eBay 101: Selling on eBay For Part-time or Full-time Income [Paperback]

Steve Weber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 21, 2011

With today's rocky economy and unsteady job market, there's never been a better time to earn extra cash online. And now there's a new book that guides you each step of the way: eBay 101: Selling on eBay For Part-time or Full-time Income, Beginner to PowerSeller in 90 Days.

Access the world's biggest marketplace, right from your own home. You'll learn how to:

• Register at eBay and PayPal
• Start part-time and expand your income when you're ready
• Find great inventory at low prices
• Auction to the highest bidder or sell at fixed prices.
• Identify niche markets for big profits
• Get tax deductions for your eBay home-based business
• Guard against scammers and rip-off artists

Starting a business on eBay is perhaps your fastest route to the American Dream. The payoff can be high, and the barriers to entry are low. The world's most popular online marketplace, eBay has millions of registered buyers waiting to do business with you. For less than $100 and very little risk, you can start an eBay venture with profit margins rivaling those of any business. Exactly how much money you earn depends mostly on how much effort you put into your new enterprise and how efficiently you operate it

In this new eBay guide, you'll see:

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CONTENTS

~ INTRODUCTION

How eBay works |Before you begin | Get more help

READY, SET, SELL!

Register your business | Sell your item | Build your listing | Nail down details | Plan your auction | Make a picture worth $1,000 | Take great eBay photos | Get specific | Write a top-notch item description | Sell like a pro | Price your item | The auction alternative: fixed prices | Upgrade your listings | The best time to list | Top 10 reasons your auction stinks | Use My eBay

PROFIT WITH A NICHE

Win with niche selling | Cash in on collectibles | Trust, but authenticate | How to recognize fake autographs

GET MORE GREAT INVENTORY

Find overlooked gems at estate sales | Live auctions | Get merchandise on eBay | Get merchandise on consignment | Become a trading assistant

EXPAND YOUR BUSINESS

Create your 'About Me' page | Cross-promotions | Open an eBay store | Set up shop | Promote your store | Why many would-be PowerSellers fail

PREVENT PROBLEM CUSTOMERS

Be a feedback fanatic | Keep a good reputation | Communicate with a packing slip | Leave feedback for buyers | Handle customers right | Unpaid item dis-putes | Prevent unpaid items | Work with PayPal | Set your payment preferences | Take payments

AVOID SCAMS AND FRAUD | Spot shady buyers | Recognize predators | Beware of hoax e-mails | Avoid drop-ship, wholesale scams | Recognize crooks and middlemen | Know a fake from the real McCoy

PACK IT UP, MOVE IT OUT

Ship efficiently | Communicate when you ship | Pare shipping costs to the bone | Sell Get It Fast Items | Handle delivery snafus | Print online postage | Organize your inventory

SQUEEZE MORE PROFITS

Get efficient with fulfillment software | Software for media sellers | Research prices wirelessly | Market research tools

STAY ON EBAY'S GOOD SIDE

More eBay rules | Prohibited and restricted items | More eBay no-nos | Stay on Uncle Sam's good side | Your business's legal structure | Local ordinances

MAKE FRIENDS, SELL MORE

Profit with stunts and gimmicks | Tag, you're it! | Get buzz | Making friends on MySpace | Communicate on MySpace | Work it good | MySpace best practices | Save time on MySpace | Network some more | Work the net | Marketing with widgets

GET YOUR OWN PLACE

Get involved | Master your domain | Build blocks | Bait search engines | Be dense | Lengthen your lease | Wait for results | Earn side revenue | Use social search | Get vertical

GET MORE FREE ADVERTISING

Bank articles | Avoid backfires | Get really simple | Protect your content | Blog for business | Discover blogs | Connect with readers | Value input | Get style | Get raw material | Write your posts

PAY FOR ADVERTISING

Use Google AdWords | Using adMarketplace, Clickriver | See the future of PPC

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Praise for Steve Weber's eBay 101:

"I wish I'd had this book when I started on eBay. It's a virtual encyclopedia of tips for selling successfully on eBay-information that takes years to learn."

-- Jane Corn, eBay Top Reviewer

"A street-smart guide to selling on eBay!"

