Learn to Sell Used Books with The Amazon FBA Program

The Online Seller's News, November 18, 2009, Volume 9, No. 18

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

In This Issue:

Musings from eBay and beyond

1. Learn to Sell Used Books with The Amazon FBA Program
2. Learn Internet Marketing with a New Discounted Course
3. New FTC Rules Target eBay Sellers, Bloggers, Newsletter Publishers and Website Owners
4. Announcing the Online Business Brigade Radio Show
5. Niche of the Month: Used Wedding Dresses
6. eBay Wholesale Sources for November 2009

"It’s not what happens to you that determines how far you will go in life; it is how you handle what happens to you." ~ Zig Ziglar

Musings for November 2009

I am often asked how I can publish this twice-monthly newsletter for free. There are two reasons. First I came up with a theory a few years ago that if you give people good quality information for free then they will not hesitate to purchase your paid information. The second reason is that we are supported by advertising. So when you click on our advertisers’  links you help support us.

If you happen to live in Washington State or Western Canada (or know someone who does), then you may want to visit Vancouver, BC. The 2010 Winter Olympics will be held in Vancouver and nearby Whistler starting in January.  There is already a lot of Olympic merchandise showing up in the stores –and these will be big sellers on eBay during and right after the Olympics. You can pick up sweatshirts, hats, pins, coffee mugs and various collectibles. Now you won’t find them wholesale, you will have to pay retail –but even if you pay retail you should be able to double those prices on eBay as people really go nuts for Olympic collectibles.

Seller merchandising on active item pages started on November 17^th.  This is a controversial program whereby eBay places competitive listings at the bottom of your listing. So if someone finds your listing in search and clicks on it, if they scroll to the bottom where the bid button is, they will see other listings that are competitive with yours.

Here is the announcement from eBay:

"Earlier this year, with the launch of the new item page, we announced that sellers would have the opportunity to have their listings appear on their own and other sellers’ relevant item pages.

This is already happening on item pages when the listing is ended (closed item pages). Starting tomorrow, November 17, you may begin to see merchandise on the bottom of item pages for active listings as well. While we usually refrain from making changes close to the holiday season, the test results showed a considerable increase in sold items, and  we wanted to offer this functionality to our selling community ASAP. This is a great opportunity to boost exposure for your listings to the most interested buyers during the busy holiday season. Items are chosen based on popularity–the items in the same category most watched by buyers.

Cross-merchandising on other sellers’ item pages is optional–you can opt out at any time by changing your settings in My eBay. To opt out, go to My eBay > Account > Marketing Tools > Item Promotion > Promote Similar Items.

Remember, if you do opt out, your relevant items will not appear on other sellers’ item pages, so consider the trade-offs carefully. This is a great way to get your items in front of more eager holiday shoppers."

Remember this will happen automatically unless you follow the instructions to opt out.

One of my readers in the UK bought my book on creating and selling information products and used the skills he learned to create an interesting site called Information Products UK.  This is an interesting site. Some of the products are UK-Centric, while others work just fine here in the US.

Let’s get started with the articles

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1. Learn to Sell Used Books With The Amazon FBA Program

I was speaking with Steve Lindhorst, a good friend and author of Selling on The River – the guide for eBay sellers who want to sell on Amazon. Steve told me about a fellow named Nathan Holmquist. Nathan is a book seller who recently started selling his books on Amazon using their fulfillment program, Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA). Nathan has written a great free eBook called Selling on Amazon with The FBA program.

Since he started selling his books with FBA, his sales have skyrocketed. You can get Nathan’s great little book at www.booktothefuture.com.  If you would like to learn more about making money selling used books online, get a copy of my recent book, How To Make Good Money Selling Used Books on eBay, Amazon and The Internet.

This economy has been excellent for the used book business and Amazon’s FBA program can help you take your online book business to the next level.  Steve told me that after reading Nathan’s book, he signed up with FBA and his book sales on Amazon went from 3 or 4 books a week to 3 or 4 books a day.

