December 28, 2005
In this issue:
* My Bad. Please Accept My Apology.
* Feature Article: Why A Selfish Jerk is 100% Certain To Fail On eBay
* Todd Taylor Responds To Foolish Question
* PayPal Expands To Yahoo Stores
* Another eBay Scam Variation
* From Our Humor Department
My Bad. Please Accept My Apology.
Please accept my humble apology for the email I erroneously sent out this morning. I haven't worked in so long that I've forgotten how to do anything. :-)
I might be exaggerating a trifle, but I've been goofing off for days, (or has it been weeks?) just like you probably have. I do love tholidays.
Anyway - I sent an email to my ezine list that was intended only for the members of my next Auction Genius Course. I am very sorry for the extra email.
The next Auction Genius Course begins next Saturday, January 7 and I have a challenge for you. Take a look at this site of ours:
It is an enormously profitable home store and a huge part of its success comes from eBay. Take a look at the store and see if you can figure out how I use eBay? Most likely you can't figure it out, but this is a part of what I teach in the Auction Genius Course. I loved the "advanced" section at the end. It's my favorite part.
If you'd like to join our classes, you can sign up here:
http://auction-genius-course.com
Feature Article: Why A Selfish Jerk is 100% Certain To Fail On eBay
You might think the term "selfish jerk" is a little strong until you read the email below:
Hello Sydney,
I can't afford any investment in more marketing programs right now. I could use some promotion for the ones I have a lot of time a fair amount of money invested already.I also haven't been able to produce with eBay!
Please visit my links: (3 URLs here)
Also, if you'd really like to help, please encourage others to visit my sites as well. I haven't been able to make a dime on the Internet yet. I also am having great difficulty finding a job as well; this is no money from anywhere!
I have child support to pay and if I go much longer without paying, I'm looking at 1-3 years in prison for non-payment. Yes, debtors prison is still alive and very well here in Northern Michigan.
So, I'm asking you to please help me in this way and I won't have any problem with rewarding you handsomely!
(1.) There are so many issues here that it's hard to know where to begin, but the best place is with his three websites:
His first site is about:
* Bookkeeping
* Personal Income Tax
* Classic Rock & Roll
* With "links to eBay, Amazon & more!"
Who, exactly, is his audience? There is no clear focus and no defined audience. Those searching for information on rock and roll are unlikely to be interested in bookkeeping.
What's even more amazing is that there is absolutely nothing at all about bookkeeping or income tax, except for a comment on the home page. There are a couple of links to rock and roll sites and one to the front page of Amazon. How is he hoping monetize this site?
His second site is about how to make "Explosive" income with his "revolutionary home based business". This from a guy who admits he hasn't made a single cent on the Net, yet he isn't bothered about selling others a program that obviously isn't working for him.
The third site is about auctions and the home page says, "CLICK TO ENTER" ... but when I do, absolutely nothing happens. A completely blank page opens and remains constant. There isn't even a 404 message.
(2.) He wants my help, yet has total disrespect for me and my business. What he is truly saying is, "I have spent all my money in other places, and now that I have none left, I want you to help me". Where will I get the time to help him? It will have to come either from my own business or I will have to take time away from my students who pay for my help. He says he "won't have any problem with rewarding you handsomely!" Very generous of him, I'm sure.
(3.) He wants me to send traffic to his sites. But he says nothing about how my customers and students would benefit from what he has to offer. Does he really believe I would betray their trust by sending them to three absolutely worthless sites that offer them no benefit whatsoever?
And even if I shared his moral character, why would I do such a thing? If I don't mind betraying others, it would have to be for personal gain and I will not make money by sending him traffic.
(4.) Worst of all, he displays no concern whatsoever for his children or their mother who is trying to care for their children without any financial support from their father. He says, "Yes, debtors prison is still alive and very well here in Northern Michigan.". He's not in trouble for debt - he's in trouble for not making his child support payments. As well he should be.
