NOT ALL the secrets of successful online trading can be advocated by public sources such as books and college courses, so we asked one experienced trader for the real lowdown. Here is his anonymous advice:

“Most of the bidding in an online auction happens in the last hour or so; experienced buyers often wait until the last few moments to register their interest.

“This tactic is known as sniping and can be done manually by opening two browser windows and putting your highest bid into one without confirming it, while using the other to monitor the time remaining and the current price by updating it every 30 seconds or so. It is best to place your final bid at least 10 seconds before the end of the auction. You can employ a web-based service to snipe on your behalf. But these services can be vulnerable to fraudsters, so be careful.

“When making a bid, avoid using round numbers such as £20, as you could end up losing out for the sake of a few pence. It’s better to bid, say, £20.51. You may also find that you can get better value by buying from traders based outside the UK. Mainland Europe is a good bet, as the postage costs should not outweigh the savings made.

“One way to uncover bargains is to use likely mis- spellings. If you are looking for a Gharani Strok dress, for example, try also searching under ‘Garani Strok’ or perhaps ‘Gahrani Strok’. If these searches do throw up something, it’s likely that the item will be viewed by a much smaller number of buyers, increasing your chances of getting it for a good price.

“Potential bidders are likely to check out your feedback before deciding whether or not to make an offer, so sending a ‘thank you’ note is a good idea, although prompt delivery and making sure the packaging is robust remain the best ways to win praise.

“Some sellers also arrange fake bidding wars to drive up the price of an item. This can leave you holding the goods at the end of the day. However, you can always relist them.

“Finally, although Ebay recommends putting a low reserve price of 99p on goods once you’ve got the hang of selling, I often place no reserve price at all, because putting one on can deter potential buyers.”