If you aren’t familiar with FBA, this is a program whereby Amazon becomes your dropshipper. You send your books (or merchandise) to Amazon. They put your merchandise in their warehouse and when you make a sale, Amazon will ship it directly to your customer. There are two big advantages to this. First is better search position on Amazon and secondly if the customer is an Amazon Prime member who gets free second day shipping, your listings show up as eligible for Prime members.  This is a huge advantage. Personally when I shop on Amazon I always look for goods eligible for Prime and will pick them even if the item is a bit more expensive.

Even if you don’t sell books, you may want to read Nathan’s eBook so you can learn how FBA works. This is a great way to sell merchandise that you are now selling on eBay. And, you can even use FBA to fulfill your eBay and website orders.

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2. Learn Internet Marketing –now at a new low price and get a free trial.

If you recognize this article it’s because it was in the last issue. Unfortunately, the links in that issue weren’t working.  So if you did read it and couldn’t find the links, here they are in their correct form. If you haven’t read it, I suggest you take a look. Best of all the IMC has just sweetened the offer with a 30-Day Free Trial.

I started on eBay in 1999. By late 2000 our eBay business was profitable and growing and I decided to expand onto the greater web. The problem was I knew virtually nothing about the internet. My son knew how to set up a basic website and he did that for me. But I quickly learned that I had a lot to learn. While searching around I discovered The Internet Marketing Center.  At that time they offered a course called "The Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet" system.  This is the course I used to learn internet marketing.

IMC has been selling the same course for over ten years and they update it every year. They have just released their latest update and in line with today’s economy, they have lowered the price by $60 for the first time ever.

IMC is the oldest and largest internet training company and the only one I recommend. This is easily the most complete course you will find anywhere and it has been used by thousands of people with a lot of success stories.  Lest you think this is a small fly-by-night company, they’re not. I have visited their offices. They have over 50 employees and millions of dollars invested in their business. And everything they sell comes with a money-back guarantee.

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3. New FTC Rules Target eBay Sellers, Bloggers, Newsletter Publishers and Website Owners

I am sorry this is such a long article –but when you are dealing with government regulations, the issue becomes pretty complex.

Last week the Federal Trade Commission issued new regulations related to online sellers of all kinds that use testimonials or who engage in any form of affiliate marketing. The new rules impact almost everyone who sells online or people like myself who give advice and recommend products to our readers.  And every eBay seller who receives the wrong type of feedback comment is also affected.

You can read the full text of the announcement at the FTC news website. There are three parts of the rule that can affect you:

• Testimonials including eBay feedback
• Affiliate product recommendations by bloggers, newsletter publishers and website owners
• Celebrity endorsements

Let’s take a look at some examples:

Testimonials – The FTC used to require you to place a statement that says "results not typical" if you received a testimonial that stated what someone achieved with your product. This could include how many pounds someone lost with a diet or pill, how much money someone made when they bought your eBook that explained how to sell on eBay or Amazon or even how much gas mileage they improved using your engine tuning and driving tips.  Basically if the testimonial gave any type of results a person who bought your product then you have to determine what results the "average person" achieved and give that number.  For example, if I received the following testimonial from someone who bought my eBook, How To Make Money Selling Used Books on eBay, Amazon and the Internet:

"Skip – What a great book. I followed your steps and I made over $200 my first month buying and selling used books." John Smith

Then I would have to put a statement under the testimonial that says "The average person who bought this book made 1¢ or less their first month."

Why 1¢? Because I have no way of knowing how many people who bought my book, ever actually used it, I have to guess at the amount and for safety reasons I have to pick the lowest number possible.

And how are eBay sellers affected? If you look through your eBay feedback and see any comments that anyone achieved results from the product you sold, then you need to leave a feedback comment with a statement of the average results other people achieved. For example, if you sold someone a used Palm PDA and you get a feedback comment that says: "Thanks so much. This Palm saves me hours of work every week." Then you have to put the ‘average results disclaimer in a feedback reply comment. The same goes with my book example above. If someone leaves me a feedback comment about how much money they made their first week selling on eBay, then I would have to leave a disclaimer as a feedback reply.

Affiliate Products – The new rules also require you to tell your readers or customers if you receive any type of consideration such as commissions or free products or any other type of income when you recommend a product. This rule effects blogs, twitter, email, websites, book review articles, membership sites, everything. The rule even includes simple things like a link exchange or website recommendation . Let’s say you email me and tell me about a good web site with some free resources. I look at it and decide to put a link to the site in my newsletter. And the owner of the website gets a lot of traffic and business from me.  So as a thank you, he sends me a necktie. Now I have to reveal that.

