eBay primer

[JDArt]

Let's say you're on the lookout for a particular camera product on the used market and you'd like eBay to send you an e-mail message if someone lists that product.

Is there any way to have eBay do this? I don't want to have to manually check the site every day.

[Paul Shields]

Originally Posted by JDArt

Let's say you're on the lookout for a particular camera product on the used market and you'd like eBay to send you an e-mail message if someone lists that product.

Is there any way to have eBay do this? I don't want to have to manually check the site every day.

Yes you can create a search, save it and configure it to email you every time something matches. I used to use it a lot when hunting down old Zuiko lenses. Very useful, though very expensive if you feel the urge to bid...

There are also 3rd party tools out there like rssauction that generates an RSS feed. Never felt the need for them myself.

[JDArt]

Ah, cool. Actually I discovered you have to do the search and then click the link that says Add to Favorite Searches. Then you can specify your e-mail.

Anyone have any tips for how to limit searches?

Let's say, for example, that you search for "Nikon D1X." Well, you get tons of stuff, MOST of which is unrelated to the camera itself.

[Paul Shields]

Originally Posted by JDArt

Anyone have any tips for how to limit searches?

Let's say, for example, that you search for "Nikon D1X." Well, you get tons of stuff, MOST of which is unrelated to the camera itself.

That's a good question, and one that's always been a nuisance for me. Ebay do try and stop people creating subject lines that clearly don't reflect the item, but I think it's such a high volume of people who do this that it's probably an impossible task. Maybe set a reasonable lowest value to skip the junk.

[cyclohexane]

There should be a list of categories that pop up on the left when you enter a search that has lots of results. There, you can select something like "Digital Cameras" or "Digital SLR" to narrow your results. There's also a camera search tool that allows you to specify everything from resolution and condition to model and make that allows you to remove even more results.