In This Chapter
Getting the lay of the land
Using the eBay home page's links and icons
Perusing the categories
Finding out about eBay's worldwide reach
Checking out featured auctions and other fun stuff
I hate to say it, but the famous writer Thomas Wolfe was wrong; the title of this chapter is true! You can go home again. At least on eBay! I visit the eBay home page on a regular basis; it's a place where I can keep up with eBay's newest offerings. Month after month, millions of people (just like us) land on eBay's home page without wearing out the welcome mat (probably because they are wearing their bunny slippers). The eBay home page is the front door to the most popular auction site on the Internet.
Everything you need to know about navigating eBay begins right here. In this chapter, I give you the grand tour of the areas you can reach right from the home page with the help of links.
The eBay home page is shown in Figure 3-1 and includes the following key areas:
A navigation bar at the top of the page with five eBay links that can zip you straight to any of the many eBay areas, as well as two additional — and powerful — links right below the navigation bar.
A search box that helps you find items by title keywords as well as a link to eBay's Advanced Search page.
A list of links to the most popular auction categories.
A link box that takes you directly to a drop-down menu of a complete listing of top-level categories, a direct link to eBay Motors and eBay Stores.
Links to eBay's Deals of the Day, featured items, fun stuff such as charity auctions, and information about what else is moving on eBay.
Note
Do not adjust your computer monitor. You're not going crazy. Today you may notice that a link that was on the eBay home page a minute ago is gone. That's normal. The links on the eBay home page change often to reflect what's going on — not just on the site, but in the world as well.
Sign In is possibly the most powerful of all the links on the eBay pages, and it should be your first stop if you plan on doing any business on the site (see Figure 3-2).
If you use the link to go to the Sign In page and then sign in, you don't have to enter your user ID again that day. You can set your preferences to take you directly to your My eBay page after Sign In; It's essential for every eBay user. (See Chapter 4 for info on My eBay.)
Tip
You can search for items on eBay without signing in, but what fun is that? If you haven't registered with eBay, you're pretty much out of luck if you find a great deal on a lamp that's just what you've been looking for — and the auction closes in 5 minutes!
If you're the only one who uses your computer, be sure to select the box that says Keep Me Signed in For Today. This way, you're always signed in to eBay every time you go to the site during the next 24 hours. The Sign In process places a cookie (a technical thingy — see Chapter 15 for details) on your computer that remains a part of your computer for the rest of the day. If you don't select the box, you will be signed in only while your browser is open. After you close your browser the cookie expires, and you have to sign in again.
Here's how to get to the eBay Sign In page and sign in:
Click the Sign In link at the top of any eBay page.
At the bottom of the new page that appears is a Secure Sign In page. The logo indicates that your personal information is even more secure than usual. (See Chapter 2 for details about SSL.)
Enter your user ID and password.
Select the Sign Me In for Today box if you're not at a public computer.
You're now signed in to eBay and can travel and transact on the site with ease. You can enter your My eBay page by clicking the My eBay link that appears in the navigation bar. (See Chapter 4 for more on My eBay.)
As mentioned, the navigation bar is at the top of the eBay home page and lists five eBay links that take you directly to different eBay areas. Using the navigation bar is kind of like doing one-stop clicking. You can find this bar at the top of every page you visit on eBay. No matter where you are on the site, when you click one of the five links you go straight to a related page.
Tip
Below the navigation bar is the Sign In/Sign Out link. This link, which toggles between Sign In and Sign Out depending on your sign-in status, is important, and I remind you about it throughout this book.
Tip
Think of links as expressways to specific destinations. Click a link just once, and the next thing you know, you're right where you want to be. You don't even have to answer that proverbial annoying question, "When are we gonna get there?" from the noisy kids in the backseat.
Here, without further ado, are the five navigation-bar boxes and where they take you:
Buy: Takes you to the page that lists Featured Items (see Chapter 6), all the main eBay categories, as well as links to popular stores and eBay promotions that vary from time to time. If you're signed in, there is also a link to your favorite searches and sellers. From this page, you can link to any one of the millions of items up for auction on eBay.
