at discounted prices or to sell items to make some money to buy gifts! What a magically time of the year.

Looking for deals? Let’s see what we can do you for…

Check out other eBay’s in your native language or use Babelfish to translate. The wife uses Ebay UK habitually and now thanks to Babelfish she is all into eBay France and eBay Italy. I showed her how to browse over to the foreign eBay sites and do a brand name search.

Then using a little ingenuity we try and pin it down to a category (if you can figure it out great, if not it’s OK. Just a little more clicking around later).

Then we copy the URL from the search page and plug it into BabelFish. We choose the “Translate a web page” option and select the appropriate language – here it is French to English (this will translate the French eBay search page into English so we can understand it). Don’t press the back button on your browser – it will bring you back to the BabelFish page no matter how deep you go into eBay.

Now you have a browser opened with your search translated! Sweet!

2. Use a Sniper app to help you get the lowest price and win a auction at the last possible minute. I have been using AuctionSniper (last minute bid software) now for well over 4 years.

AuctionSniper is not a free service but your first 10 snipes are free so hey close enough! Then if you get your friends to sign up for the free 10 snipes as well, they will give you more for free. You can also go on to purchase “snipes” if you run out. But hey I haven’t run out in years and if I do I will move on to another free/similar service.

The way Auction Sniper works is quite simple. You give them your eBay user name and password and they will automate your bid at 5 seconds before the end of the auction (this is the default and can be changed). This way all those bidding wars don’t start between you and some 12 year old kid in Kentucky.This also gives the highest bidder a sense of winning so they are not closely watching.  This lets you and your sniper swoop in for the win at the last second. Just remember the currency is the website’s default – meaning if you are buying from eBay.co.uk it will be in British pounds, France will be in Euros and if you are hitting eBay.com it will be in US dollars. So don’t think they will be converting your 10 Euros to 10 dollars – dig?

3. How about finding great deals because other users mis-spelled their auction?! Check out Misspelled Auctions

Type in what you are looking for and it will try various popular mis-spellings to get you to a low traffic auction. This is a great breeding ground for deals! Low competition = BIG SAVINGS!

Here is a search for the awesome HTC Touch Pro:

You can see it searched for “tc touch pro”, “hc touch pro”, “tuch pro” and a whole bunch more – and look – we got a hit in the above picture!

Selling stuff? Do your homework first!

4. After logging into eBay you have the option of Advanced Search features. These are an eBay seller’s best friend. The advanced search feature I use most often is the Completed Auctions option. Why you ask?

It’s simple – if you quickly peruse the list of completed auctions for what you are looking to sell you can see at a glance the green prices sold and the red prices did not. You can get a pretty good idea of how much you can get for your collection (of something that meant something to you at one time and would be better off spent on beer money now!).

You can then also click on the little icon next to the auction that brought in the most money and use the “Sell Similar”. This will save you a bunch of steps in setting up your auction.

5. Tips and tricks are all well and good but do you know what helps more than anything else with selling on eBay? Pictures, pictures and more pictures!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words – let’s just say it can be worth a hundred bids here! People want to see what they are buying. Take these STRANGE eBay listings… Do you think they would have sold without images?

.

(Images are linked to the completed auctions..)

Think those auctions were strange? Check out Weird eBay Listings for more!

Also be responsive to questions asked by potential buyers and offer a slew of payment options like Paypal and credit cards.

Do you have any eBay tips or tricks to add? We would love to hear from you in the comments. Just think it might get you that internet fame you have been wanting for so long

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• 4 Sites To Find Stores Going Out of Business And Buy Up Surplus For Cheap (6)
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• 7 Tips for Private eBay Sellers (6)

Personally, I find private auctions extremely interesting. It’s the collectors items, the used goods, the rarities, or peculiar things, like the seller mankymoomin who writes funny references, that can be real bargains, make for extraordinary gifts or are simply fun to follow.

On Make Use Of we have given quite a few tips and introduced you to many tools that will help you get the most out of eBay, shop the pro way, manage your auctions, find alternatives to eBay, and much more. However, all of that material primarily focuses on buyers. Now here are some points to consider to get the most out of your auctions.

1. Compare and Learn
Generally, the best way to find out what and how to sell successfully, is to read listings of a few (similar) items and see what seems to work well. Don’t try to sell items that don’t go well for anybody. In preparing your listings, learn from successful sellers and copy their excellence. But do remain unique.

2. Title – select it carefully
Compete for attention and subsequently money begins right here. This one line can make a huge difference, so be sure to select the right keywords, add relevant information and discard anything no one will search for, such as punctuation, exclamations or similar nonsense.

3. Spelling – it’s not a TV production
Be smart and spell words correctly, especially in the title. Bad spelling makes you look like an amateur and only a minority will find your items: those that spell wrong as well and those that hunt down common spelling mistakes with special tools.

