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August 30, 2004
Ebay Sales And Greed
I have a lot of trouble with the word “greed”. The dictionary defines it as “An excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material wealth”.
Meandering around the web, I found a religious site that proclaims, “Your punishment in Hell will be: You'll be boiled alive in oil. Bear in mind that it's the finest, most luxurious boiling oil that money can buy, but it's still boiling.” I think they were serious.
There is a natural human desire to grow, to learn, to expand. That desire for “more” explains every achievement of the human race, from the macro of space to the micro of the atom. Is it OK to expand in knowledge or experience or determination – but not to expand in terms of money and rewards?
And the dictionary mentions more than one “needs or deserves”? If I ride a motorcycle to work, but would like to have a car for the winter months when it's cold and snowy, does that fit the definition of “need”? And as for exactly who deserves material wealth, well the mind boggles at even trying to figure that one out.
And where do we draw the line? If you want to make $5,000 a month in your online business that's OK – but if you want to earn $7,000 you're a greedy scumbag who will burn in hell throughout eternity?
Perhaps the best way to figure out greed is what a judge once said about pornography: I can't define it but I know it when I see it.
Here is an auction that is an amazing example of greed. Currently, there are some cards called Starz Behind Barz which are selling well on the net. Modeled after the famous Iraqi Most Wanted cards, they are definitely fun to see. Some of the stars who have had problems with the law surprised me:
* Al Pacino? One of my all time favorite actors? Say it isn't so.
* Frank Sinatra? Maybe he really did have mafia connections?
* Keanu Reeves? Must have been The Matrix trying to frame Neo?
* The picture of Nick Nolte actually shocked me. I've seen Most Wanted posters with better looking faces.
These entertaining cards sell for $6.95 each, with discounts for multiple retail purchases, as well as an affiliate program that further lowers the cost.
Yet, look at this auction:
Amazing, isn't it? This really goes beyond greed and into Maximum Stupidity. This seller needs to get clear on why people buy on auction sites. There are only two basic reasons:
1. The item is unique or difficult to find
2. Price
If the Starz cards were rare or one-of-a-kind, then the seller could get away with his $55 price tag. The first set of Iraqi Most Wanted cards sold for $3,000! The second set was bid up to $2,000. Yet, within a brief time, you could buy them on eBay for under $5. Why? Because they were no longer unique. The Starz cards have already sold 30,000 decks. How unique is that?
The second reason someone might buy is if the price is low. This seller is assuming that buyers don't do their homework, but in fact most folks do check prices. This seller's price is about 800% more than the Starz Behind Barz website itself. The most this auction seller can hope for it to take advantage of the ignorance of a buyer or two. Pretty shabby way to do business.
This is one time when greed is really, really easy to see. And it surely didn't pay off, which is heartening to see.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 4:28 PM | TrackBack
August 28, 2004
Hispanic Business Leads An Exciting New Opportunity
Business with the Hispanic community is slowly starting to sink into the consciousness of the overcrowded internet marketing field.
According to ahorre.com, as of 2003, the U.S. Hispanic market became the largest minority group in the United States. The 40.5 million Hispanics represent 13.8% of the U.S. population and a $580 billion economy:
http://www.ahorre.com/hispanicinfo.htm
These are numbers that will make any jaded marketer sit up and take notice.
Proof of a rising consciousness is even creeping onto eBay. If you thought the Cabbage Patch doll mania of 20 or so years ago was over, like I did, we were wrong. The new CP dolls are displaying a new international consciousness like the “Oria Tosca” doll below:
In the years ahead, we are certain to see more and more marketing to the Latino community. Spanish lessons anyone?
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 2:46 PM | TrackBack
August 27, 2004
Optimized Websites Just Got a Little Easier
You want optimized websites, right? If you don't, your chances of success on the net are ... well, slim and none. Website positioning isn't easy, in spite of all the stupid rhetoric on the net. You know what I mean: “We do all the work – you just cash the checks”. Yeah, right. If anyone will do that for me, please contact me immediately!
The creative folks at faganfinder make website analysis a little bit easier with their free site analysis tool:
http://www.faganfinder.com/urlinfo
It's a central location for finding out all kinds of good stuff about your own sites or your competition. There are all kinds of things I've not really familiar with like:
* Furl's collaborative bookmarking system
* Gibeo's page annotation
* Bobby, which tests webpages according to the United States Section 508 Guidelines (whatever that is)
* A “word popularity colorizer”
There's a ton of useful and not-so-useful-but-fascinating information you can discover about your website.
And as for faganfinder, it's got treasures galore, but as Butch and Sundance said, “Who ARE those guys?”
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 1:57 PM | TrackBack
August 24, 2004
Green Lantern Auction Listing: Winner Or Not?
Think about an eBay auction from the prospective of a buyer. What does he see?
1. What you're selling
2. What you say about it
That's it.
Naturally, there is more going on behind the scenes, but a prospective buyer neither knows nor cares about your problems – at least, until it's time to receive his merchandise.
So how can we improve our copy, our what-we-say-about-it? One of the most powerful tactics that I teach my students is to personalize our copy. I learned this firsthand when selling Torso Tracks, way back when Suzanne Somers was all over the infomercials raving about them. My sales were OK. Just OK. Then I changed my listing to discuss the actual use of the machine. I admitted that it wasn't my favorite activity in life, but that I used it while watching Law & Order reruns every night, and it wasn't bad under those circumstances. I got real “folksy” in my description. Apparently, buyers appreciated my candor because my sales soared. Such a simple thing, yet easy to do and very lucrative indeed.
In this auction the seller understands the power of humor:
http://www.auction-genius-course.com/listings/green-lantern.shtml
There were 18,173 views of this auction, which is very respectable. The bidding opened at $89.95, and the price rose to $136.50. Trying to compare this to current eBay auctions, it seemed to do quite well (although, not being a Green Lantern expert, I'm not entirely certain. :-)
Still, this auction took a great deal of time. Was it worth it for a one-time sale? Obviously, it was to the seller. Here are two rules of thumb, though, when investing this kind of effort and energy:
* If your item is valuable (whatever that means to you), it's probably worth the time
* If you plan on repeated sales, then it is definitely, absolutely worth your time to tweak and experiment until you come up with a winning eBay listing
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 12:07 PM | TrackBack
August 23, 2004
Ethics In Business: Questions About eBay?
It would seem as though ethics are always simple, black or white, right or wrong. But it isn't always so, and ethics in business are sometimes especially murky.
Here is an eBay example ... eBay has a “travel” category because vacations are big business on the famous auction site. There are subcategories that include airfare, hotels and vacation packages. These are sold by individual sellers – the same “small” folks that made eBay the famous and extremely lucrative net business that it is today.
Yet right next to these individual auctions is a giant ad for Priceline:
http://pages.ebay.com/travel/index.html?ssPageName=MOPS5:HTR01
Giant is the correct word because it is as large as eBay's entire travel category listing. If I were an interested traveler looking for airline tickets, for example, I would definitely check Priceline first simply by the way my attention is drawn to its ad.
Is Ebay an affiliate of Priceline? Or is Priceline paying major money to eBay for an ad in the juiciest travel spot on eBay?
Is selling this space to a major Internet company sacrificing the interests of its sellers or not?
* Yes, it hurts because buyer attention is drawn away from auctions.
* Or no, perhaps it doesn't hurt because auction prices might be so much better than Priceline that buyers choose the bargains, instead.
One thing is for sure: the only certain winner here is eBay.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 11:54 AM | TrackBack
August 20, 2004
'Stomp The Search Engines' Pays Off Big Time!
Have you ever tried to get your pages to the top of the search engines (meaning, page one or two)? If you haven't, I can tell you that it's a very daunting task.
But recently, I've been learning from a search engine guru with provable results. One of the problems on the net is, “Exactly who can we believe?” Lots of people talk a good game, but don't really know much of anything. Well, this guy made $156,037.54 in the month of July in his Yahoo store! Yep, that's one month – not one year.
So, I started following his directions and have had startling results (she said joyfully! :-)
Probably the hardest page to optimize for search engines is a home page. For example, my Auction Genius Course homepage is written for people, not search engines. I have chosen, based on very careful keyword research, to focus this page on the keywords, “how to sell on eBay”. But it's a really tough job because that keyword phrase isn't plastered all over the page.
http://auction-genius-course.com
Contrast that page with one that IS written for the search engines:
http://auction-genius-course.com/ebay-fostoria-heirloom.shtml
See the difference? The keyword phrase, “ebay fostoria heirloom” is all over the place. This is written exclusively for search engines and it obviously succeeds very well because it has high placement in AOL, MSN, Overture (for free), Teoma, Yahoo and Google.
Until Stomp The Search Engines, my home page was in Nowheresville. In fact, I couldn't even find that page, even though I knew it was listed in the Big Three: Google, Yahoo and MSN (as well as other, smaller engines).
But here are some interesting results:
Sunday, 8/14
Yahoo:
http://auction-genius-course.com/sitemap.shtml, page 2, #26
MSN:
http://auction-genius-course.com/sitemap.shtml, page 2
Wednesday, 8/18
Yahoo:
http://auction-genius-course.com , page 2, #23
http://auction-genius-course.com/sitemap.shtml, page 2 #26
MSN:
http://auction-genius-course.com , page 2
http://auction-genius-course.com/sitemap.shtml, page 2
Friday, 8/20
Yahoo: (7,900,000 competing pages)
http://auction-genius-course.com , page 1, #14
http://auction-genius-course.com/sitemap.shtml, page 2, #26
MSN:(1,574,409 competing pages)
http://auction-genius-course.com , page 1
http://auction-genius-course.com/sitemap.shtml, page 2
Am I going to stop now? No, but it's still pretty impressive. (Wow, 14 out of almost 8 million!)
Am I intimidated anymore? No way.
You can read my review on Stomp The Search Engines here:
http://auction-genius-course.com/auction/stomp-the-search-engines.shtml
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 1:45 PM | TrackBack
August 19, 2004
$1,080,496.37 In 24 Hours? or Why I Stay Out Of Discussion Boards
This week a marketing master grossed an amazing $1,080,496.37 in only 24 hours. And he did it without spending a penny in advertising and by selling an expensive $997 course on internet marketing.
Pretty amazing accomplishment, wouldn't you say? Seems like those kinds of numbers prove he knows how to sell on the Internet.
There were dozens of favorable reviews of this product from well known net marketers – and one negative review. We can respect these negative comments because:
1. The reviewer actually owns the course and has spent time with the material
2. He gave actual reasons for his negative reaction
But some of the comments on his discussion board are amazing:
* One poster called this negative review “so refreshing!” He then went on to trash two favorable reviews. I happen to personally know one of the people criticized for his “hype” and he told me, in private, that the information is “phenomenal”. Why is this hype?
* Another entry said, “We should get the word out that these people are sheisters ... and I'd hate to see people get ripped off by them.” (I am assuming he meant “shyster'.)
The point is that neither of these two posters knows the creator of the program and have never seen the course in question. Yet, they feel qualified to rip apart his work, based on zero knowledge of its content.
Is the course worth $997? I, for one, don't know. I won't know until it arrives, I've studied it and used it to achieve results in my own business. Until that time, anything I have to say is worthless. I respectfully suggest that all uninformed comments are nothing but opinions and not to be valued too highly. Personally, I am quite impressed by this marketing campaign and think it should be STUDIED, rather than criticized. Do you know how to generate a million dollars in just one day? I don't.
The negativity and griping in discussion boards is not healthy for people who are truly serious about their business. It's quite true that everybody is entitled to their opinion. It's also true that all opinions are not of equal merit.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 2:20 PM | TrackBack
August 18, 2004
eBay Online Auctions or Your Own Website?
I receive frequent mail from internet newbies who want to make money on the net, asking if they should start on eBay or build their own website. I always answer in the same way: eBay auctions are much, much easier.
Dr. Ken Evoy points out that there are three components of successful selling on the net:
1. An in-demand product
2. Powerful selling copy
3. Lots of targeted visitors
An eBay/website comparison:
1. An in-demand product:
A product that people want to buy is necessary for any sales, anywhere, period, over and out. If nobody wants what you're buying, then nothing else matters. This seems pretty obvious, but it isn't – at least not to some people.
Many fall victim to what I call “Backwards Marketing”, which is
* Fall in love with a widget --> go looking for buyers
Smart sellers do it the other way round:
* Figure out what people want --> give it to them
2. Powerful selling copy:
There are gigantic numbers of resources on how to write powerful sales copy. People have been studying this subject for decades and doing it well is an intensely demanding skill.
On an eBay webpage (because that is what an auction listing really is – a mini site) you will often see goods sold with only a one or two sentence description.
Put up a website with one or two sentences and see what you sell. “Meager” is a generous word for the kinds of results that you will get. It just isn't gonna happen.
Website sales copy that sells (there's plenty of the other kind, of course) is an intense, demanding or very expensive process. In spite of all the gimmicks on the net, people buy based on words, not flash or blinking banners.
3. Lots of targeted visitors:
Do you know what eBay really is? It's a gigantic TRAFFIC MACHINE. eBay has spent huge sums of money to bring millions of people to its site. And it's done a bang-up job, too. Every time you see a list of the top 10 most visited websites on the planet, eBay is always in that list. In fact, it's usually in the top five.