Tip
On the Buy page, you find links to browse by categories, keywords, or stores. If you scroll to the very bottom of the page, you find the Artist Pages. There you can click the Music, Movies, or Books links to search for your favorite artists' items quickly (see Figure 3-3). If you want to find your favorite artists' pages even more quickly, go to http://artist-index.ebay.com. On this page, they're ranked by their standing in eBay's Top Sellers.
Figure 3.3. Nice to see that Beatles (The) are still in the #5 slot on the eBay Bestselling Artists page.
Tip
When you click a link to browse a category (for example, Books: Antiquarian & Collectible), you see some tabs above the listings. These tabs offer you ways to search, and each tab gives you a different viewing option to browse:
All Items is the default setting for the page. This option delivers on its promise — you see all items, including those up for auction and Buy It Now items.
Click Auctions Only in the tabs area to be taken to eBay's version of an auction catalog.
Click the Buy It Now Only tab to see all items in the category that you can buy immediately if you don't want to wait for an auction to end.
Note that not all sellers list their items in the Auctions area (at this moment only 55,000 of the 120,000 items in this category are auctions), so by not browsing All Items, you may be missing out on some special items or deals.
Browse Categories. Clicking takes you to a list of all categories and the first level subcategories. What's even more fun is that you get to see the listing counts, as shown in Figure 3-4.
Figure 3.4. Who'd have thought there are over two million items for sale in the collectibles category!
Help with Buying and Bidding: What can I say, you bought this book and I can guarantee that I've bought more on eBay than almost any eBay employee. Just jump over to Chapter 6 for the lowdown.
Buyer Tools: Hmmm, the only buyer tools I'm interested in are a credit card and my PayPal account. Keep in mind that anything you download to your computer will track you. Free tools are not written out of the goodness of a company's heart; they're written to sign people up, get data, and then sell such data at a profit. Get it?
Reviews & Guides: Here's where you can participate in the eBay community by writing guides and reviewing products. If you're here to make money, perhaps you might be better spending your time honing your sales skills and selling items. There's more on this area of eBay in Chapter 17.
eBay Mobile: You want eBay to call you on your cell phone? They will do it for a fee. It's free to check your eBay listings on a Web-enabled cell phone by going to
m.ebay.com.
Warning
Keep in mind that all informational links provided to you by eBay in these drop-down menus are just that: from eBay. They may be influenced by advertising deals, alliances with providers ... get the drift? Do not ever consider the information you get as unbiased. This book is unbiased — I have no sponsors or advertisers to please.
The drop-down menus are often more helpful in getting you where you want to go. The drop-down menu that appears as you mouse over the Buy button gives you these offerings:
Sell: Takes you to the start of the Sell Your Item form, which you must fill out to start your sale. I explain how to navigate this form in Chapter 9. The links at the bottom of the page direct you to various Seller Guides. The Sell drop-down menu also gives you these options through convenient links:
Sell an Item: Here's your direct link to the Sell Item form. Try to remember to click here directly when you want to list an item for sale — one step is easier than two, especially when the first step has promotional information.
Selling Tips: Let's just say that whoever wrote these tips read an earlier edition of this book.
What's Hot: This connects you to eBay Pulse (
pulse.ebay.com), shown in Figure 3-5. It's a fun area that lets you view (by category if you want) the most popular searches on eBay. One caveat: Just because an item is hot doesn't mean you can get your hands on it or even want to sell that particular item. (I know a high-level eBay seller who sells brake pads, which are not my cup of tea.) Use this information as a market gauge rather than the gospel.Seller Tools & eBay Stores: Here's a quick link to the tools eBay offers, such as Selling Manager (more on that in Chapter 4). Take my advice and follow my lead in this book; don't subscribe to any of these tools until you're ready. They will just drain your wallet.
Shipping Center: This link takes you to eBay's Shipping Center, which is a handy way to get to the Shipping Calculator. There are plenty of other links, and because UPS and the USPS are "partners" with eBay, you won't find info on my favorite ground shipper, FedEx Ground. See the chapter on shipping to get the full picture of who you should ship with.
