How to Save Thousands by buying on eBay, part four

Another Tip that could get you a BIG SCORE

Do you like playing the lottery, but don't like having to buy a ticket? Then this tip could work out great for you.

When an item is listed on eBay, it generally takes over an hour for that item to be included in search results, which means that if you browse the whole category (or all of eBay) you can sometimes get an incredible steal.

For instance, I know about gemstones, especially exotic and rare gems that most people have never heard of. I was looking for my favorite gemstone, Benitoite, and I came across a 4 carat Benitoite in an 18k gold ring, with a "Buy-It-Now" of $800 which seems reasonable for many gemstones--unless you realize that a Benitoite over 3 carats has not been sold in the public for over 10 years, period. Also you would need to know that there is only one mine for that gem, which at that point had been shut down. I came across this gem when I did not have $800 to my name, and my parents would not lend me the $800 I needed to make the purchase (despite it being worth at least $40,000) so I was flat out of luck. I decided to contact the seller who was completely clueless about this gemstone. He immediately took down the listing, and told me the story. Apparently his mother had dated the owner of the mine when it was in peak production and he saved one of the 100 largest stones to ever come out of the mine for her as a present. The seller's mother went on to marry someone else, and the ring sat in the jewelry box for over 15 years, collecting dust until it was time to eBay some items.

It is possible to still get deals like this, especially if you have a particular area of interest that would allow you to identify an item that is worth many times the Buy-It-Now price.

If you have a wide area of expertise, or a lot of time on your hands, you can actually make money on eBay without having any item to sell, technically legally.

It's what I call eBay double-closing.
What you do is find the 3 Stooges Cookie Jar (or whatever) for $50 and buy it now. If the seller does not need immediate payment, then you put the same picture or a stock photo up in your own listing and sell it on a 1 day auction with immediate payment required. Then as soon as your auction closes, you give the shipping information of your buyer, to the seller of the original auction, and keep the profit of $200.

It's probably somehow against the eBay terms of service, though I don't know for sure, of course. I know it's not against eBay terms to sell it again as soon as you receive the item.

For instance, I was doing research on eBay because I was going to a video store closing several years back and I learned that there were several titles that go for quite a pretty penny. One of them is called Rad and it's about trick bike riding or skateboarding or something like that. Average sales price was $45 and I saw one for $5, so I bought it and immediately relisted it with a combination of pictures and information gleaned from other auctions. It went for $40 and after eBay fees of about $8 I took home a little over $25 for doing nothing other than knowing more than other sellers and typing a bit.

Quality!

eBay is NOT the best place if you demand the highest quality. If you do, you probably aren't going to save a whole lot, but if you are willing to get a great deal for a slightly lower quality item, chances are you can do the exact same things with it, and have saved way more than you thought you could.

Right now, I am about to purchase a Flat Screen TV, as the prices may be possibly have dropped enough to put one in my price range. I will not reveal anything else about it until the auction closes. But once it does, I will reveal another trick that can work well for certain items.