Homeland Security Closes Down Over 73,000 Blogs

The Online Seller's News, July 28, 2010, Volume 10, No. 13

Tips, Tools, News and Resources for eBay, Amazon and independent Online Sellers
by: Skip McGrath

In This Issue:

Musings from eBay and beyond

1. Homeland Security Closes Down Over 73,000 Blogs
2. How To Get Free Traffic From Google
3. Amazon Growing Sellers -- Many Coming From eBay
4. New Wholesale Sources for eBay, Amazon & Online Sellers

"Making money is a hobby that will complement any other hobbies you have, beautifully." ~ Scott Alexander

Musings from eBay and beyond

Ever had your eBay account suspended? Ina Steiner at AuctionBytes had another great story last week about how you can buy a working eBay account with feedback and PayPal verified account for $299. Click here to read Ina’s blog. While you are at it, you should go to the AuctionBytes main page and subscribe to Ina’s free newsletter.

About a month ago I created a page that lists dozens of eBay tools and third party services. Since then it has become one of the most popular pages on my website. Google doesn’t rank it very high at #32, which is strange that I am getting so much traffic.

NOTICE: DIABETIC TEST STRIP SELLERS. A lot of our readers and clients have been making good money selling diabetic test strips on eBay. This has been an excellent and highly profitable market for the past two years and eBay has not had any issues with it. Unfortunately eBay is now looking closely at the market and has limited and even suspended several sellers. I am waiting for a clear answer out of eBay, but the issue seems to be that some folks are selling stolen test strips and others are selling strips that contain prescription labels.

So I don’t have any answers how you can avoid an issue with eBay, but I wanted to let you know that the market for that product does have issues and could be dangerous for you to continue selling. As far as I know eBay does not have a policy regarding the legitimate sale of test strips –but I cannot be sure. Here is a link to eBay’s policy on selling medical devices and supplies, but as you will see the test strips are not mentioned: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/medical-devices.html

Those of you who took the Proven eBay Course I on selling the test strips should log into the forum to discuss and perhaps find some solutions.

If you currently do not sell the strips and are thinking about doing so, I would suggest you forget it for now until the issue is resolved. I hope to have some more and better information when my next issue comes out in early August.

On July 1, a bill was introduced in the United States House of Representatives that would impose complex sales tax collecting requirements on internet retailers and entrepreneurs, including our eBay sellers. If passed, HR 5660, the so-called, "Main Street Fairness Act," would require small online retailers to comply with varying and regularly changing sales tax rules and rates for thousands of tax jurisdictions, and to collect and remit sales taxes from each customer. This new sales tax scheme would be extremely burdensome and costly to small online retailers like you who have set up shop on the internet. A similar bill is expected to be introduced in the Senate as well. eBay is working very hard to stop this bill from becoming law.

Last month I gave you a link to a free subscription to Web Wholesaler. Now here is another. You can get a free subscription to Internet Retailer for the next week.

Christine Abela is a web site designer, specializing in websites for small craft-related businesses. Most of her clients are female, over 40, and with very little knowledge of SEO or anything technical. She has just written a free email course about selling crafts online. So if you are a crafter or work in a related area, you can get her free email course at http://www.sellingcraftonline.com.

Vendio is a third-party listing and inventory control service for eBay and Amazon sellers. Vendio’s new alliance with Alibaba is working out well. One of the things Alibaba brought to the party was wholesale sourcing right on the Vendio website where Vendio members can access it. And Vendio is now giving away a Free Web Store to anyone who joins the service and they have a new offer where you can try the site for free.

Lets get started with this month’s articles:

[top]

1. Homeland Security Closes Down Over 73,000 Blogs

This story is now about two weeks old. The day it came out I almost blogged about it, but am glad I waited as there was a ton of misinformation in the original stories and blogs that did write about it. Here is what happened:

On July 9th, a blog platform that served more than 73,000 blogs, was quietly shut down without warning by the web host Burst.net on orders from the Department of Homeland Security.

