The eBay Seller's News, September 2006, Volume 6, No. 9
The Newsletter for Professional eBay Sellers
by: Skip McGrath

Motivation is when your dreams put on work clothes
...Benjamin Franklin

Musings ////

Welcome to our new subscribers. If you have not yet confirmed your subscription, please take a moment to do so by going back to the email you received and clicking on the link to confirm your subscription. This will ensure your newsletter makes it through spam filters.

If you don't see a confirmation message, please look in your Junk eMail filter as some filters automatically filter out anything with the word eBay in them. So if this happens, mark the message as "not junk" or "not spam" then click on the link to confirm.

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I hope everyone had a great summer. By now you should be rested, tanned, fit and ready to get back to work. I owe all of my readers an apology. Every year in July/August I feature Back-to-school wholesale sources. This year we decided to take more time off and enjoy the summer and I just overlooked this.

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When you read the first two stories below you might think I am suddenly down on eBay. Nothing could be further from the truth. eBay has been very good to me. We have made, and are still making, a great living on eBay. And, eBay is still the easiest place for the little guy to start a business and make money online.

What is unique about eBay is that it is a community. None of the other e-commerce venues can claim that. Well, we sellers are part of that community too --and we need to speak out when eBay does things that are not in the best interest of us, and the long-term viability of the platform.

So when you read the first two stories below, and my recent blog posts, don't think that I have suddenly become an eBay critic --there are plenty of those. What makes us different is that we are part of the community, not some outside pundit who doesn't know what they are talking about.

The best place to make your feelings known is in eBay group forums and on the message boards. eBay management does read these. But be reasonable. I really laugh when I see some of the unreasonable and angry posts some people make. A thoughtful post that clearly states your ideas, opinions and suggestions will have far more impact than an angry rant. It's ok to complain, but follow your complaint with a suggestion. That will give your posts more impact and contribute to the success of the community. So here is my suggestion:

"I want eBay to survive and grow and fulfill the potential it has. But to do so, eBay's management needs to refocus on it's core business and let Wall Street take care of itself. Virtually all of eBay's income comes from fees paid by sellers. The financial graveyards are littered with the bones of companies that thought they could do it all. They forgot their core competency and used their profits to invest in industries they knew nothing about. eBay ProStores will never compete with Yahoo Stores. Shopping.com is different businesses and Skype is way out there. It's time to get back to basics. As I point out in article number 2 below: "eBay: it's time to dance with the one who brung you." That would be us, the auction sellers and buyers. Invest in activities that bring in new members and keep existing members coming back. Give sellers a reason to invest more of their resources in building their eBay business instead of expanding to other channels."

eBay Canada has the right idea. (Thanks to Ina at Auctionbytes.com for the heads up on this one). Jordan Banks, the managing director of eBay Canada sent a message to sellers admitting they were having problems and asking for suggestions. You can read Jordan's message and the resulting posts here.

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My new blog has been doing great. Since I bailed out of Google's free blogspot and set up with RSS Applied, the hits to my blog site have quadrupled. It is also driving traffic to my web site. Although the blog has only been up about 4 weeks, I am averaging over 100 unique visitors a week who find my blog and navigate to my website. That doesn't sound like a lot, but my old blog on Google blogspot used to average less than 10 visitors a week and it had been up for over a year.

I am using the blog to update my readers on things that happen during the month so you don't have to wait for the newsletter to read about them. If you look at the top of the page there are little buttons that allow you to add a blog link to your home page if you use Google, Yahoo or MSN as your home page. This will put a little box on your home page with the title of the latest article. If the headline looks like something that interests you, you simply click on the headline to read the article. So far I have about 500 readers who have done this.

Another thing you will notice is that some of the blog posts have dynamic links to items I am selling on eBay. These items all have the eBay referral code (see article #4 below) so when people buy an item I get the 75% final value fee credit. This is working. When I went into my eBay account, I sold 14 copies of my new book during the month of August, How To Create and Sell Info Products on eBay. Six of the sales were people who must have linked from my blog to eBay because that's how many fee credits I had.

