Part of being a great ebay seller is finding some nice niche hot items from time to time. We were lucky enough to find just such an item a little over two weeks ago. While visiting our local church’s rummage sale, my fiance spotted a pair of brand new Technica ski boots still in the box. I’d passed up the box because it was rather beat up looking, but being the thorough investigator she is, my sweetheart opened it to find the ski boots were brand new, with their hang tags and original retail recipt still inside the box.

Flip for cash!

She knew that high end ski boots and other sports equipment can be quite expensive, and finding a nice size 11.5 pair of men’s Technica ski boots was perfect for this winter. They had a hot form liner, which is a special type of heat pad-style lining that plugs into an adaptor for warming your legs and feet in the boots, or just prior to putting them on and hitting the ski slopes. With all of the snow we’ve had this year, there are thousands of people spending time on the slopes over the weekends. The Winter Olympics are also set to begin, so winter vacations and ski destinations are definitely on people’s minds.

Purchase price: $5.00

Final Auction Price: $122.50

Keep your eyes peeled for other winter sports apparel!

Loaded and locked

Sniping ebay auctions 101:  Ebay auction sniper and snipe software explained. There are a few tricks to buying on Ebay, and today’s topic is on Sniping auctions. What in the world is an auction Snipe? Is it like hunting for Snipe? Is Wesley Snipes gonna slay vampires with a sword and win my auction for me? Well, i’ll tell you. It’s neither. An auction Snipe is a bid submitted to ebay in just the last few seconds of the item’s auction time. It can either be done manually, via software or via an online Sniping service.

The main advantages to performing Snipes on ebay auctions is so that you can try to bid on items for the smallest amount of money. When people bid on auctions on ebay using ebay’s auto bid feature, ebay automatically places a hidden proxy bid for you up to your maximum bid amount. If another bidder comes along and places a bid on an item, ebay will compare it to your maximum bid and the new bidder’s maximum bid, and bid up the price of the item to the new price of whoever has the higher maximum bid. For example, let’s say an item has a $1.00 opening bid amount. You think that’s a great price, and bid $5.00 as your maximum bid. Someone else comes along and bids $7.50 on the item. Ebay compares it to your max bid and raises the price to $6.00 ($1.00 over your max bid) and the other person becomes the new high bidder.

This works to the seller’s advantage, as two or more people can get into a bidding war by raising up their max bids in the auction. This is usually how auctions work, in that multiple people will bid against each other until the end of the auction raising the sales price. If two or more people really really want an item, bidding can go way up at any time during the auction. If you’ve ever gotten into a bidding war on an item, you know how this feels. It sucks when you get outbid, especially when you know the item isn’t worth what the new bidder is going to pay for it.

So, Sniping is a way of making the bidding process work for the BUYER, not the seller. If you have patience, you can wait on an item and try bidding on it in the last few seconds of the auction. When you bid on items using this strategy, time works in your favor, especially if not a lot of users are watching the end of the auction at their computer screens. Patience is all that’s required, and a quick click of the mouse. There are a few tools in which you can use to Snipe auctions, and here’s a comparison of which might work best for you:

Manual Snipes: Manual Snipes are the easiest type of Sniping. You have to log into your ebay account and watch the auction in real time, and submit your max bid in the last few seconds. Remember, submitting your max bid won’t necessarily be the final price, it’s just the maximum you yourself are willing to pay for that item. The best way to do a manual bid is to go to the auction and enter in the amount of your max bid anywhere from 10-30 seconds before the end of the auction. Ebay will put the auction time in countdown mode (four… three… two… one… liftoff!) during the last hour of the auction. Simply watch it, and 10-30 seconds before the end of the auction, enter your final bid and click enter. Don’t forget, sign in beforehand and remember there’s a confirmation screen to confirm the bid if you’re not using 1 click bidding. Give yourself a little extra time if you’re on dialup (closer to 30 seconds) and narrower time if you’ve practiced the Sniping maneuver on a good high speed connection.

Sniping software: There is some great free Sniping software which is available to you. The one that I use is called Jbidwatcher (click for link) and is open source freeware for multiple operating systems. Software lets you automate the process of Sniping and it allows you to set up multiple Snipes and Snipe scheduling for multiple items. It’s very useful to use these when you aren’t home or if you’re busy doing other things than watching your auctions. Snipe software frees you up to do other things and manage your Snipes on your own time. You simply configure your software with your watched auctions, set up your Snipes, tell the software when to submit the Snipes (in seconds) before the auctions end, and let it do all the work for you. The potential disadvantages to using PC based software are: A) your internet connection has to be working, B) Your computer has to be running and not in sleep mode (turn sleep mode off), and C) you have to enter your account login information into the software. For the last reason, go with an open source auction Sniping program. Open source programs allow everyone to review and potentially revise the program’s source code, so no funny business (ex: account information collection and distribution) sneaks into the program.

