FREE News, tips and Techniques for eBay Sellers

The eBay Seller's News, August 2006, Volume 6, No. 8
The Newsletter for Professional eBay Sellers
by: Skip McGrath

It's easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when you're a winner --when you're number one. When you've got to have faith and discipline is when you're not yet a winner.
Vince Lombardi

Musings ////

I have long struggled with how to bring you news related to your eBay business in a more timely manner than once a month. This publication, although called a "newsletter" has always been less about news and more about tips, techniques and strategies to help you make more money on eBay and the internet.

If you recall, last month, within one day of sending out this newsletter, eBay announced a fee increase. That was too important to wait a month to write about, so I had to add an addendum and send out an update. I had mentioned in the past that I hoped to do a weekly shorter newsletter. The problem is that some weeks there just isn't any news. So I have decided to do a daily blog.

I have played around with a blog before. I launched a free blog on Google's Blogspot. But, it never got any traction. Earlier this month I discovered a new blogging technology from a company called RSS Applied. It is a very powerful blogging system and extremely search engine friendly with lot of inbound and outbound links. So go please check out my new blog at blog.skipmcgrath.com.

I already have a few posts up and ported some content from my earlier blog. There are RSS boxes you can click on that will put a link to the blog on your home page at Yahoo or Google or MSN. This way you will know whenever there is a new post.

Occasionally I will do an article here that you might see in the blog or vice versa, such as the first article, "Could eBay Help Bring peace to The Middle East?" Although I plan to have very little duplicate content, there are some people who will see the blog but never subscribe to my newsletter and some of you who just aren't into blogging. So from time to time you may see a duplicate item here and there if I feel it's important or has interesting content.

The blogging technology I am using has dynamic content to help get your web site indexed well in Google and Yahoo and it can drive traffic to your eBay stores. To see an example of this, click on the link in my blog that says: My eBay Products in the upper left corner.

Next month I will report on the results of what one month blogging has done to my web site stats. This is not an inexpensive technology, but if it can drive traffic as good as, or better than, pay per click advertising, it will be well worth the investment.

If you would like to learn more about the RSS Applied technology and how a blog can drive traffic to your website or eBay store, you can click here to download a copy in PDF format.

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Last month I introduced my latest product, How to Create & Sell Information Products on eBay (and the internet). I would like to thank all of you who ordered and thank you for all of the nice comments. A few of you were so enthused that you offered unsolicited testimonials that I will be working into the sale page (with your permission of course).

Many of the positive comments were about the packaging. How to Create & Sell Information Products on eBay comes in a plastic clamshell package with a spiral-bound workbook and three CDS. This is a great way to package a product, but unfortunately it is expensive. The current price of $67 is an introductory price that won't last much longer. I will be raising the price to $77 at the end of this month.

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I got an email this week from someone who was using my wholesale search engine. He complained that when searching he came across a link to a site that is a well-known scam. He wanted to know why I was endorsing such a program?

My search engine is pretty good. It is optimized to find wholesale suppliers moreso than a general search engine like Google. However all search engines are susceptible to people who know how to create pages that will be found by search engines, even specialized search engines like mine.

Therefore when you do a product search you will get lots of true wholesale sources, but you will also get people masquerading as wholesalers --and unfortunately even the occasional scammer. So please understand, just because a listing comes up in search results, that doesn't mean I endorse it. There are also links on the engine page from companies who purchase PPC advertising. Unfortunately I don't control this --it is fed from the search engine provider. Just like Google cannot check if every program offered in their PPC ads is legitimate, unfortunately, neither can we.

So, I guess what I am saying is, use our wholesale search engine to find sources, but use it with the same caution you would use with any search engine.