4. Description – be precise and to the point
Thoroughly and honestly describe the item, but still make it easy for a potential buyer to understand and evaluate the offer quickly. Keep a short attention span in mind! Don’t compose a novel, structure your description well, use short sentences or lists, and try to answer potential questions upfront.

5. Category – pick wisely
Many people don’t search for keywords from the main page. Instead, they skim through categories or search within a specific category. You don’t want to lose these bids! If in doubt, invest in multiple categories.

6. Picture – a must have
A picture can say more than a thousand words. Hence invest some thought and effort into creating a high quality photo with good light and smart perspective. When trying to sell a valuable item, invest in a gallery picture.

7. Timing – not to be neglected
Although auction sniper tools are very common these days, timing can still make a huge difference. Either way, most bids are received close to the end of an auction. Thus auctions should end when most people have time to be online and follow them. So keep your target audience in mind. Housewives will probably be very busy early in the day, while someone working in an office may be online anyway. Apart from that, keep the season in mind and don’t try to sell thick coats in the midst of a hot summer.

Things I don’t want to mention separately are good communication, timely replies, fair shipping & handling fees and quick shipment. In short, even if you’re “just” a private seller, it’s recommended to act professionally, be reliable, and build a good reputation. Don’t scam your customers and don’t make them wait, it’s going to cost you!

What did I miss? What are the best bargains you made on eBay and what were your greatest mistakes?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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• 5 eBay Tips On How To Buy & Sell BETTER (7)
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1. Google Analytics

Google Analytics has to be one of the most popular AIR tools out there. Google Analytics is one of the most used traffic analysis tools and this desktop AIR version allows you to do everything as if it were on the web, but a little quicker. You can learn more about it from Mark O’Neill’s article here.

2. Ebay Desktop

eBay Desktop – With all the amazing features already found on eBay, this desktop version will blow you away. It has a much slicker and simplified search tool and design. Download it here.

For other eBay goodies see Shop Like a PRO: 7 Tools to Crack eBay

3. Finetune

Finetune – Finetune has to be one of the most impressive music tools in the marketplace at present. It lies somewhere between highly customizable radio and music discovery service. By using Finetune you can build music playlists based on your artist preferences, listen to your playlists from the desktop and share playlists with others. You can also browse and tune-in to any 500.000 + playlists created by other users.

If you’re an iTunes user, the AIR application can instantly lookup the artists in your music library and create Finetune playlist for each of them. Download it here.

4. AOL – Top 100 Music Videos

AOL Top 100 is the desktop widget featuring the top 100 most watched music videos across many genres including Pop, Rock & Alternative, Hip Hop, Country and Latin. Watch music videos in full screen or standard mode. Found video you like? You can easily bookmark and watch them whenever you want. Although there is one major problem with this widget, about 15-20% of videos don’t work.

5. WebKut

Webkut is a simple AIR application that lets you capture web pages, or parts of them in a matter of seconds. There are 3 capture options: the entire page, the current view, or custom selection. If you take web screenshots on a regular basis then this app is for you.

6. Xdrive @ Desktop Lite

Xdrive is an online storage service from AOL. Now available from your desktop. This lightweight desktop tool allows you to drag’n drop (upload/download) files and folders between your Xdrive web storage and desktop. Backup important files online, share photos with friends, share documents with colleagues, etc.

7. Pownce

Pownce offers a simple way to communicate with friends. Send mid-sized files, share interesting links, post messages, and announce upcoming events. Can be accessed both from the web or via this simple desktop client.

8. TWhirl (Twitter App)

Twhirl – Twhirl brings Twitter to your desktop. It delivers new Tweets directly to your dektop. No more refreshing of your Twitter home page, Twhirl is the way to go. See also Mark’s previous coverage of TWhirl @ Tools and Apps to Improve Twitter Experience. Interested in TWhirl? Download it here.

Other Interesting Adobe AIR Apps

• DiggTop – Simple Digg client.
• Color Browser – This tool is great for designers. Pick the colors, save them, go back to reference what you’ve one in the past and what you’re currently working on.
• NASDAQ – Get insight into extremely detailed trading activity in the market at any time during the day.
• StockQ – Stream latest stock quotes to your desktop. No brokerage account login or authentication required. You can set it to auto refresh every 1sec – 5mins.
• NetBook – Desktop client for Project Gutenberg Library. Lets you search, read and listen to PGL books.
• Klok – Slim task manager and project time tracker.

Got another useful Adobep Air application ? Let us know in comments.

(By) Steven and Aibek. Steven is the CEO of Insomnia Ltd, which is a media company based in the UK. Steven is also the editor over at Crenk, a tech news, opinions and analysis site.

