Archive for the ‘Skip McGrath’ Category
June 29th, 2010
eBay’s new automated Unpaid Item Dispute (UID) system went live and immediately screwed up by sending out inaccurate UID notices –some to people within just seconds of the listing ending.
Ina Steiner at Auctionbytes Blog, has the full scoop on this. This is very interesting and worth reading. When you are done, you can leave comments on her blog or come back here and give us your comments. Click here to read Ina’s blog.
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The 2010 Version of The Complete eBay Marketing System teaches you everything you need to know to succeed on eBay
Updated for 2010, the Complete eBay Marketing System takes you step by step through starting and running a full-time eBay business.
Posted in 
June 28th, 2010
Yesterday I posted about the recent purchase of eBay auction management company, Vendio, by Chinese company Alibaba. At the end of that post I promised to tell you the backstory about eBay and Alibaba. So here goes:
This goes back about 5 years. Those of you who attended eBay Live in San Jose or Las Vegas will probably remember it, but for those of you new to eBay it makes an interesting story.
If you don’t know anything about Alibaba, they are wholesale sourcing website that lists thousands of companies outside the US who are looking for eBay and online sellers to buy merchandise from exporters in dozens of foreign countries –mostly in the Far East, but actually from many countries. Also, Alibaba owns TaoBao, the largest online auction company in China. Alibaba also owns Ali Express which is a wholesale sourcing solution for those who want to purchase goods from China in small quantities –even quantities as low as one, so you can sample the goods before you buy them.
Problems started a few years ago when eBay wanted to expand into China, but Alibaba’s parent company was already the big auction site in China and they went head to head. I don’t have space here for all the details and background (which is very interesting if you Google “eBay + Alibaba” but suffice to say there is no love lost between eBay and Alibaba.
Well, Alibaba was set to exhibit at eBay Live in San Jose in 2005. They had paid for a giant booth on the trade show floor and were even scheduled to participate in some of the sourcing seminars. But, the day before the show, eBay kicked Alibaba out in favor of their competitor, www.globalsources.com. And at the show eBay announced a lash-up with Global Sources to help eBay sellers find merchandise.
So Alibaba –thinking fast, conceived one of the greatest Guerrilla Marketing tactics of all time: When you got off the airplane at the San Jose Airport, there were dozens of well-dressed nice people saying “Welcome to eBay Live. Here is your free tote bag,” and they handed you a really nice bright orange tote bag. They were also standing on every corner leading to the convention center and at all of the bus and metro stops.
The result was that thousands of eBay Live attendees were walking around eBay Live toting the Alibaba signature bright orange tote bags. eBay execs were furious. At one point they tried to block people coming in with the bags, but realized that would have started a riot.
Besides handing out the bags, Alibaba took over the Presidential Suite in the hotel across the street from the convention center where they held a free lunch and gave PowerPoint presentations to hundreds of eBay sellers about importing and the Alibaba services each day. I was invited to speak at one of these seminars and it was packed with about 40 people in a small room and more listening from out in the hallway.
At the receptions, Alibaba.com set up free Internet workstations so users could check their email and ebay sales and they conducted daily presentations to introduce Alibaba.com’s online marketplace to visitors. 1,670 eBay sellers and PowerSellers, visited the receptions during this 3-day event to learn how Alibaba could help eBay sellers source products directly from reliable manufacturers in China.
So now Alibaba owns Vendio which is an eBay certified developer. They get to peek inside eBay’s kimono to see the inside track on all new development at eBay and access to the eBay API.
Vendio has about 80,000 sellers registered with their system, so there probably isn’t much eBay can do about this. In any event it’s about time eBay buried the hatchet and made nice with Alibaba. If they were smart they would be talking to Alibaba about working together in China on the old theory that half a loaf is better than none. Yahoo did this. In 2005 while eBay was acting childish, Yahoo invested $1 Billion in Alibaba and handed off their struggling auction business to TaoBao, Alibaba’s Chinese auction company. Over time, this has paid off big for Yahoo. their stake is now worth about 4 times that amount.
