Online Auctions at Ebay : Bid with Confidence, Sell with Success

by Dennis L. Prince

• ISBN13: 9780761520702
• ISBN10: 0761520708
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-04-01
• Publisher: Cengage Learning Ptr

Summary

Join the millions of people from around the world who have discovered eBay --the world's most popular person-to-person auction site on the World Wide Web. It's the most fun you can have buying and selling on the Internet.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. xvii
Understanding Auctions and the Internet	p. 1
The History of the Auction	p. 3
What Exactly Is an Auction, Anyway?	p. 4
Where Did Auctions First Start?	p. 5
Why Auction?	p. 7
Different Types of Auctions	p. 9
The English Auction	p. 10
The Dutch Auction	p. 12
Other Auction Types	p. 13
The Benefits of an Auction	p. 19
Sellers Find More Buyers	p. 20
Buyers Find More Items	p. 21
Timing	p. 24
Leveling the Playing Field	p. 27
For the Benefit of a Benefit	p. 30
The Birth of eBay	p. 33
The Internet Revolution	p. 34
A Different Form of E-Commerce	p. 35
eBay Goes Live	p. 37
The Growth of eBay	p. 38
Secondary and Tertiary Markets	p. 40
How I Got Hooked on eBay	p. 41
Is It Safe?	p. 45
General Concerns About the Internet	p. 46
Majority Rules	p. 47
Community Minded	p. 49
Basic Netiquette Tips and Techniques	p. 52
eBay's Increased Efforts for Safe Trading	p. 54
Grass Roots, or Power to the People	p. 55
TRUSTe and eBay's Privacy Policy	p. 56
SafeHarbor	p. 57
The Feedback Forum	p. 58
Suspension and Loss of Registered Status	p. 59
Escrow Services	p. 60
Verified eBay User	p. 61
Legal Buddy	p. 62
Open Lines of Communication	p. 62
What Do You Think?	p. 63
Get Started and Join the Fun	p. 65
What You Need to Begin	p. 67
Getting the Basics	p. 67
Hardware That Isn't Soft	p. 68
Software That Isn't Hard	p. 71
Picture This	p. 72
Choosing a Browser	p. 75
Free Samples	p. 78
Thumbing a Ride Without Thumbing Your Nose	p. 78
How 'Bout My TV?	p. 80
A Final Thought	p. 81
Welcome to eBay	p. 83
Accessing the Web Site	p. 83
The eBay Home Page	p. 84
The eBay Welcome Wagon	p. 87
The eBay New User Tutorial	p. 88
The Auction Listings	p. 90
eBay Extras: Additional User Features	p. 95
Getting Registered	p. 97
Searching for Items	p. 103
Viewing Featured Items from the eBay Home Page	p. 103
Using the Category Listings	p. 105
Looking for Newly Added Items	p. 110
Using the Search Tools	p. 112
Exceptions to the Rules	p. 117
To the Gallery	p. 117
Go Ahead, Place Your Bid	p. 121
Reviewing the Item You'll Bid On	p. 121
The Bidding Process	p. 129
Your Bid Notification Status	p. 132
Reviewing Your Bids Online	p. 135
Hey! You Were Outbid!	p. 136
The End of the Auction	p. 138
General Advice and Common Sense	p. 143
Whose Market Is It, Anyway?	p. 144
Supply and Demand	p. 145
An Item for All Seasons	p. 147
Set Realistic Expectations	p. 149
Don't Let Your Eyes Be Bigger Than Your Wallet	p. 150
Get Rich Quick! Not!!	p. 152
Do Things Ever Go Wrong?	p. 153
E-Motions	p. 157
What Are the Other People Like?	p. 158
The New Users	p. 158
The Casual Users	p. 159
The Professional Users	p. 159
The Elite	p. 160
The Not-So-Nice Users	p. 160
Competition at Its Finest	p. 161
The Euphoric Winner	p. 162
The Disgruntled Loser	p. 163
How Do You Rate?	p. 163
Becoming a Savvy Bidder	p. 165
Being an Informed Bidder	p. 167
Research the Items You Want	p. 167
Rare and Hard to Find?	p. 170
Investigate the Seller	p. 173
Check Previous Auction High Bids	p. 174
Check Relistings	p. 176
Picture--Perfect?	p. 178
If You Have Questions, Just Ask	p. 179
Understanding the Auction Variations	p. 181
Minimum Bid Auctions	p. 181
Proxy Bid Auctions	p. 183
Reserve Price Auctions	p. 186
Dutch Auctions	p. 190
Private Auctions	p. 191
Bidding Strategies	p. 193
When Should You Bid?	p. 194
Proxy Bidding Strategies	p. 198
The Penny Principle	p. 200
Dutch Auction Strategy	p. 201
Sniping	p. 203
Put Your Money Where Your Mouse Is	p. 215
Knowing When to Walk Away	p. 217
Managing Your Bidding Activity	p. 219
Tracking Your Auctions	p. 220
I've Changed My Mind, I Don't Want to Bid	p. 227
Insufficient Funds	p. 231
You Are the Auctioneer	p. 233
What Do You Want to Sell Today?	p. 235
What Do You Have to Sell?	p. 236
Done Any Upgrading Lately?	p. 237
Know Your Item	p. 238
