Starting an Online Business All-in-One For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Getting Started on eBay

Signing up for eBay is easy and free. Your account can be used to browse, bid, and sell on eBay. The main requirement is that you have to be 18 years or older. Just fire up your Internet browser and go to www.ebay.com and follow these steps:

1. Click the Register button or link.

   The Enter Information page appears.

2. Enter your personal information in the Tell Us about Yourself section.

   You're required to give your full name, address, phone number, and e-mail address, which eBay keeps on file if it needs to communicate with you.

3. Scroll down to the next section, as shown in Figure 4-1, and enter your user ID and password.

   Every eBay user must have a unique ID. Think of the ID as your name to the world for doing business on eBay. It can be a variation of your own name (such as johndoe1), the name of your business (mybusiness.com), or the name of a category where you plan to sell (buddyselectronics).

   Your password should be something that no one can randomly guess. eBay requires that your password be between six and twenty characters, and you should choose a combination of letters and numbers that isn't your user ID, family member's name, or a common word that someone can guess.

   eBay checks their database to see whether the name you want has been taken. If it's taken, eBay prompts you for information and suggests some ID names that are available. If the ID is not taken, you see a confirmation message, as shown in Figure 4-2.

   You aren't permanently stuck with ...