Purpose of this guide: 

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Where there is light, there is shadow, and in darkness, light. You've probably heard a number of phrases like those above. Whether it's Yin and Yang, good or  evil, everything seems to have it's opposite and EBAY is no exception. For every person on EBAY who is trying to conduct an honest business, there are those, the polar opposites, who are using EBAY to scam people. This guide will, I hope, help new buyers understand how EBAY works, why certain things happen, and how to avoid some of the pitfalls. Please note that I am not an EBAY expert. My comments are mine personally and are based on my limited experience in EBAY. The comments regarding EBAY's funtions, options and actions, might not be entirely accurate, but should be close enough to prevent any catastrophic event.

Why Is My Duck Barking or I can't sleep so I'm gonna read this and see if it helps.

If you are new to EBAY your first step, after logging in, will be to perform a search. You will probably type in something like shoes and hit the search button. When you see twelve million hits and 200 pages of listings, you will suddenly begin to realize the scope of this site. You try your search again, but this time you specify blue shoes. Ah! Now it's down to only a million. Maybe you like a particular manufacturer, so your next search specifies blue shoes halston. Down to 256 entries. Add size 6. Now you're down to 172 entries. As you can see, the description you provide is important, especially when you are looking for something in particular. You also have the option of limiting your search to a category, but I find that this sometimes eliminates items that have been listed improperly. Besides, you can always narrow your search down to a category or expand it up from one. So choose the search that works best for you. Now, looking at the 172 entries that your search has provided, you will notice something amazing. The prices, on what appears to be 172 identical items, varies from five cents to two hundred dollars and the shipping costs vary just as much. Some of the items will have no minimuim bid, some will have fixed prices and others will have reserves.  Why all the differences and what does it all mean?

Let's start with some basic terms.

Listing: A listing is basically the ad for the item you are looking at and includes sales, payment, and shipping info.

Bid----: A bid is a commitment to pay for the item. It is considered a legally binding offer.

No Minimum Auction: Literally no beginning price, or a beginning price of one cent.

Minimum Price Auction: The item has a minimum starting bid specified by the seller. Bidding begins at this price.

Buy it now: If  you pay the suggested price, the auction ends and you have won the item.

Live Auction: These take place at an auctioneers where bids are accepted in person and via real time on line bidding.

So, by now you're asking yourself, what has a barking duck got to do with EBAY? Let's say that you bid on a listing and won. A few days later a box arrives. You eagerly open it, expecting to see a pair of blue Halston shoes, only to find instead, a pair of ruby red slippers, which you later find out were taken off the feet of a dead witch. IE..you were sent, what the ad claimed, was a duck and for some reason, your duck is barking. Doesn't sound like you got what you ordered. So what do you do now, or more importantly, how do you prevent it from happening?

The Bidding Process or Duck Soup

Like Duck Soup, for which there are a number of recipes, listings will vary greatly. Some will down load in seconds and have only one line that says something like...Shoes for sale. Buy them now. Other ads will be so extravagant that you'll have time for a snack before it's done downloading and you may need another before you're done reading the hype and wading through the various pictures, ads and promotions that have nothing to do with the item you're bidding on. Either way, be cautious.

When a seller lists an item, they must select an auction type and a duration. Most people choose the seven day auction. The date and time that the auction ends is clearly stated at the top of the listing. Before bidding on any item, examine the listing carefully. A good listing will answer all of your questions and will leave you with no doubts about what you are bidding on, what payment forms are accepted, what type of shipping is available and what the sellers return policy is. Ads that are clipped, or overly short, may be misleading you with a lack of information. Similarly, ads that expansive may be attempting to overload you with information in hopes that you will skim, or skip through it, missing the key word in the process. The key word usually being something like, copy, reproduction, damaged, knockoff, etc... If the listing is expansive, and you don't want to read it all, then my advice would be not to bid on the item.

