Join Amazon Prime and ship Two-Day for free and Overnight for $3.99. Already a member? Sign in.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
41 used & new from $3.74

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
eBay Hacks, 2nd Edition: Tips & Tools for Bidding, Buying, and Selling
 
 
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don’t have a Kindle? Get yours here.
 
  

eBay Hacks, 2nd Edition: Tips & Tools for Bidding, Buying, and Selling (Paperback)

by David A. Karp (Author)
Key Phrases: sell your item, selling manager, send payment instructions, Completing Transactions, Turbo Lister, United States (more...)
4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

List Price: $24.95
Price: $16.47 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $8.48 (34%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Want it delivered Monday, July 20? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
22 new from $6.98 19 used from $3.74
Like this book? Find similar titles from O'Reilly and Partners in our O'Reilly Bookstore.

Best Value

Buy eBay Hacks, 2nd Edition: Tips & Tools for Bidding, Buying, and Selling and get PayPal Hacks at an additional 5% off Amazon.com's everyday low price.

eBay Hacks, 2nd Edition: Tips & Tools for Bidding, Buying, and Selling + PayPal Hacks
Buy Together Today: $32.12

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: eBay Hacks, 2nd Edition: Tips & Tools for Bidding, Buying, and Selling

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • PayPal Hacks

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Whatever you call it--an online auction house, the world's largest flea market, or a vast social experiment--no metaphor completely describes the huge trading community that is eBay. Underneath it all, eBay is also a computer program and a complex socio-economic system, requiring experience, finesse, and the right tools to master.

eBay Hacks, 2nd Edition has been completely revised and updated to make use of an array of new tools and features, as well as to reflect the changes in the eBay API, eBay's policies, and general practices of its increasingly sophisticated users. In all, the new edition of eBay Hacks sports 30 brand-new hacks plus dozens of hacks that have been expanded, deepened, or otherwise completely rewritten.

eBay Hacks shows you how to become a more efficient buyer and seller with clever tricks and shortcuts that will surprise even the most experienced eBayers. The book's wide range of topics covers all aspects of using eBay, such as advanced searching techniques, sniping tools, selling strategies, photography tips, and even research techniques for PowerSellers. But eBay Hacks doesn't just cover the basics; you'll learn how to write scripts to automate tedious tasks, take better photos, and tap into the eBay API to develop your own custom tools. Unlike any other book, eBay Hacks, 2nd Edition also provides insight into the social aspects of the eBay community, with diplomatic tools to help to get what you want with the least hassle and risk of negative feedback.

This bestseller supplies you with the tools you need to master eBay, whether as a buyer or seller, casual surfer or serious collector, novice or seasoned expert. With this guide, you will become a savvy power user who trades smarter and safer, makes more money, enjoys successes, and has fun doing it.



About the Author
David A. Karp, the author of the first edition of eBay Hacks, is also the author of eight other O Reilly books, including the Windows Annoyances series, Windows XP in a Nutshell, and Windows XP Pocket Reference. He also served as the editor for PayPal Hacks. He frequently writes for PC Magazine, in which he never forgets to plug his latest O Reilly book.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 463 pages
  • Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; 2 edition (June 2, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 059610068X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0596100681
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #314,019 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

    #9 in  Books > Business & Investing > Small Business & Entrepreneurship > Online Auctions
    #87 in  Books > Computers & Internet > Business & Culture > eBay

Inside This Book (learn more)

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?


Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
Check the boxes next to the tags you consider relevant or enter your own tags in the field below.
(2)
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
Help others find this product — tag it for Amazon search
No one has tagged this product for Amazon search yet. Why not be the first to suggest a search for which it should appear?

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

 

Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Good eBay Toolbook, July 27, 2005
By reviewer at HuNTUG (Huntsville Alabama) - See all my reviews
Author: David A. Karp

Description:
eBay Hacks by David A. Karp
Published by O'Reilly ISBN 059610068X
Reviewed by Jim Lauria-HuNTUG member

From the introduction: "Essentially, you'll find in this book the tools to help you trade smarter and safer, make more money, and have fun doing it."

This second edition-revised and updated to June 2005-provides the eBayer with tips and tools (aka hacks) for successful bidding, buying and selling on the premier online auction web site.

I found the hacks provided by the author to be extremely helpful and informative, easy to use and understand. As a long time eBay seller I had become complacent with the tools and techniques which I had been using for months or even years. This book has given me new ideas and approaches to make my eBay business better.

Karp provides clever shortcuts and powerful tools to do all sorts of neat things like create better titles, listings and descriptions to fancier photographs (Hack 74) and even how to cultivate a good reputation and protect yourself and your $ (Hacks 25 & 85). He also provides warnings about your safety, privacy and money matters.

Included is a chapter on eBay's Application Programming Interface, XML, Perl, PHP and RSS and development of custom software apps that can be worked in to one's own business apps and can also be passed along to others-hey maybe even for a small fee!

The book is well written with plenty of photos, screen shots and lots of code to get you up and buying/selling in quick fashion. 438 pages that read through really quickly and are packed with plenty of good stuff.