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PayPal Plugin (US only) – The ultimate protection for your PayPal account. And here is how it works: when you want to purchase something and are asked to fill-in credit card details, instead of giving your real card details, you can use the plugin to generate a secure single-use MasterCard number that debits from your PayPal account. And since the card is valid for only one purchase your info always remains secure.

PayPal Mobile (US, UK only) – Check your account balance, send money, request money, pay for eBay auctions and contact Paypal support team directly from your mobile phone. All the above features can be used in several ways, via mobile website (mobile.paypal.com), using text messaging or through automated phone support.

Paypal Debit Card – The fastest way to get money out of your PayPal account. You can use it pretty much anywhere where MasterCard is accepted (ATMs, Restaurants, Gas stations etc.).

Requirements:

• Have US PayPal Business or Premier account.
• Must be PayPal member for at least 60 days.
• Is a verified PayPal member
• Be active PayPal member with account in good standing.

PayPal Facebook App – There are two things you can do with this app. (1) It offers a simple way for other to pay you back. (2) You can also use to raise funds from friends for all kind of events such as parties, birthday gifts etc.

PPcalc – Having trouble figuring out Paypal fees? This online PayPal fee calculator lets you quickly calculate how much you need to charge to get the amount you’re looking for. Similarly you can also use it to calculate how much you will be charged for an incoming payment.

FatFreeCart – Free shopping cart for your website. It’s very simple to implement (simply copy-paste) and supports both PayPal and Google Checkout. No registration required, simply fill in the details and let FatFreeCart generate the code. Copy and paste the code onto your website and you got your own shopping cart. Actually, PayPal has its own cart creator but unlike FatFreeCart it doesn’t work with Google Checkout and is available to only Prremier and Business accounts.

Send Money to Skype contacts – In case you don’t know, now Skype allows you to send funds to your contacts.

Paypal Payment Request for Outlook – Using this Outlook addon you can request money from anyone with an email address. In particular, it lets you add Pay Now, Buy Now, Donate, Subscribe and Tip Jar buttons to your emails.

PayPalSucks – So far it’s been all good, but what about the negative sides of PayPal. PayPal Sucks is all about that. Here you can post and discuss your PayPal compaints (i.e. frozen accounts), see complaints from others, read about fraud stories, lawsuits, and pretty much everything that is wrong with PayPal.

Source: PaypalSucks.com

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• Top 10 Sites To Find The Hot Selling Items On eBay (19)
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FINDING THE RIGHT ITEM:

1. GetItNext – One thing that I really don’t like about eBay is its search function:although it has a wide range of filtering options, it sometimes takes just too long to get the search results that you want. And that’s exactly where GetItNext comes in really useful. Unlike eBay search, GetItNext is able to filter irrelevant results more efficiently and lists only the items that you are looking for. For instance, searching for Dell Vostro 1500 laptops will bring only actual Vostro 1500 auctions, well … mostly.:-). Check out the video below, it explains the idea quite well.

Apart from getting the right auctions, GetItNext has a bunch of other noteworthy features: (1) visually compare items in your watchlist, (2) save searches for later reference, and (3) use recommended tags to filter results even further. For more details go here.

2. oSkope – Really cool visual search engine for eBay, Amazon, Flickr and Youtube. It lets you conveniently browse through large amount of items with minimal effort. Highlights include: supports international ebay sites (eba.de, ebay.fr, etc.), quick auction preview, visually appealing drag’n drop interface, add to watchlist, and more.

3. RSSauction – Highly customizable online tool for watching eBay auctions. Basically, RSSauction lets you create highly targeted alert notices for the specific items you are interested in. Once something matching your criteria gets listed, you will get notified either by email or in your feedreader.

4. Lastminute-Auction – Probably the best tool for locating bargain deals on eBay. Lastminute-Auction only lists auctions which have less than one hour to go and are still priced below $1. You can also view auctions by category (USB Flash drives, RAM, etc.). To take full advantage of it, try it out when eBay has the least amount of traffic, i.e. in the nights, or early mornings. This will get you right to those rarely found auctions that get almost no exposure at the auction end, resulting in extremely low winning bids. Also available for other eBay sites, including Germany, UK, Italy, Australia and Spain.

LAST-MINUTE BIDDING

5. UnwiredBuyer – Free last minute notification and bidding service for the auctions in your watch list. It contacts you (via email or mobile) right before the end of the auction, updates you on the auction status and lets you place a bid directly from your mobile. (US and Canada only). See video below.

Full feature list: UnwiredBuyer – Last Minute eBay Bids from Mobile

6. AuctionSniper – “AuctionSniper is a web-based eBay sniper that automates the process of placing your eBay bid in the closing seconds of any eBay bidding auction, dramatically increasing your chance of winning.”

