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December, 1999; updated 6th January, 2008. The internet offers you a myriad of ways to build your own collection of books and magazines by helping you get connected to a whole range of like-minded collectors and enthusiasts who you otherwise would not meet. The internet also exposes you to books not available in your own country. And all this, from the comfort of your own PC! One of the most interesting and useful developments on the internet has been the growth of online auctions. Online auctions allow anyone on the internet to buy and sell everything and anything in fast-growing local and international markets. Online auctions have been a huge boon to collectors for two reasons. First, it helps collectors to find that key item for which they have long been searching -all of a sudden, that 1948 1st edition you have been wanting is available from a seller in Fremantle or Manchester or Iowa, and you can access it from your computer. Second, because all the trading is done in an auction format, you never pay more than the 'market price' - you never pay more than the market is willing to bear.
How
1. Go to www.ebay.com.au . Take a look round and just get a feel for what you can find on the site. You can either browse your way through various categories (on the left hand side of the home page) or enter a specific search. 2. You will see that you have the option on eBay to search and browse via three different modes which are designed to help you sort through the world of eBay! You can either search for items that are being auctioned in Australian dollars, items that are located in Australia but are being auctioned in any currency, or finally, any items that are available to Australians (that is, if the seller -wherever they are - is willing to sell and ship the goods to Australia). 3. Hopefully you will also notice that eBay is much more than merely auctions. eBay prides itself on the strong community that exists on the site around the different categories. Great friendships are formed on eBay! The best example of this are the extensive chat boards that exist on the site. You can meet other book and magazine collectors, for example, on the chat board located at: http://cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBoard&name=books. You will notice that browsing the
site is free. If you want to buy and sell or want to put
a comment on the chat boards, you need to register on
eBay. Registration is free and is an easy three step
process: (b) eBay will now send you a confirmation email to your email account. This email contains a 'code'; that enables eBay to confirm that your email address is indeed yours. (c) With the code, go to http://pages.ebay.com.au/services/registration/reg-confirm.html. After you have read the eBay User agreement (which is designed to protect all eBay users), you will be asked for your email address, the confirmation code, a new password. Finally, you will be asked whether or not you want a User ID. Your User ID will be the name you trade under. This does not have to be your real name, but can be a nickname, your shop name -just about anything! This will be the name that people know you as on eBay. You should now be registered on eBay. You
can now start trading and contributing to the community
on If you have problems with any stage of the registration process, or if you have any questions at all about eBay, you can email eBay's customer support staff who are available 24 hours a day to answer your queries. Email them at: ausupport@ebay.com |
