Online Auctions - A WebNovice Closer Look

We are inspecting Egghead Auctions this week, in our Closer Look feature.

Do these online auctions give you cheaper goods with good service?

Lets find out.

In our independent, investigation we ordered two items from Egghead Auctions at
www.egghead.com and click on Auctions.

We ordered a Dimera 3500 camera for $105 including S&H and a 128MB Ram chip
for $105 including S&H.

Both items were shipped via airborne express and arrived promptly.

But were the prices cheaper than online retail?

The memory was definitely a solid deal - even with a large rebate we were looking
at $120 and would have to wait 3 months to get a rebate check.

The digital camera was a fair deal as well, but not a huge savings.

This week we are comparing prices on the iPen Pro by Cross Pen company.

Egghead has several units available at $59 each, however second day shipping will run an additional $22.99 - so we will compare factoring UPS ground shipping.

www.shopper.com found the lowest price between several companies to be  OnSale - which lists the iPen Pro for $80.40 with Free shipping.


How do they compare?
The total Egghead price will be $71.99 with the $12.99 S&H factored in. The total OnSale price will be $80.40 with no other costs.

We will save $8.41 if we bid today and win.

Not too bad. Not a huge savings, but still a savings.

We also ordered memory for the new digital camera, but the UPS made a routing mistake delaying our order. We suggest sticking to Second Day service to guarantee you get the parts you need as quick as you would like. Keep reading if you would like some Auction Tips. With any mail order company, they are at the mercy of their
shipping couriers.

That's it for now, tune in within the next week or two for more Closer Looks.


Auction Tips:
Avoid auctions by individuals. Bid with companies that hold surplus or excess stock auctions such as Egghead Software. Individuals can take your checks or money orders and never send you their items.

Bid Late - If you bid near the closing time, you will come closer to getting the item you are bidding on, and know exactly what your closing price will be.

Bid Wise - You may find a cheaper deal upon closer inspection, also some items may
be available next week for $10 or $20 cheaper!

 

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