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March 31, 2005
What To Sell On eBay: Lame Idea #2
My second nomination for the Lame Idea About What To Sell On eBay Award is the entire idea about finding "hot" products. If you really want to know what's sizzling, what's fiery H-O-T, spend a few hours watching the informercials on TV.
OK, now that you know the Super Duper Flat Ab Machine Of The Century is in high demand ... what now? Do you know where to find the SDFAMofC?
The odds are, you don't and the reason why makes perfect sense. If YOU owned one of the hottest products in the country, would YOU discount it? You don't have to discount it to sell it. Naturally, you will reduce the price for Macy's or Bed, Bath & Beyond or other giants that can afford to buy $20 million at a time. But you would never discount it to small resellers like the folks on eBay.
Secondly, if you're selling on eBay and you are fortunate enough to locate a hot product, your stream of income won't last. My favorite example is the famous "Iraqi Card" set. When US troops went to Iraq, the government issues cards of most-wanted members of the Hussein regime, so as to make their capture more likely.
The first such set on eBay sold for $3,000. The second set was $2,000. In a very short time, though, you could buy them on eBay for under $5.
Of course, if you come across a hot product at a profitable price, by all means, latch onto it. But to spend lots of time trying to hunt such products down is a waste of your valuable time that could be more profitably spent finding solid product lines that will endure for years. These kinds of items will allow you to set up multiple streams of income that are almost auto pilot, so that you can turn your attention to other ways of making money. That is how substantial fortunes are built - not hustling the latest fad that keeps you constantly in search mode.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 10:59 AM | TrackBack
March 30, 2005
What To Sell On eBay: Lame Idea #1
What to sell on eBay is one of the most anxious questions on the entire Internet, and there are no dearth of people who will supply the answer to that question. Sadly, most of the advice is garbage, although it might seem sound at first glance.
A prime piece of nonsensical advice is ... {drumroll} ... "go to garage sales and flea markets".
You've probably seen that one a lot, right? But they're not the same kind of source. A flea market is populated by folks who are at least semi-professional, if not full time, in their respective product market. They know the value of what they're selling and they most certainly know about eBay. They're not naive and foolish enough to be "giving away" their goodies at ridiculously low prices.
A garage sale, on the other hand, is run by amateurs, often people who are moving and just want to clean out their house. They are much more fertile fields for eBay-type bargains than flea markets.
Garage sales are great if you just love going to them, and want an eBay hobby. They are also a good way to learn how the eBay system works, to provide fodder for a few auctions to experiment with, but the important point is:
You CANNOT build a business this way!
Your supply is just too uncertain. You might spend all day Saturday going to garage sales and find nothing you can use. As proof of this, collectibles and unique items were once about 75% of eBay's business. According to a recent source, they now equal only 6% of eBay sales.
Unless you are an expert is some field, and have access to a constant stream of supply, you will need to focus on the consumer items market. The only way to make this work is if you have a constant, steady and reliable source. Translation: a wholesale supplier.
So when you see someone advocating that you build you business with garage sales and flea markets, etc. - run for your life because they don't know what they're talking about!
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 10:50 AM | TrackBack
March 28, 2005
Need A Kayword Service? Try The Big G Itself
Need a keyword service for your auction, website or store? Why not use Google itself? Its new service, Google Beta Suggest, just might take you in some really interesting directions.
http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en
Is it comprehensive enough to rely on when you want to play the search engine game? No, I don't think so. But it's a good start and might suggest some combinations you haven't thought of until now.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 11:30 AM | TrackBack
March 25, 2005
Royalty Free Images For Your Website or Auction?
If you're looking for royalty free images for your website or auction listing, a really cool place to look is Morgue File (http://www.morguefile.com). A "morgue", in newspaper-ese, is "A place to keep post production materials for use of reference, an inactive job file" and this terrific site contains "free high resolution digital stock photography for either corporate or public use."
Categories include:
* Animals
* Objects
* People
* Scenes
* Still Lifes
* Textures
* Unsorted
Within each major category are multiple subcategories, like this list from "Scenes":
Home
Industry
Locations
Ocean
skies
Airport
Architecture
Autumn
bar
brewery, Heineken, Amsterdam
Car wash
castle
cemetery
church
city
Concentration camp, Dachau- Germany
Countryside
dining
driving
Elevator
Exhibitions
fair
farm
Fireworks
Furniture store
garden
Grafitti
greenhouse
ivy
lab
lake
landscapes
market
Military
mountains/ hills
Movie set
museum
Night
ornate
park
playground
Racetrack
river/stream
road
rodeo
Rope bridge
Scene nature
Scene religious
Scenes assorted
School
The FAQ asks:
Are the images really free?