So, as a seller on eBay, you have access to 110 million users (according to eBay's report at the end of the second quarter of 2004).
Further, eBay buyers target themselves. That is, if they're interested in buying a watch, they skip the toys and clothing categories and go straight to your watch listing. Sellers don't have to worry about attracting buyers who don't care about their products.
Lastly, the mindset on eBay is unique. The Internet was created as a information medium, and that is what the majority of users are seeking. But if someone goes to eBay, she knows it is a sales site, not an information site. She is much more likely to be in a buying mood than is the casual surfer.
In his most recent newsletter, internet teacher Ralph Wilson answered the question of an internet newbie who was planning to quit his job and open his own website. He felt certain that he would be making substantial profits in six months. Dr. Wilson replied:
“I am sure you realize that all new businesses -- and Internet businesses especially -- are risky. There is no guarantee of success. Many good ideas fail because people (a) haven't chosen a profitable, low-competition niche, (b) don't know how to promote their sites, (c) can't put in adequate time, or (d) don't have enough money to develop adequate traffic to their sites. I don't recommend giving up a paying job to start an Internet business unless you come with a great deal of experience and a strong track record of online success.”
Those are the questions to ask yourself if you want to get into web-based internet sales:
1. Do you come with a great deal of experience?
2. Do you have a strong track record of online success?
If not, then look to eBay first. Once you have some skills and experience, and are making money with your products, then start thinking about your own site.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 1:13 PM | TrackBack
August 17, 2004
The Most Popular eBay Online Auction In History?
So far, the most popular eBay online auction in history showed a hairy guy named Larry selling his ex-wife's wedding gown. The listing became a literal phenomenon with almost 18 MILLION views. Larry appeared on CNBC, The Today Show, MSNBC and eBay radio.
You can see it here, although he unfortunately used a picture service, and therefore the great photos are no longer available:
http://auction-genius-course.com/listings/weddingdress.shtml
Larry started the bidding on this dress at only $1, yet eager buyers pushed it to $3,850. I am constantly preaching that we need to make our listings sound human, rather than like a corporate ad department. Larry obviously knew this very well. For example, he included this amusing paragraph:
"Oh, yeah. I also got three marriage proposals. Yes, you read it right - three marriage proposals. I feel like one of those mass murderers on death row. I never understood how the hell they got more chicks than I did. Now I know. They sold crap on eBay."
In a way, though, this is a sad auction, because Larry could have used this humongous publicity to create a dynamic business and ongoing income stream, rather than a one-shot sale of a wedding dress, if he had only known how. Too bad for missed opportunities.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 12:40 PM | TrackBack
August 13, 2004
My Hero: Flying Phil Rabinowitz
Ever spend time in any business discussion forums? I rarely do, because the postings are sometimes enough to make you sick to your stomach. All too often it's whines, complaints and “I can't, I can't, I can't”.
The next time you're thinking you can't, be inspired by Phil Rabinowitz, alias "Flying Phil". He is a 100-year-old resident of Cape Town, South Africa, who just entered the Guinness Book of Records. In July, he set a new world's record for running 100 meters in 30.86 seconds. In fact, he clocked an even faster time of 28.7 seconds the week before but a malfunction in the electronic timing equipment meant it could not be officially recognized.
He walks four miles each day, five days a week, to his daughter's dog food factory, where he does the accounting. When training for a race, Flying Phil walks 10.00 kilometers, or 6.21 miles, every day. He competes in mini marathons, ran a leg of the Olympic torch relay and is now in training for the 200 meter race.
If Flying Phil can compete at 100 years of age, the rest of us have no excuses at all!
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 12:50 PM | TrackBack
August 12, 2004
Ebay Scams: Sometimes The Good Guys Win!
Yesterday I received this story from a student, and we both had a good chuckle. Usually, the victim of a would-be scammer is the one who suffers, but not this time.
With apologies to whoever wrote this story and isn't receiving proper credit, it's too good not to share.
- - -
An eBay user, assisted by dozens of fellow surfers, has turned the tables on a scammer who tried to rip him off in an online auction.
The saga began last month when Jeff Harris ran an auction on eBay auction to sell a new G4 Powerbook for a friend. He was approached by a UK resident, calling himself Gianluca Sessarego, who offered to pay the $2,100 requested for the machine as well as shipping costs through an escrow service. Jeff quickly realized the site was a fairly obvious fake. Rather than telling the "buyer" to take a running jump, Jeff decided to play him along while at the same time complaining about his actions to eBay.
eBay established that the account used by "Gianluca" had been hijacked and offered a listing fee refund. Meanwhile, Jeff's plan to scam the scammer was taking shape.
Knowing the buyer would have to pay UK import tax, Jeff - helped by people on discussion boards - hit on the plan of sending the buyer a mocked-up Powerbook made of cardboard and sticky-backed plastic. This Blue Peter-style invention was dubbed the P-P-P-PowerbookBook. Jeff successfully rattled the tin to bring in $100 in donations to cover shipping costs.
The ringer, which was delayed for over a week in customs, was eventually delivered to a London barber's shop by FedEx after the hapless scammer (who gave Jeff a dud phone number) paid import tax. London correspondents to the mailing list had fun monitoring the shop using digital cameras but they failed to capture the delivery.
No matter - the scammer paid the tax for a worthless piece of jumk and the people who ran him a merry dance had a good time in the process.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 3:07 PM | TrackBack
August 11, 2004
Testimonial Writing: A Vital Key To Online Sales
When selling on the World Wide Web, we need to understand the mindset of our customers. In the early days of the net, many people were very reluctant to pull out their credit card and buy something. Their distrust revolved around the security of their vital information.
Today, tens of millions of people routinely buy via the web but the distrust is still there. As always, the vultures gather round the money, and scams on the Internet are so common that they're not even news anymore.
Every business needs a steady flow of new prospects to grow and thrive. But these new people come with built in suspicion of you, your product and your motives. How can you overcome that skepticism?
One of the most effective ways is to gather testimonials from past customers. How do you do this? What do you want them to say?
One of the best copywriters in the business has fortunately given us as thorough a guide as I have ever seen:
http://www.briankeithkillercopy.com/newsletter/testimonials.html
And a hint: I have discovered that you are much more likely to get a testimonial if you offer a reward. It's not that happy customers don't have every intention of helping you out. It's just that it's easy to get busy with other things and forget. If there is a reason for them to remember that is based on self interest, they're much more likely to cooperate.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 4:19 PM | TrackBack
August 9, 2004
Online Book Stores – How To Fail Quickly and Completely
Anyone interested in selling books online – or anything else – should pay attention to this very instructive seller who is a textbook case for what-not-to-do. In fact, he's simply amazing.
Amazon allows individuals to sell books through their site and many entrepreneurs successfully do just that. These off-site are offered under Amazon's “used and new” heading.
While searching a book on Amazon that sells new for $29.95 I noticed only one book in this section and it was for the astonishing price of $199.98.
Wondering how this price could be justified, I sent three emails to the seller asking for clarification. I received no answer. Of course, there are several possible reasons
why he might not respond, but the one that comes first to mind is that he can't justify his price, and so chooses to ignore such queries. Regardless of his reasons, he is not going to make a sale without explaining exactly WHY his price is almost 700% greater than Amazon's.
Further, when checking out the seller, this is the feedback that I found:
Wow. In the last 90 days, he's only had two customers and one of them was dissatisfied. Further, he has had only 36 sales in the last year, and almost 1/4 of those have been unhappy. One customer comment was: "ARROGANT, INSULTING, OBNOXIOUS, HATEFUL, UNPROFESSIONAL, UNPLEASANT, BWARE".
Hmmmmmm ... let me think. Do I want:
* A new book from Amazon for $29.95, considering that Amazon isn't perfect but is definitely one of the top site in the world, or
* Pay almost $200 for an unknown reason to a seller with lousy feedback from former customers.
Tough choice, huh?
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 1:05 PM | TrackBack
August 5, 2004
Scumbag Central Is Always Open For Business
Again and again I get email from readers who have fallen for the same, tired old eBay and PayPal scams. The fraudulent message always says the same thing ... “You/we have messed up and you need to login to your account via the link we've provided. Otherwise you're in Big Trouble.”
Here is one of today's pathetic attempts to defraud:
The kicker, of course, is that when we go to the the page that supposedly belongs to eBay or PayPal or a specific bank, it's nothing of the kind. This one seems authentic. It looks just like a genuine PayPal page – and it is. These lowlifes just copied the source code: http://www.patax.nu/PayPal
Never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never (did I make my point? :-) give your information in response to an email directive. Always go directly to the site in question. Reputable merchants will never ask for your information via email.
