Introduction to eBay
Learn how to search for and buy items on the world's largest auction, eBay.
You will also learn how to set up an account and sell items on eBay. Strategies
and techniques for being successful will be discussed.
General
- eBay is a unique auction market that brings products to the market that
people want but can't find elsewhere
- eBay is generally safe
- visit the "New
to eBay Page" and the Help page
for basic information
- use the "Search the Help" box on this
page to find answers to some
of your eBay questions
- each auction lasts for seven days. The bidders place their bids through
the eBay web site.
Browsing
Buying
- you must register as an eBay user in order to be able to bid and buy an
item
- create a user ID
- type in a credit card number
- type in a valid email address
- agree to the terms
- reply to the email that is sent to your email address
- follow the "Take a Guided Tour of Registering" by following the link
on this
page
- bidding
- Check recent auctions for the same item to see the item's "going price"
on eBay before you're bid on the item
- If you see a Buy It Now listing, it means that you can buy the item
without going through the bidding process! However, as soon as one bid
has been made, the Buy It Now indicator is removed.
- Read the seller's notes on an auction listing page to be sure that
you are aware of the shipping charges as well as the allowed methods
of payment (see below). It is the buyer's responsibility to pay the shipping
costs although it is the seller's job to have weighed the item and determined
how much it costs to ship the item. Sometimes, the seller includes shipping
insurance in the shipping price as well.
- Read the seller's feedback comments. If the seller has an especially
low feedback rating, you may not want to buy from that seller.
- You can always email questions to the seller while an auction is taking
place. Hopefully he will get back to you promptly.
- First, you enter your maximum bid for an item. Even if the item isn't
close to that price, eBay automatically bids for you by small increments
over
the next-highest bidder
- You can always increase your maximum bid for an item while the auction
is still open.
- Sniping - Most of the time, all of the action occurs in the last few
minutes of an auction. So you must be logged in to eBay and ready to
increase
your maximum bid in the last few seconds of the auction. Trying to outbid
everyone else at the VERY END of an auction is called "sniping". Make
sure that you mark the exact time of the end of an auction on your calendar
so that you can participate at the end of the auction.
The service eSnipe.com will help you snipe at the end of an auction.
- synchronize your computer's clock with eBay's time
- double-click
your computer's clock, so you can see the number of seconds, and
position it in the corner of the screen
- view the item that you want to bid on & resize your web browser
program's window and position it on the left side of your computer
screen making
sure
that it shows
the
item's
listing price. Continuously press the F5 key to refresh this window
so that you are viewing the latest bid price of an item.
- during the last few minutes of an auction, use the CTRL-N key combination
to open a second browser window and resize it so that it only shows
the bidding price box and the button that you click to make a new
bid price
- TEN (or fewer) seconds before the end of an auction, enter a bidding
price that is slightly higher than the minimum bid increment to "outsnipe
the other snipers". Then, FIVE seconds before the end of the auction,
click the button to actually make the bid.
- payment process
- goods sold within state will be taxed sales tax
- means of payment -
not all sellers accept all means of payment
- PayPal account
- personal check
- credit card
- money orders
- escrow service through escrow.com
- set up a My eBay page to organize your bidding information and favorite
categories to browse.
- You may be able to find good deals by searching for an item by mispelling it. If a seller mispells his item, very few buyers will find the auction and bid on it. You should also be sure to search for the singular and plural forms of an item.
Selling
- ways to earn a profit
- sell your own stuff from the attic
- buy items at yard sales and online to resell
- sell by consignment
- sell crafts that you manufacture
- identify easy to sell items
- items that are already considered "Hot" on eBay
- items that are easy to package
- items that are light
- items with high profit margins
- strive to keep a good feedback rating
- if you have a good history, people are more likely to buy from you
- remember the customer is always right & treat winning bidders like
royalty
- make it easy for your customer...many are first-time buyers
- put photos into your ads
- you don't need a great digital camera for posting photos online
- take pictures of your items against white backgrounds
- shipping the item
- always insure
the item if its over $35 or so
- you may want to buy delivery confirmation for expensive items
- pack the item well, use newspaper as packing material and make sure
the box is sealed well and that the item doesn't rattle
- the seller is
to blame for broken items due to poor packing & carriers
such as UPS never accept liability
- buy an inexpensive scale and print postage from your PC if you want
to avoid trips to the post office
- hire UPS or USPS to pick up packages at your home for $7 and $6/week,
respectively
- use a My eBay page
- it gives your buyers important information about you
(contact info, etc.) and your products
- it allows future potential bidders a chance to see your past auctions
- selling an item
- check recent auctions to see what an item is currently going for on
eBay before you set your initial auction price on an item that you are
selling
- set a "reserve price" if you refuse to take less than a certain amount
of money for an item
- don't set a ridiculously low price for an item since price indicates
quality to some potential bidders
- make sure that you set an auction to end at a time when people are
likely to be able to "attend the auction" at their computer. In other
words, it's better to end an auction at 5 pm on Saturday rather than
5 am on Saturday morning. This is due to the fact that snipers and serious
bidders will only view the auction in the last few minutes.
- you should set up a PayPal account and accept payment by PayPal since
so many eBay bidders use PayPal and it's convenient
- you should communicate with the winning bidder as soon as possible.
He may be a novice bidder and confused about how to send payment to you.
- AFTER you've received payment, you send the properly packaged item
to the bidder. Aim to do this in a couple of days of receiving the bidder's
payment to ensure good feedback from the bidder.
- you must pay a number
of fees to eBay to sell an item
- insertion fee - from 30 cents to $5 or so depending on the value
of item
- reserve price fee - to set a reserve price it can cost anywhere
from $1 to 1% of the sale price
- additional photos fee - you may include one picture of an item
for free, but additional photos are 15 cents
- closing fee - roughly 5.75% percent of the final price
- other fees - many are advertising related and probably not worth
it. But to add a Buy Now! option, it costs 5 cents.
- sellers must pay all fees on their account to eBay monthly by credit
card, PayPal, or checking account deduction
- having someone else sell your items
- you can hire a trading assistant to sell your items for a 10-25% commission. In fact, eBay advertises trading assistants at www.ebay.com/tradingassistants
- in some areas, you can sell items by dropping them off at a business which will list your item on eBay and attempt to sell the item for a commission. An example of this service is auctiondrop.com