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Speaking of new products, I always give my readers a discount on my new products. Last month I told you I would be holding the price of my latest product, How To Create and Sell Information Products on eBay (and the internet) until the end of August. I got so many emails from people who are on vacation and asked if I could hold this deal a little longer. So-- Final Warning: I will hold the current price of $67 until September 15th. After that the price will increase to $77.00. The feedback on this book has been fantastic. Most of it centers on the fact that the book is so complete --unlike many of the other books on the subject that just show you the highlights.

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Starbucks screws collectors - AGAIN !!! As some of my regular readers know, I am one of the large dealers of Starbucks collectibles on eBay. One of the hot collectibles has always been anything from the original Starbucks store in the Pike Place market in Seattle where Starbucks started 35 years ago. Among these is a Starbucks card that until this week you could only get at the first Starbucks store. Over the years thousands of collectors have bought these cards and they have continued to rise in value. So this week to celebrate their anniversary, Starbucks made them worthless by printing millions of them and making them available at every Starbucks in America.

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My regular readers know that I am not a big fan of the various drop shipping companies --you know the ones with thousands of products that say "you can just set up one of our instant websites or click on our products to launch them on eBay." Virtually no one I know makes any money with these sites. There is one company, however, who does offer a legitimate dropshipping service. The company is DOBA.

Now I am not going to kid you --although DOBA does have thousands of popular name-brand consumer products, many of those products are priced too high to sell profitably on eBay --however I said "many" --not all. There are plenty of products that are priced well enough to sell on eBay, but the trick is to find them. Forget iPods, DVDs and Sony cameras. Look for the accessories and the fringe products. These products have higher margins and less competition. And be sure and research the products first. (I use HammerTap's New Research Program).

Drop shipping is a tough business model to succeed in, but if you can, the results are really worthwhile. You don't have to carry inventory and once you find the right products this can be--and is for me, a very profitable business.

I still recommend you find manufacturers and master distributors to work with. The World Wide Brands Drop Ship Source Directory is the best place to find these --but let's face it, some of you work full time and just don't have the time to do all the research. So DOBA may be a good solution for some of you. Normally DOBA gives new users a 7-day free trial, however, I spoke with them last week and worked out a 14-day trial for my readers. I don't know how long this offer will last, so give it a try and see if it works for you.

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Lastly, I have just created a glossary of eBay and internet terms, slang and abbreviations. It's at http://www.skipmcgrath.com/ebay-glossary.shtml. You can not sell this, but you can give it away as a free bonus as long as it contains a link to my site. This is a great item to give away on your about me page. Just set up a page on your web site where people have to enter their name and email address to download it. This way you can capture their names and start building a list.

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In This Issue:

1. Dance With The One Who Brung You.
2. eBay Store Fee Increase Reduces Excess Inventories
3. Niche Market of the Month: Selling Coupons
4. Are You Getting Your eBay Store Referral Fee Credit?
5. Update on Search Big Daddy
6. New Wholesale Sources for September

1. Dance With The One Who Brung You

"You got to dance with who brung you, swing with who swung you. Don't be a fickle fool. You came here with a gal, who's always been your pal, don't leave her for the first unattached gal..." Those are the words from a country song by Asleep at The Wheel. That's the way I feel about eBay's constant attempts to find new sources of revenue.

In May it was the deal with Yahoo whereby ads for products off of eBay will start showing up on some eBay search results pages. In July is was the news that eBay is raising eBay Store fees (that took affect Aug 22nd.). Then we learned in August that eBay was killing the eBay Keyword program, now they make a deal with Google whereby they will do on overseas sites what Yahoo is doing here in the US: Google will generate ads on search results pages that will take buyers off of eBay to shop elsewhere.

