eBay® Business All-in-One For Dummies®, 4th Edition

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2018 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Trademarks: Wiley, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and may not be used without written permission. eBay is a registered trademark of eBay, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ.

For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. For technical support, please visit https://hub.wiley.com/community/support/dummies.

Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in ebooks or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017962213

ISBN: 978-1-119-42771-1

ISBN: 978-1-119-42774-2 (ePDF)

ISBN: 978-1-119-42770-4 (ePub)

About This Book

This book will give you the basics, the hows and whys of setting up a business selling on eBay and on your own website. I’ve authored several best-selling books about running a business and marketing online. This book gives you the information you need to get started in one nifty (albeit heavy) volume. You can get the info found in several books about eBay all in one place. Here are some good-to-know features of this All-in-One:

• There’s no need to read straight through all the chapters and minibooks in order. Use the Table of Contents to find information you want to learn. When you have a question, use the Index to find your answer, as you might do with a Google search.
• Within this book, you may note that some printed web addresses break across two lines of text. If you’re reading this book in print and want to visit one of these web pages, simply type in the web address exactly as it’s noted in the text, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist. If you’re reading this as an ebook, you’ve got it easy — just click the web address to be taken directly to the web page.
• When instructions in the book tell you exactly what to type on your keyboard, you’ll see those letters, numbers, and symbols in boldface type. Of course, if the instruction itself is boldface, you’ll see what to type in non-bold type.
• I occasionally give you key combinations to use as keyboard shortcuts. For example, when you see something like Ctrl+S, that means to hold down the Ctrl key and press S.

Foolish Assumptions

While writing this book, I’ve made a few assumptions about you. Because you bought this book, naturally I assume you’re an intelligent person with refined tastes. Kidding aside, that may well be true — but the main assumption I’ve really made about you is that you want to find out more about eBay and selling online.

I assume also that you

• Have a computer and/or mobile device and an Internet connection
• Are comfortable browsing the Internet
• Are familiar with email
• Are looking for a way to make some extra money
• Have checked out eBay and bought more than a few items

You’ve probably also sold a few items and made a couple of dollars. Maybe you think eBay just might be a good place to earn a regular stream of extra income. It also helps if you’ve read my current edition of eBay For Dummies where you get familiar with the basics of eBay.

Note that eBay changes regularly, adding features and new layouts. This book keeps you focused on what’s important rather than being written about the latest shiny promotions. The location of links changes regularly too. I’ve noted the important places you need to go to and what to look out for.

If you can accept that nothing comes without a bit of effort, you might just be on the track of a new career — or a very profitable side gig.

Icons Used in This Book

I’ve written quite a few books in the For Dummies series, and all the books have cute little icons to draw your attention to special comments. Following are the ones I use, along with what they mean.

This icon indicates a story about a real event. The story may come from one of my dealings or from a fellow eBay user. I hope you find the stories interesting and learn from another user’s mistake (or dumb luck).

When you see this icon, it’s a friendly reminder to keep in mind the short fact that follows. No doubt it will come up again, and you’ll be ahead of the game if you remember it.

Here are a few words from me to you, to help you do things the easy way. I’ve made the mistakes, but you don’t have to make them too.

This little bomb of a fact will keep you out of trouble. Often these facts are not generally known. Be sure to read them to avoid common pitfalls.

Also, you will see sidebars (with light gray behind the text); these are important things that I like to emphasize — so don’t forget to read them.

Beyond the Book

Here, in one volume, are nine individual minibooks related to becoming an expert on eBay and online sales. Each book is broken down into individual chapters to give you more in-depth information on the subject at hand.

You will notice title pages at the beginning of each minibook (we call them parts pages) where you see what’s included in the associated minibook, and where you can go online to find more.

And don’t forget the book’s related Cheat Sheet, which is another source of quick reference information. Find it online at www.dummies.com/business/online-business/ebay.

Where to Go from Here

It’s time to open the book and dive in. For ongoing eBay-related adventures in cyberspace (the latest frontier), here are some handy destinations:

• You can find current editions of my For Dummies books at www.dummies.com.
• For updates on the topics I cover in this book, be sure to visit my website, http://www.coolebaytools.com. You’ll find articles about things going on at eBay, online business, and social media.
• For time-sensitive and technology oriented posts, I have a blog at http://mcollier.blogspot.com.

If you’d like to ask me questions personally, you can find me active on the following social media sites:

• Twitter: @MarshaCollier

  https://twitter.com/MarshaCollier

• Facebook: Marsha Collier

  https://www.facebook.com/MarshaCollierFanPage

• Google+: Marsha Collier Circle me?

  https://plus.google.com/101540468776840533944

• YouTube: DealingDiva (don’t judge — I opened that account a long time ago). I post videos to answer many questions I receive.

  http://www.youtube.com/user/dealingdiva

You can contact me directly from the Contact page on my website. I read all emails and try to answer as many as I can. But please remember that I’m just me. No giant staff, no big offices. I write books, research new products to help online citizens, consult with eBay sellers just like you, run an eBay business, and try to have a life.

Thank you for buying this book. Please email me and let me know about your eBay successes.