Marsha Collier - Starting an eBay Business For Dummies

Starting an eBay Business For Dummies, 4th Edition

by Marsha Collier

Starting an eBay Business For Dummies

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Copyright 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2011924114

ISBN: 978-1-118-00467-8

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Author

Marsha Collier spends a good deal of time online. She loves buying and selling on eBay as well as meeting online denizens from around the world. As a columnist, author of the bestselling Dummies books on eBay, and a radio host, she shares her knowledge of the online world with millions. Her eBay For Dummies was published in special versions for the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, China, France, Spain, and Australia. Currently, she has 30 books in print on her favorite subject eBay. She also authored the popular book The Ultimate Online Customer Service Guide: How to Connect with Your Customers to Sell More!

Before her eBay career took off, Marsha owned and operated her own marketing and advertising firm, a company that won numerous awards and earned her Small Business of the Year accolades from several organizations. She got started online during the Internets early years and quickly mastered the art of making friends online.

Marsha is one of the foremost eBay experts and educators in the world and the top-selling eBay author. In 1999, Marsha created the first edition of eBay For Dummies, the bestselling book for eBay beginners. Then she followed up the success of the first book with Starting an eBay Business For Dummies, a book targeting individuals interested in making e-commerce their full-time profession. That book became an instant nationwide hit, making several notable bestseller lists. These books are updated regularly to keep up with site and market changes.

Marshas books have sold more than 1,000,000 copies (including the special editions in foreign countries.

Along with her writing, Marsha is an experienced e-commerce educator. She was the lead instructor at eBay University (teaching seminars all over the United States), as well as a regular presenter at the eBay Live national convention since its inception. Marsha also hosted Make Your Fortune Online, a PBS special on online business that premiered in 2005. The show was the basis for her PBS premium five-DVD set, Your Online Business Plan. In 2006, she was invited to address the Innovations Conference in Singapore to present the ideas of e-commerce to a new market.

In 2008, she was dubbed one of 20 influential iCitizens in Kelly Mooneys The Open Brand: When Push Comes to Pull in a Web Made World, and was invited to speak at a leading e-commerce conference attended by Coca-Cola, Hewlett Packard, Procter & Gamble, Victorias Secret, and leading e-commerce leaders.

She hosts Computer & Technology Radio on KTRB 860 AM in San Francisco as well as on the Web at www.computerandtechnologyradio.com. She also makes regular appearances on television, radio, and in print to discuss customer needs and online commerce.

Marsha currently resides in Los Angeles. She can be reached via her Web site, www.marshacollier.com.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the eBay entrepreneurs who have a zest for knowledge and the stick-to-it-iveness to follow through on their projects and stare success straight in the eye. Its dedicated also to those who are convinced that get-rich-quick schemes dont work and that, in the long run, hard work and loving what you do get the job done and lead to financial achievement and contentment.

Good luck in your endeavors. I know this book will help you get started.

Authors Acknowledgments

Updating a book like this is a challenge. Lots of people have helped, but the lions share of assistance comes from the encouragement that I receive from the eBay community and those Ive met when doing it eBay.

Thank you to the eBay sellers referred to in this book for helping me show how eBay can reach out to the world: Jody Rogers and Asad Bangash (Beachcombers!), Robin Le Vine (Bubblefast), Dan Glasure (Dans Train Depot), John Lawson (3rdPowerOutlet), Stephen Kline (GalleryNow), Robert McMahan (McMahanPhoto), Jeff Stannard (Melrose Stamp), and Clarissa Parashar (PerpetualVogue).

Then, of course, I want to thank the upper crust at Wiley. My publisher, Andy Cummings, and my acquisitions editor, Steven Hayes, have tried to reach out of the box with some of my crazy ideas.