Getting Started On Ebay

If you're new to the world of eBay, one of the first things you'll want to do is set up an account and sign in.

It's easy (and free) to register, but it can take up to a week for your application to be approved. The first step is filling out the registration form on their website with your basic details like contact information and bank information; after that they'll send you an email asking for more specific info like your Social Security Number, date of birth, and so on. All this personal data has to be submitted before your application will go through — otherwise they won't know who you are at all. Once that's complete, eBay will send a confirmation email which includes an ID number. You'll then need to input that ID number when you sign up — so be sure to write it down.

You can use your eBay account to buy and sell both new and used items — but if you're only interested in buying, there's no need to worry about setting up a selling account. You can easily search for items in your area and add them to your cart, just like you would any retail website. Then you'll pay through PayPal and have the item shipped directly to you. Don't worry, we'll show you how this works in detail later on in the article.

When searching for items on eBay, the site will automatically default to showing results from all over the country if you don't specify otherwise. This is fine if you're looking for items all over the country, but if you live in a place where shipping costs are prohibitive, it can be a real pain.

For instance, let's say that you live in Virginia and want to find an item that's only available for sale in California. It'll show all of the items from California and tell you they're available to ship there, and then when you click on one it'll say it costs $19.99 to ship (plus tax) — but since California is hundreds of miles away from Virginia, there's no way to buy this item from them without paying a ton of money. Of course, you could drive there and buy it yourself, but then again...

To solve this problem, you'll need to tell eBay to not show items from other states in your search results. This is a personal preference, but we recommend that you do so if the items you're looking for only come from nearby states. Otherwise there will be a lot of useless things that you won't be able to buy. Click on the "Advanced Search" button and in the dropdown menu next to "States," select the state (or countries) where your specific item can be purchased.

Now that you've found some items you'd like to buy, it's time to pay for them.

Click on the "Buy It Now" tab on the right side of the page. When you do, you'll be brought to a page where you can either bid (if you're interested in bidding) or buy now (if your only goal is to buy). You'll also see a "Payment" button at the bottom of this page. Paying for an item through PayPal is very easy — just click "pay with PayPal" and then buy now.

A new window will pop up where you can enter your shipping address, and then it will ask for your full name, email address, billing information and so on. Fill those out all over again before clicking "Continue. If you have a saved credit card that you always use, you can click on the box next to "use a saved credit card" and identify the one you'd like to use. When that's done, click Continue — and it'll take you back to the item page where your payment has been processed.

The last step is for eBay to send confirmation of your order to the seller. It can take up to 24 hours for this to happen, so if there are no red flags (like they haven't already shipped your item) we recommend calling or emailing them just in case. If there are no issues, then...

Congratulations, you've now completed your transaction!

Buyers and Sellers: the eBay Community

While eBay is simple to use, it's also a buyer and seller's market because there are too many people selling on the site. As a result, most sellers only accept payment through PayPal, and they have to stick to that system in order to post an item for sale. If they don't want to do that (because they don't have a PayPal account or simply prefer another method), they can still sell their items if they're willing to meet the buyer at a specified location instead of sending it through the mail. This is called an "offline transaction," and we don't recommend doing it because there are lots of scams where people pretend to be interested in buying something, then take your money and run.

To get around this problem, most sellers prefer to use PayPal so that they can ship their items directly to buyers without having to meet up with them. They can then give the buyer an address at which they'd like the item shipped — or if the buyer insists on paying with cash, they can simply ship it to that person's home address. This gives you a ton of control over how your transaction will look...and safety is a big part of that.

Credit cards, on the other hand, aren't very secure when buying items online because you have to give complete access to your bank account in order to use them. This makes it so that anyone who has your credit card information can access your bank account and buy anything they want — even if it's not related to the transaction at all.

That's why we recommend that you find a buyer not using PayPal or who is willing to meet in person if you want to buy something. If you're worried about the safety of your credit card information, then you can wrap the transaction in a PayPal-related purchase. This will give your buyer access to your account for buying Through PayPal, but unlike a regular shopping cart where it can be used for other purchases at any time, it can only be used once. That way, no one has access to your whole financial information and there's less chance of anyone stealing your identity and running off with all of that money.

Conclusion: Is eBay a Safe Place to Make Purchases?

EBay is a great place to buy things online, but it's only safe if you know what you're doing. As long as you follow the guidelines we've laid out above you should be good to go for quite some time — but the most important thing is that you stay organized, keep track of your purchases and use PayPal when possible. If a seller is unwilling to accept this payment method, then it's very likely they'll run away with your cash, and PayPal won't cover most of them.

The best advice we can give is to be careful about who you're buying from and trust your gut.

Conclusion: Is eBay a Safe Place to Make Purchases?

EBay is a great place to buy things online, but it's only safe if you know what you're doing. As long as you follow the guidelines we've laid out above you should be good to go for quite some time — but the most important thing is that you stay organized, keep track of your purchases and use PayPal when possible. If a seller is unwilling to accept this payment method, then it's very likely they'll run away with your cash, and PayPal won't cover most of them.

The best advice we can give is to be careful about who you're buying from and trust your gut.