I loved this book. He did a great job of explaining in laymen terms what and how, by example. This book was very insightful for the little things you should know if you are serious about selling on e-bay.

This book offers good advice for those interested in starting a business selling on the internet thru E-Bay. Practical ideas are given that can really be put to use. I recommend this book to new sellers on E-Bay.

It really developed enthusiasm for eBay. Added, it explained eBay and its' workings. Use it as a understanding tool but a text book format should also be purchased as a reference publicationi

Adam did a great job writing this book. Recommened if you are just starting to sell on EBay. Gets you excited and motivated.

How to Buy, Sell & Profit on eBay by eBay PowerSeller Adam Ginsberg is a great guide to starting a business on eBay and becoming a successful seller. Although it is slightly dated (published in 2005), Ginsberg's decision to provide more general information about eBay makes it useful even now. His conversational style makes it seem more like a story about his journey to becoming a PowerSeller than a "how-to" book. While this narrative format makes it an easy (and, at times, amusing) read, it also makes it slightly difficult to quickly look up information that one may need off hand. Tips on any given topic are generally spread throughout the book. For example, although chapter 11 is titled "Tips, Tricks, and Advanced Techniques," these are also found well before this chapter. For a beginner or an intermediate seller this book is highly useful, nonetheless. They will learn the ins and outs of eBay with ways to make it work for them and distinguish them from the other millions of sellers on eBay. Topics include thinking like an entrepreneur, what to sell, payment and shipping, titles and descriptions, tax benefits and more. He also talks about the all-important feedback score on eBay. However, it has slightly changed since this book was written as sellers can no longer leave buyers negative feedback. For up-to-date information on eBay's policies, sellers should consult eBay.com.

Even with the constant reiteration of the products and services his company offers for eBay, How to Buy, Sell & Profit on eBay is a useful tool to begin the journey to PowerSeller and home-based business ownership. Ginsberg even throws in a few tips for buyers. "I tell buyers to type in common misspellings of the item they're looking for, because if they do, in fact, find that item misspelled, they'll probably be the only ones who do. It's a great way to find bargains on eBay. (165)"

I ate up every page of this cogent eBay guide. Get out your highlighter and get ready to learn from the master himself. Adam's book is a quick and easy read, and every word is worth it's weight in TITANIUM! His words inspired me to Platinum Powerseller status. (Too bad I quit eBay May 19, 2008 when eBay retroactively made neutrals count as negatives.) No doubt I can apply the same success and key learnings to start an Amazon business. Thank you Adam Ginsberg!

M.C. Nygard
eBay Platinum PowerSeller
www.mermaidmonkey.com

I think that this book provided some good tips and a basic general understanding of how ebay and the ebay community works. However, specifics are not present. For example,I would like to have read more information about international and domestic shipping and about drop shippers. It has the normal motivational spillage thats in all these type of books. It is a easy read.

Adam is the eBay expert! He learned from experience and you get to benefit from that experience and make money sooner and make more per product as a result of Adam's book.

I have read his book and taken his course and I continue to learn from Adam. One of the hardest things in marketing is to sell to someone that you don't get to meet, learn about them, pick what things are important to that customer and explain how your product would benefit them. On eBay you have to rely on your product page on eBay to say it all. Adam tells you how to set it up, what to include and what not to do.

Once you sell your product you have to have systems in place to deliver the product and to have all of your eBay business parts working properly. I am the author of Turning Your Dream Business Into Your Bread & Butter: Recipes for Running a Successful Business from Scratch and this book has over 500 strategies, in an easy to read format, to help eBay business owner be successful and stay in business. It is a desk reference that can be used to start your business or be pulled down off the shelf when you have a business challenge and want to look up how to fix it.

So after reading How to Buy, Sell, and Profit on eBay: Kick-Start Your Home-Based Business in Just Thirty Daysyou need to read Turning Your Dream Business Into Your Bread & Butter: Recipes for Running a Successful Business from Scratch, the two together will take your eBay business to the next level and keep it there.

