Auctions
 

On-line auctions sites are all over the place now. More and more keep popping up all the time, some good, some not so good. I tend to stick to the main big named one, eBay. It has been around for a long time and really have the auction site sorted, they know how to run it and run it well. 

Basically auction sites are a way for people to sell something that they no longer want and rather than putting an ad asking for a certain amount they auction it and let interested people decided how much it's worth. 

Most of these sites work pretty much the same, you register and then you can sell. A lot need credit card details these days for security purposes to try and clamp down on fraud and also because there can be fees involved (more on that a bit later). You shouldn't be worried about this as they all have secure servers and I have never heard of anyone being charged anything they shouldn't. 

Right, the fees. Well a lot of sites tend to charge you for selling your items, but usually not that much. Some have a fee for putting up the item, some only if it sells, and others have a combination of both. To be honest the fees aren't that much and as long as you are careful and read everything properly you will be totally aware of how much it will cost you and can make any adjustment needed to the price you are selling for. 

Now, how about the buying? Well, it's very easy and fun but you have to be careful. 

There's always a list of categories for you to look through with smaller sub categories for each. These can then be browsed through if you aren't sure what you are after, or if you fancy just checking to se if there are any real bargains kicking about. You can also use the search engines which tend to let you search via item number, user id or title, some offer a bit more, some maybe a bit less but they all tend to be very easy to use and pretty accurate. You can usually search only in particular categories so as to make your results easy to sort. 

Once you have found something of interest there will be lots of information about it for you to read. There will be the seller’s description, which in most cases says everything you need to know, such as condition and postage costs. But this isn't always the case so you should always be willing to find out more if needed by using the feature to contact the seller. Most auction sites have this and it lets you either email the seller and ask a question or posts a question on the item page for the seller to respond to. Anything not mentioned in the description or you are unclear about, just ask, the seller will be more than happy to help, after all they want you to buy! 

They will also be listed information like where the seller is from, accepted ways of paying, length of auction as well as links to ratings about the user. This rating is a very useful and important factor in deciding whether to buy from a particular seller or not. You should be able to see what other people have thought of previous experiences, rating them good or bad. This will then give you an idea of whether they are trustworthy or not. Like everything though it shouldn't be the only factor you use but is a good starting point. 

Bidding is easy too. Most sites now have some sort of automatic bidding system which mean that you can put in the maximum you want to bid and the site will bid on your behalf against any other bidders up to you r maximum. This means that you are less likely to forget about an item and should be more able to stop getting out bid at the last moment. 

Now this is where the caution is needed though. It is very easy to get caught up in the spirit of it all and bid higher than you should. What you need to do is set a maximum price and never go over it, otherwise you could easily find yourself paying more than it would cost to buy it new in the shops! Obviously if you are the seller then this would be great! 

If you do win then you will get an email telling you the email address of the seller. You then need to get in touch as soon as possible to sort out the conditions of payment and then send your cheque or whatever. Most sellers will then let you know when they receive it and when they will send you the item. Keeping in touch via email is very important as people can get worried very easily if they haven't heard anything for a while. Another good practice is to exchange phone numbers too just to show that little bit more trust in each other. 

Then once your item arrives, if you are happy you should leave a rating for the seller and hopefully they will do the same for you. 

It's all very easy really and something that thousands of people use daily. Everyone should give it a try at least once, though once tried you'll probably find yourself hooked! 

I first used an auction site when my digital cordless phone became faulty, just after the warranty ran out (doesn't that always happen). I had bought a replacement phone, but couldn't bring myself to throw the old one out. It seemed so new, so technically up to date, surely it could be fixed. I came across eBay and saw other faulty items listed. I registered, listed the item and then sat back and watched the price go up. The opening bid was £1, then it went to £2.40, then £6.80 and so it went on. I had detailed that the phone was faulty so there could be no complaints afterwards. The price continued to rise until it closed at £31.00 !! The phone had only cost me £69.99 to replace and I'd recovered almost half the price. Within days of the auction close a cheque came through my letterbox for £34.00, as I had stated £3.00 delivery charge, and I posted the phone. The buyer gave me a good rating and that was that. Try it yourself, type in a keyword to search for below and see what you can find, you'll be surprised.

Why not give it a try ? Register on eBay.co.uk!