Amazon.com For Dummies [Paperback]

Mara Friedman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0764558404 | ISBN-13: 978-0764558405 | Publication Date: January 19, 2004 | Edition: 1

If you’ve surfed the Web more than once, you’ve probably visited Amazon.com. Originally you may have gone there searching for books, but Amazon.com is so much more than a bookstore. The author of Amazon.com For Dummies®, who has been involved with the site from its beginnings, describes it as a shopping mall/home improvement store/bazaar/travel agency/newsstand/car lot, but most importantly, a community of buyers and sellers—people like you.

Countless opportunities exist for those who join this community, and Amazon.com For Dummies® gives you a smorgasbord sampling of what they are and how to take advantage of every one. For example, you can

• Set up an account and buy things
• Bid on an auction
• Sell your items
• Personalize your shopping experience
• Open your own online “store”
• Join the Amazon.com community

Written by Mara Friedman, who has held several positions with Amazon.com including marketing communications manager, Amazon.com For Dummies® takes you from your first venture into the Amazon all the way to making money from your Amazon.com experience. Discover how to

• Find your way around the marketplace and scout out the best deals
• Get local movie showtimes, view restaurant menus, chat with other shoppers, send free e-cards, or sign up for a free reminder service
• Track orders and manage your account
• Browse specialty shops and check out international merchandise
• Take advantage of reviews from other shoppers
• Set up and use wish lists—for yourself and your friends
• Create your own online Zshop, set the right prices, and take photos that help sell your items
• Take advantage of the Amazon.com Advantage or become an Associate

Whether you’re a complete novice who’d like a guide to help you with your first online purchases, or a longtime Amazon.com shopper who wants to become an online entrepreneur, Amazon.com For Dummies® has what you need. Use it today to get started, and tomorrow to help you manage your own successful online business.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Now, let the record show that Amazon.com is not, in fact, for dummies. It's good to see that Amazon.com for Dummies has finally arrived on our virtual shelves. This book will introduce even experienced Amazon.com customers to some of the less obvious features of the online emporium, such as corporate accounts, travel services, and the super-fun Friends & Favorites area. Read and learn from Mara Friedman how Amazon.com can provide you with information and (through zShops and the Associates program) make you money.

Friedman briefly covers Amazon's collection of Web Services, which are utilities available to programmers who want to embed Amazon.com functionality (like book searches and popularity monitoring) in their own applications. What's here is clear and stylish (and sometimes funny), and will certainly make you aware of features you don't know about yet. Amazon.com is unusual as a business in that it rewards exploration and study. This book acts as your guide through the electronic aisles. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to locate and buy the things you want. How to advertise and sell the things you have. How to meet people and have fun on Amazon.com.

Review

Everything is presented in a step-by-step manner, so anyone can master the world of Amazon. -- Practical Web Projects, March 2004

“Everything is presented in a step-by-step manner, so anyone can master the world of Amazon.” (Practical Web Projects, March 2004)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 340 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (January 19, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764558404
• ISBN-13: 978-0764558405
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #602,545 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars well done but redundant??, May 3, 2004

By 

Deborah MacGillivray "Author," (US & UK) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Amazon.com For Dummies (Paperback)

My friend sent this book to me because they know how much I order from amazon - last count it was over 1400 items in a little over two years. I send gifts around the world from amazon, love their gift certificates, am an amazon associate for my website. So they thought it was a cute gift. The book is very well done, and tells you all about the ins and out of many of the amazon features, but....all this information is already here on the amazon website - FREE.

Why would someone pay for a book that is slightly, ripping off amazon's own words? Oh, well, as the commercial review said, they have arrived...

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for all budding online business tycoons, March 3, 2004

By 

Jonathan R French (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amazon.com For Dummies (Paperback)

This book has proven to be such a valuable asset to success in online business. I wish I would have had this years ago. it is very easy to understand, and in the classic dummies book fashion, gives you the info in a way that allows you to go back and forth like the best reference books. A must!

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Selling Sections Open a Whole New World, February 16, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Amazon.com For Dummies (Paperback)

I bought this book as a gift for my grandma because she wants to do more online than email and read her newspaper, but when she went to Amazon.com the first time she had an anxiety attack and needed me to come over to help her. I don't have time to deal with this stuff, so I bought her the book.

But before I drove it over to her house I took a quick look. I must say, what I didn't know about Amazon was a lot. I do a lot of checking out reviews for products before I buy them and take a look at favorites lists (which I think is called listmania) and I thought that was all there was to it. The book, though, goes into the whole selling side of Amazon. It talks about Zshops, auctions and Advantage. The coolest thing, though, that I found in the book was this thing called Associates which is basically a referral program. You link products from your site and Amazon pays you a percentage of sales. There's a blurb in there about a gift site that doesn't sell anything but just provides info and recommendations and stuff and links from these products to Amazon. This site makes approximately $30,000 dollars a month in referral payments from Amazon. This got my wife and I scheming on how we could get in on this. I have web development skills. I can do this. Maybe then I can quit my day job.

A cool book all around.