Ellen Springer, MBA, CPA
Turning Your Dream Business Into Your Bread & Butter: Recipes for Running a Successful Business from Scratch

Very instructive book for people who want to sell or buy on eBay. The book provides all the necessary & indispensable knowledge of that E Market.

Just finished the book last night hoping to find ideas that I could implement in my eBay sales. No real new info here. More geared for the eBay novice. If you have any experience buying or selling on eBay you already know 99% of the info provided in this book.

I found it odd that the author claims to have sold a 4 year old pair of very worn sneakers on eBay for $21 in the beginning of the book and then talks about it again later in the book but the sale price was $26.

Also, the author refers you to links to third party paid services which he owns.

Not only was this book easy to read - the content helped me go from a new eBay seller to an advanced one. I went from 19 feedback to 175 feedback in 60 days using the techniques I learned.

I'd highly encourage anyone interested in learning more about eBay to read this book!

What really stood out for me was the writing style of the book. It was conversational with great stories that were fun and interesting.

Along with great tips, this book is not written in the typical "textbook" format. I read the entire book in less than a day and would definitely encourage anyone to read it!

The content of this book is very basic, but that's not what concerns me the most. Why? It's been widely reported on eBay news sites that Adam Ginsberg was banned from selling on eBay years ago and he's never been allowed to return. The situation was so serious that a group of buyers pushed eBay to If you want a lesson in what NOT to do on eBay, take a look at his old ebay user ID's such as pegasusbilliards or zdiamonds.

The ridiculously high number of negative feedbacks on those accounts are a lasting reminder of how Mr Ginsberg ran his eBay business.

Be very wary of this guy, all you need to do is search 'adam ginsberg complaints' on google and you'll see a 'trail of destruction' that he's left over the last few years. It's shocking. I believe that people like him don't suddenly stop their shady practices.

Obviously this is not a book you want to read.

Shame on you Adam for passing this off as an informative guide. If you want to waste your money like I did, buy this book. AmberBamber has said it all. I should have watched the reviews more closely. I will not even try to resell this so called "book". I have already thrown it in the trash, and at this moment it is taking up valuable space in the landfill. Shame, Shame, Shame on you Adam Ginsberg.

a Gotta Have book if you are planning on starting an eBay business in your home in 30 days. Great reference for the experienced eBayer.

This book is one big fat advertisement for Ebay and for Adam Ginsberg's other ventures. It had very little useful information, and NO information that cannot be found easily on-line or on Ebay itself. It was a waste of my time reading it. It was utterly repetitive and took forever to actually get to any sort of information or advice. There is hardly enough information in this book to fill a 10 page pamphlet...let alone a 300 page book!!! I'm just happy I got it from the library and didn't end up wasting my money as well as my time.

I wish there was actually a book out there to help people who are not complete ebay beginners. The biggest ebay woe is finding sources for products, and there is little help in this book....OH, unless you want to go to the website Adam plugs and buy more stuff from him. SURE, then he'll help you out. HA, RIGHT!

This book is not bad. It is good for the basics of how to buy and sell on Ebay, if you have never done it, but if you have already been doing business on Ebay, its more of a review than revelation. There are a lot of great little 'tid-bits' of information and the writing style is entertaining, but nothing really eye opening or anything that makes you say hum....It talks about doing your homework and how to to post listings, the rules of ebay but a lot of this is posted on the Ebay site itself. If you are a total novice by all means pick it up, but if you have done a few deals on Ebay and pretty much know your way around you may want to skip this one.

This book is not bad. It is good for the basics of how to buy and sell on Ebay, if you have never done it, but if you have already been doing business on Ebay, its more of a review than revelation. There are a lot of great little 'tid-bits' of information and the writing style is entertaining, but nothing really eye opening or anything that makes you say hum....It talks about doing your homework and how to to post listings, the rules of ebay but a lot of this is posted on the Ebay site itself. If you are a total novice by all means pick it up, but if you have done a few deals on Ebay and pretty much know your way around you may want to skip this one.

