Virtually everyone who has access to the internet will have heard of eBay, the online auction site that allows you to buy items you want for really low prices. There are hundreds of categories, thousands of subcategories and hundreds of thousands of individual items for sale and if you want a bargain then this is the place to look.

eBay was one of the first online auction sites to be developed and today it’s one of the most popular throughout the world. There are of course hundreds of additional auction sites on the internet as well and although some of them aren’t as well known as others there are great savings to be made wherever you look.

So which are the best to use if you’re looking for real savings or you want to sell something fast? This will depend to a large extent on what it is you’re looking for or selling as some online auction sites are quite specialised. For general bits and pieces though we recommend trying the following sites:

eBay – obviously the first stop as it’s here you’ll find the biggest selection of items available. It is worth noting though that sellers on eBay have to pay an insertion fee for every ad they put on the site and a seller’s fee when the item sells. The seller’s fee is a percentage of the final selling price and so expensive items can cost a pretty penny to post online.

eBid – eBid works on the same lines as eBay however the site hasn’t reached the size and popularity of its mentor yet. The big bonus of eBid is that seller’s aren’t charged any fees for selling items and the final prices for many of the auctions are equally as low as on eBay. This is good news for buyers and sellers alike. The choice isn’t as big because the site is still growing and so it may be that more obscure items aren’t available here.

For really great bargains sites like madbid.com is worth a look. The items for sale are quite random but people have been known to get iPhones for £14, £50 worth of cash for 26p and brand new scooters for £2.37! The process of bidding on this site is tedious and you need real sticking power to get what you want but a bit of perseverance can get you the bargain of the century.

Not surprisingly, new online auction sites are popping up all the time and although some are very beneficial to your finances others aren’t and you need to make sure the site you’re visiting is genuine and trustworthy before buying anything. Saying that, you can get some of the best buys ever through online auctions so check them out first before going shopping in town – you never know what you’ll find until you have a little look.