Explain e-Bay to me, cos I don't get it

remove pants. wave dick.

How do you get anyone to look at anything on the web? either someone searches for what you're selling or you go out and advertise to people you think might want to buy it.

- How do you know people are going to send the items you want and not run off with your money? Yes I know there's ratings but still, what if they've only been rated by one or two people?

you don't know.

- What the fuck is "Buy It Now" and all that shit?

buy it now circumvents the auction and lets you buy straight out at a set price before any bids are made.

- Why are there so many duplicate items up there?

people have many of the same things to sell?

- Why don't the businesses just sell stuff through their own sites instead of e-Bay? Why is some stuff so cheap?

A - ebay already has a huge audience so is therefore easier and cheaper for some merchants to use. B. dunno.

- I look for some nice clothes and all I get are 6-packs of boxer shorts.

boxers aren't nice?

- Why is everyone finding this so bloody simple except for me?

are you OLD?! ;) j/k

konal, yeh that bit is hard too. Also, reading the fucking descriptions is hard work. What if you want to browse through hundreds of similar items but looking for a particular thing?

And no, it's not that easy - how do you know if you've won at e-Bay? I mean, won the thing you want to buy?

Also, say I wanted to sell a whole load of CDs would I have to start a seperate auction for each one?

Also, considering that 99.9% of people I know are lazy, ill-educated fuckers who couldn't write a shopping list, its amazing that they actually can write a decent bit of gloss for their piece-of-shit wooden spoon or whatever it is they're selling.

How do I buy cigs online? I need!

you make sure you're able to view the item page as close to auction deadline as possible if it's proving a popular item. if you do win you are notified by e-mail.

Also, say I wanted to sell a whole load of CDs would I have to start a seperate auction for each one?

i've sold a load in 'job lot' batch style before for peanuts. it depends if you think you can get a lot for them individually or not.

Because: Those that can, do. Those that can't, dont.

Other than brief-pants that is.

Personally I need a six pack of boxers more than any other wardrobe item, but YMMV.

Okay, I'm thinking of buying something which is a Miyakazi DVD of Porco Rosso. It's through a company though. I'd rather bid for something but it seems no one in England is selling secondhand Miyakazi DVDs.

I thought e-Bay was supposed to have loads of stuff on?

Amazon seem to want 86p for each item sold, plus 17.5%, which I'm assuming is VAT, on top... so if you're selling a CD single for their recommended price of 99p, you're losing 5p. Has anyone sold CD singles on Amazon? Am I missing something vital??

(i've got some hong kong miyazaki dvds i want to sell. email below works!)

Now, I could sell those same items and make a big profit.

Not as much as if I'd bought shares back then, but there you go.

But it didn't ask me for pay details. what happens if i win?!! do i get it for free?

xpost - thanks zappi. i only have english region player though :-(

Each item has the payment terms listed for it. Go back to the trainers page and have a look. Most sellers accept PayPal (you don't need an account, you can just pay via your normal credit/debit card) but some will only take cheques (and thus wait till your cheque has arrived and cleared before sending out the goods).

(ebay.co.uk rather than ebay.com, yes?)

(btw, i saw it listed on sky movies sometime this week so...)

peep show series 3 dvds could be bootlegs taped off the tv.

ebay has improved a lot since i began using it in 1997. has it really been around since 1995?

Now see this is the root of your original question. It isn't that you don't know how to use it but rather with your extensive knowledge of the technology you want to know how such a poor site has become so successful.

95 also sounds odd to me as I remember interwebbing via Mosiac back then and doubt eBay could have existed.

"This item is in the public domain and therefore perfectly acceptable to offer on ebay."

um, 'public domain', um. shown on tv != public domain.

how do i search for decent-looking clothes without getting a bunch of shitty faded Ralph Loren things that look like they came off the set of Blossom?

look at the brain on alba! ;)

http://cgi.ebay.com/Massive-Lot-Vintage-Childrens-Records-45s-1950s_W0QQitemZ150004965157QQihZ005QQcategoryZ306QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Most of the prices I paid for rare cds on amazon around 1997 and 1998 would be unthinkable now.

