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April 28, 2006
New Auction Genius Course Live Class To Begin May 6
We begin a new live Auction Genius Course on May 6. Our classes are two hours each, every Saturday for eight weeks. I love this email from student Steve Williamson who kindly allowed me to quote him:
I came across Sydney's Auction Genius Course about this time last year and bought the CD version of the course. As soon as it arrived I popped it in the computer and then it happened ... Sydney started all the straight talk about hard work. So guess what I did? The same thing a lot of others do, I snatched that CD out of the drive and went to find the easy way.
And as you can imagine I had no trouble finding online marketers who would tell/sell me the secret to the easy path, sometimes it wouldn't even cost me any money up front, I could give them my email address so they could bombard me with their marketing message over and over. What a deal! :-)
After a year of wasting my time I saw that CD again and discovered a new live class was getting ready to start, so here I am.
I hope I don't pop my hip out of socket, kicking myself in the butt for wasting a year. But I think I've learned a valuable, but expensive, lesson. The money, I can always make more, unfortunately the time I can never regain.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 3:19 PM | TrackBack
April 26, 2006
eBay Express Offers Exciting New Way To Sell
I've never had an eBay store and never planned to have one. I don't want to work within the constrictions of eBay's rules, even though listing merchandise is much cheaper with a store, as compared with regular listings. However, the new eBay Express makes the entire store possibility enticing and I might have to re-think my position.
eBay announced eBay Express this winter and it's online now. The timing coordinates with eBay Live! in June and it is an exciting new channel for buyers and sellers.
eBay Express (EE) is really an online store, rather than the using the traditional bidding format of an auction site. If you're a seller you don't submit your items to Express. Instead, store and Fixed Price listings will automatically appear on EE and there is no charge for this (at least at this time - I'll be surprised if it stays that way). There are a lot of advantages to having your goodies on EE:
1. There is a shopping cart so buyers can purchase multiple items at once, just like any online store
2. Payments can be made via credit card or PayPal
3. Buyers will pay at the time they buy so there won't be any non-paying buyers
4. eBay is going to promote EE in the search engines, so sellers should have the advantage of eBay's name plus search engine traffic for more buyers
* 98 percent positive feedback or better
* Feedback score of at least 100
* Sellers must be PayPal Premier or PayPal Business merchants
* At this time, it's only open to American and Canadian sellers, although it is sure to spread to other countries, if successful
* Must fill in the item condition field (i.e. New, Used, Refurbished) in Item Specifics (some categories are exempted)
* Must use Pre-Filled Item Information for listings within Books, DVDs & Movies, Music, & Video Games.
* Must include shipping costs (flat, calculated or free) in the shipping fields
* Must provide a picture or gallery
* Must use eBay checkout or the new checkout integration API (for 3rd party order processing)
* Items must be located in the US
eBay Express will offer sellers more exposure for their widgets and items will be sorted by “best matches”. According to eBay:
"Results are sorted on relevancy against the buyer’s search by default. Searching brings back listings that may not be an exact keyword match and sorts them based on a range of factors. The buyer is able to re-sort by total cost, i.e. item price plus shipping cost."
One downside: sellers must agree to ship items to unconfirmed PayPal addresses. This means that their sales won't be covered by PayPal's seller protection program.
In the US, we have the AVS system. AVS is an acronym for Address Verification System which is a safeguard to protect credit card owners and sellers. If a buyer inputs an address that doesn't match the address given by the credit card holder, the system 'flags' the purchase. Many merchant account providers won't allow their merchants to approve purchases that don't pass the AVS test.
PayPal has been similar because their seller protection will only apply if the address is verified. With eBay Express this protection will disappear.
What can sellers do if they are uncomfortable with this risk?
1. Opt out of the eBay Express system entirely
2. Decide on a sale-by-sale basis whether they will accept purchases from unconfirmed addresses
Naturally, I will have to test this out but I strongly suspect that the increased sales will more than make up for the additional risk.
