We have enjoyed a real Indian summer over the last few weeks and long may it continue. However there is a distinct chill in the air in the early mornings and evenings and I tried to find my gorgeous fingerless mittens the other day. These were a purchase from online retailer ToastbyPost (expensive but they have good sales) and I have been wearing them for the last couple of years. Needless to say, now that I need them I can’t find them so I have resorted to eBay and have managed to track a pair down in navy merino wool from hash1002.  At the time of writing bidding was at £6.19 so way below the catalogue price but, judging by the price of other ToastbyPost items, I think they will go for much more by the end of the auction. 1001martine is selling an acrylic pair at a buy it now price of £1.99 and she has them in a variety of colourways so that may prove to be a more cost effective option. If you prefer a more conventional glove textilesandthings have a brand new brown leather pair for a buy it now price of £5.99 – and they’re lined too for extra warmth.

This is a good time to stock up on those other staples of the winter wardrobe – tights and socks. Ran1210 is selling four pairs of black opaque tights for a buy it now price of £4.95 plus postage and squeezemetights has some particularly good offers available including 8 pairs of Pretty Polly pop sock tights for £2.75 and £1.55 postage or 6 pairs of Marks & Spencer black mesh pop socks (an especial favourite of mine with black trousers) at a buy it now price of £1.99. 

I had lunch with a friend the other day who has had a bad eBay experience. He bought a PSP games console for his son, paid for it immediately by PayPal and then waited three whole weeks for it to arrive. When it did finally turn up it didn’t work. On taking this up with the buyer he was told not to worry, they would refund his money. He is still waiting to hear anything more several weeks later and has now asked PayPal to investigate the matter. As he paid through PayPal I think he will get his money back but it will be interesting to see how long it takes and how easy the procedure is – I will keep you posted. Thankfully I haven’t yet encountered this particular problem and his mistake may well have been purchasing from a buyer with less than 100 per cent feedback. I really can’t stress enough how important it is to examine a potential seller’s feedback rating before pressing the buy button! This is so easy to do, just click on the seller’s feedback, if they have any neutral or negative feedback you can read this by clicking on the number in the column and it immediately pops up.  Some buyers seem to give neutral feedback for no good reason but once you have read their comment, you can make your own judgement about the buyer.

If you are familiarising yourself with the eBay site, do check out eBay pulse (you can find this in the site map).  It shows you the 10 most watched items on the site (you can also check the most watched items in individual categories). Currently, one of the most watched items is being sold by piphel and it is a baby doll which has been viewed by more than 6,000 eBayers and 29 bids so far have bought the price to an unbelievable £1,100.  And colpopclo is selling a 32 ft motor boat with bids at £5,600 because his mortgage is in arrears and his wife says the boat must go. 

Lucky Mr Jeff Dunill has won a year of free eBay and PayPal fees. Every month until the end of 2008 eBay are holding a draw to pick one winner so it’s worth registering at 'A Year of Free Fees' to make sure you are in with a chance. These fees, whilst seemingly small for each transaction, do add up to quite a lot over a twelve month period if you are a regular seller.  

There are quite a few changes underway on the site at the moment, if you are a registered eBayer you will probably already have noticed that your My eBay page looks different. At first, I found this quite irritating, on a par with a visit to the supermarket where you find they have changed all the aisles around and your weekly shop takes twice as long as usual. However, now I have got used to it I must admit it is an improvement. For one thing, you can watch as many as 200 items at one time. You can also, if you have a creative bent, have different colours on your page and you can edit it by moving items around and putting them in the most convenient place for you, the consumer. To arrange your workspace just go to the Edit Menu which will allow you to move sections around.  I like the fact that when you are watching an item it gives you the sellers feedback rating underneath so that you can scroll down the list and see instantly if the seller has a 100% rating. If you are a seller it tells you the number of items your top bidder has bought or sold allowing you to instantly see if you have a new eBayer bidding. Not that this is necessarily a cause for alarm – I have sold to quite a few first timers and only once had a problem and even that was easily resolved. You can of course elect not to accept bids from new eBayers (just click on My Account and then Site Preferences) but everyone has to start somewhere and, mostly, eBayers are honest and helpful.

