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Finding an Item

Bidding

> Bidding Basics

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> Placing Bids

> After Bidding

After Closing

Selling Items

Before bidding on an item, you will first want to learn more about the listing, the item, and the seller. The Item Page contains all of this information. Each Item Page has the following three sections:

1	Listing Information — includes current bid, quantity, time remaining in the listing, location of the item, User ID and rating of the Seller, User ID of the current high bidder, and other details.
2	Item Description, Payment Details & Instructions — includes the seller's description of the item, any pictures the seller may have posted, and any additional payment information such as postage/packaging, insurance, and return policy.
3	Bidding Section — Current bid and minimum next bid information along with an input field for your bid are displayed in this area, along with tips and answers to frequent questions.

	You may be able to avoid last minute competition by finding listings that end in the middle of the night. For an example listings that ends at 2:00AM will likely have fewer last minute bidders than one that ends at 8:00PM.

Auction Listings
eBay has a few different types of listings formats:

The Standard Listings is simply where one item (or a group of items sold together) is being offered to the highest bidder. Most of the listings on eBay use this format.

A Dutch Auction is where the seller is offering more than one of the exact same item. As a bidder, you will enter the quantity of items desired as well as the price you are willing to pay per item. All winners pay the lowest winning bid price. For example, 10 identical pens are for sale in a Dutch Auction for £1 each. Let's say that 5 people bid £1.25 for one pen each and 10 others bid £1. The minimum bid for the pen will be raised to £1.25 because demand exceeds supply. Because the £1.25 bidders bid higher than the £1 bidders, they will be guaranteed a pen. The other 5 pens will go to the earliest £1 bidders. The final price for each pen will be £1 (even though someone placed a high bid of £1.25) since all winning bidders pay the same price — which is the lowest successful bid.

In a Reserve Price Auction , the seller has a hidden reserve price that the bidding must exceed before the seller is required to sell the item. When a bidder's maximum bid is equal to or greater than the reserve price, the item's current price is raised to the reserve price amount.

You may also see listings where the seller has elected to include a Buy it Now price for the item. Whenever you see a Buy it Now price, you can immediately win the item by bidding the Buy it Now price.

Next: Researching Items and Sellers