Very good tips and easy to read and understand. I rely on this allot.

Very good tips and easy to read and understand. I rely on this allot.

This book is the best book on eBay I've read - ever...and I've read many. I loved the writing style. The author conveyed his message in a way that allowed me to use the information immediately and apply it to my eBay selling.

For me, it's not always about the information - but the way the information is presented that is important. I've heard many of the ideas in this book before...just not presented in such an easy to understand approach.

I would definitely suggest this book to anyone who wants to learn more about eBay and how to profit from it.

Adam's book made it easy for me to understand how ebay works and what things you can or can't do on there. I am defiantly going to start selling on ebay.

I agree with other reviewers who say that the book could have been condensed into a few pages. There's a lot of cheerleading for ebay and other useless fluff in this book. I think the layout of the book could have been much better if he would've just stuck to the things that would be really useful.

I just finished the book and decided to look up ztemplate and lasvegastables to get an idea about the layout. Apparently he no longer sells using this ID and ztemplates.com seems to be gone as well.

I'm pretty sure one can make money on ebay, although it may not be easy. Although I give this book 3 stars its the only ebay book I've ever read and would say there's no harm in reading it. There are definitly good ideas in the book.

It's a great book if you have never heard about ebay before, but you can get this same information from the internet for free.

This book is a very useful tool for someone wanting to become a regular eBay user. Whether youre starting a business or looking to make some extra cash on the side. Theres guidance every step of the way. Very imformative.

Sorry, but this book is just a bunch of worthless hype and total garbage. There is nothing but NOTHING in this doorstop that will even help you sell your garage full of junk on eBay, let alone start or especially sustain a business.

This clown says he put a $2,750 pool table on eBay and started the bidding at $0.01 with no reserve, and that by the end of the auction the thing had bid up to over $3,000. BULL S***!! There is NO WAY that happened!! I can telll you from first hand experience selling on eBay that if this bozo or anyone else put a $2,750 pool table on eBay and started the bidding at $0.01, here's what would happen: after an intense bidding war at the end of the auction, some lucky person out there would score a $2,750 pool table for about $350 plus whatever this derfsnerker was charging for shipping. Duh!! Hello!? People on eBay are looking for a DEAL!! That means NO ONE on eBay pays full retail price plus shipping and WHY WOULD THEY!? And this guy wants us to believe that he's unloading $2,750 pool tables left and right for $3,000 and up. Oh, Lordy pie .....

Everyone who has sold on eBay knows -- KNOWS -- that NO ONE pays full retail price on eBay. It's hard enough to sell at wholesale prices on eBay, let alone full retail, and this knucklehead wants us to believe that people are buying POOL TABLES on eBay ABOVE retail price? Oh my God!! What a load of doo doo!! What dummy buys a 400 pound pool table on eBay at ABOVE retail then pays about $350 to ship it on top of that? Helllllooooo!? NOBODY!!! Dee-duh-dee!! Why in God's name would anyone do that!?

This book has no new information on anything else either. No new info on where to procure items to sell on eBay (he tells us to go to garage sales and estate auctions -- say it with me, DDDUUUUHHHHH!!! We already knew that, ding-a-ling), no new info on what products/items sell the best on eBay, and basically NOTHING you can't discover for free from eBay itself.

This pinhead wrote this book for just one reason: to supplement HIS OWN income, and definitely not yours, because maybe just maybe he's not making NEARLY the cash he incessantly brags throughout this book about making on eBay. Do ya think? Maybe? Duuuuhhhhh .....

There's a sucker born every minute. If you want this minute's sucker to be YOU, go ahead and add this waste of paper to your shopping cart along with "How I Made Millions Selling Bridges" and "You Too Can Profit by Buying This Book on How You Too Can Profit".

Sorry, but this book has nothing in it that's going to help you even sell your own garage full of junk on eBay, let alone start and sustain a full-time business. This guy says that he put $2,750 pool tables on eBay and started the bidding at $0.01 with no reserve and the tables had bid up over $3,000 by the end of the auction. BULL S**T!!

