As the most well-known online marketplace in the United States, eBay offers its customers a veritable treasure trove of products, from everyday necessities to high-end designer labels. On eBay, you can find a wide variety of authentic, high-quality products at prices that won’t break the bank. If you aren’t familiar with shopping on eBay, after finishing this guide, you will be an expert on the subject.
I/ Pros and cons of making purchases on eBay
Just like other e-commerce sites, eBay is one of the most popular ones in the United States with almost a million users accesses every day. There are many benefits to online shopping on eBay:
- When shopping for American goods in Vietnam, you may find that there is a lack of variety, but on eBay USA, you can find a wide selection of items from a wide range of designers and brands. You can find great deals on a wide variety of items that you might not be able to find in your home country’s market.
- They often offer discounts and promotional deals, some up to 50%-70%, so the shipping or product price coming back to your country will be much more affordable.
- eBay’s feedback system has been widely recognized to be “for the buyers”, which means that they have a systematic function to recognize trusted and bad sellers for the consumers.
While there are a lot of positives to buying from eBay USA, there are also a few drawbacks to consider:
- When shopping on eBay independently, you may run into issues, such as those related to payment (which may require the use of an international credit card, such as Visa or PayPal) or address.
- The system is designed for use on a global scale and in full English, so there may be translation issues if you purchase it from a non-English-speaking country.
>>> Read more: eBay Bidding, Shopping on eBay with Japanese Proxy Service
II/ Tips for shopping on eBay
Even giant e-commerce sites can not prevent the occurrence of scammers or fake products. Therefore, many customers may consider “is it safe to buy on eBay”? By being aware of potential pitfalls, you can avoid many of the problems that eBay’s harshest critics have complained about. So, here are some tips you need to keep in mind before considering your very first purchase:
1. Do some background checking on both the product and the vendor.
Don’t just blindly buy, bid, or make an offer on something. When going to product information, check out the item’s condition, features, inclusions, exclusions, etc. carefully. Look at their feedback ratings and read comments left by customers who have purchased from them to get a sense of their customer service and quality of goods.
If they have a returning policy, be sure to read every small print of it. Some vendors will refund your money if you decide to cancel or return an order, but they may have strict policies regarding the amount of time you have or whether they will cover the cost of return shipping. However, some may have a “no returns” policy. Some vendors may also restrict sales to only specific regions or only accept particular payment methods.
2. Do not submit a bid or offer unless you are certain that you want the item
All offers and bids made for items on shopping on eBay are considered binding contracts between the buyer and seller. This means that very rarely will a seller be obligated to let you cancel your purchase after you have won an auction for an item or after a seller has accepted an offer you made on an item.
You may need to get in touch with the company’s customer service division or the vendor themselves. Even so, refusing to pay for items on your account can result in penalties, which could lead to a limitation or suspension of your account privileges.
3. You should never provide any personal information in response to an email, even if it appears to be from eBay.
In addition, when shopping on eBay, you should never respond to an email from eBay asking for personal information like a credit card number, social security number, or password. They also won’t just link you off to a web page asking for this information in an email.
You can verify the authenticity of any eBay account-related emails by logging in, hovering over My eBay, and selecting messages from the drop-down menu. If an urgent email purporting to be from your bank or other official institution appears in your inbox but nowhere else online, it is likely a hoax, and you should delete it.
4. Don’t ever propose or agree to a transaction outside of eBay.
Never use any other method to pay for an item on eBay besides eBay’s own secure payment system. Buying something off-site may help you save money on fees like tax and shipping, but you’re probably just falling for a scam.
In addition, those who sell items off-site are usually attempting to avoid paying eBay’s selling fees (if they aren’t outright scamming customers). Your shopping on eBay will therefore aid in their violation of eBay’s policies. Your best course of action is to politely decline the seller’s offer and possibly file a complaint with customer service if necessary.
5. Make use of eBay’s customer service
eBay’s customer service is there to help if you run into trouble with a seller or an item they sold you, and you can’t get it resolved by talking to the seller directly. Contacting your bank, credit card company, and/or local authorities if you suspect you’ve been the target of a scam is also a good idea.
>>> Read more: Import From Japan to UK – A Completed Guide for Businesses
III/ How to buy on eBay?
Let’s find out this guide on shopping on eBay to successfully order the products you want in just 4 simple steps:
Step 1—Creating an eBay account
Visit the website https://www.eBay.com/ and fill in the necessary information, then, click the “Register” button. You can sign up for a Personal Account or a Business Account, depending on your needs and preferences.
Then, the system will immediately send a letter to your email or Facebook informing you that your account has been successfully registered. You check your inbox and use the activation link to enroll in the service.
Step 2 – Linking Your eBay and PayPal Accounts
You must have a PayPal account to make purchases on eBay in the United States. First, access your PayPal account settings, from the main eBay page, and click “Account Setting” in the upper left.
You’ll have two options to select from when you go to the payment method. The most favorable one is to buy on eBay with PayPal. Just enter your PayPal information and save. However, many international buyers don’t acquire that, so how to buy on eBay without PayPal? eBay offers a variety of payment methods as well, where you can buy on eBay with debit cards or GPay. Although there are some restrictions, you can put the card details in and see if it is acceptable.
Step 3: Getting used to the user interface and browsing for goods
If you have already known many global e-commerce sites, you will know that each site has different interfaces and layouts that needed time to be acquainted with. When shopping on eBay, while all eBay item listings share some commonalities (such as price details and seller feedback), there are also significant distinctions between the various listing types.
To be clear, some of these listings are actually auctions. The other items are available for immediate purchase. Finding the right products requires knowledge of the different types of listings available and the buying process itself.
After that, you can use the Search box field on the eBay.com page to look for the products you’re interested in purchasing using those keywords.
To get more information about an item, just click on it when you find one you want to buy. In order to make the best possible purchase, you must give careful consideration to the opinions of previous buyers of the product and the seller.
Step 4: Decide which products you want to buy and then make a payment.
Select “Buy It Now” to complete your purchase. After that, windows will pop up on eBay prompting you to final confirmation on your order, payment, and shipping address.
When making a purchase to complete the shopping on eBay’s journey, a customer may wonder “how to commit to buy on eBay without paying?” just like other e-commerce sites. Although most users advise clicking on the ‘Request New Total’ button, it’s not actually equal to “commit to buy”. Based on eBay official website, customers currently can not commit without paying on eBay at the moment.
>>> Read more: How to Buy from Amazon Japan? A Guide for Non-Japanese Shoppers
IV/ Conclusion
Hopefully, you can be more familiar with shopping on eBay by following this quick and easy guide to making purchases on eBay through Janbox. If you’ve actually experienced the process of buying on eBay on your own, you may find that the process is time-consuming and fraught with potential problems when shipping items from the United States to your home place. That’s where Janbox services really shine. Find out more about our services here.
You can find us online at https://janbox.com.
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