Ebay Secrets Blog

Archive for June, 2009

The news is never-ending…MJ, Farrah, Ed, and now Billy Mays. I love infomercials, can’t stop watching them. I even watched “Pitchmen” on Discovery because I had to hear about the latest and greatest graters, exercise equipment, and windshield wipers. Billy Mays was the ultimate salesman, I even considered buying a magnetic tool belt and I don’t even own any tools (that set from Ikea does not count). Regardless, I was sad to hear of his passing yesterday and almost didn’t believe it. There have been so many high-profile losses as of late that it seemed improbable. Alas, it is true and late-night TV will never be the same. eBay has a lot of MJ memorabilia, a font of Fawcett posters, and a slew of As Seen on TV items including the infamous and ubiquitous Ped Egg.  They’ve all been seen on TV, and of course, on eBay.

Photo credited: Von R. Glitschka

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The trials and tribulations of an eBay PowerSeller trying to work WITH eBay and follow all the policies

This story is so typical of eBay’s seller service. I get emails from people constantly expressing the same frustration. This is by eBay Seller, Walt Auctionwally. Walt is a very interesting guy. He runs a website that provides appraisal and other auction related services at services at:http://www.auctionwally.com/

Read his article here: http://budurl.com/pysq.  Warning – you will want to tear your hair out.

Skip McGrath

See Also

• How to Create and Sell Legitimate Information Products on eBay and the Internet
  Forget 99-cent eBooks and resell rights reports. Learn how to create and sell real information products people will auctually use and benefit from.

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How to get rid of those annoying Twitter spammers and who they are

Are you trying to build your Twitter Account but keep getting the same spammers over and over? If you have been following me on Twitter or following my blog or newsletter then you know that Twitter can be a powerful marketing tool. But you have to use it properly. This means that in addition of using Twitter to promote your business or your offers or your eBay listings, you also have to send out some good information that readers will be interested in.

I have built my list on Twitter to over 3000 followers in just three weeks, but it seems that I am removing the same ones over and over who are just sending spam –and some of them are running pure scams.  Here is a list of some of the biggest spammers on Twitter:

I was getting pretty tired of going in and manually deleting these same guys over and over. But I recently learned about a service called Twollo at www.twollo.com.   Twollo does two things: It can help you build lists of people to follow who share your interests. But most importantly they have an unfollow service. You simply put the username you want to unfollow in the box that says Stop Following.  Twollo will remove that person and block them from being followed again.

Best of all, Twollo is free. If you use the free service it does work, but is a bit slow. If you want to pay $4.00 per month, they make you a priority user.

If you want to learn how to use Twollo and other free services to build your Twitter list fast, check out The Twitter Traffic Machine. This is the system I have used to build my list of over 3000 people who are interested in eBay.

See Also

• Learn How To Start and Run a Profitable eBay Business. Printed training manual writter by an eBay Power Seller who sells on eBay every day
  Includes business startup, tools and tips, writing auctions, how to upload photos and real eBay business tips from a successful seller

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.hmmessage P { margin:0px; padding:0px } body.hmmessage { font-size: 10pt; font-family:Verdana }Where were you when you heard about Michael Jackson’s sudden death?

I was at my computer around 4:30 p.m. (ET) yesterday when a news flash from TMZ  came across the screen. The legend, the laughing-stock, the entertainer of the century, had been rushed to the hospital after a 911 call saying he had collapsed in his Los Angeles home.

About an hour later, my husband told me he just got a call saying MJ was dead.

Jackson was a fashion force. His style was emulated by fans and non-fans alike. First, with his brothers he helped pushed the acceptance of the Afro into the mainstream and made black kids around the world proud to wear a fro.

He later sparked runs on white suits, floodwater pants, red leather jackets, military jackets, studs, white socks with loafers and - though I’d rather forget – the jheri curl.

Jackson had a profound effect on dance style and the clothes one had to wear to effect those moves. Like major pop-culture directors before and after him – James Brown, Madonna, Bob Marley – Jackson was able to make intelligent, self-possessed people emulate him from head to toe.

His impact on the lens through which we view fashion shoots and videos was profound. Suddenly, after Jackson’s spate of videos, we saw that the medium could convey as much style and emotion as a full-length movie.

A huge gap in the hours of coverage I’ve watched and the thousands of words I’ve read since his passing is the characterization of MJ as a has-been. What’s missing is the potent observation that Jackson was newly idolized by a young generation.

Any hip youths into fashion or into music is “hip” to Michael Jackson. Kids are into studying his style, studying his moves, listening to his music. I bet a lot of those London tickets weren’t just bought by babyboomers like me but a lot of 20-somethings who wanted to see MJ live; a lot of kids who know Justin Timberlake’s professional genealogy.

It is these kids as well as mature fashion insiders who lit the match of an MJ style revival a few years ago, one that is still burning today. It’s part of the Eighties redux. Fashion historians will settle the intruiging question: Did the MJ fascination spark the landslide Eighties tend that is everywhere in fashion or will Jackson be a footnote to it?

I think I already know the answer. What are your thoughts?

*Photo licensed to: Photorazzi.com

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A true pop culture icon has passed and there are no words to express the sadness. I loved MJ since “Rockin’ Robin” and continued to cheer him on through “Remember the Time.” His dancing, his 80s fashion, his popping and locking–his vibe was the stuff of super stars. He will be fondly remembered and never replaced.