In 2005, eBay bought shopping.com and it is that technology that will be used on eBay Express. It is different from the shopping.com site, though, because it took buyers to individual seller sites. This won't be the case on EE. Instead, buyers will be able to buyer from multiple sellers, all in one transaction.
I checked out eBay Express from the buyer's point of view and was delighted with what I found:
http://www.express.ebay.com
I can view up to 90 items/page, and they're all beautifully arranged with clear pictures. I can buy from multiple sellers at once and pay for everything with only one payment. It's hard to see how this new eBay project can fail.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 3:09 PM | TrackBack
April 24, 2006
New Turbo Lister Makes Bulk Listings Easier - Maybe
I haven't even tried Turbo Lister in years. Of course I have software that will do the same thing and I don't do a lot of 'straight selling' these days. But the last few times I tried to use Turbo Lister the darned thing never worked right.
Of course, it has a major advantage: it doesn't cost anything!
eBay now has a 'new and improved' Turbo Lister that they claim will allow you to:
* Create multiple listings on a single page
* Customize the options you want to see on the page, allowing you to look only at the fields that you use
* Edit your items directly in the main inventory list - change the prices, modify the title, and make other quick changes from the list view without having to open another window
* eBay claim to have "made some technical changes to the new Turbo Lister to make it faster and more reliable"
You can download Turbo Lister and learn more here:
http://pages.ebay.com/turbo_lister/?ssPageName=CMDV:AB
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 2:47 PM | TrackBack
April 21, 2006
Homemade Video For Selling on eBay? YES!
For years folks on the Net have been talking about using audio and video on their listings and websites, but the time wasn't really right. However, I believe the day of multi-media has truly arrived. Here is an awesome homemade video used as an eBay auction listing::
{Note: Identification of the seller has been removed for privacy reasons}
There are two primary reasons that video has been a long time coming:
1. Yes, some technology was around but it was often complicated and hard for the average user to master. That is no longer the case. It's gotten easy (well, compared with the old way of doing things :-) and it's gotten cheaper to make videos.
2. Because of the ease of new technology, and the way it displays its results, it's more possible for Ms. and Mr. Computer Owner to view videos on their monitor. Last year, for the first time ever, broadband outstripped dialup. Wa-hoo!
The recorder in our video auction was sold in only four hours and the buyer had his money that very day. Amazing.
The developer of this software explained to me that the way it works is that we make our video, put it into some software, and the software produces a piece of code. Then all we need to do is paste the code onto our auction listing. How simple. This morning I am going to the developer's studio to get a preview look at how it works. Since I'm technologically unsophisticated, I will be a good subject.
The course on how to do this - which includes the software that makes it possible - will be available in the next month or two at a very affordable price.
I think it will give us a giant advantage over other sellers. That advantage won't last forever, but it should be effective for a couple of years. Right now, we will get the curiosity factor, plus there is no doubt that the average person would rather watch and listen than read. Personally, I love to read and I suspect that it isn't the best thing for our culture that people prefer not to read. However, this is about marketing and this new technology is quite exciting. It gives us new options and I will keep you updated.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 10:31 AM | TrackBack
April 19, 2006
eBay Scams Involving PayPal
There are a lot of eBay scams and many of them involve PayPal. The scammers have gotten more sophisticated over the years. It's gone from "upgrade your account information" to those that are supposed to panic the recipient, like this monstrosity below:
Sadly, this all too often works because innocent victims react with alarm."Oh, no, I'm being unfairly charged $379.12." Panic.
But not to worry, these thieves have kindly provided you with a way to cancel this mistaken transaction!
But when I click on the 'Cancel Payment' link, my Internet Fraud Alert is triggered. It tells me that this link is actually going to http://santaphonecall.com.
