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UK
The newsletter for buyers and bidders on
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This latest issue is now also available online at
http://www.workwinners.com/newsletter/040630.htm
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In This Issue
1. News and Views
2. What's Hot?
3. I hope Vincent doesn't turn in his grave
4. Listen and Learn
5. Software amd ebook Selling on eBay
6. Someone's auctioning what? Unusual items currently
available
7. Finally
8. My Products Catalogue
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Inspirational quote of the day
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by
the
things you didn't do than by the
ones you did do. So throw off
the bowlines. Sail away from the
safe harbor. Catch the trade
winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
Mark Twain
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Brian McGregor speaking - you receive the
Newsletter because you have bought from me or enquired about
my
auction items on eBay or QXL.
If you do not want to receive this newsletter, the only one
dedicated to eBay
email to unsubscribe@workwinners.com
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1. News and Views
a) Will the
Regular readers might recall when eBay
Designer facility. It gave your
auction page a nice themed
background, and it was free. I said
at the time that I expected
it to become chargeable, as eBayers in
Listing Designer.
This week I had that feeling of deja
vu.
As part of some research I was doing for one of my eBooks, I
noticed how few 10 day auctions
there are on eBay.com. If you did
a graph of auction durations on
eBay
would hardly be a blip!
Would you like to guess why?
You're right. On eBay
10 days. It's only 20 cents per auction, but with 105
million
members......
So, with my Mystic Meg ball in front of me, "I see eBay
introducing a charge for 10 day
auctions sometime sooooooon!"
b) Prevention is better than cure
I regularly get cries of help from eBayers
who have been let down
by sellers. In some cases it's plain fraud - the seller puts up
some auctions, receives the money
and doesn't deliver anything!
In other cases, there are poor and questionable sellers who
on
the surface look like they're
reasonable people. Even their
feedback rating looks OK. But
buried in that feedback might be
the true nature of the individual.
Here is a marvellous tool to help
you decide if the seller of the
item you're interested in might not
be as white as his/her
feedback totals portray.
This tool lets you search for the negative and neutral
feedback
of any registered eBay member. You
key in the seller's ID, and it
gives you their feedback and then
lists the negatives and
neutrals. With these, you can see
if the seller sounds like the
kind of person you want to place
your business with.
Here's where you can get the tool.
http://www.workwinners.com/nlr610.htm
c) Shipping misery
I was meandering through eBay's discussion boards the other
day -
I know I'm a sad compulsive! Anyway, an eBayer
was reporting how
they bought 3 DVD players for £25
each. Sounded like quite a good
deal. When the auction ended, the
seller communicated with the
buyer to the effect that handling
and shipping for the 3 players
was £30.
The buyer, not unreasonably, was a little taken aback. A
great
debate then ensued about how eBay
should have guidelines or rules
about the proportion or percentage
that a seller can charge for
P&P.
The real moral of this story is that buyers have to be
careful.
There's no point bleating about how eBay should control
these
sellers. eBay
can set as many guidelines as it wants, but a buyer
still has to be continuously wary. eBay is simply a facility, it
is not the seller. Buyers are
buying from unknown individuals who
operate within their own terms and
conditions.
It might seem unreasonable, but it is down to the buyer to
determine any missing information
BEFORE they bid. In this case,
the shipping wasn't disclosed on
the auction, and the buyer had
assumed it would be an acceptable
figure. A tuned-in buyer would
have emailed the seller to find out
the shipping costs prior to
bidding.
So, when you want to make a bid, please make sure you have
every
question answered before you do. Or
you might end up in eBay's
discussion boards.
d) A delightful story found in a newsgroup
"I have been contacted by the British Library in regard
to a book
I'm selling on eBay. They have requested that I remove it
from
auction so that they can view the
book with an option to buy for
their collection. Being a greedy
cow I asked them what they would
be prepared to pay for it. They say
they don't discuss prices
without first examining the book.
So being a loyal British
subject, and after much soul
searching, I told them to get
stuffed. Diane."
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2. What's Hot?
One of the questions which many sellers seek the answer to
is,
what items are hot?
eBay do produce a monthly Hot
Categories Report which is also
known as "The Hot List".
Although this is based on eBay.com data, if you review the
report
you will find some of the
information to be very useful for the
UK market.
The report is in PDF format, and you can get it here:
http://www.workwinners.com/nlr611.htm
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3. I hope Vincent doesn't turn in his grave
It was a cold October night in Newcastle upon Tyne about 30
years
ago.
A young Michael Aspel was MC at Shanks's Plumbing Annual Ball at
the Civic Centre.
The night's festivities had reached the stage where
finalists in
Miss Shanks's Plumbing were being interviewed by Mr Aspel.
"And what does your husband do for a living?"
"He's a painta", the
girl said in a strong Geordie twang.
"An artist?", enquired Michael,
looking somewhat impressed.
"No. A painta
and decorata".
It gives me no pleasure to report the audience laughed
rather
loudly. I'm not sure whether at the
girl's pronouncement, or at
Mr Aspel's discomfort.
But that was a long time ago. Michael's career didn't
suffer.
Mind you, I think it was the last time he did any gigs in
Which brings me to my point. I've
always liked painting - the art
type that is, not the painting and
decorating type!!
In fact, I firmly believe there's nothing quite like an oil
painting to set off a room.
Some years ago I started a small business importing oil
paintings. Naturally these were
unframed, so when I received my
canvases the first task was to get
them framed. And then I sold
them, and made some rather
acceptable profits.
This small business is still a small business. But one which
I
begin to appreciate more and more.
You see, as my internet activities have grown, I have found
myself increasingly tied to the PC
keyboard. Sometimes I feel
like I'm being enmeshed in the
world wide web.