This might all be my fault. I know there are a lot of people at eBay who read my newsletter and a few months ago I recommended that great video course by Michael Cheney on Making Money with Google AdSense. I think someone at eBay bought it and then wrote Meg Whitman a memo and said: "Hey Meg, We can make a ton of money by putting Google AdSense ads on eBay."

In all seriousness, it's no secret that eBay is hurting. Their stock is down over 40%. The market didn't like the Skype acquisition and management is under pressure to deliver higher earnings and growth rates. The two deals with Yahoo and Google will certainly either make money, or offset the millions eBay spends on Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, but unfortunately this is another blow to sellers because it takes buyers off of eBay to other e-commerce sites.

On eBay US, eBay claims they will only serve up search results when someone searches for something that is not found. Great. So someone is searching for a Starbucks coffee mug from Berlin. They don't find one but they see a Yahoo paid search result linking to a seller off of eBay who does have a Starbucks Berlin mug, and they go buy it. If that ad hadn't been there, the buyer might have said: "OK, no Berlin mugs today, let me see if someone has a Paris or Madrid mug" and they would stay on eBay and keep searching. Since I might have a Paris mug at the time, I might get that bid. But if they go to someone selling on Overstock or a private web site, we all lose.

One thing to note: Sponsored search and PPC advertisements take you to a new page off of the page you are on. They never put the "blank" command in the HTML so they open in a new window, leaving the current window active. If eBay could find some way to do this, at least when the buyer went to the new web site, the existing eBay page would still be active.

The other issue is the demise of the eBay keywords program. One of the benefits of a featured store was $90 per quarter of free PPC ads in the eBay keywords program. Now we find out that eBay is killing the program altogether --so the cost of having a featured store effectively just went up $30 a month.

Now to the Skype part of the deal. As a long-term investment this may turn out well for eBay some day, but for now they are trying to create revenue from members with something that is just a pain in the butt for sellers. I only run about 100 auctions at any given time, but many sellers run hundreds or even thousands of listings. With just 100 auctions running, I still spend plenty of time answering emails --now eBay wants me to take phone calls too. "Sorry Meg, I just don't have the time. Maybe you can hire one of those Indian call rooms in New Delhi to handle my calls for me."

And, think about this: If someone did call me, what is to stop me from telling them they can buy the product cheaper on my website, which eBay does not permit in emails. So is eBay going to monitor my calls to make sure we don't try and use Skype to swipe customers? Don't get me wrong. I do see the value of speaking with customers and I already do it occasionally on a regular landline --but as a seller I simply do not have time to take the number of calls that would result if I invited bidders to Skype me. I disabled Instant Messenger for the same reason. You just can't get any work done if you are responding to constant interruptions.

2. eBay Store Fee Increase Reduces Excess Inventories

I took a lot of flack last month for seeming to defend eBay's decision to "rebalance" their stores. I wasn't "defending" eBay as much as I was trying to understand (and help my readers understand) why eBay came to that decision.

I feel very strongly that eBay is an auction platform. There are plenty of internet shopping sites and comparison portals with Amazon and Yahoo Shopping claiming the largest market share.

When eBay first launched eBay Stores, it was a great idea --it gave sellers a place to store and sell merchandise to buyers who wanted an item now and it was a boon for sellers that offered products in different sizes, colors or styles. For example, I sell seven different models of Firepits. I can run an auction for one and direct buyers to my store if they want a different model. Even at the new, higher, listing fees, this is still less expensive than running seven auctions 24/7 all year around.

The problem is that eBay Stores became a dumping ground for non-performing inventory. I spoke with one Titanium PowerSeller last week who had already started pulling more than 10,000 store listings down even before the listing fee increase. He said that when he studied his sales reports he realized that his sell through rate from the stores was less than 2%. When he pulled items out of stores and listed them in the fixed price auction format, his sell through rate (STR) jumped to over 25% for the same merchandise. So even with the higher listing fees, he is making more money and more importantly, he is turning his inventory over faster. One large media seller had over 30,000 titles listed in his store. He wouldn't reveal his exact STR but he admitted it was pretty low.

