Auction Blog

In a New York Times article, eBay’s President of Marketplaces John Donahoe reveals that after two years at the helm, its about time the staff begins to communicate with one another via Skype and by getting the engineers and the businesspeople to make nice. He also allows that:

“Selling newer products on eBay ‘didn’t make any sense,’ he said. ‘It watered the experience down’.”

Which taken at face value, would appear to be a repudiation of Express:

“Last year, he rolled out eBay Express, a site for buying new products more efficiently..”

There’s more, much more to the article;reading it is a bit like riding a roller coaster, facing backwards.

Endlessly debated on auction boards is whether or not shipping should or should not be a profit center….listen in as I fuel the fire.

Hittail is an absolutely essential site and service for anyone who has their own website or store; one that allows you to easily see just exactly which terms buyers use to find you.

Brainchild of Seth Godin, Squidoo is a blog wherein blogs publicize themselves…and it can also work as a blog that is simply a blog unto itself. Listen in as I explain the blog equivalent of St. Augustine’s chat with the angel.

Mailum, a simple yet powerful way to create and manage newsletters for your customers.

BlueRectangle will buy your left-over books and pick-up the postage as well. Whether throwing in the towel on book selling on-line or simply off loading a forgettable read; you couldn’t ask for an easier solution.

Refund Please will track those thirty day lower price/money back claims on Amazon and notify you via e-mail when the price has dropped and you are due a refund.

Darmik describes itself as:

…a flexible and powerful content creation and ecommerce enablement platform.

And from then on it really gets hazy. Listen in as I describe how any site, including yours, should state its case clearly and make what it offers easily and quickly accessible.

Think you’ve got what it takes to be a real Powerseller?
I’ve got two words for you: plastic containers.

——————-

Links from this week’s show:

NYT’s Article on eBay’s John Donahoe - Read this interview as eBay’s Jolly Giant explains why new is bad, why Skype is fit for internal consumption and why some day, the engineers and the businesspeople will lie down together.

Hittail - Easy, free, essential tool for any web site.

Power Press Web Site Marketing Strategy - Write press releases that will drive traffic and buyers to your website or auction. Normally $37.97, you can receive $10 Off ($27.97) by entering “lonelyboy” (omit the ” “) in the Promo Code box.

e-Junkie - The best digital download manager available. Enter code: “SELL101″ for a one month’s free service.

GoDaddy Discount - Get $96 in Free Extras with your domain name from GoDaddy.com. Each domain includes free hosting with a Web site builder, a free Blog, Complete Email and much more. Enter code “pod54″ and get 10% off your order.

Squidoo - Seth Godin brainchild for “making sense” of blogs & search and blogging and searching.

Mailum - Easy e-mail newsletters for the rest of us.

BlueRectangle - Sell your books, get cash, free shipping.

Refund Please - The Original on-line price drop tool.

Darmik - A lesson in how not to describe what it is that you are selling.

CPS | Container and Packaging Supply - Sexy little bottles, nifty little tubs…and maybe an idea or two.

Tags: ebay, John_Donahoe, Hittail, Mailum, Refund_Please, Squidoo, Seth_Godin

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See more here:

How about an interest-free loan for 6 months from your friends at eBay and
PayPal?

If you qualify for PayPal Buyer Credit (hurry, it expires 12/31/06), you can pay no interest and make no payments for 6 months if you spend $500 or more on a transaction.  For
transactions from $50 to $499, the term is 3 months.

eBay clearly intends this to be a holiday shopping promotion but there is no
rule that says you can’t use it to bootstrap yourself into a nice little
profit-making sideline.  Here’s an idea how you might do it:

Remember we talked about scrap metal a few weeks back?  Many of these eBay
precious metal lots contain jewelry that can be repaired or even fashioned into
new items.  You can get just about everything you need to fix gold and silver
jewelry right there on eBay, plus packing materials and labels.  Instant
business.  Roll your profits over and now that you have real cash money, you
can source merchandise from outside of eBay too.  Just keep growing and keep
going.

Even simpler:  Use this promotion to buy commodity items on eBay.  By
commodity, I mean items that keep their value.  Hold for a few weeks and sell
on eBay in January when traditionally sales are brisk.  Sure, you’ll pay eBay
and PayPal fees, but now you have cash and as in the above example, you can
source stuff from anywhere.  When you pay off the loan in late May, the pile of
cash that’s left over is all yours.  Pretty good for starting with zero!

I’m just scratching the surface here.  I’ll bet there’s a clever lad or lassie
out there who can make this promotion sit up and beg for them.

fLufF
–

Tags: ebay, paypal_buyer_credit,

Read more here:
eBay Interest Free Loan

How about an interest-free loan for 6 months from your friends at eBay and
PayPal?

If you qualify for PayPal Buyer Credit (hurry, it expires 12/31/06), you can pay no interest and make no payments for 6 months if you spend $500 or more on a transaction.  For
transactions from $50 to $499, the term is 3 months.

eBay clearly intends this to be a holiday shopping promotion but there is no
rule that says you can’t use it to bootstrap yourself into a nice little
profit-making sideline.  Here’s an idea how you might do it:

Remember we talked about scrap metal a few weeks back?  Many of these eBay
precious metal lots contain jewelry that can be repaired or even fashioned into
new items.  You can get just about everything you need to fix gold and silver
jewelry right there on eBay, plus packing materials and labels.  Instant
business.  Roll your profits over and now that you have real cash money, you
can source merchandise from outside of eBay too.  Just keep growing and keep
going.

Even simpler:  Use this promotion to buy commodity items on eBay.  By
commodity, I mean items that keep their value.  Hold for a few weeks and sell
on eBay in January when traditionally sales are brisk.  Sure, you’ll pay eBay
and PayPal fees, but now you have cash and as in the above example, you can
source stuff from anywhere.  When you pay off the loan in late May, the pile of
cash that’s left over is all yours.  Pretty good for starting with zero!

I’m just scratching the surface here.  I’ll bet there’s a clever lad or lassie
out there who can make this promotion sit up and beg for them.

fLufF
–

Tags: ebay, paypal_buyer_credit,

Here is the original:
eBay Interest Free Loan