Ebay Secrets Blog

Archive for August, 2009

Over on sister-blog, Amazon Strategies, we have a post that digs into the new marketplace unveiled by Walmart today.  I've been on a bit of a blogging hiatus with B2S and what-not and also this time of year is when the retail world gets super-focused on the holiday selling season so things have been (good) crazy busy.  I do have some time carved out to catch eBay readers up on VSL, free shipping, etc.  Stay tuned this week and feel free to chime in with any feedback you have on this Walmart marketplace in comments.

Go to Source

Here, in no particular order, are some pearls of wisdom for your consideration:

Beware of Marketing and Advertising Salesmen

Everyday (at least until I turned my phone onto answer phone) I get around 10 sales people trying to sell advertising and marketing services of a dubious quality.  Be careful before investing in any kind of marketing service as most of them will not be the once in a lifetime opportunity they suggest.  Particularly for online services it is reasonable to ask for a trial before spending any money.

Keep it Simple

May people think that to start a business requires an original idea.  In his book, ‘How to Get Rich’, millionaire publisher Felix Dennis calls this the fallacy of the great idea.  In reality great ideas are few and far between.  For every Google there are a thousand similar companies which had what their founders though were great ideas but have unfortunately been consigned to the dustbin of internet business history.  To be successful does not require a novel idea, just a good idea expertly executed.

Learn Search Engine Optimisation

Attracting search traffic from Google is undoubtedly the most cost effective way of marketing a business.  Time spent learning how to optimise a website to maximise traffic from Google is time very well spent.  Fundamentally, there are two optimisation factors, the content of the website and the quality and quantity of incoming links.  Whilst getting onto page one for competitive phrases is very difficult creating quality content and being on the look out for linking opportunities can make a significant difference to website traffic.  Remember that each visitor to a website is a potential customer.

Economise

As a start up, money will be tight and it really goes without saying that economies should be made wherever possible, especially in the current climate.  I saved thousands of pounds by choosing really cheap office space and outsourcing work to the far east.  Instead of employing someone in the UK, I have a full time employee in Thailand who I found through eLance.  This works out at around quarter of the cost of a UK employee.

Write letters

Sending letters the old fashioned way via snail mail is a highly effective way of getting a point across.  Unlike emails, paper letters cannot be deleted at the touch of a button; they sit around and demand action.  When writing a letter I advise going straight to the top and writing straight to the CEO.  Be polite but firm and remember that a letter of complaint does not have to be a great work of literature. In the last year I have been refunded £5000 though writing letters of complaint.

Be Assertive

When working with contractors it is important to have a good idea of the quality of the work which you want to delivered.  Do not to settle for second best.  It is in human nature to cut corners and so go though all deliverables with a tooth comb to ensure that they are up to scratch.  With web sites, for example, do not assume that the site has been properly tested, it almost certainly has not!

Watch Your Time and Get Organised

Entrepreneurs have multiple demands on their time and often there will be no one to delegate to.  It is possible to waste a huge amount of time though pointless meeting and phone calls.  Being disorganised is also the thief of time as it is much more time consuming to correct mistakes than get it right first time.  However, by learning time management techniques it is be possible to make a huge impact on personal productivity.  The two books I recommend are ‘Getting Things Done’ by David Allen and The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss (read Tim Ferris for his ideas about efficiency and in my view, avoid his ideas about business)

If you found this post useful, why not buy me a coffee!

Go to Source

Just a short post today to let everyone know that the traditional summer slowdown on eBay is about to end.  I have been selling on eBay for ten years and have seen the same thing every August. The slowdown typically starts a little bit in July and then cascades into the middle of august.

The Back to School season traditionally started last week, but this year it has gotten off to a slow start, however, I expect this to start picking up going into the week before Labor Day. Even if you don’t sell back to school items, you should see some increase in traffic as those people who are shopping for back to school items are also online buying other stuff.

Speaking of back to school items, I found a great product recently that I have just started selling on eBay. It’s called the Brite Strike Self-Defense Strobe, Flashlight & Alarm.  This is a great self-defense product for seniors, joggers and college students. I am seeing a lot of parents and grandparents buying these for their daughters who are going off to college.

