Starting an eBay Business for Dummies by Marsha Collier (2001, Paperback, Illustrated)

With wit and charm, Marsha Collier guides the reader from a fledgling "newbie" to a potential power seller. The book is a no-holds-barred, pull-no-punches approach to starting your own business on eBay. It takes the reader through the various steps needed to achieve this goal: from opening your store and office; to stocking your merchandise; to budgeting and marketing; to customer service; to shipping; to record keeping and, of course, to your tax liability.

"Starting an eBay Business" delivers on it's promise that each Chapter stands alone. The reader may peruse the book from front to back or back to front and any combination in between. There are a few eye crossing Chapters, most notably Chapters 8 and 9, where the book bogs down in the technical aspects of a computer based e-business and, for those of us who are not very computer literate (yes, we're still out there), they are difficult Chapters to wade through. Mercifully, the Chapters that don't appeal to you may be skipped over until such time as you are mentally prepared to deal with them.

Ms. Collier succeeds on a number of levels. Although I would stop short of calling this book a "page turner" (given the nature of the material), it is very readable and I found myself wanting more. It succeeds in educating while entertaining. It succeeds in providing a how-to-guide which actually tells you "how to". It succeeds in handing out little nuggets of practical advice and wisdom from people who have been there. It succeeded in convincing me that this is not a time in my life to open my own business. To that end, the book was invaluable.

The book fails, however, to answer my all consuming question: "Just why in the world doesn't anyone want to buy my pink flamingo flotation device drink holder, complete with it's own plastic glass?"

A "must read" for anyone even thinking of opening an e-business!

This book is really simple and full of illustrated walk throughs. It is really helpful and user friendly. I am an advance seller but still found some info even helpful to me on eBay. I'd say buy one and keep it somewhere close. it really comes handy whoever sells on eBay.

This is a great book to start off your ebay selling with. You don't have to open a store to sell or to benefit with all the great tips this book has. I have read many of the ebooks that are curculating on ebay and they show you nothing compared to what this book has to offer. I would recommend to the all beginners.

The book is for dummies...and that is exactly how it is written. It doesn't tell you a lot about everything, but it does give you bits of information on pretty much anything you would need to start out a new buisness. The neat thing that I have found the most interesting is that it gives hints on how to select and purchase products that you wish to sell. My wife and I are starting to build a buisness now and we couldn't do it with the help of this book. Another good point to make is that if it doesn't give you the answer you are looking for, it has pages of links to various websites that will give you more specific information.

This book is great for anyone new to Ebay or someone just looking to brush up on their knowledge. The book is well-written and easy to read. It is designed so that you can look up what you need to without having to read the entire book. I use mine as a reference anytime I come across a new question. I highly recommend this product.

I THINK ALL THE "FOR DUMMIES" BOOKS ARE PRETTY WELL DONE. THEY USE HUMOR TO HOLD YOUR ATTENTION. THIS BOOK IS ESPECIALLY GOOD FOR BEGINNERS I THINK. I'VE BEEN DOING THIS AWHILE BUT I ALSO READ SOME TIPS AND IDEAS I HADN'T THOUGHT OF OR HAD THOUGHT OF IN A DIFFERENT WAY. I'M ALWAYS LOOKING FOR GOOD IDEAS. THIS BOOK HAS SOME.

So far this book has been very helpful for me and my wife in stating out on our Ebay adventure, plus we are learning new tricks along the way to help insure our success in selling on ebay, for example out of listing the last 16 items we listed only one didn't sell. Now that's a great average. And out of what did sell, half sold for alot more than I thought it would. This thing works.

This book is written for the person who is still relatively new to eBay, selling some stuff here and there and has thought about getting a little more into eBay, going from what's now is just a hobby and now turning it into a profitable business.
This book cover the different ways which you can explore sourcing your products to sell, business practices, taxes, shipping, photographing, researching the selling price, management tools and much more.

This book gives a really good base to get your business started. I would highly recommend it for most anyone out there who has been doing eBay to clean out the garage or basement and now wants to sell on eBay seriously.

This book is written at the high school level. Picture are helpful for get the point across. I would put this the 2nd book to read in Marsha's series of books on eBay. Retail price for this book is $24.99 if if you already have been using eBay you know you can get this much cheaper.

David Hecker
www.stores.ebay.com/madkowcrafts

I like that the author tells personal stories along with other real scenarios. I am still reading the book and so far I have gained more insight into what it will take for me to start my own online business.

This book would be great if you were a very very entry level eBayer in the early 2000's. Most of the information is out-dated, and is no help to somebody that already knows the basics of eBay.

Perhaps the last few chapters will change my mind, I doubt it.

i felt that the way she was making money was by selling this add on how to make money, that there was no real teaching, she has this instruction manual that didnt seem to do anything except cost me more money. i believe the only way you can make money off this is by taking advantage of people in need of money in a time when no one has any to spare except maybe this individual because she is taking money from others and justifing it to herself so she can keep doing it even though its wrong. i would ask questions and they were never returned, i was told if i left her good feed back she would do the same and she never did, she even asks you to do it promptly because she knows you will soon find out the truth. i tried many times to contact her with no answers, i guess she is having to much fun making money while hardly working.

The reason I bought the book was, I have a goal of starting my own ebay business. The book is filled with helpful and detailed processes that you would use to start your own business. Some of those processes range from equipment,buying and selling to helpful web sites. I am still low on the eBay user learning curve but with useful information like this book I will succeed! I can't think of anything I don't like about it-money well spent!

eBay user
carolynz-2008

I like the tips, hints, and advice seperately noted from the bulk of the text. If your interested in an ebay business you definetely want to take a look at this book.

The information is clear and well organized and easy to search. It delivers an excellent tutorial of what is needed to get going with eBay from the most basic information to more advanced methods. I would highly recommend it to anyone just starting out. The book delivered what it promised.

I borrowed the book from the library and found it had some very useful information. I am a self taught novice as far as computers and the internet are concerned so I need something that is easy to understand and still good information. I thought that I would probably like to refer back to it and so I should go ahead and purchase it. I checked for it at some of the online book stores and then I thought I should check for it in eBay.

The was in better condition than the book I had borrowed from the library.

i have only scanned th book but, what i've read so far is very good.
It give a world of info. if I read it throughly, anyone can
become successful with the powerful tool.

Everything you want to know, even if you're not afraid to ask. "Professor" Collier has done it all and shares her knowledge with you in clear and lucid fashion. And one need not wade through this entire volume for answers to specific questions, whch makes this a valuable reference manual as well as a primer.

My book took about a month and a half to get here, but b/c of the great price i couldn't be too upset! When it finally got here, i got excited and tore into my package only to find it was the wrong book. It was listed as "Starting an Ebay Business for Dummies" ... but was actually just "Ebay for Dummies." So much for that ...

This is a great book with lots of information. We (my husband & myself) have been buying and selling on eBay for over a year, and found lots of information that we didn't know. Although this book was dated it still served it's purpose and was a great investment to our ebay business.