February 21, 2005
In this issue:
Do You Live Near San Antonio?
Feature Article: The Game Of Reality Appreciation
Bid4Assets Tries To Outdo eBay
eBay Treasure Hunt
“Unusual” Auctions Currently On eBay
From Our Humor Department
Recent Online Auction Blog Entries
Do You Live Near San Antonio?
I will be speaking in San Antonio on March 18 & 19. The occasion is a “Double Birthday Bash” for Joel Christopher, a teacher of how to build gigantic email lists and Ted Nicholas, the '4 Billion Dollar Man'. Ted is the author of 15 books and an incredible copywriter.
Some of the speakers are:
* Joe Vitale
* Jay Conrad Levinson
* John 'The Street Kid' Assaraf
* Brian Keith Voiles
* Tom 'Big Al' Schreiter
* Rosalind Gardner
* George McKenzie
* My friends Brad Fallon and Alan Bechtold
* 2 'Mystery Guests'
* And me, The Auction Queen.
Believe it or not, I actually bought myself a “diamond” (actually rhinestone!) tiara that is suitable for a queen. I decided if that is my name, I ought to dress the part.
Joel has rented the entire hotel and is expecting a thousand people! Wow, ought to be quite an event.
So if you're interested, check it out. If you're one of my readers, you'll even get a royal audience! I don't do that for just anybody – royalty has its standards, you know. :-)
http://www.auctionknowhow.com/cgi-bin/links.cgi?l=3
Feature Article: The Game Of Reality Appreciation
There are two charming books called The Tao Of Pooh and The Te Of Piglet. Written by philosopher Benjamin Hoff, they use characters from the classic Winnie The Pooh stories to illuminate principles from Taoism, an Asian philosophy. In his Piglet book, Hoff talks about Reality Appreciation.
How many times have you deceived yourself? I know I've done it a lot.
I've convinced myself that a business venture or relationship would work out – just because I wanted it to.
I've believed people – in spite of evidence to the contrary.
I've involved myself in projects – in spite of an inner voice objecting the entire time.
After being hit in the head with a (figurative) brick many times, I've finally wised up and developed a genuine reverence for Reality. Without it our efforts on eBay – or elsewhere on the Net – are doomed.
Last weekend, I spoke at a conference in San Diego, CA, and met a lovely woman who had invested thousands of dollars into her own online store. She has owned this store since May of 2004 and when I asked her how much money she had made from it, her eyes teared, and she admitted that she hadn't made one single cent. She had come to the conference to buy another program that she was sure would help her with her store – but the program she mentioned had nothing whatsoever to do with her goals. It was like buying a program on 'How To Succeed In Real Estate” to promote your MLM nutritional business.
After I spoke, she came happily up to me and said, “YOU are the person who is going to make my store profitable.” Bless her heart, she didn't understand even the most basic rule of business – that is, that people deal with others based on their own interests. It never occurred to her to ask if I was willing to put in that kind of time and why I should do so.
Another attendee has a similar online store and it isn't making any money either. I asked him why I, as a potential customer, would choose his store over the hundreds of other sites on the net selling the same products? He thought for a few seconds, then asked, “What if I put my picture on my site?”
I carefully explained to him that a customer needs a REASON to buy. If there is no reason, there will be no sale. A stranger will not care in the least about the seller – or his picture.
These two anecdotes illustrate so well the necessity for a Reality check. Before you get involved in any business opportunity – or anything else for that matter – ask yourself some hard questions. For instance, if I were considering a web store, here are questions I would ask:
* Exactly what am I selling?
* Is my price competitive enough to be successful?
* Is my supply assured?
* Is there enough demand for the items?
* How, exactly, am I going to sell this?
* What skills do I need?
* Do I have those skills?
* If not, where can I get them?
* How much money can I reasonably expect to make?
* How much time will it take?
* Is this project worth my time?
Everywhere I go I carry sketch pads, simply because I think better if I draw ideas out. Every project I undertake is carefully and thoroughly calculated before I start anything. I don't jump into things without considering them from every possible angle.
