How to Use eBay (And Not Get Ripped Off)

Auction powerhouse eBay is the world's largest online auction Website, and it's easy to find almost anything for sale on it. You can also list almost everything for sale. It allows you to sell your item faster than you would by listing in the newspaper or community bulletin boards. However, using eBay does have some disadvantages. Thousands of people can get ripped of or scammed by eBay sellers who take advantage of a buyer who doesn't understand some key rules and guidelines.

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Instructions

Get Started

1. As soon as you've registered, you need to become aware of three invaluable tools offered by eBay. These are: user feedback, the Security Center and bidding histories.
   
   User feedback allows users to comment on all transaction they participate in. When commenting, the user assigns a positive, neutral or negative ranking to his description. By looking at the user feedback, a user's reliability can be determined easily by his rankings, with a high positive ranking meaning that the user received a large number of positive comments. This feedback can indicate if a seller sells quality merchandise, if a seller is recommended by others and if a buyer submits his payment quickly.
   
   Security Center is eBay's "comprehensive safety resource and protective arm." It's basically a service that allows eBay to monitor its users. Whenever users log into the system, eBay's servers record their Internet addresses. Although users cannot view this information, SafeHarbor personnel will respond to complaints by users and will determine whether, for instance, an eBay user is using multiple user names in order to manipulate auction prices. So it prevents you from registering 15 times with 15 different e-mail addresses. If one is allowed to do that, he could bump up an auction price to get people to pay more.
   
   A bidding history shows which auctions a user has bid on, and it also lists the other users who have bid in those same auctions. This can be helpful in determining whether users are playing by the rules.

Next: Sell Smart - Title Your Items Effectively

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Resources

• Buyer Protection from eBay
• Federal Trade Commission
• Better Business Bureau