Go to Source

Welcome to my new blog location. We are now hosting directly on skipmcgrath.com.

For the past 5 years I have been using a blog service from MySt technology. It has worked well and I have grown my reader base to over 500 readers a day.

During this time I have been aware that WordPress has grown into the largest and most-popular blog service. I recently started another blog on WordPress and was amazed at how simple it was to create the blog and create posts, and how fast the readership grew.

So I am now a WordPress convert.  There is an additional advantage that my blog will now be hosted on my website, instead of another server. This will help increase the traffic and ranking of my website.

So if you wish to get my blog, please visit http://www.skipmcgrath.com/blog

When you get there you will see this same post.

Once you are there you can add that page to your favorites –or even better, click on the little button that says RSS and add my blog feed to your home page. This way you can see the title of my posts right on your homepage within a few minutes of publishing.

Go to Source

Read the current newsletter and you can download 3 Free eBooks by Skip McGrath

I have just uploaded the August 20 issue of The eBay and Online Sellers News. You can read the current issue here:

http://www.skipmcgrath.com/newsletters/current.shtml

This week I am giving away three free eBooks:

*  eBay Secrets Mini Course
*  Using Twitter to build eBay Profits
*  The Future of eBay 2009

We also have some great articles in this issue:

1. Do eBay Auction Ending Times Really Matter Anymore?
2. ArtFire: Trying to Change the Landscape for Selling Handcrafted Goods Online
3. Niche of the Month: Coupons Are Back
4. eBay Wholesale Sources for August 2009

See Also

*FREE ~ Subscribe to the eBay Sellers News
The oldest and largest newsletter for eBay and small online sellers.
* How To Start and Run an eBay Consignment Business
Complete training course by eBay PowerSeller Skip McGrath. Includes sample contracts, forms, advertising posters and ads and pre-written sales letters.

Go to Source

A lady in Los Angeles is selling her late husband’s burial crypt that is located right above Marilyn Monroe

A Los Angeles widow, Mrs. Richard Poncher, is auctioning her husband’s famous grave site so she can afford the mortgage payments on her $1.6 million house. The deceased, Mr. Poncher, is buried in a crypt right above Marilyn Monroe.

At the end of the eBay auction Mrs. Poncher will remove her husband from his resting place and deed the crypt to whoever wins the auction. According to news reports, Mr. Poncher bought the place from Joe DiMaggio. Mr. Poncher insisted he be buried face down, gazing on Marilyn Monroe in everlasting creepiness.

The new tenant will have to share Marilyn with the founder of Playboy Magazine, Hugh Heffner, who has the crypt next to her reserved.

What is so amazing to me is how poorly the auction is written. There isn’t even a photo. Here is a link to the auction:

It is amazing that the auction is up to $4.5 million. The problem is I don’t believe many of the bidders will follow through. Usually auctions of this type are run as private auctions and you have to register as a serious bidder before being allowed to bid.  Mrs. Pochner should have hired an eBay Trading Assistant like ShopItLA in Beverly Hills.  She would have real bidders who can actually write a check for what they bid on.

If you would like to learn how to sell on consignment on eBay, look at the link below to my eBay consignment business training manual.

How To Make Money With an eBay Consignment Business – Complete training manual written by an eBay PowerSeller who sells on eBay every day. Comes with forms, ads, contracts and step-by-step instructions.

Go to Source

The answer may surprise you.

I saw an article in the San Francisco Chronicle Online edition this week about finding the best time and day to end an auction. Theoretically you want to end an auction when the most number of people are on eBay. Conventional wisdom and some data mining has indicated that Sunday and Monday evening between 5PM and 8PM (Pacific time) is the best time to end an auction.

If you sell on eBay, picking the best time is very important for two reasons:

1. eBay’s search engine in the default Best Match mode gives auctions ending soonest the best exposure.
2. You want this exposure to occur when there are the highest number of people on eBay.

