Newbie question. How do I make the background perfectly white?

Hi all. Sorry for the newbie question, I am sure its prob something easy, just not familiar with Photoshop yet.

I take pictures of things and put them on ebay and my website. I have a photobox thing, a white foldable tent where I put my items in and have lamps on the outside to ensure lighting and no glare. The pics come out fine, but how do I make the background the same color white as the web page? Below are a couple examples. The first example is how my pics come out. The second pic is how I would like it to come out, with no noticeable background. Thanks for any help you can provide.

This is one from Motorola

This is one I took

Take the magic wand tool and fiddle around the with the tolerance until you can click the almost-white part and delete it. If there is any bit left, go around it with the eraser at a setting that looks good.

Chris,

A 'quick and dirty' way is to open the Levels dialog box (CTRL+L) and move the highlight slider a little toward the middle.

That will lighten all highlights.

The best way to do it to make it look professional is to use the pen tool, make selection and then delete background. This is not a method a mewbie wil master right away, but try the levels it shold help