Absolute Beginner's Guide to Ebay - Softcover

Miller, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0789729288 ISBN 13: 9780789729286

Publisher: Que Pub, 2003

Synopsis

On any given day there are more than 7 million items listed for auction at ebay (www.ebay.com), the world's largest online trading community. At the end of its last fiscal quarter, ebay had 49.7 million registered users, more than double the number of users just two years previous. It is estimated that $9.3 billion worth of merchandise, in more than 423 million individual auctions, was traded over eBay during the year 2002. To an absolute beginner, using eBay can be an intimidating experience. What do you need to do to participate? How do you place a bid? What do you do when the auction is over? Can you really trust the auction seller? Potential buyers and sellers need a book that takes them step-by-step through the eBay auction process and helps them become more successful over time. That book is this book: Absolute Beginner's Guide to ebay. Also included is information of value to ebay users wanting to make the jump to power-seller status.

About this title

About the Author:

Michael Miller is a top eBay seller and a successful and prolific author. He has a reputation for practical, real-world advice and an unerring empathy for the needs of his readers.

Mr. Miller has written more than four dozen how-to and reference books since 1989, for Que and other major publishers. His books for Que include Absolute Beginner's Guide to Computer Basics, Special Edition Using the Internet and Web, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Auctions, and, with Jim Louderback, TechTV's Guide to Microsoft Windows XP for Home Users. He is known for his casual, easy-to-read writing style and his ability to explain a wide variety of complex topics to an everyday audience.

Mr. Miller is also president of The Molehill Group, a strategic consulting and authoring firm based in Carmel, Indiana. As a consultant, he specializes in providing strategic advice to and writing business plans for Internet- and technology-based businesses.

You can e-mail Mr. Miller directly at abg-ebay@molehillgroup.com. His Web site is located at www.molehillgroup.com.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Introduction

Introduction

eBay is a true phenomenon.

In 2007, eBay transactions defined a new economy worth more than $59 billion. Read that number again; it's not a misprint. Fifty-nine billion dollars. That's $59 billion in sales that didn't exist before eBay. Fifty-nine billion dollars of transactions that appeared seemingly out of thin air. Fifty-nine billion dollars in merchandise that wouldn't have been sold otherwise.

Where did that $59 billion come from? It came from you and from me and from 248 million other people around the world who log on to the eBay site to buy and to sell all manner of merchandise. Before eBay, there was no global marketplace for the 248 million of us; there was no way to buy and to sell that $59 billion of merchandise, except for small local garage sales and flea markets.

eBay made that $59 billion happen. eBay brought 248 million of us together.

In doing so, eBay became one of the first—and maybe the only—of the online businesses to make a profit from day one of its existence. eBay kept its costs low by not actually handling any of the merchandise traded on its site, and generated revenue by charging listing fees and sales commissions on every transaction.

Smart people, with a smart concept.

And here's somebody else who's smart about eBay:

You.

You're smart because you bought this book to help you learn how to buy and sell merchandise on the eBay site. You know that you need to learn how eBay works before you can start buying and selling, and you also know that a little extra knowledge can give you the edge you need to be a real auction winner.

Absolute Beginner's Guide to eBay, 5th Edition, will help you get started with eBay auctions—even if you've never bought anything online in your life. Read this book and you'll learn how to bid and how to sell, and what to do when the auction ends.

More important, you'll learn how to maximize your chances of winning important eBay auctions—without paying through the nose. And if you're a seller, you'll learn how to stand out from the crowd and generate more bids—and higher selling prices.

You'll also learn that buying and selling on eBay isn't that hard, and that it can be a lot of fun. You'll even discover that you can actually make a living from your eBay activities, if you don't mind a little hard work.

Really!

How This Book Is Organized

This book is organized into five main parts:

• Part I, "Welcome to eBay," shows you how the eBay marketplace works, how to sign up for eBay membership, how to find your way around the eBay site, and how to protect yourself against eBay frauds and scammers.

• Part II, "Buying on eBay," tells you everything you need to know about bidding for items in eBay auctions, as well as buying fixed-price items in the eBay marketplace. You'll learn how to search for items to buy; how to bid in online auctions; how to find and purchase fixed-priced items from eBay Stores, eBay Express, and Half.com; how to pay for your purchases; how to place last-second "snipes" to win eBay auctions; and how to avoid getting ripped off by unscrupulous sellers.

