You have to be living in a cave to not have heard of eBay. EBay calls itself the world's marketplace, but I like to think of it as the largest garage sale in the world. Let's call it a cyber garage sale. It is better than ordinary garage sales because you spend a whole lot less time and frustration looking at stuff you have no interest in. Speaking of garage sales, I have a friend who still frequents them, and she meets quite a few people at sales that mention to her that they are interested in eBay, but they still have not gotten around to buying or selling on eBay.

I know what they are talking about. I visited eBay on a few occasions over the years, but I never bought anything. When a friend gave me a tour of eBay on her computer it opened my eyes. There is a humongous amount of reading one can do on eBay, even without looking at the lists of things for sale. I was glad that she spared me from having to read all of it to know how to do things on eBay.

What made me comfortable with buying on eBay was seeing the different screens on eBay (search, product description, seller's feedback, etc.) and having my friend point out what was important. Sometimes what was important was information that was missing, such as the words "new" or "smoke-free."

First, I needed to know how to find the things I wanted to buy. Next, I wanted to know the difference between fixed price and auction listings, and how the auctions work. It was also critical to know how to evaluate the trustworthiness of a seller by looking at their feedback statistics and recent comments. It was becoming versed in when to trust a seller that gave me the confidence to begin to buy.

As I became relaxed with eBay shopping, I also found it was fun. When I buy great stuff for less than half the retail price, I know I am really having fun. What is stopping you from shopping on eBay?

Matia Bryson, the author of this article, teaches the newcomer to eBay shopping the fundamentals so they can catch up quickly: http://www.tryonlineauctions.com