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September 26, 2002

IN THIS ISSUE:
* Attend A FREE Online Class By Yours Truly
* Don't Miss Jim's Free Book – It's Bound To Be A Goodie
* Let's Link
* Feature Article: A Steady Stream Of Antiques And Collectibles? No Kidding?
* News From eBay:
1. All You Information Sellers (And Me) Listen Up
2. Introducing The “Second Chance” Feature
3. Category Changes:
4. New Rules For Selling Catalogs
5. Goodbye, Mr. Lister; Hello, Turbo Lister
* The Auction Gold Nominee For The Seller Of The Year

Attend A FREE Online Class By Yours Truly

I am really tickled to report that we now have a free class on our Auction Genius site. It's called “Triple Profits In Half The Time”. If you have ever wondered what my voice sounds like, here's your golden opportunity. :-) You can't see me, but you can see some really interesting auction stuff.

I used to take some classes from a man who had made multi-millions in real estate. I was watching him one day, when I suddenly realized the TRUTH about him. He was a powerful man, all right, but it wasn't because of his money. He was powerful because of his KNOWLEDGE! if he lost all his money today, he'd be rich again in no time because he thoroughly understood the real estate game. He knew the rules, he knew how it was played. So, he could create a fortune again, any time he wanted to.

So, my goal for my students is to give exactly the same knowledge, the learning and skills that lead to independence, like my real estate teacher. It took me a long time to win these for myself. Now that I have them, I am willing to share.

Is it realistic to expect someone to become independent in only 8 weeks? Well, yes and no.

No, because thoroughly mastering any business takes more time than that. Time for the skills and ideas to percolate through our brains, to sink in.

Yes, because you can get the all the actual knowledge you need, then all you need do is practice until you get better and better. Best of all, you can see how the auction business WORKS, so that when it changes (and it will!) you can change with it.

To listen to the class, go here:

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

Look on the left side of the page for the class. And while you're there, join our affiliate program!

Addendum:

Last Saturday was the last session of my first group of students, and I felt quite sad about it.

One of our students was a long-time Auction Gold reader. This past week, Brett started his first auctions on eBay US. To the delight of all of us, he sent this email:

My auctions are "humming".....I'm really thrilled....lots of sales and people asking if they can buy more off me......I mean....CAN THEY BUY MORE??? You bet....that type of question is retail "nirvana" to any of us!

Sydney....I have to say.....I'm sure putting my personal image....is a big bonus! It's amazing how many people have commented on the fact that I have my image there. One woman from Ohio has almost virtually "proposed".....talk about familiarity.....you Americans are TOOOO much! LOL. I love your relaxed manner!”

Brett Margison
Auckland, New Zealand
AuctionAction@xtra.co.nz

Isn't Brett wonderful? If you want to talk to a truly international seller, just brimming with ideas, he's your man. And, by the way, stay tune for more success stories.

Don't Miss Jim's Free Book –
It's Bound To Be A Goodie

Last issue I mentioned the excellent auction book, "The Silent Sales Machine Hiding on eBay", written by my brilliant friend Jim Cockrum. Many of you bought it, but if you didn't and are thinking about it, better do it NOW.

Why? Because Jim is writing an ebook about 50 low cost ways to make money on eBay.Everyone who has bought his book "The Silent Sales Machine Hiding on eBay" will get his new book for free, as soon as it comes out. Everyone else will have to pay for it.

http://silentsales.auctionknowhow.com

Let's Link

Everyone knows that one of the best ways to get traffic to your website is to achieve a high ranking in the search engines. If you haven't tried to do that, though, you may not know how ghastly a job it is. And the kicker is that the search engines can change their rules today. Translation: you can move from page one to page 283 overnight! Gag.

There is a way to get that high ranking, though, without devoting your life to the search engines. And that is to exchange links with a lot of other sites. It's a long term strategy, but a sound one. It is the most stable and dependable traffic there is.

So, we have set up a links page on auctionknowhow and would feel privileged to exchange links with any and all readers of this ezine.

Feature Article: A Steady Stream Of Antiques And Collectibles? No Kidding?

Antiques and collectibles are blazing, flaming, boiling, scorching hot on eBay. For example, at this moment, there are 139,363 entries in the “Antiques” category.

And that is a tiny droplet of commerce in the ocean of collectibles. In the Sports Card section of Sports Memorabilia is a whopping 380,422 entries!

The problem with these categories is that finding a steady supply of these rare goodies is a real challenge. You can't call 1-800-SENDNOW and get buckets of discounted antiques and collectibles. As a result, sellers spend a majority of their time just LOCATING things to sell. The other 7 minutes of the day left over are devoted to writing listings, sending out zillions of emails, uploading to eBay, collecting money, wrapping and mailing. Ooops, forgot the pictures.

Then along comes Terry Gibbs who has been making a living buying and selling model trains. To thrive in this tough business, Terry HAD to figure out ways to get quantities of trains flowing his way. Supply is live or die. And Terry got so good at it that he has an information course titled, “How To Get A Constant Stream Of People To Sell You Their Antiques and Collectibles. 67 Strategies That Will Make Your Phone Ring With Anxious Sellers”.

Originally written for train collectors, this course was a printed volume selling for $229. However, because of the strong interest of so many others in collectibles, Terry has revised it so that it works for whatever you want to collect and sell, whether it's dolls, toys, sports cards or Fiesta Ware.

It's much more than a simple ebook. He begins with a Quick Start Guide which helps to focus the collector and display week to week progress on the Collectibles Trail.

He covers goodies like:

* A simple (and ingenious) way to use voice mail
* Why you need caller ID (it's not what you think)
* Why to run screaming from Institutional advertising
* The power of greenbacks
* Why you should take your toys to work
* Learn about Classified, Space and Inserts
* Men: Why a 2-day stubble can cost you money
* Learn how to present the “No Regrets” offer
* Learn the power of Bird Dogs
* Why you need wooden stakes (no, it's not Count Dracula)
* Other people carry their kids' pictures ... you carry your obsession!
* How to spot the Time Wasters
* Do “Val Paks” and “Money Mailers” work?
* Why you might want to offer to SELL, in order to BUY

He includes all kinds of pre-formatted time savers, like letters to antique stores, thrift stores and home inspectors; postcards that are ready for printing; Val Pak (and other such publication) mailers; a telephone script; handouts and more

He even throws in a free ad critique!

A Special Offer For Readers Of Auction Gold

Terry sells this treasure for $69.95.

BUT ... he has graciously agree to sell it for $39.95, but only to the first 15 buyers! And, there is a catch. He is looking for testimonials, so he would like a report after you find your first treasure using his methods. So, if you're willing to give this kind of feedback, jump on this. Because Buyer #16 is out of luck on the $39.95, but it's still a good buy at $69.95..

If you're interested in the antiques and collectibles field, this course will is your chance to figure out how to keep a steady stream coming.

http://antiques.auctionknowhow.com

News From eBay
1. All You Information Sellers (And Me) Listen Up

There are information CDs and products, all over eBay, and a rule tightening has occurred. Here is the exact policy:

a. The listing may not contain any cross category information (e.g. a listing that contains multiple recipes may not also contain or describe wholesale sources, screen savers, game hints, etc.).

b.The listing may not contain excessive use of keywords in the description to describe the contents of the compilation or informational media.

c. The listing can only be listed in the appropriate (e.g. Business & Industrial, Large Lots, Wholesale, informational CD's) category.

d. The listing may not be combined as a bonus item with any other listing.

2. Introducing The “Second Chance” Feature

What do we do if someone wins our auction ... but then doesn't pay?

You might like to put them up in front of a firing squad on CNN, but, realistically, we don't have much power over this situation. Oh, sure, there is an eBay process that can result in the offending person getting “kicked off” eBay. But, in actuality, most anyone can just come back and create a new ID. And, anyway, that doesn't solve the problem of YOUR unpaid auction.

What many sellers do is to go down the food chain and offer the item to the next highest bidder, in the hopes that one of them wants to buy the prize widget, although often at a reduced price.

In recognition of this reality, eBay has introduced a Second Chance Offer feature. It allows seller a chance to offer the item to a lower bidder – unless that bidder has chosen to opt out of these opportunities.

This costs nothing extra. We seller pays only the Final Value fee, which is smart on eBay's part, since they are required to refund these monies if the transation isn't completed.