Interestingly, I had an item removed from the site by eBay last week. This was because I had put in the listing that, whilst I accepted PayPal as a means of payment (this is now obligatory by the way), I wouldn’t accept e-cheques. Apparently this is no longer allowed as you may not in any way act to discourage buyers from paying. Since then I have had three buyers pay with an e-cheque, these take ages to clear (up to two weeks) and mean that you have the item hanging around and you can’t get it in the post until your payment has cleared. One of my eBaying friends is so annoyed about this that she is thinking about closing her account.  It’s important to be careful about violating eBay rules and regulations – they can close your account down altogether if you do it too often.

Whilst the weather has been gorgeous this week there is a distinct chill in the air in the mornings and in the evenings. Time to put away the summer clothes and find something a bit warmer to pop on and nothing feels cosier than cashmere. Chickiepea is offering a gorgeous grey cable cashmere sweater from Marks and Spencer Autograph range. At the time of writing there is one bid for £20 and the original price was £65.  It has been worn but looks in excellent condition. Neil_ramone is offering a man’s cashmere polo neck from upmarket men’s retailer Hackett for a mere 99p and it’s brand new!  Personally I love Brora cashmere and 3551Catherine has a pretty baby pink ribbed v neck sweater listed with one bid currently at 99p. And Minniemouseey is selling a gorgeous pair of cashmere baby mittens from Brora with bidding again starting at 99p. They would make a wonderful gift for anyone expecting a winter baby or maybe even a Christmas present . After all it’s less than three months to go to the big day and I will be addressing the Christmas gift issue in a future blog – watch this space!

Did any of you read about Heather Saint in the newspaper? She was the girl who bought her wedding dress on eBay for a mere 5p. True, she had to spend £40 on the postage but I think she still landed an extraordinary bargain, and, more to the point, she was thrilled with her Singapore designer dress. Judging from the photographs that accompanied the article, she looked lovely in it too. I have long since thought that a wedding dress which costs hundreds, if not thousands of pounds, and is worn just once in a lifetime is a terrible waste of money but, then again, I was married in a pair of jeans! Having said that it would be a brave bride who would buy a wedding dress on eBay. If you missed the story, you can of course access it by just typing  ‘teeside bride Heather Saint’ into Google or clicking here.

As I mentioned last week, there are some alternatives to eBay on the web and here are some of the best ones. The second largest online market place in the UK is called CQ Out and pronounced seek you out (www.cqout.com) and it has a very comprehensive range of goods for sale.  When I checked it out I thought the site was extremely user friendly. Unlike eBay there are no listing fees and lower commission fees which is a definite plus. But, best of all, if you run into problems there is not only a telephone number to call but a real person at the end of the line to help you out. To my mind, this is a big advantage. I had a look at wedding dresses and found that mrswalker2b is selling a £550 dress with bidding currently at £10. There were only about 30 wedding dresses on the site compared to the thousands to be found on eBay though so you may find that the choice is just too limited. Like eBay, you have to register and set up an account before you can start using the site – nothing to stop you just having a look first though.

If you have a collectable item to sell, (or if you are looking for a rare item to purchase), try specialistauctions.com. It mainly deals in smaller items such as vintage jewellery and clothes, old toys and rare china rather than pieces of furniture. If you love browsing around antique shops then this site is definitely worth a look. And if you have something to sell it’s worth bearing in mind that they take 3% of the final sale fee but the only listing fees are if you wish to highlight or bolden your item.

Have you heard of swishing? It’s the new buzzword for swapping goods and, if you’re interested in this eco friendly way of editing your wardrobe you should take a look at whatsmineisyours.com. This is a British swap website dealing in clothes, accessories and beauty and has  more than 13,000 registered users. As with eBay, you need good photographs and accurate descriptions and you also need to have a ‘wish list’ so that other swishers know what you would like to swap for.  I imagine it must be very frustrating if you find something on the site you really, really want and the other swisher doesn’t want to swap for any of your things but,if any of you have used this site successfully, I would love to know.

I noticed in the press last week that the US airline JetBlue is selling 300 flights and six holiday packages on eBay with opening bids set between 5 and 10 cents.  The flights are to mainly US destinations but they are also selling some mystery holiday packages – in other words if you win the auction you won’t know where you are going to until the tickets arrive!  Apparently this is the first time that flight tickets have been sold in this way but you can bet it won’t be the last.  Experts believe that the final bids will come in at between 85 and 90 per cent of the usual price of the flight so it may not represent an amazing bargain but, until the auction ends, it’s anybody’s guess.