-- Ina Steiner, Editor, AuctionBytes.com

"Ideal for the beginner and useful for the experienced eBayer, too--a gold mine of valuable and up-to-date information!"

-- John Landahl, author of "Estate Sale Prospecting for Fun and Profit with Craigslist and eBay"

"What I really like about eBay 101 is that Steve has actually done this stuff. Too many people claim to be "experts" who haven't really sold that much. eBay 101 comes from someone with real-life experience making money on eBay."

-- Skip McGrath, eBay Gold PowerSeller and author of "Titanium eBay"

"Anyone who is interested in online retailing should do themselves a favor: get a copy of eBay 101 and read it cover to cover."

-- Jeff Lippincott, Top Reviewer, Amazon.com

Product Details

• Paperback: 254 pages
• Publisher: Weber Books; First Edition edition (July 21, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0977240630
• ISBN-13: 978-0977240630
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,729 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #24 in Books > Computers & Technology > Internet & Web Culture > eBay
  • #64 in Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > Retailing
  • #78 in Books > Business & Investing > Small Business & Entrepreneurship > Home Based

More About the Author

Hey, thanks for visiting my page.

I'm Steve Weber, publisher of Kindle Buffet, which is a free website, newsletter, and app that displays Kindle books offered free during temporary promotions. I also have a book called "Kindle Buffet" (Guess what? It's free!). It's one of my several nonfiction tomes about bookselling and collecting, publishing, authorship, book marketing, and social media. You can check out all of my books right here on this page.

I'm from Charleston, West Virginia, and currently live in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.

In college I studied Journalism -- BS, 1987, West Virginia University (Let's Goooo, Mountaineers!) I was pretty green back then, and I figured a career in newspapers was just the ticket for a guy such as myself who enjoyed writing but had no ideas of his own.

After working several years as a reporter and editor, I started a home-based business selling used and collectible books online (mainly on Amazon). Five years later, I wrote my first book based on that experience: "The Home-Based Bookstore." It's a short book but it took me a long time to write it. I'd never written anything longer than 25 paragraphs or so, and had never used an outline since grade school. I still don't know how to use one. Maybe that's why it takes me so long to write, and all my books read like an upside-down pyramid ;-)

Recently I've been fascinated with publishing my books on the Kindle, and all the other great books available. I'm especially keen on checking out each day's free Kindle books, of course. They're irresistable, like candy or free beer. Or, as one Kindle Buffet reader put it, "They're like potato chips. Nobody can download just one."

I started Kindle Buffet in the summer of 2012, and it draws on my experiences in book-picking, interviewing, writing and publishing. I feel like I have a knack for recognizing what other people might want to read, and talking them into doing it. I figured it would take just 20 minutes a day to update the site and, for a while, it did. Just as with everything else I do, it ended up taking about 25 times longer than I'd figured. So these days I've got about 20 minutes left in my day after I've finished with Kindle Buffet.

A lot of people ask me how I manage to do it all. "Steve," they say, "how can you possibly read 60, 70, 80 books a day, seven days a week?"

My reply is always the same: "Doesn't everybody? I mean, c'mon, they're FREE! There's no excuse not to!"

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

102 of 104 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of three books on eBay retailing that I highly recommend. Get all three so you will know how to become a Powerseller! February 6, 2008

By Jeff Lippincott VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

This is a really good book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. And I think anyone who is interested in online retailing would do themselves a favor to get a copy and read it cover to cover. The author is an online retailer. And he has written four books over the past couple of years. So he's an author, too. All four books have covered aspects of his online used book business he started not too long ago. For some reason he becomes expert at doing things and then he writes books on what he has discovered works in business. This book is no exception.

There are 15 chapters in this book:

1. Introduction
2. Ready, set, sell!
3. Profit with a niche
4. Get more great inventory
5. Expand your business
6. Prevent problem customers
7. Avoid scams and fraud
8. Pack it up, move it out
9. Squeeze more profits
10. Stay on eBay's good side
11. Stay on Uncle Sam's good side
12. Make friends, sell more
13. Get your own place
14. Get more free advertising
15. Pay for advertising

I've skimmed a number of books on eBay retailing over the past couple of years. Unfortunately I haven't read too many I liked. Most of them seem to be hyping eBay as some great place to make a fortune. The instant book being reviewed is different. The author tells us early on that $40,000 a year on your own is a reasonable figure to expect selling on eBay.

