Love it or hate it eBay offers an instant low-cost marketplace and can't be ignored

is just a market place, like main street, where anyone can trade if they stick to the rules.

It is designed to be simple to use - it requires very little in the way of IT skills - and the start-up procedures are straight forward.

Teamed with it is a quick and easy way to trade on the internet, and if you use their facility for ecommerce you can get your online shop up and running within hours

The of getting started with eBay

Before Signing On

Take a look round and watch an auction in progress. You can't buy and sell without registering but you can look round.

Log into eBay.com or one of the national eBays like eBay.co.uk a screen comes up like the one shown on the right.

Click on it to see it full size

Of course the advertisements on it change on a daily basis so it won't look exactly as we show it.

Click one of the options close to the top and on the left of the page to move to that page.

You'll find 'Categories' interesting.

Registering with eBay

Once you're comfortable with what you see, and if you want to take part in an auction then you need to 'Register'.

Click on the button.

A new screen appears, like the image on the right, with a simple application form which you must complete.

The form varies slightly depending on which country you're in but the following elements are common.

Personal Contact Details

You may be wary about giving these over a web connection but notice the address code at the top of your screen. Ordinary addresses like Life's 3rd Phase start 'http' but the eBay 'Register' page starts 'https' which shows it is a secure page to trust with your details.

When you finish here click on 'Continue' and as long as you've not missed out something you will end up on a second 'Registration' page.

User ID and Password

A vast number of people are registered with eBay so it's unlikely you're the first 'Mary Jones' or 'John Smith' to register. You need to try a number of memorable variations of your name, birth date, birth place etc using the button before you find one that no one else has claimed.

Remember too that other users of eBay will see you as the username you use. Using 'Mickey Mouse' or 'Rambo' will give them an impression that might be misleading.

Then choose a password that's neither too easy for others to guess or too hard for you to remember.

Captcha

The silly numbers and letters that you have to copy into a box are called Captcha, an equally silly acronym. It's there to protect eBay from being spammed by machines making thousands of application and gumming up the works.

By confining membership to real people and banning machines eBay is also protecting you!

Finishing Off

Then all you have to do is to agree eBay's terms and click the button and you're registered.

Usefull Sources