My eBay: Takes you to your personal My eBay page, where you keep track of all your buying and selling activities, account information, and favorite categories (there's more about My eBay in Chapter 4). A drop-down menu takes you to the various areas on your My eBay page. Chapter 4 gives you information on all these links.
Community: Takes you to a page where you can find the latest news and announcements, chat with fellow traders in the eBay community, find charity auctions, and find out more about eBay. (Chapters 17 and 18 tell you how to use these resources.)
Help: Takes you to one of the most valuable areas of the eBay site. The Help area can give you answers to many of your questions, as well as keep you apprised of eBay's rules and regulations regarding trading on the site. The eBay Help Center overview page consists of a search box, where you can type your query, links for help topics, an A–Z index, and a list of the top five questions on eBay. The page offers links to the answers to the questions most frequently asked by eBay users and to the Security & Resolution Center.
At the top of the eBay home page, below the navigation bar, you find several powerful links that are just as important as the links on the navigation bar:
eBay Logo: Click the eBay logo and it takes you right back to the home page. Use this link from any other page when you need to get back to the home page right away.
Contact Us: Clicking here, you'll have to sign in (which is not helpful when you have a problem such as a hijacked account), but the resulting page lets you into eBay through a bold link that says I'm a Guest. Click there. You will then be taken to the Contact Us page. (For more on contacting eBay, see Chapter 16.)
Register: Click here to become a member of the eBay community. If you haven't registered, turn to Chapter 2 to get the quick and painless facts about the easy eBay registration process. (If you're signed in, the Register link isn't visible.)
Site Map: Provides you with a bird's-eye view of the eBay world. Every top-level(that is, main) link available on eBay is listed here. If you're ever confused about finding a specific area, try the Site Map first. If a top-level link isn't listed here, it's not on eBay — yet.
An old Chinese expression says, "Every journey begins with the first eBay search." Okay, I updated the quote, but wise words nonetheless. You can start a search from the home page in one of two ways:
Use the search text box: It's right there at the top of the home page, with the Search button next to it. It's a fast way of finding item listings.
Use the Advanced Search link next to the search box on the home page: These links take you to the Advanced Search page, where you can do all kinds of specialized searches.
Both options can give you the same results. The instructions I offer in the next two sections about using these search methods are just the tip of the eBay iceberg. For the inside track on how to finesse the eBay search engine to root out just what you're looking for, visit Chapter 5.
To launch a title search from the home page, follow these steps:
In the search box, type no more than a few keywords that describe the item you're looking for.
Refer to Figure 3-1 to see the search box.
The results of your search appear on-screen in a matter of seconds.
You can type just about anything in this box and get some information. Say you're looking for Star Trek memorabilia. If so, you're not alone. The television show premiered on September 8, 1966, and even though it was canceled in 1969 because of low ratings, Star Trek became one of the most successful science-fiction franchises in history. A new Star Trek film came out this year! If you like Star Trek as much as I do, you can use the search box on the eBay home page to find all sorts of Star Trek stuff. I just ran a search and found 18,047 items — in hundreds of categories — with Star Trek in their titles (your results will probably vary).
Try the Advanced Search link next to the search box to narrow your search. This link takes you to the Advanced Search: Find Items page, which is explained in the following section.
Warning
When you search for popular items on eBay (and a classic example is Star Trek memorabilia), you may get inundated with thousands of listings that match your search criteria. Even if you're traveling at warp speed, you could spend hours checking each auction individually. ("Scotty, we need more power now!") If you're pressed for time like the rest of us, eBay has not-so-mysterious ways to narrow your search so finding a specific item is much more manageable. Turn to Chapter 5 for insider techniques that can help you slim those searches and beef up those results.
