The eBay Book (2nd Edition)

Jacket text for The eBay Book (2nd Edition)

eBay is the world's largest marketplace, and a worldwide phenomenon! Since the first edition of The eBay Book in June 2004, both the number of people using eBay, and the number of amazing stories of their experiences, have continued to grow at an amazing rate.

In the last year alone, over 1 million new users signed up to eBay.co.uk, and the total number of users hit the 10 million mark in February 2005. In fact, people in the UK spend more time on eBay than on any other website, making it the most popular brand name on the internet. It has over 3 million items for sale in its auctions at any one time, and among these are every type of collectable and consumer goods imaginable.

eBay provides a simple and amazingly effective way for anybody to auction items that they want to sell - whether they are antiques, books, computers, sports equipment, vinyl records, DVDs, clothing, jewellery, celebrity memorabilia or in fact almost anything - and allows potential buyers to browse and bid on this vast catalogue from the comfort of their own homes.

In this fully revised and updated edition of The eBay Book, David Belbin, a long time eBayer, explains how eBay.co.uk works, and how to get the most out of it, whether you are a buyer or a seller. He takes you through the key features of the site, step-by-step, advising on the tactics you can employ when bidding and selling, and explains how to minimise the fees you pay and just why your feedback rating is so important. He also explores the best ways to pay for goods and what to do if your transactions go wrong. This hugely readable book also contains a wealth of case studies, which draw on the knowledge and experience of a wide variety of eBayers, each with their own view of the eBay phenomenon.

For newcomers, this is an indispensable guide, which will show you the tools of the trade and give you the confidence to join the vast eBay community. For those who already know the basics, it is a short-cut to the advanced features of eBay, with the author's tips and tricks always close to hand.

Chapter headings for The eBay Book (2nd Edition)

About the author
Prologue
Introduction

Part One
Guitar parts, pots, paving stones and trampolines

Part Two
2.1 First things
2.2 Buying on eBay
2.3 Using 'My eBay' and more essential buying tips
2.4 Feedback
2.5 Dare to sell
2.6 What to do when you've made your first sale
2.7 Advanced buying and selling
2.8 To PayPal or not to PayPal
2.9 Using pictures and HTML
2.10 Frauds, scams, deadbeat bidders and vigilantes
Afterword

Part Three
Appendix 1. Rules for buying and selling
Appendix 2. Selling cars on eBay
Appendix 3. Summary of eBay fees
Appendix 4. Bidding increments
Appendix 5. eBay's surcharge policy
Appendix 6. Tax treatment of eBay income
Appendix 7. Record-keeping
Appendix 8. Useful web resources
Appendix 9. Further reading
Appendix 10. Glossary
Appendix 11. eBay acronyms

Index

About David Belbin

David Belbin is the author of more than thirty novels for Young Adults, including Festival, The Last Virgin and The Beat series. His work has been translated into twenty languages. He has also scripted stories about social issues for UNICEF's mass circulation Children's Rights comics. David works part time as course leader of the MA in Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University, one of the UK's longest established postgraduate writing courses. An eBay user since 1999, David buys and sells in roughly equal proportions and has a 100% positive feedback record. Since the first edition of The eBay Book, David has gained a reputation as an 'eBay guru', even appearing on Jeremy Vine's BBC Radio 2 show where he ran a live auction of Jeremy's tie for BBC Children in Need. An inveterate music collector, he spends much of his spare time going to gigs and movies. He also likes cycling, cooking, comics and Coronation Street. This is his first non-fiction book.

More about David Belbin