You can click on an item title to see the seller’s listing displayed on an item page. From the item page you can bid, purchase, or watch the item.

As a buyer, you should thoroughly read the item description but also make sure you understand the seller's postage terms, refund and return policy, and other terms and conditions. Learning a few things about the seller as well as the item before you commit to buy the item will help make your buying experience more enjoyable.

On the item page you can.

• Read about item and listing details including postage and payment methods

• Learn about the seller

• Find out how to buy safely including how your purchase is protected

• Bid on or buy an item

• Take other actions including watching the item, adding an alert, emailing the listing to another person, printing a listing, reporting a listing to eBay, or selling a similar item

Listing details

This section at the top of the item page is a summary that includes the title and the eBay Item Number. Other information includes the price, end time, postage costs, where the seller will post to, and the item location.

If the item is an auction-style listing, this section shows the current bid, time left in the auction, and the bid history. If “Reserve not met” appears below the current price, the seller has a hidden minimum price. (For more information, see Auction-style Listings.) When you see a Buy It Now price listed on an item page, the seller gives you the opportunity to purchase the item right away without waiting for an auction-style listing to end.

For items that have ony a Buy It Now price only, there is no bidding and you can purchase the item right away. (For more information, see Buying with Buy It Now.)

Description – This section contains a description of the item(s) for sale and any additional photographs the seller has included. Some sellers may also include shipping, payment or other terms in this section.
Postage & Packing – Read this section carefully for information on where the seller will post to, postage discounts, postal insurance costs, choice of postage methods and handling time.
Return policy – Check for a return policy including time limits and who will pay the postage costs of returned items. If you have questions, you can contact the seller using the “Ask seller a question” link.
Payment details – Before you bid on an item or use Buy It Now, make sure that you can comply with the seller's payment options. Important factors you should consider include convenience, traceability, security, and liability coverage in case something goes wrong. (For more information, see About Payment Methods.) Sellers may not solicit buyers to mail cash, and you should not use Western Union, MoneyGram or other Instant Money Transfer method to pay for eBay purchases.

Meet the seller

This area of the item page gives you information about the seller’s experience and how to contact the seller. You can also get a sense of your seller’s reputation by reviewing the following:

• The seller’s Feedback rating – The lifetime Feedback Score is the number in parentheses next to the member’s User ID. For each transaction, buyers and sellers can rate each other by leaving Feedback. These ratings are used to determine Feedback Scores. Next to the Feedback Score, you may see a star. Feedback stars are awarded to eBay members for achieving 10 or more Feedback points. The Feedback percentage represents the number of positive feedback received by this seller in the last 12 months divided by the total number of feedbacks (negative, neutral and positive) received by this seller in the last 12 months (see Evaluating a Member's Reputation).

• How long the seller has been a member – For example, if a seller registered in January 1999, you would know that this seller has been on eBay a long time.

• The seller's other activities – For example, if the seller has an eBay Shop, an About Me page, or is a PowerSeller (see Knowing Your Seller).

You can also get to know a seller if you:

• Contact the seller by email (click the “Ask seller a question” link).

• Receive email newsletters and other information directly from the seller (click the “Add to Favourite. Sellers” link).

• Visit the seller’s eBay Shop or view the seller’s other items to see if the seller specialises in certain types of items.

Buying safely

To help ensure a successful trading experience, you should take the following precautions.

• Review the seller’s reputation – In addition to the Feedback score and the Feedback percentage, you should also read what other buyers have written about the seller by clicking the “Read feedback comments” link.

• Learn about how your purchase is protected – This section includes information on any buyer protection programs. For example, when you pay with PayPal for an item covered by PayPal Buyer Protection. To see if an item is covered, look for the logo in the Buy safely section in the seller's listing, and click the See eligibility link. This section also shows if the seller allows returns.

Bidding and buying

After you have reviewed information about both the seller and the item and have decided you want to purchase the item, you are ready for the next step.

If it is an auction-style listing, click the Place Bid button. (For more information, see Bidding on eBay). If the seller has a Buy It Now option and you want to purchase the item at the Buy It Now price, click the Buy It Now button.

Note: For items that have both a bid price and a Buy It Now price, the Buy It Now option may disappear if a buyer places a bid. For more information, see Buying with Buy It Now.

Tip: During the last 15 minutes of a listing a “Refresh” link displays on the item page. Using this link makes it much faster for you to see the most important information at the top of the page: current bid price, bid history, time left and high bidder.

Other actions

In addition to bidding on or buying an item, you can:

• Watch an item – Sometimes you are interested in an item, but are not ready to bid on or buy that item right away. When you click the Watch this item button, the listing is “bookmarked” and is saved to your Item’s I’m Watching list. Saving an item to a watch list saves you time because you don’t have to re-enter the same information again and again to check on the status of the listing. You can manage your watched items in My eBay. For more information, see Managing Buying with My eBay

• Add alerts – eBay can alert you about an auction-style listing ending or when you are outbid on an item. You can receive alerts using text messaging (SMS), instant messaging (IM) or cell phone. For more information, see Adding Alerts.

• Email the listing – If you want to send a message with a summary of the listing information, click the “Email to a friend” link.

• Report the listing – If you want to report what you believe to be a violation of eBay rules and policies, such as listing a prohibited item, click the “Report this item” link located at the bottom of the listing. For more information, see Rules for Sellers Overview.

• Print the listing – To print a “printer-friendly” version of the listing, scroll down to the bottom of the listing, click the “Printer version “ link and use your browser’s print function to print the listing.

• Sell one like this – If you want to start a listing, you can click the “Sell one like this” link. The Create Your Listing form will start out in the same category as the item page you were viewing when you clicked the link.