• Welcome from Brian McGregor 
• Inspirational Quote of the Day
• News and Views
• How to Become a Professional eBay Seller
• Walking the Walk on eBay
• The Ten Commandments of EBay: Side-stepping Common Seller Errors
• A Gift from Me to You
• Someone's auctioning what? Unusual items currently available
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Hello and welcome.

A particularly warm welcome to you if you're a new subscriber. It's good to have you as part of the family taking my eBay auction newsletter.

My personal background is in sales and marketing within the IT industry.

Although I am now self-employed, I really enjoyed my working life and have more than once been thankful that it was the IT industry in which I operated.

I guess it was this experience which led me eventually to the internet, and then to eBay.

Now I've always found software to be much more interesting than hardware. It is those who create software to whom I doff my hat.

Recently I launched my own software product. I didn't write it myself, but I came up with the specification and had it produced for me.

I marketed my software product primarily from a website.

But then I thought, "What am I doing? I really should be selling my software product on eBay too!"

I wasn't convinced there was a market for it on eBay, but I thought I'd better try it. So, in the last couple of months, I've been listing my software for sale on eBay.

Am I glad I did!

How silly of me, of all people, to overlook how powerful eBay can be.

I am selling this product through my eBay User ID of gbm0. You can check out how I'm doing by going into eBay's Advanced Search and doing a search for seller gbm0.

The last time I checked, in the last 60 days I've sold just over 100 copies of the software on eBay.

The point here is to remind you, and me, that there is a market on eBay for just about anything.

Never be hesitant about trying to sell an item on eBay. It doesn't matter what it is, you can just about be certain that some people out there will want to buy it from you.

You can be sure, I'll never overlook eBay in future!

I look forward to speaking with you again.
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1. While I'm on About Software...

I've just realised it's a little unfair of me to tell you about my software product.

Not everyone has the opportunity to develop or have developed a software product to sell on eBay.

Well, here is the next best thing....

How would you like 18 software products which you can sell on eBay?

Even better, these 18 software products are free to you!

David Zohar has produced an excellent package of software products which cost you nothing.

But you get the Master Resell rights to them all, which means you can offer them for sale on eBay. Just like I did with my software product!

Here is the link to get your free software products:
www.workwinners.com/mysoftwarepak


2. What's this? eBay Concerned About Fraud?

eBay has imposed new rules for sellers of video game consoles that are due for release prior to the Christmas rush.

The Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) and Nintendo game consoles will be in extremely short supply following their launch in November. eBay has said it wanted to prevent the kinds of problems it has seen with previous auctions of such items, including fraudulent listings.

For example, during the launch of the Microsoft Xbox 360 eBay, "saw a high number of well-intentioned sellers unable to meet their pre-sale obligations to buyers due to restricted supply, as well as an increase in fraudulent listings for these items."

In order to prevent similar problems, eBay has placed the following restrictions on pre-sales for the PS3 and the Nintendo console:

* Only one of each console can be listed per eBay account prior to the launch of the console

* The seller must only accept payment through PayPal, and have at least 50 feedback with a 98% or greater positive rating so that they qualify for PayPal Buyer Protection.

* The pre-sale item must be listed in the 3, 5, 7 or 10-day formats, and cannot use Buy It Now.

* The listing must include a photo of your pre-order receipt in the description.

Some of us who have been banging on about safe trading for years, think that something like the above "restrictions" should be the norm when placing items for sale on eBay!

It would certainly help to reduce the number of fraudulent listings which we all know exist without sanction.


3. Cruising to Sales Success?

You're probably aware of the easy everything empire created by Stelios Haji-Ioannou, of which easyJet is the best known.

One of Stelios' recent launches utilising the same branding is easyCruise.

He is using eBay to market some of the capacity of his easyCruise ships.

It's too early to tell if this is going to be successful, but you can follow the project by checking out the auctions of eBay ID easycruise_com.

Last time I looked, easycruise_com had a feedback rating of minus one. Oh dear!


4. Picture This

Most sellers agree that photographs are vital to the success of their eBay sales.

A company called Virtual Iris, an eBay certified developer, has introduced a new product that can give your pictures that "wow" factor: 3D imaging.

The product is called Irisize.

Irisize converts multiple shots of your item into 3D interactive images using regular digital photographs. For items such as cars or high-end collectibles, this is one of the best innovations I've seen outside of video.

You can check it out here www.irisize.com


5. It's Worth Taking These Tests

eBay has produced three really useful tutorials recently.

They concern buying safely, account protection and eBay's marketplace policies.

The tutorials are easy to run through, and consist of multiple choice questions.

Whatever level of your eBay knowledge, I recommend you take these tests.

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200610.shtml#2006-10-23112233


6. Prepare to be Hypnotised

It's always great to hear of readers of the newsletter who have gone out and done their own thing!