TRACKING YOUR PURCHASES

7. ShoeBoxed – And finally something to track your eBay receipts. Shoeboxed can automatically manage, track and organize your eBay purchases and receipts online. Once registered, you will be provided with “shoeboxed_username@shoeboxed.com” email address. Simply set it as a default email on eBay and all incoming receipts will be automatically organized and displayed in your ShoeBoxed account. In addition to eBay, supports over 20 other major retailers. [ShoeBoxed - All Features]

Got other noteworthy eBay tools ? Let us know in comments.

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• HowTo: Sell Old Cell Phones and iPods (9)
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The key is to think of all the routine day-to-day things that you do online and then think “how can I do that from inside Gmail?”. Is there a RSS feed or other forwarding service that I can take advantage of? Are there any web services that can be accessed directly from an email ?

I have basically sent all the available RSS feeds to Yahoo Alerts which then get sent to my Yahoo account. Using Gmail’s “Get Mail From Other Accounts”, I have then had the Yahoo emails sent to my Gmail account (or anyone with a premium Yahoo account or Yahoo Webhosting account can have Yahoo emails automatically forwarded free of charge). A filter is then set up in Gmail to catch all these incoming emails so they are tagged and filtered right away.

But if you don’t have a Yahoo account and you don’t want to set one up to use Alerts, the same result can be achieved using RssFwd. But really you can do this with ANY email address – it doesn’t have to be Gmail. We here at Make Use Of just have a preference for it!

Receive contacts status updates from Facebook

Using Yahoo Alerts, I pulled the RSS feed from my Facebook Status Updates page and I now get all the status updates from my contacts emailed to me. No need to visit that page anymore! Unfortunately Facebook doesn’t provide the facility to update your Facebook status from your email yet.

Monitor eBay sellers new offers

If you go to a specific eBay seller’s page (where their offerings are listed), there is an orange RSS button at the bottom. Feed that RSS feed into Yahoo Alerts and have the seller’s new listings emailed to you as they appear on eBay. No need to go checking their listings on eBay anymore in the hopes of maybe finding something new. What would be perfect would be if eBay supplied RSS feeds for each category so you could monitor a category from your RSS feeder.

Sending all my Twitter updates via Gmail’s built in GTalk

Just add twitter@twitter.com as a contact in your GTalk application and then type your new status message in a new chat window. Once you send it, your Twitter page will update. No need to visit Twitter anymore!

Have Twitter updates from other people emailed to you

Using a service like Twitter Digest, you can have the status messages of all your Twitter contacts bundled into one RSS feed which can then be run through Yahoo Alerts which will then be emailed to you once a day. No need to check up on that again at Twitter. You can also have all your own Twitter updates included – so in 6 months, if you want to know what you were doing yesterday, you only have to search in Gmail!

Have your Diggs, Stumbles and Del.icio.us links emailed to you (or someone else’s)

The chances of Digg, Stumbleupon and Del.icio.us going down are remote but at the same time it’s still good to have a backup of all your links in your Gmail account. Again, the same deal – run the RSS feeds through Yahoo Alerts or RSSfwd and have them emailed to you once a day. Or have someone else’s links emailed to you if you monitor them regularly. No need to go visiting their pages again!

Have direct links to Flickr photos sent to you

Every Flickr account has an RSS feed. So you can point that feed to your email and from then on, the direct links to every new Flickr photo will be emailed to you. Useful for finding a particular photo and helps to prevent you having to search through lots of photos on Flickr to find the one you’re looking for. You can also email photos directly to Flickr – no need to use uploading tools anymore! Sending them from Gmail also puts a copy in your “sent” folder which is a useful backup.

Have new iTunes releases sent to you

The Apple iTunes store has LOTS of RSS feeds – maybe you’d like new song releases emailed to you? No need to go browsing through Amazon or iTunes anymore. How about backing up your CD’s as mp3 files and then emailing them to yourself? With Gmail’s built-in MP3 player, you can play your music inside Gmail. Use a freeware tool such as CDex to make MP3 copies of your CD’s (perfectly legal as long as you don’t distribute the music to others).

Be notified of new additions to the Project Gutenberg library

If you download a lot of e-books, use this RSS feed link to get email updates of new e-book additions to the Gutenberg collection. No need to check the Gutenberg page anymore!

Post To Your Blog

If you have a Blogger blog, you can post from your email. Just go to the “email” tab under “settings” to set up your secret email posting address. Then write your post in Gmail and send. Something similar can be done on Wordpress-powered blogs as well, just go to “Writing” tab under “Options”.

There are so many other possibilities but I will save them for another post. Anyone got any other ideas to add to the list? How do you use Gmail to run your online life?

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Thinking about this subject a little more, I started to define what “user-generated content” actually is. Then it struck me – user reviews. Everytime you write a review online, that’s user-generated content. Grading these Make Use Of articles using the five yellow stars at the bottom of the page counts as user-generated content – because you are grading the content. You are pointing people towards the good stuff and steering them away from the bad stuff. You are helping to improve what’s on the web and you are making the web a more useful reference resource for all. This is Web 2.0 in action – adding the human touch to the internet.

