Strategies for Using Ebay Bucks Offers and % Off Coupons

PSARich

Just wanted to share my strategies for using the eBay Bucks offers and % off coupons that show up periodically. This time of year there seems to be a lot of these offers. After years on eBay, I have developed some strategies to take advantage of these offers. I hope some of you have additional methods you will share to get optimal value when these offers arrive.

1. Get Lucky:
   Every now and then these Ebay offers show up just when an auction I am bidding on will end within the offer's window of time. It provides you first of all a return on an item you are bidding on anyway and also the choice to increase your maximum bid knowing you will get $$ back in terms of Ebay Bucks of % off the final price. Pay attention to the deadline of the offer. Once I got a nice gift when I won two high cost auctions just after midnight in my mid-west state, paid for them and went to bed ticked off because I thought I missed the offer's time deadline. In the morning I found I received a sizeable amount of Ebay Bucks because the offer ended at 12:00 in the Pacific Time Zone.

2. Check for auctions that will end soon within the offers timeframe:
   I collect about six vintage card sets and a couple favorite players. When I get an Ebay offer, I type in searches for these sets and players for auctions "ending the soonest" (sort option) and see what is available within the offer's window of time. I might then bid a little higher that I normally would if I see something I want for my collection.

3. Check auctions that are Buy It Now (BIN):
   We all know the BIN prices are normally quite high and out of line with historical sales for an individual card. However, once in a while there is a nice item with a reasonable BIN that can become a practical purchase and within your price range given the Ebay Bucks you will receive or the % offer promotion.

Some of my best purchases have been on BINs that accept your "best offer". You must make your offer early so there is time for the seller to accept it or counter-offer. I will normally bid a little over the average price for the card using PSA's "Auction Price Results" knowing when all is said and done I will come out ahead after receiving the Bucks" or using the % discount.

You would be surprised how many times I have contacted sellers who didn't list "best offer" in their auction, and share that if they were willing to lower their BIN price to a certain amount I would buy it. The majority of the time the response is no but I have bought some great cards at reasonable prices when they agreed or countered. When you add in the Bucks or % off offers, you can do well.

4. Plan Ahead:
   I'm sure that many of you surf the Ebay website on a regular basis for cards you are seeking. I do this at least once or twice a week. When I find a BIN card that I would be interested in should the cost be lower (10-15%), I write the auction down. Then when an offer comes up I check the list to see if the item is still available. I would normally forget about it if I didn't record it on possibility list.

There you go. Please add your strategies for optimizing Ebay Bucks and % off offers when they come along.

NGS428

The offers don’t alter my buying habits too much. The items I am interested in are already in my watch list. If the discount makes them at a buy price for me, then I buy it.

I track too few auctions (just nothing listed that way...). to have it impact that side of things.