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.

eBay is a phenomenon! - 50 million users worldwide, and growing rapidly in the UK. This is the first UK book on eBay. It is a guide to eBay.co.uk, not to the American site. The author is an experienced UK trader who knows the pitfalls and tricks for profitable buying and selling. The book provides everything that tens of thousands of new eBayers need to get started. From the INTRODUCTION: "1995 was the year that I, like many people, discovered the internet. A friend and I discussed ways to make money out of it. We agreed that online auctions were a really promising area. We even spent some time discussing how you might go about setting them up. It all got a bit complicated and I had books to write, so we never followed through. Pierre Omidyar had the idea and did something about it. eBay, the business he set up in his living room in September 1995, has, at the time of writing, nearly 50 million registered users. You can buy anything from cars to concert tickets, collectable dolls to computers. I started using eBay for a melancholy reason. In 1999, a friend died suddenly. Don's widow asked me to sell his record collection for her. It included a large number of rarities. I quickly found out what these might be worth, but knew I'd never get anything like their true value from a dealer. So I went to eBay. I'd checked out eBay over the previous few months, but had been too timid to buy or sell anything. Now, however, I had a real reason to begin. To test the water, I auctioned a CD from my own collection: a rare boxed single that the Record Collector price guide said was worth GBP40. I gave it a high starting price of GBP20, the lowest price I would accept. Aweek later, it sold for GBP30. I posted it to France, throwing in free insurance, just in case anything went wrong. Two days later I received my first feedback: 'Very pleasant seller, beautiful item and carefully packed AA++'. More than half of Don's records sold, bringing in prices not too far off the guide price. I found I had a new hobby, using my unmetered internet connection to endlessly browse eBay when I should have been working on my latest novel. I quickly got a green star alongside my eBay ID. This showed I had more than ten positive feedback comments and no negatives. I sold occasionally, often accepting cash dollars to fund my purchases from the US (this was in the days before Paypal, a money transfer system that's discussed at length in this book). In the last three years I've become a frequent eBay user, buying and selling books, DVDs and comics as well as music items. Last year I got my blue star for 50 plus positive feedback. I've only attended one auction in my life, but I've followed thousands of virtual ones. I've been ripped off, made mistakes and learnt what kinds of auctions to avoid. I still have a 100% feedback record, the strongest test of an eBayer (as serious hobbyists call themselves). I still get a thrill those times at the end of an auction when last minute bidders are suddenly outbid and try to get one more bid in before the curtain falls.'. The book you're reading arose out of a holiday conversation with one of the publishers, an old friend who is a financial whiz but knew very little about eBay. The idea of this book is to give readers the basics of buying and selling on eBay with plenty of tips, practical information and case histories. Equally importantly, it will tell you what to avoid and how to check out suspected cheats - both sellers and buyers, for the internet has given new life to many of the oldest frauds in the book. This book will also give you the basics of how to run an eBay business, because once you start selling stuff on the net, you're in business, even if it's only in a very small way. Who knows, you might find dealing on eBay much more profitable than you expect. Or you could find it's a great way to track down rare items you didn't know anybody else was interested in. Soon you may find yourself selling spare stuff from the attic to grateful collectors who trust the way you've graded them because they've read your feedback. The possibilities are endless. You read a lot of negative stuff about trading on the net, but I have to say that the vast majority of eBayers I've 'met' have been great to deal with. I aim to give you the confidence to become one of those eBayers, whatever it is you choose to buy or sell." 'I've only attended one auction in my life, but I've followed thousands of virtual ones.' 'Once you start selling, you're in business, even if only in a very small way.' 'I knew I'd never get their true value from a dealer. So I went to eBay."

Beckham's BMW, Pope Benedict XVI's Volkswagen Golf, Robbie Williams' popcorn maker, Johnny Depp's gold teeth, Jeremy Vine's tie - if you've got something to sell, there's only one place to do it - eBay!

Celebrity memorabilia is only a small part of the eBay story. The 10 million people in the UK who regularly use the site buy and sell a huge variety of goods. They do it for fun, for the challenge and for the profit. Some do so well that it becomes their main source of income!

This book is an 'eBayer's manual'. Focusing specifically on eBay's UK site, it explains the 'tricks of the trade', the short cuts, safety tips, and how to get the end result you want.

Facts:

- 10 million people are registered with eBay.co.uk
- There are more than 3 million items for sale on the site at any one time
- The most expensive itm sold so far is a Gulfstream jet for £2.8 million
- 39% of active UK internet users visited eBay in March 2005

David Belbin is a respected author of children's and young adult books. He has had over 30 titles published since 1990, and his work has been translated into 20 languages. He is leader of the MA in Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University. David has been trading on eBay since 1999, with a roughly equal buyer/seller ratio and 100% feedback (the peer group rating system).

2006-07-14 If you use eBay..Read this book

For anyone interested in using eBay...this book guides the beginner through all aspects of using this popular site.It guides new users through all stages of registering and offers loads of buying tips and advice..Not just for newbies though...Excellent tips on all aspects of buying ..selling..feedback and safe secure use of payment options etc; Even the seasoned eBay user will find loads of new and usefull information in this great little book!!