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On the subject of what I endorse and don't endorse, I often mention products, programs and web sites in this newsletter. My wife, Karen, suggested the other day that I should be more clear about the things I actually endorse and recommend --and those that I just mention. In general if I write an article about something, that means I either use it myself and am talking from experience, or I endorse it, unless I say otherwise. (I occasionally write about scams and worthless programs in that vein, I obviously don't endorse those). Here are some of the products and programs I have mentioned recently that I do believe are great values. I have used them myself and can vouch for their credibility:

Jim Cockrum has recently updated his classic book, The Silent Sales Machine Hiding on eBay, and his later book, Turning Auction Traffic into Cash. I think he once told me he has sold about 80,000 copies of his books. What is really strange is that so few people actually use his simple method of making additional money from their eBay auctions. I have used them for the past three years and they really work for me.

There are about a dozen or more books on making money with affiliate marketing. The absolute best book on the subject is High Performance Affiliate Marketing by Jeremy Palmer.

Last month I mentioned Leo Quinn's great book: How To Own Your Own Paycheck Again. If you are struggling with excess consumer debt, or even if you would like to learn a great system for getting entirely out of debt, give it a look.

Since HammerTap released their new version 3.0 of this already good eBay research tool, it has blown everyone else away. This is easily the best research tool on the market. If you want to prevent sourcing mistakes and learn the best way to sell your items on eBay, this is one of the best investments you can make.

Drop shipping is a great way to make money on eBay if you can find sources to work with that have a price structure that allows you to make money. Almost all of the general drop shipping companies --those with a virtual warehouse, have prices that are too high to allow any profit margin on eBay. The best way to drop ship on eBay is to work with a manufacturer or master distributor. Since there is no middleman, you can usually get a better price. The Drop Ship Source Directory is the only service that connects you with actual manufacturers.

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Last month I mentioned my new web site builder. Unfortunately we had a communications failure between me and BrightBuilders, the company hosting the site and providing the underlying platform. Consequently, some of you tried to sign up and the credit card functionality was not working. (See article #2 below on making mistakes). I am a little embarrassed but the issue is now fixed --so I invite you to check out Skips-Website-Builder.

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I wanted to give one more update on Dave’s Cool Little Web Site. My site has been up for just over 4 months now and the search engines are continuing to find it. Last month I got a check from Commission Junction for eBay sign ups and fees for $197. I checked my account just before sending out this newsletter and have already earned $33.20 for the first few days of August. My Clickbank numbers were down --only $109 for the past two pay periods that came from this particular Clickbank account.

Those don’t sound like big numbers, (Total $339.20 for July) but they do add up and they are growing --albeit slowly. As I said when I told you about this site –it won’t make you rich, but it’s a nice little source of extra income that can pay for itself within a month or two. If you are thinking of setting one up, be sure and read my Dave’s Site FAQ’s first. Then once you set it up, take the time to use the training material on the site. The best thing about it is once you spend an hour or so setting it up you just forget it. You won't see any income for a while (unless you do something else to drive traffic to it), but eventually the site will be found and indexed and you will start getting nice little checks every month. At the rate I am going it will be covering my car payment in a few months.

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My article on eBay's fee increase generated a lot of email --most of it from people who disagreed with me. Here is one such email, but I must say it was the most intelligent. Unfortunately I cannot give credit as it was anonymous:

Re-balancing the marketplace is not at all a bad thing, and on that we're probably in agreement. Imposing punitive sanctions on sellers (i.e. their customers) as a method of re balancing is probably one of the poorest thought out moves I've ever seen.

A much simpler approach might have been to raise FV store fees, limit the amount of items each store at each level can carry, ban drop shippers (who upload entire catalogs into their stores), and lower auction listing fees. The path of least resistance most always achieves a more favorable outcome than heavy handed techniques.

As it is there are literally thousands of established sellers now moving inventory to competing sites. Will some return? Sure. But many will not. And for every thousand widgets and every seller that is forced into another venue, eBay becomes a weaker marketplace.

