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The website eBay* is the biggest garage sale in the world. There's so much stuff available there that NASA has been known to scavenge it for rocket parts. But unlike your local garage sale, eBay doesn't have anyone standing there to answer your questions. It can be intimidating to bid in an auction and send money to stranger, especially at first.

If you're new to online auctions, or just want to learn more about how to buy from eBay, check out our simple guide.

Get Started
Before you buy or sell anything, eBay requires that you register for an account. If you intend on both buying and selling, some experts recommend setting up a separate account for each. That way, if you end up in a dispute with a seller while buying something, they won't be able to affect your own reputation as a seller. eBay tracks the feedback users give each other, so sellers with poor reputations aren't able to find many customers (more on that later).

Although you can search on eBay without registering, buying and selling require that you fill out your personal information.

The first order of business is finding something to buy. One option is to enter what you're looking for in eBay's search box. The site also categorizes items with precision. Looking for jade statuettes? There's a whole category just for that. The same goes for sousaphones, kilts and just about any other sort of thing you could be looking for. Browse these categories by clicking them on the left side of the main eBay page.

As mentioned above, a seller's reputation is everything on eBay. On the page for any item, you'll see its seller's reputation expressed as a percentage rating. Look for high ratings (near 100 percent).

Bidding on items
Once you've found something you like, there are often two ways to buy. "Buy It Now" lets you win an auction automatically in order to have an item shipped right away. This is great for time crunch situations such as gift shopping.

Normal bidding auctions, in which the user who offers the highest price wins the item, are the more common eBay transaction. In this style of bidding, you can enter the maximum amount you're willing to pay without worrying about paying more than necessary. EBay's system makes it so that you'll only have to pay enough to beat the other bidders -- even if the bid you entered was much higher.

Other users can outbid you (unless you selected Buy It Now), so pay attention to eBay's e-mail alerts. To keep closer tabs on your auctions, specify that eBay notify you when the winning bid changes with an instant message to your computer or a text message to your cellphone.

EBay can inform you about items of interest in a number of convenient ways.

If you find yourself bidding on lots of items, it can be hard to keep track of them all. Bookmark the My eBay page, so can track everything you're buying and selling from one simple place.

It can be tempting to do whatever it takes to win an auction, particularly for a rare item. Don't fall prey to bidding out of desperation! Buying items that aren't just right or choosing sellers with low feedback ratings is rarely worth it. If an item showed up once on eBay, chances are another like it will show up soon, and you're often better off waiting.

Pay for your purchase
Once you win an auction, it's time to pay up. Electronic payment is preferable because it results in your item being delivered the fastest. Paying by check works okay if you're not in a rush (however, the seller has to wait for the check to clear before they can ship your item). We don't recommend sending cash, since it can get lost in the mail or "lost in the mail."

Don't Get Scammed
Speaking of which, though the vast majority of people using eBay are legitimate buyers and sellers, scammers looking for a quick buck occasionally lure unsuspecting buyers into parting with money or revealing personal information. Here are a few security tips to help you avoid those scenarios.

• Before you respond to any e-mail from eBay, make sure the address ends with "@ebay.com." Phishing scams, which scammers pretend to be eBay asking for your account details, abound. EBay never asks for your personal information via e-mail, so don't fall for the scammers who pretend to be them.
• Pay attention to links that purportedly go to eBay, especially within e-mails. Often, they lead to fake sites with the word "eBay" in their web addresses. If you're ever in doubt about whether you are on eBay, close your browser, open it up again and enter "ebay.com" in the address box.
• Check not only the reputation of the seller, but also the number of items they have sold and the number of people who have given them ratings (both numbers easily accessible within the seller's profile section). A 100 percent rating doesn't mean much if it came from a single buyer.
• Out of the various payment options, Paypal* offers the best protection against fraud -- up to $2000 for a single item. If you use another payment mechanism, eBay protects you against up to $200-worth of fraud.
• Ask the seller as many questions as you feel necessary using the link in their profile box. This is not considered impolite. In fact, any reputable eBay seller will answer your questions promptly and accurately so as to avoid receiving negative feedback.