I can tell you from first hand experience that if this bozo put a $2,750 pool table on eBay for $0.01, here's what would happen -- after a very short bidding war with MAYBE four or five participants, some lucky person out there would score a $2,750 pool table for about $300 plus whatever this clown was charging for shipping. Anyone who has sold anything on eBay knows that eBay shoppers are looking for a DEAL. HELLO!?!?! DUH!!! This baboon expects me to believe he's selling things above retail on e-F***ING-Bay!? PLEASE!! It's hard enough to sell at wholesale on eBay. Retail? IMPOSSIBLE!! ABOVE retail? This joker is on drugs.

So there's that, then there's the fact that this book has absolutely NOTHING in the way of useful information pertaining to where to procure items to sell (idiot boy says go to garage sales and estate sales .... say it with me, DDDUUUUUHHH!!! We already knew that!!!), no new info on what items sell the best on eBay, and no new info on anything else either.

This jack*ss wrote this book for one reason: to supplement his own income (and definitely NOT yours), 'cause NOBODY is STUPID enough to buy a f***ing POOL TABLE which weighs 400 POUNDS for ABOVE RETAIL on eBAY and then pay an additional $350 to SHIP the thing!!! Dee-duh dee!!!

A sucker is born every minute. If you want this minute's sucker to be YOU, go ahead and add this piece of doo doo to your shopping cart along with "How I Made $300 Million Selling Bridges" and "You Too Can Profit by Buying This Book on How You Too Can Profit".

God, what a worthless joke.

I read a few chapters, up until I got to the page where the author claims that Al Gore invented the internet. When I realized it wasn't a joke, I couldn't possibly take anything else in the book seriously. I trashed it and read another book on Ebay.

i bought this book and liked it enough. it was just like any other ebay book, however he goes on and on about his "helpful" tools. and guess what? for buying his book you get a free trial! i've never fallen for any kind of online scam before but his book seemed legit enough so i signed up for his auction template trial. well, the site is worthless and to top it off they don't let you unsubscribe. there is absolutely NO WHERE on the site to unsubscribe and your emails sent to them about this go ignored. of course they spam me about 5 times a day to tell me about other wonderful offers that i'm lucky enough to be eligable for. this book is okay but i'd rather put money in the hands of someone who doesn't STEAL. now i have to try to figure out how to not get charged for another month against my will.

This is a great book with all the nuances included to get a good start on eBay. Ginsberg leaves no stone unturned. But suppose you have an idea for a business on the Internet that is not about selling goods? Maybe you want a store with your name on it, or you have an idea for an information based business. Then I recommend "Internet Riches" by Scott Fox as a solid blueprint for developing your ideas and turning them into a lucrative Internet homebased business. What I liked best was the action plans for brainstorming these ideas and then the guidelines for implementing them. Very pragmatic.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It's both instructional and informational - and contains some really great tips I haven't found anywhere else.

I'm pretty new to eBay and this book has gotten me off to the right start - I can't wait to read Adam's next book!

This is one that I highly recommend for anyone looking to make money on eBay!

Book extemely informative learned alot of new things great for a person who needs to further they knowledge on ebay and its possibilities.

This is a fine book and worth reading to get some insight into being a seller on ebay especially if you are thinking of becoming a Powerseller.
Now there are two books that are better, especially if you really are serious and desire to take your ebay biz to the top level, below are the two.

eBay Income: How Anyone of Any Age, Location, and/or Background Can Build a Highly Profitable Online Business with eBay by Cheryl L. Russell
and
eBay Powerseller Secrets: Insider Tips from eBay's Most Successful Sellers by Debra Schepp

Some good tips here, but most are pure common sense, like taking the best possible pictures of your product.

There aren't many eBay books that are entertaining but this one was. Lots of good stories to keep you interested, and when all is said and done there's a lot of good information here on creating auctions and really thinking like a seller. Somewhat self-promotional, buy hey the guy's a success story.