Early stories were that is was shut down for hosting MP3 sites and video sites who distribute pirated music and movies. Rumors flew around the Internet that since Blogetery is a competitor of Google’s Blogger service that Eric E. Schmidt, CEO of Google and a huge Obama donor and supporter who visits the White House often somehow influenced the shutdown.

However, early the following week, the Feds confirmed that the site was shut down after FBI agents informed Blogetery’s web host (Burst.net) that links to al-Qaeda bomb-making materials were found on the servers.  Many (but not all) of the blogs have since been restored, but this was a frightening example of government power.  Although it is important that the Feds acted quickly –no one can see any reason why blogs about gardening, cars and thousands of family blogs were shut down.

In my book, How To Make Money Blogging From Home, we advise readers to spend a few bucks a month to host your blog on your own server.  Free blog services are free for a reason.  Those of you who use free blogging services such as Blogger.com (from Google), WordPress’ free service, MSN Services and others run this risk of being shut down on a whim of the government or the service provider.

[top]

2. How To Get Free Traffic From Google

Over the past week or so I sent a number of emails to my readers about a promotion I am involved in for a product called The Perpetual Traffic Machine (PTM). This is a product that will show you how to drive large amounts of legitimate and relevant traffic to your website, web store or blog.

In the past most people with small websites used Google AdWords to drive traffic to their site. I have been using that method for over 5 years –and until recently it worked. I used to get a 2 to 1 or better return on investment for each pay-per-click dollar spent.

But Google is now broken. For the past year I have been lucky to get even 70Ë in sales for each dollar spent.

The only thing that makes sense today is to get free organic traffic from people searching for what you have to offer.

Designing your website to get this traffic is called SEO –Search Engine Optimization –but that is hard technical stuff beyond the means of most small bloggers and website operators.

For the past couple of years SEO experts have sold all sorts of gimmicks to people like you and me –all designed to fool Google’s search engine. People in the trade call these “Black Hat” methods. They do work for a time. But Google is constantly tweaking their search algorithm to avoid the black hat tricks. And some of those tricks can backfire and actually get your site blacklisted by not only Google but Yahoo and Bing as well.

This is where the Perpetual Traffic Machine comes in. Ryan is an SEO expert who has developed white hat SEO methods that really work. As part of the promotion he gave us access to a free report that can help anyone understand how SEO works and show you non-technical ways to get more traffic. He also gave away free keyword research software and a booklet with Authority Codes that show you how to get inbound links from government and educational websites and blogs –those that end in .edu, .org and .gov. Google sees links from these sites as 100 times more important than links from a standard .com or commercial website.

If you missed the free stuff Ryan gave away last week, you can still get it for a few more days:

• FREE 28 Page Perpetual Traffic Report
• FREE Cherry Picker Software that will find niche keywords for your website or blog to help you rank in the top ten for those keywords or phrases.  (Note – This software requires you download Adobe Air. Adobe Air is free and it’s safe. You can download it here: http://get.adobe.com/air/)
  
• Authority Codes and Report - gives you the authority codes and directions to get inbound links from .GOV, .EDU and .ORG websites. Links from those sites to your website or blog carry a lot more weight with Google and will help your site rank higher within days

Be sure and get all of these. They are free and just a small sample of what Ryan is offering with the Perpetual Traffic Machine.

Now right up front let me say that the Perpetual Traffic Machine is not a cheap product –in fact it is somewhat expensive. But if you currently spend even a few hundred dollars a month on Pay-per-click, this program will save you thousands of dollars a year. And if you have a blog or website where you sell products or engage in affiliate or info marketing, this program is a gold mine.

It can literally deliver thousands of dollars a year in sales. If you ever had any interest in building affiliate niche websites to make extra money then you need this system.

You can learn more about the Perpetual Traffic Machine here.

[top]

3. Amazon Growing Sellers -- Many Coming From eBay

I was chatting with someone at Amazon this week that told me that Amazon now has over 2 million active sellers. The last time eBay released seller information that claimed to have over 650,000 active sellers. Last week both eBay and Amazon released their financial results for the quarter.

