GarageBuy: The Other Side of eBay

eBay is one of the biggest things on the net right now (in fact the 7th in the USA). But, whether you’re buying or selling, the eBay site can be a bit clunky and awkward to use. Previously, we reviewed GarageSale, which makes it easier to sell things on eBay; but we now have GarageBuy, to clean up the other end.

GarageBuy, from iwascoding, is an app where you can browse, place a bid, and buy from eBay; it’s international too, with support for many eBay shops around the world.

The interface is simple, and makes eBay a breeze to navigate. It saves your searches in the left hand column, along with your watched auctions. On the right, there are two panes, the top allows you to see all the items, each in their own separate box, as shown below. This makes it easy to see all the key details, such as ‘Feedback’ and ‘Time Left’ without having to dig into the page. This bottom pane contains two tabs, one displays the images of the product, while the other shows the original page from eBay with a full description.

The process with GarageBuy is much more slick than it is just using the eBay website. For one thing say goodbye to the refresh button. GarageBuy does it automatically, ensuring you always see the highest bidder’s price. Growl support is also built in, to tell you when the status of an auction changes, so you can be on top of what’s happening and get the product you want.

Buying an item is simple and secure. It uses the same security as eBay, and keeps you logged in to make it quicker to bid, and to allow it to keep your ‘Watched’ list up-to-date. When you want to buy something, a simple window pops up, asking how much you want to bid. If you want to BuyitNow, you can. A nice touch is the fact that you can have multiple accounts, which, if you have a family PC that has 3 or 4 different accounts can make the buying process easier for all.

Buying can also be made safer. You can maintain a blacklist of users so the app doesn’t show items listed by these people, allowing you to steer clear of them without even thinking about it. Another useful feature is the ability to generate iCal events so you can tell when the auction finishes, and be there when it’s time to bid. You can also hide auctions that you don’t want to see from a search, so you don’t keep going back to the same thing that you don’t want.

Overall, GarageBuy is an excellent app. It simplifies buying on eBay, just like GarageSale did for selling. It is eBay certified for compatibility, and if your the eBay type, then it’s definitely worth a look! GarageBuy is free from iwascoding, and is available here.

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