Find Hidden Auction Deals

George Campbell

No matter which auction site you use or how well you search, you're still going to miss lots of items you could bid on. Although searching and browsing sites like EBay, Yahoo Auctions, and Amazon.com Auctions will turn up hundreds or even thousands of any popular item, you could be missing the biggest bargains. Here's how to discover the hidden treasures:

• When searching on auction sites, make additional searches using variations on the name of the item that you're looking for. For example, an EBay search for "saxophone" turned up 566 items, but an additional search for just "sax" turned up 982 new items (the second search also included some extraneous items).
• Search for common misspellings of items. Using the example listed above, searching for the misspelling "saxaphone" turned up 107 items missed by the correct spelling. Moreover, there were fewer bids on these items, so prices were generally lower.
• Try offbeat searches. When I was unsuccessful in finding a sousaphone at a bargain price, for example, I finally found one using a search for "brass horn." That search revealed one sousaphone listed in the wrong category by a person who didn't know what to call it. I ended up being the only bidder.
• If you prefer browsing for items, be sure to look in related categories as well as in the one that makes the most sense. People often choose the wrong categories when listing items for sale.