The bidding process is  when you should take the time to verify that the item is what you think it is. IE..is it a pair of Halston shoes, or just a cheap copy of them. The word copy may be inserted somewhere in the rhetoric in small print. When in doubt, click on the contact the seller link. This will enable you to e-mail the seller and ask questions about the items. Be cautious of any seller who does not respond, or reponds with a statment that any question you might have is answered by the ad. If they don't want to talk to you, don't buy from them. Also avoid people who answer your questions in a vague manner when the answer should be a clear yes or no. For example, you might aks if the shoes are genuine Halson's. The resonse might be something like, it is a Halston design. This is a clever way of avoiding  your question. The only two correct answers would have been, yes they geniune Halstons or, no they are only copies. Excessively short ads give  you little or no information. Again, usually a ploy. If you buy the item and find out that it isn't what you wanted, the seller will most likely claim that you should have asked more questions. While true, this is let's you know what type of person the seller is. They knew what they were selling and chose to deliberately mislead you with minimal information. Even if that wasn't their intention, they are obviously weren't concerned about accuracy, or the possibility that their ad might be misundertood. My advice, don't do business with people like this. It also helps if you you've done some research on the item that you're thinking of bidding on. If the shoes are worth one hundred, why would you bid on any listing that offers them for two hundred? Similarly, if the item is going for two dollars, you have to ask yourself, then the seller, why? A 98 per cent discount would be nice, but would also be unusual. You all know the old adage, if it's too good to be true, it probably is.

The other thing you can do to protect yourself is to look at the sellers feedback rating. Next to the sellers name is a number followed by a variety of symbols. The number is the number of transactions that this person has processed as both a seller and a buyer. There will also be a ranking that will indicate what percentage of those transactiosn were positive, ie...trouble free. The best rating would be 100 per cent positive with at least 50 or more transactions. If you see less than ten transactions, be cautious. New users are coming on all the time, some of them are the less reputable ones who will scam you, then create a new account to scam someone else. Even if someone has sold 10,000 items and has a 98.9 rating, it doesn't mean that they are honest and trustworthy. There are a number of ways to falsely raise ones ratings. If tthe feedback is anything less than a hundred, look at the feed back by clicking on the transaction number. This will bring up a screen that will allow you to scroll through the feedback. First look to see how many  negative comments were received in the last month, the last six months ect..Some new EBAYERS get off to a rocky start, but clean up their act as the go along. Thus their rating is marred, but will be clear over the last six months. Another thing to look for is mutual withdrawals. A mutual withdrawal usually occurs when a customer is not satisfied with what they received. The seller, not wanting negative feedback, offers some sort of settlement to the buyer. If all parties agree, the auction is mutually withdrawn and therefore no feedback can be left. Any seller with a large number of mutual withdrawals has upset a lot of customers. This doesn't necessarily mean that you shouldn't do business with them, but it should certainly have you wondering if it's a good idea.Try to figure out why the customers weren't happy an contact them if you can. Do your best to make sure that you aren't about to make the same mistake they did. If, after checking everything out, you still feel good about the listing, bid away.

Common bidding practices vary. Some bid a little up front to test the waters. Others wait until the last minute and hope to win the bid by lulling previous bidders into a false sense of security. There is no right or wrong way. If you can't be on line for the auctions end, then bid your maximum amount and hope for the best. If no one outbids you, you win. If  you were outbid, then it went over your maximum, so you would have lost anyway. Some think that bidding at the last second keeps the price lower. This is only true if no one bids on the item. If ten people wait until the end of the auction to bid, it will still be the one who entered the highest bid that wins, regardless of the price. There is also a chance that something may happen, which will prevent you from bidding. I was waiting for an auction to end and bid during the last thirty seconds of the auction. Instead of getting my bid confirmation, the sytem gave me an error. For some reason it wouldn't accept my bid. I had to jump out of the listing and re-enter the listing to bid again and by then, it was too late.

I've won...now what?(no ducks)

What happens when you win an auction varies as well. Big surrpise, huh? One constant is that EBAY will send you an e-mail notifying you that you have won and ask you if you would like to pay now. In that e-mail they provide  you a payment link. If your listing had no special requirements, then click on the link and it will step you through the payment process which will include logging in to EBAY and, most likely, Pay Pal. Once payment is made via PayPal, PayPal sends you a confirmation receipt on the amount and the destination of the payment. The item should ship shortly thereafter. Please note that while PayPal takes a small fee per transaction, it keeps your credit card information private. You are not giving it to the seller, who might then steal your identity. Just a way to keep everybody honest..sort of.

