A basic guide to buying pay as you go Sim Cards on eBay : eBay Guides

Buying sim cards on eBay is brilliant, because you can save money, and usually get deals you wouldn't find elsewhere. In this guide I plan to give you some basic tips on finding the cheapest sim card out there.

Step 1: Your network - You need to decide what network you wish to be on (e.g, o2) and what tarriff (e.g, o2 online) - Enter this in the basic search box at the top of every eBay page.

Step 2: Postage - Many sim cards are available for pennies on eBay, but if you don't note the postage costs you could end up paying steep postage fees on top of those pennies. A standard o2 sim card can be posted for 46p, plus a few pence for the packaging and time, say 60p-80p is a fair amount to pay. To avoid checking every listing, simply click "Customize my Search Results" and make the "Postage" columm appear alongside the actual price, that way when browsing results you can see the postage costs aswell.

Step 3: Buy-it-now? - Bidding on sims is easy enough, it's just like any other item, but if you really want to see the quick deals, click "Show buy-it-now items only" on the left. Then, you can choose to sort from low to high priced items. This way your seeing the cheapest items that can be bought literally within the next few seconds (no waiting for auctions to end) Remember! As a general rule; The lower the cost is, the higher the postage is.

Step 4: Purchase - Purchase like any other eBay item, and wait for your sim in the next few days!

POINTS TO LOOK OUT FOR:
Is the item new? A used sim may be cheap, but you don't want the seller's contacts on there, or people with the number calling you!

When buying a gold/platinum sim card, is the full number posted in the listing? If so, avoid! Many companies will add this number to mailing lists etc. - Make sure at least one number has been censored.

Feedback - As always, reading feedback is essential when buying on eBay