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January 8 , 2008
In This Issue:
* NEW FEATURE: Wholesale Sources
* Why Do Most People FAIL On eBay?
* eBay Will Automatically Bid For You!
* Possible eBay Niche: Construction Equipment Auctions
* Selling Items That Are Unsafe
* What Kids Think About Angels ...
* If You Want To Continue To Receive This Newsletter
Happy New Year!
We are SO blessed to live on this beautiful planet.
NEW FEATURE: Wholesale Sources
It seems that every year there are more and more wholesale companies available to eBay sellers. In the early days of eBay, and for years thereafter, all of the 'old time' wholesalers sneered at eBay sellers as not worthy of their time. However, the raving success of eBay has changed many corporate minds and some wholesale companies - although certainly not all - court eBayers.
Natural Life: looking at the merchandise from this charming store can't fail to raise anyone spirits, especially on cold winter days like today. Natural Life loves bright colors and whimsical designs. Their lines include goodies like ceramics, Mexican pottery, water globes, latte mugs, hand painted wood products, pillows and more. Very unique, though, are the bohemian baby items. For example, they have miniature leather moccasins, sizes for 6-18 months, which offer non-slip suede soles and are packed in gift boxes with a suggested retail price of $30. I haven't seen anything like them anywhere. |
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Upside: their minimum order is only $30.
Downside: their online catalog is really lousy, so order the printed one.
http://www.naturallife.net/wholesale.htm
10475 Fortune Parkway, Building 200, Suite 210, Jacksonville, FL 32256 |
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Lissom Design: referring to themselves as sellers of "Fine Stationery & Thoughtful Gifts", this wholesaler concentrates on everything to do with stationery ... die cut note sets, signs, gift sets of all varieties, gift bags, frames, designer pens and more. They offer products by themes: winter birds, ocean breezes, teachers, sunflowers, etc. and they have seasonal specials with some very nice offers. For example, they are currently selling a photo album {Regular price: $5.25 with a minimum of 12 order - Special: $2.00} |
Minimum opening order amount is $150.00, minimum re-order amount is $100.00.
http://lissomdesign.com
Lissom Design
312 Oak Place, Suite A
Brea, CA 92821
877-483-4438 |
Design Line Readers: at a recent Christmas party, I noticed a woman wearing a unique pair of reading glasses. They were extremely thick on the sides and were fashioned in black and white stripes, reminiscent of a zebra. I wanted them instantly! There are many companies that offer sunglasses, but Design Line, a division of Blue Gem Sunglasses, offers reading glasses. This is a cool site - in fact, if I wore reading glasses, I would promptly buy a pair of their multicolored Memory Flex glasses (pictured at right). They also sell "sun readers", which are reading glasses with dark lenses. |
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Time Mug: For the commuter who has everything ... let them carry their morning coffee in a mug with a clock circled by rhinestones! Actually, Time Mug has non-rhinestone versions, too, but if my commute were any longer than a walk downstairs, I would definitely have one of these goodies with their multiple colors.
Upside: I couldn't find anything remotely like this on eBay so it would definitely be a unique item.
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1600 For Men: because of a deal with the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division Benefit Fund, this company can sell fine toiletries for men with the Presidential Seal of the US displayed. In addition, a portion of each sale goes to charity - always a plus with eBay buyers. In addition to soaps, shaving creams and the like, there is a handsome navy robe ... including the famous seal, naturally. |
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Alexa's Angels: if you're interested in high-quality jewelry that isn't like everything else out there, this might be a good site for you. Generally, I recommend again getting into the jewelry biz on eBay - especially if you're a novice - but there's no denying that this site has some interesting goodies. |
COMING NEXT ISSUE: Notice the exterior lighting in the picture below. This has been a popular seller in the past and with spring on the horizon, we need to make our selling decisions early. This supplier might be of interest to you.
Why Do Most People FAIL On eBay?
You might wonder if most folks actually do FAIL on eBay? It's a fair question because failure is definitely an individual definition. Yet at the 2006 eBay Live convention, CEO Meg Whitman announced that:
1. eBay had just registered its 200 millionth account, and
2. 1.2 million eBay sellers were making a full or part-time living from eBay
1.2 million is a lot of people, to be sure - but it's only a bit over 1/2 of 1%, or .005. To be fair, let's acknowledge that not everyone who has an eBay account wants to be a seller.