Oh, and since these lousy, cheating pages usually disappear in hours, you probably won't get to see it, so you can take a peek here:
http://auction-genius-course.com/img/fakepaypal.jpg
Too bad these losers don't put as much energy into legitimate activities as they do into stealing. They just might do very well.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 12:02 PM | TrackBack
August 4, 2004
Event Souvenirs Popular On eBay
Any time you attend an event that's even remotely newsworthy, keep an eye out for junk ... uh, I mean momentos ... you can sell on eBay. Floor passes and buttons from the Democratic convention are selling well on eBay these days.
Older political memorabilia is even more valuable. A button from the 1924 campaign of John Davis and Charles Bryan sold for $56,000, while one from 1920 of James Cox and then-relatively-unknown Franklin Roosevelt went for the gigantic price of $80,000!
http://www.thehill.com/news/080404/ebay.aspx
It isn't just political stuff, though. My kids worked for the summer Olympics in Atlanta in 1996. They brought home bags full of Olympic pins, which I sold on eBay. They made much more money from eager eBay buyers than they were paid for working concession stands.
Even the most horrific events bring profits. About three hours after the twin towers were hit on 9/11, I checked eBay and there were already newspaper editions for sale. Considering how the media poked microphones in the faces of sobbing parents at Columbine, I guess we shouldn't be surprised.
I remember that my grandmother had a giant “I Like Ike” button, a memento of his 1952 presidential campaign. Rats! Where is it now?
The moral to the story: never, never, never throw anything away. It might be worth Big Bucks on eBay one of these days. Course, the cost of storing all that 'stuff' might eat up your profits, but you never know – you, too, might have an $80,000 windfall.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 12:35 PM | TrackBack
August 2, 2004
A M-a-j-o-r Auction Site Error
I received an email invitation to visit an auction site, which I am always happy to do. But the owners of this site are making a really serious error ...
Whoa! I use the Opera browser, am quite happy with it and have zero intention of changing. Yes, it's true that I have Internet Explorer installed because I need it to teach my classes. But, I'm not going to open it up just for a casual look-see.
And it's also true that the vast majority of Internet searchers use IE. But, several percent use Opera and there are another few percentage points who use Mozilla. That might not seem like much, but when you consider that there are tens of millions of net users, that's a lot of folks. Why eliminate anyone from your potential customer pool?
And the irony is that by making a simple, single adjustment on the auction site in question, my Opera browser would most likely have displayed the page just fine.
Question for the site owners: how many people are going to change/install a new browser and return to your site???
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 1:49 PM | TrackBack
August 1, 2004
Selling People On eBay?
A 35 year old German mother and her 41 year old boyfriend are currently under investigation by local police and may face prosecution for “attempted human trafficking” for offering to sell the woman's eight year old daughter on eBay.
In an incredibly tasteless auction, the couple offered: "You can play with her, eat her at a barbecue or sell her to gypsies. She is a real working toy."
The couple was reported by an Internet user in their home town of Rennerod, Bavaria who saw the auction and reported it to the police.
Bidding for the little girl started at €1 ($1.19). and by the time eBay removed the auction, bidding had risen to €25.50 ($30.25).
In Taiwan, an eBay seller with a one-day-old membership offered three Vietnamese women to the highest bidder. The Taiwanese user, opened the bidding at $5392.
The auction gave no indication as to what 'goods' were on offer, stating only that they were made in Vietnam and would be "shipped to Taiwan only". The only indication as to what was being offered were a series of five pictures of three young women, two of whom may be minors.
eBay canceled both the auction and the seller's membership, although that does little good. It's quite easy to get new memberships, after all.
The parent of the little girl claimed this was all a joke. The would-be seller of the three women has no such comment. How are we to take these auctions? Are they truly attempts to be funny or are they horrific uses of the world's most popular online auction site?
Of course, there's nothing new about selling people and body parts. Two of eBay's most famous auctions occurred back in the 1990's when a young boy offered his virginity for sale, while another seller attempted to auction a kidney.
eBay definitely has rules against such auctions, whether serious or not:
“Humans, the human body, or any human body parts may not be listed on eBay. Examples of prohibited items include, but are not limited to: organs, bone, blood, waste, sperm, and eggs. You may not include such items as a gift, prize, or giveaway in connection with an item listed on eBay. Items that contain human hair (such as lockets) as well as skulls and skeletons that are used for medical purposes may be listed on eBay.
eBay does not permit the sale of Native American skulls, bones or other Native American grave related items, as the sale of such items may violate federal law.”
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/remains.html