Hundreds of large sellers listed literally millions of items between them --a lot of it undesirable products that weren't selling in the auction format. This made the searching experience for buyers more difficult. So, all in all, rebalancing the store inventory will probably work out best in the long run for sellers. As high as the store fees are, the final value fees are still almost 1/2 of venues such as Amazon and even far less than eBay's fixed-price venue for media, Half.com.

3. Niche Market of The Month - Selling Coupons on eBay

Have you ever received a free coupon in the mail? Of course you have. I get free coupons all the time. Usually, though they are for products I am not interested in so I do what most people do --I toss them. That is a big mistake. If you don't believe me, perform a search for "coupon" or "product check" on eBay. Be sure and use the completed items feature so you can see what they actually sold for.

My daughter-in-law Lissa recently presented us with a new grandchild. As a new mother she started receiving all kinds of coupons and product checks in the mail. She used a lot of them, but there were others that were for brands or items she didn't use, so she started selling them on eBay. Think about this: What other product can you get completely for free, that you can sell for hard cash. The coupon you don't want may be really important to someone else.

Where can you get coupons? First of all check your mailbox. Next there are dozens of online sites where you can register and the manufacturer will send you free coupons. Look in your Sunday newspaper and almost any magazine. Free coupons are literally everywhere around you. Don't forget to tell your neighbors and friends that you will take any coupons they don't want.

I asked Lissa to write an article on her experience selling coupons. You can read the complete article with all of her tips and tricks on my Free Articles page.

4. Are You Getting Your eBay Store Referral Fee Credit?

Most people know that if you refer a buyer from off of eBay to one of your store listings on eBay and they purchase something from you, eBay will credit you 75% of the final value fee. Many eBay sellers believe that you get the store referral credit automatically, but that isn’t the case. Heaven forbid eBay give you something for free without a bunch of steps to claim it.

OK, So what are the requirements?

As always, eBay has a bunch of fine print associated with any fee credits. The purchase must meet ALL of the following criteria:

• The buyer must come from off eBay (i.e. eBay.com does not feature in the URL of the page they linked from).

• The buyer must go directly to your Store, About Me page, internal search page, a specific category page within your store, a search results page within your store, or a custom page you have set up within your store.

• The buyer must access your store by:

• Clicking on a link to one of the accepted pages listed above or through an email link.

• Typing the URL to your store into their web browser.

• Clicking on a book marked link in their Internet favorites taking them directly to your eBay Store.

• The buyer’s browser must accept cookies.

• The purchase must be made during that same web session. If the browser window is closed and the buyer comes back later from a non-qualifying source (such as searching through eBay for your store, or for your item) and then makes a purchase, you do not get the credit.

• Purchase must be from Store Inventory. Although fixed price and online auction listings display in your store, neither of these formats qualify for the referral credit.

• The referral code must be included in the link URL.

The page within your store that you send buyers to will determine the referral code format you need to use. In the link examples I am using my eBay Store, The-Auction-Sellers-Resource.

Main eBay Store Page

Add ?refid=store to the link to your eBay store:

http://stores.ebay.com/The-Auction-Sellers-Resource?refid=store

Specific Store Inventory Item

Copy paste the link for the item and add ?refid=store to the end of it:

http://cgi.ebay.com/THE-COMPLETE-eBay-MARKETING-
SYSTEM-BY-SKIP-MCGRATH-FS_W0QQitem
Z190025062361QQihZ009QQcategoryZ378QQtcZ
photoQQcmdZViewItem?refid=store

About Me Page

Copy paste the link for your About Me page and add &refid=store to the end of it:

http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=mcgrrrrr&refid=store

Store Category Page Within Your Store

Copy paste the link to the specific page you want the buyer to enter on and add ?refid=store to the end of it:

http://stores.ebay.com/The-Auction-Sellers-Resource_
EZ-Cube-Photo-Studio_
W0QQcolZ2QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ5QQftidZ2QQtZkm?refid=store

Note: If any of the URLs you are using already has a ? in it, then the referral code should be &refid=store.

