Adam Cohen, author of The Perfect Store: Inside eBay, was on hand to sign books Friday night at the eBay Live event in Anaheim. I sat down with Adam and chatted a bit about how eBay sellers are different from other entrepreneurs.

In his book, Cohen refers to Pierre Omidyar's philosophy toward eBay when he started the site, and how he saw eBay as a way to empower people and give them more control over their economic lives. After interviewing many sellers for the book, Adam concluded that eBay has succeeded "far beyond Pierre's wildest dreams."

Cohen explained that the barriers of entry are low for beginning a business on eBay. "You don't have to rent a store, worry about expensive advertising - eBay does that all for you."

"eBay allows people to specialize in ways they could never do in a brick-and-mortar store. There are people who just sell antique buttons or who just sell Elvis memorabilia," said Cohen. "The foot-traffic you would get in a regular store wouldn't allow you to have such a specialized business."

Cohen also said the flexibility of selling online has attracted different types of sellers. "You can do business on your own terms, and make your own hours. I met one woman who sells in her barefeet, and another who is a stay-at-home-mom."

Adam's book covers the history of eBay, from its inception and early days of its existence. It details the frantic process of taking the company public, recent Site outages and the policy changes which raised the hackles of eBay's loyal community. Incredibly, he had access to eBay staff and had their full cooperation in writing the book. Adam Cohen will be signing autographs at the eBay Live event in Anaheim, California, on Saturday June 23 and Sunday June 24.

To purchase a copy of The Perfect Store, visit http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0316150487/auctionbytescom