EBay Hacks 2nd Edition

The Faster, Smarter, More Profitable Way to eBay

David A. Karp

“eBay is more than just a web site,” says David A. Karp. “It’s a
community of millions of people in all parts of the world, all of whom are
buying and selling with varying degrees of experience, ingenuity, and, of
course, intelligence.” In his new “eBay Hacks, Second Edition” (O’Reilly), eBay
expert Karp, shares his many years’ experience, and eBay intelligence with
anyone who wants to maximize their success in bidding, buying, and selling to
get the most out of their eBay experience.

A fully revised and updated version of the original bestseller, “eBay Hacks,
Second Edition” includes hacks–tools, tricks, strategies, and shortcuts–for
buyers and sellers, casual surfers and serious collectors, new eBayers and
longtime users alike. Thirty brand-new hacks and countless expanded, deepened,
or otherwise completely rewritten hacks help eBayers trade smarter, safer, make
more money, and have fun doing it.

“The best deals (and the best finds) are usually the items that most people
don’t see,” reminds Karp. A must have guide for anyone interested in succeeding
with eBay, readers will learn how to:

-Master the art of searching on eBay
-Use clever bidding techniques to win more while spending less, like
sniping–“all it takes is a little nerve and the ability to tell time”
-Protect themselves before and after bidding, and never lose another penny to
dishonest sellers
-Customize auction descriptions with JavaScript, HTML, forms, and other goodies
-Attract buyers and sell more with eye-catching, clear, well-composed photos
-Cultivate a positive reputation on eBay by protecting their feedback rating,
setting reasonable expectations, and eliminating deadbeat bidders
-Run a profitable and rewarding business by streamlining listings, checkout, and
shipping
-Automate communications with customers
-Dive into eBay’s API and develop custom software that can be with their
business or distributed to others

With a great sense of humor and a passion for using eBay responsibly,
and ethically, Karp shows buyers, sellers, and developers how to best
take advantage of eBay’s latest features and capabilities. Readers will
fully understand eBay policies, and how to use subtle strategy, a
little diplomacy, and the right tools to become more sophisticated,
highly satisfied members of the eBay marketplace.

Table of Contents

Credits

Preface

Chapter 1. Diplomacy and Feedback
1. Appraise an eBayer’s Reputation
2. Use Prefabricated Feedback
3. Avoid Negative Feedback
4. Receive Feedback Notifications
5. Reply and Follow Up to Feedback
6. Withhold Feedback
7. Remove Unwanted Feedback
8. Improve Your Trustworthiness Quickly
9. What to Do When Your Email Doesn’t Get Through

Chapter 2. Searching
10. Focus Your Searches with eBay’s Advanced Search Syntax
11. Control Fuzzy Searches
12. Jump In and Out of Categories While Searching
13. Tweak Search URLs
14. Find Similar Items
15. Search for Selected Text
16. Open Search Results in a New Window
17. Decipher Title Acronyms
18. Search by Seller
19. Search Internationally
20. Save Your Searches
21. Create a Search Robot
22. Find Items by Shadowing
23. Keep Tabs on eBay with the eBay Toolbar
24. Post a Want Ad

Chapter 3. Bidding
25. Sniff Out Dishonest Sellers
26. Snipe It Manually
27. Snipe It Automatically
28. Snipe It Conditionally
29. Keep Track of Auctions Outside of eBay
30. Take Advantage of Bid Increments
31. Manipulate Buy It Now Auctions
32. Retract Your Bid Without Retracting Your Bid
33. Send Payment Quickly and Safely
34. Pay PayPal’s Seller Fees
35. Use PayPal Without Depleting Your PayPal Balance
36. Access eBay from a Cell Phone or PDA
37. Smooth Out International Transactions
38. Save Money on Shipping
39. Estimate Transit Times
40. Deal with Disappointment: Getting Refunds
41. File a Dispute

Chapter 4. Selling
42. What’s It Worth?
43. Create a Listing
44. To Bundle or Not to Bundle
45. Reserve Judgment
46. The Strategy of Listing Upgrades
47. Use Keywords Effectively
48. Schedule Your Listing for Optimal Exposure
49. Track Your Exposure
50. Master Expectation Management
51. Sell a Broken VCR on eBay
52. Format the Description with HTML
53. Prepare Your Listings with a Web Page Editor
54. Clarify Your Payment and Shipping Terms
55. Customize Auction Page Backgrounds
56. Frame Your Listings
57. Override eBay’s Fonts and Styles
58. Use Media in Your Listings
59. Put a Shipping Cost Calculator in Your Listing
60. Advertise Your Other Listings in Your Description
61. Allow Visitors to Search Through Your Listings
62. Put a Floating Contact Link in Your Listings
63. Make Good Use of the About Me Page
64. Customize the Checkout Process
65. Make Changes to Running Auctions
66. Let’s Make a Deal
67. Diplomacy 101: Answer Dumb Questions
68. Keep Out Deadbeat Bidders
69. Avoid Buyer Scams

Chapter 5. Working with Photos
70. Keep Your Item from Looking Pathetic
71. Master Close-up Photography
72. Construct an Auction Photo Studio
73. Get Photos into Your Computer
74. Doctor Your Photos
75. Protect Your Copyright
76. Host Your Own Photos
77. Make Clickable Thumbnails
78. Customize Pop-up Image Windows
79. Construct an Interactive Photo Album
80. Show a 360-Degree View of Your Item
81. Create a Photo Collage
82. Create a Good Gallery Photo

Chapter 6. Completing Transactions
83. Keep Track of Items You’ve Sold
84. Send Payment Instructions
85. Protect Yourself While Accepting Payments
86. Ship Cheaply Without Waiting in Line
87. Sell and Ship Internationally
88. Damage Control Before and After You Ship
89. Deal with Stragglers, Deadbeats, and Returns
90. Issue a Refund

Chapter 7. Running a Business on eBay introduction PowerSellers and the Role of Numbers on eBay 321
91. Open an eBay Store
92. Find a Market
93. Streamline Listings with Turbo Lister
94. Boost Sales with Rebates, Incentives, and Discounts
95. Streamline Payment Instructions
96. Use an Off-eBay Checkout System
97. Obtain Sales Records
98. Make Money by Linking to eBay
99. Advertise Your eBay Listings
100. Accept PayPal Payments from Your Own Site
101. Process PayPal Payments Automatically

Chapter 8. The eBay API introduction How the eBay API Works 366 Getting Started 367 Using the Scripts in This Chapter 368
102. Climb Out of the Sandbox
103. Authenticate Users
104. Search eBay Listings
105. Create a Split-Pane Search Tool
106. Receive Search Results via RSS
107. Create Custom-Formatted eBay Search Results with the REST API
108. Search with PHP 5 and a Web Services Interface to the XML API
109. Retrieve Details About a Listing
110. Automatically Keep Track of Auctions You’ve Won
111. Track Items in Your Watching List
112. Automatically Keep Track of Items You’ve Sold
113. Submit an Auction Listing
114. List Your Entire Inventory on eBay
115. Automate Auction Revisions
116. Spellcheck All Your Listings
117. Automatically Relist Unsuccessful Listings
118. Send Automatic Emails to High Bidders
119. Leave Feedback with the API
120. Negative Feedback Bidder Alert
121. Negative Feedback Notification
122. Automatic Reciprocal Feedback
123. Make a Feedback Search Tool
124. Queue API Calls
125. Cache Listing Data to Improve API Efficiency

Index