Still, the reality is that most people NEVER do as well on eBay. We can come up with all the usual 'suspects' ... too much competition (the most popular), not enough money, too little time, stupid eBay buyers, 'it's too hard', etc.
But here's REAL reason: they're trying to make all their profits from one sale per customer! No, no, no! I frequently tell my students, "I make money because of eBay, rather than on eBay."
Think about it this way ... the hardest sale to make is the first one. The customer doesn't know you, doesn't trust you and has no history with you. But once you've had a good transaction, then it's much easier to get that second, third and fourth sale.
Here's a real-life example ... in my last class, I had a student who lives in China, although he is a citizen of the UK. He can obtain tea that sells online for up to $40 - for only a couple of dollars. Cool, huh? But smart seller that he is, he doesn't want to settle for just a simple sale of some tea, so we spent a couple of hours figuring out his options.
What do you think of when you think of things-that-go-with-tea? Tea pots and tea cups, right? When I started doing the research I was truly astonished at the multiplicity of ways to make money with tea - mostly hands off {which is especially great in his case since he lives in China but sells mostly in the US, Canada & the UK.
So what you can learn is:
1. HOW to make more money on eBay than a mere pittance from a sale
2. What products you can sell & how to find them
3. And often, you don't even need to handle merchandise to do this
If you're interested in learning this yourself, you can do so in our next LIVE Auction Genius Course which begins on January 19. It is eight weeks, 16 hours and you get personal attention so it suite YOUR problems and YOUR business.
Live Auction Genius Course
eBay Will Automatically Bid For You!
Yes, we're eBay sellers but most of us are also eBay buyers. And eBay - naturally - makes it easy for us to bid. And, as sellers, makes it easy for others to bid on our products. YES!
One of the prime objections to the auction process used to be that it was annoying to have to be around when an auction was ending. But eBay added the "proxy bid" feature to solve that problem. Here's how it works ...
1. When you place a bid, you enter the maximum amount you're willing to pay for the item. The seller and other bidders won't know your maximum bid amount.
2. eBay places bids on your behalf starting with the next bid increment for the auction. They'll keep bidding for you until bidding reaches your maximum amount.
3. If another bidder has placed the same bid before you or a higher maximum bid, eBay will let you know that you've been outbid so that you can place another bid if you want. However, if no other bidder has a higher maximum bid at the end of the auction, you win the item even if your bid doesn't go as high as your maximum bid. You could pay significantly less than your maximum price. This means you don't have to keep coming back to re-bid every time another bid is placed.
You can practice with a test auction.
eBay has recently changed its rules to give more proxy bid information by allowing buyers see all the past proxy bids that were placed on an item. To see this expanded bid history once it rolls to the site, simply click the link labeled "Show automatic bids" above the Bid Time column on the right side of the table.
Important to note: the high bidder's current proxy bid will NOT be revealed.
This automatic bidding function only works on single item auctions - not Dutch auctions.
Possible eBay Niche: Construction Equipment Auctions
There are thousands of categories on eBay and some of them are quite competitive. Jewelry and consumer electronics, for example, are really tough places to sell. Others, have special problems ... like the travel category. eBay limits these sales to travel agents or businesses that sell travel packages. The average person can only sell one trip per month.
But one profitable category is that of construction equipment. You won't have as many sales - but those you do make can be quite profitable.
This high quality Bobcat 331 Mini backhoe excavator
with a 12" bucket attachment sold on eBay for $5,900
Before you dismiss this as 'impossible', consider these issues.
Number Of Customers
The best construction equipment is neither the cheapest nor the most expensive. The best construction equipment for eBay sales is the one that is the most popular online. The bigger the number of customers, the better chance for sponsoring a lively auction {translation = higher bids}.
Keyword Popularity
How do you check the online popularity? It is relatively simple: you have to use such tools as Wordtracker or Nichebot to determine the number of people typing the phrase into search engines and then visit google.com or altavista to check the number of pages containing the phrase in question. The best “construction equipment phrases” are those that are the most popular among users and the least popular among the webmasters.
Stable Source Of Items
When you have determined a few potentially lucrative items, you have to go to stage two: securing a stable source of items to sell. Even the best construction equipment will not make you rich unless you have a way to steadily deliver it to your eBay customers.
