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THE CONNECTED PHOTOGRAPHER INTERVIEW
Practicing safe eBay: what you don't know could hurt you
By David Gewirtz
The eBay Survival Guide: How to Make Money and Avoid Losing Your Shirt, shown in Figure A, is a new book from No Starch Press by Michael A. Banks. This Q&A session is a first for Connected Photographer. In it, we don't mention photography at all. Michael's book isn't really about photography. But it is about protecting yourself and getting the most out of eBay. And eBay is certainly a hot topic among Connected Photographer readers.
FIGURE A
 
Learn all about eBay safety with The eBay Survival Guide. Roll over picture for a larger image.
In this interview, Michael shares ways in which you can safeguard yourself while using eBay. While it's not photography, this discussion is so important, we thought you should have the chance to read it. We'll get back to photos, formats, Photoshop, and megapixels next week.
"Any email that asks for a credit card number, checking account number, user ID, and/or password is phishing. Period. Any email that asks you to click on a link and log in to your eBay or PayPal or bank account is a scam."
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David: Tell us about yourself and how you got involved with eBay.
Michael: I began trading online back in the early 1980s, when I sold a printer in a CompuServe Forum for parts. I did a lot of buying and selling of hobby stuff on CompuServe and elsewhere over the next decade, and even conducted an email auction around 1988 (for a collection of autographed science fiction novels).
I watched eBay for quite a while before getting involved. The first year, I found few items of interest, and those were overpriced. Also, I was also a bit skeptical about trust, since in the early days it was pretty easy to get friends to pump up your Feedback if you were a seller. My skepticism was reinforced one day in 1999 when I was in a used furniture store and heard the proprietor -- a part-time minister -- telling an acquaintance how he'd inflated his positive Feedback score. "Get that Feedback up," he said, "and you can get away with anything." Okay, Rev!
But my skepticism was overcome by several successful purchases, and before long I was selling, too.
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