My little oil painting business is a delightful and
satisfying
release. You can't rush it. Trying
to frame too fast usually
results in a bad job.
When I think about it now, if I wasn't so deep into my
internet
business, I might well have devoted
much more time to my oil
painting venture.
I began to wonder if there were other internet slaves out there?
There had to be people looking for respite from the screen
and
keyboard.
So, I have turned my little oil painting venture into a
business
partnership opportunity in which
you can join me.
If you're interested, everything is explained here:
http://www.workwinners.com/rd09.htm
I know what you're thinking - Michael Aspel,
did it really
happen? I'm afraid it's true - I
was there!
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4. Listen and Learn
Did you, like me, miss the programme
on Radio 4 about eBay?
The programme was broadcast at the
end of May, and it was one of
the highly respected "In
Business" series introduced by Peter
Day.
I found it compulsive listening, and it was so restful
compared
to reading about eBay.
If you would like to listen to the programme,
you can get it from
the BBC website here:
http://www.workwinners.com/nlr612.htm
It's a half hour programme, "In Business" starts about 1 min 10
seconds in from the beginning of
the sound download.
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5. Software and ebook selling on
eBay
I have had many enquiries about selling software and ebooks on
eBay.
First, there is a tremendous amount of competition. Second,
many
of the ebooks
and software suffer from over exposure, with too
many eBayers
offering the same products.
The problem that most sellers have, is to find software and
ebooks
which are saleable for reasonable profits.
I recently came across something which I believe is quite
different. It's a package of around
60 ebooks and 20 software
titles - which are in demand.
With this package you receive the Master Resell Rights to
each
and every item. This means you can
sell any of these products, or
mix of products, on eBay and keep
all the profits.
You are also provided with your own website, which means you
aren't limited to just selling on
eBay.
If you've thought about selling software and ebooks on eBay, it's
worth having a look at this
excellent package. You can see it all
here:
http://www.workwinners.com/rd11.htm
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6. Someone's auctioning what? Unusual items currently
available
Nothing surprises me when it comes to internet auctions.
Amuse
yourself with some of these
beauties ...
Looks like this might have been a painful process.
http://www.workwinners.com/nlr613.htm
I know a guy called Mike. But I wonder if this is him, or maybe
it's
http://www.workwinners.com/nlr614.htm
Do you live in Cambridgehsire? You
might want to look at this.
http://www.workwinners.com/nlr615.htm
Oh what fun! Imagine having this on your coffee table when
friends come to call.
http://www.workwinners.com/nlr616.htm
Feeling hungry? You could try this. Quality questionable!
http://www.workwinners.com/nlr617.htm
Disclaimer - I have no association with any of the sellers
of the
above items.
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7. Finally
If you are changing email addresses soon please put a note
on
your calendar to send a blank email
to:
newsletter@workwinners.com
after you get your new email
address.
I don't want to lose touch with you!
If a friend sent you this newsletter, you need to send a
blank
email to:
newsletter@workwinners.com
That way you can get your own copy next time!
Increasingly, email filters are preventing genuine email
communications such as this
newsletter from reaching subscribers.
If you use any method of checking on your email, and you
wish to
continue receiving the newsletter
you may need to include my
email address in your safe list, whitelist or address book.
Thank you for continuing to take my newsletter - I hope it
gives
you as much enjoyment to read, as it
does me to write.
Regards
Brian McGregor
Editor - "
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8. My Products Catalogue
All the following are original products, services and
opportunities written and created
by myself.
"The eBay Formula"
How to sell successfully on
time.
http://www.workwinners.com/rd01.htm
"
Twelve genuine
http://www.workwinners.com/rd02.htm
"Sourcing DVDs, CDs and Videos at Trade Prices"
Where and how to buy DVDs, CDs and Videos at trade prices,
and
how to sell for profit.
http://www.workwinners.com/rd03.htm
"Sourcing and Selling Electrical Products for Big
Profits"
Where and how to buy Widescreen TVs, DVD players and VCR
players
at trade prices, and how to sell
for profit.
http://www.workwinners.com/rd04.htm
"Sourcing Maternity Clothing and Baby Needs at Trade
Prices"
Where and how to buy at trade prices.
http://www.workwinners.com/rd05.htm
"Sourcing and Selling Jewellery
for Big Profits"
Where and how to buy jewellery at
trade prices, and how to sell
for profit.
http://www.workwinners.com/rd06.htm
"Sourcing Mobile Phone Accessories at Trade
Prices"
Where and how to buy mobile phone accessories at trade
prices,
and how to sell for profit.
http://www.workwinners.com/rd07.htm
"The Streetwise Buyer's Guide to Radar Detectors"
Don't buy a Radar Detector system until you read this.
http://www.workwinners.com/rd08.htm
Oil Painting Marketing Business
Become my partner in this pleasant money-making venture.
http://www.workwinners.com/rd09.htm
Your Own Software Sales Business
Valuable software you can sell on eBay, plus through your
own website which you receive with
this package.
http://www.workwinners.com/rd11.htm
See the whole catalogue here:
http://www.workwinners.com
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"
weekly.
In each issue you'll get ideas on how to make the most of buying
and selling on eBay sites from a
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bottom of this email.
Finally, be assured that your email address will never be
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Copyright Information
Copyright © 2006 Brian McGregor. All rights reserved.
No part of this newsletter may be copied or published
without
prior permission, but do please
forward it to your friends and
colleagues as long as you keep it
in its entirety. Brian
McGregor, as publisher, disclaims any liability for the use
of
any information contained herein.
We further claim no
responsibility for the legality or
accuracy of any advertisements
or articles. It is the reader's
responsibility to practice due
diligence in any product or service
acquired based on information
contained in this newsletter.
To unsubscribe, send a blank email to
unsubscribe@workwinners.com
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