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If you're in the market for merchandise of any kind, do you think auctions are only for getting rid of accumulated "stuff" from your coat closets? If so, have I got great news for you!!

Were you aware that auctions like eBay also let you:

  • Uncover wonderful surprise gifts for your friends and loved ones (I've bought everything from a Ballroom Dancing mousepad for one friend to the 10/28/04 Boston edition of the Red Sox winning the World Series for a baseball fanatic to an early 1800s cookbook for my child's teacher (his hobby is cooking) to the inaugural menu of Lyndon B Johnson for a Democratic neighbor to a 4 1/2 foot high Garfield plush toy for my kids to ... you get the idea.

  • Obtain brand name brand new merchandise for a hefty discount (just look at the new cameras, PDAs, clothing and more that are available...)

  • Discover coupons or gift cards for big name brand stores (we're talking Staples, Sharper Image, Dell, and Home Depot, to name a few.

  • Find great career, business and evening apparel and tools (again often new with tags or still in the box)

  • Buy or sell a new car online (you'll even see new cars offered as well!).

Sound promising? Yes? Okay, let's start off with:

Before You Begin - Some Basic Premises

One of the great things about eBay and other reputable online auction places is their buyer protection, buying tutorials and more. You can try to snag something at a lower price by placing a bid or sniping the auction. You even have the option of buying right away if offered by the Buy It Now ability.

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The majority of eBay item listings are in an auction-style format ... and the item goes to the highest bidder. It can be a real rush to watch the seconds count down!

There are other buying formats on eBay as well. If you see a quantity of two or more on an eBay auction, you're looking at a dutch or multiple item auction - here, you can specify the number of items in which you are interested plus the price you're willing to pay. Different than a regular eBay auction, dutch auctions will most likely have many winners. Additional info can be found here.

Now, while the vast number of online auction sellers are honest, you might, alas, run into the few shower-mold-candidates that try to make life crummy for the rest of honest dealers. There are several ways of preventing being taken by fraud and include:

  • Checking the seller's feedback - both buyers and sellers on eBay can leave feedback about their experiences. If you see a seller has virtually all positive feedbacks, that's a very good sign indeed.

  • Asking the seller a question - if you want details on the items offered, simply send the seller an email asking for clarification. No response is a bad sign.

You can learn more about trusting the seller here.

But before you can buy from eBay, you must first register for free! And here's how.

Step 1 - Free Registration

Think of your eBay ID like a AOL Messenger ID or a Hotmail nickname or an MSN handle or a ... It's simply a naming thingee by which you identify yourself on eBay.

You must have ready three bits of information when you register for free on eBay. These include:

  • Your information - Name, address, phone

  • Your email address - This is so you can receive notifications of when you sell an item or are the successful bidder of one.

  • Your eBay ID - This is your own personal nickname that you yourself choose. Be creative -

    • If you're a sports enthusiast, you could choose something like boblovesbasketball or supremerunner007.
    • If you live in the north east, you could use jessfrompa or elinorofga.
    • Do you love crafts instead? Consider something like craftermaster or knitting4ever.

    And so on, and so on.

In addition, eBay writes on their site that IDs:

  • Must be at least (2) characters long.
  • May contain letters (a-z), numbers (0-9) and/or many symbols.
  • Can't contain spaces.
  • Can't be obscene, profane or hateful.
  • Are case sensitive.

And IDs can't contain:

  • URLs (for example xyz.com).
  • The "&" (ampersand) symbol.
  • The letter "e" followed by numbers.
  • The "@" symbol.
  • The word, "eBay." Only eBay employees may use "eBay" in their User IDs. This is to prevent non-employees from posing as employees.

Ready to get your free eBay ID? Okay, click HERE to do so, or get more information directly from the source.

Got registered okay? Wonderful! Let's now move to:

Step 2 - Buying Tips

Imagine the following - the most perfectly magnificent utterly desirable item was available to you on eBay. But! The auction ends at a time in which you are communing with sleep! How can you be assured you'll win the item with your highest bid?

Enter sniping. Auction sniping is the action by which a software service will put in your bid during the last few seconds of the auction!

You don't even have to be online at the time! It takes care of the process seamlessly and easily (and it won me my ballroom dancing mousepad as well!).

Some of the more popular auction snipers include:

Lots of auction sniping services will allow you to try them for free - do take advantage of them.

eBay is a very popular way to both get great deals online and also run a business. Thus, it's time for:

Step 3 - For More Information

As always, it's the educated consumer who is the best (and in this case, safest!) customer. Enjoy the following useful resources.

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