"EBAY SELLING" EZINE
January 5, 2004
In this issue:
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. New Auction Genius Course Begins This Week
2. Your Free Copy Of MAKE YOUR NET AUCTION SELL!
* From the “What In The World?” Department
* Feature Article: Blunt Words From A (Very) Successful eBay Seller
NEWS FROM EBAY
1. BIG Sale On Home Page Featured
2. New Icons?
3. Changes In Feedback Reporting
4. More Space For Titles
5. Keyword Spamming Rules Strengthened
6. More Category Changes
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. New Auction Genius Course Begins This Week
We are pleased to be starting our 11th Auction Genius Course. The live class is 8 weeks long, for a total of 16 hours. It's all about building a BUSINESS – instead of some get-rich-quick scheme, which absolutely will not work! Every day my email box is flooded with spam about “EZ Money On eBay”. At the risk of being unpopular, I will absolutely, categorically deny that there is EZ money to be made on eBay, or anywhere online.
There are some excellent ebooks on making money with auctions. But, no one would expect to successfully create any other business simply by reading a book or two. So, why does anyone fall for that idea on the net? It's as though the internet is something different from the rest of the business world. Well, it isn't. Below is an offer for the best selling auction book on the net – written by me: Make Your Net Auction Sell! It's good – but it isn't enough. How could it be? Currently, I am perfecting my skills with search engines. If anyone can tell me a single book (or two) that will give me genius-level mastery of the search engines, please let me know what they are. Of course they add to my knowledge base. Some of them are excellent. But it takes more than that to be a search engine master, and it takes more than a couple of ebooks to make a generous living on eBay.
Can't you learn eBay on your own? Of course you can. The reason for a mentor like me is that I have made countless mistakes and can save my students from repeating them. I simply speed up the process and save folks from thousands of dollars in errors. That's why I find mentors whenever I want to learn something new. If they're good, they're more than worth the price I pay them. If they're not, I get out in a hurry. So should you.
2. Your Free Copy Of MAKE YOUR NET AUCTION SELL!
Did you know that the book I wrote many years ago for ken Evoy and sitesell.com is now free? Yep, that's true. It's been updated and reworked and is available at no charge now.
http://auctionknowhow.sitesell.com/mynas-masters/
Help yourself.
From the "What In The World?" Department
Do you get stupid spam with subject headings like this one?
digjuubpjjs
Anybody have the vaguest idea what that is all about? The only reasons I can come up with are:
* An attempt to avoid the spam filters
* Hoping against hope that the recipient will get curious and open it
* The spammer is stupid
Feature Article: Blunt Words From A (Very) Successful eBay Seller
The biggest single concern of would-be auction sellers is finding merchandise to sell. I keep saying that it the easiest part; even though I know that many of you don"t believe me. It IS the easiest part for me simple because I to find things to sell, and so I do. They're everywhere and all over the place. This is a gigantic world, rich in opportunities and choices and we are all so blessed to be a part of it.
Here is feedback from Paul Ellis, an eBay seller and Genius Course member, who absolutely has the abundance mindser - and is very blunt in his choice of words. Interesting reading for sure ...
What Sydney says about me having enough stuff to carry me for a long time is the absolute truth. I see deals and opportunities everywhere I look. Why? Simply because I'm looking from my own perspective... that of a direct marketer.
What Sydney says about me having enough stuff to carry me for a long time is the absolute truth. I see deals and opportunities everywhere I look. Why? Simply because I'm looking from my own perspective... that of a direct marketer.
I see more deals and have more ideas each day than many might have in a lifetime. I feel like a fox in a hen house... I can't catch 'em all. There is NO WAY I can ever take advantage of all there is out there. It will NEVER dry up.
My perspective is different from many others because I look at possibilities, not just the obvious. I look and I see what CAN be done with a certain product, not what someone else is doing with it. I always ask, "What could I do with that?"
My interest has never been to duplicate what someone else is doing, but to improve on it. I do not believe every opportunity has been taken. There are plenty of opportunities for anyone willing to use them. If someone else is selling something you are interested in, it's obviously something that WILL sell. All you need do is find a different way to present it. SOMEONE is going to buy it.
Marketing is a competitive game. Somewhere I saw a comment about a seller that had a 10% negative feedback rating. That means they also had a 90% positive! I'd say 90% is pretty darned good. The president is happy with a much lower approval rating, isn't he? Hmmmm. I know many businesses that are tickled to please 90% of their customers. 9 out of 10 ain't bad in my book.
Over the years, I've sold all manner of things, online and off. I've sold the salvage stuff that comes on pallets, I've sold things I';ve bought at garage sales and from classified ads... you name it, I've sold it. I';ve even sold stuff I've found after someone has put it out for the trash. I've made money and I've lost money, that's part of the game. I keep selling what earns me profits and quit what doesn't.
Sooner or later, whatever I'm selling peters out and I have to change. Do I get discouraged? I'm still here, after all these years. I really don't see myself going anywhere, just adapting.
We all came here to learn and to share. We do't all have to agree on everything, but there's no room for a lot negativity in this learning environment. No one learns anything from being told what they CAN'T do. People learn from being shown the possibilities and how to be creative. Anyone who is so afraid of their own shadow they can't survive in a business of their own shouldn't be here. Go get a J-O-B!
Being in business sometimes requires being on the edge. I don't mean being dishonest, but being firm and taking a stand to protect your business from those who would take advantage of it. There is no room for weakness in business.
I've run into people like that and I do not cower to their unreasonable demands. I'm my own boss and if I choose to fire a customer, there's not a darned thing they can do about it, like it or not. I can be decent and provide good customer service without being taken advantage of. You can too.