The summer holidays are a quiet time on eBay but now, with the new school year beginning this week and the dismal summer giving way to Autumn, it’s time to get back to the market place. I have spent some time over the last few weeks sorting out items to sell, taking photographs and uploading them on to the computer ready to start listing again. I am also going to be selling items for friends including several bags full of gorgeous brand new goodies from an upmarket boutique. So do please watch my eBay site this month, nicola1sma, to see if anything appeals.

Some of you may be aware that there are big changes afoot at eBay effective from late September. Whilst the auction style sale is intrinsic to the eBay brand, more than 40% of sales are now fixed price and eBay recognise that there is a growing trend amongst buyers to buy quickly rather than wait for an auction to end.  Also, some products such as batteries or envelopes are much more suited to a buy it now sale than an auction. eBay want to help sellers to exploit this important market and, to an extent, the emphasis is going to shift from the casual seller and focus more on business sellers. This will be good news for the site as it will push up sales and generate more profit for eBay but there will still be demand for the idiosyncratic items that they have become famous for and for the auction sale that is so addictive.

Some of the big high street retailers already have a presence on eBay – Hewlett Packard, Robert Dyas and Vodaphone to name a few. eBay will be looking to increase this presence and encourage these big sellers to provide competitive prices and wide ranging stock. They are also keen to help small businesses to expand and grow. With the UK having the highest eBay spend per capita you can understand the attraction. One commentator has likened the site to becoming more of a shopping mall and less of a car boot sale.

One important change is that you will be able to list a buy it now item for a maximum of 30 days rather than 10 thus increasing your item’s exposure quite considerably. The insertion fee for buy it now will be the same, regardless of the price of the item. If you have an eBay shop the insertion fees could be as low as 1p per item. And, if you are a buyer, it means you can buy the item you desire instantly and at a very competitive price.

Listing fees are going to be reduced for all sellers, regardless of whether their item is being sold for a fixed price or whether it is auction style. So there will be less to pay at insertion but higher final value fees when you successfully sell an item.

eBayoriginally began in 1995 with the sale of one broken laser pointer. There are now 15 million users every month and, inevitably, some are unhappy with the way it is evolving. Next week we’ll take a look at some of the other auction sites out there and see what they can offer.

Listening to Radio Suffolk in the holidays I was interested to hear the presenter ask  “Can you really get a bargain on eBay?”  My answer would have to be a resounding “Yes of course you can.”  For instance, my teenager was kept very happy by the purchase of a Blackberry for £19.99 from baytradersuk.  It’s a used model but with a brand new charger and in perfect working condition.  She earned the money to pay for it by babysitting and, with her enviable ability to master technology, had transferred her sim card and had it fully working within ten minutes. A Blackberry for less than £20 and one delighted teenager? If that isn’t a bargain I don’t know what is.

I have just returned from holiday, tanned and relaxed after a week of sand and sun at, unbelievably, the great British seaside. And I was amused to find that I had unwittingly chosen the same destination as the Prime Minister. The Suffolk coast is not normally known for its high temperatures but I was really lucky and found that my holiday coincided with the heatwave. However, even without the sun Southwold is a lovely little town and perfect for young children so I can quite understand why Mr Brown has chosen it for his family break.

If you are looking to reduce your own carbon footprint this summer and, at the same time, find yourself in one of the most talked about English seaside resorts of 2008, you will probably find that there is no room at the inn. There is only one real hotel in Southwold and that is small, expensive and tends to have an elderly clientele. Most holidaymakers rent self catering accommodation and everywhere is fully booked. However, rugbymessiah is offering a week at a gorgeous looking cottage for 6 people with bidding beginning at £499 for the week. The listing has all the details, plus several photographs and many favourable comments from previous guests. And, if you happen, like me, to be a dog owner, you will be delighted to find that they will accept two dogs. It's true that this cottage is not actually in Southwold itself but it's only a few miles away, parking is easy in the town and you could even rent bikes and cycle which is much more fun and rental cycles are readily available.

Of course there's no guarantee that the heatwave will last and the East Anglian coast can be very windy. Lots of people on the beach last week were sheltering from the sun inside pop up tents. I saw lots of Cath Kidston designs but I wouldn't try and purchase this brand on eBay, it's very popular and prices aren't unlike those in the shops. Of course if you have any Cath Kidston you want to sell, that's a different story! If you are looking for a bargain, alfrescofun is selling a plain navy beach tent for a buy it now price of £2.95 and, even with postage of £5.95 that seems like a very reasonable deal. You will need something to sit on as well and ukccp has listed a picnic blanket for a mere 65p.

