Costume Jewelry Online

Should you “Buy It Now” on Ebay?

Are there times that you should do a "Buy It Now" (BIN) on ebay, versus just bidding on an auction? While I normally advocate bidding on a costume jewelry auction, there are times I've used the BIN. Let's talk about when you can...and when you probably shouldn't.

And before I go on, I want to emphasize I am talking about the costume jewelry area of ebay; this won't necessarily apply to other categories.

What is a Buy It Now?

First, if you're not all that familiar with how ebay works, you can read my buying costume jewelry on ebay post. It gives you a background on ebay and what to look for in a seller.

Ebay consists of two main ways to purchase costume jewelry -- bidding on an auction and Buy It Now. (There is a third called Make an Offer, but I won't go into that for the moment.)

Buy It Now is just what it sounds like -- you buy it right then and there. No waiting until an auction ends and biting your nails to see if you're the winner. Sounds good, doesn't it?

Maybe. Maybe not. At least when it comes to costume jewelry.

What to Look For

OK, time to confuse you more. There are BINs that are attached to an auction and those that are not.

When a BIN is attached to an auction, it is only good until the first bid is placed; then the BIN option disappears. If it's not attached to an auction, a Buy It Now is all you can do.

In general, I have found the BINs to be priced like what they would sell for in an antiques mall. Not necessarily bad, but in an antiques mall you can touch and see the piece up close. Still, I have done costume jewelry BINs when there was a specific piece that I really wanted and:

The price (including the shipping) seemed reasonable.
The seller had at least a 99.5% rating.
There were plenty of clear photos of the front and back of the piece.
The seller had a money-back guarantee.

So if I wanted a piece and the above was true, I've done a BIN. And so far, I have been quite satisfied.

When Not to Buy It Now on Ebay

I've seen lots and lots of costume jewelry BINs where the price was quite high and the seller was missing one or more of my criteria. These are usually cases where the piece is being valued at 2 or 3 times the going rate on ebay for similar items. For example, I've seen the Sarah Coventry "Blue Lagoon" brooch and earring demi with a BIN price over $120. Sorry, but I can easily win an auction for less than $40 for that set. Not to mention Blue Lagoon isn't terribly rare.

I'm exceedingly wary of high-priced BINs that feature an unsigned item. While Juliana / D&E jewelry is somewhat of an exception because by nature it is unsigned, many other costume jewelry manufacturers do produce a goodly amount of signed pieces. Why spend a bundle on a gamble?

Summary on Ebay BIN

I've written this post because I've recently seen a lot of BINs show up that are outrageous. With the prices so high on many of them, you're not likely to buy anyway. But there are some good deals on BINs out there, if you keep a sharp eye out. These are usually BINs attached to an auction.

The price might be a little higher than what it would fetch as an auction, but if it's a piece you're drooling after, it just might be worth it. These are the kinds of BINs where I do buy.

OK, all that being said, here are some ebay items for you to look at. Check them out and see if the above criteria holds true. Then use my rules or make up your own before you do a Buy It Now.