Learn this: The customer is NOT always right! That is a misnomer and a falsehood that has been propagated for years by some do-good martyrs who not only do not value their own business, but don't value the entire capitalist foundation of our society. It's disrespectful and counter-productive thinking and I can't think of anything that will put you out of business faster than to allow your customers to run it for you.
If you don't have a capitalist mindset, you're not going to succeed in business. Capitalism demands that a business earn a profit. These are not charities we're running here people! If you're not comfortable earning a profit, you are not a business person, you're an employee. Place yourself in whichever position suits you.
As long as I'm this far off topic, let's talk about the shipping charge controversy, shall we? Some of you may be shocked to learn I'm one of those guys that charges more than the actual postage to ship a product. Wanna know why? I'm gonna tell ya's.
I do it because, as a direct marketer, I provide a convenience to my customers. Like the 24 hour mini-mart where a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread set you back 6 bucks because they're open all night. With our kind of business, people can shop from the convenience of their easy chairs AND often get a reduced price over what they';d pay in a retail store.
So, in order to provide these conveniences, we MUST be compensated for our time and materials cost to ship the stuff. The retail store owner earns a profit from sales because people carry the product out with them. The direct marketer has the added overhead of packing, shipping and transporting the stuff to the shipping point.
It's a matter of staying in business and earning a profit or being a volunteer and making charitable contributions. I choose to stay in business and earn a profit. If you do anything that doesn’t at least cover your expenses, you're giving away the store and will soon be back in the job market.
I'm in business, I'm making a profit, I sleep OK at night and I live in a country that allows me to write a creative ad that gets people excited to buy my products. I don't have to lie to do it, but I don't have to spend 24 hours a day making absolutely certain they understand every single little detail. I write the ad and it's THEIR responsibility to read it. No one has sued me because they were stupid enough to interpret the ad wrong. Let 'em try.
I just want everyone to wake up and realize we are ALL trying to learn how to run our own businesses in our own ways. To become more creative. To earn as much as we possibly can and to do it in a responsible manner... but not wrapped so tightly in a blanket of legal mumbo-jumbo that we suffocate.
The bottom line is all about profits and earning them in a way that we're each comfortable with. You choose your way, I'll choose my way and we'll all be happy. 'Nuff said?
Barbara Ling Does It Again
My search engine adviser, Barbara Ling, certainly has made some people happy! I received this email on January 4, 2004, from a student and now good friend:
I am so excited! Your books, Profits From the Hidden Internet and Ebay Search Profits continue to deliver even after Google's shake up. Actually, because the two pages became #1 and #2 on Google I added more pages to my site using affiliate links to other related products. This is a listing out of 419,000 listings!
Now 7 out of 11 pages of this one site are #1 or #2 in their category. Wow! Those are extraordinary odds. Now I am going to tweak the other 3 pages, resubmit them, and know that they too will get on that all important first page of Google. Also, I turned my affiliate train table plans into separate site and they are #4 and 5. That means that on the first page of Google I am #1, 2, 4, 5. Bottom line, my income increased 6 X's what I made last year in December just on the train table plans. That is extraordinary. And the orders continue to flow.Thanks so much for your genius.
Madeline Binder
www.toy-train-table-plans-store.com
www.super-science-fair-projects.com
Wow, six times her income! I'll go for that any day.
If you want to find out what Madeline knows check out Barbara's class now:
http://1st-online-classes.com/ebay-search-profits.shtml
News From eBay
1. BIG Sale On Home Page Featured
The front page featured section of eBay is truly one of the most-heavily trafficked sections on the net. The downside, of course, is that's is expensive: normally $99 for a single item and $199 for multiple items.
Until January 31, though, it's one of the biggest bargains online: $39.95 for a single item and $79.95 for a dutch auction (multiple items). If you've ever yearned to take a chance on this primo-placement, now is the time:
http://www.ebay.com/promo/hpfeaturedsale/
2. New Icons?
It's not exactly of earth-shattering importance to us as sellers, but eBay is changing the look of the icons it uses by a seller's ID. The old ones have been around ... well, for as long as I care to recall. If you'd like to take a peek at the new ones, you can see them here:
http://pages.ebay.com/icons-preview.html
I'm not sure that anybody but eBay cares, but I guess they're colorful.
3. Changes In Feedback Reporting
eBay is making changes in how its user ID is reported. Links will now go to the Member Profile page, or feedback page, and will have lots of information on the seller. Any changes that might make either the seller or the buyer more accountable are welcomed. Seems like this can only help the honest ones. Let's hope so, anyway.
http://pages.ebay.com/services/forum/newfb.html
4. More Space For Titles
eBay is going to give us 10 more spaces for our title! Wahoo!
If properly used, this can be a real bonanza. Those folks who “spend” their characters on words like "Wow" and "l@@k"; won't get much help, though.
The added space is supposed to occur sometime in February.
5. Keyword Spamming Rules Strengthened
In case you're not sure what "keyword spamming" is, it means using words that aren't appropriate for an item in the title and listing. For example, if a seller is offering a watch that is similar to a "Gucci"; (in other words, a knock off) he might use the word "Gucci" in the title, and describe it as "cheaper than Gucci"; in his listing. His hope is that folks looking for a real Gucci will see his listing and somehow, magically, be coaxed into bidding on his instead.
This practice was rampant on eBay in the early days, but no longer. eBay will definitely cancel an auction immediately for doing this. Count on the seller's competition to report this to eBay. Supposedly, for repeated infractions the seller will be suspended. For more on the new rules go here:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-keywords.html
6. More Category Changes
These occur so often they're probably not worth announcing. eBay however, has added a “filmstrip” category and will be making other changes soon.
http://pages.ebay.com/filmstrippreview/overview.html