That's right, the eBay online auction powerhouse has been around for five years as of this month. What started out as a collector's site for Pez candy dispensers has grown into the major online auction site on the Internet.
Lee Hudspeth and I are columnists for eBay Magazine, the print publication of the online auction company put out by Krause Publications. Lee and I have been writing for eBay Magazine on technical and computer related topics since the first issue. When the eBay folks mentioned that their five-year anniversary was this September I planned an article on the event and asked TNPCers to let me know about their online auction problems (TNPC #3.18). I thought that a report on auction fraud would make interesting reading.
I got plenty of response but to my surprise they were all about the positive experiences people have had as both buyers and sellers on eBay. The very few "problem" stories I did receive were about issues on Ubid where you place bids on products offered by businesses who are closing out inventory or selling refurbished items and the like.
Not a single complaint about eBay.
That's not to say that there have not been problems with eBay or any other online auction site. Bogus articles offered for sale, usually falling into the hoax category (lost art treasures and human body parts), have been in the news since online auctions started. But it appears that fraud is at a minimum, at least on eBay. The eBay folks say their fraud rate is only 1 in 40,000 transactions. This seems to be too good to be true but in light of the positive comments I've received from TNPCers it looks like eBay is doing a fair job of policing its auctions. Shills (those who bid on auctions solely to drive up the price) are suspended and eBay generally tries to settle any disputes between buyers and sellers.
Keep in mind that auction fraud is different than having an auction snipped out from under you by a last-second bid. While that's annoying it's fair practice under eBay's current rules.
If you've never spent any time on the eBay site it's worth a look. The depth and breath of items available is tremendous. Where else could you go to find items like... fake million dollar bills, genuine reproduction Spud guns made from the finest plastic, a rattlesnake ashtray (made from a real rattlesnake; although that may be just the thing to help you stop smoking). High ticket items like houses, tracts of land, or an articulated 25 ton dump truck can be found at electronic auction as well as everything in between.
The ins and outs of eBay are fairly simple. To buy or sell on eBay you have to first register on the eBay site. To register you have to be at least 18 years old. You tell eBay the country you live in as different countries have differing requirements. For the United States, eBay asks for your valid email address, full name, address, and phone number. There are some optional questions about your age, interests, and such but they're entirely optional. Lastly, you have to acknowledge that you've read the eBay User Agreement and agree that you'll not do bad and fraudulent things when using the eBay service.
The hardest thing about registering with eBay is finding the link on their main page that takes you to the register page. When you get to the main page scroll all the way down to the bottom and click the small text link that says "Register" to start the process. Here's a direct link to eBay's register page.
http://www.thenakedpc.com/t/320/tr.cgi?ebay
Once registered you can post items for sale or make bids on items offered for auction. The eBay help offers a number of FAQs that answer questions about how auctions work, how to place bids, what to do if you win an auction, everything you could want to know. What's more, since we're affiliated with eBay, for every TNPCer who registers as a potential bidder or seller (remember, there is *no* obligation to be either), eBay will slip a few extra samolians into our pay envelope. You can enjoy eBay and help out TNPC at the same time.
Happy Birthday eBay! Here's to another five years!
