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eBay Tips: eBay Buying Formats
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January 2005 - eBay has issued the following fact sheet to aid new users:
eBay Buying Formats
Facts-At-A-Glance
eBay
eBay, the World's Online marketplace®, has evolved since its beginning in 1995. In addition to having more than 125 million registered users, eBay now offers a wide range of options for listing, bidding and purchasing items on the site.
Auction
The Auction format has been available since the beginning of eBay, and is the online version of the age-old practice of people putting items up for sale to the highest bidder. The Auction format adds an element of fun and excitement to the buying process. It creates a friendly-competitive atmosphere, and allows a seller to receive a fair price relative to the demand of their item.
Multiple Item Auction
The Multiple Item Auction format is similar to the standard Auction format, except it allows a seller to offer multiple, identical items in one listing. Bidders have the option of specifying the number of items they would like to purchase. The Multiple Item Auction format also allows several bidders to win, as more than one copy of the item is available.
Reserve Price Auction
A Reserve Price Auction allows the seller to secretly specify the minimum amount that they would be willing to sell their item for. Bidders can not see the specified amount, and to win the auction, the reserve price must be met, and the winner must have the highest bid. If the reserve price is not met, the seller is not obligated to sell the item.
Buy it Now
The Buy it Now Auction format allows buyers to skip the auction, and purchase an item immediately. When a Buy it Now icon is shown along with an Auction format, buyers have a choice - they can either purchase the items immediately and pay the set price, or they can chose to bid and enter the auction process. Be aware that by choosing to bid vs. buy it now, the Buy it Now option is eliminated.
Private Auction
When a seller chooses to make an auction private, the User ID's of the bidders are not displayed on the listing. The seller is only allowed to view the ID of the highest bidder during the auction, and only the ID of the winning bid when the auction ends. In a Buy it Now listing, the identity of the buyer is only shown to the seller.
  
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