On most eBay listings in the UK and the USA, Paypal is the preferred purchase method; and in many cases it’s the only one allowed. It’s strongly recommended that you sign up for a Paypal account and link it to your bank account before you start using eBay at all.

We’ve already covered the use of ‘Best Offer’ in Part Three; and ‘Buy It Now’ is as simple and decisive as checkout out on any fixed price listing website; but what if you want to bid on an eBay auction? How should you go about it to maximise your chances of success?

In addition to the category-related options, others listed in the sidebar for almost any subcategory or infracategory include condition, price, buying format, item location, delivery options and ‘show only’. These can all be used in different ways.

At the top of the screen, there’s a search box followed by a drop-down list of categories. Before you even use the search box, try experimenting with the category list for a glimpse of the breadth of what’s out there.