*Photo licensed to: Photorazzi.com

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I figured I’d see you all into the weekend with a video of me talking with Seesmic founder Loic Le Meur last month when he stopped by our HQ. I invited him up to my cube and we chatted about how I use Twitter to talk to my readers. I thought I’d share for those of you who hadn’t had a chance to see where I sit.

Cheers,
RBH

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I've been pretty vocal that while the recent eBay changes are in the right direction, I don't think they nailing the top 20 priorities.  Everyone always asks, what do you think the top priorities are?  My answer for the last 2yrs+ has been: search, search, search, search.

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A lot of fresh faces won awards this year.

I was most tickled that Anna Sui won a Lifetime achievement award. She’s not a household name, but certainly an outstanding talent whose view enlivens the fashionscape season after season. Although she’s just a baby-boomer, Sui may well feel like she’s done a lifetime of designing. A thoughtful Jack White talked about her impact on pop culture before presenting the statuette.

Rodarte beat out Marc Jacobs AND Narciso Rodriguez for Women’s Wear Designer of the Year. I was surprised. If the award is about influence and capturing fashion’s spirit in that year it’s hard to see how the admittedly innovative Mulleavy sisters won. Unless a lot of Vogue assistants voted.

Menswear was a tie – the other kind of tie.Scott Sternberg for Band of Outsiders and Italo Zucchelli for Calvin Klein. (Where is Calvin? I miss seeing him at these events.)

Swarovski Awards for emerging fashion talent went to  Justin Giunta for Subversive Jewellry for his fabulously inventive creations with a punk sensibility and
Alexander Wang – well deserved – for his directional, hard-edge fashions.

Accessories Designer of the Year went to Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez for Proenza  Schouler.

Marc  Jacobs, gave a shout out to his new  “fiance”  as he accepted the International Designer of the Year Award for his pace-setting work at Louis Vuitton.

And Michelle Obama (no, she wasn’t there but gave a videotaped thank you) was recognized for her contributions to  shopping, I mean to fashion.

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Super busy this week but wanted to throw a couple of news items out there:

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I was fortunate enough to finally get to meet Scot Wingo of Channel Advisor at the eCommerce Summit a few weeks ago. Although we only chatted briefly, he did promise to take part in a special “5 Minutes with…” feature for Ink. True to his word, he obliged last week and I’m happy to share the results with you now. Enjoy.

Cheers,
RBH

5 Minutes with… Scot Wingo

Full Name: Scot Wingo
Nickname: scotrover on eBay
Official Title: CEO and Co-founder
What You Really Do: Work to keep ChannelAdvisor on the cutting edge of ecommerce
Your First Day on eBay: I believe it was in mid ‘97, my account says ‘99, but I started a new one then.
Education/Schooling: I have a Computer Engineering background with undergrad from the University of South Carolina and Masters from NC State University
Interests: Personally – I pretty much spend non-work time hanging out with my kids – sports, ballet, Gymboree, etc. I’m also a huge Star Wars fan. Professionally – I love the ecommerce space and am more recently really interested in the various social network sand platforms.
Favorite Quote: “Do or do not… there is no try” – Yoda
Most memorable eBay experience: Post 9/11, there were many charity auctions and at ChannelAdvisor we helped run many of them raising millions of dollars. We also invested quite a bit to support GivingWorks and have brought tons of GMV through that platform and on to a host of charities.
Most recent eBay purchase/sale: A classic Nintendo 64 system for my son’s bday (shhh)
Favorite Albums: (I like more current stuff): Silversun pickups – Swoon, Only by the Night – Kings of Leon
Favorite Movies: Make mine sci fi: Star Wars, Terminator, Matrix, Spidey
What You Wanted to Be Growing Up: Luke Skywalker

Fill in the blanks:

I should have _not stayed up so late working__ yesterday.
I wish that I could _spend more time talking to customers. eBay sellers are a great bunch – smart, hard-working and very entrepreneurial_________.
The first thing I do when I get to work is: Play ball with my dog, Kit.

Some additional Q’s

Congrats on what I hear was another successful Channel Advisor Catalyst. For those unable to attend, what were the 3 main takeaways?

1. Dinesh did a great job explaining where eBay is going and admitting they had made some mistakes. That was a refreshing message.

2. The recession has hit everyone hard, but the survivors are going to come out stronger.

3. This is a great time to take share in ecommerce. If you are growing at > 5% y/y you are taking share – think about how to ratchet that up.

I receive emails and comments from folks with regularity, stating that they miss the “old eBay”? What do you miss about it? What don’t you miss?

I think of eBay as the original social network [editor's note: couldn't agree more. This is something I relay repeatedly when asked] . There was always an ecommerce element, but eBay built a great social graph around affinity groups. For example, I collect a very specific type of comic book art. 5-10yrs ago on eBay there was a lot of auctions going on, lots of discussions around this and the site was much more open. I could follow what other buyers were doing, track the sellers more closely, etc. That intersection of true-auctions, affinity groups and the social graph was special and that has left eBay.

Would you be interested in contributing to Ink in the future? Recommend individuals both inside and outside the company I should be interviewing?

Sure

What’s the elephant in the living room that I’m not addressing? Is there one? Many?

Too many to go into

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