02-21-2006, 02:00 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Comparison Shopping with Pricepirates
"Sometimes the winning bid on eBay isn't the steal you hoped it would be. On occasion, the price on eBay ends up being higher than the price through traditional retail channels. Instead of second guessing and digging through hundreds of shopping sites and comparison options, Pricepirates pulls in eBay bid prices and compares them against shopping comparison sites, Amazon Marketplace for a more complete picture of your shopping options."
This is a bit off-topic, but since I'm sure that many readers here have used eBay for buying gadgets and accessories, I thought it would be worth sharing - I've often found myself bidding on an item, only to have some mildly-insane bidder come along and jack up the price to the point where it's almost at full retail price. This tool helps give a more complete picture of the market value for your item. And hey, it's free!
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02-21-2006, 02:59 AM
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Mystic
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,608
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Just had this discussion with a family member looking to use ebay. Told her the 1st rule is know what you are bidding on (pricing at retail, is it a current model, etc). 2nd rule was to look for the shipping charge before you place a bid. 3rd rule is a personal one and others may feel differently but I never bid more than 90% (including shipping) of retail price.
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02-21-2006, 03:37 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 56
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by byteme
Just had this discussion with a family member looking to use ebay. Told her the 1st rule is know what you are bidding on (pricing at retail, is it a current model, etc). 2nd rule was to look for the shipping charge before you place a bid. 3rd rule is a personal one and others may feel differently but I never bid more than 90% (including shipping) of retail price.
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Spot on. Just because it's eBay doesn't mean it'll be cheap. I've sold old iPods for higher than their retail prices on eBay before. =P
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02-21-2006, 05:03 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 165
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You guys forgot another rule. Always check the feedback. And don't stop there. Check the actual items that were sold in their feedback, and whether or not the feedbacks were from purchases or sales. Don't count all negatives bad and don't count all positives good. Be sure and actually read the feedback comments. I've even used feedback item links to go to another seller of another auction if necessary, just to see if there are patterns that would qualify the past seller as legitimate or not. Another rule of thumb... stay away from sellers with a very large feedback and a feedback rating of 95% or less. They have so many items for sale, that if they get your order wrong, they don't care if they make it right.
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02-21-2006, 10:45 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 41
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This is a nice little program that automates the comparson process and saves time. Just so happens that a couple of hours ago I was looking for best prices for a Toshiba Tablet PC at both ebay and normal retail sites. Ran the same query on pricepirates and got the same results / information in a fraction of the time.
Price is GREAT to!! 
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02-21-2006, 05:55 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 9
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Ebay always seems to be such a hassle to me. Unless I'm looking for an item that's out of production, I'll just continue to bargain shop online with trusted sites (Obviously YMMV)...
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02-21-2006, 07:04 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 351
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by krypticide
Spot on. Just because it's eBay doesn't mean it'll be cheap. I've sold old iPods for higher than their retail prices on eBay before. =P
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yeah, for sure! I sold a USED Gold ipod Mini for $US225 !!! It was nearly 2 years old!!
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iPhone / iPod(s) / Mac Desktop & Portables.. yet I'm a Windows/MS Platform Dev ;)
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02-25-2006, 04:04 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 146
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I can frequently (if not usually) find better deals through www.pricewatch.com than through pricepirates - and I don't have to download anything to my computer to use it.
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