Michelle D.

I'm a serious seller on eBay, but use Mercari when eBay is giving me a hard time about an item-- usually b/c they think it contains 'hemp' when it doesn't or something similarly stupid. Listing on Mercari is easy, but I find the actual transaction once the item has sold is a headache. A buyer has NEVER been able to leave a rating for me without having to message me multiple times to say Mercari 'won't let them.' And since you don't get paid on Mercari until the buyer rates you, that's a problem. By the time each transaction is complete the buyer and I have messaged each other so many times I might as well put them on my Christmas card list. I only use it when I absolutely have to, and I dread it.

But you absolutely CAN buy a $200,000 house for $120,000 cash on Auction.com. Auction.com is great. The site sells REOs online using exactly the same M. O. you see at sheriff's sales on your local courthouse's steps: and, like auctions on your local courthouse steps, (...) for any given property there may be 2 actual, serious bidders and about 20 poor saps who showed up honestly thinking the bank was going to sell a house for which it's $120,000 in the red to some poor JimBob for what was advertised as the $30,000 'minimum bid' (snort) price. It won't happen. Not on Auction.com, not anywhere.

YES, fools, Auction.com WILL bid on behalf of the bank or sellers until the 'reserve' price is met. If you think that spells 'scam,' then you need to step out of the game and go back to buying scratch-offs as a long-term financial investment. Auction.com will NOT automatically sell a property to the highest bidder if the highest bid is at a loss to the seller and under the reserve price; this isn't La-La Land. However, the seller might agree to any REASONABLE bid, even if it's under the reserve. You can get absolutely incredible deals here, just don't be thinking a seller is obligated to respond to your ridiculous low-ball bid. All the negative reviews here seem to be from amateurs who really believed they were going to be handed something for nothing. For anyone who is serious about investing in REOs and is ready to throw out the funds required for such an undertaking, Auction.com is an absolute godsend.