How to Win the eBay Lottery

by Robert Perkis / Lotto-Logix

Ebay is not your grandfather's auction house, it is really a 
lottery disguised as an auction and much more exciting since 
you only pay if you win!!!



We play lotto, enter contests and sweepstakes because we like 
to win nice prizes.  Winning is what it's all about for 
lottery players and eBay has plenty of opportunities to play 
and win your heart's desire. 



Ebay is incredible, possibly the most important synergy of 
market place and bank to come out of the internet.  Like the 
proverbial Hollywood and Vine everything ever made will 
eventually appear for auction on eBay where you can win it!!!



Lottery players will find their fine tuned lottery playing 
skills of tracking and waiting to pounce will stand them in 
fine stead to take on the challenges of winning at eBay. 



Introduction: 



In the beginning eBay can appear a bit tricky, computers for 
one cent, what's that all about?  These aspects can confuse 
some and anger others, but once you know what it's really  
about, it won't bother you in the least.



Ebay was the first and still is the greatest market place on 
the World Wide Web and they've merged with PayPal the first 
viable bank on the Web creating a powerhouse company unrivaled 
to this day.  As eBay has no inventory investment and nibbles 
just a bit from every transaction, they are almost pure profit
incarnate.



Ebay attempts to maintain a level playing field for sellers 
and buyers to do business in an honest atmosphere even 
offering to guarantee smaller purchases will be satisfactory 
or your money back.  When this much business passes through 
your toll booth you want to keep a good reputation.



How to Join:  



You don't have to join to look around eBay, just use the 
search box on this page to see if that special item you wished 
for is currently available.  



If you decide to join eBay, just click on one of the sign-up 
invitations and fill out the form.  Don't play games because 
the address you provide is where your wins will be delivered.  
You should also join PayPal because that is the easiest way to 
pay for items you win.



When you join eBay you will receive your own very useful home 
page called "My eBay" where you can watch items of interest 
and automatically keep a list of the items you are bidding on.



PayPal is a real online bank and part of eBay.  You open an 
account just like you would at your local bank and can fund 
the account with your credit card or leave the account at zero 
and PayPal will act as a buffer between you and seller billing 
through your credit card.  There are three stages of having an 
account, unverified (not everyone will do business with you) 
verified address (this plus funding through your credit card 
is very good) and Verified where you link your local bank 
account to your online account (too scary for me).



To join PayPal just click on the PayPal banner on this web 
page and fill out the form.  When finished you will have an 
online bank account.  Having the account and 
paying for things online is free, PayPal takes a bite when you 
get a refund or someone sends you money.



How to find things on eBay:



Ebay offers both an index and two search engines.  The lesser 
search engine is the eBay search box just like the search box 
on this page.  If you wanted to see if there were any lottery 
books for sale you could type in lottery book and get 
thousands of listings for lottery and or book or you type in 
quotation marks "lottery book" and you will be shown only 
listings with lottery book in the title. If that isn't enough 
listings check the box [X] to look in Titles and Descriptions.



The better search is [Search] at the top of every eBay web 
page.  This more sophisticated search allow you to select only 
sellers who accept payments by PayPal which makes life much 
easier.  When you use this search the items are listed in the 
order in which they expire first to six days out, easier then 
the Index listing which first sorts them by I don't know what 
seemingly random [Current] offers.  



While the Index isn't really all that useful, when you visit a 
page you can generally find more of the same by looking at the 
top of the page where it tells you what section of the Index 
the page is listed under, click that and see them all.



Winning on eBay:



It's all about winning, getting the greatest deal at the 
lowest possible price.  Ebay looks like an auction, but it 
isn't really because it has a timed ending.



In a live auction bidders bid until they exhaust their budgets 
and the one who bid the highest amount for the item wins.



On eBay, the highest bidder at the moment the auction times out 
is the winner, big difference as we shall see!



First things first, know the value of what you bid on.  
Bidding and what you receive is always chancy. If the item is 
available locally for the same price you are better off buying 
it off the shelf where you can examine it firsthand.



Once an expectation of good value for the likely win price has 
been established, check the Shipping and Handling charges.



Every listing on eBay is a different seller so shipping 
charges can vary considerably even being an extra source of 
income for some sellers.  Avoid if possible all auctions where 
the Shipping and Handling charges are not clearly defined and 
reasonable.



With Shipping and Handling, it's all a matter of balance.  You 
have to look at whether the total package is a good deal or 
not.  If it is an overall great deal don't get annoyed paying 
six times the postage rate to get your prize.