One of the most important buttons on the eBay page is the Advanced Search link. When you click this link, you're whisked away to the Advanced Search page, which promptly presents you with several search options. Each option enables you to search for information in a different way. Here's how the search options on the menu can work for you:
Find Items: Search by keywords, item number, in eBay Motors, or by an individual seller or bidder. Type the keywords that describe an item (for example, Superman lunchbox or antique pocket watch) and click Search, and you can see how many are available on eBay. The site gives you the option to search by one of the main categories — but to get the largest number of items, use All Categories and narrow your search from the results.
Another handy way to search is by item number. Every item that's up for sale on eBay is assigned an item number, which is displayed next to the item name on its page. To find an item by number, just type the number in the box, click Search, and away you go. (To find out more about how individual sales pages work on eBay, spin through Chapter 6.)
Tip
You can also find items by number if you type the item number into any of the small search boxes that appear on eBay pages.
Sort Your Searches: Here you can sort your searches in three ways.
Advanced Search drop-down menu: By clicking this link, you can define your search without using a bunch of code. It works pretty much the same as the basic Search method, but you can exclude more features from your search. You can also take advantage of eBay's regional trading and find items for sale in your neighborhood. Figure 3-6 shows the Advanced Search options.
Tip
The search by category filter is a snappy search function that helps you figure out which subcategories have the item you want — or, if you want to sell, helps you decide where to list your item for sale. It produces a regular search in a selected category but also has a column on the left side of the page that lets you know which subcategories your item is listed in — and how many of the item you'll see listed in each category.
Tip
To find an item that sold on eBay in the past, indicate that you want to use the Completed Listings search. Then type the keywords of an item, and you get a list of items of this type that have been sold in the last 14 (or so) days, as well as what they sold for. You can use this type of search to strategize your asking price before you put an item up for auction (or to determine how much you'll have to bid to win an item).
Although Chapter 5 tells you all you need to know about searching eBay, the following list explains some other searches you can perform from the Search page. In a nutshell, here's what they do:
Items By Seller: Every person on eBay has a personal user ID (the name you use to conduct transactions). Use a By Seller search if you liked the merchandise from a seller's auction and want to see what else the seller has for sale. Type the seller's user ID, and you get a list of every auction that person is running.
Items By Bidder: For the sake of practicality and convenience, user IDs help eBay keep track of every move a user makes on eBay. If you want to see what a particular user (say, a fellow Star Trek fan) is bidding on, use the Items By Bidder search. Type a user ID in the Items By Bidder search box, and you get a list of everything the user is currently bidding on, as well as how much he or she is bidding. (I show you how to use this search option as a strategic buying tool in Chapter 6.)
Stores Search: Here's something I bet you didn't know. When you use eBay's search engine, it searches eBay Stores for matching items but only secondarily. (I think that's a bunch of malarkey, but who am I?) If you search for your item here, you'll see whether any matching items are available in eBay Stores (perhaps even at lower prices).
If you're looking for a particular eBay store, eBay provides a search box that allows you to search for a store by name (or part of the name).
If you look carefully, you can see that the home page has several other links that give you express service to key parts of the site. Here are the highlights:
My Recent Activities: If you've been browsing around the site and then return to the home page, you see a box with images of items you've looked at in past history. (See? I told you your travels on the site are tracked.)
From Our Sellers: Visit the featured items. (Translation: Sellers paid more to have them featured in this section.)
More eBay Sites: This box is full of links that take you to more eBay-owned sites, such as
Half.com, Kijiji, PayPal, ProStores,Rent.com,Shopping.com, Skype, StubHub, and StumbleUpon. (More on these sites throughout the book.)Global Sites: Use these links to visit eBay's international auction sites. A quick and easy way to shop the world.
Tip
You may notice that the graphic links on the home page change from day to day — even hour to hour. If you're interested in the featured areas of the site, visit this page several times a day to see the entire array of special happenings on eBay.
So how does eBay keep track of the millions of items that are up for sale at any given moment? The brilliant minds at eBay decided to group items into a nice, neat little storage system called categories. The home page lists most of the main categories, but currently eBay lists tens of thousands of subcategories — ranging from Antiques to Writing Instruments. And don't ask how many subsubcategories (categories within categories) eBay has — I can't count that high.