Taobao.com is the “eBay of China” and has become that nation’s largest online auction site, garnering 75% market share, according to domestic research firm iResearch.
Jonathan Lu, president of Taobao.com, said the company’s online transaction volume is expected to double to 200 billion yuan (about 3 Billion dollars) this year from the 99.96-billion yuan it reported last year. Meanwhile eBay’s sales are essentially flat and experiencing slow growth.
So as Paul Harvey used to say: “Now you know the rest of the story.”
Skip McGrath
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The 2010 Version of The Complete eBay Marketing System teaches you everything you need to know to succeed on eBay
Updated for 2010, the Complete eBay Marketing System takes you step by step through starting and running a full-time eBay business.
June 27th, 2010
The acquisition integrates AliExpress and Vendio e-commerce services into a complete wholesale sourcing solution for online businesses in the U.S.
Alibaba.com a leading Asian e-commerce company for online sellers, will acquire Vendio Services, Inc., a multi-channel e-commerce company serving eBay and Amazon sellers. The move will provide a one-stop solution for online sellers that will include listing and inventory management and wholesale sourcing from the same platform.
From the Vendio Platform, merchants can source products from Alibaba.com’s supplier network and sell through channels such as eBay, Amazon, and their own Vendio-supported store.
As part of the announcement, AliExpress (Alibaba’s small quantity sourcing platform), Vendio is offering $100 worth of free coupons. The offer is for five $20 coupons that can be used once for each of 5 orders. This enables Vendio merchants to buy “sample” items of products that they may wish to source and is a great way to test out AliExpress.
You can only get this offer by going to a special landing page and entering a Vendio coupon code. Once you do so, you’ll receive FIVE COUPONS worth $20 each. Each coupon is valid for any order more than $20 (no maximum). An order can consist of multiple items.
The only catch is that you can’t use all five coupons at once, but you can place five separate, successive orders. I used it this morning to buy an $80 (at wholesale) rifle scope. The shipping was $13 so total $93 less $20: My landed cost is $73. Similar scopes are selling on eBay in the $150 range. I will test sell the scope on eBay and if it does well I can then order these scopes in quantities of ten for $74 each.
Here’s How to get your free coupons:
1. Log into your Vendio Account, or Sign-Up* for Vendio by clicking on the Get Started button.
This offer is also available to NEW Vendio account and applies to any Vendio account, even those with a FREE store or any other free Vendio product. So you can sign-up today to take advantage of this offer.
Once you are logged into Vendio, just look for the special coupon offer page and follow the instructions.
I have used Vendio as my listing management for the past 5 years. This move will allow me to source products directly through Alibaba and AliExpress and move then into my inventory on the Vendio platform.
Yesterday I spoke with Vendio’s new CEO, Mike Effle about the acquisition. (Mike was formerly the COO and moved up after the acquisition). Mike explained that “Alibaba gains access to more than 80,000 targeted small businesses in the U.S., while Vendio users can gain access to trusted sources from Alibaba’s worldwide supplier base.” I asked Mike if Vendio would be expanding beyond eBay and Amazon to add more channels and he said that this move gives them the resources to do so. I also asked about the ability to access sales in China through the Alibaba’s auction company TaoBao and he said they weren’t sure of the timing and how it would work, but that is definitely in the plans. This would give Vendio users access to the 1 billion population Chinese market. Mike further said: “We identify with Alibaba.com’s vision of creating a seamless global e-commerce experience for business owners,”
Look for tomorrow’s blog where I will tell you about the amusing backstory about Alibaba and eBay and how I got into the middle of it.
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The Complete eBay Marketing System is a printed course that starts with the basics and teaches how to start and run a profitable eBay business.
June 25th, 2010
Social media is hot. Even though its been around several years now, the business potential for social media sites like FaceBook and Twitter is still where eBay and Amazon were ten years ago.