However, if your listing mentioned something about contacting the seller before payment, then contact the seller. This may because the seller isn't completely familiar with EBAY'S automated system, or maybe the system confuses them or, perhaps they just want to include a special surprise and want to know what your favorite color is. Things to keep in mind though. Shipping and insurance should have been clearly stated in the listing. As a rule, sellers should not be charging any extra money that wasn't mentioned in the listing. If the listing said insurance was optional and a quote would be provided at the end of auction, the fine. Just do some researcha and make sure you're not being charged ten dollars for 5,000 dollars worth of insurance, when the actual cost to cover your 100 dollar shoes was seventy-five cents. Some sellers will try and guilt you into paying more. Don't pay it. Whatever the winning bid was, is what you owe, plus shipping and insurance, nothing more. Contact EBAY if you feel that any seller is charging you fees that they shouldn't. Another type of scam/dangerous maneuver occurs when no one wins the auction, usually because the reserve was not met. In this scam, the seller contacts the user through EBAY, but then offers to sell them the item personally. This is dangerous for several reasons. One, it is against EBAY policy for this to occur and they could cancel your account. Two, it circumvents any security that you might have had through EBAY and possibly PayPal as well. And don't forget, if you settle outside of EBAY, EBAY doesn't get paid, which kind of bugs them, since they went to all of the trouble of allowing you to use their system to find the item.

Once you've successfully paid for an item, whether through PayPal, or by check or money order, the next step is shipping. Responsible sellers will ship within 2-3 days of payment confirmation, IE...the minute they find out that your money is good, or will ship as their listing indicated. Some sellers aren't close to the post office and may only ship once a week. If that is the case, the listing should state this clearly. In a perfect world, the seller would notify you, preferably on the same day, that the item has shipped and would also provide you with the tracking number if applicable.  Some EBAYERS use an automated system which is nice. I am notified the minute the item enters the system and am not left to wonder if the item has even shipped. You'd be surprised at the number of people who won't even send you a courtesy e-mail indicating when the item will ship, much less if it has.  When in doubt, go back to your listing, double check it to make sure you aren't missing something, and if you still have questions, click on contact the seller and ask them. Most of the time they will get back to you, even if to say nothing more than the item shipped on the day they received the payment. Not very informative, but you'll get a chance to rate them later, so don't sweat it. Your seller should be able to give you an ETA date, based on the shipping method you chose. Since the seller is the only who knows when the shipment actually went out, their ETA is the best. If a tracking number was provided, you can go to the internet and watch your items progress as it travels from place to place in route to you.

It's here...now what do I do?

That should be obvious. Open it!However, first check out the package and make sure it is not damaged. If it is, take a picture of it with your cell phone or camera. Get a witness, or ask the carrier to document the damage. Then open the box. If the item is damaged, what happens next is determined by what your listing stated. If the seller accepts no liability for lost or damaged items, then hopefully you insured the item. PayPal also offers insurance under certain conditions and can provide you more information on that process. I have never had to use it, so I have no specifics. One scam I have heard of is as follows. Seller sends you an item he knows is damaged. Upon receipt of the item, you contact the seller who apologizes profuselly and offers to refund your item, or exchange the product, but first you must return the damaged product to him. Seems reasonable until you realize that the seller isn't going to refund your money, isn't going to exchange the item and will not return you e-mails. And further more, you sent him the item back so he can pull the same stunt on somebody else. If you receive a damaged item, document it, take pictures and get witnesses. You will need that info when you attempt to process any insurance claim. Make sure that all of  your communications are performed through EBAY. Those conversations may help to validate your claim.

Okay, so what if the item isn't damaged, but still isnt' what I thought I ordered. Go back to the listing. Check it carefully to see if you missed something. You may find that you over looked a single word. If, after carefully checking the listing several times, you feel that the item in your hands is not what you ordered, contact the seller through EBAY. Politely explain your concern. Reputable sellers will do their best to accomadate you in some way. It boils down to this. If your seller is reputable, they will try to accomadate  you in some way. If, however, they are the type of seller who doesn't give a hoot, and really doesn't care whether they do business with you again or not, they will tell you that you should have asked more questions, if they answer you mail at all. In the end, any bid is risky, but if you do your research, you reduce the likely hood of things going badly. You can always send e-mails to EBAY and PayPal asking for guidance, or help. I believe EBAY even offers mediation. I have never had to make a claim, or go through mediation, so I can't tell you much about those services.