Here’s some places where you can leave user reviews.

1. Amazon : whenever you contemplate buying something on Amazon, I’m sure your eyes wander to the user reviews and the number of stars that product has garnered. Then as human nature dictates, you buy the one that is highest-rated. Next time you buy something on Amazon, spend 10 minutes or so grading the product and writing a review. It will help other shoppers later to see what you thought of the item. If the item sucks, tell others to warn them. If the item is great, support the company / author / artist by telling the world how wonderful it is.

Plus look at it another way – the top reviewer on Amazon was profiled in Time magazine last year in which it was revealed that she gets free books sent to her by publishers because she is such a prolific reviewer. So there are some side-perks to reviewing too.

2. Internet Movie Database : as I revealed in a previous article, I check the IMDB to see if a movie is good or bad before I decide whether to watch it or not. I read the user reviews which can be filtered into the good reviews, the bad reviews and whether you want to read plot spoilers or not. Next time you watch a movie, why not grade and review the movie for others? Thanks to IMDB reviewers, I have stayed away from a lot of stinkers and saved myself a lot of money in the process. But I still went to see Poseidon (eek!)

3. TV.com : as much as I try to deny it, I love my TV shows. While I am doing writing like this, I like to have the television on with my latest show. With show pilots starting all the time, some good, most bad, how do I find new shows to watch? TV.com! It’s well-known that the TV networks monitor the reviews and forums on TV.com to gauge viewer reactions. So next time a show plot sucks or you’re mad as hell that your favourite show has been cancelled (”West Wing” he mutters to himself), write a review on TV.com. You might just find that someone at NBC or ABC will read it and take your views into account when deciding whether or not to bring back McGyver.

4. eBay Reviews : similar to Amazon reviews, you can also review products on eBay.com. I can’t write much about this as I don’t participate in this one. Maybe an eBay reviewer reading this can fill us in on some details of how it all works?

Do you know any other good places to leave user reviews?

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So for all the newbies, parents, grandparents, techno-phobes and computer doofs out there, here’s what should be on your computer.

1. THE BASICS

A good firewall – my personal preference is ZoneAlarm

A good virus checker – why pay through the nose for Norton when you get the free and excellent AVG Anti-Virus?

A good spyware checker – despite their 2007 version not quite being up to scratch as its predecessor, I still recommend Ad-Aware for ease of use and efficiency at finding those nasty spyware critters.

I covered AVG and Ad-Aware in a previous MakeUseOf article which you can find here. They were also mentioned in our round-up of free security programs .

2. BROWSER AND EMAIL

You’ll obviously get Internet Explorer as the default browser but you should definately shun it in favour of Mozilla Firefox. If you prefer, Opera is also excellent but Firefox is (in my opinion), the top browser. But don’t try to uninstall Internet Explorer. Best to keep it on the PC, at least to get the Microsoft security patches downloaded (Microsoft doesn’t allow you to download their patches using the Firefox browser. You also cannot use Firefox to access the Microsoft Office templates.)

If you want to have your email downloaded to your PC, Microsoft will naturally push you in the direction of Outlook but again, you can shun that in favour of Mozilla Thunderbird. Similarly to Firefox, Thunderbird is full of useful extensions. If you decide on Thunderbird and don’t want Outlook cluttering up your computer, you can remove Outlook (and any other Microsoft product for that matter) by inserting your Windows set-up CD into the CD drive of your computer then go to the start menu then Add/Remove Programs –>>Add/Remove Windows Components (on the left side). You can then uncheck what you don’t want and they will be uninstalled for you. But you need the original Windows installation disk for the programs to be uninstalled properly. You will also need the Windows installation disk if you want to re-install anything later. So keep that disk safe!

3. THE REST (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)

Winpatrol – alerts you when programs secretly try to burrow their way into your start menu. You can also customise and control your other computer functions as well as set up scheduled tasks. You can see the MakeUseOf review here.

Winamp – for playing audio and video. Customisable and easy to use.

7-Zip – for zipping and unzipping files. There’s also the previously reviewed Universal Extractor but that is only for unzipping files. To zip them, you would also need something like 7 Zip.

TrueCrypt – for encrypting those files you don’t want anyone else to see. See the MakeUseOf review here.

Picasa – one of the best photo management tools out there. I like how you can set up photos on the page before printing them out on photo paper.

Skype – the best VOIP telephone program on the internet. Also has an excellent chat function, and is highly customisable.

Pidgin – got more than one chat ID? Manage them all with this alternative to Trillian. Constant upgrades being put out.

The Google toolbar – I am not normally a fan of toolbars but the Google toolbar is the exception. Highly useful with quick access to the search engine and most Google services. The Firefox version can be found here.