His suggestion in the second paragraph is excellent and I agree this would have been a more intelligent and market-friendly way for eBay to handle it's problem. So, whoever you are - Great point! I have dozens of eBay employees (many of whom are in management) who read this newsletter, so I assure you it will be seen by the powers that be.

So, let's go,

In this Issue ////

1. Can eBay Bring Peace To The Middle East ?
2. Is It Still Possible to Make Money on eBay ?
3. Pay Per Click Search Engine that Pays You to Search --and Pays Affiliate Commissions
4. New eBay Listing Tool with Consignment Tracking Feature
5. Niche of the Month: Vintage Electronics
6. New Wholesale Sources for August 2006

1. Can eBay Bring Peace To The Middle East ?

Could eBay empower Arab entrepreneurs by expanding to Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Iraq and other Middle Eastern counties?

If you think back to the early days of eBay, what made it the huge success it has become today? Total strangers could buy and sell from each other over this new thing called the internet. Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay, believed that people were basically good and could be trusted and –oh yes, in case they couldn't, there was this self-policing mechanism called feedback. Most Silicon Valley venture capitalists though he was crazy. The smart ones did not. They invested and today they are multi-millionaires.

For over 1200 years the Arab countries and Iran have been run by a series of Kings, princes and just plain dictators. Some were and are benevolent, while most others were either evil, corrupt or both. Turkey and Indonesia are the only Moslem countries that have a democracy --and even those countries suffer from massive corruption. It is no wonder so many Moslems are poor and see no hope for the future. In this environment it is easy for evil people to high jack a religion. Essentially the Islamofanatics have created a cult of evil. Unlike most cults that are small and never taken seriously, this one is huge and growing and is taken very seriously.

When you look at the Middle East today, one theme common in almost all Arab countries is the lack of ownership (most Middle Eastern countries don’t even have deeds for land) and the absence of entrepreneurship. Sure, you can open a stall at the local farmer’s market or rent a cubby hole and open a sandwich shop, but beyond that, the corrupt bureaucracies in most middle eastern countries make starting any kind of small business nearly impossible for the little guy. If you already have money you can bribe the right people to get the permits you need, but how does the Middle East version of the young college student or stay-at-home mom start a business? There are cultural, economic and bureaucratic barriers standing between that one person and their desire to do something we all take for granted: The ability to take risks --and if we are successful, to control our own destiny. Here in the US, and in 25 other countries, eBay has empowered hundreds of thousands of individuals to start a business out of their home with very little investment and almost no risk.

Today millions of Arabs, Iranians, Pakistanis and others own a computer and have access to the internet (after all Al Qaeda and Hezbollah use the internet to communicate with their cells around the world). Yet they have nothing like eBay.

It’s not a Moslem thing –eBay works in Malaysia, India and the Philippines –all countries with significant Moslem populations.

Pierre Omidyar's name sounds vaguely Middle Eastern. Pierre is obviously French. Omidyar? That sounds Lebanese or perhaps Persian. I honestly don’t know. Well Pierre, I know you don’t run eBay any more, but I bet you can still pick up the phone and get Meg on the line. Why does eBay exist in India and Malaysia –and not Israel, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia? Would eBay like to contribute to the nascent democracy of Iraq where people actually risk their lives going to the polls to vote –Why not start eBay Iraq? (I suspect it would be a better investment than Skype). Do you not think that people in these Middle Eastern countries are also basically good? Do you think that feedback would work in Jordan?

Who knows what people in Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia might list and trade on eBay? I am sure a few of the fanatics will sell Hezbollah training manuals to each other –but, that is not the point. The point is to empower people. Once you do that you give people a reason to make a choice. Hezbollah and Al Qaeda attract followers because so many people in these countries live lives without hope. Owning your own business and controlling your own destiny is the ultimate form or hope and empowerment.

eBay can do one thing that any government cannot do. It can empower the individual –the little guy –or a birka- covered woman, sitting at home with a computer and an internet connection, to connect with total strangers in their country –or any country in the world, and engage in commerce in an atmosphere of trust and profits.

