Don't Get Burned on eBay

Preface

Introduction

In early 2005, my friend Drue Miller and I received an email from Sarah Milstein, an O’Reilly editor. Through a convoluted series of contacts, she’d gotten our names as people qualified to write a different kind of eBay book—not a “how to” manual per se, but something combining personal stories with take-away lessons. Drue and I have a web site called WhoWouldBuyThat.com that had the voice Sarah was looking for. I believe the word used early on was “snarky.” (Accurate, that.)

Drue’s schedule ultimately didn’t allow her to participate as an author (we snagged her later as a tech reviewer), but I was game. What followed were several conversations between Sarah and myself about what exactly we wanted this book to be—a book that’s fun to read and extremely informative. That’s what you’ll find here.

The stories within this book are all true, recounted (usually on the message boards in eBay’s Community section) by the people who experienced them. Minor artistic license has been taken where necessary, and all names have been changed to protect the innocent, the ignorant, and the guilty.

Audience for This Book

This book is for you if you have a working knowledge of eBay (just enough to get you in trouble if you don’t know what to look out for). In this book, you’ll get information in a way you’ll remember— real stories about real people. After every story, I’ll tell you how to avoid that situation or, if you’re already neck-deep, escape it.

Even if you’re a long-time eBayer, ...