As the name suggests, this term is used when referring to the end of an auction. The 'End Of Auction' e-mails your receive from eBay are also often referred to as, 'EOA notices'.

In online auctions (eBay), a seller has the option to place a reserve on his or her listing so that if the high bidder does not bid over the set reserve price, the seller is not obligated to sell the item to him or her. Reserves are becoming scarce these days with new auction methods appearing. More often than not, users will turn away from an auction if they do not know what the reserve price is. The benefits of using a reserve is that you can start the item at a small price which will save you some listing fees and viewers will attract more to auctions with a low starting price than a high one.

A term that has just recently surfaces in online auctions. Using eBay, sellers can now put a set price on their auctions so that a viewer does not have to wait for the auction to end to win it, they can agree to pay the seller the set BIN price and end the auction immediately. The auctions can also be bid on as normal, in the case that the BIN price is much higher than the current price.

This term is used to reference someone who bid on an item but never paid the seller (and in most cases, never even contacted the seller). In order to get your final value fees back from the auction and report the non-paying bidder to eBay, you first have to fill out a 'NPB Alert' and wait seven to ten days. If the bidder gets more than three offenses as non-paying, his account will be terminated.

At the end of any auction listed on eBay, a percentage of the total is deducted as the 'Final Value Fee'. Almost any time see the FVF discussed, it pertains to the credit they are trying to get back after having a non-paying bidder. In order to get back your final value fee, you first need to send the bidder a NPB alert and wait seven to ten days. Then you request the final value fee for that particular auction and eBay will credit your account.

This term references a previous user on eBay who is no longer a member (which can occur for a multitude of reasons). If you view someone's eBay profile and they have been suspended, you will see the words, 'Not A Registered User' next to their name. When a user becomes NARU'd, he or she can't sell or buy items, can't leave feedback, and can't use any other registration-required portions of eBay. In most cases, NARU's have violated multiple eBay policies or have invalid contact information.

This service is used by copyright holders and other property owners, to ensure that no sellers list items that infringe on their protection. If they come across auctions that violate their terms, they have the ability to get the auction pulled quickly. Multiple VERO offenses could result in the seller being indefinitely suspended.

Sniping has gotten ever so popular with auctions. If you bid on an item and aren't near your computer during the last minute or so, chances are you are going to get sniped and not win the auction. Sniping occurs when the user enters a bid amount to exceed yours within the last couple seconds of an auction, causing the previous high bidder to have no time to react. This can be done either by hand, or more commonly with a computer program. This activity does not normally bother sellers (as they get more money), but buyers are more than upset when they see they were outbid at the last second. EBay is not going to take any stand against Sniping services (at least for now).

This is an offense that not only can get you suspended permanently from eBay, but in some cases could get you in serious legal trouble. Shill bidding occurs when a seller has multiple accounts, and uses one account to bid up a different account's auction prices so the ending price is more than it would normally be. Practically all detected shill bidders will be suspended.

Protecting your intellectual property is becoming an increasingly important and difficult task in the online auction world. Many folks spend a great deal of time and effort to prepare quality pictures of their items and write-up detailed descriptions. However, there are also sellers that want to take the easy way out and will simply find a picture/description which matches their item, and steal it for use in their own sale. This is a reportable offense and can result in suspension of an account if abused more than a few times.