I need some direction on where to go and look for information on how to build a site somewhat like eBay. Here's a description of what I am looking for:
People can sign in and sell an item for a set price for a small initial fee - no final value fee.
NOT Auction based - although people can make an offer on something for lower than the price it's listed for..

Features I'd need to figure out:
Sign in/register,
How to get money from them
Search feature - searchable only certain categories also...

And maybe if it's possible to do it with Joomla or Drupal what extensions I would need. I know a lot in xhtml and css but not php, so... the site I want to make is going to be quite a learning experience for me. Any help is appreciated, thanks!

http://www.phpprobid.com/

Set it up however you like.

Not quite what I'm looking for. I guess it's not really a site like eBay I want. No auctions are involved, just fixed priced listings.

Plus, I'd like to figure a way that's cheaper. I don't know whether my site will become successful or not and I don't have much to spend.

Most "Classified ad" type scripts can handle that sort of setup

BTW If your hosting has Fantastico the free version of Noah's Classified is probably available.

Yup, I was able to get Noah's Classified... looks like it could be nice to work with.

So, after some playing around with it a bit, do you know how I could charge people for how much they list something for? So lets say they want to list something for $4, and anything under $10 I charge $0.20 to list... then if they charge $10 and up they get charged $.35... and so on.

I also want to change it so when someone registers, you get to create the password verses Noah's Classifieds creating the password for you.

Also, I'd like to figure out how to add the search field right on the home page with a link to the advanced search option.

Originally Posted by 1nteresting

Not quite what I'm looking for. I guess it's not really a site like eBay I want. No auctions are involved, just fixed priced listings.

Plus, I'd like to figure a way that's cheaper. I don't know whether my site will become successful or not and I don't have much to spend.

You really won't get much better than PHPProBid as Chris suggested, it's affordable and well supported. If you only want fixed priced listings just turn off bidding then it'll work as you want.

http://gscripts.net/ ;-)