star reviews

• eBay Express – You can buy items from multiple merchants and pay for them using a single shopping cart and transaction.
• Stubhub.com – This Ebay offshoot allows you to search for and buy tickets for upcoming music and sporting events.
• eBay Motors – You can even buy and sell cars on this online auction.

Buy Now - This option is a great eBay feature, even though it goes against the grain of a conventional auction. Sellers can set a specific price for their products and if you’re willing to pay that price, you can forgo the auction altogether and purchase the product straight out.  You can still save some money, and you’re guaranteed to get the item you want without having to worry about being beat out seconds before the auction closes.

• Easy payment through Paypal accepted by most sellers
• Hundreds of thousands of products available to bid on at any given time
• Email notification to help you keep track of your auctions
• Easy to understand rating system for buyers and sellers
• eBay Pulse-Market trends, latest news and cool new products.
• Want it Now-Don’t see what you want in several categories? Request it!

Navigating the eBay website:

Since eBay essentially invented the online auction, we cannot be too harsh on them. Luckily, they don’t really give us a reason to! If you’re looking to buy an item on eBay, it’s easy to find what you want.  On the main page, you simply enter the search term in the space provided or choose an appropriate category in the left hand margin.

Online auction results are arranged in the order of their closing times.  When you look at one of the auctions, you’ll see the seller’s feedback and number of eBay transactions, plus information about the current bid amount, shipping costs, and the item’s location.  Talk about convenience. We also appreciated how effortless it was to find useful information. eBay could make ad placements the center of their website, as they’re the largest online auction, but they still stick to the basics and make buying and selling their top priority.

Buying on eBay:

When we searched for a Wii in the “Video Games” category, we retrieved more than 14,000 results.   However, these results can be narrowed down to Buy Now products, specifics or search by seller location, etc.

If you want to bid, select the “Place a Bid” button, sign in or register, then enter your bid.  If you’re outbid, you’ll receive an email notification. If you win, you’ll be sent an email and instructions for paying the seller and when you can expect to receive your item.

Selling on eBay:

Once you’ve decided which items you can afford to let go, make sure you have an account with eBay. The entire process shouldn’t take you but minutes. You can then choose your listing category, choose a listing option, create a description, insert a photo, set your price and payment information and choose shipment details. You’ll be all set to list your items before you realize it.

Selection:

eBay is unmatched when it comes to the sheer number of products and categories you can find available on their site. Anything under the sun, literally, can be bought and sold through this mega online auction. Antiques, collectibles, DVDs, toys, real estate, books, and more are only a few of the categories available through eBay. They are unparalleled when it comes to their selection, something Star Reviews whole heartedly recognizes.

Buyer Protection:

With all online transactions, you are taking a small risk. eBay does take some steps to help protect buyers in case a problem does arise.  For example, if you pay through PayPal, you can be protected for up to $200 or $2,000 depending on the item. eBay will provide a facilitator to work with the buyer and seller if a dispute arises. The eBay feedback system also helps buyers protect themselves by choosing to bid on auctions hosted by sellers who have proven themselves worthy, a form of self policing.

Unfortunately, eBay is a target for many unscrupulous sellers despite these protections.  For example, some sellers profit by taking advantage of hot commodities like the Wii and Apple iPhone by auctioning off email addresses containing product names and descriptions suggesting the buyer is purchasing the actual item.  Buyers must watch for these types of scams.

Pricing:

Buyers can register at ebay for free.  There are no fees for bidding or for winning an auction.  Sellers, on the other hand, can set up an account for free but are charged two separate fees for each item they sell.  The first fee is the insertion fee which is charged for each listing.  The next is charged at the close of the auction. 

• Insertion fee:  ranges from $0.20 to $4.80 depending on starting price for the item.
• Final Value fee:  at least 5.25% but depends on the final price of the product at the end of the auction

Customer Support:

eBay has three main customer support options.  The preferred method is to use the extensive library of FAQs available in the “Help” section.  Whether you’re a buyer or a seller, you’ll be able to find most of the answers you need here.  If not, you can use the Live Chat option.  When we used this service, we did receive an answer to our question but we had to wait on a representative for eight minutes. 

Additionally, we used the eBay Contact Us form to submit a question.  We received an automatic response promising an answer within 24 to 72 hours, but our answer came through in less than 24 hours.  However, the answer was sent to our eBay inbox and not to our personal email address, which we couldn’t really complain about. At least we got a speedy and informative response!

Upside:

Easy to use.  Huge selection.  Good customer service.

Downside:

Not as much buyer protection from certain types of scams.

Summary:

We were very impressed by eBay and had no reason to believe we wouldn’t be. They pioneered the online auction and it shows. They, by far, offer the most categories and products up for bid on the Internet. Their competition doesn’t even come close to their extensive listings. We loved how simple eBay keeps their website, making it simple to navigate and a breeze to pull up search results. There are also fun features like the eBay Pulse and Want it Now. While there isn’t a true Buyer Protection Program, anyone who has used this online auction before knows how reliable their feedback rating system is, with buyer and seller reviews posted for all to see. Final Value Fees are a bit high for sellers, but you have a much greater chance of actually selling those items through this site than anywhere else. With great customer support and in-depth FAQs and Help guidelines, we hands down recommend this auction to anyone.