eBay the Smart Way: Selling, Buying, and Profiting on the Web's #1 Auction Site (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Chock full of information, strategy, and hot tips that are timely and effective. -- Small Business Opportunities Jan 2003 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

It's the world's largest marketplace: eBay! This smash-hit, on-line auction site has at least 1,200,000 items available right this minute. This "ultimate" marketplace is a great find for buyers--but for sellers it's a gold mine: a whole new way to sell products, find new customers, and make hefty profits.

Sellers learn how to: * Understand all the steps required to offer a product for bid * Follow the rules and properly record transactions * Plan and schedule auctions for maximum profits * Prepare text and photos that will work seamlessly in the digital marketplace, including: graphics, HTML templates, and proper use of digital cameras * Create a web site and link it to an auction page: This includes: photo retouching and photo collages; handling graphics formats; and an overview of two easy authoring softwares: Netscape Composer and Microsoft Front Page Express * Establish credibility--the heart and soul of success on-line * Create an organized, responsive approach to customer service.

It's also critical to understand the ins-and-outs of buying strategies, so the book explains the basics of bidding and timing, the different kinds of auctions, and third-party bidding software.

For anyone who wants to sell or market just about anything, eBay is truly a once-in-a-century opportunity!

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM; 1st edition (November 26, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814470645
• ISBN-13: 978-0814470640
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #307,293 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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

  #29 in	Books > Business & Investing > Small Business & Entrepreneurship > Online Auctions
  #74 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Business & Culture > eBay

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very fast and informative reading, December 15, 1999

By	Michelle Tully (Southern California) - See all my reviews

I found this book very informative reading. I have been buying and selling on ebay for the past year and Mr. Sinclair gave good common sense ideas that I had never thought about. He has taught me how to use ebay more to my advantage both in acquiring merchandise and selling items.

For those new to ebay he will give you great simple and basic instructions. For those of you more familiar with how ebay works, he gives you great strategy. I highly recommend this book.

93 of 97 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not if you're serious about starting a business..., October 3, 2002

By	Matthew T. McClellan "Kelly's Husband :)" (Fishers, IN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: eBay the Smart Way: Selling, Buying, and Profiting on the Web's #1 Auction Site, Second Edition (Paperback)

I ordered this book and 'Starting an eBay Business for Dummies' by Marsha Collier at the same time. I've already had some success with eBay auctions, and am seriously looking for some ideas to get an eBay business off the ground. While I found Marsha Collier's book to have a great deal of useful information, this book is more or less 550 pages of pretty useless information to someone already mildly savvy with the eBay process.

If you are new or just beginning with eBay, you might find this book useful, if you want to sit down and read about eBay at length. But the best way a new person will learn about eBay is to get out on the site and play around. Once you have bid and/or sold, I think you'll find that this book doesn't have a lot to offer you.

The only useful section of this book was the area that addressed buying/selling strategies. Not enough info for me to keep the book - it's currently on half.com... :)

71 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE book for Ebaying Smart, July 19, 2000

By	E. N. Cook "linedrivehit" (Montgomery, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

(NOTE FROM REVIEWER: I WROTE THIS REVIEW BACK IN 2000; EBAY HAS CHANGED SO MUCH IN 4 YEARS THAT SOME THINGS MAY NOT APPLY ANYMORE. FOR INSTANCE, THERE IS NO LONGER A NEED TO KNOW HTML LANGUAGE TO DRESS UP AN AD. WHAT FOLLOWS IS THE REVIEW AS WRITTEN 4 YEARS AGO.) I bought this book because I was interested in getting into ebay and it was the perfect book. Not only did it have the basic information that a beginner needs, but it is also a great reference tool for people who are seasoned (like I am now). I buy and sell on ebay and it has great tips for both buyers and sellers. It tells you the best way to bid to get an item for the lowest price. When to bid, how to know what to bid, how to outfox your competitors. I continually refer to the book when I am listing an item for sell to find out how to dress up my ads with bullet points, colored titles, and paragraphs (instead of the one paragraph that ebay allows you when you don't know HTML language). Mr. Sinclair tells you how to know what to set as the opening bid, when the best time to list an item is, and how to attract bidders. He also tells you how to deal effectively with other ebay members, inlcluding those who don't honor their bids. The book is full of inside tips that you can't find on the ebay tour online. I highly recommend the book to anyone interested in getting started with ebay, or a seasoned ebayer who would like to learn how to be a more successful buyer and/or seller. After reading this book, you can definitely do it the SMART way.