Unlocker – helps you to stop any system processes that may be stopping you from deleting, moving or renaming a file on your computer. See the MakeUseOf article here.

Google Earth – this is my time-wasting application. I like to zoom in on people’s houses!

FileZilla – for moving bulk files from my PC to my website. See the MakeUseOf review here.

CDex – it’s perfectly legal to make private backup copies of your CD’s and keep them on the computer. I use CDex which is an easy CD ripping tool.

CCleaner – clean out all the junk that has accumulated on the computer. Cleans out temp files, cookies and much more. See the MakeUseOf review here.

Auslogics – along with CCleaner, use Auslogics to get your files defragged and in order. You can see the MakeUseOf review here.

eBay Turbo Lister – if you sell on eBay, Turbo Lister can help you to write and list your auctions offline. Totally invaluable, although sometimes it is a little buggy.

That’s the basic list but of course there are other programs based on your needs. For example, I find a video editing program called VirtualDub totally invaluable but unless you deal with a lot of raw video footage, VirtualDub will be not much help. I also use a paid program called SnagIt but some of you may not want to pay for a screen capture program (does anyone know of a free screen capture program?). Oh and if any of you have a website and need to make thumbnail pictures, a good program is Easy Thumbnails.

So that’s the total sum of my PC at the moment. What do you think of the above list? Do you agree with my choices or do you have better alternatives? Let’s hear it in the comments.

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1 UnwiredBuyer – Receive last minute eBay notifications and place bids directly from your mobile. Definitely a must-have for every eBay junkie. (US and Canada). Video Demo.

2. Soonr – Need to access your PC directly from the handset? Enter Soonr, a free mobile client that brings remote PC access to your phone: search files, view documents, check emails, run programs and more. US only. Video Demo.

3. Mosio – How old is Yoda? What was Einstein’s IQ? … and for all other questions simply send SMS to Mosio and get a quick reply shortly after. Screenshot. US only.

4. Plusmo – Super-fast mobile feedreader with lots of cool features. Video Demo. Another similar app is Viigo.

5. Fring – Really cool mobile app that lets you place free calls or chat with anyone from your Skype, ICQ, Google Talk, MSN, Twitter, or SIP contacts. Video Demo. You can also get same stuff with Nimbuzz.

6. Mobical – Over-the-air mobile data backup and restore service. Store and backup your contacts, synchronize data between multiple handsets and more.

7. Jajah – Dirt-cheap international call from your handset. Video Demo.

8. AllFreeCalls – Not just dirt-cheap but totally free international calls to over 50 countries. Available in US, UK, and Ireland.

9. Emoze – This one lets you push emails to your mobile. Works both with web-based emails (Gmail) and desktop clients (Outlook). I have covered a bunch of email to mobile apps here.

10. Directory Services - These services offer everything from the nearest Dominos and Movie theater schedules to the driving directions and maps to any address of your choice. There are plenty of good ones: Free411, Goog411, TellMe, and DialDirections. Although i have to warn you in advance, all of them are for the US only. European? See below.

11. Google SMS – Via SMS directory service with lots of extra features: dictionary lookup, currency converter, translations, flight schedules, stock quotes, etc. . Europeans can try Google SMS.

12. Foonz – Handy service to make group calls and send group SMS messages for free.

13. Nutsie – This ingenious app brings your iTunes music library to your mobile. Video Demo. Also check out MunduRadio to access hundreds of digital internet radio stations from any web-enabled mobile phone. Video Demo.

14. Podlinez – Any podcast any time from your handset. Completely FREE. Sorry folks, again US Only.

15. mShopper – Lookup prices and deals for any product right from phone. Quite handy for price lookups while window shopping Video Demo.. US only.

16. Trumpia – Send message to friends and get it delivered to their email, instant messenger, and mobile phone. Recipients can send replies from email, IM program or as a text message. Video Demo.

17. SoLow – Addictive auction service where the winning bidder is the one who has the lowest unique bid. Today’s auctioned items: 250$ cash, Vail Ski Holiday, and Necklace by Laura Shape. US only.

18. BooksInMyPhone – The best mobile book service out there. Comes with an excellent book reader app that makes mobile reading quite convenient. Also see DialyLit.

19. Jott – Voice-to-text transcriber with a bunch of cool features. Dial toll-free number and “Jott” yourself memo notes, Or “Jott” messages to a group of friends. Jott will transcribe your messages and send it to indicated emails.Video Demo. US only.

20. Qipit – Use phone camera to capture documents and convert them to well-formatted PDFs. Forward ready PDFs to your email or even send fax it anywhere you want. Video Demo.

