Quite honestly, if you haven’t tried e-bay.co.uk yet, you are missing out – not just on a shopping experience, but also on some genuine fun.

It isn’t the only online auction house, but it is by far the biggest; its worldwide operating profits for the beginning of 2004 stood at $621 million.

Its mission is to allow “practically anyone to trade practically anything” and there are literally millions of items listed on the site every day. It makes money because it works. Past performance showed a book sold every four seconds, a laptop every 30 seconds, a pair of shoes every 35 seconds and a motorcycle every 18 minutes.

But remember, that Internet auctions aren’t run by an auctioneer – they are run by software that puts a seller in touch with buyers. When the auction sale deadline is met, the prize goes to the top bidder.

That means they that the obligations on an auctioneer don’t apply to an online auction. Bear in mind that you are not buying from an auction house; you are buying from an individual, and all the website has done is put the two of you in touch. As such the website probably can’t be held responsible if anything goes wrong. You will need to check the terms and conditions.

Things do occasionally go wrong:

• You pay, but the goods don’t arrive
• You sell, but the payment doesn’t come through
• The item you bought was nothing like what was described – or is in poor condition

Don’t go in blind

Make sure you read all website’s Terms and Conditions before you buy or sell anything. They should give you information of the site’s liabilities, (some sites do provide users with limited compensation in certain cases) as well as tips on what you can do if things go wrong.

Is the seller reputable?

The major auction sites show feedback on a seller’s previous behaviour; that means you can see whether or not he or she has given cause for complaint in the past. If you happened to buy a second hand mobile phone from someone who has just mugged a child in order to get it, you would be unlikely to get your cash back if it failed to work on the mobile network you want.

Don’t be afraid to ask

If you want to know more about an item before bidding on it, then you have the right to ask the seller for additional detail.

Don’t overbid

Before you buy take a look around on the web and see what kind of price is paid for a similar item. Set yourself a limit on how much you want to pay – then stick to it.

Remember the delivery

If you win the auction you will have to pay for delivery of the item. The seller should include the price of postage and packing in the description, but if not, ask for a cost. If you are buying something large, delivery charges could actually be larger than the value of the item.

Check how to pay

Some buyers take cheques, but they will wait until it has cleared before sending you the item, and that will delay delivery.

Many now rely only on online payment systems that are tied into banks, like PayPal (www.paypal.com), and that means you will have to have an account with that clearing house before you can pay up. If you are paying by credit card, make sure that your details will be kept secure, and of course your card issuer may offer some protection against fraud.

Online auctions now work so well that they have revolutionised the way that big businesses, and even government, put jobs out to tender. The buyer names a date and time and invites a handful of suppliers to log on to their auction website. The suppliers then bid for the contract.

For links to a range of online auctions, take a look at our Auction Sites (www.uknetguide.co.uk/Shopping/Online_Shops/Auctions.html).