Auction Gold Ezine: Make Money With Online Auctions

In this issue:
* NEW 2006 Auction Genius CDs - FREE $297 Program
* What Are You Doing At 11AM Eastern, Monday May 15?
* SaleHoo Wholesale Directory Review: Cheap Wholesale Products Or Not?
* Win A Trip To Las Vegas
* eBay Motors Attempts To Expand Its Market
* eBay Pro Stores Anniversary Deal

NEW 2006 Auction Genius CDs - FREE $297 Program

1. Everyone who buys the CD from now through May 31 will receive a copy of our eBay Secret Interview CDs & manual - they sell for $297 - at no cost

What Are You Doing At 11AM Eastern, Monday May 15?

I am a Contributing Editor to the Entrepreneur Magazine radio show and I will be on Monday with a very interesting guest named Dennis Hester. Dennis is an Auction Genius Course student and minister who lives in North Carolina. After finishing classes, he decided that he was going to find a large number of local sources of products to sell on eBay. And he has succeeded in any amazing way. For local (meaning nearby states), he is more successful than anyone I have ever known.

Dennis sees abundance everywhere and doesn't mind sharing what he has learned. In fact, if there is anything I've fussed at him about, it's giving away everything he knows to anyone who asks. With his southern accent and soft-spoken charm, he goes everywhere and talks to everybody.

For instance, he stopped in an Atlanta restaurant for a burger and struck up a conversation with his waiter. Asking if there were any wholesale stores nearby, he was told about an entire row of discount warehouses that were hidden from the street. He wouldn't have noticed them on his own but because he always courteously asks, and is unafraid of rejection, he finds incredible nuggets wherever he goes.

With so many folks worrying about finding nothing to sell, Dennis is awash in goods. He couldn't use all the sources he's currently found if he lived on this earth for a few hundred years. If you'd like some insight into how he does it, tune in on Monday to hear Dennis, Chris Malta, Rob Cowie and myself. And if you can't hear the show live, it's archived.

SaleHoo Wholesale Directory Review: Cheap Wholesale Products Or Not?

I've received inquiries about the value of a so-called wholesale site named SaleHoo (salehoo.com). For $49.95 you can have access to a supposed database of suppliers who will sell you cheap wholesale products at 'bargain' prices.

The first thing we see when we land on the Salehoo home page is that it calls itself "The World's Leading Directory of Wholesale Distributors" which is one of those absolutely meaningless marketing statements that set my teeth on edge.

What does "leading" mean? Who says? What criteria are used?

On the front page of SaleHoo, there are always four products with a so-called retail price and then the SaleHoo member price. Let's take a look at actual products, prices and completed eBay sales.

SaleHoo Product Offerings

There is only one complete auction for this item and it didn't sell at all for a listed price of $15.05. There are two current auctions for this brush: $18.82 with no bids and a Buy It Now for $32.50. Even if the BIN was successful (highly unlikely with the same item for $18.82 close by), the profit would only amount to $1.

The day I did my eBay research, I looked at a page of 200 completed auctions using the keyword phrase "Apple iPod Nano 4GB". Here is a typical auction:

Now, I'm not an expert on this product so I only surveyed those auctions that looked exactly like the Salehoo picture, but here were the prices of the rest that sold: $165.00, $100.00, $102.50, $204.99, $84.55, $51.00. The others that seemed identical had no takers and the auctions were unsuccessful.

Demand seems strong for this product because there were only two on the page that weren't sold - but their sale prices were way, way below $398.

The highest sale price for this DVD was $8.99 while the lowest was $3.50. Most copies were unsold.

This is the most expensive sale price that matches the picture on the SaleHoo site:

* SaleHoo Safety Notice: Payment Options
SaleHoo has just introduced a new policy for adding suppliers to our database. We will no longer accept ANY suppliers that cannot offer a secure and safe payment method to our members.
» Click Here To Find Out More!

* Apple iPod & Xbox 360 Suppliers
We have had a few customers asking about the supply of Apple ipods and Xbox 360s for resell. We currently have around 10 suppliers listed in our database that supply these products.
» Click Here To Find Out More!

* Free SEO Resources
We have just teamed up with The SEO King to bring you some valuable resources on how optimize your website on the internet so it can move its way rapidly to the top of the search engines.
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Every single link - without exception - leads straight to the sales page! There is no additional information at all.

In response to the question, "How can I be sure this isn't a scam?", SaleHoo states it is "proud to be rated one of the top programs in the clickbank.com marketplace. We are consistently ranked in the top 5 worldwide programs week after week, ahead of over 10,000 others competitors."

It's true that it's at the top - but only in one category. It is NOT rated above 10,000 other programs. Clickbank products are scattered over numerous categories and subcategories that don't compete with each other.

But more to the point ... SaleHoo offers a 75% affiliate fee, which is as high as any I've ever seen. Unfortunately, many affiliates will sell anything that makes them money, without regard to value. Affiliate popularity does not necessarily equal a quality product.

Win A Trip To Las Vegas

If you shop on eBay between May 10-16, you can win a luxury trip to Las Vegas or one of 1000 other prizes.

The Grand Prize winner and a guest will travel to Las Vegas June 12-18 and get:
* Round-trip air transportation
* Six nights in a luxury one-bedroom suite at the Luxor hotel
* A $350 dining allowance
* Two passes to eBay Live! 2006
* Tickets for two to Shark Reef and a comedy show

I stayed in the Luxor hotel a few days ago and it is truly very nice. Very Egyptian.

And what about the other prizes? Well, as usual, eBay is no dummy when it comes to marketing:
"50 daily winners will receive the amount of their purchase - up to $500 - in eBay Gift Certificates"

In other words, buy more - then if you win, your gift certificate will be larger.

Be careful, though. You must buy in certain categories on certain days to be eligible. For instance, today the categories are:

eBay Motors Must Haves
* Tail lights
* Air intake systems
* Mirrors
* Wheels
* Brake discs
* Rotors & hardware
* Helmets
* Floor mats & carpets
* Exhaust systems
* Shocks & struts
* Seats

eBay Motors Attempts To Expand Its Market

eBay is already the largest online seller of cars, trucks, SUVs and other motor vehicles. Now they're obviously testing to see if they can expand that market.

Buyers in Chicago, Miami, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. may see a new section at the end of their search results called “Additional vehicles near [your ZIP code].” Naturally, these will include listings from participating eBay Motors dealers that will only be shown to these local buyers.

eBay Pro Stores Anniversary Deal

If you're interested in a Pro Store, this is a good time to try it out. If you sign up for a four-month subscription to the Business, Advanced or Enterprise tiers of ProStores before June 30, eBay will
give you one free month and knock a certain percentage off the price of the remaining three months. eBay announced a 35% reduction but the Pro Store site says 30%. I would definitely clarify before signing up.