How to use eBay – Part 3

Ready to start?
After you have completely registered, you can now use eBay for buying and selling. There are a lot of options to choose from. Pick the items which have the lowest bid first so you can get it for less. But if you are in a hurry, you can always click on the buy it now icon to immediately purchase your chosen item.

How to find items
There’s a world of great things to buy at eBay, from antiques to electronics to collectibles of all types. And there are two easy ways to find them: browsing and searching.

-Browsing
Browsing is clicking through categories and lists of items until you find what you’re interested in. Browsing usually takes a lot of time. This is common when you want to see items that could attract your attention, even if you dont need them, and you actually end up buying them.

-Searching
If you know exactly what you’re looking for, just type a few words into the search box on the Home page and you’ll get a list of relevant items. These are for the specific buyers who want to have a good bargain. After you have spotted what you like, you can either watch or monitor the item, bid and wait, or, buy the item instantly. Watching an item lets you know the availability of the item and how much the current bid is. Bidding is a key feature of eBay – you can increment bids, and probably with luck, take off and win the auction within a given amount of time. Buying the item instantly will close all bids and will only allow you to purchase the item at a higher price than the seller posted.

Watching
To watch an item, click on the “watch this item” link on any item page.

Items you are watching will appear on your “My eBay” page. To see your list of Watched Items, go to My eBay and under the My eBay Views column, click the “Buying” link. Your list of items is displayed in the “Items I’m Watching” list. You will also receive an Item Watch Reminder email with a daily list of all items in your watch list that will end within 36 hours. If you prefer not to receive this email, you can change your notification preferences.

Bidding on an item

Once you find an item you’re interested in, it’s easy to place a bid. Here’s how:

1. To bid on an item, you’ll need to register first. Then carefully look over the item listing. In the example below, the high bid is currently $ 20.00.

2. Enter your maximum bid in the box at the bottom of the page. Then, click the “Place Bid” button. In this example, the minimum bid increment is $ 0.50, so you would need to bid at least $ 20.50.

3. Enter your User ID and password and then click the “Place Bid” button. That’s it! eBay will now bid on your behalf up to your maximum bid amount. You’ll get an email confirming your bid. And at the end of the listing, you’ll receive another email indicating whether you’ve won the item, with an explanation of the next steps.

Selling items

How to Sell – If you want to reach a huge world of potential buyers for your items, you’ve come to the right place. Now we’re talking; this is why you registered in the first place, to sell your stuff, unneeded or not.

1. Gather the information you’ll need, including:
A clear and compelling title and description for your item.
Picture(s) of your item – you can use pictures saved on your computer OR enter the Web site address for pictures hosted on the Web.
Choose the most appropriate eBay category (or categories) so potential buyers can find your item easily.
If you’re unsure whether your item is allowed on eBay, there is a list of allowed items which you can access on their website.

2. Then, click the “Sell” button at the top of any page and fill out the “Sell Your Item” form.

Now, just sit back as other eBay members bid on your listing. When the listing is over, you’ll receive an email with simple instructions for completing the sale.

Market your item worldwide to millions of eBay users

All you need to do is create a seller’s account and list your item on eBay’s U.S. site. Once you do so, any item you list will be seen by millions of potential buyers.