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Pros: An amazing "superstore" online with terrific bargains!!
Cons: Yeah, there ARE some "cons" selling, so you have to be careful.
The bottom line: This is a great website for either buying, selling, or both!!
I became a member on eBay June 7, 1998. I'll admit, I lurked for a while. It took me a few visits to get the hang of the website. I think I can safely say that I know enough to be able to write this opinion.

eBay is an auction site. You can sell or bid on just about anything that you can imagine there. I have seen people sell houses, cars, clothing, jewelry, and once I even saw someone trying to sell themselves!! LOL

I personally have used it to buy items such as: clothing for myself and my children; kangaroo items; a brand new Gameboy for Katie for Christmas and one for Kyler for his birthday; books; computer games and equipment; birthday gifts for family and friends; even a box full of blank birthday cards!!

I have sold items such as my children's outgrown clothing; books; computer software; crafts; beauty items; collectables; you name it!!

You remember that one special toy that you had as a child?? The one that was made when you were 5 and you haven't seen in any store since?? Check eBay. Someone may be selling it right now. As a matter of fact, my 11 year old daughter just came in and after reading what I just wrote, asked me if I could find a "singing Ariel mermaid doll" like she had when she was 3. Guess what?? Yep. It's there.

When I first started, I would guess only about half of the auctions had pictures of the items, but now the majority have photos so that you can see the actual item you are bidding on which can be a big help.

When you sign up with eBay, you choose a member name for yourself just like you do here at Epinions. Some people choose to have their member name the same as their email address, some don't want to broadcast their email address to everyone. My eBay member name is KKMOMDAD in case you ever want to look me up!! LOL

Security measures have increased a bit since I joined. For example, now you must type in your email address when you request the email address of another user. Before, you could just get anyone's email addy at any time, for any reason.

There are no charges for using the service if you are bidding on an item. However, if you are selling, the charges vary depending on the price of the item, how you would like your item shown on the site, how many pictures you'd like presented, etc.

Once you join, you will have a zero in parenthesis after your member name. This shows that you have no feedback yet. Feedback is a wonderful feature on the site. Once you deal with another member, be you a bidder or a seller, you can give them feedback to let everyone else know how the service was.

The choices are positive (which is the one you want!!), neutral, or negative. You also are able to write about 80 characters to describe your opinion about that person and how the transaction went. As you continue to use the site, you will gain more feedback, which is permanent and tells the other members whether you should be trusted or not. For example, after 2 years, my positive feedback rating is 202, just to give you an idea.

Once you browse and find an auction you might be interested in, click on the link which will take you to the page that gives you all of the information you need to make your decision. The page will show you when the item was listed, when the auction ends, the starting price, the current bidding price, the member listing the item, their feedback record, a description of the item (probably with a picture or two), what they charge for shipping, and what form of payment they will accept.

You can even find out what other auctions that member is currently listing, which is wonderful if you can find several other things you might want to purchase. Usually a seller will combine shipping to save you money. This can be a terrific deal when you consider how much it costs to mail just one item versus more than one.

Another wonderful feature is called "my eBay". You can set this up so that you can find your interests all in one spot. For example, you can easily get to a page that has all of your auctions you are selling, complete with most of the information you need at a glance. When the auction started, when it will end, your starting price, how many bids your item has received, current price, etc.

The downside to eBay is that you can easily get addicted!! Before you know it, you see tons of things you just have to have at better prices than you could find in a store. When the mailperson starts giving you dirty looks as they try to balance your stack of boxes for the FOURTH time this week, you may need to slow down a bit!!