"EBAY SELLING" EZINE
June 25, 2003
In This Issue:
* New AUCTION GENIUS© Class
* The Very Best Auction Product In Existence?
* Auction Deals Delivered To Your Mailbox
* And Last, But Not Least
* Words To Live By
New AUCTION GENIUS© Class
We began a new session of the Auction Genius Class last Saturday. After this coming week's lesson, the first of several hours on how to find products to sell on eBay, no one can join because we will be too far along to catch up. So, if you want to join us you must decide by Friday. The next class won't begin until the autumn.
http://auction-genius-course.com
The Very Best Auction Product In Existence?
Would you be interested in an auction product that costs you zero dollars and is risk free? Dumb question, right? My good friend Barbara Ling has a new package that that gives us just that. Your only cost is a few hours of your time, and your only risk is a 30 cent listing fee.
It's called “24 Hour eBook Creation For eBay”. What's not to like – no LOVE, about selling ebooks on eBay?
1. No inventory costs
2. No shipping (from supplier and then to customer) costs
3. No packaging and mailing
4. No risk!
The problem is that most of the ebooks on eBay never sell! (In fact, I can advise you right now to stay away from the how-to-make-money-on-eBay stuff, as well as the more general make-money-on-the-net stuff. You might make a few bucks, but they're pretty tired by now.)
But, there are some subjects that sell, and sell, and sell. If you tap into those markets, you will be getting those lovely PayPal notices of payment on a steady basis.
An important point: if you want to make the real profits you need to own the ebook. If you are re-selling other people's stuff, and the digital product is any good at all, you will be competing with zillions of other sellers and inevitably the price will start dropping. Why? Because to successfully compete, there is no other bargaining point but the price. Have you ever watched the price of popular products fall like a rock? If you are the only seller, though, that won't happen to you. (Although, if you want to allow others to sell your book, you certainly can.)
No, the only way to really reap the profits of a successful ebook is to own it yourself. In that way, you can maintain the $9.95 (or whatever) price and not see it drop down to 99 cents.
So, we have two problems to solve. The first is how to choose a topic that will sell and the second is how to create the e-product.
In my Auction Genius Course©, I offer my students a four hour bonus class on how to create digital products to sell. The entire first section is about how to figure out demand. Don't, don't, don't skip this critical step. If you do, you will most likely join the huge ranks of the disappointed and embittered, who poured their hearts out into an ebook - that no one bought!
Barbara, however, not only teaches her readers how to figure out demand, but also gives them the tools for doing just that. No guesswork, here.
Our next problem, once we know what people will buy, is to actually create a salable product and here is the real genius of her “24 Hour eBook Creation For eBay” package. For she has not only taught us how to do this in 24 hours but has also given us a complete template or pattern for doing it. All we have to do is fill in the blanks.
Most important question: does it work? YES, it does, because I tried it out for myself. I literally wrote an ebook in 24 hours hours. It was a subject that I knew very little about, but by following her directions, I was able to easily put it together. And her pattern is totally adaptable. For example, one of her sections is about “Art” which is appropriate for the example she uses, which is model horses. However, that doesn't apply to the topic I chose, which is about physical fitness. No problem. I could easily adapt and she told me how.
Barbara put her reputation on the line by accepting a Challenge. She asked for feedback and agreed to create an info product for the winner. She choose an idea from a reader from this ezine! (Thanks, Bob!) The topic is “Exercising While Sitting Down in a Chair or Wheelchair”. Her 24 hour window is while I am writing this article.
Don't overlook the power of this: we can create multiples of these little goodies since they can be done so quickly. You could have 5, 10, 20 of these ebooks all pulling in profits for you for about $1.20/month or $15 a year. In fact, in some of my classes we discuss ways that you could multiply all kinds of profits off one lovely little ebook.
Can anybody tell me a cheaper way to do business?
One more important question: do you need to be a writer to use Barbara”s plan? Nope. If you can read, write a basic sentence and type on your keyboard, you can follow her recipe. The simplicity is the beautiful part.
