Product Description

Starting An eBay Business For Dummies is the book eBay entrepreneurs have been dying to have -- all the tips and tricks of turning eBay trading into a full-time job are here.

This book covers the essentials an eBay user or budding entrepreneur needs to start a money-making venture by trading on eBay. Discover the essentials not only for maximizing your profits on eBay, but also how to run a smart business. This guide explains the enhanced features of eBay including their new Gallery feature designed to help business pull in customers by displaying their goods in individual online boutiques.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #364431 in Books
• Published on: 2001-12-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Review
"They started with collectibles from their closets and then realized they could make a living." (Reader's Digest, November 2002)

Review
"They started with collectibles from their closets and then realized they could make a living." (Reader's Digest, November 2002)

From the Back Cover
Get savvy advice on running an online auction business

Get nuts-and-bolts tips on inventory, payments, and bookkeeping

Buying, selling, and business tips from an eBay expert! Okay, eBay entrepreneurs — now's your chance! Let expert Marsha Collier show you how to use eBay to open and run a profitable online business. From acquiring the right products and jazzing up your auctions to auction management tools, shipping options, legal issues, and other nitty-gritty details, this friendly guide is your ticket to success.

Customer Reviews

In the immortal words of Dave Thomas -- Where's the Beef?!
Trying to be positive, the best thing about this book is the exposure to some useful areas of concern and companies that I didn't know existed to serve eBay sellers (such as auction management sites and software, as well as the names of several payment service vendors). That, and the occasional nugget of useful information.
When I bought this book, I thought that Marsha Collier was going to reveal some powerful secrets behind eBay business success. Instead what I found was a high level overview of the various aspects of starting a business and of the eBay site. Even though she states upfront that the book is for people who already are familiar with eBay, at least 50% of the book details eBay services and options -- nothing that you can't easily discover from eBay online help for free. Why didn't she just recommend her other book, "eBay for Dummies" for that stuff! Also, several of the "Tips" that she gave online were pretty much common sense. Coming from a marketing background, I had hoped that she would apply some serious marketing strategies to selling online and share useful marketing statistics. I guess that was asking too much from a book geared for "dummies." Even worse, I felt that Marsha was often trying to sell her secrets and promote her own website rather than really help readers. An example is the "Ebay Sellers Lighting Kit" which Marsha will be happy to sell you (don't waste your money -- build it yourself)! This reader definitely got tired of the self-promotion and commercial feel of the book.

This book pays for itself by increasing your eBay profits
Don't even consider starting an eBay business without reading this book. It will pay for itself in no time by helping you avoid many of the pitfalls of new sellers. You will learn how to build more attractive auctions, write interesting and informative copy, take better photos, market your auctions well and provide top-notch customer service, all of which should increase your profits.

Perhaps what makes Collier's book more valuable than that other eBay "Bible" is that Collier's wasn't employed by eBay, so she could be frank about things she liked and didn't like about the auction management tools provided by eBay, and she could recommend sites not affiliated with eBay.

The chapter on auction management software seemed to be lacking. Numerous auction management programs are available, but some of the better ones were not mentioned, such as Inkfrog and Sparedollar. Collier does cover several of the larger auction management software providers, but after reading about several of them, it becomes difficult to differentiate between them. A side-by-side comparison chart summarizing the features would have been helpful. At first glace, all the programs seem the same. After looking into it, they can vary greatly not only in features but in price.

Keep in mind that this book focuses on eBay, only. When you need basic business legal or tax info, don't rely on this book, because Collier doesn't cover it in depth. There are plenty of other resources for that information.

Additionally, this book covers the basics of running a business on eBay, but there is more to learn regarding selling in SPECIFIC categories. One great resource is the eBay discussion board. There is a board for most of the eBay categories, and so much can be learned here. I sell clothing, and the eBay Clothing & Accessories Sellers discussion board is the portal where clothing sellers get together and help each other. Not a day goes by when I don't learn how to better my business from this group.

Do not start an ebay business unless you read this first!!!!
As a novice ebay buyer,the "selling" bug bit me. It takes some of us longer then others,haha I knew I would need more info besides the tutorials supplied on ebay. So I did my research and bought this book and ebay for dummies before I started selling to get the full picture. Thank goodness! This book in particular is LOADED with great time and cost saving tips for a start up business. Her writing style and humor is very comforting along the ebay learning curve. ebay is an overwhelming but vastly entertaining animal. She has done her homework, is brutally honest and frankly, gives you the "real deal". Hats off to Marsha!!Great job to a savvy business lady!