Ebay is a website that most people will have heard of by now and it enables the average person to buy and sell online from the comfort of their own homes. You can trade with people from all around the world buying almost anything you can think of and usually at prices that high street stores and even other websites can never hope to match. Most sales are by auction which means you bid on whatever catches your eye and if you are still the highest bidder when the auction closes then you are a winner! Buying is fun but selling is even more fun!! Heres how to get started:
- Visit the ebay site at www.ebay.ie (or the local ebay site relevant to your location)
- At the top left to the right of the ebay logo click where it says ‘register’
- Fill in the registration details carefully, the most important detail is the postal address and email address, these will be used to post stuff you’ve bought to you and to notify you of important ebay information.
- In the ‘Create your ebay user ID section make sure to pick a relevant ID. This is especially important if you plan to become an ebay seller so you should pick a name that describes what you want to sell, ie – if you are selling hand-knitted jumpers you would pick a name like hand_knitted_jumpers !! (geddit!?) This will mean you will have a better chance of being found both on ebay and through search engines in general.
- Tick yes to ebay’s ‘user agreement’ at the bottom and click ‘Register’
- If you’ve filled out all fields correctly you will be greeted with a ‘success’ screen and be sent an email to the address you provided with a verification link. This link must be clicked on in the email to verify that its a real address and you are a genuine person and once you do this your new account with ebay is active.
- You might now be anxious to go browsing for stuff to buy but before you do it would be wise to signup with Paypal also. Paypal are an ebay owned company that handle payments on ebay and its how most people pay and get paid on ebay although some sellers will accept cheques and money orders. From a speed and security point of view Paypal is the wisest choice.
- Visit http://www.paypal.com to signup for a FREE account. (you will have to add a valid Credit Card to your new Paypal account before you buy anything through ebay but this is easy and safe to do.)
- Paypal also requires that you click a verification link it sends you by email and once you do this you will have access to your new Paypal account.
- Login to your new Paypal account and click on ‘Profile’ top right.
- Click ‘Auctions’ under ‘Selling Preferences’ and add your newly created Ebay user ID and password to associate your Paypal account with your ebay account.
- Return to your ebay account and look for something to buy!!
- You can use your Paypal account and the credit card you added to it to pay for anything you win or purchase on ebay, simply choose Paypal as the payment option on checkout and you will be redirected to your Paypal account where you can login and make the payment.
Dont go mad!!
Leon.
Reverb Studios Design 