Now, obviously you wouldn’t want to end an auction at 2AM or on Sunday morning at 8AM when everyone is sleeping in or having a leisurely breakfast and watching Sunday Morning but eBay Prime Time may not be the best time.

For the past few weeks I have been experimenting with listing on different days and times and the results have been surprising. Yes it does turn out that Sunday or Monday is often the best day, but often the second best day results in higher selling prices.  I have also been cross checking my data with the HammerTap research tool and it revealed some more surprises –and even some answers.

I am working on a large article for the next issue of my newsletter. (You can read the current issue and subscribe here). I will present my data and discuss some of the reasons this is happening. But take my word for it –the conventional wisdom could be very wrong. In the meantime, if you are not using a research tool such as HammerTap, then you should sign up for a free trial right away and check your products to learn the best time and day to end your listings. You may have some surprises too.

See Also

• How To Start and Run an eBay Consignment Business has been revised and updated for 2009.
  Learn how any eBay seller can enter this low risk highly profitable eBay business with almost no investment

Go to Source

The Top Rated Seller program doesn’t roll out until October, but eBay has selected a handfull of sellers to test the concept.

I was surprised when I looked at one of my eBay listings yesterday and saw the Top Rated Seller Badge displayed.  Here is a screenshot of what it looks like:

It will be interesting to see how this affects sales. I did notice that my placement in Best Match search was a little better on most of my fixed price listings, so that should turn into an advantage. My auction listings didn’t seem to be affected, as they are more driven by item ending soonest.

If you would like to see how it appears in real time, Click here to view my auctions.

See Also

• Subscribe to the oldest and largest FREE Newsletter for eBay Sellers
  Now in our 9th year of publication. Free eBay tips, tools, news, articles and wholesale sources for eBay and small online sellers.

Go to Source

Go to Source

Finally a simple textbook that shows how to use social sites like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube and others to make money online

It is no secret that lots of people are making money selling their products, services and affiliate links on social marketing sites. But figuring out how they work is frankly a learning curve and they can be confusing. For example, Twitter is probably the easiest one to master, but that took me weeks to learn how to do it properly. This morning I just finished reading a 58 page book by Allan Hogan called The Ultimate Social Media Marketing Textbook.

Don’t let the word “textbook” scare you –there is nothing boring or technical about this book. Allen takes you through the simple steps to set up and understand sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTude, DIGG, LinkedIn and even Flickr.

The book is organized around a series of Icons. The Icons guide you through the steps:

• Auction Icon: The action icon is used to denote information that prompts you to action. Whether its from guiding you through registration at a site, or from providing actual assignments to “try it out”, the action icon will lead you to greater social media involvement and success.
• Hot tip Icon: Information regarding best practice tips is identified by the hot tip icon.
• Money Icon: Maybe it’s through affiliate links on your blog, or maybe through empowering others to share and promote your business, the money symbol will guide you through concepts and practices that are potentially lucrative.
• Warning Icon: The warning symbol denotes an area of practices to avoid. Learn from the costly mistakes of others and avoid the pitfalls of bad judgment by paying attention to the information around these icons.
• Idea Icon: Finally, the idea bulb is used to help illuminate instances of powerful traffic attracting practices. Get insiders secrets by practicing the insights available around this icon.

If you have products to sell, Allen shows you how to use social marketing to expand and grow your sales. If you don’t have a product to sell, he shows you how to use social marketing to make money with affiliate programs or ClickBank. If you are one of my readers who bought the ClickBank Code from the recommendation in my newsletter (you can read the article here), this book would be a perfect companion. You can set up niche marketing social media sites and use ClickBank niche products to generate extra income.

So check out The Ultimate Social Media Marketing Textbook.  It comes with a money-back guarantee if you are not happy and it will open your eyes to the power and the techniques of social marketing.

The book comes with three free bonuses including a 20-minute phone consultation with a social media expert to help you and answer your questions.

See Also

• Ten, Little Known, Highly Profitable, eBay Niche Market Businesses Anyone Can Do
  A step-by-step guide to selling and sourcing in ten, low cost, low risk eBay niche markets.

Go to Source