Marsha Collier spends most of her time on things related to eBay. She s a charter member eBay PowerSeller, as well as one of the original instructors for eBay University. As a columnist, an author of four best-selling books on eBay, a television and radio expert, and a lecturer, she shares her knowledge of eBay with millions of online shoppers. Thousands of eBay fans also visit her Web site, www.coolebaytools.com, to get Marsha s latest insights on e-commerce.
Out of college, Marsha worked in fashion advertising for the
Miami Herald and then as special-projects manager for the
Los Angeles Daily News. She also founded a home-based advertising and marketing business. Her successful business, the Collier Company, Inc., was featured by
Entrepreneur magazine in 1986, and in 1990, Marsha s company received the Small Business of the Year award from her California State Assemblyman and the Northridge Chamber of Commerce.
Bargains drew Marsha to eBay in 1996, but profitable sales keep her busy on the site now. Marsha applies her business acumen and photography skills to her eBay business and in this book, she shares her knowledge about what makes good, profit-promoting listings on eBay.
Patti Louise Ruby, an Indianapolis native, was born to work on a computer. In junior high, she took a class in the programming language Fortran. She excelled and enjoyed the class: The die was cast. Patti went through several jobs as a programmer and then became a consultant. In the late 90s, Patti was part-owner of an antique mall, and coincidentally found a Web site called AuctionWeb (the original eBay). She was fascinated by the concept, and began selling on the site. She also became an integral part of the chat rooms, which initially served as loose customer support where users helped other users. Patti s ease with computers helped many a new user feel comfortable on the boards and with using the AuctionWeb system.
In February 1997, Patti was hired as AuctionWeb s second Customer Support Representative. In this position, she became the main interface between the engineering staff and the user community, where she communicated members bug reports and suggestions for site enhancements. When AuctionWeb became the new eBay site in the fall of 1997, she headed up a live question-and-answer board that was set up to help members make the transition between platforms.