eBay offers quite a few simple tools to help make your buying easier, so you don't lose track of what you're doing. Most of them are on the 'My eBay' screen - if you're logged in, you can go there just by clicking 'My eBay' on the toolbar at the top of any eBay page.
My Summary.
Your summary screen shows what you're currently buying or selling, as well as any announcements eBay want to make that day. It is set up as a list of reminders, so it will tell you if there are items you need to pay for or if you have been outbid - it's like your eBay 'to do' list.
You can make this screen show what you want it to by clicking 'Customise Summary' in the top-right corner. To go to any of the other buying tools pages from here, use the menu on the left of the screen, under 'All Buying'.
Watching: This is your watchlist - the auctions you have decided are worth keeping an eye on but don't want to bid on yet. To add an auction to this page, click 'Watch this item' in the top-right corner of its description page. To delete an item, just put a tick in its box on the Watching page and then click the Delete button.
Bidding: This is a list of all the items you're currently bidding on. Items that you're currently the winning bidder on are highlighted in green, while items that you've been outbid on are shown in red, with an option to bid again.
Best Offers: You can see here all of the best offers you've made on Buy it Now items, and whether or not the seller accepted them.
Won and Didn't Win: This is where the items from the Bidding page go when the auction is over. If you won the item, then you will be able to choose an action depending on how far along you are in the buying process. From here, you can pay, tell the seller you've sent payment, or leave feedback once you've got the item. You should keep going through these steps until you've done them all. There are small blue icons to show you which of these steps you have completed so far, and whether the seller has left any feedback for you.
Don't worry if you don't often get the chance to check back at My eBay. If anything important happens, eBay will email you, and the email should contain a button or link to let you do whatever you need to do. If you want real control all the time, though, then the tools available on the My eBay page can work well for you.
By now, you've probably dipped your toe in the water and got quite used to buying on eBay - but is it worth it for you? In the next email, we'll take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of buying on eBay.
About the Author
Kirsten Hawkins is an Ebay and internet auction enthusiast from Nashville, TN. Visit http://www.auctionseller411.com/ for more great tips on how to make the most from Ebay and other online auctions.