Ok so this review will not have every single thing you can do on eBay as Id be here typing forever, it is generally just a ‘How To’ bid guide for all those eBay virgins out there.

When I first browsed through EBay I found everything I could possible imagine for sale, as well as the most bizarre of items such as girls selling love letters or even their virginity! All jokes aside though EBay can be used as a tool for fun or for the serious individual that wants to purchase or sell goods. However I must stress DO NOT BID UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO PURCHASE, as this can be extremely annoying for a seller and for the other potential buyers.

The reason they ask for your street address is so that the information can be sent to the auction seller only if you have won the auction. I find this saves time and effort on your part, and with its high-level security it is unlikely to end up in the wrong hands.

After filling in these basic details you will be asked to create a login name and password, keep these confidential at all times, this is because if you bid for anything on EBay you are entering into a legally binding contract to buy the product if you win the auction.

Now you will be faced with a list of goods, or in our case motor bikes, Some of these will have pictures and some of these won’t. Those individuals or businesses that have paid more to advertise their product will have their item featured at the top of the page, usually with a lilac background.

OK now as we are looking at Motorbikes, let’s try and narrow the bikes down to the ones we are specifically looking for. Now Mark my partner is looking for a 400cc bike, so go to the top of the page and to the left hand side, where you will see a blank box, this is where you type in what you want to search for. In this instance we are searching for a 400cc bike, so type in 400. Now you will notice it will state Motorcycles in a drop down menu, this is the menu full of all those categories you saw on the browse page. So if you want to look for something else just choose another category. But for now we are going to continue to search for a 400cc motorbike. After this click on the search button.

OK so let’s say we have found the motorbike we like, click on any bike picture or item title you are interested in and it will load up a new page. Now this page will show the gallery picture if there was one on the top left of the page, as well as the current bid price, time left, when the auction ends, history (i.e. who has previously bid for the item), highest bidder, where the item is located – which is important in our case as a motorbike would be way to expensive to send via DHL! So we are going to pick the bike up. On the right hand side you will see a ‘watch this item’ in bold blue letters, now that basically means that if you click on that the auction will go into what is called ‘My EBay’ which we will explain further later on in this review. So scroll down the page and you will see the description of the motorbike, it should have its mileage details, make, model, year of registration, whether it is mot’d and taxed as well as a description about the bike itself and any positive or negative points about it.

Also one point to note is that each eBayer, whether it be a seller or buyer will have a number next to their name, this is the quantity of feedback he or she has received, you can click on this number to check whether it is positive or negative feedback, which is always handy as it shows the comments from people that have brought from or sold to this person / business, which enables you the buyer to see whether they are a person that packages their items properly, or whether the items are as per the auction advert. Of course you will have zero feedback if you are a newbie as you have never brought or sold on eBay before.

First take into consideration the current bid price, now decide what the maximum you would be willing to pay for this item, in our case a bike. Now you have a figure in mind, try and stick to it, otherwise you’ll be in an eBay frenzy of bidding until you win and spending way too much money, trust me I speak from experience. Anyway now you click on the place bid link which is underneath the current price. Once you click on this you type in your maximum bid figure, so ok lets say the bikes current price is £700, and we are willing to pay £1500 maximum for it, I would input 1500.00, please remember to put the point in! I click place bid and it will go to a page that lets you review your bid before it is placed. Now make sure you double and triple check that it is correct and the point is in the right place, again speaking from experience, now click Confirm if you are happy with it or make changes if your not. Now it will go to a page that will state whether you are the highest bidder or not, as bear in mind that everyone can state a maximum bid, now if the original highest bidder had £1700.00 as their maximum bid, then there bid would be £1500.00 as we put this as our maximum figure, in other words and so not to confuse everyone, including myself it generally means that they would have outbid you by their maximum bid. Oh I hope this makes sense! You can re-bid but think carefully before you do, as now I tend to stick by my original maximum bid, so as not to be involved in a battle of bids and in an eBay frenzy!