Does this mean that this site is part of the scheme? Possibly, but maybe not. These scumbags thieves have ways of hijacking sites who aren't completely protected. That happened to us, once. There was a "hole" somewhere in the way our server was set up. These creeps have software that runs constantly on the Net, looking for ways to use other servers. Someone had discovered this opening in our site and was sending tens of millions of spam emails each day. In fact, I discovered that they have bulletin boards where spammers share "holes". Unbelievable. My tech partner closed this hole - but set it up in such a way that the spammers couldn't tell that their emails were no longer being sent. Literally hundreds of millions of emails kept churning out until they finally discovered this was no longer working. We took some small enjoyment in that. It wasn't much, but with these people we have to take what we can get.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 10:27 AM | TrackBack
April 18, 2006
Travertine Floor Tile Intriguing eBay Product
Until recently, I had never heard of travertine floor tile, but apparently travertine is hot stuff these days. I was astonished to learn that the famous Roman Coliseum was built of travertine, instead of marble, as I previously thought. Obviously travertine is nothing new.
But today it's very popular as floor tiles and sinks of all kinds, like the gorgeous one below with the travertine backsplash and countertop:
There are several reasons for this popularity. First, the tiles are durable and beautiful like marble, but their price tag is lower. Often significantly lower.
Secondly, they're less slippery than marble. That especially appeals to me since I fell on a slippery floor and broke my wrist. Marble is gorgeous and cool, but quite slippery, especially when very clean.
It's possible to double your money, or even better, on these travertiine floor tiles and demand is exploding. Quite an excellent niche, in fact.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 12:15 PM | TrackBack
April 17, 2006
Candid Review Of "Dave's Cool Little Website"
An interesting development in the auction~net marketing world is 'Dave's Cool Little Website.' I've had quite a few inquiries from students and ezine readers about the wisdom of buying one.
They're an interesting concept: a ready-made website that combines the eBay affiliate program, AdSense and Clickbank. It has a feed, even includes a misspelled word tool and looks good. I can understand the appeal - especially to newcomers who don't have confidence in their web abilities. In fact, it is being heavily marketed to newbies.
But is it a good deal ... meaning is it possible to make much money with it? We don't think so and here's why:
Dave's Cool Little Website Review
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 12:04 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
April 15, 2006
New 2006 Auction Genius Course CD Available
Whew. It's been a lot of work and time, but out new AUCTION GENIUS COURSE CD is now available!
It's not only updated with the newest information available, but the sound quality is superb. Our past CDs were recordings of classes, but this one is done solely by Sydney. The reason for that is, as our classes grow, it's hard to maintain sound quality. Our students use cell phones and speaker phones, which aren't as high quality, audio-wise, as a "land line". Also, with more people on the lines, there are more leaks.
A complaint of past CD students is that the links weren't live. Another gripe was that I sometimes referred to articles, reports, etc., that weren't available to CD students. That's no longer the case because we've fixed both of those justified complaints. All the information is contained on the CD set and is both clickable and available.
If you want a step-by-step way to have an eBay business, rather than an eBay hobby, this is it!
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 12:21 PM | TrackBack
April 14, 2006
Brilliant Marketing: World's Most Expensive Sandwich
Here is an example of brilliant marketing: the world's most expensive sandwich! Talk about stirring interest ... this picture is all over the Net and was on Yahoo recently.
Details: Wagyu beef, fresh lobe foie gras, black truffle mayonnaise, brie de meaux, rocket, red pepper and mustard confit, English plum tomatoes, 24-hour fermented sour dough bread.
Price: $148.33
Will somebody buy it? Undoubtedly someone will. But that isn't why it's interesting. The point is that it's flashy! A superlative! Newsworthy! What great publicity.
How can YOU (and I) do likewise???
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 12:02 PM | TrackBack
April 13, 2006
eBay Online Auction Site Might Pay You $1,000
Would you like for eBay to pay you $1,000 - in merchandise, not cash? Strictly a rhetorical question, of course. I already know you're smart - you're reading this blog, aren't you? :-)
Seriously, eBay is giving away 10 prizes, each worth $1,000. What do you have to do to win? Write an eBay Guide.
Some of the topics are quite ... interesting:
Hand Dyed and/or Painted Yarn
How To Collect Hasbro Toys
Mazzer Coffee Grinders
Native American Bracelets
Displaying a Quilt as Artwork
An Introduction to American Crochet Patterns
How to Buy & Sell Roman Catholic Nun Items & Artifacts
Vintage and Antique Kitchen Collectibles
A Guide To The Game of Bingo
Casio Atomic Wave Ceptor Watches (Radio Controlled)
Tips for Collecting Two-Colored Ping Eye Golf Balls
What to consider when buying a rubber duckie?
A rubber duckie???
eBay has been seriously encouraging members to write reviews and guides, which is a good thing. I'm always more eager to buy based on the reviews of ordinary people - meaning those who have nothing to gain by writing glowing reviews - or not - of a product.
What is the difference between a review and a guide? As defined by eBay:
* Reviews enable eBay members to rate and share their opinions about products.
* Guides enable eBay members to share their expertise on any topic or category.
http://pages.ebay.com/learn_more.html
---------------------------
How to write a guide
---------------------------
According to eBay, here are the important parts of a Guide:
1. Title.
Obviously, you don't want to be cutesy here. Flatly state the topic of your guide.
1. Text.
Guides have a 20,000 character limit.
3. Add links to eBay searches and other eBay pages (optional).
For example, if you have written about vintage toys, you can add a link to an eBay search for vintage toys:
4. Add pictures (optional).
5. Enter "tags".
If you're wondering what tags are, (like I did), it seems to be eBayese for 'keywords'. What keywords would someone use to find a subject you choose to write about?
---------------------------
Contest rules
---------------------------
Contest time: 12:00:00 AM Pacific Time (PT) on April 1, 2006 and ends 11:59:59 PM PT on June 9, 2006 .
Who can enter: "legal residents of the fifty United States and the District of Columbia, 18 years of age or older, who are confirmed registered members of www.ebay.com". Sorry to all you folks who don't live in the US.
The winners will be chosen:
#1 4/01 - 4/07
#2 4/08 - 4/14
#3 4/15 - 4/21
#4 4/22 - 4/28
#5 4/29 - 5/05
#6 5/06 - 5/12
#7 5/13 - 5/19
#8 5/20 - 5/26
#9 5/27 - 6/02
#10 6/03 - 6/09
I don't know this, but I'm guessing that the earlier you enter, the better chance you have to win since most folks will put it off or take more time with their entries, in the hope of winning. So the competition might be a little less early on.
Check out guides that have already been written. In that way you:
* Don't submit repeat subject matter that has already been done
* Can see other guides and see how they're done, giving you a sort of template to go by
At this moment, there are 10,130 eBay guides. With this contest, that number is likely to increase substantially.
http://search.reviews.ebay.com/_W0QQuqtZg
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 1:12 PM | TrackBack
April 11, 2006
"Best Of eBay II" Begins Today
Today, Tuesday, April 11, at 9AM Eastern time, "The Best Of eBay II" will go up for sale. It's unique because it will only be available for one week. The eBay expert list includes:
- Tim Knox
- Jim Cockrum
- Adam Ginsberg
- Skip McGrath
- Sydney Johnston
- Mike Enos
- Jason James
- Robbin Tungett
- Joel Peterson
- Terry Gibbs
- Lynn Dralle
- Barbara Ling
This is a "who's who" list of powerhouse experts and marketers who have been very successful in generating profits on eBay and how have they done it?
By combining the awesome power of:
(1) eBay auctions and
(2) smart marketing strategies
But you don't have long to check it out, because the doors will promptly close at midnight Monday, April 17th Eastern Daylight Time (that's 11pm Central / 10pm Mountain / 9pm Pacific).
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 11:37 AM | TrackBack
April 10, 2006
NASCAR Race Apparel Sales Heat Up On eBay
The appeal of NASCAR is a mystery to many people (like me). But there are millions of passionate fans and they are willing to spend money on their passions - like NASCAR race apparel.
This market is both wonderful and terrible.
It's wonderful because demand is so strong. For example, my keyword research tool predicts 21,625 searches on this subject for the next 24 hour period. Of course, that's only an estimate and not to be taken literally, but it does indicate terrific demand. Always a good thing for an eBay seller.
It's terrible, though, because of that fan passion, which means they know lots of places to find competitive items. If your prices aren't good - or even the best - or you haven't added value in some way, you won't be making many sales.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 12:23 PM | TrackBack
April 9, 2006
Change in eBay Free Unique Web Hit Counters
Since 2000, eBay has been offering free unique web hit counters to its customers via Andale. There have been two contracts with Andale and the second one will expire in June of this year. It seems pretty clear that Andale's access to eBay users is at an end because of developments on eBay Australia.
According to eBay:
"In the next few weeks, eBay will begin offering our own counter free of charge that sellers can add to their listings. This new optional eBay counter will replace Andale’s counter and will track the number of times a listing is viewed. Counters can be made visible to everyone, or sellers can use our new "Hidden Counter" option, which displays only to the seller.
You will be able to add the eBay counter to your new listings through any selling tool. Once the eBay counters are available, any listing already running with an Andale counter will keep the Andale version – you will not need to change it until you relist the item."
Often eBay experiments with changes on the sites of other countries before implementing them into eBay USA, which is its big money maker.
Is there any point in using counters?
Certainly. To maximize our eBay earnings we need to improve what we're doing and how can we do that if we don't have any information on which to base our listings? Counters are a valuable feedback tool and should be kept hidden, IMHO. It's nobody else's business how many people look at your auctions. In fact, such information can give valuable clues to your competitors.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 12:03 PM | TrackBack
April 7, 2006
Kipor Digital Portable Generators = Great eBay Product
We've had some bad weather here in Atlanta recently, and like most people I suspect, when a power loss threatens I think about a home generator. When the crisis is over, I promptly forget about it. However, this last time, I actually tuned it to one of my favorite shopping spots - eBay, naturally - to check out home generators. To my astonishment, I discovered quite a booming market. Especially in Kipor digital portable generators.
The classic desirable niche has two qualities:
1. Lots of demand
2. Not much competition
Generators seem to fit that definition. Generators in general are currently selling at 67% rate, which is excellent. (eBay considers 40% "hot".)
When we get more specific, though, like Kipor digital portable generators, the sales percentages break down. Why? Because there are so few sellers! Internet-wide demand, though, is quite substantial. This indicates to me that demand far exceeds supply.
There are other generators that sell well, too, such as Honda digital portable generators, although their sales don't seem as robust as the Kipor ones.
The moral of this story: there are products everywhere! Yes, everywhere! And before you ask ... no, I still didn't buy a generator. Sigh. I'll be sorry when the next storm hits.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 11:28 AM | TrackBack
April 5, 2006
How Much Are My Baseball Cards Worth?
"Take me out to the ball game
Take me out with the crowd ...''
With Spring springing out, interest in baseball will be heating to a fever pitch and kids everywhere (regardless of their age) will have a renewed interest in baseball cards.
But if you want to sell some of your treasures on eBay, you might be asking, "How much are my baseball cards worth"?
Fundamentally, your baseball card is worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it, but there are some guides that will help. Specifically, when looking for a price guide for a baseball card there are five important ones:
1. Beckett price guide
2. Sports Market Report
3. Tuff Stuff Magazine
4. The Collecting Channel
5. CollectSports Price Guide Page
At the very least, they're a starting point in the enormous eBay market. At best, you can judge your profit by their advice.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 1:22 PM | TrackBack
April 4, 2006
Help Stop eBay Scams
Every eBay user can directly help stop eBay scams with a new "Report This Item" option at the bottom of every eBay auction.
With all the millions of eBay auctions, it's impossible for eBay to police them all, even though they reportedly have hundreds of employees to do just that. So eBay relies on its users to help it with this garguantan job.
