ebay.co.uk > Reviews (767)

i have been thinking about writing this review for awhile, since i have now become a total addict, i decided it would probably be the best time!

I first heard of ebay from a friend who had purchased a pair of Diesel trainers for very cheap and then he started telling me all about it. i went home and was straight on to have look!

For about the first week i was just looking about, trying to figure the site out a bit, theni seen a nice little Star of David necklace, it was quite cheap, i had been looking for one of them for awhile so thought, what the heck, no harm in trying!

Before you bid on anything though you have to register.

REGISTERING
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At the top of the website will will see a small heading saying 'register'. now you will enter all you information such as name, address, DOT, email address. On the next page you enter a user name, password secret question and then on the next page you enter you bank details. this will take you about 5-10 minutes but once you have followed all of this, thats you set up and ready to go!

YOU ACCOUNT
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When you now sign into your account, this is more or less you summary. This will tell you how many feedback you need to leave, how many items you need to pay for, how many items you are watching that ends on that day etc. On the right of the page there will be little sub titles such as 'Watching' 'Won' 'Bidding' 'Didnt Win' if you click on these it will bring up all the details of each. it is an easy way of keeping an eye on your personal account

BROWSING
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Once you have registered you can now buy whatever you like. At the top of the page click on 'Buy' this then brings you to a whole page of things i can purchase, for example, If you are looking for clothes, you will see a title in bold saying 'Clothes Shoes and Accessories' under this you will also see a little sub title such as 'Womens Clothes, Mens Clothes' etc. This is the same with each catogary which make it easy to search for the item you are looking for. when you have got into the right catogary you will then see the item that are for sale.

Some of these may have a picture of the item beside its description, others may just have a little camera, though if it just has the camera, click into the auction and there will be a picture there. If it has nothing then it does not have a picture, just a description.

So, beside the picture, camera or whatever it may be there will be a brief description of the item for sale this may be the colour, size, make etc.

It will then tell you beside that how much it currently is. Some items on Ebay are BIN (Buy It Now) this is were there is no auction, just a set price for the item. If this is the case it will say 'Buy It Now' beside it. If the item however is in an auction, it will tell you what price it currently is. There may be a number on the right of the price, this is telling you how many bids have been placed for the item, and beside that it will tell you how long till the end of the auction.

If there is less than 1 hour left this will be highlighted in red.

BIDDING
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Once you have found an item that you would like to buy you click on it, this brings you into the auction. This is were all the information is. I will try and lay an example out for you to make it easier to understand:

Current bid: £21.00

(This may go up if another person decides to bid higher than this price, but this lets you know what the current price for the item is)

Time left: 2 hours
5-day listing
Ends 04-Nov-04 01:13:46 GMT

(This tells you exactly how long is left in the auction, how long it has been listed for, this may vary from 1day, 3 days, 5 days, 7 days or 9 days, and exactly what date and time it ends on)

Start time: 30-Oct-04 02:13:46 BST

History: 11 bids (£3.00 starting bid)

(This is telling you how many people have currently bidded for the item, and the starting price, this may vary also depending on how much the seller has set it to)

High bidder: Joe_Bloggs ( 34 )

(This is the person who is currently winning the item, who has bidded the highest amount. The number beside their name tells you how many other succesful items they have won and paid for with the seller or buyer leaving feedback)

Item location: LONDON
United Kingdom

(This tells you were your item is and where it will be sent from if yuo win it)

Post to: UK Only

(Not everyone only posts to the UK, lots of sellers will post to Europe and world wide but just make sure that they are able to send the item to were you are!)

Postage costs: £3.00 - Royal Mail 1st Class Standard (Within United Kingdom)

(The seller sets their own postage fee's, they can also offer second class, special delivery, if this is the case it will be stated here)

The seller then gives you a full description of the item that you are looking at. This may tell you the size, colour, condition, what payment they accept, make etc. Below this they may also be some picture of the item. Though sometimes, not often, they may not be a picture, just a description.

Below this, it will state again the Postage and payment details. This will tell you the cost, postal services available, where they can deliver to and if postage insurance is available.

You will then see what payment methods the seller accepts, this may be Paypal, personal cheque, bankers draft etc. Though before bidding make sure they have a suitable payment method that you can pay with.

Then under the heading 'Ready to Bid' it again tells you the current price and the next bididng price eg 22.99 or more. once you have entered the amount you wish to bid, click on 'Place Bid' and then confirm you bid. you will then be told if you the highest bidder and the current price.