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	A very cool site that’s a mashup of deals from other sites like Slickdeals, Fatwallet, Gottadeal and lots more. Mostly tech-related stuff, but there are other things also.
	A site created by a University of California student that lists out a bunch of great deals on everything from tech to shoes daily. This site is very simple and is addicting.
	The nice thing about this site (and others) is that you can subscribe to the RSS feed to quickly find deals. Also, pictures of the items are included in the feed. This site also gives you info on rebates and coupons in addition to just deals.
	DealDump is an aggregate of multiple deal sites, covering everything from Woot.com to DealOverFlow. There are a lot of sites on here I had never even heard of before, so you might find something good here.
	Find the hottest deals on gadgets, computers, electronics, cameras, and lots more. The cool thing about this site is that you can subscribe to an RSS feed for the specific item you’re looking for.
	Takes the same concept of Digg.com and does it for deals. Users vote for the best deals and the ones with the most votes get on to the front page. Also once you join you can enter to win free stuff, etc.
	As you can probably tell from the name of the site, Techdeals.net is all about tech stuff likes games, MP3 players, digital cameras, computers and more. It’s updated daily and has a good number of items.
	An online service that helps shoppers find coupons and hot deals for tons of online stores. It has a very clean interface and is one of the best sites for just finding coupons! Definitely check it out.
	Not your normal deal-finding site! This site is basically a social shopping deals site, complete with a game show host and a good number of great products. You’ll have to check it out yourself to find out.
	DealItem is another deal site for mostly tech stuff. It works best when you’re searching for something by model # or by make and features. If you know what you’re looking for, check out DealItem.
	A social bargain hunting site that changes frequently during the day, so you’re looking at new stuff all the time. Again, its based on a peer voting system that brings the best deals to the front page.
	SlickDeals is one of the better known deal sites and includes everything from tech gadgets to men’s shirts. They also have over 800 coupons that you can use at your favorite stores. Very clean interface and easy to use web site.
	Finally, GottaDeal.com is very popular site for finding deals and coupons online. Has a bunch of categories and brings in deals from many of the major retailers such as Apple, AT&T, and CompUSA.

So that’s about 13 deal sites that I could think of that have gained some popularity over the last couple of years. If you know of more that you think are good or better, go ahead and post it in the comments! Enjoy!

(By) Aseem Kishore is an IT Systems Analyst and Tech blogger. Visit his blog @ Online-Tech-Tips.com.

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Before I begin, I want to issue a disclaimer. I did some consulting work during 2006 for Digonex Technologies, the company that created and owns Nabit. However, the fact I used to work for Digonex is not the reason I am such a big fan of the Nabit software. I am a big fan of Nabit because it is quite simply one of the most useful free software programs out there, if eBay is your passion. The usefulness of the program is the reason I went to work for them in the first place. But in the interests of full disclosure, I thought I’d better mention my past connection to the company.

I buy on eBay a lot, especially books which I collect with a passion. But keeping track of what I have bid on, what I have been outbid on, when auctions are ending and so forth can be quite time consuming. You have to log into the eBay website, put up with eBay downtimes, navigate your way around eBay to find what you are looking for…if the seconds are counting down to the end of an auction and you need to put in a fast counter-bid, those kinds of delays could mean you lose the item you really want!

Also when you are searching for something on eBay, most bargains can actually be found from overseas buyers (which most people seem to overlook). The search engine on the eBay website is not really that user-friendly for conducting overseas searches. This all creates a huge niche which Nabit more than amply fills.

Nabit is a free small software application, approved by eBay, which lives on your PC desktop. It can be automatically started when Windows loads up and you can minimise it to the status bar. When you are not using it, it runs silently in the background and you will soon forget it is even there!

After installing it, you are asked to log in. Now most people whom I talk about Nabit to get concerned that the company keeps a vast database of eBay usernames and passwords. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Nabit does not have access to your log-in details at all. Instead, they rely on an eBay-managed system called “Authorization and Authentication”. Nabit directs you to a secure eBay page, you log in there, eBay verifies your details and then sends an authentication “token” to Nabit to let you in.

Once you have verified your details, Nabit pulls up all your eBay user information, including :

• live auctions you are currently participating in
• live auctions you are currently watching
• auctions you either participated in or watched that are now over.

When I worked for the company, I wrote a manual in PDF format, which will explain all the intricacies of the software. You can download it and read it at your leisure but it is actually a little dated. I have a slightly more up-to-date version (up to November 2006) of the manual and if anyone wants a copy, they can download it here. But here are the highlights of what Nabit can do for you :

* You can search for an item on eBay either in your own country or, by simply applying a couple of filters, you can instantly search for that item overseas in the following countries – Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States. You can filter by other specifications such as “Paypal-only” just as you would on the eBay site. The search is fast, effective and easy. You can then bid for the item INSIDE the Nabit application, removing the need to go to the eBay site at all.

* Nabit gives you the ability to respond fast to being outbid. With just a few clicks and two Nabit windows, you can place a counter-bid. MUCH faster than going through the eBay site.