Southwold is often described as a throw back to the 1950s and, whilst Cath Kidston is a perfect look for such a resort, your style may be more individual in which case I think eBay is the perfect place to pick up up some very reasonably priced vintage items. itemstodesire has a simply gorgeous vintage double lidded picnic basket listed with bidding currently at £3.99 which would be completely in keeping with the retro style of the English seaside. If you search using the key words 'vintage picnic' you will find a few of these listed and having bought them to your attention I have decided that I simply must have one for myself! Even more retro is the listing from mopdog17 who is selling a 1950s Brexton sea blue picnic hamper complete with its original key and two thermos flasks for £14.99 (very useful on a cold blustery day!)

An absolute essential item for an English seaside holiday, wherever it may be, is a fleece top. There is simply nothing that keeps out the wind and the cold as well as one of these and couture clothing company is selling some for a buy it now price of £9.99, leaving you hopefully with some holiday cash to spend on something more exciting.

A busy eBay week for me with plenty of sales and visits to the Post Office.  Rather disappointingly, my lovely cache of designer clothing, all brand new and with those important tags still dangling, went for a song.  Some lucky eBayer is now in possession of a £345 Missoni dress for which they paid a mere £50.  
 
Don't make the mistake of expecting your unwanted items to sell for a high price, in all likelihood they won't.  And, just because you paid a fortune for those designer shoes, and you've never got round to wearing them, it doesn't mean that somebody will pay the original retail cost to buy them from you.  Be realistic about the price you might achieve and you may find yourself pleasantly surprised.  For example, this week, amongst all that gorgeous new designer wear, I listed my old denim jacket, bought about seven years ago from Harvey Nichols.  I thought I would be lucky to make £5 and it sold for £23, considerably more than most of that brand new designer wear.
 
Of course, there are times you can make a mint on eBay.  Do you have lurking in the back of your cupboard any old china?  Art Deco tableware such as Susie Cooper and Carlton Ware is very popular as is Mason's Ironstone.  Emma Bridgewater pieces, particularly the older designs, are much sought after and are considered by some to be the antiques of the future.  Even the current Bridgewater patterns will fetch almost as much, if not more, than their original price.  Currently one of the most watched items on eBay is a Clarice Cliff 1931 vase with bidding currently standing at an amazing £510.  So get up in the attic and start searching!
 
When you list your item for sale, whatever it might be, I think it is generally best to begin the bidding at a low price.  My listings nearly always begin at 99p.  Everyone wants a bargain and buyers can be discouraged by high starting prices.  The important thing is to get those bids rolling in to make your item seem more attractive to potential buyers.  After all, most retailers use psychological techniques to get consumers shopping so why shouldn't you?  But perhaps you don't want to have to sell Granny's tea-set for a couple of quid?  Don't worry, you can place a reserve on the item when you list it and, if the bids don't reach the reserve price, you don't have to sell it.  Watch out though, it costs extra to list with a reserve price and the minimum reserve price is £50.  So you need to be fairly confident that your item is likely to achieve that price otherwise it will be unsold and you will still have to pay the listing and reserve price auction fees.
 
If you're looking for something to do over the May Bank Holiday next weekend there are some great ideas on eBay.  How about taking the family over to Calais? One seller is offering a £94 family ticket to Calais for £40.  Log on to www.ebay.co.uk and check out Priscilia1747.  Or Bananamilkshake123 is offering two nights in a family room at the Brighton Travelodge with bidding currently at £5.62.  There are quite a few opportunities to buy entrance tickets to Alton Towers if that appeals.  Apparently the normal cost of entry for two persons is £68 and 3565hilton is selling entrance for two with the bidding currently at £5.62.  Many of these Alton Tower tickets seem to have originated as a free offer in the Sun newspaper which just goes to show that you can sell anything on eBay and it's always worth keeping an eye out for free offers in the paper with a view to selling them on.  
 
But perhaps the most intriguing offer is from Insails who is looking for race crew in Cornwall at a buy it now price of £25.00 and the chance to sleep on board a 25ft American built ID35 with a top speed of 18 knots!