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An
Introduction to
Bidding and Buying
on
eBay |
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An Introduction to Bidding and Buying on
eBay.
Have you noticed that whenever you open a
newspaper, watch the TV or have a conversation, people seem to
be talking about eBay? If you've never used it and you've no
idea what it's all about, then the chances are that you're
starting to feel a little left out. But don't worry! This
email contains everything you need to know about the basics of
bidding and buying on eBay.
So What is eBay?
eBay is an online auction website - and not just
any auction site, but the biggest one in the world. If you
know how an auction works, then you already know how roughly
eBay works. Someone adds something they want to sell to the
site, and then buyers come along and place bids on it. The
highest bid wins the item! It's that simple.
eBay being an online auction makes a big
difference, though. Buying and selling are not reserved for
any elite. eBay accept almost any item, no matter how small,
and will then advertise it on their sites all over the world.
It's a powerful combination of an auction and a slightly
chaotic marketplace.
What is Bidding?
Bidding is when you say how much you will pay
for an item in an auction. Bidding on eBay, however, doesn't
work in exactly the same way as a normal auction, at least in
theory. On eBay, you tell the site what the maximum you are
willing to pay for each item is, and then eBay places the bids
on your behalf. That means you could say you were willing to
pay up to $100 for something and only have to pay $50, if that
was the highest maximum bid anyone else
placed.
It's not as complicated as it sounds - the best
way to get used to it is to give it a try. First, the best
thing to do is to go to the eBay website designed for your
country. If you don't know the address for it, just go to www.ebay.com and it will tell
you there. Now, on the front page you should see a big box
marked 'search': just type in anything that you'd like to buy
there.
Wasn't that easy? Now you should have a list of
items for sale in front of you, along with how much people are
currently bidding for them and the time when bidding ends for
each item. If you click one of these, you can read the
description, and then - if you're happy with the item and
happy to pay more than the current highest bidder is - you can
bid!
How Do I Bid?
Go ahead and scroll down to the bottom of an
item's description page, and type the maximum you are willing
to pay (your maximum bid) into the box. Then simply press the
'place bid' button - you will need to sign in once you press
the button, or go through a quick registration process if you
don't have an eBay username).
If someone else's maximum bid on that item is
higher than yours, then eBay will tell you and give you the
opportunity to bid again. Otherwise, you're now the new
highest bidder! All you need to do now is wait until the end
of the auction - if someone else outbids you, then eBay will
email you and you can bid again.
All sounds great, doesn't it? But by now you
might be wondering whether a site as chaotic as eBay can
really be all that safe to buy from. That's why the next email
in this series will be about your rights when you buy from
eBay.
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