For example, won a $99. value 512k computer memory bar for 
$28. and the Shipping and Handling charge was $6.00. When the 
package arrived the postage was 60 cents, the memory works and 
is everything it's supposed to be, I learn to live with it.



Watching: As lottery players we have a tendency to pounce on a 
good thing.  Many first time eBay users think they have to bid 
on the first item they find that fits their requirements often 
just so they can find it again. This is why the [My eBay] page 
has a [Watching] area.  As you find possible candidates for 
bidding click on the [Watch this item] and it will be added to 
your [My eBay] page's watching section where you keep your 
list of possible items to consider bidding on.



Bidding Strategy: 



A win is the item we want at a great price.  We accomplish our
goal by not causing the price to rise through useless bidding.



There are only three times you want to actually place a bid.  



When you will be the first bidder, bid the minimum. It is 
surprising how often people will see a bid was placed and move 
on.  Expect to be outbid at some point, don't worry about it 
as the single purpose of the bid was to reduce the total 
number of biders bidding up the price.  



When you will be second bidder, bid the minimum, expect to be 
outbid (sometimes instantly by Proxy Bid) don't worry the only 
purpose of the bid is to be among the bidders.  We do this 
because some people get really weird after thinking an item 
was theirs for a week only to get outbid at the last minute.  
Don't bother if there are already several bidders, just watch.



Update: ebay has a rule against snipping, waiting to the last
minute and bidding a large amount. While enforcement is rare 
it is now a good idea to place at least one bid prior to the
final bid at the auction's end.



Many people still think eBay is an auction.  I am always 
amazed to watch someone think the goal is to be highest bidder 
fighting off their challengers all week, what they are doing is 
bidding up the price, stupid, stupid, stupid.  Actually some 
times this becomes a great opportunity because they chase off 
other bidders making their tiny increases, which means if you 
wait until the last minute, you can bid an amount greater then 
their usual bump and take home the prize.



Yes, the only time you really need to bid, is at the last 
moment possible, a minute before the "auction" ends.



What exactly do we mean by bidding at the last minute?  Have 
an amount written down, know your password, be logged in, on 
the item page watching and refreshing as the time drops to two 
minutes, check your watch, enter the bid, go to the Confirm 
your Bid page and at about 90 seconds remaining, Confirm the 
Bid.  See if you won, pay immediately through PayPal. Wait by 
the mailbox.



Last Bid Strategy: Normal auction: Know what you are willing 
to spend to get what you want after shipping and handling, say 
$60.00 add to this an amount that will be cents over anyone 
bidding a round figure at the normal rate of increase.



Say the eBay recommended bid increases are $1.00 and the item 
is now at $38.00 and the newbies have been one upping each 
other all week and there's maybe someone using strategy out 
there watching as well.  



Wait until the last minute and bid $61.17 for example, this 
will beat anyone who drops $60.00 or $60.01 at the last minute 
and still be above any slew of dollar increases coming in at 
the last second from the newbies. (Newbies: People with few or 
no bid wins after their name/handle.)



How can you bid $61.17 when the current bid is only $38.00 and
the recommend next bid is +$1.00?  You can bid any amount you 
like over the current amount because eBay allows it and you 
will only have to pay the recommend bid amount over the next 
highest bid if you win. ie: If the newbies only bring the bid 
up to $42.00 you would pay $43.00 not the full $61.17 bid.  
Cool huh?



The original intent of Proxy Bidding was bid and forget.  The 
bidder would find the perfect item, bid the maximum they would 
be willing to pay and come back in a week to see if they won.  



The Proxy Bid acts like a friend sent to a real auction with 
instructions to only bid up to a certain amount. The intended  
purpose behind the eBay Proxy Bid is to push up the price as 
others who want to win must bid past the Proxy Bidder and the 
amount necessary to do so is unknown.    



Lucky for us the Proxy Bid works just as well at the last 
minute for winning the final bid as it does for bidding up the 
price when used as intended.



Dutch Auction:  A Dutch Auction is very much like a normal 
auction except there are more then one of the item so several 
people can win.  Bid like you would for a normal auction only 
at the end if bidding has been active aim for outbidding the 
top bidder which should put you somewhere in the middle wins.  



Watch out for Dutch auctions for bare bones computer systems.
You can often get a lower price by visiting their online eBay 
store.  Make sure they don't just take PayPal, but that they 
do so through eBay Checkout.  If you do buy a computer this 
way, take the Intel cpu and upgrade the Power Supply and fans.



Reserve Price Not Met: Sellers can start an auction at any 
amount even one cent.  They can also set a Reserve Price. They 
don't have to honor the win until the Reserve Price has been 
passed.  Treat a Reserve Price auction like a normal auction, 
watch and see what it looks like at the end.  Chances are the 
Reserve Price will be passed and from then on the auction is 
normal.



