Warning - E-bay can be addictive, E-Bay can be expensive. Supressed all those buying impulses when you go for a wander around the shops? Well, E-bay can re-awaken them. Tracking down stuff you used to own or never got round to buying can bring it all back.
This op is about E-Bay UK and the buying side of things as I haven't currently got enough stuff to start selling (unless I carry on buying, of course).
E-Bay is a giant on-line market place/auction. People offer goods for sale at an initial price. You can then bid on them over the course of a period of time (usually 5 -10) days. Highest bidder "wins" the item. Sounds simple and it is.
Everything is seemingly available on E-Bay. Want to bid for a brand new DVD or CD then it's probably on E-Bay although with so many people on the look-out for a bargain, a good deal on something new can be hard to find. The real lure of E-Bay is obtaining items not available in the shops. Nostalgic stuff, rare stuff, unobtainable stuff. One persons item that they are happy to sell for a £1.00 can be worth a lot more to someone else.
I'll give you an example of how it works. My brother has been after the old Disney film, Tron for ages. It's deleted so not available in the shops; he saw it once in a specialist film shop for £25.00 (too steep for even him). He asks me to look on E-Bay. I tap Tron into the search engine and five copies are available with a reserve price of around £2.00 each.
The item page will contain a description of the item, the ways the seller will accept payment and the postage costs (postage is paid on top of the final bid). Every seller has a number rating based on the number of transactions made. After a transaction, the seller and buyer are expected to give an opinion on each other which is either positive, neutral or negative. The idea is to give piece of mind to the buyer and the seller that the person you are dealing with is trustworthy.
As it would be difficult to monitor your bids at all times, E-By gives you the oppurtunity to proxy bid. This means you can state the highest price that you are willing to pay on an item. If anyone else bids on an item bid on then E-Bay will automatically up your bid to the next amount (dependent on price but for small items it's usually in multitudes of 50p). If you are eventually outbid, an email is sent out immeadiatly, giving you the chance to bid a little bit more.
Going back to Tron, I was succesful and "won" it for £6.00. The buyer and seller are expected to contact each other within three days. Normal procedure is for buyer to send payment and then the seller to post the item. With all my transacations, turnaround has been about two weeks at the most.
From what I can gather, it is unusual to have problems with buying goods other E-Bay. Items over £15.00 are insured although they will only pay out after the first £15.00 so if you're after goods for £200 then it's more than worth it; with lower priced items you take your chances.
I haven't encountered any problems wit E-bay although as I said at the start it is addictive. I've gone a bit nostalgia crazy buying old PCgames that I used to enjoy and just spent a fortune on Wallace and Gromit toys for my girlfriend.
Log onto E-Bay, it might help you find some more unusual or hard to find presents for family and friend or more likely yourself.
Advantages: Fun, no commitment, useful for finding rareties or selling unwanted bits and pieces. Disadvantages: Trust plays a big part in the buyer/seller contract
blurbubble 22.10.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of ebay.co.uk
Advantages: cheap, quick, secure, the seller has reviews next to his name on previous sold items Disadvantages: Some people run scams, you don't get to see the product until it arrives.
Beeboystance 09.08.2000 ·
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Review of ebay.co.uk
Oct 3rd, 2001
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