eBay is the world’s marketplace! If you’re ready to turn your hobby into an online business, Marsha Collier knows exactly how to help. Packed with proven techniques for boosting your business, Starting an eBay Business For Dummies, 3rd Edition includes the steps to success that you’ll want to know.More than a million people are earning regular income on eBay. Those who are earning the most know how to set up a business, find and manage inventory, use auction management software to best advantage, get freebies on shipping, and run their businesses professionally. Marsha Collier was one of the first, and she shares all the secrets she’s learned. In this fun and easy guide to getting your online business off and running, you’ll discover how to: - Attract more bidders to your auctions
- Set up a professional business
- Find out what sells and what doesn’t
- Increase bidder confidence with strong listings
- Price your items to sell
- Reduce your costs by shipping more efficiently
- Work with a PayPal account and collect your money
- Understand legal issues such as taxes and licenses
- Keep appropriate records
- Improve your image with outstanding customer service
Marsha Collier has been so successful with her home-based business that she educated her daughter on the profits and today is one of the stars of the eBay community. Along with plenty of solid information and time-and-money-saving tips, she’ll give you the confidence you need to become an eBay entrepreneur. |
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270 of 285 found the following review helpful:
 In the immortal words of Dave Thomas -- Where's the Beef?!Mar 02, 2002
By Ryhms
"ryhms"
Trying to be positive, the best thing about this book is the exposure to some useful areas of concern and companies that I didn't know existed to serve eBay sellers (such as auction management sites and software, as well as the names of several payment service vendors). That, and the occasional nugget of useful information.
When I bought this book, I thought that Marsha Collier was going to reveal some powerful secrets behind eBay business success. Instead what I found was a high level overview of the various aspects of starting a business and of the eBay site. Even though she states upfront that the book is for people who already are familiar with eBay, at least 50% of the book details eBay services and options -- nothing that you can't easily discover from eBay online help for free. Why didn't she just recommend her other book, "eBay for Dummies" for that stuff! Also, several of the "Tips" that she gave online were pretty much common sense. Coming from a marketing background, I had hoped that she would apply some serious marketing strategies to selling online and share useful marketing statistics. I guess that was asking too much from a book geared for "dummies." Even worse, I felt that Marsha was often trying to sell her secrets and promote her own website rather than really help readers. An example is the "Ebay Sellers Lighting Kit" which Marsha will be happy to sell you (don't waste your money -- build it yourself)! This reader definitely got tired of the self-promotion and commercial feel of the book.
138 of 144 found the following review helpful:
This book pays for itself by increasing your eBay profitsNov 21, 2003
Don't even consider starting an eBay business without reading this book. It will pay for itself in no time by helping you avoid many of the pitfalls of new sellers. You will learn how to build more attractive auctions, write interesting and informative copy, take better photos, market your auctions well and provide top-notch customer service, all of which should increase your profits. Perhaps what makes Collier's book more valuable than that other eBay "Bible" is that Collier's wasn't employed by eBay, so she could be frank about things she liked and didn't like about the auction management tools provided by eBay, and she could recommend sites not affiliated with eBay. The chapter on auction management software seemed to be lacking. Numerous auction management programs are available, but some of the better ones were not mentioned, such as Inkfrog and Sparedollar. Collier does cover several of the larger auction management software providers, but after reading about several of them, it becomes difficult to differentiate between them. A side-by-side comparison chart summarizing the features would have been helpful. At first glace, all the programs seem the same. After looking into it, they can vary greatly not only in features but in price. Keep in mind that this book focuses on eBay, only. When you need basic business legal or tax info, don't rely on this book, because Collier doesn't cover it in depth. There are plenty of other resources for that information. Additionally, this book covers the basics of running a business on eBay, but there is more to learn regarding selling in SPECIFIC categories. One great resource is the eBay discussion board. There is a board for most of the eBay categories, and so much can be learned here. I sell clothing, and the eBay Clothing & Accessories Sellers discussion board is the portal where clothing sellers get together and help each other. Not a day goes by when I don't learn how to better my business from this group.
81 of 87 found the following review helpful:
Do not start an ebay business unless you read this first!!!!Oct 09, 2002
By ml
As a novice ebay buyer,the "selling" bug bit me. It takes some of us longer then others,haha I knew I would need more info besides the tutorials supplied on ebay. So I did my research and bought this book and ebay for dummies before I started selling to get the full picture. Thank goodness! This book in particular is LOADED with great time and cost saving tips for a start up business. Her writing style and humor is very comforting along the ebay learning curve. ebay is an overwhelming but vastly entertaining animal. She has done her homework, is brutally honest and frankly, gives you the "real deal". Hats off to Marsha!!Great job to a savvy business lady!
58 of 61 found the following review helpful:
 So Outdated!May 17, 2004
By Kimberly Adams
"WhitePineLane"
I'm sure this book might have been useful when it came out three years ago, but as a current eBay seller who just read the entire book, I have to say the information is so outdated it's laughable now. eBay has changed so much even in the last six months that many of the things the author discusses don't even exist anymore, and have been replaced by new eBay enhancements. I would estimate that 10% or less of this book was useful to me. A waste of your time and money until an updated version comes out!
61 of 65 found the following review helpful:
Disappointment, but a must haveJun 19, 2003
By Kati
This book is a must have, but I had expected more. The author gives you a lot of needed advice about shipping, organization, and finding a product. However, if you are looking to find out at what point you go from a hobby seller to one that needs a business lisence, or at what extent your income is tracked by ebay you are out of luck. If you are looking to find success stories of other ebay sellers you are out of luck. In general the book refers you to other web-sites (many of which are very helpful), however many of them are no longer in existance (not the authors fault, just how things are). I recommend this book for a starter, but I suggest you keep your hopes low...I think I'll invest in one of the other ones and see if it is any better...
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