This book is fun and well written, but it started to sound a lot like Network Marketing books I'd read in the past, and when I first sniffed the aroma of Ginsberg's intent to sell me ebay tools, I was a bit dismayed...okay, he's got more than one agenda. I agree that there is A LOT of repeition, but maybe that's a good thing.. .it sinks in. However, Ginsburg's writing gives the feeling sales are really hot on Ebay...and that if you put stuff up you're very likely to sell it. Maybe, maybe not. Halfway through the book I went online to check the seller listings... as he suggests....and I was pretty mollified to see just how much goes UNSOLD on EBAY every day. Putting those stats side by side would be a bit sobering, I think. I love to buy on ebay, I've tried to sell a few things without much luck (except new books.) YOu have to spend more to sell more and I've been stingy.. so with his help, I plan to experiment a bit...but I have no doubts this is not as easy as his enthusiasm makes it sound. But when you're making millions, I guess it's easy to get enthusiastic, especially if that sells more books and more software. Now I'm looking for a book that says... yes, you can, BUT! :-)

There is a lot of information to get you excited about starting to buy/sell on Ebay. A tiny bit too many "stories", but excellent source of the basics. Just be sure to flag pages as you go to reference and your start up will be much easier. Just attended Ebay 101 class ($95) and much of the stuff I had already learned from this book. Definitely worth the price of the book.

I have been buying and selling on eBay for a couple of years and thought I was pretty savvy. This book taught me several important strategies that has helped me get even better response from my auctions.

I would strongly encourage you to read it twice so you do not miss anything. This really is one of the best eBay resources I have ever found.

You will not go wrong in buying this book if you want success from eBay.

I love this book! The writing style is fantastic. It's easy to read and contains some really great tips.

I first read this book a couple of months ago and have made great strides with my eBay venture. A couple of days ago I was speaking with someone at my office about my eBay success. I couldn't help but rave about Adam's book. Then I had the idea to get a few copies of this book as gifts for my co-workers who are interested in learning more about selling on eBay.

When I first read the book I was fairly new to eBay - and the information was a tremendous help. My copy has tons of highlights and pages with the corners turned.

If you're looking to get started on eBay then this book is definitely a 5 star choice!

A perfect book for the beginner. Adam leads you through the process step by step with plain english that anyone can understand. I used some of his techniques and made a great profit on my first sale.

Be sure to keep a pad of paper handy while you read! By the time I finished, I had pages of thoughts and ideas (and lists of products to sell) that I wanted to put into action to help my eBay venture grow!

It makes such sense - I know it will influence how we run our business forever! Great book!!

Mr Ginsberg proved by large that he could be hugely successful on eBay. His preaching -- litterally, since his writing style is often echoing like the one of a TV evangelist -- is that everybody could also become an eBay juggernaut seller. As long as you read his book, attend his seminars, buy his educational tapes and use his templates to format your auctions.

And this is where the disillusion comes from.

Obviously, most of his 'tips' are public secret or plain common sense for someone remotely aware of how you conduct transactions on the auctioning platform. As a matter of fact, same examples are served over and over with different sauces or side servings. But after all, for somebody new to the matter, it could be a handy compilation of the do's and dont's when you decide to be less casual with your eBay activities.

However, the doubt settles in when I started to feel a certain bias at least, a plain dishonesty at worst, in the advices our author is ditillating across the pages. Too often, the sales pitch for his own paying services was surfacing.

I will mention two examples.

Adams explains that he worked nearly for free during a year and a half in a dotcom company in the lure of cashing in his share options after the floating. About a 100 pages further, Adam humorously writes that when he heard the word HTML while he was trying to give a better look to his auction listing, it was sounding to him like (quoting nearly word for word) "a total unknown expression to me, sounding like a term you would hear in Star Trek to make the Enterprise goes faster, something totally arcane". I then thought it was quite weird for an Internet economy wonder boy to be ignorant of such a widespread acronym... The answer to my questioning came a few pages later. Why would you bother to deal with HTMl when you can use (and pay for) Adam's ready to auction zTemplates! Now, I understand why HMTL should be and remain so daunting to his readers...

