As Comet launches its Internet auction site, Shoptalk takes a look at what it takes to bag a bargain - and how to avoid a costly mistake.

IT'S where High Street clearance meets Internet auction sites and, if you fancy a bargain, it could be just the thing. Electrical giant Comet launched its own Internet clearance site around a year ago. It looks pretty much like any other Internet auction site. The difference is that all the goods on the site are Comet clearance items - everything from a portable CD player to a giant plasma TV or an American-style fridge.

All the products on the site are in full working order and all come with one year's guarantee. Some of them are new and end of line, but others are ex-display, scratched, dented, used and returned or refurbished.

If you're used to eBay, you'll have no problem with Comet Clearance. You register and sign in, and make your bids. The bid increments are set by Comet - one or two pounds on smaller items, up to £10 or £25 on larger ones. As with eBay, you can place a bid up to your maximum price, but the auction site will take only as much money as it needs to beat the competing bid.

With me so far?

Many of the items start off as low as £1. But you'd be kidding yourself if you think you can get away with so little. And the really big items - plasma TVs for instance - start off at half price. So the opening bid on a 37 inch plasma TV worth £1,499 is set at £750.

Each item comes with a full description - whether it's new, ex-display, boxed or refurbished. Any dents and scratches are described in great detail- "small scratches no more than two inches on left side. Small dent, about one inch on front".

And bidding is brisk. Sometimes surprisingly so.

A digital telephone, for instance, ex-display, store price £29.99, had 11 bids and reached £21. Which, when you've paid for delivery, isn't really that much of a bargain.

A refurbished pre-paid mobile phone, store price £59.95, made £44, which seems a lot for something that's refurbished.

And a refurbished 14 inch combination TV with DVD and VCR had ten bids and went for £120. By the time the successful bidder has paid delivery costs, he could almost have gone along to his local store and bought a brand new one for £149.99.

But then, a new Hitachi personal CD player, store price £24.99 went for only £9.

If an item develops a fault you can take it back to a Comet store, or arrange for one of their engineers to come and inspect it. If it can't be repaired they will give you a refund. Auction site purchases can't be exchanged.

Delivery on small items is £7.95. On larger items such as washing machines and fridges it's generally £24.95. They don't do installations or take old appliances away.

It pays to be big and bold and brave. The higher the price, the greater the saving.

A Crusader compact tumble dryer, unboxed, returned, with a small dent, went for £51 instead of the store price of £99.95. A Hotpoint Aquarius washer, ex-display with a small scratch or two, was £190 instead of £279.99. A Hotpoint washer/dryer, boxed, unused, was a snip at £245 instead of £349.99.

At a rough and ready estimate, the saving on white goods, including fridges, cookers and washers, was between a quarter and a third.

But it's when you get to the really high priced items that you also make high savings.

Nineteen bids battled it out for a Sagem 45" widescreen TV, unboxed, returned, and the winner got it for £725 - a saving, even with delivery, of around £700 on the store price.

There was a saving of almost £500 on a Sony widescreen TV. And £500 on a Panasonic. And a Philips 42-inch plasma TV went for £1,025 - a massive saving of around £1,200, which has to be worth a go.

On average, Comet say that savings are around 41 per cent of the recommended retail price. If you can think big and hold your nerve, it could be worth a go.

www.clearance-comet.co.uk

All auction site guidelines apply. Remember:..

* Decide how much you're willing to spend and don't go beyond it.

* Factor in delivery costs

* Only bid for something you really want. Not much sense buying something from Comet if you then have to sell it on eBay.

* The aim is to bag a bargain - not just to win the battle with those bidding against you. That's when you get carried away, prices get higher, and the only winner is the auction site itself.