I find the UK postal system much more of a problem than the e-Bay site itself.

Seriously, act like it's a Google search instead of a personal shopping assistant and you'll do fine. Search for specific terms, sizes, name brands, and so on. Just realize that there are tons of things offered but they're not all going to be on ebay at the same time, so keep checking back.

Kids grow, clothes still OK, see what happens.

(These be coats, overclothes, obv)

okay, i've signed up for online banking. paypal have not left me a number.

i just feel incredibly thick at the fact i've spent the last two days simply trying to understand and bid for something on e-bay and yet everyone's finding it so easy. i'm angry with the site but i'm more angry with myself for not being able to get my head around something my boss and my girlfriend's parents are able to use really easily. i just don't know what i'm missing here...

e-bay is wonderful for smallish value items, but be very, very careful about buying more expensive stuff like guitars. There are many dodgy operators in these areas.

Most people just win an item on eBay then say "no I don't already have a PayPal account" and then just pay by just entering their normal bank card details. It goes through PayPal in a way, but not in the fully-fledged way of you having a verified PayPal account of your own. Something like that anyway - I may have got the details a bit wrong.

it's not giving me the option to say i haven't got a paypal account, alba.

how have i managed to mess this up so badly?

Fuck ALL!!
Fuck ALL!!
Fuck ALL!!
Fuck ALL!!
Muppet Babies, they'll make your dreams come truuuuuuueeee
-- dog latin (doglati...) (webmail), September 6th, 2005 11:37 AM. (dog latin)

Yes, but for me, if I would be prepared to pay, say £20, I'd be really pissed-off to lose by 50p or so. If it's hovering at £20 with 5 minutes to go, then I can decide how important that £20 limit really is. If I can stand to go higher I would then bid, say £23, as late as possible. You need to be disciplined to avoid going too far over, but I reckon the bid-early approach leads to losing more often than not.

So I did.

And guess what?

It worked!!!!!!!!!!

Hooray!!!!!!!

Hip-hip!!

selling ting will be another story!

My bf paid the down payment on our house with his paypal account. He used to sell a lot of stuff online (not with eBay) and had a visa-like card that went directly to his paypal.

Well anyway, good for you DL and welcome to 20th century e-business.

hey, i bid for another thing and won. this time it did ask me if i wanted to pay by card, then it took me to a page that said i must contact the seller about paying by card. then i tried to pay by paypal but it wasn't having it. then it told me i'd already paid - BY PAYPAL! One minute it's not doing anything at all, next it's doing it without me asking.

How can I check I've definitely paid for this?

I guess we've made 250-300 transactions, buying and selling, since 1999 - no bad experiences. Scariest thing we've done is bid on a Mutsy baby buggy (that can take a duo seat - in prep for sprog #2) in Germany, using Babelfish to translate the back and forth communications. It arrived intact - the guy only charged us something like 30 euro for shipping, which must've left him out of pocket. You've got to love the Germans.

(xpost - Briers and Kendal can play us)

ep two: vicky's dad pops round to visit, disguised as a vicar (played by derek nimmo). dog latin ends up hiding in a wardrobe wearing a pair of red and white spotted boxer shorts. etc.

I can just imagine - "FUCKING 'ORRIBLE CATS - NO RESERVE"

Incidentally, I think you should PAINT that one above the door to make it look PSYCHEDELIC. You have probably thought of this already. In fact, I'm probably the 36th person to suggest it.

Um Mandee do you know wether that was legit? There was a password scam going round some time back that'd say "eBay has suspended your account pls verify your details" and you'd be fooled and reply with your SSN, mums maiden name, DOB, some password etc etc then some scammer makes off with all your money.

I hope you didnt tell them anything important! :|

nice black shirt

Oh god, yeah, this one.

It's nice to know you're both having fun.

Dog LatinMatt DC, at times like these remember the quiet reassuring words of Eleanor Roosevelt:
"This too, shall pass"

-- Wrinklecause for Applause! (Wrinklepaws), Tuesday, 30 January 2007 16:03 (5 months ago) Bookmark Link

"One day, it will please us to remember even this"