Negotiation with Sellers...
So now that you know how Mr. Tout makes his money, you can use this to your advantage...

BEWARE: None of the advice below can be considered a truely 'safe' way to buy on eBay and whatever you do, there is always a risk that you will will be unlucky and get rippped off. The most important thing to do therefore is pick a seller that you can trust.

1. Choosing a tout

Feedback - by far the safest way to buy on eBay is to go by the tout's feedback rating (shown next to their name in the top right corner of the listing). The higher the number, the more satisfied customers they have had and the higher the percentage, the less of these transactions they have had that have gone awry.

You dont have to go for the tout with the highest number and % but you probably shouldnt go below 98%. Remember that a lower seller will take a bigger hit to their % if one transaction goes wrong whereas a more established seller with a feedback score in the 1,000s can take 4-5 nasty transactions before their % take a dent. Click on their name and look at the recent transaction, make sure that they have some recent customers, that have bought tickets and have a feedback score of over 100.

Also, a word of warning about high feedback touts... it might just be me but it seems strange that bearing in mind how pissed off some people get about buying from touts, some of the high feedback touts dont end up losing their perfect scores every once in a while. This is especially true for high profile gigs which sell out quickly and where people register on eBay and bid up the item with the intent of ruining a touts feedback profile just to annoy them. Did you really believe that anyone would pay £1,500 for a pair of Take That tickets?

Also, make sure that the 'Buy Safely' box in the top right of the listing (below the sellers name) includes "Choose PayPal for up to £500 buyer protection." Even if you do not plan on using Paypal for whatever reason, it is nice to know that Paypal (and eBay) consider Mr. Tout trustworthy enough to guarantee that he isnt going to rob you. More info is here

2. How much should I offer?

If you are going to make an offer think about what the tout is looking for, use the Completed Items search (on the right hand side) to find out what the current selling price for your particular tickets is.

The tout will know that this is the current market value and will want to achieve somewhere close to this, if the current price is less than he paid for the tickets, he will be nervous that he is losing money and the market is falling (it almost always is), he will be looking to stem his losses, get out of the market and buy something else he can make money on).

Equally, if the tickets are truely rare, prices will rise so there is not much point in making an offer which is well below the current price.

Try to make an offer which is reasonable, gives Mr. Tout a decent profit he can be happy with and think about helping them to reduce his fees so he can pass his savings on to you. You will be amazed at the bargains you can pick up.

3. Communicating and Negotiating

Contact Mr. Tout – don’t make a Best Offer, these are lame as you have no way of communicating with him on what could sweeten the deal - he might be looking for a few £s more but he has no way of contacting you if you use this feature.

Use the “Contact the Seller” button (in the top right corneder) instead and send them an email asking how much they are looking for.

You could also let Mr. Tout know that you appreciate that the amount of his fees is a realy chuck on his profits. Stating that you can pay by bank transfer or cheque you will save them the Paypal fees and is perfectly within eBay's usage policies.

You could offer to buy outside of eBay (without winning the auction or using Buy It Now) and saving Mr. Tout the final value fee.

BE EXTRA CAREFUL – these tactics may reduce the price you pay, but they can also invalidate in the protection you receive from eBay (paying by Paypal can get you up to £500 of buyer protection).

Arranging with Mr. Tout outside of eBay is also contrary to eBay’s usage policy and some touts may tell you to get lost and could also report you, but its very unlikely – would you report someone who wanted to buy something from you?