Who'll start me at £1? (ebay.co.uk)

Member Name: MichaelR

Product:	ebay.co.uk
Date:	01/07/01 (45 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Absolutely everything for sale!, Low start prices in many cases and no reserve, Good security mechanisms

Disadvantages: Addictive!

Well, actually quite a few auctions do start at £1 on Ebay and very few hold a reserve price now, but more of that later.

Ebay is probably the world's most widely used on-line auction site now and I'm sure that most people will at least of heard of it even if they have never visited. The only moderately successful online 'auction houses' that are still competing with Ebay are QXL (having merged with Go Ricardo a while back) and Yahoo auctions.

Ebay is probably so successful because it has a great community feel - much like Dooyoo really - everyone I've dealt with so far on Ebay has always been really friendly and the same sort of feedback mechanisms exist on Ebay as exist here on Dooyoo - except comments on Ebay are limited to only 80 words.

The first time I visited Ebay was when I was trying to fill some gaps in my Michael Schumacher Collection - a series of die cast Formula One Cars made by Minichamps. I'd heard a lot of good things about Ebay, and it had a reputation for being a place where you could buy almost anything, and that reputation is certainly deserved! Whether you're looking for a kitchen, a kettle, a kite, or a koala (well OK, perhaps not a koala) you'll find it for sale on Ebay.

Most of the items for sale on Ebay are second hand and are being sold by private individuals, however you do find some brand new items too, and a lot of companies use Ebay to offload excess stock - so you can pick up some real bargains. Basically, sellers put up items on the site that are to be sold at auction. These auctions can last between five and ten days. Registered users of Ebay (registration is very quick and simple and you don't even need to give your credit card number if you use a 'proper' POP3 e-mail address) can then come and place bids on these items and when time runs out, the highest bidder gets to buy the item.

Much like a real auction really, except much longer in durati
on!

Placing an item on Ebay is very simple and very affordable. It only costs 60p to list an item and you can spruce up your ads with HTML and pictures of the items you have to sell. You can set a reserve price (the minimum amount you are willing to sell your item(s) for) although this costs extra, and you can also set the opening bid to pretty much whatever you like. Low start prices tend to attract more interest though.

There are a number of other options that can be purchased for extra, such as highlights around your listings etc, but I doubt if these are really worth paying extra for.

If your item sells, then Ebay takes an additional (small) percentage of the winning bid. You have to pay fees to Ebay every month if you owe one pound or more, and you can keep a credit card number on file to do this automatically is you wish to do so.

The Ebay site is well laid out with a powerful search engine (just type in roughly what it is you're looking for and be prepared for a huge list to come up!) and also has items divided and subdivided into different categories that you can browse through. There is also a "My Ebay" section where you can track all the items you are bidding on and selling, as well as any items you are just watching for the moment. You can see at a glance on this screen whether you are winning or losing auctions. Auctions you are winning are highlighted in green and auctions you are losing are highlighted in red.

Ebay provides good e-mail alerts in addition to the "My Ebay" tracking screen. You get a message whenever you place a successful bid, when you are outbid, and when an auction ends.

They also take security very seriously - and there is free insurance provided against fraud so you can be sure that no-one will try to take your money and run once you win an auction. The feedback section also helps to weed out anyone who may be less than honest. At the end of every auction t
here is a chance to leave comments and a positive, negative, or neutral rating on your experience with the buyer or seller you were dealing with.

Nothing illegal is allowed on Ebay either. Ebay has a department called "Safe Harbour" which keeps a watch over the site and sees that there is nothing illegal being offered for sale.

I really have found it to be 100% safe so far, and have picked up a lot of items at ridiculously low prices.

Whatever you may be looking for, it's definitely worth looking and seeing if anyone is selling it on Ebay. Be warned though - Ebaying is just as addictive as Dooyooing and you way well find yourself spending a lot of time on ebay.co.uk...

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