Going, going, gone......... (ebay.co.uk)

Member Name: Kirst09

Product:	ebay.co.uk
Date:	10/09/09 (74 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cheap to sell stuff, can buy anything, safe for buyers and sellers

Disadvantages: none really!

Ebay is a world famous online auction site with millions of users online on a daily basis; hundreds of thousands of items are bought and sold on Ebay every day, who knows, maybe millions. You can buy pretty much anything you want on here and you can also sell pretty much anything. That said, you cannot sell livestock on there although I have seen people trying to sell goldfish and koi carp on there. You also can't sell body parts or humans, as we found out when my friend and I put up a guy we know for auction and struck up a bidding war between a few girls who fancied him. It was hilarious at the time, although Ebay understandably did not see the funny side. My friend got a stern warning after that. You can also do auctions for which the proceedings go straight to charitable organisations.

If you want to buy or sell on Ebay, you must create an account. This account includes your name, address, etc. You need to enter your card details if you want to sell though, because you need to pay a very small fee per item listed, which also depends on the starting price of your item. When returning to the website, you sign in using your chosen username and password. You will find any message alerts here, also any feedback from people you have had transactions with, or any transactions that you need to complete. In this section, it will display the item you are buying and 3 symbols which become emboldened after your transation has been completed; these are emboldened when you have paid/been paid, left feedback and received feedback. Ebay also has a 5 star ratings system which you complete on leaving feedback, being as honest as you like about your transaction. This assessment is completely confidential and the seller/buyer will not know what you personally have assessed them as. This whole area is called My Ebay and you can also watch items that interest you and bid on them whenever you see fit, although as near to the end of the auction as possible is best. If you bid in the last few minutes this is called bid sniping! Sounds a bit sinister to me, but true! Clearly I have spent way too much time on here.

In the search bar at the top, you really can search for pretty much anything! When your search results are found, you can choose whether they are displayed by relevance, time ending, price (low-high, high-low) condition of the item and location in relation to the postcode that you have entered in your account. The results are displayed in a format as follows; from left to right there is a picture of the item, a very brief title description of the item, the cost of the postage and packaging and the time left on the auction of that particular item. Personally I would advise you to sort the results by time ending soonest because otherwise you could miss out on an absolute gem!

Just like the real world, Ebay has good and bad people. Sellers' feedback usually indicates whether they are worth buying from or not. Bad sellers include those who take your money and never send the item, or you simply never hear from them after the auction has ended. Also, they can sometimes have misleading item descriptions. If you are selling something it is advisable to get proof of postage just in case something does go wrong. Buyers can be the same and turn out to be total timewasters by not getting in touch or not paying, in which case you can reflect this in your feedback. Beware of fake items as I believe the law is now tightening down on these and you may end up in trouble. As well as auctions there are also many Buy It Now items. This, as it states, you can buy straightaway and it is often used if the seller wants a quick sale or if they want to sell a job lot of items.

I have bought probably hundreds of things off Ebay before now. Sometimes you can get an absolute steal! Years ago, I got a genuine Von Dutch cap for £45 instead of about £80, a Paul Frank bag for about £8, a vintage burgundy leather Kurt Geiger bag for about £6 ( a pure bargain) and a brand new pair of ex shop stock converse for less than half of their RRP. I also very recently bought a set of bookshelves for my new room which were a mere £4!! You really can find some absolute bargains on Ebay. I have also sold a few Topshop cardigans and done brilliantly. I have a few topshop cardigans that I had worn to death and thought I would try and make some money off them so I put them back up on Ebay. I had originally paid less than £15 for each of them in the sale and when I put them up, people broke into a bidding frenzy towards the end and I ended up making about a tenner on each of them! Fantastic! I enjoy the prospect of cheques or packages landing on my doormat so I love selling and buying from Ebay.

Personally I think Ebay is a fantastic invention and the people who invented it deserve the millions and billions that they are forever earning. It brings millions of people together to get rid of their clutter and find those little gems if they are out on a bargain hunt. I will continue to use Ebay both for decluttering my own room and buyong a few cute and kitsch bits and pieces. Every transaction I have had has been perfectly smooth, whether I have been buying or selling. If you have that little bit of time to spare, it is worth having a little clearout and making yourself a few quid on the worlds best online market place!

Summary: bag yourself a bargain!