At the top right of the auction page will will see the sellers information. It will be lead out abit like this:

John_Smith ( 25)

(This is the sellers user name and how many feedback he has received from other succesful transactions)

Feedback Score: 25
Positive Feedback: 100%
Member since 13-Jun-04 in China

(This confirms the sellers feedback score, the percentage will tell you how postive or negative his feedback is)

Read feedback comments

(You can read comments that other buyers and sellers has left about the person you will be buying from, eg, does his items arrive on time, are they as described etc)

Ask seller a question

(If you have any queries about the item you can ask the seller direct through this link)

View seller's other items

(The seller may have other items for sale which you can view via this link)

BUYING/PAYING
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Once you have succesfully bought an item, the seller will send you an invoice, this included the price you bought the item for, how much postage and packaging which will then be totaled up.

It will also include which payment methods you wish to pay with. If you select personal cheque Ebay will automatically send you seller and email telling them that you are paying with personal cheque. If you select Paypal and you dont you are not registered with Paypal, you then have to sign up.

Paypal is a quick and easy way of making payments via the internet, your payment will go directly into your sellers account. This will take about 5-10 minutes

Go to www.paypal.com and click on 'Sign Up' you then choose if you would like a business or personal account and choose your country. Yuo then enter all your details, name, address, email address, security question etc. This will then take you to where you enter you bank details in. Paypal will send you a confirmation email and that is your account set up.

If you wish to pay via Paypal, this will be directly taken out of you account and into your sellers account. Your seller does not get your details only your name and address from Ebay to send you item.

Once you have succesfully paid for your item via Paypal, they will send you a confirmation and a receipt via email.

RECEIVING YOUR ITEM
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When you receive your item you then sign into you account, and leave your seller feedback, you can do this via 'Won' on the right and it shoudl say beside the item 'Leave Feedback' You just leave a brief summary of what kind of service your seller give you. Did you item arrive on time? Was it packed well? etc. The seler will also do the same, only saying if you payment was fast etc. This is important for when other people or buying or selling from them, they know what kind of buyer or seller they are from feedback.

SELLING
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You can also sell yourself on Ebay, weather it is to make some money or just clear out some junk you dont need or use. You need to register with a for a seller account simply by clicking on 'Sell' at the top of your page. you then enter you bank details and your ready to go!

When selling something it is best to have a picture of the item, as it is very hard buying something that you cant hold or see, never mind not seeing it at all!

When you click on 'Sell' you will be given the option of a fixed price, which is a BIN (Buy It Now) or an Online Auction. If you choose Online Auction.

You then choose a suitable category for your item, such as Clothes, Shoes & Accessories or DVD, Film & TV, there is many more that will be suitable. Then you choose a title and description that suits the item you are selling. You then go on to choose your own title, a small description of the item and what condition it is in. Below is where you tell all the details you can about your item. You should include everything you can as it is quite hard trying to buy something that you havent actually seen. You can choose different font, colours, bullet points etc.

You then choose a starting price for your item. You should maybe keep in mind what your listing fee's are when doing this. the listing fee's are as follows:

Starting or Reserve Price Insertion Fee
£0.

01 - £0.99 - £0.15
£1.00 - £4.99 - £0.20
£5.00 - £14.99 - £0.35
£15.00 - £29.99 - £0.75
£30.00 - £99.99 - £1.50
and up - £2.00

You can add a BIN (Buy It Now) onto your auction as well costing an extra 6p on top of your listing fee's. Though I personally dont think this is a good idea as when one person bids on your auction this is automaticaly removed.

You can choose how long you would like your auction to last choosing from 1, 3, 5, 7, or 10 days.

You have a choice if you would like you auction to start when you have finished or you can set a time and date, costing an extra 12p on top of yuor listing fee's.

You insert the Item Locaton. This is your City and Region.

Now you can insert your pictures. You can insert as many as 12 pictures, your first picture being free and every other picture being 12p each.

GALLERY OPTIONS:

Gallery (£0.15)
This is having a picture beside your auction when people or browsing so they can see your item before clicking into your auction.

Gallery Featured (£15.95)
This will automatically set your listing to the top of the page each time someone searches for the category that your item is in. It will also make your auction in the listing twice the size of an ordinary auction.

PICTURE OPTIONS:

Standard
Standard pictures will appear within a 400 x 300.

Supersize Pictures (£0.60)
Extra large pictures will appear within a 500 x 375. If your pictures are larger, buyers can view them up to 800 x 600.

Slide Show (£0.60)
With this you can show mutiple view of your item, thouhg they are a standard size.

LISTING DESIGNER (£0.07)

This is where you can add a theme to your layout, if you are selling baby clothes you can have a a baby themed page etc.

MAKING YOUR LISTING STAND OUT

Bold (£0.75)
You can have your writing in your brief description bolded from the rest of the auctions.

Highlight (£1.50)
You can have your brief description highlighed.

Once you have completed this, that is your item ready for auction.

Well i think thats about every!! Well i hope it is! if you arent sleeping already...thanks for reading.