eBay is one of the main players in the internet auction market. It has auction sites all the world and owns PayPal, Skype and several other online businesses. It was founded in 1995 as AuctionWeb but changed to eBay in 1997.

Sellers can list just about any item on the site (apart from illegal or restricted items) in a number of formats, such as auctions, buy-it-nows and storefront items.

A single item auction can be listed at a starting price with bidders raising the price. The bidder can specify a maximum amount and eBay will automatically bid the lowest winning value possible, rising up to that amount as others bid. The auctions run for set periods of time, such as 1 day, 5 days, 7 days or 10 days.

A multiple item auction is similar, but there are multiple identical items on offer and everyone pays the lowest winning amount. Bidders can bid on one or multiple items.

Auctions can also have a buy it now price. If nobody has bid yet, a buyer can pay the buy it now price and win the auction outright. Items can also be sold as just buy it now without an auction.

Businesses can open an eBay storefront and offer many items on long duration buy it now just like a normal web shop. eBay Express takes the concept further and operates just like a normal web shop.

Sellers pay a listing fee to list an item, plus extra fees to get their item featured, include extra photos or add a 'buy-it-now' option. They also pay a final value fee which is a percentage of the winning bid.

The Feedback system allows buyers and sellers to rate each other on transactions (as positive, negative or neutral), providing an indication of how reliable a buyer or seller may be in a transaction. There are also policies and processes in place to protect buyers from being conned and sellers from buyers who don't pay. These are not always applicable or successful though.

Because eBay owns PayPal, it is tightly integrated into the auction system, allowing you to send and receive payment for auction items with ease. It is eBay's recommended payment method. The seller may have to pay a fee to receive a PayPal payment if it is made by credit/debit card or they have a premium account.

There are also several other 'Community' features, such as the ability to write a 'MyWorld' page, submit your own reviews, post to message boards and keep blogs.

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