Earlier this week, I came across a great program by Ryan Diess that was just what I was looking for to make some money and expand my business via social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
I have read every book about Twitter and Facebook that I could buy on Amazon –and purchased three different training programs on Clickbank. None of them worked for me.
I have only known Ryan for about a year, but he is one of the internet marketing good guys. He stands behind everything he sells and gives great customer support.
Ryan has discovered a woman in his home town that’s banking over $2500 a week
just messing around on Twitter and Facebook.
Click here to see how she does it.
If the link doesn’t work, you can copy/paste it: http://budurl.com/wuee
Her name is Kate and what she’s doing is so brain dead simple a 10 year old could do it.
She has NO product
She had NO website
She is NOT an affiliate…
…and all her traffic is FREE!
This is a short, 17 minute video and even if you decide its not for you, it won’t be a waste of your time.
Skip McGrath
So please watch now. If you are at work and can’t watch, then be sure and watch it when you get home.
June 22nd, 2010
BOOCOO is a new auction site that takes direct aim at eBay auction. Alternative eBay sites are not new and most of them continue to struggle, but BOOCOO has a big advantage – Money. Boocoo was started by a coalition of over 300 media partners including newspapers, radio and TV stations. The impetus for the investment is falling ad revenue in traditional media. The founders hope Boocoo can make up some of the shortfall.
If the name sounds strange it is a play on the word beaucoup which means many or much. For example if you were rich someone might say: “That guy has beaucoup bucks.”
The site already has listing and bidding action. Fees are about 20% lower than eBay. This is higher than on several other alternative auction sites. As well as charging for listings, the revenue plan for the site is to license listings by zip code to individual newspaper publishers. The idea is to license zip-codes to more than 300 newspaper publishers, such as The Boston Herald and the Pittsburgh Press.
When I went to the site and did a search, it brought up listings that were geographically close to me first. The interface is clean and works well and the site will act familiar to those who have used eBay.
eBay is vulnerable to competitors in the auction category as they are focusing more and more on fixed price as they try to be more like Amazon.
June 20th, 2010
Almost two months ago eBay beat Wall Street earnings’s estimates. The consensus of stock analysts forecast eBay earnings of $0.41 on sales of $2.2 billion. The company actually reported $0.42 on sales of $2.2 billion This beat the estimates by $0.01 and beating revenues estimates by $8 million.
When this occurs a stock usually goes up. But since eBay last reported earnings on April 21st (the day before the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico) their fortunes have been somewhat like BP’s. eBay stock has dropped from $26.29 to $22.16 –a loss of 15.71% in the past 58 days. That’s not quite as bad as BP, whose stock is down 50% –but why is the market not reacting to an improvement in earnings?
It’s not listing volume. In April eBay was recording 120 million listings. By the end of May they were at 126.7 million and by yesterday they were up to 127.9. So the volume of listings is growing, but are most of them eBay store listings that generate less fees? It may also be a factor of sell-through-rates. They haven’t fallen much –down from 33% in April to just above 30% today, but maybe the market is seeing that and getting spooked.
It will be interesting to see what kind of numbers eBay reports in July for the April/June quarter.
June 20th, 2010
One of the best way to find wholesale sources is to look where they advertise. There is a great little wholesale magazine called Web Wholesaler that you can subscribe to for FREE. Besides some great articles and information, each issue is loaded with advertisement from wholesalers who are looking for people like you to buy their products to sell on eBay and Amazon.
Web Wholesaler only promotes FREE SUBSCRIPTIONS for a short period every few months. After that you have to pay to subscribe –so don’t want to take advantage of this offer.
Here is the link to a Free Web Wholesaler Magazine Subscription
I also recently published a free eBook, 44 Wholesale Sources for eBay and Amazon Sellers. Here is a link to the web page. If you scroll to the bottom there is a link to download the free eBook.
June 20th, 2010
I have just uploaded the files to the printer for the 2010 edition of the Wholesale Buying System.
My Wholesale Buying System™ is more than a wholesale directory – it’s a complete course in buying wholesale. And, I include specific wholesale sources who work in small lots, large lots, even one item at a time and dropshippers!
