People have often asked us, “If your site is called PoliceAuctions.com, why do you bother covering eBay?” We assume they ask this question because eBay is primarily free site of non-government auctions, although lately they’ve done a better job of bringing on some government auctions as well. But that really misses the point.

Ebay is relevant to any true bargain hunter for a number of reasons. If you are a buyer, there are bargains to be had across a wide range of categories, especially on items sold with no reserve. No reserve means the high bid gets the item even if it sells for one dollar.

Ebay is so massive that it’s easy for the average person to overlook or miss items selling for less than their value, so our editors comb through eBay to find no reserve auctions that we think will be of interest to our users. We publish the results in our “Eye on eBay” section, and we feel this is of value and interest to our subscribers.

One could make the argument that if an item is sold at auction with no reserve, whatever the final selling price is the item’s true market value. On the other hand, if the auction lacks critical mass, in other words, not enough interested bidders, then in our opinion, it’s possible for the item to sell at below market value. At least that is what our experience as auctioneers shows us. And there are so many auctions taking place on eBay at the same time that many get lost in the shuffle, especially if the seller doesn’t pay for all the listing enhancements, which would promote the listing more extensively.

What all of this means is that eBay itself can be a source of very cheap items to own or to resell at a profit. The key to finding the bargains as always is market knowledge, knowing the actual value of items. You can find the market value on any item by doing comparison shopping, using the Internet, shopping malls, and classifieds likes craigslist.com to see what similar items are going for and what the availability of those items are like. Ebay also offers market research, which we describe in more detail in section 3 of this tutorial.

If you are seller, eBay can be a very effective sales channel. Many resellers attend government auctions looking for items they can resell at a profit on eBay. By covering eBay, PoliceAuctions.com is providing you with opportunities on the full spectrum of buying and selling.