I have used eBay for many years and it is a brilliant place to pick-up a bargain or make a few quid selling. Although, now the site is more popular I don't think you can pick things up as cheaply as you used to.

It is a great place to by electrical items and accessories from the far East which otherwise would be very difficult. You can search in different departments of eBay and then filter the results by price, distance form home, buying options e.t.c.

Most items are listed as auction, I.e. they are listed for a limited time and you place a bid with the highest bidder winning, provided the reserve is met. Some items are listed as 'Buy it Now' and you make a purchase there and then with no bidding. Some items will have both theses options so that the auction can be ended early by someone choosing Buy it Now.

The best way to grab a bargain is to put in your maximum bid in the last few seconds and to bid on items that are finishing at obscure times and not on weekends.

All seller now have to except PayPal (with the exception of cars) so you can pay online. Some sellers may also offer additional methods of payments and you may prefer to pay cash on collection if you are picking an item up.

There are a couple of points with eBay that you have to beware of. Always check the postage and packaging costs before you commit, sometimes what seems like a bargain isn't when you add these charges. Also, people can get carried away with eBay paying well over the odds for items, don't assume that eBay is the cheapest place to buy, shop around first.