The entire focus of this email is me, me, me. The author cares nothing about anyone else and obviously doesn't understand the top three rules of marketing, which are:
#1: Focus on your customer
#2: Focus on your customer
#3: Focus on your customer
I used to take the time to help people see that a major reason for their lack of success is that they aren't putting the needs of their customers first. Generally, though, their response is to argue with me that once they're making money, then they can afford to care about others. It doesn't work that way.
Does this mean that all caring and decent people are certain to succeed while selfish ones are certain to fail? No, but offering value to the customer is definitely the starting place of success.
Sometimes I do help people who are down on their luck and can't pay me anything, but this guy won't be one of them. His callous disregard for others is repulsive. My delete key is the perfect response to this selfish man.
Todd Taylor Responds To Foolish Question
My good friend and superstar Auction Genius Course student, Todd Taylor gets fed up with really ridiculous emails, just like we all do. Of course we all know that losing our cool isn't a smart business practice, but this eBay powerseller answered a really ridiculous email in an amusing - and scathing - way.
The email:
hi are these authentic? if i buy them and take them to the ralph lauren store and they turn out to be fake i am going to be very mad ... let me know i will take your word for it
Todd's humorous - and testy - answer ...
Well, I was actually sworn to secrecy during the eon of the Hoover years to never reveal my methods, but, since you asserted your ideas so gracefully I'll have to give it to you straight. I sell nothing but imitation items. In fact, what I normally do is buy salvage shirts that are garbage quality and then I buy iron on patches of horses at wal-mart and attach those. You'd be surprised by the number of people who fall for that. I'm giggling right now thinking of these retards!
But I'm so glad you asked. You have no idea how many times each day I'm approached by honorable Nigerian businessmen that I have to turn away. And the money they want to pay me would just blow you away!
Wow, so anyway I'm glad we've had this chat. I feel like I know you and I've never met you! Ha! That almost rhymes!
So take care and I'm sure we'll meet soon and become lifelong friends!
As Todd says, "After a while you just get tired of these same old stupid questions over and over. This guy just caught me at the wrong time . . ."
This email makes no sense! Todd has already stated in his auction that the clothing is authentic. If he's a crook and a liar, he's hardly going to admit it in an email. And if he's honest - which he absolutely is - this is insulting.
I certainly understand how Todd feels. In this morning's email I received a long, incoherent and senseless ramble accusing me of cheating people when selling wholesale products. The amazing part was that the writer was responding to an article I wrote ... about how to recognize fake wholesalers. I don't sell any wholesale products and I never have! This guy didn't even read what I had written.
PayPal Expands To Yahoo Stores
If you're selling on eBay you're most likely a PayPal member - or you have been in the past. The company is trying to expand its reach beyond eBay, and with much success. For instance, you can now offer PayPal on:
1. Yahoo Stores
2. Apple's i-Tunes (since 2004)
3. Dell
4. Paypal recently bought Verisign for $370 million. Verisign is a payment gateway that facilitates the acceptance of merchant accounts for online vendors
Why should we care? Simply because the more payment options we offer out customers, the more sales we will make. The folks who research this kind of thing have proven this again and again and it's certainly worked for our company.
Another eBay Scam Variation
Have you received any emails like this one?
I have shipped the following item to you. You should be receiving it shortly.
Item title: AMERICAN EAGLE ONYX MEN'S RING 10K $79
Web Address: (real eBay URL)
Item number: (real eBay auction number)
Seller User ID: (real eBay ID)
Total: $79.00Once your item arrives in satisfactory condition, please leave feedback for me. I will do the same for you.
Thank you again!
This is a real auction, but I never bid on it. So naturally, what the scumbags want me to do is panic and give them a pile of information to convince them that I shouldn't receive negative feedback and eBay complaints as a non-paying bidder.
Don't they ever give up? No, unfortunately not. When one idiotic scam runs its course, they just come up with another. I do feel pity, though, for the person whose auction they have stolen. I'm sure (s)he has gotten a ton of email to deal with, much of it hostile and angry.