The second example pertains to his review of the market mapping for eBay data analysis tools (what-sells-when-for-how-much type of queries). Suprisingly, Adam nearly completely ignores the main two players (TeraPeak and Andale) to... write about his (paying,yes) zSearches!

So, it's ok and commonly accepted to do some cross-selling job in such a cook-book. It's just a matter to keep a balance and above all to remain objective in the advices you're giving. I believe Adam Ginsberg failed here and it leaves the text shaky in its foundation and orphan of his purpose. After all, I bought a book, not an extended brochure of his company product line.

What's next? Well I will apply one of Adam's preferred line: "you can sell everything on eBay" (*) and will put my own copy on auction very soon...



(*) As an experienced eBay user, I would rather say "If you cannot sell it on eBay, you won't sell it at all", slightly different from Adam's eBay euphory.

If enthusiasm alone determined the quality of a book, this would be a knockout. Mr. Ginsberg's enthusiasm and zeal for the eBay experience is infectious, in the way that a good pitchman's patter can be hypnotic. The problem is that he spends more time repeating that message - for nearly the first 25% of the book, and several more times -- than he does getting to anything practical. To be sure, he does have several practical ideas, tips, and suggestions; although, to be fair, 2/3 of them are available for free if you just spend a little time reading the guides that are on the eBay site. But the balance between the practical information and the "pitch" for eBay (and his own software and web site) is skewed. He writes well, his style is ingratiating, and you will get something out of this book. But when you strip it of the information you can get on eBay, strip it of the hype, strip it of the ads for his web service, you end up with a thick pamphlet's worth of information about selling on eBay, not a book's worth. Fortunately, it's not an expensive book. Oh. And if you're looking to BUY on eBay, despite the title, there is no information covering that topic. A very mild thumbs up.

Not only does this book encourage participation in the E-Bay empire, it also gives you a step-by-step buy and sell pathway. Make no mistakes from the start with this book. A-1!

I'm not sure I'd consider myself a dummie, but an eBay novice for sure. I read this book in one sitting...the story telling is compelling.

Most business books are very "text book" and boring - but this one was different. The information is so easy to follow that I can't help but suggest that anyone starting out on eBay get this book and use it as their guide!

As a side note, since reading the book I've sold 17 items on eBay. I have 11 feedback all positive. I'm almost ready to begin selling...and can't wait!

Its not often that I read a whole book in one sitting! I have tried my hand at making money on eBay before and had almost given up until I read this excellent piece of work.

Now that I have found out where I've been going wrong all this time, I expect to be making some serious money over the coming months.

Adam Ginsberg has certainly given me some food for thought. Anyone wanting to profit from eBay would be crazy not to buy this book!

This book should be titled, "How to make money by writing a book about making money on Ebay." Why? Because he points to websites that he "likes" for a particular kind of auction service and it ends up being a website for his cd's, books, etc. Since deception is all throughout this book, Adam Ginsberg has lost all credibility - I now can't trust anything he has written since I realize there's a motivation to sell you one of his products. Sure am glad I checked it out of the library. Go to your local library or bookstore and read it for yourself, you'll see.

If you are trying to make money by using the eBay and the internet, this is a must have book.

Mr. Ginsberg gives you great insight in a simple and easy to follow system. I've used the info in this book to make a ton of money.

I would you highly encourage anyone to read this book and use his principals to grow your eBay business!

What an informative and insightful book. I wish someone had given me this information when we started out on eBay. I think this book should be recommended reading for anyone looking to make money by selling on eBay!

This book doesn't tell you anything different than if you used the ebay tutorials. He has a few good pointers however anybody with some degree of common sense could come up with the same ideas. I would not recommend buying the book, but it would count as a business expense.