Quick Guide to Buying on eBay and online

I noticed that a lot of buyers seem not to use a little common sense when buying on eBay or any other online sites. Since you cannot physically handle the item you wish to purchase it is important that you actually read through the description of the item on sale and not base your purchase or bid on the picture or title alone.

Since the picture is open to interpretation and the title may be limited to the number of words that can be used, the description will provide all the specifications for the item that you are looking at. A good description will give you information on :

• State of the article 
• MOC - Mint on card
• MOSC - Mint on sealed card
• NM - Near mint
• Loose - item by itself without the box / package

and so on

• Any accessories or other items that are included in the sale. This is particularly important as it will tell you what you are getting.
• Color (if relevant)
• Size
• Condition - New, Used, Display unit etc
• Shipping conditions
• Countries that are shipped to
• Countries that are not shipped to
• Shipment services available
• Shipment costs and handling charges
• Shipment processing times
• Shipment estimate delivery times

etc.


If it is an international shipment which has been stated to take approximately 14 days to reach you, don't start worrying after 3 days. It is physically impossible for an international shipment to be fasted the a domestic shipment. International shipments will need to :

• Go to an international departure point in their country
• Travel across the globe (air obviously will be faster then land / sea mail )
• Clear customs in your country
• Depend on your local postal service to transport inland from the port of arrival to your location

The speed of all these depends on the postal service in your respective countries. Some inland postage will actually take much longer then the actual international journey. You will need to refer to your local postal service for delivery times. You can refer to your local post office website if they operate one in your country such as :

• www.usps.com for the United States
• http://track.royalmail.com/portal/rm/track?catId=500185&mediaId=22700601&keyname=track_home for the United Kingdom
• Other countries can refer to here to locate your local website

http://www.postoffice.com/