How to buying from Ebay

How buying works

Buying items on eBay is easy, whether by bidding on an auction-style listing or purchasing straight away with Buy It Now.

If you're having an issue with an item you've already bought, take a look at our article on returns, missing items, and refunds

There's two types of listing on eBay. Buy It Now listings let you pay a fixed-price and buy the item immediately, while auctions let you bid on an item and try to win it for a lower price. Whether you've bought an item straight away or you're bidding on a listing, you can keep tracking of all your buying activity in your Purchase History - opens in new window or tab.

Whether you're new to eBay or an experienced eBay shopper, on this page you can find links to all of our most important buying articles. We've separated the articles out into sections below to make it easier to find what you need:

1. How to buy
2. After you've bought an item
3. Other buying articles

How to buy

Buy It Now is the simplest and easiest way to purchase an item on eBay. You'll see the blue Buy It Now button on most listings, allowing you to pay for the item right away without bidding or waiting for the listing to end. This option is available whenever the seller has set a fixed-price for the item. When you select this button, you agree to pay the seller's asking price, and can go straight to the checkout page.

All about bidding

Auction-style listings give you the chance to bid on an item to try and grab yourself a bargain. Bidding on auctions can be a lot of fun, and features like automatic bidding can help make winning an auction even easier.

Buying as a guest

You can buy items on eBay if you're not signed into your account or even if you don't have an account at all. Once you've bought your item, we'll keep in touch by email and help you keep track of your order. The same protections and guarantees apply to guest orders, so you can always shop safely on eBay.https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/buy-now/buying-works?id=4002#section1