Although I'm not a big fan of online retailing, I think many people can benefit from getting involved with it. EBay makes it easy for someone not self-employed to dabble in retail sales while holding down a full time job. And if that person finds a niche that can be made profitable, then that person very well may become self-employed at some point in the future and quit their day job.

Ebay also is a wonderful tool for existing bricks and mortar retail shops to use when slow moving inventory needs to be moved quickly or fazed out. And then eBay can also be used to support a service business known in some circles as an eBay Trading Assistant Shop where products are sold on consignment.

This book is not just about eBay retailing. It is also about self-promotion and promoting one's business and products online. And chapters 12, 14 and 15 regarding online marketing and how to do it to help your eBay sales is probably what makes this book especially unique as far as eBay books go. The other two books about eBay that I have reviewed on Amazon are 1000 Best eBay Powerseller Secrets (ISBN: 1402208057), and The eBay Entrepreneur (ISBN: 141958328X). Each book covers the topic a little differently and comes from a different perspective. If you are seriously interested in becoming an eBay retailer, then I HIGHLY recommend you get copies of all three books and devour them. 5 stars!

151 of 157 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I've been a Powerseller on Ebay so I know the information in this one is stellar and here's why February 18, 2008

By K. Corn TOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

I read this book from cover to cover, amazed (and wishing I'd had this one with me when I STARTED on Ebay). What author Steve Weber has done with this book is to gather the information that can take sellers years to learn and created a virtual seller's encyclopedia of tips for selling successfully on Ebay.

What this means to you - the potential seller on Ebay - is the chance to hit the ground running, avoid embarrassing blunders and come across as a professional seller, minimizing fumbles and keeping your customers happy and your profit margin...extremely profitable.

For the relatively modest price of this book, you'll get the expertise of an Ebay seller who has racked up $1.4 million dollars in sales to 130,000 customers. I"m surprised by how much he was willing to disclose, the kind of secrets many sellers hold near and dear.

Not only that but Weber had the wisdom to let other top sellers and users weigh in. They have written specific articles on such important areas as taking great photos, writing top descriptions, 10 major auction mistakes and how to milk market niches for maximum profits (rare fishing lures, vintage clothing or old video games are some examples.

Before you create your first listing, Weber suggests you do some research that I'd call "due diligence" or "taking a trial run to get a feel for Ebay." How do you do this? By being a buyer and actually bidding on items or using the Buy it Now feature to purchase 10 items. I think this is brilliant strategy, allowing potential sellers to get a feel for the buyer's end of things. You'll get a feel for dealing with someone you've probably never met face to face and the sense of novelty that comes from using an online auction site. Once you've been in a buyer's shoes, you have instant knowledge that should make you a better seller.

I wish I had the space to describe all the sections and related material in this book. From registering as a user to timing your auction, expanding your business and finding inventory, Weber explains every aspect of the Ebay selling process.

Consider this: he started out with $80, bought four bags of items and doubled his investment after selling only half of those items! From there he went on to sell enough to move from a tiny one-bedroom apartment to a nice house, all by himself. He makes a convincing case for the fact that if he can do it, so can you. I'm convinced, especially since I've used similar techniques and I know they work - and work well.

PLEASE NOTE: I have had the pleasure of reading and reviewing another of Mr. Weber's books, Plug Your Book. I'm including that information here for full disclosure but I have not ever been paid for any reviews of these books and my opinion is expressly my own. Both books are wonderful. If you are a writer, bookseller or interested in exploring ways to market yourself, books or sell on Ebay, Mr. Weber's books are "must reads". eBay 101: Selling on eBay For Part-time or Full-time Income, Beginner to PowerSeller in 90 Days

56 of 59 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A great learing tool. January 31, 2008

By Lance H. Schmidt

Format:Paperback

My husband and I have purchased and sold on ebay a few times but never realized until reading Mr.Weber's book eBay 101, how little we actually knew about the process of buying and selling on ebay. None of the chat rooms designed for this very thing have provided half of Mr. Weber's Knowledge and suggestions. We now realize our past mistakes and are very anxious to put into motion our newly gained knowledge. This book will definitely help us earn more money by selling on ebay without being so confused!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Anne Schmidt