I would recommend this title for anyone-novice or pro-who is or would like to make or save some money using eBay or just to have some fun while selling your wares. The book lists for $24.95-less online.

I give this one 5 stars.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The "best practices" guide to eBay..., July 13, 2005
By Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
If you use eBay (as a buyer or seller), this is the "user's manual" or best practices guide that should be part of your signup... eBay Hacks by David A. Karp.

Contents: Diplomacy and Feedback; Searching; Bidding; Selling; Working with Photos; Completing Transactions; Running a Business on eBay; The eBay API; Index

Most Hacks titles consist of 100 tips and tricks related to the subject matter being discussed. In eBay Hacks, you get an extra 25 for your money. What a deal! :-) Regardless of whether you're a complete newbie to eBay or you actually run an eBay storefront, you'll find things in here that will save you time and money on a regular basis. Reading the chapter and hacks on feedback, I learned that there are ways to prevent negative feedback even after it's been given. Since so much of who you are on eBay relates directly back to your feedback rating, this can be a critical factor in getting buyers to trust you (or others to sell to you). The chapter on bidding went into the act of "sniping", or bidding at the last second, so that you can stand a much better chance of not being overbid at the last second. I didn't realize there are third-party services that will do this for you automatically. No wonder I've lost some things I really thought I had nailed. Karp even goes into how best to compose photos that will draw people to your auction rather than send them away for something that looks more appealing.

Obviously, you can use eBay without this book and information. I'm sure you'll do fine. But the first time you find an auction miscategorized (because you were looking for that condition) and you launch a bidding strategy that gets you the deal of a lifetime for next to nothing, you'll wonder why you waited so long. Good stuff here...
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Good for volume sellers, June 13, 2005
One of my favorite activities in my spare time is buying and selling on eBay. It has quickly become the world's largest virtual mall of just about everything you can possibly think of. When I received this book I was eager to learn some of the "tricks of the trade" and found a lot of useful material, albeit some of it is geared towards power sellers and not the average user.

The book itself is packed with 125 "hacks" for eBay, which can range from the basics (leaving feedback) to the more complex (setting up your own online check-out). A lot of the hacks give you tweaks and twists on the normal way of doing things, or take a task and show you a different, sometimes a little more dynamic, way of doing it.

Some of the more advanced topics will only be feasible if you are a powerseller. The author covers a lot of third-party tools as well, which can quickly run into the big dollars if you are just selling a few things each week. However, there is a fair amount of material devoted to the mom and pop sellers, like many of us are. One of the shining points of this book is that it does show you how to do a lot of tricks yourself if you are willing to roll up your sleeves and play around with Perl.

However, the book is for more than just sellers. A lot of tips are there for buyers as well. Such things as how to snipe effectively, and how to take advantage of bid increments in the auction to get the item for the lowest price. Even though the author is writing for both parties, the buyer and seller, he does a good job of not taking advantage of one over.

A few of the topics he covers can be a bit controversial, depending on how you look at it. Things such as withholding feedback and sniping can be frowned upon by some -- but it is all perfectly legal in the world of eBay and the author tells you how to take advantage of it.

Overall, a good book for those who want to get more out of eBay than just the casual buyer/seller. If you want to kick-start your eBay selling career, this is one of the books you will want to have to help guide you; Whereas if you want to learn the tricks of the buying game, you couldn't have picked a better reference manual.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
Ad
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have for the eBay seller.
Learn from an expert the inside operating tricks for eBay. Very technical but well worth learning these ideas.
Published 3 months ago by Quite Bright

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent investment for your money whether you are a buyer or a seller.
I have only read about half of the book so far and already I have used many of the tips and scripts. Read more
Published on September 21, 2005 by Nash Jaffer

Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
New! See all customer communities, and bookmark your communities to keep track of them.
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]


Active discussions in related forums
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
Blogging your way to health and wealth 0 10 days ago
   


Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)



Look for Similar Items by Category


$10 Instant Savings

Beauty Blender
Get a $10 instant rebate with orders of $100 or more on beauty products sold by Amazon.com. See details. Promo code: IOBeauty.

Shop all eligible items now

 

Best Books of 2008

Best of 2008
Find our top 100 editors' picks as well as customers' favorites in dozens of categories in our Best Books of 2008 Store.
 

Summer Reading for Kids & Teens

Summer Reading for Kids and Teens
Discover everything from beach reads and board books to teen romance and action-adventure series in Summer Reading for Kids & Teens. And, check off the kids' required reading lists in our Summer School Reading Store.
 

Best Books

Best of the Month
See our editors' picks and more of the best new books on our Best of the Month page.
 
Ad

 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Where's My Stuff?

Shipping & Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.

Continue shopping: Top Sellers
Free
Free by Chris Anderson
Paranoia
Paranoia by Joseph Finder
My Soul to Lose
My Soul to Lose by Rachel Vincent
Glenn Beck's Common Sense

Conditions of Use | Privacy Notice © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates