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"EBAY SELLING" EZINE

August 18 , 2006

In this issue:
* New "Live" Auction Genius Course Begins September 30
* eBay Selling With Video Auctions
* Choosing A Web Hosting Company
* From Our Humor Department

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New "Live" Auction Genius Course Begins September 30

A new "live" Auction Genius Course begins on September 30. We usually begin the Saturday after Labor Day, which would be September 9. However, on that date my partner & I will be in the United Kingdom. I'm speaking at Yanik Silver's UK seminar and am taking this chance for a couple of weeks of England in the fall. It's hard to wait! :-)

I was privileged to receive the following unsolicited testimonial from student Will Robertson who had an electrifying "One year after the Auction Genius Course":

One Year After The Auction Genius Course by Will Robertson Sydney, Well, it’s been a little over a year since I’ve taken your Auction Genius Course; and it’s been a great year, with over $700,000 in sales! I’ve built my eBay business based solely upon the knowledge I gained from your program. Of course, I’ve continued to learn throughout the year; but it has all grown out of the seed you gave me. We just celebrated my wife’s one year anniversary of quitting her J-O-B as a computer programmer, and we have been attracting a lot of attention from family, friends, and neighbors. They see us at home all day, coming and going as we please, vacationing on the weekdays, and it naturally leads to questions. Two years ago, I was running a successful construction company; but it was wearing me out, and I never got to see my family. We lived the normal working class American life: work, eat, sleep, do it again. But now we work when we want and play when we want. It’s a cliche, but it’s true for us. Several people have asked me how I do it. Now, I realize that most people would love to live our life, and trying to explain it to everybody would take up a huge chunk of my time, so I just point them all to your course. I tell them, “Ok, go to auction-genius-course.com, buy the course, listen to what Sydney tells you, and do it.” Then they say, “Well ok, maybe I’ll check into it, but I don’t know if I have that in my budget right now.” So I tell them, “Hey, I earned the cost of the course back in a month. It was easy. The information is really there. It’s no fluff course.” And they say, “Yeah well, we’ll see.” That’s it! Unbelievable! People see what they want in my lifestyle, have the proof that it’s possible because they see me doing it, and then pass the door of opportunity because of a small startup fee. It’s like seeing a person lost in the desert pass up an oasis of spring water because they are looking for a bottle of water. Just because what I give them looks different from what they are expecting (caviar on a gold platter, I think), they aren’t willing to take the risk. These people really give me a feeling of job security! It seems that most people aren’t willing to invest into learning a new business even when the hard, clear facts of the road to success are presented. I even had one guy offer to hire me as his coach, and I refused. I told him, “Listen, Sydney is the ‘Queen Genius.’ I’m not going to say anything that can beat what she has to offer. She’s been an educator for a long time, taught this course many times, and really knows what she’s doing. She’s put a lot of time into developing this course. You’d have to pay me 10 times the amount she’s charging just to come up with a course that covers the basics of what she does.” He was hoping for 2 or 3 hours of coaching for $100 or something. I’m not sure what his plan was. He’s a smart, nice guy; but he’s still working his uneventful, flat salary job. But not everyone is mentally stuck. Some people have a vision for a better life, are willing to judge the merits of success accurately and invest to make their life better. To these people, based upon my personal experience with you, I can unequivocally recommend your course. In combination with hard work and real mental application, it is the easiest, fastest, and best way I know to build an eBay business, or any business online. Sydney, thank you for helping me along on my way. Your friend, Will Robertson http://www.myluxurymattress.com

If you'd like to join us, we'd be thrilled to have you.

http://auction-genius-course.com

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eBay Selling With Video Auctions

Video has been a long time coming to the Net. It wasn't because of the lack of video technology because it's been around for a while. The reason it's taken years is because most computers were on dial up (horrors!). As Internet and eBay marketers, we have to match our audience and a video on dial up is disaster. It can take - literally - hours to load, depending on the length of the video and is almost impossible to play.

However, now we've crossed the line and the majority of our customers have high speed connection - either DSL or Broadband - and the time for video is here, now. eBay buyers are no exception. So we can add video to our auctions and profit from this technology. But why would we want to?

1. The majority of folks today would rather 'watch' than read. Personally, I think that's a sad reflection of our culture, but that's the way it is. Video games, computers, TV - much more popular than books. We definitely have shorter attention spans and are attracted to the inherent movement of video.

2. Right now, video is very unusual on eBay and other auction sites. I am guesstimating that anyone using video will have a huge advantage over other sellers for a couple of years. Of course, video might catch on more quickly than I expect - or it might take even longer. But, for now, video auctions will set you way apart from other sellers. Your auctions will be memorable.

3. Once you master the skills of video-making, it's truly easier than the traditional way of writing an auction listing. Truly, all you need is a headline and your video.

But HOW do I make videos?

I didn't know how, either, until just recently. My good friends Jim Edwards and Mike Stewart taught me how. You probably know Jim as one of the savviest sellers on the Net. He's been using video for quite some time. And the reason Jim has used video is because of his buddy Mike Stewart. Mike taught Jim, my partner and me how to use video. He's been in the business for decades and has worked on well known commercials and movies, including the Blair Witch Project, among many others.

We're experimenting with video on the home page of our Auction Genius Course and will have it up soon. Thanks you, Mike.

There are a couple of companies now existing that will put your auctions on eBay - but they all have a monthly fee. I've found charges as high as $49/month. The good news: there's absolutely no reason for you to pay anybody any fees. You can be your own recording studio and just isn't that hard.

And - don't settle for just auction videos. Use them everywhere! We're taking our video camera to England.

And here's a cool tip: you don't have to host these videos

Hosting videos can be a problem. It takes a lot of "bandwidth' for videos, but thanks to Mike, we're not hosting any of them ourselves. We've use "OPB" - Other People's Bandwidth - and you can, too.

Ever heard of the Home Shopping Network? QVC?

Create your own version of these wildly successful video shopping networks.

Mike & Jim will teach you everything you need to know to make your own videos. Their package even includes proprietary software called "Auction Presentation Wizard" that creates your listing, and uploads your video to the web, or lets you use free video playback sites (like we do) with just a few clicks. Hey, if I can do this, anyone can, because I'm definitely not a high tech person.

Check out Jim & Mike's new auction video course and see all the videos on the site!

http://video.auctionknowhow.com

Choosing A Web Hosting Company

Last year I was speaking at an Internet seminar and one of the speakers was asked who he recommended for web hosting and his reply was, "They're all alike". Wrong, wrong, wrong!

Back in my early days on the Net, I woke up one morning to discover that my web site had not only vanished - but in its place was vile words accompanied by graphic porn pictures! The hosting company finally sent out an email (approximately two weeks later), admitting they had been hacked and asking if users had any idea what they should do about it!The company we recommend for web hosting is marvelous and we have a multitude of reasons for our attitudes.

1. They offer 24 hour, seven day a week phone support. We've called them at 2 AM and spoken with a real live human being! Not a call center with 14 buttons to push or a foreign country where the operator is clearly reading out of a manual and doesn't really know his product. With most hosting companies, the only contact mechanism is email. (This is a US based web company - this service may not be available in other countries.)

2. When we phone, we've never had to wait more than about one minute. No long hold periods.

3. All of their techs are server-trained so they can almost always answer any questions and fix the problem. On the rare occasions when further research was required, the call-back was prompt.

4. They use very high-quality hardware - no junky stuff from someone trying to save a buck and run a web-hosting business out of his basement or spare room.

5. Liquid Web is financially stable. You won't wake up one morning and find your web site gone because the company has folded its doors and gone out of business.

6. The company offers multiple band width connections so your site won't run out of bandwidth. As a tech explained to me, it's like a store that has multiple interstate highways running by it - if one chokes, there are other sources.

7. They use only high quality, sophisticated equipment so they can offer many advanced setups and options that aren't available with other web hosting companies.

8. Your data will be backed up daily. This is highly unusual for a web hosting company!

9. The company runs "Raid" which means that if one hard drive fails, another one immediately takes over.

10. When your business has grown and you need to move from a web hosting account to your own dedicated server, Liquid Web will move your data at no cost.

11. Most web hosting companies have only one or two techs - Liquid Web has dozens.

12. Liquid Web owns its data center. It is NOT a reseller.

My good friend, Brad Fallon, learned the hard way that it is risky to use a re-seller. His multi-million dollar sites were hosted via a reseller and the parent hosting company believed (erroneously, as it turned out) that the reseller hadn't paid his bill ... so they shut down all his sites, Brad's among them. For several days, all of Brad's web properties were offline and he couldn't even talk to the hosting company. Only the reseller could do that and Brad's company was helpless.

13. They offer multiple internet connections from multiple companies. For instance, if there is a problem with AT&T, there are backup lines - so your site doesn't go down.

14. If you wish additional bandwidth, it can be added in hours - not days.

15. Liquid Web has a backup power supply, so even an electrical failure doesn't take you offline.

16. Their network is fast, meaning their servers act quickly and downloads are rapid.

17. You are allowed two domains/account, rather than the one offered by most hosting companies.

18. They don't "oversell" space - an analogy is the airlines overbooking a flight based on the belief that some passengers may not show up. Then when everyone appears, there aren't enough seats. Liquid Web doesn't do this.

19. LIquid Web claims to be online an amazing 99.99% of the time. We can believe this because our sites simply aren't offline. Ever. Of if they ever have been, we don't know about it and we're on our computers constantly.

20. They have been online since August of 1997, thus proving their endurance. They're not a new and untried service.

21. This is the incident that made us eternal fans ...

22. Liquid Web is reasonably priced. Although there might be cheaper Internet web site hosting services, you won't find any with this kind of quality. Our sites are our livelihood - their reliability online is crucial to our well being.

23. We have recommended it to many clients and have never received a single complaint. In fact, some folks have called us specifically to express their gratitude for the recommendation.

We don't just talk about Liquid Web - we use them ourselves. If you want an affordable web site hosting plan, try Liquid Web.

From Our Humor Department

With gas prices at an all-time high, drivers are bound to be more irritated as they get behind the wheel for a warm-weather road trip or just the daily commute to work.

The Hagerty Collector Network – the country’s leading insurance company for collector vehicles and boats – surveyed thousands of members
nationwide to find out their top complaints about other drivers. Here are their "Top 10 Driving Peeves.”

1. Distracted drivers talking on cell phones (Motor Mouths)

2. Slow drivers in the fast lane (Turtle Racers)

3. Pushy drivers who tailgate (Piggybackers)

4. Drivers who weave through traffic to gain one or two car lengths (Wacky Weavers)

5. Obnoxious drivers who speed up to keep you from changing lanes (Gap Snatchers)

6. Hasty drivers who change lanes without signaling (Space Invaders)

7. Road Rage (Road Ragers)

8. Motorcyclists who race down the middle of a lane, between cars (Speed Racers)

9. Women applying makeup and men shaving (Driving Divas)

10. Drivers who leave their turn signal on for miles (Morse Coders).