Customer Reviews

The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I sell professionally on ebay, and when I tell people what I do for a living, many times they'll laugh or think that I'm not serious. But this book "gets" that there are lots of us out there who are serious about selling on ebay - we run legitimate businesses with real inventory, real employees, and real profit and loss - we aren't just cleaning out granny's attic for some extra cash. This resource is a true asset for people like us. It addresses some serious issues about selling on ebay and earning a living doing so. It's about so much more than what people usually consider "marketing" - it includes tangible plans for building a comprehensive small business plan and strategic planning for the future success of the business.
The tools chapter is also fantastic - they've done a really comprehensive review of all the tools available. The chapter on writing good item descriptions is also great. I've always struggled with description writing, but the authors disclose the secrets that advertising pros use to write good ads, and I'll be darned, it works great for ebay too!

I like this book a lot -- as you can tell by the stars. Most of the eBay books out there are kind of offensive, in that they show you how to do some basic things that are pretty much second nature to most of us. You have to wade through pages and pages of kindergarten lessons to get to any meat.

Anyone with a few months of selling on eBay doesn't need a eBay "how-to" book. This one, however, takes you much further - into the areas and concepts that advertisers have been using for decades to get us to buy all kinds of stuff. It covers visual design and advertising writing techniques that help you actually get more $ out of bids. There's discussion of the psychology behind the tips. The tools chapter alone is probably worth the price of admission. The customer retention advice and strategies are really helpful - I'll bet very few sellers employ even a fraction of the ideas they offer. All good stuff. The best eBay book I've read so far. And I've read a lot.

The title of this book makes it sound like a white-paper or a report, but it is really 200+ pages of conceptual, well-written marketing advice. Each "step" is actually a high-level concept and each forms a different section of the book. Each "step" is then broken down into many significant concepts and terrific bits of advice.

I think the people who will gain the most value from this book are those (like me) who have had some experience selling on eBay, but maybe have had to wing it a bit and maybe have not been doing things as effectively as they could. This book approaches eBay selling from a marketing perspective and doesn't deal very much with the actual mechanics or "Nuts and Bolts" of selling. This alone makes it worth its weight in gold for anyone who is running web-based businesses without the benefit of formal marketing training. Having said that, this book is also very accessible to those who have not yet sold on eBay (but you might need supplemental material).

Often when you have a collaborative work written by 3 different authors, you end up with 3 different writing styles intermingled and that can create a 'bumpy' reading experience. But this books flows amazingly well and reads very smoothly.

This book is very current! There are a lot of books out there on the subject of eBay, but unless the book is reasonably current, it may not provide up-to-date information. This is because eBay has undergone a lot of changes in the past few years. But this book is hot off the presses; it just became available earlier this month.

Perhaps the best part of this book is that you can take the information and apply it elsewhere. While it is written with the eBay seller in mind, the concepts are global and can be used in just about any business.

One of the authors (Phil Dunn) maintains a blog centered around this book where you can read excerpts from the book. At a price that is barely more than a few eBay listings, this is an amazing value.

I have been selling on Ebay for over 2 years. But after reading this book I realize how little I knew about marketing my product. This little gem contains very valuable information about making the most out of Ebay's competitive marketplace. This book is interesting to read and gives clear step by step instructions for changes you can make to Market your Ebay items. Like I said, I thought I knew a lot about Ebay but I was surprised by how much I learned from this book!

The information on shipping, visual design, and customer retention was excellent. I was also blown away by all the secrets that advertisers use to get business going. This book uncovers a lot of the mystery that surrounds marketing and persuasion. It's full of very practical tips that I would have
never thought of on my own. It's also a bargain when compared to some of the other books on eBay. I bought it for $11.53 (with free shipping when combined with some other books I needed).

I have sold approximately 300 items on Ebay over the last couple of years, ranging from the inexpensive up to the fairly expensive (laptops, etc.). I wish I had this book back then!!! I definately could have sold my items for more money, and more quickly. I definately recommend this book if you are thinking about selling on EBay.

Buying this book should deffinitely be one of your steps on your road to eBay success. One page at a time, I am getting there...only about a month with eBay selling and I, put up a store front, created my about me page, customized my settings for invoices and emails to customers, and made over $400 dollars in sales...not bad for a rookie just getting through the details. Hope it will flow smoother once all the details are out of the way. [...]

This is a good work on the mechanics of selling on Ebay. The authors recommend the following steps:
- establish a unique niche or specialization on the net
- decide on a target market and sell to this market
- understand the product and the pricing scheme
- review the competition and their pricing

There are specific tools cited by the authors. i.e. Turbolister or Selling Manager Pro

Terapeak Marketing Research, Smartcollector and Irfanview are
additional research tools. The book stresses the need to
utilize a professional delivery service; such as, Fed Express.
Successful marketers usually place copies of their URL everywhere. There are special font managers; such as,
FontFreak or Acid Fonts.

Scarce goods may be sold on Ebay, flea markets, swaps obscure
manufacturers or foreign suppliers. Exotic auctions are at
[...] or eCommerce-Guide.com.

This book would be very useful for anyone seeking to sell on the
internet. It explains the pitfalls and opportunities in plain
English.

I've been selling on ebay since July 2005. Part time. I've read 8 books on ebay. This is one of the Best. I have not had time to use the info in it. But have tried to impliment some of the tips. It is full of great ideas and sources of the kind of information one needs to be successful on ebay. I highly recommed it.

This book, published in 2005, has some decent tips on attracting traffic to your items and how best to use graphics and fonts to create an online image four yourself. And there are some basic details about cross-selling and 'finding your niche' that are timeless.
But most of what is useful has also appeared in more recent books, and eBay and online selling has changed so much in the years since this was published that I think you'd be better off just finding one of those newer books on eBay or online marketing.
For more in-depth book reviews I've done, search for goldenrulecomics on the Squidoo website.