Barbara has two versions of her book. The basic version is $47 and the Deluxe is $77. (Note: wait a minute or two, and you may get a popup with $10 off). The main difference is that the Deluxe version has the wonderful template that makes writing your ebook a cinch. The basic version simply gives the direction. I really recommend the Deluxe. That template is pure gold!
http://24hours.auctionknowhow.com
Auction Deals Delivered To Your Mailbox
Now for our second way to find inexpensive – or even free – products to sell on eBay.
A few weeks ago, I received a copy of Free Auction Profits, by Karol Gajda. Karol discussed the poverty of being a college student (as a parent of a college age daughter, I think WE”RE the ones to claim poverty! :-)
I decided to experiment with some of his methods for myself and here's what happened.
Deal #1: I was able to buy the Dell Inspiron 1100 Notebook for $674.10 + free shipping.
I sold it for $910 for a profit of <$235.90>
The shipping from my supplier was free, so I made another $23.71 on the shipping.
See my auction listing here: (identifying details removed):
http://auctionknowhow.com/listing/dell.shtml
Deal #2: A Dell PowerEdge 600SC Server, ought for $304.10 + free shipping
I sold it for $449 = a profit of $144.90
See the listing here (pictures no longer available)
http://auctionknowhow.com/listing/dell1.shtml
- - -
Deal #3:
Envision EN-7100 17" LCD Monitor --> $319.98 + free shipping
Sold for $510 = profit of $190.02
http://auctionknowhow.com/listing/lcd.shtml
- - -
Total profit for this first experimental week: $594.53
Now, this isn't much of a profit if it takes a lot of time. And, if you aren't focused and don't specialize, it could eat up way too much of this precious commodity. However, one of the sources from Karol's book delivers deals right to my email box. Using the information from these emails, and opening a window to eBay, I can determine whether I want to do these deals in a matter of minutes.
A downside: it took more time than I would like to have put together the listings. I didn't do them – my techs did. Still, it took up some of their working time. However, in the future, this won't be as big an issue because I intend to specialize in these electronics, for two reasons:
1. They are very, very salable.
2. They are higher priced items. This method isn't worth it, to me anyway, for only a few dollars in profit.
Since we already have some electronics listings created, it will be a simple matter in the future to make minor changes and have our listings ready to go in a few minutes.
A powerful upside: I have no risk because I have 30 days to return the merchandise. This is plenty of time to make sure that I have a sale. Of course, I already know I have a salable product before I order it because I do my homework.
I can easily make a thousand dollars or so, each week, in very little time. Just another one of my little income streams!
And Last, But Not Least
Here is some intriguing new technology: “Audio Generator” allows us to have talking auctions and talking websites.
We can make a recording of our own voice explaining our products or services (or someone else's voice – how about James Earl Jones?) right on our listings. I've seen other technology for doing this, but it's been cumbersome and complicated.
Any time, 24 hour hours a day, we can record an unlimited number of audio messages. The best part is that when we do, we generate a single line of code, and we simply upload that one puny line to our listings or sites and ... voila! Instant recording artists!
Popups can be irritating, but with this technology your customer is in charge, and there is less likelihood of her or him becoming annoyed with you.
I really like the button feature because this sound stuff can drive you nuts. For example, take a look at this auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem
&category=11764&item=2540293630he eller starts blabbing
Regardless, go to the Audio Generator site, just for the fun of listening. Then let your creative juices run wild as you think up messages that YOU might create.
One day, not too far away, this kind of effect will be ho hum, because everybody does it. But right now, it will make your offerings very memorable.
http://audio.auctionknowhow.com
Words To Live By
This was erroneously attributed to Bill Gates. Apparently, one of the world's richest men didn't actually write it, but it remains interesting advice just the same. It was offered to a class of high school graduates, and many of us will be nodding our head as we read:
RULE 1 – Life is not fair. Get used to it.
RULE 2 - The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
RULE 3 - You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice president with a car phone until you earn both.
RULE 4 - If you think your teacher is tough, wait 'til you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.
RULE 5 - Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping - they called it opportunity.
RULE 6 - If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes. Learn from them.
RULE 7 - Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
RULE 8 - Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
RULE 9 - Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.
RULE 10 - Television is NOT real life. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
RULE 11 - Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.