You think that is farfetched? Well that happened to me last month. One of the wholesale sources I recommended got so much business from my newsletter that he sent me a beautiful necktie as a "thank-you." Even though the gift was unsolicited, I have to disclose that.

Actually this rule is not that bad. In the past I haven’t put a disclosure notice next to every recommendation, but I do have disclosure statements in several places on my site that say that I do receive commissions from some of the resources and products I recommend. The problem is that now you have to put the notice right with the recommendation. This really makes clear enjoyable writing difficult if you have to have disclosure statements throughout your articles.

Celebrity Endorsements - The last part relates to celebrity endorsements. One of the products I sold recently was the Rachel Ray Chef’s knives. The new regs state that "both advertisers and endorsers may be liable for false or unsubstantiated claims made in an endorsement – or for failure to disclose material connections between the advertiser and endorsers. The revised regulations also make it clear that celebrities have a duty to disclose their relationships with advertisers when making endorsements outside the context of traditional ads, such as on talk shows or in social media."

So if Rachel Ray makes a statement she cannot substantiate such as "The rubber handles on these knives are much safer than wood handled knives," and does not have research and statistics to back that up, then I am liable for a large fine from the FTC.  I looked for information on the fines and couldn’t find it on the FTC site but I have been told that they are set large enough to basically put someone like me out of business and into bankruptcy. So look for some new statements coming to my testimonials and affiliate endorsements soon.

My friend Jim Cockrum who runs My Silent Team membership site had a great take on this issue. He wrote a tongue-in-cheek disclaimer that is really funny –but it also makes a salient point:

"DISCLAIMER:

NONE of the results achieved by me or by any of my students or readers are TYPICAL.

If you consider yourself to be ‘typical’ or ‘average’ then go find a real job or better yet a generous government program and save us all a bunch of wasted time.

People who succeed in life possess extraordinary abilities that you DO NOT and WILL PROBABLY NEVER have.

The ability to turn off the TV and read a book occasionally, or the ability to put aside selfish short sited desires in order to pursue larger long term goals makes some of us freakishly superior and you don’t have what it takes to join us. So please - just give up now and go eat some ice cream and watch a movie. DO NOT BUY MY PRODUCTS.

You’ve heard it said "results may vary" right? Well, yours won’t. You won’t get ANYTHING from ANY of what I have to offer.

The average or typical results that anyone can expect from reading ANY of my books or articles is a dead honest ZERO. There is nothing there for you. As far as you know every testimonial about me on the Internet is made up anyway so why bother? How can you possibly trust ANYTHING on the Internet?

If however you have a superior work ethic and usually succeed at things you try, then check out My Silent Team and meet some real people like you who are not average."

Why are you still reading this? I told you to go watch a movie."

Since the FTC wants to know the average results that people can expect --there it is in black and white.

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4. Announcing the Online Business Brigade Radio Show

I mentioned this in Musings last week but wanted to give you some more information. I did my first show last week although I doubt if many people were listening as we didn’t promote it very heavily.  But from now on, I will be on WS Internet Radio every week at 10 AM Pacific Time. The shows will all be recorded and you can either listen live or download a podcast on iTunes or listen to the audio at WS Radio Archives.  My show is at the top of the hour and I am followed by my good friend Jim Cockrum at 10:15.

The show is called the Online Business Brigade. We are going to feature information and guests on all types of internet marketing including eBay, Amazon, Affiliate Marketing, Blogging and Social Network marketing. This week my guest will be Steve Lindhorst who will talk about how eBay sellers can expand their business onto Amazon. Steve is a former eBay University instructor and has been selling successfully on Amazon for the past 3 years. Click here for more info and to listen to archived shows.

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5. Niche of the Month: Used Wedding Dresses

Being a guy I tend to write about a lot of guy-oriented niches, so here is one for the gals.

If you perform a completed item search on eBay for used wedding dresses, you will see that the sell-through-rate (STR) is pretty poor. But don’t be fooled. This all has to do with the time of year.  If you do the same search in March or April you will see a much higher STR and higher final values. So why am I writing about this now?

