Customer Reviews

eBay Business All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers))

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There are now something like a half million people making a living from selling things using eBay. In this one book Ms. Collier attemts to tell everything there is about settin yourself up in such a business. It's about as complete a book on the subject that could be written.

My first advice is: "Before you sell, go buy some things." She talks about finding things to buy using eBay's various search tools. She also gives out some of the little secrets such as searching on mispellings. For instance searching for "motherboard" right now finds 5328 entries. Leaving out the "a" and searching for "motherbord" finds five entries that aren't getting much action. One "motherbord" has two bids, one penny and six pennies.

After that you're ready to sell things. This book is mostly on selling thing (check your spelling). And every aspect from signing up as a seller to getting payment (Paypal and other), to setting up your own store is included.

The section on getting products to sell is as good as you could expect in a general book, but you're going to have to work this out yourself as you will need to specialize in something. What that specialty is doesn't much matter, but you've got to find some little niche of your own. That's got to include what will sell and where to get more at a good price. Don't get me wrong, her comments aren't incorrect, just generalized.

This is a very comprehensive book. Much of the information you will already know if you have bought on eBay. Although it is a large volume, it will answer all your questions and give pieces of information you would not have thought of or give multiple choices to chose from. I think it is a great book and find doing all the reading well worth finding those "gems" of information that can make a difference in working on eBay. The more time put into the checking (whether a buyer, seller, looking for an item, etc.) the more successful an eBay business will be. A successful business is never done overnight and the author obviously didn't become successful without having done her homework and expended the effort to make it work.

If you're on a tight budget, much of what she tells you is actually explained on eBay in the "Site Map", but you can't spend ALL your time online! For example: I wanted to have my own domain outside eBay. Marsha provided a springboard saving me hours of research time. I ended up with one of her suggestions. That tip alone has saved me beaucoup $$. Ideal for beginning to intermediate sellers.

CON: this deals only with eBay. I find selling on Amazon often to be the better choice. Also no mention of Overstock nor Yahoo.

This author is one of the current gurus in the area of making a ton by selling stuff on eBay. I've been registered there for almost a decade myself, buying books and stamps at first, and then selling them. I was never out to amass a fortune, the way Collier and so many others seems to be, but I've made a slow and steady income and I've been happy with that. Since I taught myself how to do all that stuff back when eBay was still a relatively site, I've never felt the need of a how-to book, but a colleague recommended this one so I decided to take a look at it. Not bad, not bad at all. While enthusiastic (because it's required by the publisher of this series), Collier manages not to get carried away too often. For instance, she will suggest good online business practices, then confess that she seldom follows this one or that one herself. I didn't find anything I didn't already know in the "Basics" section (which was kind of a relief), but she has some interesting things to say about researching goods on the Web, whether you're buying or selling, and some subtle points about the way PayPal works which I hadn't really thought about, and so on. The author also has a strong background in marketing and sales and what she has a number of thoughtful things to say regarding the application of that experience to eBay, things that us humanities majors have never had to learn. So, while I won't follow her advice on using QuickBooks, and I don't expect to open an eBay Store, I certainly put a lot of bookmarks in this fat volume for future reference and rereading.

This is a really big book. Lots of great info on everything from how the "pros" sell on Ebay, to finding merchandise to sell, to shipping your stuff, to how auctions are best presented, to becoming a powerseller.

I got some really good info on "tools" I can use to make my auctions run more smoothly. Automation software that takes away a lot of the legwork I was having to do. That was very helpful and a real time saver.

There is some good stuff on finding hot niches to sell to, but for that, I recommend Quit Your Job (and Never Go Back) - How to Create, Start, & Market an Online Business for Under $500 in 30 Days or Less, which goes a little bit deeper into the subject and helps you work through the process in a "workbook" format. The right product is essential to success, so definitely check this one out.

For automation and making auctions easy though, this Dummies guide can't be beat. Tons of great info in this thing. In fact, a bit too much, if you ask me. I would have liked to see this divided into more specific topics, getting really deep with each one. For an overview though, it's wonderful. At the least, you'll discover what you want to read more about.

Although you will find yourself needing a lot of time to read it, I think this book has all what you need to know about ebay. either to buy or sell. It is very informative and easy to read. I recomend it.

If you are like me where your computer skills are limited to e-mail interaction, the thought of starting any level of an ebay business is not only overwhelming, but terrifying to say the least. This all-in-one desk reference for ebay DUMMIES ( that's me ) is a series of 9 in 1 books by Marsha Collier. Marsha's savy style and humor makes reading this daunting book a true pleasure! The reader is literally taken step-by-step through every process illstrated with pictures ( if your mind lags in grasping a particular concept.) This masterful book has it ALL ebay basics, essential tools, selling like a pro, presenting your items, promoting your goods, storing and shipping just to name a few topics. A personal favorite of mine is the art of " sniping " which consists of outbidding your competition in the very last seconds of an auction providing a true adrenaline rush for the casual or hardcore ebayer.This book answers every conceivable question the reader may have about ebay. Its loaded with helpful tips and personal secrets making the reader feel like this book was written specifically for her or him. This book is a true testament to why Marsha Collier continues to be the leading expert in the ebay world and instilling her gift of confidence to any DUMMY like me. Whether your desire is to start an ebay business or merely become a savy educated casual ebayer; this book is without a doubt the " MUST HAVE " bible of the ebay world ! On a personal note, have your highlighter and sticky notes ready when you start this wonderful journey into Marsha's ebay world !!

The usefulness of this book is not like the size of it. It does not provide step by step instruction on how to create an online ebay store nor how to sell on ebay. This book mentions some concepts such as dropselling, consignment, but it doesnot show me where to source electronic merchandize. Although the book itemizes a bunch of wholesalers, none of them provide useful products and sell them at discount. Therefore, the books does not help readers to gain cost advantage. I wish there is any books showing how to minimize handling and shipping cost so that I can offer customers free shipping as Amazon.com and some Ebay sellers do.

I have used eBay for a couple years selling and buying only a handful of things. When I happened upon a supply store closing down, I bought this book to help me become a much bigger novice user of eBay. I can hardly finish reading the book since my sales have boomed with the help of the book so far. Although the book is slightly dated, there is nothing I have searched for in the book that I have not found the answer and more. This is a great book to help you become a very profitable eBay super user.

I was hoping for a book that showed me the inside scoop on eBay, helping me to avoid the pitfalls and difficulties of simply learning as I went in eBay itself. Some inside tips, and so forth, to make it easier to get started using eBay. Not much in this book to that end. It's easier and faster to simply dive into eBay and do what you want to do: start buying to learn how to buy, start listing items and selling to learn how to sell. It's just as easy and faster to simply go for it then to wade through this tome which has very little to offer that you can't easily do on your own in eBay without help.

There is also lots of strange advice that makes no practical sense. One example: bidding strategies. It goes on for pages about bidding - how to get to know the bidders that you are competing against, analyzing what time of day they bid (!), timing your bids, etc. What a waste of time! Just trying to make the book bigger? Finally, she mentions "sniping" at the end of the auction and hints that it's really the best and only way to bid. So why the previous pages? Anyway, sniping is obviously the only strategy you need but that would only take a few sentences to explain so she had to come up with lots of other absurdities to fill space.

That's one example. There are more. Overall I would say the book was a waste of time.