Buyers might be more comfortable with accepting offers this way, because they will be covered by eBay's Fraud Protection Program and will have the opportunity to leave feedback. This isn't the case, of course, with private transactions, which might make some buyers hesitate to trust an unknown seller.

One cool feature of this: sellers are also allowed to offer a duplicate item to one of their non-winning bidders, while at the same time completing the sale with the winning bidder. (This doesn't apply in a Dutch auction).

What this means is that you can advertise only one widget, yet possibly sell more, without any risk of added insertion fees.

Note: This feature is also available for Reserve Price Auctions that do not meet reserve in select eBay Motor Vehicle categories.

For details:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/index _popup.html?sell=personal_offer.html

3. Category Changes

BUSINESS & INDUSTRIAL
In “Healthcare” it's now easier for medical professionals to find equipment and supplies. There are some policy changes, as well.

http://pages.ebay.com/catindex/cathealthcare.html

CLOTHING & ACCESSORIES
Vintage Clothing (Victorian era to the Disco Seventies) has moved to the Clothing & Accessories category.

COMPUTERS & OFFICE
To make shopping for Desktop and Laptop computers faster, eBay has added new categories for browsing by processor speed. There is also a new layout for Laptop Accessories and a brand new area devoted to Laptop Parts and Components.

HOME & GARDEN
Both modern & vintage quilts have been combined in Home & Garden --> Bedding. Vintage and modern area rugs now live together in Home & Garden --> Rugs,Mats.

SPORTS
Sports equipment, cards, and memorabilia are so popular that the Baseball, Basketball, Football & Hockey categories have been expanded. Also, there are new categories in Hunting for Optics and Reloading.

TOYS & HOBBIES
The former "Hobbies & Crafts" category is now "Crafting, Art Supplies" plus new areas have been added.

Secondly, the Hobby-related categories such as Model RR, Models, Radio Control, and Slot Cars have new homes directly under Toys & Hobbies.

EVERYTHING ELSE
Health & Beauty continues to be a very active area, so is undergoing a massive “re-vamp”

4. New Rules For Selling Catalogs

eBay doesn't allow the sale of current catalogs, but definitely allows collectible ones. Its new catalog policy prohibits sellers of collectible catalogs from listing the subjects the catalog covers in the title or description, so sellers are prevented from fully describing their item.

Details at:

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

5. Goodbye, Mr. Lister; Hello, Turbo Lister

eBay has a new “Turbo” bulk lister, although the anemic Mr. Lister is temporarily alive. If you aren't familiar with Mr. L, he's supposed to be a bulk listing tool, enabling sellers to upload zillions of listings at once. I tried it many times, but could never make it work and gave up on it long ago. However, many swear by it.

There are some cool things in Turbo:

* Bulk list hundreds or even thousands of items
* You can save your listings for reuse
* It has a new WYSIWYG ("What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get") HTML editor
* Includes some templates (I haven't seen any yet, so don't know if they're attractive)
* You can schedule listings to start automatically at a future time

This last feature is the one I personally like. I schedule my auctions to start later in the evening, and it's nice to not have to be at my computer at the exact time. Sadly, though, eBay is charging 10 cents/item for this desirable feature. That's pretty irritating because there are many auction services on the net that provide this service for free.

Turbo Lister is free to download. To read about it, go here:

http://pages.ebay.com/turbo_lister

The Auction Gold Nominee For The Seller Of The Year

Somewhere in my half million emails the past week, I found this wonderful bit of nonsense.

"Please read my terms of sale carefully or negative feedback will result.....

BIDDING..... You are bidding in Lithuanian Ruples and their value fluctuates every 45 seconds so please bid carefully. I reserve the right to cancel bids from anyone with less than 3000 positive feedback.

PAYMENT... I do not accept Paypal, Billpoint, Bidpay, Credit cards, Checks, Money Orders or Cash. If payment is not received within 11 hours, 32 minutes and 12 seconds; the item will be relisted.

SHIPPING....... Shipping costs will be the cube root of the final bid amount multiplied by the current Dow Jones index. I do not ship to foreign countries or states that have the death penalty. I only ship on the first of the month in those months that do not end in Y. Please feel free to contact me with any questions... however; I have 3217 filters on my email so it's unlikely you'll hear back from me ......Happy Bidding."