Well, okay, I could list all the categories and subcategories currently available on eBay — if you wouldn't mind squinting at a dozen pages of really small, eye-burning text. But a category browse is an adventure that's unique for each individual, and I wouldn't think of depriving you of it. Suffice it to say that if you like to hunt for that perfect something, you're in browsing heaven now.
Here's how to navigate around the categories:
Click the category that interests you, such as Books or DVDs & Movies.
You're transported to the category's page. You see categories and subcategories listed next to each heading. Happy hunting.
Tip
If you don't find a category that interests you among those on the home page, simply click the Buy button on the navigation bar, and you're off to the main categories page. Not only do you get a pretty impressive page of main categories and subcategories, but you also get a short list of featured auctions and a link to them all.
If you really and truly want to see a list of all the categories and subcategories, click the Categories on the Home page (rather than using the drop-down menu). Alternatively you can go to
listings.ebay.com/ListingCategoryList.After the category page appears, find a subcategory below the main category title that interests you. Click the subcategory, and keep digging through the subsubcategories until you find what you want.
For example, if you're looking for items honoring your favorite television show, click the Entertainment Memorabilia category. The page that comes up includes the subcategories of the category. You'll notice that the Entertainment Memorabilia category has many links, including the Television Memorabilia subcategory. If you look under the TV Memorabilia subcategory head, you'll see links to various subsubcategories that include Ads, Flyers, Clippings, Photos, Pins, Buttons, Posters, Press Kits, Props, Scripts, Wardrobe, and Other. At the bottom of that page, below the links, you also find a link to See all featured items. Click any link to see the listings in the categories. Little icons (pictures) next to the listings tell you more about each item — whether it's pictured (the camera) and whether it's a new item (the sunrise). You can also click the tabs to isolate Auctions only or Buy It Now items.
By the way, I have lots more to say about featured items in Chapter 10.
When you find an item that interests you, click the item, and the full Auction page pops up on your screen.
Congratulations — you've just navigated through several million items to find that one TV-collectible item that caught your attention. (Pardon me while I bid on that Lily Munster/Yvonne DeCarlo–signed picture.) You can instantly return to the home page by clicking its link at the top of the page (or return to the Listings page by repeatedly clicking the Back button at the top of your browser).
Tip
Near the bottom of every subcategory page, you can see a link list of numbers. The numbers are page numbers, and you can use them to fast-forward through all the items in that subcategory. So, if you feel like browsing around page 8, without going through 8 pages individually, just click number 8; you're presented with the items on that page (their listings, actually). Happy browsing.
Warning
If you're a bargain hunter by habit, you may find some pretty weird stuff while browsing the categories and subcategories of items on eBay — some of it super-cheap and some of it (maybe) just cheap. (There's even a Weird Stuff category — no kidding!) Remember that (as with any marketplace) you're responsible for finding out as much as possible about an item before you buy and definitely before you bid. So, if you're the type who sometimes can't resist a good deal, ask yourself what you plan to do with the pile of garbage you can get for 15 cents — and ask yourself now, before it arrives on your doorstep. Chapters 6 and 7 offer more information on savvy bidding.
Listed below the Categories list are links to eBay's international auction sites. You may enter eBay Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and (whew) Vietnam. Click one of these links and you jet off (virtually) to eBay sites in these countries. The international sites are in the countries' native languages. It might be a good place to practice your third-year French — or maybe not! Remember that after you leave eBay USA, you're subject to the contractual and privacy laws of the country you're visiting.
Here on eBay, money talks pretty loudly. In the center of the home page, you see a list of the auctions eBay is featuring at the moment. eBay usually posts six featured items at any given time and rotates items throughout the day so that as many sellers as possible get a shot at being in the spotlight. When you click the featured listings link, you're instantly beamed to eBay's Home Page Featured Items section.
You can find everything from Las Vegas vacations to Model-T Fords to diet products in the Home Page Featured Items. Home Page Featured Items are not for mere mortals with small wallets. They've been lifted to the exalted featured status because sellers shelled out lots of money to get them noticed. All you need to get your auction featured is $39.95 ($79.95 for Multiple Item listings), plus a second or two to click Home Page Featured Item on the Sell Your Item form. (See Chapter 10 if you have an item that all eyes must see.)
