The e-Auction Insider: How to Get the Most Out of Your Online Experience

by Susan M. Cooney, Dave Taylor

While it doesn't share any real inside information about Internet auction sites, such as might be gleaned from the leader of such a site, The e-Auction Insider has a lot to say about buying and selling online. Authors Dave Taylor and Susan M. Cooney (Taylor runs iTrack.com, the auction-monitoring site) give advice on getting the best price for an item that you're selling and dealing with shark-like, last-second bidders--also known as snipers--when you're buying. They also detail how to contact the other parties in your transactions and the proper use of escrow services. Although a sizable section is devoted to each of the main general-interest auction sites--eBay, Amazon.com, and Yahoo! Auctions--the emphasis falls solidly on eBay. Readers might wish for more coverage of variants on the auction theme, such as Priceline.com. The book concludes with a directory of general- and special-interest auction sites that includes everything from Robynsegg.com (stickers, rubber stamps, and other scrapbook goods) to RockAuction.com (guitars, amplifiers, lighting equipment, and so on). It describes each site--with more substance than you usually find in directories of sites--and reports on registration rules, as well as any fees that apply to buyers or sellers. Some of what this book contains is common sense, but a lot of it will prove new and worthwhile to many readers. --David WallTopics Buying and selling, safely and profitably, on Internet auction sites. How to list items; search for auctions; bid; monitor bid competitions; use escrow services to reduce your chance of being defrauded; and the specifics of auctions on eBay, Amazon.com, and Yahoo! Auctions.

334 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2000