In this case, Gary Ferguson has produced an ebook which is well worth your consideration.

Hypnotic Marketing is a well known and highly effective methodology which induces buyers to take the actions the marketer wants.

Gary has taken these hypnotic marketing techniques and shows you how to apply them to your eBay auctions.

Called "Hypnotic Auctions", this is a unique ebook which has the potential to make a real impact in your eBay sales.

Here's the address to read more about "Hypnotic Auctions":
www.hypnoticauctions.com


7. How Smart is Your Right Foot?

This is so weird that it will boggle your mind. And you'll probably try it more than once, determined to outsmart it!

But you won't be able to!

Here's what you do:

1. While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles with it.

2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand and your foot will change direction!

I told you so...

There's nothing you can do about it.

Tell your friends... They won't be able to believe it either!

There are probably two basic types of sellers on eBay. These are garage sellers and trade sellers.

Garage sellers offer products from within their own house. Usually the items are surplus to requirements and probably aren’t new. Profit may be a motivation but garage sellers aren’t profit driven, they just want to get rid of stuff they don’t want any more and are happy to make some cash by selling these items.

Trade sellers are on eBay for the money. They may not be operating eBay full-time, but they treat eBay as a business and they seek to make profits on the products they sell. Trade sellers will also buy products to sell on eBay. In effect, trade sellers are professional eBay sellers.

One of the key elements to being a successful trade seller is research. It is fundamental that you spend some time researching before you decide which products you wish to sell. Ideally, you want to be selling items which eBay members want to buy.

The good news is that you can use eBay itself as part of your research.

1. Look for eBay categories which are most popular. The more listings there are indicates to you that this is a popular category. Don’t just look at the top level numbers, however, drill down to sub-categories and locate busy categories at that level.

2. Having found a sub-category of interest, you need to establish how well items are selling. You can do this by checking the ratings of some eBay sellers who operate in that niche. Check out their completed listings and see how successful they’ve been.

3. As part of your research, you also need to understand the pricing of items in your sub-category. Become an expert to the extent that you know at what price an item is worth buying, and what might be the expected selling price on auction.

4. Try to limit your activity to a few categories. One of the traits of the most successful sellers on eBay is that they specialise in limited markets. By appearing to be an expert on a product type, you will inspire confidence and trust in the eyes of your potential customers and therefore make more sales.

Having conducted your research, you are almost ready to apply it to your eBay business.

Now you need products to sell. Here are some ways in which you can source products:

1. Write your own e-book and sell it. If you have knowledge or passion on any topic, don't hesitate to spend some time in writing your own ebook. It could simply be a Microsoft Word document which is attached to the email to your successful buyer. With an ebook, there is no cost to you in supply and delivery. Another great advantage of an ebook is that your initial time investment will pay you back many times over as you can run as many auctions as you wish for the same ebook. And all it will cost you are eBay listing fees. In fact, selling information products is one of the most profitable businesses on eBay. If you feel you just can't write an ebook, there are alternatives whereby others let you sell their ebooks. Two such sources you could consider are here:

www.workwinners.com/emediadirect

www.workwinners.com/easynicheproduct


2. Dropshipping is an alternative way to source products. Dropshippers are wholesalers who let you sell their products and who send them directly to your buyers. The advantage of this method is that you don't need to buy and carry stock up front. Nor do you have the task of packing and shipping. After your auction is finished, you simply send your customers address plus the agreed purchase amount to the dropshipper, and they will do the shipping. If you decide to use this kind of source, you need to make sure that the items have the potential to make you a decent profit. Also, you need to beware of pseudo dropshippers who are in effect middlemen, rather than real wholesalers. The best dropship directory of wholesalers can be found here:

www.workwinners.com/dropship


3. You can source products by buying from eBay itself. The success of many eBayers comes from knowing where to find items on eBay at a low price. These can be bought and then re-listed at a far higher price to produce virtually instant profit. If you know your category well, you will easily find opportunities which will allow you to adopt this approach. One smart way is to look for misspelled auctions. This can really unearth the bargains as very few visitors will find eBay auctions in which keywords have incorrect spelling. You can get an excellent free tool to help you locate misspelled auctions here:

www.workwinners.com/nlr1011.htm


4. If you’re happy to purchase stock before you sell it on eBay, the most economic sources can usually be found in the Asiatic area. Importing is not as difficult as you may think. You will find all the advice you need, plus thousands of product sources here:

www.alibaba.com


Using some or all of these methods can help you put your eBay business onto a professional footing. No matter how small you start, the potential is genuinely there.

If you want to see how one eBay seller went from a single auction to 50,000 sales every month within 6 years, it’s worth reading about Rob Frechette. He's an inspiration to any eBay seller. You can find out about Rob here:

www.workwinners.com/robfrechette

Have you ever been on eBay and seen people selling low-priced ebooks and wonder if they are making money doing that?