Remember: if you don’t use the correct referral ID on your links, you will not get the fee credit even on otherwise qualifying purchases.

My daughter-in-law, Lissa, researched and wrote this item for me. There is a bit more to it so I have placed the complete article on my Free Articles Page.

5. Update on Search Big Daddy

Last month I told you about Search Big Daddy, the search engine with an affiliate program where you can earn Pay-Per-Click (PPC) dollars just for giving it away for free. This is the kind of affiliate program I like. There is no investment --it literally is free. Although you can earn more money by upgrading to a paid membership, this isn't really necessary unless you are a large PPC user. So far I have earned over $9000 in PPC currency. I know it's not real money, but I spend quite a bit of money on PPC advertising, so it does put money in my pocket.

Don't worry if you don't have a web site, you can use the PPC money to send traffic to your eBay Store or auction listings. Those of you who bought a Dave's Cool Little Web Site could use it to drive traffic to there too.

You earn PPC currency in three ways:

• Every time you perform a search you earn
• When you give the engine away to someone else who signs up you earn
• And, when they give it away to someone else you also earn PPC currency

You can also earn real dollars when someone upgrades to a paid service. Who knows if Bid Daddy will ever be successful? It may never be a Google or a Yahoo, but there are dozens of small search engines out there that do very well. As long as the growth continues, getting in on this early could eventually put a lot of money in your pocket for very little work and essentially no risk. If you spend at least $200 a month in PPC, take a look at their paid sponsor program as you will definitely come out ahead in PPC spending.

6. New Wholesale Sources for September

Don't forget to check our Free Wholesale Search Engine. There are dozens of new suppliers added every month.

Petra Industries is a manufacturer, importer and national wholesale distributor of consumer electronics accessories and appliance connection supplies.

H Motorsports is an automotive drop shipper. They sell accessories, lights, performance items, suspension items, rims, body parts and more. Once you look around the website, click on Wholesale Bulk Pricing. Fill out the form and let them know whether you are interested in selling their products on a bulk purchase or drop ship basis.

National Diamond and Gold drop ship quality jewelry (Diamonds, Gold, Watches, Chains and more). The prices on the web site are retail. Contact them by phone or via email through the web site contact form to get the wholesale prices.

The Morgan Company is a manufacturer of a wide range of beautiful gifts and personal accessories.

Sterling Forest is a great source for both sterling silver and stainless jewelry (Note - Stainless is hot right now)

Ice Canada is a clothing liquidator of brand name merchandise. They sell in lots as small as ten pieces, so this is a great source for small eBay sellers just starting out.

Pieces of History sells a wide range of medals, pins, badges and other nostalgic pieces. The web site has retail pricing only. You will need to call them at 800-564-6164 to get the wholesale price catalog.

Western Express carries a large line of western items with a minimum order of $75. This is their wholesale-only website.

Hunting season is here and Green Supply is a large distributor of hunting and camping accessories (they don't sell guns). You have to contact them through the web site to set up an account before you can get the wholesale pricing --but their pricing is very good and they will drop ship their more expensive items.

KC Hawaii is a new supplier of Tiki and Hawaina items.

Advanced Creations sells a large line of fragrance lamps that use a 100 year-old technology to purify the air, destroy odors and bacteria. Click on the link for "Wholesale inquiries" to get wholesale pricing information.

Helmets Inc. sells both DOT approved motorcycle and bike helmets as well as novelty helmets. You will have to open an account through their online form to get wholesale pricing.

That is for this month