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You can start by checking out the old thread below; if you have further questions after digesting the info within there are a number of eBay buying veterans on here who can probably help.
http://www.bricksetforum.com/discussion/323/quick-guide-to-buying-lego-from-online-auction-sites
I cover everything from registration to finding items, to the pros and cons of fixed price versus auction listings and feedback.
All in all eBay is a great place to shop for LEGO, and if you use it together with the Bricklink Price Guide, you will do extremely well in finding bargains!
Always check their feedback and past items sold.
eBay is simple, Just look at all the details. If the seller doesn't provide many details, won't respond to questions or can't answer your question then just move on and find the next listing/auction. If you have to worry about what you are buying then it isn't worth buying. There will always be another auction ;-)
Bid snipping is not liked by many, but a valid tactic.
Just like any 'game' there are those who work out how to play to win, and those who don't. I don't shop any other way, and set about 30-100 snipes a month. If eBay banned sniping tools, I'd stop using eBay, because it'd become too time consuming.
@Si_Dorking_Surrey_UK Isn't ebays auto bib basicly a sniping tool?
Not to mention, sometimes I think better of bidding on an auction. Maybe I bid on a book, then later had a friend mention they could give me a copy. Or maybe I reread the seller's feedback and decided they looked shady. Either way, if I've already bid I'm committed, but if I set up an auto-sniper, then I can always cancel it.
It means that I accept that if a set is due to finish during the day in the week, I won't bid (and won't win) because it's inevitable that someone will bid against me in the last few seconds. Manually sniping is also pretty stressful - especially when a page times out!
...I have tried to bid "properly" but all that happens is that either you get outbid, or someone ramps the price that you pay up, trying to find out what your maximum is. If you throw in your bid at the last second, you tend to pay a little less. (Although you can become attached to the auction, having watched it for so long and bid more than you originally intended to - which is where the autosniper is much more economically valid!)
The other option I postulated to friends is that you build eBay auctions so you have had to bid on it once before an hour of the auction ends if you want to bid any further past the hour. So at least you have a set number of bidders that can snipe at the auction. It helps sellers because it would also increase the price of the item. This does prevent someone who may have just saw the auction as it was near ending and cannot bid on it because of this type of rule though.
I do try to bid on an auction once before the auction gets to 30 minutes before, it gives someone a fighting chance (doesn't mean I will not snipe but at least I make an effort to show I am interested in the item)
I'm not sure I'll use eBay in the future, since I was only doing this to get ahold of a vintage set from my childhood, but it was an exciting/stressful experience (I think I got too caught up in the worry about sniping which never happened).