Last year, my daughter and I taught a class on “Buying and Selling on eBay” at the local seniors’ center. The class was six weeks long and hands-on. Each person brought an item in to sell and we took them through the whole process, from signing up with eBay and Paypal, to writing a description and taking a photo, to actual sale of the item. One of the ladies has earned almost $3,000 on eBay since taking the course.
For those of you who would like to start buying and/or selling on eBay, the following is a glossary of terms:
Bid: telling eBay’s system the maximum price you are prepared to pay for an item.
Dutch: an auction where more than one of an item is available.
Feedback: positive or negative comments left about other users on eBay.
Mint: in perfect condition.
Non-paying bidder: a bidder who wins an auction but does not then go on to buy the item.
PayPal: an electronic payment method accepted by most sellers.
Rare: once meant hard to find, but used so often on eBay, it’s now meaningless.
Reserve: the minimum price the seller will accept for the item.
Shill bid: a fake bid placed by a seller trying to drive up their auction’s price (not allowed).
Snail Mail: the post, which is obviously very slow compared to email.
Sniping: bidding at the last second to win the item before anyone else can outbid you.
