"EBAY SELLING" EZINE
March 6, 2003
In This Issue:
* Tough Winter
* More Auction Genius Course Goodies
* FEATURE ARTICLE: Why I Am Thrilled To Be Wrong!!!
* Great Closeout Bargains Right Now
* NEWS FROM EBAY
1. New “Listing Designer” For Better Looking Pages
2. Ending Your Auctions Early
3. More Category Changes
4. Ebay Fee Changes
5. 2003 Hottest Toy Trends
* Need A Dose Of Motivation?
Tough Winter!
There haven't been many editions of this newsletter recently. That's because I have been sick almost continuously since the holiday season. When we think about the really cold and snowy winter over much of the country, we might all agree that spring will be welcome indeed. We hope that you and yours have had a healthy winter season.
More Auction Genius Course Goodies
We have a new Saturday course beginning this week, March 8:
http://auction-genius-course.com
The class has gotten so popular that we're now running sessions on Monday and Wednesday as well.
FEATURE ARTICLE: Why I Am Thrilled To Be Wrong!!!
Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away, I tried to master search engines. After months (years?) of frustrating results, or should I say “no-results”, I gave up and decided that search engines were simply too complicated and time consuming. Since then I have pretty much ignored the entire subject.
Now, enter a remarkable lady named Barbara Ling. Barbara created some pages to promote my Auction Genius course, and immediately zoomed to the top of google – the most important search engine on the internet. Check this out, folks:
Kerywords:
* auction seminars
* auction classes
Barbara's site:
http://www.barbaraling.com/auctions
Barbara's site is #2 and #3 in google for these important keywords. Look under “auction products” and you will see my course.
And, here is the really amazing part ... she did this in only THREE DAYS!!! Everything I read about search engines tells me that this is IMPOSSIBLE! (Don't you just love people who do the impossible?)
The good news: Barbara has a fascinating new package (not just a book) on how to do this with auctions. It's called Ebay Search Profits. She begins by proving her search engine expertise with her Star Wars auction sites
www.barbaraling.com/starwars/star-wars-auctions.html
Check out google for these keywords and you'll see her placement:
* star wars auctions: (p1)
* star wars memorabilia (p1)
* star wars forums (p1)
Her book teaches us how to get the same kind of wonderful placement for ourselves. And, to make it even exciting, she includes a “Magnetic Webpage template”. To use this wonderful tool, all you have to do is follow her exact directions, and configure it for your own products and pages. It's as foolproof as anything I've seen on the net.
Barbara's search engine package also includes two other valuable resources:
1. 2,000+ categorized importable links that can be loaded directly into your browser, thus putting 2,000+ critical entrepreneurial/auction resources right at your fingertips.
2. A valuable book that I have owned for quite a long time, titled Profits From The Hidden Internet, a pdf ebook that teaches you how to use the “Invisible Web” to boost your bottom line.
As you might imagine, I am very eager to get skilled at getting my pages into great search engine positions. Their traffic – and especially, google's – is not only invaluable but also FREE, once we understand the how-to part.
Question for you: Barbara and I have spent time on the phone talking about giving some classes in this vital subject. If you think you might be interested, drop me a line at:
and tell me what you think. We'll be so glad to get your input.
If you want to take a look at Barbara's great package go here:
We will be hearing much more from this brilliant lady in the future.
Great Closeout Bargains Right Now
Our good friend and very knowledgable eBay seller, Skip McGrath, is proving to be correct once again. He predicted that closeout sellers would have some great bargains for us this season. That's because the past holiday season was disappointing for many retailers.
If you're not certain exactly what the term “closeout” means, you're not alone. It's pretty inexact, and means different things to different suppliers. Here is a helpful list of terms:
* Discontinued merchandise is merchandise in the original packaging
* Buyback or closeout merchandise is merchandise in the original packaging but may have some carton damage
* Display or floor model items. These are items that have not been sold to the customer but may have been used for demonstrations or hands-on inspection. It may or may not be in the original packaging and may be missing parts or manuals
* Salvage is merchandise that includes customer returns, damaged items, incomplete, out of carton, soiled, or warehouse damaged items that may require parts or repairs
Remember, though, that these are inexact definitions. If you ever decide to deal with this kind of merchandise, make certain that your supplier tells you EXACTLY what he is talking about, and what you will be getting.
Don't know where to find these product sources? Here are some ideas:
1. Our wholesale database is now almost 1,000 sellers strong, and many of them sell closeouts:
http://wholesale.auctionknowhow.com
2. Skip sells a book on how to find these folks:
http://resource.auctionknowhow.com
3. The Auction Genius course spends approximately seven hours of class time on how to find all the products you can ever sell:
http://auction-genius-course.com
According to Skip, clothing, accessories and toys are especially attractive. Many consumer electronics goods are available as well.
NEWS FROM EBAY: New “Listing Designer” For Better Looking Pages
eBay has recently added a new service called Listing Designer to help sellers make better looking pages. Naturally, we all know that the better the listing = more money. This could possibly be of value to newcomers to the net and to auctions. The charge: 10 cents per page (you didn't think eBay would ever do anything for free, did you?) :-(
Bottom line: if you're ambitious about the internet, you MUST learn how to write HTML pages. So, don't rely on this service for very long. One of the not-so-secret “secrets” of eBay success is keeping that overhead down.
Go here to see a design or two:
http://pages.ebay.com/sell/designer
-landingpage/?ssPageName=SM:AB01
For more info:
http://pages.ebay.com/community/news/ listingdesigner_faq.html?ssPageName=CMDV:AB0004
Ending Your Auctions Early
eBay allows sellers to end listings early, even if there are bids, providing
1. Sellers cancel any bids and
2. Provide a reason for why the listing was ended
However, as eBay cautions, and I certainly agree, chronic cancelling is a really bad idea.
Therefore, eBay has updated its Fee Circumvention and Reserve Price Violations policies to clarify that chronic use of ending listings early, when there are bids and there is less than 12 hours left in the listing, is not permitted.
The updated pages are here:
*Reserve Price Violations:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-reserve.html
*Listing Techniques that Circumvent eBay's Fee Structure:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-reserve.html
More Category Changes
eBay has made category changes again. If you're selling in any of the following, you might want to check them out:
* ANTIQUES
* COLLECTIBLES
* COMPUTERS & OFFICE PRODUCTS
* DOLLS & BEARS
* HOME
* MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
* SPORTS
* TOYS & HOBBIES
* TRAVEL
* EVERYTHING ELSE
* EBAY MOTORS
Check out the category pages for all the new changes.
Ebay Fee Changes
Effective March 4th, eBay has new fees:
* Bold: from $2.00 to $1.00
* Reserve fees have increased:
$0.01 - $24.99 (price) now $0.50 (fee)
$25.00 - $99.99 now $1.00
$100.00 and up now 1% of reserve price with a maximum of $100.00.
The reserve fee is refunded if the item sells.
*Home Page Featured is the biggest change. For single items, the price will remain $99.95. But for dutch auctions, the new price will be $199.95. Poor multiple sellers are really being hurt by this.
For more information:
http://pages.ebay.com/communitynews/changes.html
2003 Hottest Toy Trends
If you're interested in what will sell well this year, eBay and the 100th Annual American International Toy Fair claim to have the answers:
http://www.ebay.com/thetoyguy/ytoyfair/index.html
Need A Dose Of Motivation?
If all the talk about our pitiful economy, war and terrorism has you feeling a little low, here is an antidote. Enjoy!
http://dailymotivator.com/emberflash/rightnow.html