Naturally, it's always been possible to report an auction but now it's easier to help stop eBay scams with a report button at the bottom of every auction listing. The button is at the bottom of the page, directly after the "Ready to buy?" section.
Is this a 100% positive action? No. There are people on eBay who seem to spend their days roaming the site looking for any kind of infraction to report. And there are those who are envious of the competition who small-mindedly report them on a constant basis. Those folks must be rubbing their hands in glee.
Still, the positive benefits outweigh the negative ones and hopefully this will make auctions safer for everyone. That is the eBay intent, anyway.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 10:57 AM | TrackBack
April 3, 2006
Victorian Curtains Highly Recommended Sellers on eBay
I'm continually surprised by high-selling items on eBay. Victorian curtains are certainly one of the most fascinating to me. I detest fabric all bunched up at the windows and I use only shutters and blinds. I remember having blue velvet curtains in my bedroom at one time (could they have been Victorian curtains and I didn't know it? Egad!) They were major dust collectors and I got really tired of them. Still, they did keep out any light if I tried to sleep during the day.
Victorian curtains are often of velvet - and very elaborate. Those Victorians really loved the ornate ...
According to my research, an amazing 95% of the Victorian curtains listed on eBay sell! The average sale price is $113.99.
This simply proves once again that selling on eBay is about business decisions, not personal preferences. Hmmmm ... I think I might start looking around for a source of these goodies, since they're so popular. :-)
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 1:08 PM | TrackBack
April 1, 2006
Rudeness In America Appears In Some Emails
Rudeness in America is encouraged by the Internet and its anonymity. Of course, rudeness isn't confined to the US but I am mystified why total strangers feel compelled to be hateful and nasty. Of course, considering the volume of our email, an occasional rude one isn't surprising. It's the intensity of the rudeness that is shocking sometimes. Recently some guy sent me an email that began with the charming phrase, "F- you!" He then proceeded to call me a spammer who was invading his mailbox. Naturally, I want poison like him off our list immediately, so I went to our email server to remove him. Come to find out he was on 6 of our email lists! Clearly he signed up himself to be on so many yet he felt called up to use vicious language and terminology.
Yes, it bothers me from time to time. The upside is that it gives me an opportunity to practice detachment, a very valuable practice that enriches my life greatly. I recognize that it's their problem, not mine.
Joe Vitale has an interesting comment about this on his site mrfire.com:
- - -
"I would be very grateful if sometime you could address this topic - what do you do about rude and hostile emails?"
She went on to explain that...
"I find that a customer will be very friendly for a long, long time, then suddenly not like an email and they just turn on me - it's a woman thing, I guess - they are very emotional - but incredibly rude, and it really stings me as well as the other writers I know."
She wanted to know if I got nasty emails and, if so, how does Joe Vitale handle it?
Quick answer: Everyone gets "flamed" at some point or another. Email seems to invite it. It's very safe for people to sit behind their computers and fire off things they would never say to someone's face.
So yes, I get nasty emails from time to time. Some of them send chills up my spine.
Sigh.
No, I don't like it.
But I learned a few things a long time ago:
1. You can't please everybody. And in fact, if you aren't offending somebody at some point, then you're probably playing it safe and not being yourself.
2. If you respond to someone's ugly email, you'll get into a pen-pal relationship of hate. You'll never convince them of your stance. It's best to delete the message and forget it.
3. It's more important to be a creator, than a complainer. Truth is, complaining is easy. A cheap way to establish yourself as an expert in any field is to start criticizing all the current experts in that field. You'll create the illusion that you know something. But the reality is, the real experts are the creators of the world.
Be a creator.
- - -
I agree 100% with Joe's position, but I do have one comment about this response ... I can almost always identify the sender of an email and I have never had a vicious email from a woman. They've without exception been from men. There have been a few whose sex I couldn't identify, and it's possible there were some women in that group. Still, it's an interesting observation.
And by the way, doesn't the guy in this picture look silly? What a WASTE of energy!
