Customer Reviews

eBay for Dummies

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This review refers to "ebay For Dummies" (4th Edition) by Marsha Collier....

I did alot of "window" shopping over at eBay, but never actually got up the nerve to bid, buy or sell over there. I felt real safe here at Amazon. I saw so many items over there that I was interested in(you name it..they got it!), but was just afraid of jumping in. Was it safe? Would I wind up with something I really didn't want? How do you know when and what to bid? If your selling, how do you go about that? etc. etc...

This book answered ALL those questions and much, much more. Even this book itself was intimidating to me when it first arrived. There was sooo much 'stuff' in it. Did I have to know ALL that before i could hang out at eBay? So I just started glancing through it and realized what a treasure chest of info it was. Pretty soon I was reading it chapter by chapter just because I found it all so interesting.

"eBay for Dummies" covers it all. From the very basics...getting a feel for eBay, how to sign up,getting the "lay of the land", getting info on the seller, and bidding, to putting items up for sale, completeing cyber paperwork, shipping and dealing with buyers and sellers.There are chapters on rules and a safety program, bidding stategies, and there's even one on how to present the best pictures of your items if you are selling.

Yes..I was afraid..I was very afraid..but there's no better feeling than going into something armed with knowledge, even if you are a newbie! And you don't need to read it cover to cover to get started. It's easy to look up and find answers to questions you have to get started, and it'll always be there as a refrence as you go along and become more comfortable.You'll be a biddin' and a buyin'(and maybe even a sellin')in no time at all. Be careful though..you may get hooked!

Thanks Marsha Collier for this great fountain of new age shopping information for beginners. I'm not afraid anymore!

Go For It...Laurie

I have always considered myself a fairly proficient eBay-er, but this book has helped me fine tune my habits. It may not be as helpful to more experienced user, but is definitely great for the beginner to intermediate user.

This book breaks down buying and selling point by point, everything from how to find exactly what you are looking for to a bidding practice called 'sniping' (which I use A LOT!). It also has lots of eBay's rules and is incredibly easy to read. There is really not much more I can say about it than that.

I've been selling on Ebay for a while and I picked up this book hoping to find some help with making my selling work better. That is really not the focus of this book so I can't fault it for not finding what I wanted. However, if you're a newbie to Ebay and want to find out what's going on without actually logging on and clicking all of the buttons, then this is a good starting place. Like all "Dummies" books it covers the basics but doesn't go very deeply into anything. And truthfully, you can learn 98% of what's in this book just by logging onto Ebay and clicking around. Ebay really is pretty easy to use. Oh yes, like most Dummies books they load it down with lame jokes. I just wish they'd leave that ... out. In summary, not an outstanding book but good at what it's designed to do.

Ebay is great for buying things and I have been selling a few items. This book covers all the little details that are easy to forget. I find myself jumping around from chapter to chapter, looking up things I need to clarify. The answers are all there, and I keep the book next to my computer. I'm selling more on ebay now, and the tips I got from the book are helping me get higher prices for my items then I did before. Even though ebay is constantly changing - this edition is updated with all the new features.

This book is very well written and will give you a lot of instruction on how to use eBay that will save you lots of time. To find out how to sell products on eBay I would recommend Marsha's other book Starting an eBay business for Dummies in addition to this one. I recently became a millionaire buying and selling on eBay in my spare time in addition to my academic work and I can tell you its not that hard. You do have to know the secrets though and this book includes a lot but left out the biggest one. There is a software tool called www.powersnipe.com. eBay auctions are often lost in the last few seconds of the auction because the majority of people wait until the last seconds to place their bids. This tool bids for you at the last second and ensures you win, a big time saver and the biggest key to success.

Why grab up this newly updated and expanded fourth edition if you already have the last version? Because ebay is an ever-changing, dynamic, evolving, expanding website incorporating many new changes in recent years, and it's essential for any successful online auctioneer to have the latest update to techniques. From bidding successfully and winning to selling successfully, collecting money and shipping, Ebay For Dummies assumes no prior ebay experience and provides all the details necessary to succeed.

I have been selling and buying on eBay for a little while now and wanted to expand myself. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I covers practically everything. From starting up, to buying, to selling, to shipping, to feedback and more. It is eBay made simple! Very informative. There is so much useful (and also very basic) information in here. If you are wanting to start using eBay (or are not very experienced with it), I definately recommend this book.

I purchased this for a family member who wants to get into eBay selling, and I'm really on the fence about what I want to say about it.

On the one hand, I've given it 4 stars because it does very well address all of the things that someone will encounter and have to deal with / learn when they get involved in eBay selling.

On the other hand, it doesn't tell the person that I purchased it for anything different than I've been telling them myself all along, nor anything that they can't easily learn in 5 minutes of actually reading a page online.

So I guess to sum it up I'll say this:

If you know someone who refuses to simply read the help section on eBay or PayPal's web site, and/or if for some reason that won't simply sit down with you while you show them how to do one auction from start to finish, then yes maybe this book is the answer and the one thing that will finally get them motivated. Maybe reading it in a book, rather than on a web page or sitting with you telling them, is less intimidating to them and this might be exactly what they need.

This is not a book for hard-core eBay users, but if you're just getting started, it is absolutely the best (even if you're not a "dummy"). You don't need anything more than this quick-reading, but sufficiently detailed, introduction to the site. The author writes clearly and simply, and manages to work in a lot of humor. All the basics are covered here.

Why go anywhere else? This is the book I recommend to all my friends.

As an eBay beginner I found this book extremely useful. It's written by three eBay experts, and has something for everyone, whether you are a beginner like me, or a pro. It's full of tips that teach you how to spot the really good stuff, bid to win, and complete smooth sales transactions. You'll learn how to time an auction for maximum exposure, create persuasive sale pages, spot trends, and research buying and selling advice. I am a fan of all the Dummies books I have purchased and this is no exception.