Yes, all images are really free and they can be used in your commercial projects without permission or credit from the photogrpaher. Although selling prints, selling the images directly or claiming the photo is yours is prohibited.
Naturally, you can't sell or re-purpose any photo, but you are quite welcome to use them as is. Thanks! Kevin and Michael Conners, owners of this fine site.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 1:53 PM | TrackBack
March 23, 2005
Search Automator Is An Incredibly Cool Program!
A week ago, I bought new software called Search Automator. Within about 10 minutes I discovered the power of it - and it would have been sooner if I hadn't bothered to read the manual first. (Read the manual? Whats up with that? :-)
http://findanything.auctionknowhow.com
If you ever need to find information on the Web (and who doesn't?) you need to see this. Its purpose is to take a keyword, and within seconds, turn it into a treasure-trove of Websites, ebooks, tutorials, resources, checklists, guides, tips, tricks, articles, MP3s, videos, images, and more.
If you've ever been at a loss for quality content, information, or inspiration, despair no more. I had been looking for a particular piece of information and had given up on finding it. I had already scheduled a morning at the library, hoping against hope that they might have it. I found what I was looking for in seconds with this software!
The homepage has a short video showing in action and a 10-day ecourse on some of the easiest and fastest ways of finding the content you want (audio, video, articles, tips, ebooks, etc.) online.
It's inexpensive and powerful. What's not to like?
http://findanything.auctionknowhow.com
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 9:44 AM | TrackBack
March 21, 2005
eBay Introduces Kijiji Classifed Ad Program
You've got to hand it to eBay ... they really, really understand marketing! For instance, if you're looking at eBay Motors and want insurance, they've got it. Want an appraisal? They've got that, too. Need financing? No problem.
Most recently, Bay has launched classified ad websites in Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.
The sites are all branded "Kijiji", which is Swahili for village. They resemble the CraigsList sites, which eBay owns 25 per cent of since August, 2004.
The sites are organized around cities, so Kijiji, Italian-style, has listings for Rome, Bologna, Florence, Milan, Naples, Palermo and Turin.
Since all of their sites are in languages other than English, it's hard to figure out their categories, but there seem to be services, stuff for sale, property, jobs, courses, babysitters as well as lonely hearts ads and a community section (I can remember a little of my high school French. :-)
eBay doesn't expect to generate much, if any, revenue from Kijiji in 2005.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 12:49 PM | TrackBack
March 11, 2005
The “Ridiculous eBay Auction” Oscar Winner
Well, folks, the Golden Palace Casino has done it again ... won another foolish auction. This time it was the breast implants of former stripper “Tawny Peaks”.
In 1998, Peaks made news headlines when she was accused of assaulting a man by hitting him with her breasts. The victim claimed to have suffered whiplash injury because her implants were like “two cement blocks". The People's Court later rejected the suit after former NY Mayor Ed Koch ruled the assets soft and therefore non-lethal.
In 1999 the stripper married and had her implants removed. On February 26th, she put her implants for sale on eBay and the Golden Palace Casino bought them for $16,766.00.
We have reported in the past that the Golden Casino bought the now-legendary Virgin Mary toasted cheese sandwich for $28,000 and a haunted walking cane for $65,000.
In the same month, the casino bought the “Mystery Envelope” for $7,600.
This all seems pretty nutty – but is it? Look at the publicity gained for the GP Casino. They're so famous now that people most likely expect them to bid on nutty eBay auctions. Does all this attention translate into more visitors to their casino. We have no way of knowing, but I'll give anyone 100-1 odds that it does (sorry, a little gambling analogy there). Any even halfway decent PR representative would be proud!
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 1:05 PM | TrackBack
March 8, 2005
Phishing Via eBay, Citibank, PayPal
Phishing – a rather whimsical word for a lowlife practice – is a constant problem on the Net. Phishing is sending fake emails from eBay, Citibank, PayPal, Washington Mutual and other big name institutions. The purpose: to get you and me to reveal sensitive information that some scumbag can use to steal from us. I get that garbage every day and I know you do too, but I had no idea just how “successful” (from the point of view of the thieves) it is:
* 1.8m consumers have been tricked by phishing attacks into revealing sensitive information
* In just the last six months, phishing emails have increased by 4000 per cent.
