Starting an Online Business All-in-One For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Chapter 4: Making eBay THE Way

In This Chapter

• Figuring out the basics of eBay
• Getting your eBay experience going
• Starting an eBay item listing
• Opening an eBay store

In the past fifteen years, eBay has grown from a quiet, small online bazaar into the most powerful consumer trading platform on Earth. Although other Internet companies grew overnight into sensations and burned out of existence just as quickly, eBay has remained profitable from the first month it started charging users.

eBay is an effective way to gain customers, establish cash flow, and turn over some inventory. The beautiful part of eBay is that it takes care of many routine tasks that you need to handle by using e-commerce: the trading platform, Web site, and software needed to transact the sale. The one thing that eBay can't provide, however, is a guaranteed stream of customers or income just on its own. Building an eBay business requires some work and effort, combined with a number of strategies and tactics.

In this chapter, we show you how to get up and running on eBay with auctions and fixed-price sales. Then, when you have your feet wet, we detail how to advance to the big leagues with a dedicated eBay store.

Running an eBay business doesn't require that you focus all your efforts on eBay. eBay can simply be one channel for selling goods and making money, or you can use eBay to start your business before ...