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July 1, 2002

In this issue:
Announcements:
* Early Ezine Issue
* Happy 4th Of July
* Insider Club Online
* Feature Article: Free “Auction Genius” Class
* Should You Include A Gallery Picture On Your eBay Auctions?
* Post Office Rate Increase (Again)
* What Is An "Antique"?
News From eBay
* Making It Easier To Be A Power Seller
* eBay Australia and eBay Germany Hold Free Listing Day for Fixed Price Items
* It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas ...
* Bay Introduces New Buyer's Toolbar
* Do You Sell Travel Related Items?
* Western Union and eBay Scam
* Yahoo Promotes A 99 Cent Summer Showcase
* What Makes Us Successes ... Or Failures?

Announcements:
1. Early Ezine Issue

We are going to be playing for a few days this week and that's why this issue of Auction Gold is early. If I do nothing else this week, I am going to see “Men In Black 2”!

2. Happy 4th Of July

If you live in the US, please accept our wishes for a safe and wonderful holiday. Eat barbecue and homemade ice cream and enjoy the fireworks.

3. Insider Club Online

If you have joined the Online Auction Academy, or bought Deep Analysis, will you please send me an email and let me know so that I can send you the passwords for the Insider Club? I have no way of knowing who most of you are, since these transactions are handled on other sites.

The Insider Club to be up and running sometime this week.

Feature Article: Free “Auction Genius” Class

For years – literally, YEARS – I suffered and struggled trying to create a lucrative and satisfying business of my own. I did things I liked – that didn't make much money. I created a business that earned me $120,000/year - and I grew to hate it.

It's wonderful to finally have a business that I really love - that's also bringing in money! Naturally, I am referring to my auction business. I also believe that we have to give back, whenever we are successful, and that is what Auction Gold is all about.

So, it's a real thrill to me to announce that I am finally getting to teach auctions in a methodical and organized way. I have an eight week course that I am going to teach. It's called The Auction Genius Course.

We have a FREE class called “The Auction Genius Formula: Four Steps To Triple The Profits In Half The Time.”

When I first started on eBay back in the Dark Ages, it was just a game. Later, it dawned on us early birds that we could make SERIOUS money. And do you know how I found my way? By just mucking around! Making mistakes, wasting money, falling on my face, having some success – but not understanding why, so I couldn't repeat it. So many times I wished that someone could show me the way – but there wasn't anyone to do that because we were the pioneers.

So, I have been thinking for years and years about exactly what steps are involved in a successful auction business and I know how it's done. It's like this ...

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We take one product, or one product line, and go through particular steps, until we have a thriving MONEY-MAKING, MINIMUM TIME profit center.

Then we repeat these same steps with Product #2, then Product #3 and so on, until we reach the level of success that suits us personally.

**************************************************

It's a repeatable method, with definite steps that can be learned by anyone who is truly serious about a profitable auction business.

Is it simple? Yes.

Is it easy? Depends. Depends on you and what you know and how much effort you are willing to put into it. Just like everything else, setting up the first profit center will be the toughest. The second one will be much easier. The third, fourth and fifth will eventually become a piece of cake.

The best part is that you can learn a METHOD, a TEMPLATE that will endure throughout your auction business. Because the one thing we know for certain is that it will change. Merchandise I sold three years ago won't work now. Things I sell now didn't even have a market when eBay started.

We have a really sophisticated system that allows you to see a presentation right on your own computer, while hearing my voice at the same time.

So, if this sounds like you, then take my free class on your own time - it's already recorded.

http://auction-genius-course.com

Hope to “hear” you there! :-)

Should You Include A Gallery Picture On Your eBay Auctions?

It's so easy to run up your costs on an eBay auction, considering all the various “feature” options. There's the $99.95 super duper front page extravaganza and the $19.95 featured in your category. Or, you can spend $5 to highlight your listing with “an eye-catching colored band” or spend two bucks to have your listing title in bold print.

In general, I recommend keeping your costs down in every possible way. These charges can eat up all your profit in a hurry. And, sometimes NOT using these features can make your listing stand out. For example, I was looking at a page this past week and only two listings on the page weren't in bold print! My eye was drawn to those two.

One exception, though, is eBay's gallery picture. If you aren't familiar with this feature, it places a thumbnail picture to the left of your listing title. At a modest 25 cents, I often use this myself.

eBay claims that auctions with this picture command an 11% higher price than those auctions without it. I have no personal research on this issue, but my listings do seem to have a higher number of “lookers” when I use this feature.

We have a chart on our site that will help you find eBay fees if you don't like plowing through eBay's complicated and gigantic site:

http://auctionknowhow.com/resource/fees.shtml

Post Office Rate Increase (Again)

The US Post Office is, I suppose, in a real Catch 22. Due to the widespread use of email, their revenues have declined, so they respond by frequent rate increases. And, of course, the higher the price, the more folks look for alternatives like email and online bill paying – thereby cutting Post Office use even further.

Here are some sites to help you figure out the new rates:

http://www.usps.com
http://postcalc.usps.gov/Zonecharts/
http://www.usps.com/ratecase/_pdf/notice123.pdf

What Is An "Antique"?

