Recently I conducted a flurry of business via Ebay. Overall, it
ended up working out okay, though there were a few rough spots. Because
of my experiences, I've formulated these basic guidelines that help out
with Ebay (or any auction site). Hopefully they'll keep you from having
to learn these things the hard way.

1) NEVER try to buy computer equipment unless you know EXACTLY what you
want.

2) ALWAYS save the full web page of anything you buy. At worst, you can
just modify that to resell it if it turns out to not be what you wanted.

3) ALWAYS be speedy in transactions and e-mail. Even if it's not a big
deal to you, it probably is to the other person.

4) See the bit about Caveat Emptor? ASSUME NOTHING about what you're
buying. NOTHING. Five minutes before the auction closes is a little too
late to be asking.

5) Don't bid unless you mean it.

6) If you find out later you shouldn't have bid, be big enough to pay up
ANYWAY. See rule #2. You may even end up making money.

7) When selling, see if anyone else is selling something similar. See
what kinds of bids they're getting and use thier ideas. It's better to
rip a descriptive ad for the same item than to have a one-line no-ad.

8) Be honest about damage in your ads. People get upset about these
things - and caveat emptor doesn't mean that you get to be a jerk. (And
yes, I broke this one. And felt guilty about it and made a deal with the
buyer. So don't do it yourself!)