Buy It Now: Until the first bid the item can be purchased at 
once for the Buy It Now price.  If reasonable and what you 
want, feel free to Buy It Now.  Keep an eye out for new Buy
It Now listings because the good deals get snapped up fast. 
If not your first bid will remove the Buy It Now feature and 
turns it into a normal auction.



How Not to get Taken:



Surprise, there are some crooks on eBay.  Here are things to 
watch out for.  



Greed Head: What happens when you think you are dealing with a 
seller who doesn't realize the value of what they've got.  You 
think you've lucked on to a hot deal, but it isn't what you 
think because you're dealing with . . .



The Kid: Pretends he doesn't know how to use the item or 
couldn't get it to work so he's selling it, always broken!!!



The Busy Pro: Claims he doesn't have time to test the item, or 
is missing the power cord or something simple to make you 
think you have a chance to get lucky, not gonna happen.



The Liar: Claims to be selling the Family Treasure, was pulled 
from a dumpster.  Fully refurbished means sprayed down with 
Windex. Looks to be in good condition, guy needs glasses. Fully
tested, the power light came on, etc.  Won't give you a straight 
answer to the question, "Does it work properly?"



Missing Parts and Information: Items are often used and parted 
out, the laptop with the long list of features must come with 
a working battery, you'd think so, wouldn't you?  Funny the 
seller also has your battery for sale separately, used no 
guarantee.  Don't count on anything not mentioned being 
included.  



No Refunds: Claims something along the lines of having sold a 
good item a buyer ruined and was unfairly forced to refund so 
never again. Skip the agony of doing business with this loser.



Short Refund: Offers an extremely short refund period, unless 
you are ready to use the item the day it arrives the offer is 
more of a trick to avoid refunds then a guarantee.



No Such Item or Person: Often a teenager, creates a throwaway 
email, eBay and PayPal accounts to sell a bogus item and run. 
Signs can be a description of the item that doesn't match what 
you know about the item, lack of satisfied feedback from 
previous sales, phrases like "I'm selling another one . . ." 
without any sign of having sold any.  Poor response to 
Questions to Seller requests for missing information.  Watch 
out for listings showing the seller to be a member of eBay for 
years with no feedback as seller or buyer a sure sign something 
is out of whack, avoid at all costs it's a fake!



PayPal Switcher: Look out for warnings eBay Checkout or PayPal 
mysteriously doesn't work for their company through eBay Checkout. 
They are trying to avoid paying eBay their fee and your chance at 
recovery if there is a problem because you won't be covered by 
eBay and PayPal Insurance Purchase Guarantees.  Avoid unless so 
minor it won't matter if you have to toss it or never receive it.



Insurance: 



There are three forms of insurance, Postal, eBay and PayPal.   



Postal: If the seller offers postal insurance for a dollar or 
two and you have any concerns they might claim to have shipped 
and didn't, taking Postal insurance should help prevent that 
nonsense.  Actually collecting would be almost impossible as 
the seller submits the claim of loss.



eBay: After 30 days if you can't contact the seller to resolve 
an issue or get your goods, and your Credit Card can't or 
won't get your money back, you can file a claim for 75% of the 
amount minus shipping for refund from eBay.  



PayPal: When you fund the purchase through PayPal you may be 
offered the opportunity to insure the purchase.  Again if you 
have any concerns the seller might not ship or will ship 
defective product, consider taking the insurance or taking the 
chance depending on gut feel.



Feedback: eBay offers the option of buyer and seller providing 
feedback on the joy of dealing with each other.  If there is a 
problem you can as a last resort threaten really bad feedback, 
but never actually do it because some sellers won't sell to people 
who give bad feedback.  You can always give bad feedback as if 
Positive for any who actually read the feedback of a seller.



Update: Some sellers of large items such as cars and trucks are
requiring feedback be submited at time of delivery before you
have the chance to fully investigate the purchase.  While this
should be avoided, if the only way to aquire the desired vehicle,
be sure to log out of your account after leaving feedback using
the seller's computer.



How to Win the eBay Lottery Roundup:



Join eBay and PayPal



Establish value of what you're looking for



Find several potential items and watch them



Bid minimum if first or at least once 



Synchronize your computer time with eBay



Watch your items, especially at the end



At the last minute bid your max plus few cents.



What about the one cent items?  Many under a dollar to start are 
there on the first day, but a price that starts off low is often 
the first to draw bids so it doesn't stay that way very long.



Good luck to you. Robert Perkis / Lotto-Logix