You will see the term “antique” thrown around quite frequently on auction sites. But, what does that mean exactly?

For items such as furniture, dishes and jewelry, an item is usually an antique when “according to various customs laws {it is} at least 100 years old” (Webster's Dictionary). Therefore if your prize sofa wasn't made before 1902, it isn't technically an antique.

But what about computers, calculators and movie projectors that haven't existed for 100 years? My dictionary explains that an antique is also “the oldest of its type”. In other words, for many items, there is no clear cut line that says “This is definitely an antique and that is not”.

News From eBay

1. Making It Easier To Be A Power Seller

eBay has the term “Power Seller” which refers to higher volume sellers who get special perks for their volume. Being a Power Seller is based on gross volume, not profit.

The categories now are:

Bronze Powersellers: $2,000/month
Silver Powersellers: $10,000/month
Gold Powersellers: $25,000/month

eBay has announced that it is changing those definitions:

Bronze requirements: $1,000 month
Silver: $3,000/month
Gold: $10,000/month
Platinum: $25,000/month,
Titanium: $150,000/month.

To encourage these higher levels, eBay is going to sweeten the pot with health insurance and other goodies, including a “Fat Cat” executive retreat for Titanium sellers.

2. eBay Australia and eBay Germany
Hold Free Listing Day for Fixed Price Items

Tomorrow, July 2, sellers on eBay Australia and eBay Germany will have a free listing day for Buy It Now only items. This is for fixed price ONLY - not regular auctions or auctions with the fixed price option.

For details:

http://pages.ebay.com.au/freelist.html

My sincere apologies to any German readers: I can't navigate your site since I don't speak your language, so I cannot direct you to the correct page.

3. It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas ...

eBay has a put up a holiday tips page, with ideas for making the most money during the Christmas season. You can see it here:

http://pages.ebay.com/promo/holiday2002/index.html

4. Bay Introduces New Toolbar

“Toolbars” are very popular on the net these days. They're install on your computer and display somewhere on your monitor, often at the top, like the Google toolbar.

eBay is offering one of its own now. With this toolbar, you can check auctions and bids any time. And, if you're interested in a particular auction it will alert you, even if you're not online at the moment. After all, eBay doesn't want us to miss a chance to spend a dollar or two. ;-)

I have read several articles that suggest caution with this toolbar, as it is supposedly designed by a company that is famous for its “spyware”. I don't know which company this is, but I do know the spyware problem can be severe. My head techie recently ran a check on his computer and found 132! pieces of hidden code.

If you're interested in the toolbar, go here:

http://pages.ebay.com/ebay_toolbar

5. Do You Sell Travel Related Items?

If you sell airline tickets, cruises, vacation packages or lodging, the rules will change as of Wednesday, July 3. All sellers must now participate in Square Trade, the seller-monitoring system:

http://squaretrade.com

There are other new rules as well. Go to:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-travelvouchers.html

6. Western Union and eBay Scam

One of the latest scams involving eBay has crooks selling expensive items, and then instructing buyers to send the money via Western Union. The problem with this is that Western Union security isn't stringent at all.

The fraudulent sales are for items involving thousands of dollars. The dishonest seller doesn't have the expensive TV, computer, or whatever – but he does have a $200 laminating machine which enables him to create false IDs. So, the crooked buyer instructs the seller to send payment to “John Smith” and use the code word of “giraffe”. He shows up at Western Union with an ID for John, and knows the code word, so the money is handed right over.

Western Union strongly advises us to send money only to people we know and deplores the current scam. eBay's weak response is that these deals “usually work”.

If you're the buyer on a high priced item, the safest way to condust the transaction is with an escrow service. It isn't cheap, but it's much better than losing a large chunk of money.

Yahoo Promotes A 99 Cent Summer Showcase

If you're interested in selling some low cost items, Yahoo is promoting a “Showcase” until July 5th. All items must start at 99 cents and have no reserve price. It costs an extra 15 cents/day.

http://user.auctions.shopping.yahoo.com/showcase/summersale

What Makes Us Successes ... Or Failures?

We all know people who work like Trojans, seemingly do all the “right things”, but fail in most everything they do. And we know others who have the “Midas touch” and everything goes right for them, no matter what they do. Why does this happen?

In the last issue of Auction Gold I mentioned some great articles about the power of thought as demonstrated physically through water crystals. The same author, Charles Burke, has a new email course that is so unusual and offers such great value that I decided I had to offer it to you.

It's called "BEYOND LUCK - The 20-Day Boot Camp in Building Success & Good Fortune" and that's exactly what it is.

It's free. All you have to do is click on 20day113@quicktell.net and sign up.

Over the next 38 days you'll receive a series of 20 emails designed to walk you through concepts and exercises that I think you're going to love. Best of all, if you'll do each of the exercises (there's one at the end of every lesson), you'll see changes in your life.

The worst thing that can happen is it doesn't quite fit you. If not, no problem - there is an unsubscribe link at the bottom of every lesson.

But the best thing that can happen is the changes you'll begin to see in your life. More success. More happiness. Better relations with family members and co-workers.

20day113@quicktell.net