Online Sniping Services: There are several online Sniping websites which essentially work the same way as the PC based software. They monitor the actions for you and will attempt to Snipe them automatically just like the PC based Sniping programs. The main advantage is that they’re always running (virtually no down time) and you can set up your Snipes and forget them. The main disadvantage is, you have to enter in your ebay account information and there’s no open source security. You have to trust the Sniping service will keep your ebay login information confidential.

I don’t know about you, but I was one of those parents busily searching all over my little section of the universe trying to find that hot toy this christmas season, the Zhu Zh

the toy aisle

u Pets Hamsters. It seems like every year, christmas time sets the trend for finding THE HOT TOY out there. Kids see it, they talk amongst themselves at school about it, and they get a severe case of  “Daddy-I-Gotta-Have-It-itis.” This leaves you, the good parent, going out of your mind looking for whaver the crazy new trendy toy is. One year, it was Vera Bradley bags, the next year it was Guitar Hero gear, this past year…. the sickly cute little hamsters took over the minds of our little ones who collectively begged their parents for it, en masse.

With some luck and perseverance, I was able to locate my set of them with a minimum of effort, gasoline and added expense. These are some of the best tips that I can give anyone out there looking to spot a trend for the hot toy of the moment, and how to find it.

Local Stores: Always start out first with your local stores. I like to call my local stores first and ask for employees in their toy departments. to save on gas and driving time.  Jot down their names and talk to them using their names. There’s always something more formal and respectful when talking to a person by name on the phone, it’s more personable. Use your manners and say “Please” and “Thank you,” while they scour their store shelves or computer inventories for that special toy. If they are able to locate it, ask them to set it aside for you until you are able to come to the store and pick it up. Some stores won’t let you do this (first come, first served), however you can ask them if you can purchase it over the phone and then pick it up as soon as possible. Also, it doesn’t hurt to learn the manager’s name of a particular store or department and just talk to them like you would a good friend, especially if you are looking for hot toys regularly. Knowing someone on a first name basis will get you far when searching for immpsible to find items.

Restocking Times/Dates: It pays to learn when a particular store re-stocks it’s inventory. Certain toys are so popular that sometimes they’re only available in small quantities, which are equally distributed to all of the stores in any region. By learning when each particular store stocks these items, you might be able to time it right for a visit. This works especially well for night owls and the big chain 24 hour a day stores like Walmart. Typically, restocking occurs in 24 hour stores in the wee hours of the morning between 2:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.. In big chain stores that do close, they usually re-stock the shelves overnight at any time before the store opens. So, it pays to be the early bird that gets the worm. Some stores only recieve new stock from their delivery trucks on particular days, based upon their regional distribution delivery routes. For example, a local Toys R Us near me here restocks on Tuesdays and Thursdays after their delivery truck arrives.

Gaming & Comic Book Shops: Let’s face it, people that work at comic book shops refuse to grow up. They’re big kids at heart and are fiercely dedicated to collecting any and all items related to games and comics. If you’re on the hunt for a particular toy that’s related to action, science fiction or anything even remotely (excuse the term) “nerd-like,” then the fine folks at Gaming and Comics shops are an excellent resource. For example, the Star Wars Jedi Force Trainer game was a super hot toy this season. The only place I found it were in shops that carried Comic Books. As of the writing of this article, those very same stores are well stocked with Avatar toys.

Clearance stores: If it’s a newer toy, you won’t have much luck finding them in clearance stores. However, after the holiday rush and before the next season’s toy rush begins, you just might find some bargains in clearance stores like Tuesday Morning, Big Lots, and others. Some toys retain their value or even go up in price depending on availability. For example, companies like Lego and Playmobil produce certain toys for only limited times (or limited series). Finding a brand new unopened toy that’s been retired or a  limited production can pay off in the future if it’s no longer being produced.

Craigslist: Check the toys section of your local major metropolitan craigslist area. Often, you will find a flood of resales for some toys right after the holidays. This is a great way to pick up some gently used toys for a fraction of their original prices. It works especially well for locating used video games, video game consoles and DVD’s right in our own area. Just be sure to test everything before you purchase it. 

Online: Online websites and ebay are also great places to find that hot toy. Retailers and resellers flood the market with toys around the major holidays, and sometimes it is the only recourse you have for locating a very scarce item. Take advantage of pre-ordering a toy if you can before the holiday rush, or look for reputable stores with an in-stock guarantee. When on Ebay, pay careful attention to a particular seller’s feedback rating. Try to purchase items from sellers with five star service levels with over 98% overall positive feedback rating. It also pays to search for misspelled words in the items descriptions. For example, the Zhu Zhu pets were spelled “Zou Zou” or “Zoo Zoo” pets in many instances. If you can find one spelled incorrectly, it won’t come up in searches with the ones that ARE spelled correctly, which usually means there’s less bidders and you can pick them up for a song.