Hooked on the online bargains

By DIANA CLEMENT

In the last month I've sold four badly scratched records for $37, a bundle of used cloth nappies for $40 and some broken model aircraft bits for $5.

Am I a con artist? Do I have the gift of the gab? No, I've caught the online auction bug.

Like millions worldwide, I'm an online auction addict, selling off anything that has the remotest chance of collecting dust in the house.

My mantra is: "Is it beautiful, do I use it?" If not, it's photographed and listed for sale forthwith.

There are more than 200,000 items for sale on Kiwi auction site TradeMe.co.nz and millions on eBay.com at any one time. The range is mind-boggling.

Virtually nothing is too obscure or too worn out to sell. I even won a bet with my partner that I could sell the UK number plates from a car we shipped to New Zealand last year.

Every man and his dog wants to run an auction site in New Zealand and there are more than 40 listed on Piperpat.co.nz. However, the undisputed leader is TradeMe.

There are other lookalike services for private traders such as Trade & Exchange's T&E Online service, eBay.co.nz, and Buyme.co.nz.

Plenty of Kiwis also trade on international websites including eBay and its competitors such as Amazon.com and Yahoo! Auctions.

New Zealand also has commercial online auctions such as Auction City and Grays Online.

Auction City approaches suppliers looking for refurbished or excess stock that can be auctioned and has around 450 new auctions going live each day.

If online auctions are a mystery to you, then this is how it works . Anyone can join for free and you can buy and sell almost anything you like with a few clicks of the mouse - bar a few banned items such as firearms.

To list your item you log in to the website with your personal ID, choose a category for your item, type in a description, details of how you propose to deliver the item to the buyer, and a price. You then just sit back and wait for the buyers.

Most auctions last seven days and the bidding can be fierce - with the item selling for half new price or more at times. The auction site's commission is usually less than 5 per cent.

It's rare for the seller to run off with your money - that's because there are built-in safety mechanisms.

Buyers and sellers leave feedback about each other and as a potential buyer you can see what has been said about the seller in the past.

For large items - or for very cautious bidders there is a system called SafeTrader on TradeMe and Escrow on eBay - where, for a fee, the buyer pays a third party and the money isn't released to the seller until the goods are received.

Like any online activity, auctions do attract conmen, so check out buyers and sellers carefully - especially if it's an expensive item or the deal is too good to be true.

eBay in particular is targeted by con artists using a technique called phishing and there have been news stories about non-existent items being sold on TradeMe.

Your first sale is always the most difficult, because you have no feedback to prove that you're a good trader. I'm proud of my 200+ positive feedbacks and I'm always careful to ensure I treat my buyers well.

So how did I get this addiction? It started when I found that the cloth nappies I'd bought at Farmers weren't up to scratch.

I was in the UK at the time and a friend suggested I replace them with high-tech second-hand ones. Once I'd got over the shock that such an item was saleable [and bought some Napisan], I started trading nappies until I had a complete set of top-of-the range shaped, breathable nappies that I hadn't paid a penny for. I was on the slippery slope to auction addiction. I'd be financially better off writing a book on the subject of auctions than actually involving myself in them.

But such is the nature of addiction that it's impossible to sit down at a computer without taking a sneaky peek at my auctions.

Even broken and faulty goods sell because someone, somewhere has an obscure need. Wayne Thomas, who bought my model aircraft bits, emailed his thanks. They were a real find for him and most people, he said, would simply have chucked them away.

Online auctions have spawned many home-based businesses ranging from manufacturing and importing businesses to second-hand dealers who take vans to inorganic collections looking for stuff to sell online.

Wairarapa-based Mike Collet started making wooden toy train track after he found that the Thomas the Tank Engine train set his kids wanted was expensive.

He bought a lathe and woodworking equipment and started churning out track in his spare time. He sells it on TradeMe to pay off the machinery and is planning a line of play tables and accessories.

Buying at online auctions is easy. You search or browse for an item you're interested in. The current bid, if there is one, is shown and you enter the amount you are prepared to pay.

Many buyers use auto bidding, which allows the system to automatically outbid others - up to their pre-set maximum price.

If you're looking for an obscure item that may only come up occasionally you can set up an email alert to notify you when the item is listed.

Once you win a bid, an automatic email is sent to buyer and seller - putting them in contact so they can make their own payment and delivery arrangements.

On the buying side, I restrict myself to obscure stuff that isn't easily available in New Zealand or is overpriced new.

Last month I bought some brand new telephony equipment on eBay.com. The entire deal cost NZ$95 including postage from the US compared with $299 here. It arrived within five days. It was a bargain.

But I've also bought high-tech breathable nappies on TradeMe for virtually the new US price, simply because I wanted to try out a particular brand.

Buyers will sometimes pay more than the item is worth new. The reasons for this are that the item may no longer be manufactured, the bidding war could have got out of hand, or the buyer lives in a rural location and doesn't have discount shops within easy driving distance.

Tips for buying

* Set a price and stick to it.

* Never bid unless you know what an item is worth.

* Don't bid unless you know the postage and packing costs.

* Consider waiting until the very last moment to make your bid - when your competitors may not be online.

* If you win, contact the seller as soon as possible and pay promptly.

* Remind the seller to post feedback about you.

Tips for selling

* Be honest about what you're selling.

* Check out competing auctions before you list your goods.

* Find out the shipping costs before you list.

* Write eye-catching ads - check out how the experienced hands write theirs.

* Set a realistic starting price that will encourage buyers to start bidding.

* Keep your buyer well informed - you want good feedback from them.

* Don't dispatch the goods until you've received payment.

Trade Me

eBay

Trade & Exchange

BuyMe

Grays Online

AuctionCity