Our favorite spot is a local magazine that advertises equipment for sale. When an ad has run for several weeks and the equipment hasn't sold, it's at least worth a phone call to the owner to see if we can sell it for him or her. By getting a percentage of the sale, acting as a consignment seller can be quite profitable.
Minimal Storage Space {if you accept delivery}
At this moment you should be left with only two-three “best construction equipment” items you can sell. Here's a tip: start from choosing only one of them – the one that takes the least storage space. You have to be prepared to keep it for a few months before the first sale and there's no reason to pay high storage fees during that time. Fortunately every next auction is easier, so you will be able to add other products later on.
Of course, even better is the consignment sale model mentioned above since someone else will be storing your items. Just be certain that you have an agreement - IN WRITING - with the owner before offering it for sale on eBay.
Selling Items That Are Unsafe
Most everyone is aware of the almost-constant recalls of Chinese goods. eBay sellers need to pay attention, too, and the easiest way is to pay attention to the US market is by book marking the Consumer Product & Safety Commission's recall page. This month alone they've recalled:
Toy Wagons Recalled by Tricam Industries Due to Violation of Lead Paint Standard
In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Tricam Industries Inc., of Eden Prairie, Minn., is voluntarily recalling 15,000 Metal Toy Wagons. Surface paint on the wagon bucket contains excessive levels of lead, violating the federal lead paint standard.
Bathroom Medicine Cabinets Sold at Lowe’s and The Home Depot Retail Outlets Recalled by RSI Home Products Due to Laceration Hazard
In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), RSI Home Products, of Anaheim, Calif., is voluntarily recalling 8,600 Medicine Cabinets. The medicine cabinet’s mirrors can separate and break, posing a laceration hazard.
ATVs Recalled By KYMCO Due to Suspension Failure; Riders Can Lose Control of Vehicle
In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), KYMCO USA, of Spartanburg, S.C., is voluntarily recalling 1,350 2006-2008 Model Year MXU 500 All Terrain Vehicles. The pivot bolts holding the rear suspension onto the frame can become loose, causing the rear swing arm to detach from the chassis posing a risk of injury or death to the operator.
If you happen to buy something for resale on eBay and it has a product recall, vigorously insist on a refund of your purchase price!
Side note: It would be interesting to know how many of these above products are manufactured in China. If China doesn't begin to create and enforce manufacturing standards in their country, their losses are going to become astronomical. During the recent Christmas season, it was interesting to note the stories of folks refusing to buy products - especially toys - unless buyers were certain they were NOT manufactured in China.
From Our Humor Department
What Kids Think About Angels ...
Sarah, 7: I only know the names of two angels. Hark and Harold.
Gregory, 5: Everybody's got it all wrong. Angels don't wear halos anymore. I forget why, but scientists are working on it."
Olive, 9 "It's not easy to become an angel! First, you die. Then you go to heaven, then there's still the flight training to go through. And then you got to agree to wear those angel clothes.
Matthew, 9: Angels work for God and watch over kids when God has to go do something else.
Mitchell, 7: My guardian angel helps me with math, but he's not much good for science.
Henry, 8: Angels don't eat, but they drink milk from Holy Cows!!!.
Jack, 6: Angels talk all the way while they're flying you up to heaven. The main subject is where you went wrong before you got dead.
Daniel, 9: When an angel gets mad, he takes a deep breath and counts to ten. And when he lets out his breath, somewhere there's a tornado.
Reagan, 10: Angels have a lot to do and they keep very busy. If you lose a tooth, an angel comes in through your window and leaves money under your pillow. Then when it gets cold, angels go north for the Winter.
Sara, 6: Angels live in cloud houses made by God and his son, who's a very good carpenter.
Jared , 8: All angels are girls because they gotta wear dresses and boys didn't go for it.
Antonio, 9: My angel is my grandma who died last year. She got a big head start on helping me while she was still down here on earth.
Katelynn, 9: Some of the angels are in charge of helping heal sick animals and pets. And if they don't make the animals get better, they help the child get over it.
Vicki, 8: What I don't get about angels is why, when someone is in love, they shoot arrows at them.
All our CD-ROMs products are currently on sale including CD-ROM bundles.