Well after reading an ebook by eBayer John Thornhill entitled “Auction Profit Streams”, you’ll find yourself having a number of “A-Ha” moments. And then everything will make sense.

What is really unusual about this ebook is that John gives you his eBay ID, so you can go and check out his track record for yourself. He's very proud of it – and rightly so.

John is the real deal when it comes to making money selling ebooks on eBay. His feedback score is 10,500+ with a 99.8% positive rating, and he is making SERIOUS money on eBay while shipping nothing!

This is one gentleman who knows his stuff in how to use eBay for profit.

What I find totally amazing is that he shows EXACTLY how and why he does everything in his eBay ebook business. Indeed, just knowing his eBay ID is valuable intelligence.

I read a preview copy of “Auction Profit Streams” cover to cover. I’m now working to implement many of the fantastic methods John is using.

As a previewer, I persuaded John to let my newsletter readers have access to a chapter from his ebook at no cost.

And you can download the leaked chapter from here:
www.workwinners.com/nl011006.htm

Oh, I almost forgot to mention. John has developed his incredible eBay business from the UK.

Guest Article by Chris Malta & Robin Cowie

Rookie eBayers are prone to making certain mistakes that are detrimental to their businesses. CEO of internet consulting company, InternetBusinessSkills.com, Allison Hartsoe, shares her insights on avoiding the top ten mistakes eBay newcomers make:

See Yourself through Your Customers’ Eyes

• Don’t Start Off with a Feedback Rating of Zero. No one wants to be your first buyer—they’d rather not be a guinea pig when their money’s at stake. Go in and buy a few products, so you don’t appear to be completely inexperienced.

• Don’t Take Fuzzy Pictures. Clean, quality photos are integral to giving your customers the right impression. You want them to perceive you as competent and professional, so make sure your listings look the part.

• Include Contact Info in Your Listing. Knowing they can get a hold of you if any issues arise goes a long way towards making shoppers feel comfortable and safe buying from you. Always include an email address, and preferably a phone number where they can reach you as well.

• Respond to Customers’ Questions Immediately. People expect “instant” everything, including customer service. The quicker you answer your customers, the better chance you have of resolving their issues, and making that sale. Hartsoe points out, “If it takes you two days [to respond], they’ve probably moved on.”

Money-Matters

• Don’t Accept Cash in the Mail. You have no way of proving that a payment was or wasn’t received, or that the amount was correct. Accept credit card payments or PayPal—these are faster and leave a convenient paper trail.

• Set Your Prices Based on the Market. Use eBay’s Completed Auctions feature, or try HammerTap.com or Terapeak.com’s market research tools. You should have a good idea of the right price before listing your items.

• Don’t Lower Your Item Prices by Artificially Inflating Your Shipping Costs. If you charge 50 cents for an item, and then piggyback 6 dollars in shipping fees, your buyers won’t see the shipping charges until they checkout. At the very least, they’ll be unhappy; and they may choose not to complete the sale at all.

What’s in a Name?

• Have a User ID that Reflects Your Products. An ID relevant to your business, such as “RefillInk,” provides more credibility than an ID like “2Cool4You.”

• Don’t Use Unknown Brand Names in Your Titles. Of all items sold on eBay, 60% are found using the search function, which only searches main titles. You’re given 55 characters to sell your item—don’t waste them on terms for which nobody’s searching.

• Don’t Use Misleading Brand Names in Your Titles. In other words, don’t put “Disney” in your listing title for a teddy bear, unless he’s Winnie the Pooh, or some other Disney creation. In addition to violating your customers’ trust and garnering a bad reputation, you’ll also end up in eBay’s doghouse. Hartsoe warns, “They’ll pull your listing; and if you don’t rectify the situation, they’ll pull your store and ID, and suspend you.” For frequently searched keywords, relevant to your products, that you can use in your listings, check out Pulse.EBay.com.

Bypassing these seemingly obvious, but all-too-common mistakes, can spare you many headaches, and make your transition into the world of eBay-selling a much smoother ride.


BIOGRAPHY: Chris Malta and Robin Cowie of WorldwideBrands.com are the Writers and Hosts of The Entrepreneur Magazine EBiz and Product Sourcing Radio Shows. Click Here for more FREE eBiz info from Entrepreneur Magazine Radio!

Here is a special gift for you, simply because you're a reader of this newsletter.

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www.workwinners.com/resellrightsmastery

This $197.00 value membership is yours FREE - no strings attached. Enjoy this gift, it's yours to keep!

Nothing surprises me when it comes to internet auctions. Amuse yourself with some of these beauties.

Or you could just put these in your shoe!

I like to bring you some colour

Ah. Isn't that sweet?

Well, I know you're interested in sports and keep-fit

Now, you just need to buy a cart

Disclaimer - I have no association with any of the sellers of the above items.