How to Buy, Sell, and Profit on eBay: Kick-Start Your Home-Based Business in Just Thirty Days Paperback – Illustrated, May 3, 2005

I've been a member of Ebay for 7 years. During that time I've bought more than I've sold there - but learned a lot through the entire process. Adam's book has given me the motivation to seriously start thinking I can eventually quit my sucky daytime job and maybe go into business on Ebay full-time. And, as Adam correctly points out, you don't have to immediately quit your day job to get started and found out if such a move is really for you. Experiment with his strategies, sell a few items and see what happens.Adam also smartly addresses the ubiquitous question every potential Ebay entrepreneur asks, "What in the world DO I sell on Ebay?" Let's just say that Adam gives a pretty convincing evidence that you could sell something like used popsicle sticks on Ebay - if you know how to structure your ad and overall Ebay business the right way. More importantly, he demonstrates that if you change your thinking on what to sell - you begin to see a whole new world of opportunity on saleable items.Adam's approach is gripping - I nearly finished the book the day I received it - because you feel like that even though it's obvious he's no dummy when it comes to business - he readily admits his weaknesses that obviously affect his early business acumen on Ebay. Yet he's willing to learn, adjust as a result, and finally improve whatever Ebay task he is doing - something that certainly changed the scope of his auction operation - and a path that any Ebayer interested in boosting his business can perform. Adam sprinkles his Ebay ventures with touchy-feely stories about family, friends, and life in general. One really feels he's just your average, nice, family guy who just so happens to discover Ebay - then distinguish himself from every other Tom, Dick, and Harry selling there - to create a multimillion dollar business.After reading Adam's book I'm more convinced than ever that I too, can do the same.

The field of eBay how-to books is a crowded one, and I've read most of them. This book is one of the best, because it combines lots of practical advice with a motivating personal story.The author doesn't promise on the back cover that you'll become rich overnight, and that is your first tip-off that this book is for real. Instead, the author says up-front that being a successful seller is hard work -- on eBay or anywhere else. But if you're willing to consider and apply some of the time-tested principles here, you can learn to work *smarter*, not just harder.I especially liked the way the author told his own personal story -- how he developed his offline work (selling top-quality pool tables) into a successful online business. That is the number-one lesson of this book, in my opinion -- if you're going to be a successful online seller, you've got to start with a passion you already have. Whether it's collecting postcards, pottery, Beatles records, antique furniture -- whatever it is -- that's where you're going to be successful, because that's what you know and love. If you're doing it only to make money (or to quit your day job), it's not going to be fun.I read this book with the perspective of having been a full-time online seller for five years, so I can say it's definitely not a rehash of the information that's available on eBay's help files and many other places. This book's section on "Tips, Tricks, and Advanced Techniques" can help you take your business to a higher level even if you've been selling for a while.Also included are sections on getting organized (so you'll know where your sales are coming from) and how to get legitimate tax breaks from running your business.So this book is a good combination of an inspiring personal story, along with a bunch of good nuts-and-bolts advice for online selling. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Ginsberg's book is an excellent primer for those just now realizing something that is called eBay. The first 100 pages provided, for the most part, stories drawn from Ginsberg's own personal experiences on eBay, the trial and the error, etc. If you have been using eBay for buying and leisurely selling for six years as I have, you will find most of what he has to say as a good reminder of the days when there were no manuals to tell you what or what not to do. Back in the early days of eBay, you learned the hard way. This book ensures you won't have the learning curve that myself and Ginsberg had to battle through.The final 200 pages are a bit better in getting into the details of what things to do right and what things to avoid doing. There were small pieces of information I did not know, which I found helpful. At times he would plug his own products, which is fine, I suppose, but I would have appreciated a little bit more beef in the advice he was giving.If you have ten dollars to blow, this is a worthwhile investment. If you don't, you could find many of the hints and tips Adam provides in a newsletter online or on eBay itself.And, if eBay University comes to your town, take advantage of it. You will learn a lot about how to operate a real business on eBay.I recommend that graduates of Ginsberg's book move on to read Debra Schepp's eBay Powersellers Secrets book, which provides substantial information about how to find products to sell, etc.My own advice is to take it slow. There is not a fast cash way to success on eBay. You have to do your homework and experiment before finally finding your niche. Be patient, study hard, and read books like Ginsberg's, and you will do just fine.