It has to do with sourcing. Now is the time of year to buy the dresses.  You can find used wedding dresses several ways. They often show up at thrift shops. You will find the occasional wedding dress at garage sales, but probably not enough to go garage sale hunting to make it worth your while. The best way to find them is with local classified advertising and by advertising on Craigslist. 

Most brides hang onto their wedding dresses when they are still married –usually hoping they can pass it on to one of their daughters. But unfortunately the divorce rate in our country is pretty high. And when a woman divorces she usually wants to get rid of her wedding dress. So there are plenty of them out there.  The dresses can sell on eBay for between $100 and $500 with real vintage dresses (pre-1970) selling for much more. But you can buy them for between $50 and $100. Occasionally you will find someone who wants a higher price than you are willing to pay. You can still make money from these people by offering to sell the dress on consignment for them and taking a 30% to 40% commission.

This is the best time of year to buy the dresses because there are very few weddings going on and a lot of mothers need money for Christmas.  Just place a classified ad in your local paper that says: "I buy wedding dresses in good condition for cash. Call Mary at 555-123-4567." When someone calls ask them if the dress is in good condition (no stains, tears or missing pieces). Also ask if they still have the original box as this adds value to the dress. When you arrange to pick up the dress, inspect it very carefully. Unless you are highly skilled at sewing, stay away from any dress that needs repairs. And never buy a dress with a stain of any kind (red wine stains are the most common). If the person claims the stain will come out with dry cleaning, tell them to have it dry cleaned and then you will look at it again.

Used wedding dresses have sold for years on eBay, but with this poor economy and millions of people out of work, I expect this market to do very well this spring and summer.  The selling season starts in March and goes through October. The other times of the year are when you should do your buying as prices really fall then. I know one seller who even buys dresses on eBay during this time of year and holds on to them until March to sell them.

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6. eBay Wholesale Sources for November 2009

Worldwide Brands has just reduced the price on their wholesale sourcing membership and wholesale training programs. They are now offering a free preview for new potential members. Worldwide Brands is the only wholesale sourcing information provider that I currently endorse and recommend.

Peter Stone Jewelry offers a good variety of beautiful designer silver jewelry. This is some great stuff that I haven’t seen on eBay yet.

Topper International Liquidators is a great source for both small and large eBay sellers. They have a pretty good mix of merchandise. Some of it is by the pallet load and can cost a couple thousand dollars –but they also offer a lot of products in small orders where the purchase price is less than $100 for a wholesale lot.  Also, if you read our niche on selling used wedding dresses, Topper often gets overstock new wedding dresses you can also sell on eBay. If you live outside of the US, Topper also offers worldwide shipping.

ReStockIt sells restaurant supplies. These are usually pretty good sellers on eBay.

Vapor Store is a manufacturer and distributor of Herbal Vaporizers, Volcano Vaporizers, Aromatherapy Products, Laser Light Shows and Smoking Accessories.

Ayurvastram is a fashion accessories enterprise that deals in hand-crafted women's apparel. Most of their products and processes are eco-friendly, and come from the handicraft industry. Many of their fabrics are made on handlooms and are hand-dyed, printed and hand-embroidered. This is their retail page but you can email them through the website for wholesale information.

It’s a little late to order for Christmas, but you can still get a few things quickly from NyGala.

Autolites, Inc. sells car mirrors - rear view mirrors, wholesale auto mirrors, aftermarket power mirrors side mounted door mirrors.

6th Gear is a Wholesale and Distributor of all styles of Motorcycle Apparel & Accessories, for Street bikers, Cruise bikers and for Touring bikers. Their products are designed and made truly for Bikers' Safety and Comfort.

The Berber Company imports and sells Moroccan furniture, lamps, Moroccan lanterns,  decor, and Moroccan bedding.

Silver Bazaar sells Mexican Silver Jewelry, Same Day Shipping From U.S.A. Silver Jewelry, Silver Jewelry Rings, Silver Jewelry Chains, Silver Jewelry Bracelets, and Silver Jewelry Pendants.

That’s it for this month. See you in December. I hope all of you have a Happy Thanksgiving and get to spend it with friends and family.

Skip McGrath
The eBay Seller's News

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

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