Almost everyone now knows what Ebay is. For those that don't, it's an online auction website that is massively popular and still growing. It's great for people looking to pick up a bargain as well as selling things you don't need. It's also great for merchants. Ebay gives you the potential customers and the traffic. All you have to do is create an advertisement and sell your item. Ebay charges you a nominal amount to list your item and then takes a cut if it sells. If it doesn't sell then you can relist it again.

Here are 10 top tips you should follow when buying/selling on ebay. These are my own tips speaking from experience as a powerseller: -

1. Before buying anything expensive, check the merchants feedback. Check that they haven't built up a feedback rating on sand by selling cheap items. Fraud is not common, but it does happen. Do some detective work before committing to buy.

2. Pay by Paypal when purchasing items. If you don't receive your item or you have problems with the seller, you can contact paypal and launch a complaint/investigation.

3. If you have a bad experience on ebay, before jumping in and leaving negative feedback, contact your seller. Communication is everything and small misunderstandings can blow out of proportion.

4. Before listing an item for sale, check to see if the price you are trying to sell it for is realistic. Ebay market is competitive so if you try and sell the really obvious, be prepared to be in competition with merchants that have massive buying power to negotiate deals.

5. If you have an item that isn't selling, ask yourself why. Don't keep relisting it. Check your picture, check your description, check the category it's in and check the price you are trying to sell it for is achievable.

6. When dispatching an item to a buyer that has paid by Paypal, check to see if the address is 'confirmed' or 'unconfirmed'. If it's unconfirmed then you aren't protected by Paypal if anything goes wrong. You could end up being faced with a reverse transaction on your hands!

7. Make sure the picture of the item you are selling does it justice. Always take a picture!

8. If you sell regularly, invite your customers to sign up for your newsletter. Let them know about new products you have for sale

9. Always inform your buyers when you have dispatched their item.

10. If you haven't sent the item after a few days you will start getting emails asking where their item is they have paid for. Don't get into this situation - dispatch things quickly. If you can't do that, then let your customer know when they can expect delivery or they will start to worry.