• Part III, "Selling on eBay," is the flip side of the coin. This section tells you everything you need to know about selling on eBay. You'll learn how to create auction listings, sell items for a fixed price, determine what payment methods to accept, create great-looking product photos, and pack and ship your merchandise.

• Part IV, "Becoming an eBay Power Seller," is for the really ambitious eBay user. You'll learn how to research eBay sales, manage your auctions with various auction management tools, sell and ship internationally, open a Trading Assistant business and how to turn your hobby into a full-time profession—and make a real living from your eBay auctions.

• Part V, "Participating in the eBay Community," is all about interacting with other buyers and sellers. You'll learn how to manage your eBay activity with My eBay, create your own About Me and My World pages, read and write reviews and guides, and mix it up with other users in eBay's discussion boards, groups, neighborhoods, and blogs.

Taken together, the 30 chapters in this book will help you get the most from your eBay experience. By the time you get to the end of the final chapter, you'll be buying and selling online just like a pro!

Conventions Used in This Book

I hope that this book is easy enough to figure out on its own, without requiring its own instruction manual. As you read through the pages, however, it helps to know precisely how I've presented specific types of information.

Web Page Addresses

There are a lot of web page addresses in this book—including addresses for specific pages on the eBay site. They're noted as such:

http://www.molehillgroup.com

Technically, a web page address is supposed to start with http:// (as in http://www.molehillgroup.com). Because Internet Explorer and other web browsers automatically insert this piece of the address, however, you don't have to type it—and I haven't included it in any of the addresses in this book.

Special Elements

This book also includes a few special elements that provide additional information not included in the basic text. These elements supplement the text to make your learning faster, easier, and more efficient.

Caution - A caution tells you to beware of a potentially dangerous act or situation. In some cases, ignoring a caution could cause you significant problems—so pay attention to it!

Note - A note provides information that is generally useful but not specifically necessary for what you're doing at the moment. Some notes are like extended tips—interesting, but not essential.

Tip - A tip is a piece of advice—a little trick, actually—that helps you use your computer more effectively or maneuver around problems or limitations.

Mike Sez - This element is my personal opinion or recommendation regarding the topic at hand. Remember—I might not always be right, but I'll always have an opinion!

Finally, in various parts of this book you'll find big checklists. Use these checklists to prepare for the upcoming task—just check off the items on the list, and you'll be ready to go.

Further Reading

I'd be somewhat remiss if I didn't point you to further reading on the subject of eBay—in particular, books you can read after this one to help you be even more successful with your eBay auctions. To this end, I draw your attention to several other books I've written that you might find useful:

• Easy eBay (Que, 2005), a four-color, step-by-step guide for easily intimidated eBay newbies.

• eBay Auction Templates Starter Kit (Que, 2006), a book-and-CD combo that shows you how to create eye-popping auction listings, by using either ready-to-use auction templates or by creating your own templates with HTML.

• Tricks of the eBay Masters, 2nd Edition (Que, 2006), which assembles 600 tricks and tips from almost two hundred successful eBay buyers and sellers—great advice that any eBayer can use.

• Tricks of the eBay Business Masters (Que, 2007), which includes the best tricks and tips from successful eBay businesses of all types and sizes—just the thing you need to ramp up your eBay business to the next level.

• Making a Living from Your eBay Business, 2nd Edition (Que, 2006), which shows you how to turn your eBay hobby into a profitable business. (This one's more of a business book than an eBay book—just what you need to turn pro!)

And if you're interested in turning your eBay sales into a real business, check out Starting a Successful eBay Business, a LiveLessons DVD video tutorial for all budding eBay businesspeople!

Let Me Know What You Think

I always love to hear from readers. If you want to contact me, feel free to email me at abg-ebay@molehillgroup.com. I can't promise that I'll answer every message, but I will promise that I'll read each one!

If you want to learn more about me and any new books I have cooking, check out my Molehill Group website at http://www.molehillgroup.com. Who knows—you might find some other books there that you'd like to read.

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Que Pub
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0789729288
• ISBN 13: 9780789729286
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 367