eBay Auctions

WHAT IS EBAY? For those of you who don’t know, EBay is one of the largest online auctions websites in the world with over 3 Million listings per day. If you wish to buy or sell on eBay you can. You can also do both if you wanted to.

WHAT IS THE SITE LAYOUT LIKE? The website layout is one of the best features. It’s easy to use for new users. Like any other website just click on the hyperlinks to take you to the location of that website. It offers great colour schemes and it also has brilliant auction listing features, which are easy to use.

WHAT IS THE SITE NAVIGATION LIKE? The website navigation is really easy to use as I have said above. You can get the odd technical glitch, which you click, on the link and it will take you to the international part of the company, other than that it’s brilliant and easy to use.

WHAT IS THE SITE STABILITY LIKE? The site stability has a couple of glitches especially with their log in scripts. If you click on the hyperlink for the Sign In tab at the top of the page you may get re-directed to the German login page. You cannot use this, as you might not understand it. According to ebay.co.uk they are trying to sort out all glitches within the next 12 months.

HOW DOES THE BIDDING WORK AND HOW DO I BID ON AN ITEM? This is really easy to do. You must have a registered account with them. Its FREE if you are just buying but if you are selling this takes longer see below for more information on this. If you wish to bid or buy an item you must follow the following procedures:

1) Click on the item title from the featured or search listing.

2) This will take you into the auction page for that specific item.

3) Read the item description and make sure you understand it before bidding or buying.

4) If you need to ask the seller a question do so by clicking on the link at the top of the page where the sellers id and feedback number is.

4a) If you don’t need to ask the seller a question or questions regarding the item just scroll to the bottom of the page to check the posting and payment terms and conditions (Most ebayers use this feature so keep your eyes peeled) After reading that make sure you are happy about the payment and postage terms and conditions.

4b) If you are happy with all of the above just enter the maximum amount of money you are willing to bid on that item and click on the bid button. After you have done that it will take you into the confirmation page and make sure you adhere to placing a bid. It should then re-direct you saying one of the following:

5) "YOU ARE THE HIGEST BIDDER"

5a) "YOU HAVE BEEN OUTBID BY ANOTHER USER"

It is really that easy.

HOW DO I SELL AN ITEM? In order to sell an item you must be registered and have a valid credit or debit card on file. Selling an item is easy just follow these methods:

1) Click on the "SELL" tab at the top of the page. If you are not a member it will ask you to register again as a seller and ask you for your credit or debit card details or it will take you straight in to the selling area where you can select your category.

2) Search for the relevant directory where your item should be listed. (If you don't do this eBay have the rights to remove the auction if it is in the incorrect directory.

3) Enter you eBay item title and description on the next page.

4) When you have done that you must enter the payment methods you accept. Whether it is PayPal (Most used), Cheque, Bankers Draft or Postal Order. You can select other payment services if you use things like E-GOLD, NOCHEX, STORMPAY, FASTPAY (Natwest Online Payments), Etc.

5) When you have done that you get the opportunity to add extra features to your listing such as pictures, and other listing boosts (The boosts cost allot though).

SELLING BOOST COSTS:

HIGHLIGHTED: £1.50
BOLD: £0.75
GALLERY: £0.15

FEATURED PLUS: £9.95 HOME PAGE FEATURED: £49.95
FEATURED GALLERY: £15.95
BUY IT NOW: £0.06
SCHEDULED LISTINGS: £0.12
LIST IN 2 CATEGORIES X 2 OF THE FINAL TOTAL.

Here are the basic insertion fees:

START / RESERVE PRICE --- LISTING 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
£100.00+ --- £2.00

Starting a reserve item can cost a lot of money on eBay. I once listed my first laptop on there for a reserve of £800.00. It hit the reserve and the reserve amount got refunded to my seller account.

HOW DOES THE FEEDBACK RATING SYSTEM WORK? This is the main bit you want to be focusing on. If you have brought or sold an item you are eligible for item feedback.

