It’s about an uber-organized career thief who fences his loot on eBay using the persona of a middle-aged shopaholic named Barbara.

“Barbara’s” listings are highly descriptive, full of benefits, and loaded with personality – just the style we teach in The Insider Secrets to Selling on eBay…

… “Nice MESSENGER bag from IL BISONTE. BLACK LEATHER bag in very excellent condition. Another bag that I just had to have, much to my husband Gerry’s chagrin — and I did use it for a while — but not for very long and the bag is in very excellent condition. I haven’t used it for a long time and it is time for it to move on to someone who will use it and enjoy it. A bag like this will never go out of style and IL BISONTE just continues to make beautiful and practical handbags, as I’m sure you already know. It opens with a zipper across the top of the bag and there is a nice zipper compartment inside… “

Who could resist?

Matthew Dicks says the character’s eBay alter-ego is an homage to his mother-in-law: “My mother-in-law… is an eBay PowerSeller and the techniques and listings described in the book all come straight from her.”

Well, she’s got the salescopy down cold, so it’s no wonder she’s a PowerSeller!

Something Missing is a funny character study of a good guy who does bad stuff… but very, very well.

(By the way, even though we like the book, that doesn’t mean we encourage anybody to unload stolen goods on eBay. Just so we’re straight…

Got any other examples of fictional characters who illustrate smart marketing concepts (eBay or otherwise)? Tell us!