If you sign up for eBay, is there any catch that I should know about?

Question

Hello, I've been thinking about signing up for eBay. I heard that it's the best in online auctioning. But I wonder about this: if you sign up now and official put up a few items for auction, is there any catch to this that I should know about ? For instance, has anyone discovered and encountered any hidden fees and/or service charges that would cost a good bit of the auction money that you recieve on the final bid/buy ? Do they now have protection programs that would prevent fraud ? How do I pay for shipping and handling the auctioned items ? Please, if any one out there has good experience about eBay, especially if it's someone who used the site since it came on the net, please tell me everything. Period.

Answer 1

Well, I've bought a lot of things on Ebay and I trust the site.
The safest way to transfer money to another Ebayer or receive money from another Ebayer is by using PayPal.
Check out https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/general/TopQuestion1-outside to find out how PayPal works.

When you put up items for auction, it costs you a bit to set the page up and add pictures/etc. Make sure to read all the details before putting up items for auction. There are no hidden fees that pop up out of nowhere, though.

For all those questions about fraud, etc. check out
http://pages.ebay.com/help/index.html?_trksid=m37

In my experience, all I've met with on Ebay is honest trade. However, in case of a problem, you can always report it to Ebay. I don't know if the problem reporting comes out to be useful, but at least it's an option.

Answer 2

There are no hidden fees, but if you don't read and understand what you are doing you can be surprised by all the fees involved. Th

I would suggest you go to the link below and review everything.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/index.html

Here is the specific link for all the fees involved.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/ia/fees.html

There are so many things you can get charged for and so many different ways to list your items. I would suggest starting small so you can get a good feel for it.

I have friends who list everything, I have others who, like me, just list things now and again. Beware, it can be addicting.

Re shipping. Use the post office. Some ship daily (M-F) and some just take all the packages once a week. Here is a shipping estimator you can use to calculate what hte shipping fees will be.

http://postcalc.usps.gov/

If you have more q's feel free to email me.

Answer 3

There are no catches above and beyond the various contractual agreements, HOWEVER ...

You will need to be very careful about emails supposedly coming from eBay, PayPal and the like ... these are, more often than not, scams. They'll ask you for misc. information, tell you your account is being deactivated, etc.

If you have any questions about emails you have received (and many of them DO look authentic), go to the eBay or PayPal website and inquire about any issues you may have.

DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, CLICK ON ANY LINKS THAT HAVE BEEN EMAILED TO YOU.

If you click on these links, you may download a virus or inadvertantly share private information.

Answer 4

no catches you just pay the auction fee(itll tell you how much it is b4 final setup) you will probably want a paypal account..and if your selling stuff theres not really a chance for fraud..and ebay has the buyer/seller protection..so does paypal.and for shipping you just take the object to ups/usps ect. and tell them to ship it .but youll find a lot of times that ppl make the s&h higher than it really is

Answer 5

Buyer beware. Take that to heart. A lot of scammers on ebay -- a lot -- among the honest sellers. In addition there are fake ebay websites and fake emails that look like they really are ebay. Same with Pay Pal. You've really got to be careful. You need to know for sure to whom you are giving your credit card numbers.

Answer 6

No catches that I know about. Just make sure you read the agreement carefully.