NWA-PCUG Newsletter Article, February 2011
Buying and Selling on eBay (Part 1 of 5)
Submitted by Gini Pedersen, Instructor,
FREE Internet and Computer Classes, San Diego Continuing Education;
Honorary Lifetime Member, Seniors Computer Group
http://www.iteachyou.com
gpederse (at) sdccd.edu (click to email author)

What is eBay?
eBay is the largest and most popular auction site on the Internet. Their main service is to match up buyers with sellers anywhere in the world. Although the buyer doesn't pay anything to eBay to bid or win an auction, the seller does pay one or more fees. Fees vary, depending on what is being offered and the features included in the listing.

Registering on eBay

Following are guidelines for setting up an eBay account:
1. Go to http://www.ebay.com/
2. Click Register link.
3. Complete all registration fields.

Viewing an Item on eBay

Following are guidelines for viewing auction items at eBay:
1. Go to http://www.ebay.com/
2. Click Sign In link and log on to your eBay account.

Note: Although you can view items on eBay without clicking the Sign In link, you cannot bid on items without first logging on.
3. Type a search keyword(s) in the field under the eBay logo at the top of the eBay window and choose a category to the right if desired. For example, type keywords Canon Camera and choose Cameras and Photo category. You can further narrow your search by choosing one or more options in the Refine Search sidebar on the left. For example, Digital Cameras. Continue narrowing your search until you see a reasonable number in orange to the right of the Refine Search sidebar.
4. Click the down-facing arrow to the right of the Sort By field to organize the results in desired order.

Note: The Sort By field is on the right side of the screen, just above the first item listed.
5. Click on the blue, underlined wording (Title) to the right of the image to see a specific item.
6. Scroll down to read details about this listing. The top portion is part of a "template" provided by eBay that contains the most important information about the listing and below that is the description written by the seller.

Bidding on an Item on eBay
1. Sign in with your User ID and Password.
2. Locate the item you want to bid on.
3. Bookmark the item so you can review its status later.
4. Read all information about the auction item.
5. Scroll to the top and type in the maximum bid in the Your Max Bid field- the maximum you would be willing to spend--knowing that bidding will reach this maximum only if another bid causes the amount to increase.
6. Click Place Bid and then Confirm Bid on the next screen.
7. You will see either the minimum bid (“Starts At” amount) submitted in your name (if you are the first bidder) or else the previous bid will be increased by the Bid Increment amount.

Note: Click Bid History if you want to see the details about all bids so far. For most items your User ID will be replaced with one that looks like the following: x***x which protects the identity of the bidder.
8. Check back periodically (if desired) to see how bidding is progressing on the item.

Click here to return to top



==================================================================