Auctions Essay, Research Paper

eBay Auctions

It has been 4 months since I?ve come to this country and I already have spent hundreds of dollars for shopping online in some auctions in the Internet. There are a lot of auctions web sites in internet, such as Ubid, Webauctions, Yahoo!Auctions; and also Excite Auctions, Upstock, e-witch, and eBay, and hundreds of other auctions web sites. But I think the best auctions web site is eBay. It is the world?s first, biggest and best person-to-person online trading community. If we want to find and buy things that are cheaper than the retail price, eBay is the one. People from all over the world have found that eBay?s a great place to live and work.

At eBay, some people have things to sell; other is looking for things to buy. We can find almost anything at eBay, from china vas to antique chair, modems to computers, furniture to jewelries. eBay becomes a part of users? life. Many users have created second businesses, or quit day jobs all together, by selling items on eBay. The eBay service permits seller to list items for sale, buyers to bid on items of interest and all eBay users to browse through listed items in a fully automated, topically-arranged, intuitive and easy to use online service that available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But, before we decided to join the auctions world, we should learn the system and the rules, such as how to make a bid, how to sell stuff, the fees, and also the most important thing is etiquette

The first lesson is, how to make a bid. To start bidding, we?ll first need to register at no charge as an eBay member. Once we register, find an item we?d like to buy on by browsing through eBay?s listings, or we can try a search for specific items. Then after we find something we want, we place our bid, our user ID and our password. If we?re the highest bidder, we must email the seller within three business days to claim our item. It is so easy, isn?t it?

The second lesson is how to sell stuff. If you or I want to register as a bidder, we can register for free. But if we want to sell something, we?ll be charged, and we should set up our selling account and place our credit card on file with eBay and we?re ready to sell. After that, we should gather the info we?ll need before we prepare our listing such as item description, website address and photos, and also the category we?ll list under. After we confirm the data of the stuff that we want to sell, the one thing we can do is waiting until our auction closes, contact our winner bidder or bidders within three business days. We?ll want to confirm the final cost, including and shipping charges, and tell them where to send payment. After the money from the bidder has come, we send the stuff, and then that?s it, our item is sold.

Sometimes some people have opinion that buying and selling items online are not safe. They are scared and worried about those hackers and other people will do something bad to them, like steal their credit card number, or hack their secret data. But, if we buy and sell in eBay, we will be protected with built-in safeguards every time we sell or buy. There?s an etiquette to join this bargain world and we should obey it, or we account will be terminated. In eBay or in other auctions web sites, there is a place named ?Feedback Forum?. It is a place where eBay users leave comments about each other?s buying and selling experiences. Other buyers and sellers can attach their positive, negative, or neutral comments to our account. If we?re a bidder, check our seller?s Feedback Profile before we place a bid to learn about the other person?s reputation with previous buyers. If we?re a seller, do the same with our bidder. In general, if we are satisfied with a user?s Feedback Profile, it?s probably safe to do business with that person. The consequence is if our feedback rating falls to minus four, our account is terminated.

This is why I like living in America. We can buy and sell not only in real world, but also in cyber way. In my country, if I want to open a business, we should open a shop, or do some advertising to make stuff that can be sold. And that?s not the way a student can do on this tough world. If I want to find something quick, cheap and also fast, I don?t know where to go. In America, I only have to open Internet browser, type the keywords, and there it is, the stuff I have been looking for in just a minutes or minutes. It is so easy and fun!

eBay.com