Ham Radio eBay Prices

Ever wonder how some people seem to show up at the very end of an auction and place winning bids in the very last seconds? This is called "sniping". Although I actually find doing this by hand to be part of the excitement of eBay auctions, you can't always be there. For that, there are sniping tools.

Bidslammer and PowerSnipe are leading players in the sniping space. Both are highly effective in raising your odds of winning those last-minute skirmishes, but these products take very different approaches in both operation and price plans.

Bidslammer works via a web site and offers "Win-based" pay-as-you-go pricing. Using Bidslammer, you can just set things up via the Web and then just walk away without worrying about leaving your PC on.

Bidslammer is one of the pioneers in this area - their old and slightly clunky web interface is proof of that - but Bidslammer has built a good reputation in the eBay community. My experience with this service has been great, despite the aging interface, and I don't doubt their claim of 99.98% accuracy. You can even use their optional toolbar to conveniently set up your bidding without leaving eBay.

Bidslammer's sliding price plan runs from as little as 25¢ a win to no more than $5 for wins over $500 (US dollars). Despite the name of this "Win-based" price plan, if you lose you do pay something but only 10¢. Not bad for a chance to try out such a powerful application, including Bidslammer's special "Collectors" features that help track and take the emotions out of pursuing the objects of your desire.

PowerSnipe offers a PC-based application, which may make some people feel more secure and in-charge, or can be used via the Web as well. Powersnipe is sold on a flat-rate annual subscription plan that was a bit over USD $45 last time I checked.

So now you know the secret to those last-minute, rapid-fire winning bids. Now what about selling?

Whether you're just trading a few items or getting serious about making good money on eBay, I've found some useful tools that will really help.

You can supplement your auctions of ham stuff with bulk purchases of items on Liquidation.com, which offers surplus lots that you can turn around for a quick profit on eBay and the other auction sites I list under "eBay alternatives" in the links to the right.

Once your sales volume starts building, you really need a tool that will help you simplify listing management, host professional image galleries of items for sale, and automate the sale/ship process.

Auction Hawk is my favorite, based on their longstanding reputation, ease-of-use and flat-fee pricing that started at $12.99 last time I checked.

The product is Web-based so you can use Windows, Macs, AOL, even WebTV (a.k.a. MSN TV) without worrying about installation or setup problems. Recently I also saw a 21-day trial offer on the Auction Hawk web site.

The next step as your business builds would be to set up an eBay Store. eBay did a survey last year that showed 75% of sellers that opened one of these stores increased their eBay sales. Last time I checked, eBay Stores could be had for as little as $15.95 per month.

eBay Stores let you list longer, boost sales with marketing tools, and use special tracking tools to plan for even greater selling success.

Eventually you'll want to set up your own e-commerce site off of eBay as well. You can sign up for a package that lets you avoid the hassles of designing your web and setting up payment processing on your own. Options include a company owned by eBay and easy for both beginners and pros: ProStores, which could be had for only $29.95 per month last time I checked, and the similarly-priced and easy Yahoo! Merchant Solutions.

Joe Tracker