eBay is one of the most popular places to buy records, especially some of those highly desired ones. Yet, I believe some still don’t play the auctions efficiently, and get excited, outbid, then feel the need to exhale their disbelief online.
My own, rather successful tactic is as follows.
1 – Once you’ve seen an item you really want “watch" it by clicking on the ♡ symbol, but don’t bid yet!
2 – “Research, research, research!” can’t be emphasised enough. The photos posted by the seller already gave me all I need to know. Firstly, the tri-colour goes over the black border on the sleeve, and secondly, that little circle in the deadwax is the SNA logo, this is indeed a “genuine” first pressing.
3 – Next, set an alarm on your phone to go off around 10-minutes before the auction ends.
4 – In the meantime, I usually check prices of previously sold prices on eBay or Popsike, as well as current and sold prices on Discogs. As has been said many times “value is only what someone is willing to pay", the more info you have, the better.
5 – A periodically check of the item every few days, keeps me in touch with what other buyers are doing!
6 – I will only make one bid, with only a few seconds left on the clock. This amount will be the maximum I’m willing to pay and usually dwarfs the current bid, as you can see here, I really, really want this item! It’s all a matter of faith but having done my own research I know pretty well how much this will go for, around £130.
Now, that was a surprise!
I had expected other’s “max bid” to at least break triple-digits, but it does go to prove my point that some folks still play eBay all wrong.
Words and screengrabs by Derek Howie