* You will receive pop-up notification windows from Nabit in your Windows status bar when an auction ends or when you are outbid. These can be switched off if you don’t need them or if they irritate you.

* You can add items to your Nabit watch list and Nabit will synchronize that list with your eBay watch list, making sure both are updated and correct.

* The Nabit software is multi-lingual. You can change the software language to English, German, French, Chinese, or Portugese – even if you are searching on an eBay site in another language (so for example, you can search eBay USA in German). Everything on the listing page is translated into your chosen language (except text written by the seller) and the prices are automatically converted into your own currency.

* If you enter your zip code (post code) into Nabit, the application will tell you how far away each seller is from you. So you can search for a seller that lives nearby if you have to pick up the item personally.

* If you are an eBay seller, Digonex (the company that owns Nabit) will give you a free custom version with your own auctions auto-updating in the status bar of Nabit. You can then burn this custom program onto a disk and hand them out to customers as a free promotional tool.

In a nut-shell, Nabit offers fast easy access to eBay, timely notifications of any changes to your auctions and a superior search capability.

However, Firefox users may instead prefer using the eBay Companion for Firefox. I use both tools and I am torn over which one I prefer the best!

Which eBay tools do you like the best? Tell us about them in the comments!

Posted by MakeUseOf guest-writer Mark O’Neill

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Determine the Lowest Available Price for the Item

To get the lowest available price for a desired item take following steps. Find the category for the items you look for. -> Once you are there select By It Now option from the upper left corner of the screen, to eliminate auctioned items -> Sort items by selecting Sort by ‘Price: Lowest First’. -> Skip some spammed listings that priced extremely low(like dell laptop for $15.99) and skip items from sellers with unreliable feedback(more on feedback below) -> Once you get to the first lowest item that offers what you need and meets feedback guidelines, you will get lowest reliable price for your item, provided that item has reasonable shipping price.

At this point you can either buy the item on the spot or hunt for it in the auctions and use the bottom price you discovered as a mark for the bargain deal, everything below it, is good.

When and How to Bid on eBay

So, now you have your mark set, and you decided to go with auctions to get even better deal. Next step is bidding process. Lack of knowledge in bidding is the main factor leading to overpriced auctions. The best time to bid is at the very end of an auction (last one minute or even less), by simply entering your final price(which should be below the mark price that you obtain from step 1) and let the game play out. This way you if you get a deal you only get it at a bargain price. And if you get outbid and the price goes above you are not loosing anything as you still can go for Buy It Now option from step1 as not many bidders can detect such items.

There are 2 reasons for bidding at the end. Firstly, if you bid long before item ends you will be simply contributing to it’s visibility and attracting even more people to it, because people tend to check items with higher bids more often and secondly, if you place the bid on the item anytime before the end and outbid other bidder s/he usually will try regain position as a highest bidder, and bid higher, taking the auction price even higher. That is exactly the reason why hot items tracked by many experienced bidders will increase in price 50% or even 100% and higher in the last 1,2 minutes of the auction, because they all bid at the end.

Target Auctions Ending when eBay has Least Amount of Traffic

That is actually the best strategy to buy auctioned items, where the victims are unexperienced or one time sellers. The trick here is to identify days and times when least amount of people will be browsing ebay.

Fewer people means much less intense competition for the last moment bidding. For instance, items ending on the nights or very early in the mornings make a good target, but you won’t encounter much of such items either. When you see such items add them your watch list.

Even better way is to browse ebay in the evening during the time of the popular shows or events when most of the people watching TV, at these moments you will also be faced with minimum competition but with far greater amount of auctions about to end. This is one fo the techniques people use to buy items that they will resell on ebay later.

Identify Misplaced Items

Sometimes unexperienced sellers list items in wrong categories. That is bingo for buyers, as misplaced items tend to receive least amount of attention and usually skipped. To find such items, simply search for the item on ebay and then check other categories that contain results for your item other then the main category. It may not be easy to find such item, but well worth it in many cases. Make sure to place your bid at the end.

Chec eBay Feedback

And finally, some short guidelines regarding feedback. Ebay fraud is a big business for many people and in case of a fraud ebay does not take any responsibility so you are on your own here, hence make sure to follow these tips before buying anything expensive. For cheap items I would say anything above 50 with 100% positive feedback is good, for expensive items unless seller has something above 300 make sure to check details below:

• registration date: I would say anything above 1 year membership is ok, if it less then this be more vigilant to the details below.
• feedback pattern: If most of the feedback was received in the last 1 month, check listings and buyers that left feedback. If most of the items were priced below 3$-4$ and the buyers who left feedback have feedback score in the range 1-5, then stay away from the seller.
• neagtive feedback: See when and why negative feedback was received.

If there anything I missed, or you feel like adding something I am looking forward for your comments. If you liked the article feel free to digg it below to spread the word about it.
Happy Bidding!

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