Note that bidding on these items works the same way as bidding on regular items.
Warning
The Home Page Featured Items page contains many expensive items. Sellers who put up high-priced items have been around the block a few times and make it clear that they will verify each bid on the item. That means if you place a bid on one of Jay Leno's autographed Harley-Davidsons (auctioned in 2005 to benefit tsunami relief and Hurricane Katrina relief), be prepared to get a phone call from the seller. The seller may ask you to prove that you can actually pay for the motorcycle. Nothing personal; it's strictly business.
Click the Giving Works (or Charity) link on the home page to see eBay charity auctions. Winning bids contribute to programs that help charities. Charity auctions are a great way for memorabilia collectors to find one-of-a-kind (and authentic) items. (Chapter 18 tells you more about what charity items you can bid on — and the good you can do with your checkbook.)
The eBay community is constantly changing. To help you get into the swing of things right away, eBay provides a special box with links that take you right to the current word on the latest eBay special events.
Tip
Even if the main promotion box doesn't appeal to you, usually you can find some interesting links dotted around the home page without a headline. You can find links to eBay's special promotions for the day (or is it the hour? — it can change every 15 minutes)
You can get there from here — lots of places, in fact:
A rotating list of special-interest links changes at least once a day. (Half the fun is getting a closer look at pages you haven't seen.)
Special money-saving offers from third-party vendors can be a boon if you're on the lookout for a bargain.
At the very bottom of the home page is an unassuming group of links that provide more ways to get to some seriously handy pages. I've listed some important ones in this section:
Feedback Forum: This link takes you to one of the most important spots on eBay. The Feedback Forum is where you can find out whether you've forgotten to place feedback on a transaction. You can also place feedback and respond to feedback left for you — all in one friendly location.
Downloads: Here's a place where you can download some of eBay's handy software. It's a link to eBay-supplied selling-assistance software. (See Chapter 20 for more on these programs.)
Gift Certificates & Gift Cards: Send someone an eBay gift certificate for any special occasion. You can print it yourself, or eBay will send it to any e-mail address you provide. The gift certificate is good for any item on the site for the value you specify, and you can pay for it immediately with PayPal. If the person you give the gift certificate to bids higher than the value of the gift certificate, he or she can make up the difference using another payment option.
Jobs: Click here if you want to work for eBay instead of through eBay.
Affiliates: If you have your own Web site and want to make a few bucks, click this link. If you sign up for the program and put a link to eBay on your Web page, eBay pays you money for any new user who signs up directly from your Web site (plus other bonuses).
Developers: So are you a geek too? If you are, you can enter eBay's Developer program and get access to the eBay API for fun and profit.
The eBay Shop: This link enables you to browse and buy eBay merchandise from the eBay company store.
eBay Mobile: They're really pushing using a cell phone for eBay. Trust me. A computer works a lot better.
About eBay: Click this link to find out about eBay the company and to get its press releases, company overview, and stock information. You can also find out about eBay community activities and charities — and even apply for a job at eBay.
Announcements: Visit the General Announcements Board when you want to know about any late-breaking news.
Learning Center: Click here to see eBay's featured educational tools.
Security Center: This link takes you to a page where concerns about fraud and safety are addressed. It's such an important eBay tool that I dedicate an entire chapter to this program. Before buying or selling, it's a good idea to check out Chapter 16.
Resolution Center: When you have an issue with another person on the site, click here to get some action.
Policies: This is a good place to visit to brush up on the site's policies and guidelines.
Government Relations: Here's where your eBay membership can make a real difference. Join eBay's Main Street Member Program and become involved with important legislation that may affect your online future. If you sign up, you will receive important updates.
Site Map. Another way to reach eBay's very handy road map of links.
Note
On other eBay pages, the bottom navigation bar looks a little different. It often includes even more links so you can cruise the site quickly without necessarily having to use the top navigation bar.