There are 3 types of feedback available at the present time. They are stated as the following:

POSITIVE: You are meant to see more of these than of the ones below. This shows that the buyer or seller was really happy with the transaction. This type of feedback adds to your reputation number.

NEUTRAL: This means the buyer or seller was not dissatisfied or pleased with the transaction This leaves your feedback at the same number as before.

NEGATIVE: I hate these. Most people hate them. This means the seller or buyer was really dissatisfied with the purchase and transaction. The not minuses 1 positive feedback from you feedback status.

THERE IS A BLUE AND RED ABOUT ME LOGO NEXT TO THE BUYERS NAME, WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

You have your "ABOUT ME" page, which gives the opportunity to other eBay sellers and buyers to really get to know you. The more good stuff you write the better your chances of either selling an item or getting pre-approved for an item. You can even add pictures to this page.

WHAT IS AN EBAY SHOP AND HOW DO I GET ONE?

Having an eBay shop is recommended if you are listing lots of items instead of just the couple of items. You will see that most of the shops belong to power sellers. More is explained about Power sellers below. To get an eBay shop you must have a feedback rating of 10 or more. This must now be 100% positive feedback. No Neutral or Negative. If you choose to have an eBay shop eBay will charge you reasonable and unreasonable amounts of money to get one. The charges are as follows:

Basic - £6 - This means that you will get no advertising done by eBay. It will not appear in search results.

Featured - £30: This not only is featured in search results it’s easier to use. The only thing is that the £30.00GBP is per month. They a lot of money in the long run.

Anchored - £300: Yes you have to this. If someone clicks on eBay shops from the homepage you shop will be there in at the top of the page in an anchor. Not many people choose this item at the moment. This is because you have to pay £300.00GBP per MONTH. That’s what I call daylight robbery. The only good thing about the shops is that you have longer durations like 30 day "BUY IT NOWS" 60 day "BUY IT NOWS" 90 Day listings. You also have the opportunity to have a GTC (Good till Cancelled listing) at 30 days. The prices are cheaper for listing in EBay shops at only 5p per Listing. Extra if you use the other features above like BOLD and HIGHLIGHTED.

THERE IS A MY EBAY TAB AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE, WHY IS IT THERE? The answer to that is that its you own private area of eBay. No other member can see what items you are selling and watching. This is brilliant I use mine a lot.

WHAT IS THE CUSTOMER SUPPORT LIKE? IN relation to that question the online fellow ebayers are willing to help at all times in the community forums. Whether you are a new member or stuck on finding things to buy and sell. You can also get recommendations there. As for the EBay staff, they are completely useless. They haven’t got a phone number to contact on the website all that is there is automated e-mails which you cannot reply to.

WHAT IS THE COMPETITION LIKE? The competition is really good. You see other people selling the same item but then you see the other person not selling the same item. Competition is great on eBay and the better the feedback total the more chance you have of selling. I sold information on how to get Sony laptops for £20.00GBP the other week for £0.30P. I sold about 3000 e-mails to buyers who want to know. Many of them have praised me for this. Other people when I was selling the item were charging about £9.99. I saw one auction ended at £369.54p for just the information.

WHAT ARE POWERSELLERS? Power sellers are people you can trust as it goes with buying an item. You cannot apply to become a Power seller, as eBay must select you. There are different types of Power sellers. See below for a diagram: Members have five tiers to aspire to - Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Titanium - each enjoying the Power Seller Benefits reserved just for them. From fast track customer service and exclusive Power Seller Programmes to 'best practice' discussion boards, our Power Seller Programme is designed to help you grow your e-commerce business and increase profits on eBay.

WHAT IS MY VIEW OF EBAY? My view of EBay is really good. The only downsides are that you get the occasional stupid buyer that tries to tarnish your reputation. The fees are TOO high as well. My view is that eBay is great for buying not so much as selling due to the charges. EBay is the best for online advertising as they have over 100 Million members worldwide. Follow the methods above and get an account.