You look at the salesletter and the price tag ($8.95 USD) for the e-book What $ells on eBay For What, and they look pretty unpretentious. In fact, I really wasn't expecting a whiz bang job for a mere $8.95. (What can I say... I'm one of those people who believes a higher price equals better quality.) Well as the old saying goes, "never judge a book by its cover." Or in this case, never judge an e-book by its low price. When I opened the PDF I was pleasantly surprised to find a 230-page e-book. I'm NOT talking about a 230-page book with 18 point font, lots of white space, and loads of graphics. I mean solid, ceiling to floor content. The first few chapters give you ideas on what to sell on eBay, where to find merchandise (interesting ideas here), what sells (interesting ideas here too), and how to create a listing. Much of this is beginner to intermediate auction seller stuff. Chapter 5 gives you an analysis of products that sell very well and moderately well in categories like: antiques, books, magazines, catalogues, software, price guides, clothing, music, toys, art/paintings, electronics, collectibles/coca cola, coins, and Disneyana. A lot of detailed research went into compiling these sections. And the information provides a wonderful guide as to what you should (and shouldn't) be looking for when searching for merchandise to sell. I know that I scribbled a few notes to carry around with me 'just in case' I'm out and opportunity falls into my lap. Chapter 9 - Top Sellers and Searches - is interesting, but out-of-date. (This book was last updated Feb. 2005.) No biggie. You can search for the information contained here on eBay's Pulse. You'll find some gems in the Bonus section. "Big Lots vs. Small Lots" and "New Collectibles" definitely gave me some food for thought. The Appendix has a list of dozens of commonly used eBay listing abbreviations. For example, CART - Cartridge (video game), FE - First Edition (books), GD - Good Condition. This will come in handy when creating your auction titles, where you have a limited amount of space to describe your product. Appendix II has a list of popular clothing brand names. If you're not 'up' on the latest street/pret-a-porter wear, carry this one around when you're shopping to sell. The only thing I didn't like about this e-book is that there are no page numbers in the table of contents. So you have to scroll through pages and pages to find what you're looking for. This can be quite confusing at times when you're searching for specific information. Other than that it's a great steal, with tons of well-researched information. I recommend it for beginner to advanced eBay sellers. |