The Wholesale Buying System is not an eBook. I will ship your printed manual via UPS the same business day that I receive your order.
In addition to the book, you also receive access to my members-only website where I list and update thousands of wholesale sources every month. And you get access to three wholesale search engines that you can use to access thousands of wholesale suppliers including both domestic and worldwide sources.
If you bought an earlier copy of the book, you do not need to order a new one, because all of the changes and updates are available on the member’s site that came with your purchase.
The Wholesale Buying System gives you a lot more than just a directory! It’s a complete course in buying wholesale. I not only recommend specific sources to get you started, but give you clear, concise directions on how to find more sources, to fit your specific needs and how and where to research sources for any product.
You can click here to read more about the Wholesale Buying System.
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June 16th, 2010
I couldn’t find any good eBay news or topics to write about today, so thought I would reach back into the archives. This is a post I did about two years ago, that is still germain today. It was one of the most popular posts I have done in the past couple of years. Over 200 people tweeted it to their followers. However I did update it as there are some changes and some more recent reader emails added. Enjoy!
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The headline of this post is one of the most frequent topics in reader emails I get, followed by what sells best on eBay or what should I sell on eBay.
Some time, ago I shared a list of some of the more unusual terms & conditions that sellers use in their auctions. Today, I thought I would share some of the more interesting emails I get from readers.
These are just a small sample from the past few months. Some of them are well intentioned, other frustrating and others from people who I really wonder about. And, yes, these are real emails from actual readers. You can’t make this stuff up.
I have copy/pasted them exactly as they came in, so the grammar, punctuation, spelling and capitalization are exactly as received with no corrections on my part: I have removed the names and email addresses to protect the guilty. Here we go:
i think that people who sale on ebay should pay taxes becasue they no better than people who pick up pop can for a living and please do not give my email address or name thank you.
Product: Ten Profitable eBay Niche
message: I need to get a refund for this item. It looks like a lot of work. I look for free money from eBayIF Skip McGrath is making so much money on ebay, why is he SELLING this information?
It looks to me, like he’s making money SELLING INFORMATION.
WHY should I BUY His imformation, when like everything else…it doesn’t deliver. WHY would he sell or even TELL his secrets?
Doesn’t he make enough on ebay without selling his secrets on a website.
I’ve sold on ebay for several years.[Note: I looked up this seller and her feedback was 23, most of it as a buyer]
Skip – Your stuff is the best, but what should I sell on eBay to make the most money???
Your newsletter is just more ebay propaganda to get out money in more fees for ebay.
Skip do you teach me the secrets that work and if you do are they still secrets if you teach them to so many people? I want just the real secrets not the ones you sell to other people. Can we make a deal? I am happy to pay extra.
I looked at every wholesale source there is and none of them really sell at wholesale. How can people make money if no one really has wholesale prices. Why won’t real wholesale companies sell to me.
Mr. McGrath: What sells best on ebay? What is hot product and where can I get it? Don’t fool with me, I want the read deal. Thank you.
I live in Nigeria and work in orphanage and want to do eBay from here to make donation to our good cause. Can you send me a free book to help my orphans, God bless to you.
What products sells best on ebay and where can I find the best wholesale source for free,,,i don’t want to pay for information.
You are screw job and so is ebay paypal why shold I buy you book ????????????? But I llike your newsletters a lot.
Mr. Skip I would like to be your agent in Nigeria and can sell millions of your product. Plesae contact me immediately to disuc uss this interesting and profitable business proposal.
[Note: This was sent from the same email address as the orphanage]
eBay hoses people and takes them for a ride why are you helping them skip mcgrath…I bet you make money too.
The last one is interesting. I am not sure if he is confusing hoses with horses or where the ride on eBay will take me.