A great question is: how do I know what to expect when I am new to something and don't have any experience?
The answer is, you don't. You can only plan to the best of your ability, take action and let your results guide you. Which is why I always advise my Auction Genius Course students to begin their auctions with inexpensive items, until they gain some experience. As you grow in skill and ability, you can expand your business.
I believe that the Universe whispers to us, and if we ignore these promptings, eventually we will get clobbered with a two by four!
Ask me how I know this. It's because my head is lumpy with all the whacks I've received! :-)
Ignore Reality at your peril.
Bid4Assets Tries To Outdo eBay
No matter how you feel about eBay, it's not good for anyone (except eBay!) that it's a monopoly. Technically it isn't, of course, but the reality is that the money is better on eBay than anywhere else. There are constant complaints and frequent rebellions, like the upcoming planned boycott against the eBay fee increase. Yes, there are some thriving niche auction sites and hurray! for that. But the reality is that if Yahoo & Amazon couldn't compete with eBay as a “general” auction site, how can anyone else?
I have to admire the brave folks who try, though and Bid4Assets is giving it a shot. Currently, on their front page they address three of the most-voiced gripes about eBay:
- - -
Your Complaint:
"It's too easy to become a buyer on online auction sites. That’s why there are so many scammers and deadbeat bidders."
Our Solution:
To place a bid on Bid4Assets, buyers must have a credit card on file. This keeps the scammers and non-performers to a bare minimum.
- - -
Your Complaint:
"Bid sniping is really hurting my auctions. Can't something be done about this?"
Our Solution:
OVERTIME PERIOD. If a bid is placed in the last few minutes of the auction, the auction is extended. The auction will remain open until an entire overtime increment has passed without any bidding.
- - -
Your Complaint:
"I've had it with eBay's customer service. The automated forms are never helpful and you're lucky if you get a live response within a week!"
Our Solution:
Bid4Assets has no automated forms, but provides live customer service over 40 hours a week. Most issues will be dealt with personally the same day that you contact us!
- - -
According to eBay's president, they are going to address the customer service issue. And it's about time: if small outfits can provide live support so can eBay with all its profits.
The sniping issue seems like a non-issue to me but if it bothers the majority of sellers, then this seems like a reasonable solution.
However, #1 is an ingenious way to cut down on the scumbags who bid with no intention of ever following through. Why doesn't eBay do this? A multitude of possibilities comes to mind, but the most likely and obvious is that this would reduce the buyers' pool and eBay definitely does not want that. Too bad for sellers.
eBay Treasure Hunt
You've gotta hand it to eBay – they don't miss much when it comes to making money with their site. Their latest eBay selling trick is the eBay Treasure Hunt. The deal is that they are giving away 25 $1,000 prizes every day to people who find the clues hidden inside various auctions. The catch, of course, is that you don't know which auction has the magical clue. So, you'd have to read tons of auctions, with no guarantee that you will ever find the hidden term. Of course, the smart folks at eBay hope that you might pull our ye olde PayPal number along the way.
The good news: today only, they're giving away $2,000 prizes!
And if you're wondering, today's clue is “father of the constitution”. Go forth and seek!
“Unusual” Auctions Currently On eBay
* Buy your own personal Titan missile base: “57 acres with 15 large-to-huge underground buildings built to withstand a nuclear blast within three thousand feet. Water, power, phone and internet all at site.”
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1607&item=4351448564&rd=1
* Johnny Carson's childhood home house in Norfolk, Nebraska:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=12605&item=4352702446&rd=1
* 60 Minutes Wednesday Steve Hartman Wrinkled T-Shirt:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=60&item=3875314770&rd=1
* Like to host a sit-down dinner for 300? Me, neither but go here just for fun:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=12605&item=4351335214&rd=1
Recent Entries From Our Auction Blog
* eBay Selling Tricks – Compliments of eBay
* Business For Sale? Try eBay!
* EBay Battles Google For Control of the Net
* Stomp The Search Engines Expert Offers Sound Advice To Net Sellers
* eBay USA President Responds To Angry eBay Sellers