Amazon’s net sales jumped 41% to $6.57 Billion. Net income increased 45% to $207 million. Amazon said third-party (that’s you and me) and retail sales are growing rapidly. Business is so good Amazon will build thirteen new fulfillment centers. Amazon also reported that FBA – Fulfillment By Amazon (see next article for more on this) is growing rapidly and necessitates opening several new warehouse fulfillment centers.

How about eBay? Well eBay grew, but not that much. Revenue rose 6% to $2.2 billion. eBay's net profit was $412 million, or 31 cents per share, compared with $327 million, or 25 cents per share, a year ago. But most of that growth in profits came from PayPal not eBay. eBay reported that PayPal is adding over 1 million new customers a month –much of the growth coming from overseas.

When I was at the Seattle Amazon conference in early July, almost every seller I met either sells on eBay or used to sell on eBay. And when it comes to attracting new sellers, Amazon is seeking new sellers aggressively whereas eBay is only courting large sellers. Sure small sellers can and still do sell on eBay, but recent announcements by eBay CEO John Donahoe make it clear that auctions represent the past and fixed price selling of new merchandise is the future. Donohoe predicted that auction format sales would amount to less than 30% of eBay sales by the end of the year.

I am working on a new product, the Complete Amazon Marketing System to be released in the Fall. In the meantime, my friend Steve Lindhorst’s book Selling on The River is still the best overall book about selling on Amazon. Steve updates his book frequently so you always have the latest selling information and policies.

[top]

4. New Wholesale Sources for eBay, Amazon & Online Sellers

The Back to School(BTS) Season is about to start, so this month I looked for some wholesale suppliers for that market. You will have to move fast and place orders to get goods in time for the BTS season that starts in Mid August. The BTS are listed first then I list some other general wholesalers for other products.

Hollywood Licensed Products specializes in licensed character backpacks, designer inspired handbags, luggage, school backpacks and licensed bedding.

MSC Distributors offers a big selection of t shirts including wildlife t-shirts, funny t shirts and skull t-shirts. They also offer Flexfit hats, headwraps, biker t-shirts, and more.

Roma Bags is a wholesale distributor of leather products such as cell phone cases, handbags, purses, backpacks, wallets, Money Clips, Business Card Holders, Coin Purses, Gun Concealment Products, etc.

Steal Deal are distributors of urban wear offerings and urban hip hop clothes.

SonTeez Christian sells T-shirts and Christian Hats and Christian Apparel wholesale and retail T-shirts and Hats with a Christian theme. They offer Men’s T-shirts, Women’s T-shirts, Kids T-shirts and Hats with a Contemporary Christian Religious edge.

Seven Wholesale sells wholesale clothing apparel for men, women and kids - street wear, urban wear, Sean John, Rocawear, Makaveli, Enyce, Akademiks, Ecko, and Baby Phat.

Hartmann Variety wholesales DeWalt tools, Bosch Tools, Irwin Industrial Tools and other power tools at wholesale prices. Hartmann Variety Specializes In Closeouts, Surplus, Buybacks, Shelf Pulls, Etc...

Great Neck Saw, Established 1919: Manufacturer + Wholesale Hand Tools, Air + Battery Power Tools + Multi-Tools + Lockback Knives + High Technology Light Emitting Diode (LED) Flashlights

Duke Imports sells 1000 and 1200 Count Bed sheets, mink blankets, comforter sets, quilt sets and more. Direct Importer and Wholesaler, not a middleman.

EZwholesaler offers over 4000 products at true wholesale prices. They are distributors of As Seen on TV, Security and Defense, Gift Baskets, General Merchandise and more.

That’s it for now. See you again in a couple of weeks.

Skip McGrath
The eBay Seller's News

P.S. If you missed the last issue, click here to read it.

Click Here. Double your traffic. Get Vendio Gallery - Now FREE!