Can someone give me a solid explanation on how eBay works?

[Guy]

most listings on ebay aren't auctions (http://www.businessweek.com/articles/201...for-that), and those that are often include a buy it now option, where you can buy without bidding. ebay is overly-associated with auctions by those who don't have experience with it.

they do ship to your house, you don't have to meet them. there are listings that give you the option to pick up the item yourself if you're local, but that usually either isn't offered or won't matter since you won't be local.

the vast majority of sales on ebay are going to take place through paypal. a few listings say that they also accept credit cards, and fewer still say that they only take credit cards.

in order to not get a fake product you'll want to see how many negative reviews a seller has, check what country it's from and check whether it has a suspiciously low price, which are all options a few clicks away when you're on ebay.
and in order to have your item arrive for sure, you'll still want to make sure the seller is credible in those ways, but also you'll want to make sure the item has a tracking number, so that when you open a case on ebay it can be proven that the item didn't arrive (the only way to make sure is to contact the seller ahead of time, as in the vast majority of the cases nothing is stated about tracking in the listing). most of the time, though, if a seller has any reviews from customers at all it'll indicate that they have a history of items reaching their destination.