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October 21, 2004

In this issue:
* $0 Phone Interview Friday, October 22
* Two Interesting Reader Emails
* Feature Article: Amazing Marketing Light and Dark
* Ending Listings Early On eBay
* From Our Humor Department And Do You Have Any Cats?
* Recent Blog Entries

$0 Phone Interview Friday, October 22

On Friday, I will be interviewed by Michael Penland. Michael is holding a conference in Orlando, Florida, December 3-5. There will be nine speakers at this conference, and he is interviewing all of us. Some of the attendees will receive Master Duplication rights to these phone interviews plus web copy for selling them.
Originally, only the first 77 were going to get this, but I saved a block for readers of this newsletter, so it's not too late to get these, even though the first 77 are gone.

So, please join us on Friday:

Time:  9:00 PM Eastern, 6:00 PM Pacific
Call-in Number:  1-858-300-3030
Access Code # :  80129

And check out the conference here:

http://www.instantcashmarketing.com/SydneyJohnstonSpecial.html

NOTE: several people have reported a problem with the signup link. The cost of the seminar through the special link is $97, rather than $1697. If it doesn't popup for you, you can signup here:

http://auction-genius-course.com/scregistration.html

Two Interesting Reader Emails

1. In our last issue, the Feature article was about all the junky wholesale & dropship lists for sale on eBay. I received a 'sort-of' funny email from a reader that I thought you might enjoy:

“I actually had an experience with this. On eBay I purchased a List that "All Powerseller's Use" for a few dollars. It was junk. I told him so before leaving feedback. Afterwards, I received a request from him, through PayPal requesting $5000!!!! Of course I canceled the request. But thats just my story.”

Wonder why she didn't pay the $5,000? :-)

2. This second one isn't funny at all – at least, not to me.

It's no secret that I am an avid fan of Stomp The Search Engines. It's making a major difference in my business. For example, go to yahoo and type in my main keyword phrase, “learn how to sell on ebay”. My sites are #7, #8 and #9.

On msn.com, my results are exactly the same.

Do I want to be #1? You bet! One of these days soon, I will be in that top three position, perhaps the very top. I give credit for this to Brad Fallon and Andy Jenkins, bless 'em.

As a result of my enthusiasm, I guess, I received the following email:

“I've read your article about stomping search engine. 
 
I've listened to Brad's seminar and found I'd already known most of what he teaches. 
 
My question is can you share a complete digital copy of SSE with me? I want to read the complete guide but can not afford it.
 
I know you resell it and will pay you 25% of the cost directly.
 
Hear from you soon.”

So many comments here:

1. If he already knows what Brad teaches, why does he want to buy the seminar?

2. If he indeed knew what Brad knows, then why can't he afford the Stomper? After all, Brad uses his knowledge to sell a couple of hundred thousand dollars each month in wedding favors.

3. He is writing me an email that basically asks me to steal from Brad and Andy – and he will pay me 25% later. Should I really trust the word of someone who is asking me to steal?

4. Most of all, this makes me angry because Andy, in particular, has become a really close friend of mine. Both of these guys have done me lots of favors and we have a strong relationship. I don't have any intention of betraying my friends in this way and I don't respect anyone who would ask me to do so.

This leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

If you haven't gotten the $zero 50 minute interview between Brad and Andy, do it now.

http://se-expert.auctionknowhow.com

Feature Article: Amazing Marketing Light and Dark

You know, if you're going to successfully make money on the Internet, including eBay, then you have to SELL something. And to sell something, you simply must learn something about marketing. So many people wanna do whatever it is they do – but don't want to be bothered with the marketing. Well, unfortunately it doesn't work that way. If somebody doesn't market, nothing will get sold.

So, being a marketing student I am always paying attention to what's going on around me and in the last week or two I have seen four really outstanding examples – two awful and two amazingly wonderful. First, the not-so-good:

1. Early one morning last week, (v-e-r-y early) I followed a link to a site. As soon as I clicked on the page I was greeted by the sound of a phone ringing, followed by a blast of music and a voice screaming in my ear about buying something or other. I don't know what the owners of that site did to get the sound so loud, or perhaps it's because my office was so quiet and peaceful (still dark outside), but it was truly shattering!