Researching the Potential Success of Your Auction	p. 238
Using Etiquette When Selling Your Item	p. 243
Flooding the Market	p. 244
Be Realistic	p. 245
Creating a Simple Auction Listing	p. 247
Getting Started	p. 247
Setting Your Item's Title and Category	p. 249
Setting Your Payment and Shipping Terms	p. 251
Entering the Item Description	p. 253
Establishing the Minimum (Starting) Bid	p. 258
Using Reserve Prices	p. 260
Setting the Duration of Your Auction	p. 263
Setting the Remaining Listing Conditions and Styles	p. 263
How Much Does It Cost to List an Item?	p. 265
Any Other Terms or Conditions You Want to Specify?	p. 266
Verifying Your Item Listing	p. 267
E-mail Notification of Your New Listing	p. 273
Final Thoughts	p. 274
Timing Is Everything	p. 275
Timing Your Auction	p. 275
Time of Day	p. 276
Time of Week	p. 279
Time of Year	p. 279
Choosing the Length of Your Auction	p. 281
A Bad Time Is Downtime	p. 284
Spicing Up Your Listing for Better Results	p. 285
Knowing the Key Ingredient	p. 286
Bait the Bidders and They'll Be Hooked	p. 287
Using Easy HTML for Killer Listings	p. 289
A Picture's Worth a Thousand Bucks	p. 294
How to Get a Picture of Your Item	p. 296
Altering Pictures	p. 296
Storing and Queuing Up Your Pictures	p. 297
Adding an Image to Your Auction Listing	p. 300
Mixing Images and Text in Your Item Description	p. 303
A Few Subtle Tricks	p. 307
Add Inter-Listing Hyperlinks	p. 311
Advertising Your Auction Listings	p. 311
Wrapping Up	p. 312
Managing Your Auctions	p. 313
Answering Bidders' Questions	p. 313
Revising, Improving, or Abandoning Your Listing	p. 318
Revising Items	p. 318
Changing the Category for Your Auction	p. 322
Adding to Your Item	p. 323
Cross-Listing Your Auctions	p. 327
Canceling Your Auction	p. 329
It's the Last Day and Still No Bids	p. 332
When Bidding Activity Stalls	p. 333
Reasons to End an Auction Early	p. 334
Canceling Bids on Your Auction	p. 336
Keeping Track of Your Auctions	p. 338
If It Doesn't Sell, Are You a Failure?	p. 340
Relisting Your Item	p. 341
After the Auction	p. 345
Closing the Auction and Making Contact	p. 347
Last Bids	p. 348
Assessing Your eBay Commission and Account Status	p. 348
eBay Notification	p. 353
Communicate!	p. 359
Clean and Clear Communication	p. 360
First Contact	p. 361
Reserve Price Not Met?	p. 365
Keeping Track of Your Communications	p. 369
Following Up	p. 369
No Reply	p. 372
Payment	p. 377
Which Comes First?	p. 377
Methods of Payment	p. 378
Popular Ways to Pay	p. 379
Other Ways to Pay	p. 381
International Exchanges	p. 382
The Check Is in the Mail	p. 383
Bad Checks	p. 387
Hello? I Sent My Payment Two Weeks Ago	p. 389
Shipping and Handling	p. 393
What Do You Have to Ship?	p. 393
Where Can You Get Shipping Supplies?	p. 394
Packaging Techniques	p. 398
Photos and Other Flat Items	p. 399
Glassware, Pottery, and Other Things That Go Bump	p. 399
Small Items	p. 400
Framed Items	p. 400
Being Cost-Conscious When You Pack	p. 401
Bullet-Proof Isn't Necessary	p. 401
Choosing the Best Carrier	p. 402
Determining Postage Costs	p. 404
Use Good Judgement When Billing for Shipping	p. 405
Registering and Insuring Packages	p. 407
Satisfaction Guaranteed!	p. 411
Follow Up as Buyer and Seller	p. 412
Buyers	p. 412
Sellers	p. 413
The Cover Letter	p. 416
Dress Up the Item	p. 417
Posting Feedback on eBay	p. 419
Additional Features of the Feedback Forum	p. 429
A Few Guidelines When Leaving Feedback	p. 431
Going Offline for Other Deals	p. 435
Meeting People Who Share Your Interests	p. 435
What Else Do You Have?	p. 436
Suggestive Selling	p. 437
The Usenet	p. 438
Helping the Less Fortunate Ones	p. 439
And in the End	p. 443
Appendixes	p. 447
More Information and Resources	p. 449
General Information about Auctions	p. 449
Price Guides and Useful Publications	p. 450
More Info About PCs and Other Gadgets	p. 450
Books	p. 450
Web Sites	p. 451
Learning More about Web Browsers and the Internet	p. 452
Books	p. 452
Web Sites	p. 453
Internet Safety and Good Practices	p. 454
Books	p. 454
Web Sites	p. 454
HTML Help, Tools, and Tutorials	p. 455
Books	p. 455
Web Sites	p. 456
More HTML Templates	p. 457
The Low Frills Listing	p. 457
The Table-Style Listing	p. 460
The Total Atmosphere Listing	p. 462
Index	p. 467
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