Will this stop the fighting in Lebanon? Will this stop fanatic Mullahs from brainwashing teenage girls into strapping bombs onto themselves and blowing up innocent civilians? No –of course it won’t. But it will make a statement. With entrepreneurship comes hope. I can see the conversation now.

The phone rings.

"Hello, This is Abdulla."

“Abdulla. Your time to martyr yourself has come. Meet us at the secret safe house on Algoma Street tonight to be fitted with your personal suicide bomb. Allah and the seventy-two virgins are waiting for you.”

“Sorry, Hassan, I can’t. I have three auctions ending tonight and I have to ship the products on time or I might get a negative feedback.”

What do you think Meg?

2. Is It Still Possible to Make Money on eBay ?

One of my newsletter subscribers called me who had just lost his job and wanted to know if it was still possible for someone to start an eBay business and make enough money to live on.  This is not the first call of this type I've received.  I get calls or emails like this all the time.

The short answer to the question is yes --but as with most things in life, the short answer isn't always to right one and it is certainly not the complete one.

In The Complete eBay Marketing System I cover all of the strategies, techniques and tools you need to run an eBay business and actually make money on eBay.  If you follow the steps I suggest, then the answer really is yes.  After all I have done it for seven years, and eBay estimates there are over 600,000 others doing it now.  So how --and why, do people fail?

There is one sure way to fail at anything:  Give up or quit.  I firmly believe that more people fail in their eBay business (and other internet based money-making opportunities) because they give up.  They make some mistakes and instead of realizing that is was just that, a mistake or a goof, they mentally lay the blame elsewhere.  I have read dozens, if not hundreds of emails and message board posts that prove this.  You see statements like:

• You can't make money on eBay because the fees are too high
• Little guys can't make any money because big sellers control eBay now
• There is too much competition on eBay
• No one will sell to you at real wholesale unless you can spend thousands of dollars at a time
• All these internet programs are just scams (unfortunately this one is partially true)
• eBay keeps shutting down my auctions

Over the past seven years that I have been selling on eBay and the internet, I have made too many mistakes to count --and I still make mistakes today.  The difference is that I am not making the same mistakes twice.  I tend to learn from mine and more importantly, when I make a mistake I get over it and get on with it.

Creating and running a successful eBay business requires patience and persistence. I have a simple technique for dealing with setbacks mistakes and misfortunes. I spend about five minutes venting and feeling sorry for myself. Then I tell myself "OK - that felt good. Now lets get back to work."

3. Pay Per Click Search Engine that Pays You to Search --and Pays Affiliate Commissions

Search Big Daddy is a new pay-per-click search engine that pays you in pay-per-click money as an incentive to use it. This is the first search engine in the history of the Internet to actually pay people for using it for their everyday searches. Search Big Daddy’s free Members are initially presented with $50 in Pay-Per-Click currency (free advertising dollars) to promote their Web sites and appear in search results. In addition, free affiliate members receive their own exclusive Search Engine Portal to perform not only their searches, but also to encourage friends, family, and business associates to utilize the Search Engine Portal as well.

Now here is the really neat part: As a free affiliate, you can make money referring people to Big Daddy. The affiliate program offers both free and paid programs. Their paid programs are basically just a way of pre-paying for PPC ads which you are doing anyway if you use Google or Yahoo --but these rates are much cheaper. For example I got the number one position for the term, "make money on eBay" for just ten cents a click. That same position on Google would cost over a dollar a click. But, even if you are signed up as a free affiliate and someone under you converts to a paid program you earn 10% commission monthly for as long as they are a member. So you earn both real money you can put in your pocket and pay-per-click money that you can spend on PPC advertising to drive traffic to your web site or eBay Store.

Affiliates with free Search Engine Portals are rewarded with Pay-Per-Click currency through up to 6 tiers of activity. They are awarded PPC currency for each valid and unique search performed and also for referring other affiliates.

Pay-Per-Click currency can also be used to secure Keyword Top Positions. This allows the advertiser to dominate a particular keyword or phrase for one full year. Keyword Top Positions open at the top of the search results in a unique iFrame. The advertiser Web site is already open in the iFrame, so the searcher does not have to click on the listing. And the advertiser Web site is fully navigable from within the iFrame.

Affiliates are authorized to Give Away Unlimited Free Search Engine Portals + $50 in Free PPC Advertising. Affiliates can upgrade as Sponsor advertisers to display their ads on free Search Engine Portals to further enhance advertising their Web site(s).

4. New eBay Listing Tool with Consignment Tracking Feature

EZ Lister is the latest system to come along in the crowded auction management field. As you know I have recommended Mpire in the past as an auction management system. I had high hopes for Mpire, but it just didn't pan out. It was introduced at eBay Live in 2005. A year later they still have technical glitches and I get emails from readers all the time complaining about support issues. So if you are looking for a complete auction management and listing tool with support for trading assistants (consignment sellers), take a look at ezLister.

EZ Lister was developed by an eBay Titanium power seller. So it is not a brand new system. It is based on a system the developers used to run their own large auction business for several years. Over the years they were able to catch bugs and fix glitches before creating a version for public purchase. I have been playing with the tool for the past few weeks and am really impressed.

What I like about EZ Lister is that it manages your auction business --not just your auctions. The product differentiates itself from competitors in several ways:

Look & Feel - They have absolutely the best collection of banners and templates of any auction system on the market. They have a beautifully designed top banner for each category and several large sub-categories on eBay. So if you are in the antiques business, you simply insert (with a couple of clicks) the antiques banner into any one of the dozens of template styles available.

Pricing - This is really unique. Instead of paying for file space used, or a monthly fee based on volume, you buy Auction Paks. There are three auction paks, 250, 500 and 1000. So if you bought a pak of 250 for $56, you could launch 250 auctions at a cost of only 22-cents each. A lot of eBay sellers vary their number of auctions based on the seasons --and even take a vacation once in a while. I currently use Vendio, but when we go away for a few weeks and I pull down most of my auctions, I still have a bill at the end of the month even though I sold very little. If you buy a larger pack, such as 1000, the cost drops to 19.5-cents per auction.

Reporting - The EZLister reporting function is also one of the very best I have seen. The level of detail and information is incredible. I don't have enought space to go into it here, but this is a really impressive system for running your business.

Consignment feature - The consignor module can be used by trading assistants, eBay drop off stores, someone running a physical consignment shop, a liquidator selling items for others on consignment, or a seller who only ocassionally sells on consignment. It is easy to add consignors, add items for an existing consignor, monitor the status (bids) of consigned items, assign standard commissions or set up custom commissions, track your payments to consignors and track all facets of the consignors inventory.

There are plenty of additional benefits such as 500 MB of free image hosting, easy set up and transition from your current system, automated payment systems, auto-feedback posting, and automated non-paying bidder fee recovery.

You can get a training DVD or a free 30-day trial at EZ Lister today.

5. Niche of the Month: Vintage Electronics

Did you know that millions of dollars of vintage electronics are sold on eBay every month. Sales of these items are so large that eBay even has a major subcategory for them: Consumer Electronics > Vintage Electronics

Take a look at the first-level sub-categories under vintage electronics

In just one sub-category, reel-to-reel tape decks, there was over $100,000 final value in auctions that closed successfully. One of the highest bids that week was for an Akai Pro 1000 recorder that sold "as is"to a buyer in Japan for over $1,600.00.

I often receive emails from readers who want to know where to find wholesale sources for popular consumer electronics products. It is easy to find the sources, but the problem is getting them to sell to you. Consumer electronics is a very specialized business, controlled by a few companies and large distributors. The margins are very small and the distributors will simply not deal with you unless you either have connections in the industry or you can buy in very large quantities and dollar amounts.

The great thing about vintage electronics is that they are everywhere. You can find them at garage sales, flea markets, thrift shops, estate sales and sometimes even at your local dump. You can also advertise for them. One of the largest sellers of vintage electronics on eBay runs small classified ads in the newspaper. He gets dozens of calls every week from people with an old stereo, set of speakers, tube-type amplifiers, reel to reel tape decks and so on. (This same seller also advertises for and buys used cell phones and satellite tv receivers which are also great niches).

6. New Wholesale Sources for August 2006

I know this is pretty short notice, but next week, August 13-17 is one of the biggest and most important trade shows in the US. The ASD/AMD Las Vegas Show takes up the entire convention center, the Sands Expo center and a big chunck of the Mirage Hotel, which is where the jewelry dealers are located. This show covers everything from gifts, to household and garden merchandise, closeouts, liquidation goods. apparel and more. If you are not doing anyting better next week, flights to Vegas in August are cheap, but most of the hotel rooms on the strip will be full, so stay at one of the nice old hotels in Old Las Vegas down on Fremont Street. You can preregister online at www.merchandisegroup.com.

Aliz International is a direct importer/ manufacturer of trendy fashion handbags, luggage & leather goods. They offer a wide range of styles at very reasonable prices. They also have licensed James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and other dead clelabrities goods. They have two web sites. Go here first to see the styles. Then go here to shop wholesale.

Clothing is a huge seller on eBay. If you sell clothing you need a mannequin to display your clothes to photograph them (unless you have a beautiful model in the family). So if you sell clothing you can buy a mannequin wholesale or you can buy mannequins wholesale and sell them to other eBay sellers. You can get wholesale mannequins at Inter Trade Corporation. Inter Trade sells a lot of other merchandise.

I used to deal with Ark Antiques when we were in the anitque business. They have a large warehouse in Moonachie, NJ just outside of New York. Although they sell a lot of large pieces that can be a challenge to ship, they also carry a large selection of small accessories that have great potential to sell on eBay and other online auction sites. You have to call for prices. Be sure and tell them you are an Anitque Dealer to get the actual wholesale price. If you purchase more than a few products from them at one time, you can also negotiate the quoted prices a little bit.

The FoxFire Gps is an internet based system that will tell you where your car is at all times. This not only helps you get your car back if it's stolen, but if you are a parent, you can go online at any time and see where your kids actually are. I don't know much about the resale arrangements or what they are looking for in the way of dealers, but I do know they are looking. Once you have seen the web site, just contact them for dealer information.

DeLancy Tools sells closeout and manufacturer reconditions tools wholesale. Typically the price for one piece is pretty high, but really drops when you buy a quantity of 3, 4 or 5 each. They sell a lot of famous name brands including DeWalt power tools. Use the pull-downs on the left side of their page to search by type of tool or manufacturer.

Beantown Sports sells a wide variety of license clothing items from NASCAR, the World Poker Tour, NFL, NBA and others. There are very few products and no prices on the web site, but there is a link where you can contact them for a catalog.

Security Plus is one of the oldest and largest wholesalers of safety and security products and they have a drop ship program.

Three-D is a dealer in flags and other country-specific merchandise (such as aprons, pillows, etc. made from country flag colors). They also sell a line of dog tag pendants.

The whole sport cards and sports collectibles field is really crowded and highly competitive on eBay, but all sports card and memorabilia collectors also need displays. Sport Card Creations manufacturers a huge range of displays for sports cards, collectibles, balls, helmets, jerseys and so on.

Fragrance X is both a retailer and whosaler of name brand fragrances (authentic --not knockoffs). The web site is the retail site, but there is a link on the right side of their page where you can click and register to buy wholesale.

That's it for this month. Don't forget to check out my blog at blog.skipmcgrath.com

Skip McGrath