2. This morning I went to a site and was greeted by an exceptionally large banner, with about 15 different colors. That banner was covered with different shapes and all of them were spinning and jumping, while the entire banner blinked rapidly off and on like a strobe light! It was an assault.

With both of these sites, I couldn't click away fast enough!

Now let's look at two that are the exact opposite.

The first is an independent movie called “What The Bleep Do We Know”. The film makers have a mission – to show Hollywood that people do have a brain and want to see something besides Rambo holding a machine gun. Somehow they wrote a script, raised the necessary money and filmed the movie, with no help or support from anyone. Once it was ready, then they somehow had to market the movie. They began in one tiny theater and it is now showing in 135 theaters, soon to be 210. Admittedly this is small potatoes compared to a “major blockbuster” but it's a healthy trend. The Internet has definitely put more power in the hands of 'ordinary' people and taken at least some of it out of the hands of a powerful few.

The second amazing marketing story centers around political satire by two brothers from Texas. These two creative guys spent umpteen hours creating a flash presentation called “My Land”, which makes fun of both sides in the presidential election. Their humor attracted Jay Leno and The Tonight Show who funded a second spoof called “Good To Be In DC”. There is no way that these guys won't become millionaires with these animations.

You can read more about these two exceptionally good marketing coups at my blog:

http://www.auction-genius-course.com/blog

What contrasts. The first two marketing efforts seem to believe that attracting attention – by any means – somehow translates to success.

It doesn't.

They're annoying, at best, and repulsive at worst. I will never return to either site.

The other two, though, followed their own vision, carried out something they wanted to do, and are realizing grand success. Does this mean that if we just “do what we love, the money will follow”? No, but it surely does help.

Ending Listings Early On eBay

Recently a student asked if she could end one of her listings early. It was a timely
question since eBay has recently revised its policy on this matter. If you have ever considered doing this, and don't want to run afoul of eBay, here are the guidelines.

Sellers can cancel a listing if:

* The item is no longer available for sale.
* There was an error in the starting price or reserve amount.
* There was an error in the listing.
* The item was lost or broken.

There are special rules if there are only 12 hours or less remaining in the auction:

* If a listing has 12 or fewer hours remaining and has, or had, a winning bid during the final 12 hours of the listing, the seller will no longer be able to end the listing, except to sell to the current high bidder on eBay.

Sellers may still cancel specific bids that they find unwelcome, but may no longer utilize the "cancel all bids and end this item" feature.

Reason: the practice of canceling all bids and ending an item early with only minutes left is very frustrating to buyers. This change should improve the overall buyer experience.

* Sellers may still end listings during the final 12 hours of the listing if the item does not have any bids.

- - -

New eBay Advertising Campaign: The Power Of All Of Us

eBay has a new campaign called “The Power of All of Us” which “helps to express our core belief that people are good.”

Almost every Community member has an eBay story. Some are about other members going above and beyond to make a transaction special. Others focus on their personal experiences connecting with others, or about someone reaching out to help a perfect stranger simply because it is the right thing to do. If you have a story like this, and want to share, you could win a $5,000 eBay shopping spree and a trip for two to the San Francisco Bay Area to attend eBay Live 2005.

Go for it!

http://www.ebay.com/thepowerofallofus

From Our Humor Department And Do You Have Any Cats?

I am at my wit's end! I have had a cat for four years – a really beautiful male cat. We have felt sorry for him because he's a house-only cat and we wanted him to have a friend. Thus – we have a new kitten, a girl who is the sweetest, most loving cat I've ever met. The problem: our older cat is being a total jerk! He has been hissing, growling and being totally obnoxious for approximately 10 days. There's a war in my house and I don't know what to do! Any advice?

In the meantime, don't you love these cat pictures?

Now THIS is what I feel like in The War Between The Cats!

Recent Blog Entries

* Applied Creativity: A+ For Jib Jab

* What The Bleep Do We Know?

* Christopher Reeve Really IS Superman

* Reese Witherspoon, Britney Spears, Drew Barrymore & More Team Up Against Breast Cancer

* Rich Dad Poor Dad By Robert Kiyosaki

http://www.auction-genius-course.com/blog