The final thing you have to help you is feedback. Remember how you checked the sellers feedback by clicking on their feedback number? Well, with each item you purchase, you are allowed to provide one feedback on how that purchase went. If it went well, state the good things about the seller that you experienced. Such as, good communicatons, fast shipping, item as expected A+++. If the item is what I was expecting, but not necessarily as advertised...IE...a little more worn than advertised..then I tend to leave out the A+'s and sometimes leave the comment field completely blank. The other option, if you are less than one hundred per cent satisfied is to leave neutral feedback. This means you were not unhappy, but that you weren't happy either. Your comments should be neutral as well. Example...item wasn't what I expected, or, excessively slow shipping-five weeks. If you feel the that the whole transaction was poorly handled, the ad was deliberately misleading, the seller said tough turkey and isn't answering your e-mails despite the fact that his listing says they take refunds, then you can choose to leave negative feedback. Negative feedback serves two purposes, it lets you vent, which is probably not an intended benefit, and it lets you rate the seller for the community to see. Keep in mind, however, that the seller gets to rate you as well. Negative feedbacks are there for the EBAY community to look at and provide a monitoring service. Anyone who is upsetting a lot of people, will rack up a large number of negative feedbacks, which then show up next to his name on any of his listings. Depending on the number of total transactions that the seller has, this could cause his rating to plummet. Anyone with any significant amount of negative feedbacks ,will most likely find that their customer base is drying up. Before leaving negative feedback, make sure you have exhausted all possibly avenues. Feedback is forever and it takes a near act of god to have it removed/fixed. Make sure you are calm when you enter it and make sure to choose words that explain the issue. Leave out anger, spite and hate. Even if the seller replies with some irrational comment about what a pathetic loser you are, you will come off as being intelligent and thoughtful and they will look petty. A simple statement of, the ad was deliberately misleading, will look good next to a reply of, Buyer doesn't now how to read. You stated a fact, the seller stated an opinion.

Another featue of feedback is a separate rating system that asks you to rate the seller based on four categories, using the five star process. One star is horrible and five stars is stupendous. The questions involve accuracy in describing the item, communications, reasonable cost of shipping, and reasonable speed of shipping. The seller does not see your individual input on these questions, but the questions are then melded into an over all star rating which appears in the sellers listings. Just another way for the community to rate the people it is doing business with.

MISC...

A note regarding shipping costs. As both a buyer and a seller ,I have seen a number of complaints that sellers are making a killing on shipping. The claim is that the seller is charging excessive amounts on shipping. What is tragically funny about this, is that the person complaining has usually just won a fourteen dollar item for one cent. It doesn't take a math genius to figure out that the seller isn't making a profit on that sale from the winning bid. Obviously the seller must make a profit in order to stay in business. I concur that maybe it shouldn't be done through shipping costs, but unless EBAY enacts a minimum bid amount on certain items, this isn't going to change and I guarantee you that their are a lot of people who don't want to see it change.

Shipping costs should include the actual cost of shipping, the cost of shipping supplies and monetary reimbursement for the time it took the seller to package and deliver the item to a shipping facility. Obviously we all value our time differently. Two people might sell the same item, box it the same, ship it the same and then charge different rates for their time. One migh live a block from the post office and the other thirty miles. Shipping prices will vary. USPS charges a flat fee of 4.60 for smaller boxed and flat items. A baseball card, or a baseball, shipped in two separate boxes, would each have the same shipping price. The card could be put in an envelope and shipped first class for .80 cents, but an envelope lacks the protection that a box offers. There is a certain amount of risk when using an envelope. Some sellers offer combinded shipping, which is thoughtful on their part and appreciated on the buyers part. Buyers save money on shipping an sellers only have to ship one box. Less materials used, less time spent packaging. Of course, having spent all this time defending sellers, I must also admit that their are some who are blatantly an flagrantly over charging. You'll be able to spot them though. They'll be the ones who won't mention shipping in their ads except to say that a shipping quote will be provided at the end of the auction. It may even be listed in the auction, again research is your friend. Know what you should pay, ask questions accordingly.

EBAY is enormous and there are plenty of places to go for advice. EBAY offers live advice, chat rooms, blogs, and faq's. There is so much info out there that it is daunting. Guides, such as this one, number in the thousands. Luckily for you, you read mine first. Safe shopping is simple and I will now simplify everything to several simple concepts.

1) When searching for an item, be specific and use advance search to narrow the results

2) Be informed about any item you are thinking of bidding on. Know what it cost and what it looks like.

3) Ask questions when in doubt Be polite at all times. If you don't like the answers, don't bid.

4) Make sure you understand all aspects of the listing including payment, shipping and return policies.

5) Always provide feedback. It helps others to identify exceptional or heinous sellers.

Final Note

If you are still reading this, I must conclude that you have insomnia. I can only suggest that  you watch something suitably boring, such as Napoleon Dynamite, which despite my kids assurances that it's a funny movie, put me fast asleep. I hope that this guide is/was helpful. Take care and good hunting.