* On average, a consumer loses $1200
Here is the best article I've ever read on phishing. We all need to educate ourselves so that we're never a victim.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/02/phishing_tabbed_browsers
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 12:24 PM | TrackBack
March 4, 2005
eBay Gets An A+ In Internet Marketing
There is so much talk about how to market on eBay. I oughtta know – I'm one of those teachers, myself. What isn't as widely recognized is that eBay, itself, is a champion marketer. They definitely know how to upsell, backsell, yesterday sell, and all the rest. For instance ...
Not only do they encourage you to bid, they will let you know if you've been outbid! What a great way to increase bidding, drive up prices and make more money for eBay. If you think I'm being critical, I'm not. This is classic marketing and as a marketing student, I can watch with appreciation.
Here's another example:
Not only do eBay sellers theoretically strive for feedback stars, now they can actually buy a Feedback Star Computer Pal.
“Feedback Star Computer Pals® keep track of your feedback rating for the day! Our Computer Pal attaches to a monitor with a velcro fastener. A spinning wheel can be turned to display the day’s feedback. Limited edition of 500.”
Note that it's a 'limited edition”. Therefore, if YOU want one, you'd better hurry up and get it now before they're all gone. That way, whenever anyone checks out your computer, they will see what a serious eBayer you really are.
Brilliant eBay.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 11:46 AM | TrackBack
March 2, 2005
Overstock.com: A REAL Alternative To eBay?
Is there a real alternative to eBay? So far, the answer has been “No”. Sellers simply don't earn the same sale prices on other auction sites, even Yahoo & Amazon, definitely two of the major players on the Net. However, this intriguing article from The Auction Guild suggests that Overstock just might give eBay a contest. Is TAG right? Only time will reveal that answer, but one thing is certain – all sellers and buyers would benefit from genuine competition.
- - -
“For years TAG has been hearing from eBay users all the 'If Only’ statements. If only a commercially viable site would take on eBay; If only a site would spend some real money on TV, radio, magazine and online advertising in the same markets eBay advertises in; If only a site would make an effort to make sure sellers and buyers are legitimate before they are allowed to buy or sell; If only a site would provide real customer service by phone. So TAG now asks, why not Overstock?
Overstock is doing all these things. They are an established online marketplace for new and refurbished end lot merchandise at very good prices, with a reputation for excellent customer service. In September they opened a person to person auction marketplace with a buy it now feature. They have been and continue to advertise
through major outlets, are sending emails to folks who use their retail outlet, focusing lots of buyer attention on their site to auctions, and have even lowered their fees.
On 26 Feb 05, Overstock's sent an email from Patrick Byrne (their Chairman and President) Holly MacDonald-Korth (their VP of auctions and Sam Peterson (their CTO of auctions) to their auction users. In the email they talked about what they had done to make their fees lower than eBay's and why sellers should use Overstock. They also said, "You will not get a fair shake from eBay until a legitimate competitor develops, and we want to be that competitor, so help us."
They talked about their ad campaigns, and how they were switching from a campaign to bring in sellers, to one that would attract buyers. Overstock continued their message with, "We sought and received excellent advice from posters on our message board, advice we incorporated into our new buyer-oriented radio ad, and the new TV ad that is being arranged." And, "We (you and Overstock.com Auctions) have one chance to make this work. You gain, we gain. Given the confluence of eBay's fee hike, our fee drop, our integration with ChannelAdvisor, and our focusing advertising on auctions, now is that chance. They asked everyone to contact other eBay users, saying, "Each of you knows thousands of eBay buyers. Now is the time to contact them and tell them to try Overstock.com Auctions." And "In sum, if there were ever a time to strike, now is that time." Overstock concluded with, "We are doing our part. We built and tuned the site, staffed customer service, cut fees, made a deal with ChannelAdvisor to get good listings, and devoted a six figure budget to auctions advertising. Please do your part by telling thousands of eBay buyers to try us now. You'd be doing us a favor, we know, but you are doing yourselves a favor too. Your humble servants"
TAG knows that Overstock is far from perfect, (one huge flaw is the fact that international sellers and buyers can't use the site) and that there are many things Overstock would need to do to be something other than just another eBay clone with a small fraction of eBay's sell through rate. But we do think sellers and buyers
should make an effort to at least try to use Overstock to build another place to buy and sell items, along with places such as Bidville, Amazon etc. There is always a chance that Overstock will listen to their users, and treat them more fairly than eBay.”