As you can see several of the questions are from people who want to know what to sell on eBay, or what sells best on eBay. I get this question stated several ways and is probably the most asked single question (and the emails are usually polite unlike these ones). All of my books and several free articles deal with this question in great detail. I will take one more stab at the answer:
Forget selling hot consumer products. There is too much competition and the margins are very low. Find a specialized niche that is less competitive and most importantly find a niche that you know something about and enjoy working in. The combination of eBay fee increases and increase discounting during the recession, has squeezed profit margins so much that if you sell popular products, you have to sell in very high volumes to make any money. But in a niche market, you have less competition and therefore you can realize higher prices and therefore larger profit margins.
As for finding products to sell, use all of the sources available to you. And don’t just look online. I find a lot of my sources by visiting wholesale trade shows and visiting the wholesale merchandise marts located in most major cities. Here is a link to a wholesale trade show calendar at the Official Geezer Guide website.
I have more information about this topic on my Free Articles page where you can read several articles about what sells on eBay, niche marketing and where to find the wholesale products to sell on ebay.
As for secrets; If you read the sales letters for my products, you won’t find many mentions of “secrets.” I don’t keep any secrets for myself. Clever sellers are always looking for angles and often come up with new techniques, but once they use them, everyone else can pretty much see them. So are there any secrets? yes – but they don’t last very long. If you really want to make money on eBay, there is no substitute for learning the basics, doing the work and then staying on top of your business. This means you have to research and find products that will sell, take good photos, write good descriptions and keyword-rich compelling headlines and deliver excellent customer service.
At that, I will leave you with a little advertising plug (hey, I have to pay the bills too).
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If you are struggling to find wholesale products, check out WorldWide Brands. They are the only wholesale sourcing information company I recommend and my readers get a $20 discount on this excellent source of wholesale product information. www.worldwidebrands.com/skipmcgrath.
See Also
- Wholesale Buying System for eBay Sellers
Complete printed course teaches eBay sellers how, what and where to buy wholesale products to sell on eBay and comes with membership in a private website where you can access hundreds of wholesale sources that are updated every month.
June 12th, 2010
Today is the last day to get in on the Proven eBay Course-II before the last scheduled price increase.
What is the Proven eBay Course-II?
Last year I teamed up with Jim Cockrum to bring you the Proven eBay Course-I. It was a huge success for the approximately 100 readers who signed up.
The Proven eBay Course-I (PEC-I) was a complete eBay niche business from start to finish that anyone could set up and start making money their first week. Dozens of people who took advantage of it earned –and are still earning, thousands of dollars per month.
Jim is about to launch the Proven eBay Course-II. Like the first one, this is a complete eBay business that is already being done by others including some major PowerSellers. Yet, it is a business with an unlimited market and plenty of room for new sellers.
What do I get with the Proven eBay Course-II?
With PEC-II, you get everything you need to start your business. You will learn
- what the niche product is,
- where to get it,
- how to buy it
- how much to pay
- how to sell it
- and how much to sell it for.
The course consists of an audio seminar where two eBay PowerSellers are interviewed. They explain the entire program. You also get a complete transcription of the audio interview so you can read it and refer to it later. Then there are several eBooks with additional instruction. And most importantly, there is a forum where you can post questions and get answers from the experts. you even get links to the author’s auctions so you can see exactly how she is selling this product.
With margins being squeezed on eBay, you need a product that still delivers high margins so you can cover fees and expenses –and this is a niche product that does that. It doesn’ t matter where you live –small town or big city –you can do this. And if you are outside of the US, it should work in your country too.
It is not unusual for sellers to make margins as high as 65% or even more on this product. And the sell through rate is quite high –much higher than the average sell through rates on eBay today.
Will this niche become saturated with this program?
NO! Jim and the author are limiting how many people can buy the program
So click here to read about the Proven eBay Course-II.
(Note – it is not necessary for you to have taken the earlier PEC-I. this course will give you everything you need).
If you want to do this it is important to jump in early, because as we did with PEC-1, we are limiting this to very few sellers as we don’t want to trash the market.
And REMEMBER – This course comes with a money-back guarantee if you are not happy for any reason.
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