The Ebay Survival Guide: How to Make Money and Avoid Losing Your Shirt

This book was excellent and very informative. At first there was so many to chose from but I am positive I made the right choice. It is not expensive and worth every penny. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in either buying or selling on ebay.

Are you a frequent buyer or seller on eBay. If you are, this book is for you. Author Michael Banks, has written an outstanding book that is a nonconformist, irreverent, and realistic handbook for both buyers and sellers. Banks, begins by presenting an overview of the organization and structure of eBay, along with what it offers and the basics of how it works. Then, he covers the basics of participating in eBay auctions. The author continues by introducing you to the basics of searching on eBay. In addition, he also shows you how to combine basic search techniques with Search commands and unconventional techniques to conduct truly high-powered searches. The author also considers the relationship between value, price, and demand, and looks at some methods for calculating prices. Then, the author takes a look at how you can fit the profile of the ideal seller, and how to handle those less-than-ideal buyers you may consider. Next, he shows you how to decide what you are going to sell. Next, the author suggests how you might go about finding items to sell on eBay. Then, he explains how to go about creating a successful auction. The author continues by showing you how to write copy on eBay. In addition, he covers how to relist an item and how to improve your chances of selling it. The author also presents an overview of things you should know before you bid and buy on eBay, focusing on dealing with sellers. Then, he answers questions about bidding and tracking auctions, along with information about techniques and tools you can use to win consistently. Next, he presents some approaches to getting those auction items you've lost. Then, the author covers the steps and options involved in paying for and getting your items. The author continues by looking at some common scams and downright illegal activities that take place on eBay. In addition, he looks at several types of products that aren't what they appear to be. Finally, the authors shows you how you might go about getting information about an eBay member, through eBay and other channels. This excellent book shows you how eBay works; how to find things on eBay; how to bid effectively and win; the best times for buying and selling; how to draw bidders without spending a bunch on eBay auction features; how to spot shills, fraudulent sellers and deadbeat buyers; and, a lot more. In addition, you'll find information about how to handle the offline aspects of online buying and selling, and some useful information about using the Internet in general.

If you've never used eBay before you'd be silly to do so without first picking up 'The eBay Survival Guide' by Michael Banks. Even if you've been using the auction site for years you will also benefit from the information found in this book. 'The eBay Survival Guide' starts out, not surprisingly, with an overview and history of online auctions and of eBay itself. It then moves on to how the site works and also provides some great tips and techniques for finding items you want. Even though I've been using eBay since 1999 I found it interesting to go back to the beginning and get an overall sense of what's really happening on one of the biggest sites on the internet. The next major section of the book is geared toward those people who are using the site to sell things. That brings up a point worth mentioning. This book is for both sellers and buyers on eBay. It's a 'survival guide' for all users, not just a "how to make lots of money on eBay" book. I'll look at the section for buyers in a minute. The section for sellers includes suggestions for creating better listings, when to relist items, how to deal with problems that may arise and so on. It's loaded with screenshots, so you're not just reading about eBay you're seeing what things will look like when you use the real site. I think a great many sellers would benefit from reading Chapter 10 called, "How To Create Listings That Sell". Banks points out the many pluses that come with writing effective descriptions and titles for your auction items. Next comes the section for buyers. Again there are lots of screenshots that really help bring the examples to life. And there are more than just a few examples. The book is obviously written from a great deal of personal experience not just clinical research. Banks' anecdote about the historic airplane photograph and negative (page 186) is proof of this. In presenting it he helps illustrate best practices for bidding, outbidding and sniping. Here's an area where I had some experience but again felt that the book either reinforced some of the things I already knew (making me feel more confident in bidding) or suggested things I should be doing but wasn't (like spending more time researching other bidders). Near the end of the book he discusses how not to get ripped off using eBay and in doing so exposes some of the uglier sides of the site. This is important information though and helps buyers and sellers better understand what can go wrong and how to avoid it. Throughout the book Banks writes in a clear easy-to-understand style that feels like a friend sitting down to explain eBay to you. Despite the fact that the guide is about an internet website it feels not at all like a computer textbook. Its short concise sections make finding the information easy and learning from it even easier. You should find it easy to pick up the book and skip to whatever section is currently most relevant to your eBay activities. The well-written index also helps

eBay has truly redefined the landscape for buying and selling. Now everything you can think of has a market, and it's virtual. If you haven't tried to buy or sell on eBay before, or if it's just been an occasional thing, you might want to check out The eBay Survival Guide - How To Make Money & Avoid Losing Your Shirt by Michael Banks. Contents: Part 1 - How eBay Works: What You'll Find on eBay; How eBay Auctions Work; Finding Stuff on eBay - The Basics; Finding Stuff on eBay - High-Power Searches; What Is It Worth? Part 2 - eBay For Sellers: Seller Do's and Don'ts; Figuring Out What to Sell; Sources of Items to Sell; Listing Items - When and How; How to Create Listings That Sell; It Didn't Sell Part 3 - eBay For Buyers: Buyer Do's and Don'ts; Bid to Win!; How to Turn a Loss into a Win; Paying for and Getting Your Items Part 4 - How Not To Get Ripped Off And What To Do If You Do: Shills, Sleazes, and Seller Scams; Bogus Products and Moneymaking Scams; How to Investigate Other eBay Members; eBay-Speak - Abbreviations and Acronyms; Index This is probably one of the most complete books on using eBay that I've had the chance to review. It's not overly large, so it's not intimidating when you first pick it up. The progression of information follows a very nice logical flow. Learn about eBay, learn what to do in both the buyer and seller role, and then learn what to do in the "exception" situations. Regardless of whether you approach eBay from the buyer or seller role, the necessary information you need to fully utilize eBay is in here. The author even goes into third-party services that can help you get the most for your money. Some services track bid pricing and trends so you can figure out the best combination of pricing options for your item. Other services watch a bid for you in order to place last-second bids to try and win an item you're coveting. Whether you think stuff like that is fair or not, it's being used and you have to know how it will affect you as a buyer. Armed with this book, there's no reason why you shouldn't be successful with eBay... Good stuff.

This is a tightly written 250 page book that covers the basics of buying and selling on eBay. The style is very practical with real world advice and stories. Screenshots are used very well. This isn't one of those 500 page bible tomes that covers every single aspect. You can compare this book with O'Reilly's "EBay: The Missing Manual". This one comes out smaller and more focus. While the O'Reilly book comes out as more thorough and comprehensive. Both are good. It's just a question of how import eBay is to you. If it's something you do now and then and you just want to do it better, this is likely the book for you.