A "how-to" for eBay
Written: Mar 14 '01
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The Bottom Line
It's a great site and a great service. You can find practically anything you're looking for.
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Ebay has become and remains one of the most used web services, and for good reason. It's easy to use, there's plenty of security-- for both buyers and sellers, and plenty of ways to buy and sell.
I've used eBay several times to both buy and sell items, and have always been satisfied with the service, as most are.
The eBay website
The site itself is pretty extensive, but not hard to use at all. Anyone from the expert eBay user to a newbie can browse the site with ease. Everything is listed rather clearly so you can find what you're looking for quick and easy. It's got a lot of useful stuffs, basically anything you need to buy and/or sell your items.
·Browse-- You can browse the website for anything you're looking for. Using key words to search for something/ someone in particular or browse by category.
·Sell-- Everything you need to sell your item is listed for you.
·How- Tos-- If you're new to eBay this service can be helpful. Although most folks don't find it necessary, it's there just in case. How tos on anything, from buying to selling.
How do I buy?
Buying is easy. You find what you're looking for and make a bid. There are certain guidelines for buying. You must first have an eBay account and have provided valid credit card information (or use one of their more anonymous, secure services such as PayPal).
How do I bid?
Once you've found an item you like, read the profile for the item, as well as the seller's requirements/ preferences. Each seller is different. Minimum bid requirements are posted. Then you bid! If an item is a "hot" item, you may want to check back every so often while the auction is going on so that someone doesn't over bid you. I suggest waiting until the last few minutes of an auction to bid again, this way you can insure that you'll win. There's also a feature that allows you to watch a particular auction.
Payment
Ebay allows you to accept most major credit cards, electronic check, COD, Personal Check, Money Orders, PayPal and they have their own similar service called Billpoint, and Escrow as well as a couple other methods. Each seller decides which payment methods they'll accept.
How do I sell?
Selling is a little more technical than buying. You have to figure out where to put your item, enter a description (and picture if you wish), payment options, length of auction, minimum bid, ship-to locations (where you are willing to ship your item)and a few other optional things-- such as show casing an item, adding it to the gallery, highlighting an item, and so on and so forth. Most of those optional things do cost extra. Selling is not free, you're charged a percentage fee (a small percentage) but, if you do sell your item, you can make your money back, and as long as you don't get crazy with extra selling features, you won't be paying more than a couple bucks, even if your item doesn't sell.
Security
Without question, eBay is one of the most secure auction sites out there. They want to make sure buyers and sellers alike are covered. All credit card information is secure, and if you're still worried, there are those online payment options.
My eBay
This is a neat feature. Any auction you're involved in, be it bidding, selling, or simply watching is listed on your "My eBay" page. You can also access your profile from here.
Your Profile
This is a really neat feature. You can customize your profile page, so it's like you're getting your own webpage on eBay. For instance, I created a profile for my boyfriend. He is planning on selling some of his artwork on eBay, and I put his website's banner, a little biography and favorite links.
Feedback
Feedback is one of the greatest features, in my opinion, eBay has. With anything, there's always persons that don't play by the rules, both buyers and sellers. So, if you interact with someone on eBay, you can leave a comment in their feedback section. Whether it be a positive or a negative, it is permanent to their profile. This is really good if you want to check out the credentials of a seller before bidding-- to insure that you don't get burned.
My buying/selling tips
When I started buying and selling, I had no idea how indepth this can actually be. You want to make sure your rear is covered no matter if you're buying or selling. For instance, sellers need to make sure there are no loop holes in both their description of the item and their payment methods.
Most often, the buyer pays all shipping costs, but in some cases, the seller does. If you are selling, you want to make sure you clearly state this. You also want to state how long shipping will take (e.g. if you are shipping international you should make sure you've stipulated that it will take longer than it would for domestic shipping, as well as shipping costs will be higher). If you are a buyer, and these things aren't stated, you should email the seller before you bid, to clear those matters up. You don't want to be stuck with shipping costs if you didn't expect to be.
Finally, give a clear description of the item. If you're selling a painting, state whether or not it's matted and framed. If you're selling old books, and there are frilled pages, let your buyers know this. If you're selling antique furniture and there's a scratch on that table, tell your buyers this. Not only is it decent, but you can save yourself a lawsuit if that buyer pushes that far.
Happy buying and selling!
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geovolt
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Member: Rachel
Location: Rutherford, TN
Reviews written: 29
Trusted by: 21 members
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