eBay

1
eBay

• An introduction to the eBay auction site

2
What is eBay?

• Online auction house
• Founded in 1995
• Meeting place for buyers and sellers
• Features millions of items for sale at any time

3
How to Register

• Provide basic information name, address, phone
  number and email address
• Pick a username (not your email address)
• Verify your information after receiving a
  confirmation email from eBay

4
Searching the eBay Site

• Browse categories
• Browse popular products, themes or stores
• Use the search box to enter key words about the
  item you are looking for
• Use advanced search options to further narrow
  your search
• Check out this http//pages.ebay.com/education/ge
  ttingstarted/finding.html

5
Researching the Sale Item

• Consider the starting bid, current bid and buy it
  now prices
• Read the description carefully, is there enough
  information? What is the condition of the item?
• Consider the shipping costs and details
• Consider the sellers feedback rating and comments

6
Bidding and Buying

• You can place a bid for the maximum amount you
  want to bid and then eBay will bid on your behalf
  when someone outbids you
• You will be notified when you have been outbid
  through email
• Some auctions have a buy it now price. If you
  use this feature you are buying the item outright
  for the buy it now price and are not bidding on
  the item.

7
Payment

• PayPal www.paypal.com service that will let you
  pay for your items through check or credit card
  without giving that information to the seller
  directly.
• Traditional methods like check, money order,
  C.O.D. are accepted by some sellers make sure to
  check the payment details on the auction before
  bidding.

8
PayPal

• Free to setup an account.
• Free to pay through PayPal.
• Fees for receiving money through transactions
• Monthly Sales Price Per Transaction
• 0.00 -3,000.00 2.9 0.30 USD
• 3,000.01-10,000.00 2.5 0.30 USD
• 10,000.01 -100,000.00 2.2 0.30 USD
• 100,000.00 1.9 0.30 USD

9
Safety and Security

• If something goes wrong with your purchase
  contact the seller first.
• Check out the eBay Security Center
  http//pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/buying_paying
  .html
• Never give out your account information for eBay
  or PayPal to someone that calls you or contacts
  your through instant messaging or email
• If you get an email requesting an information
  update go to the website directly by typing it in
  or using your favorites. Never click on links in
  email messages asking you to update account
  information.

10
Buying Advice

• Leave feedback about purchases
• Research the retail value of items either at
  stores or on the web through sites like Yahoo! Or
  Google.
• Search completed auctions to see how much items
  have been auctioned for in the past.
• Make sure to consider warranties and customer
  service into your price comparisons

11
Selling on eBay

• Update your account to a sellers account by
  adding credit or debit card information.
• List your item Title and description, pictures,
  choose a category, decide on a starting price, a
  reserve price (the minimum youll accept) ,
  length of auction, shipping information and
  payment options.

12
Considerations

• FEES eBays official list of fees here
  http//pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html
• Items that arent allowed http//pages.ebay.com/
  help/sell/item_allowed.html
• Let a trading assistant sell it for you?
  http//contact.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?TradingAs
  sistantpagemain

13
Adding Pictures to Your Auction

• You can use a digital camera, scanned photos,
  scanned 2 dimensional items, and most places will
  allow you to get film processed into digital
  images (a CD with your photos).
• Copy your photo to the web using
  http//pages.ebay.com/sell/pictureservices/ or a
  similar service check with your ISP you may have
  free web space that you can take advantage of.

14
Selling Advice

• Make sure to title your auction effectively. Be
  descriptive about the item you are selling.
  Check your spelling. (limited to 45 characters)
• Promptly respond to inquiries made about your
  auction.
• Try to anticipate who might be interested in
  buying your items and when they will likely be on
  and use that as a possible ending time for your
  auction.

15
Online Auction Tactics

• Selling a good story. If you are selling
  collectible items a good story or background
  might get you more attention and increase your
  bids.
• Sniping waiting until the last possible moment
  to get your bid in and hopefully win the item.

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Questions?
More information is available on our
website www.ncantonlibrary.org Check out our eBay
resources list on our readers resources page