• Welcome from Brian McGregor 
• Inspirational Quote of the Day
• News and Views
• Have You Thought About Dropshipping?
• The Place for Private Auctions
• Newsletter Readers - Very Special Offer
• A Gift from Me to You
• Someone's auctioning what? Unusual items currently available
• Finally
• My Products Catalogue
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Hello and welcome.

And a special welcome to you if you're a new subscriber who has joined us in the last few days.

Well, it's Easter already. Where has 2005 gone to? It just feels like Christmas was a week or so ago, doesn't it?

One thing's for sure. eBay doesn't stand still. Every time I go to eBay it seems like they have introduced a new this or announced a different that.

Today I was on eBay.com home page and noticed an item on the left hand menu list called Solutions Directory. For some reason, that really sounded interesting to me. So I clicked it. It turns out the Solutions Directory is a list of software items which you can acquire to assist you in eBay buying, selling and auction management.

The great thing about this directory is that it shows for each piece of software which eBay country's it works on, who produced it and how much it costs (quite a few are free).

This is certainly worth a looksee if you're seeking ways of becoming more efficient in your eBay auction activity.

I must admit, I'm a sucker for software which people produce to make our eBay lives easier. However, a word of warning. If you're like me, you might find yourself playing too long with these goodies. Your time is precious, and limited.

So, by all means download and play with any new software which you think will help. But also you have to be brutal with yourself. Unless you can honestly see how a piece of software is going to make a speedy contribution to your eBay bottom line, reject it!

After having given you that excellent advice, I wonder my PC is filling up with (useful?) software.

Good luck in all your eBay buying and eBay selling.

Speak to you again soon.

Brian
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1. Happy Easter

Let's get the show on the road with something to make you smile!

I defy you not feel happier after turning on your speakers, and clicking this link.

Happy Easter

2. Update from Two Issues Ago

You might recall that I gave you a free software product two issues ago called FixMyEbooks.

This software addressed a problem which some people experienced after installing Service Pack 2 onto their Windows XP system. The problem is that implementing Service Pack 2 can result in some ebooks becoming unworkable, even thought they worked OK before.

FixMyEbooks has now been upgraded to get over even more ebook viewing problems, specifically 'I/O Error32'.

This is how you use FixMyEbooks:

1. Whenever you want to read an ebook, open FixMyEbooks first.
2. Minimise FixMyEbooks to the bottom of your screen.
3. Open and read your ebook.
4. When you're finished, close the ebook.
5. Close FixMyEbooks

To download the latest version of FixMyEbooks, click here.

3. Buy it Now!

Gone are the days when eBay was a quaint little auction site where people placed items from their household for auction to the other 23 members of eBay!

One of the major moves eBay made, and it wasn't approved by the pure auction aficianados (that's how you spell it in my dictionary!), was to introduce Buy it Now.

Now, anyone can see Buy it Now isn't an auction! It's an offer for sale at a price.

Well, Buy it Now was one of eBay's most powerful introductions. It is becoming more and more popular with eBay members.

If you've never sold anything with Buy it Now, you'll find a very useful table comparing this type of sale with the others which are available on eBay.

The table is here.

I have had many enquiries from readers who have expressed interest in the viability of dropshipping to make money on eBay.

Before I discuss this, it might be helpful to describe the dropship process. If you already know how dropshipping operates, just move on over this brief description.

Dropshipping is a method of selling which enables people, via eBay and by other means, to sell goods which are shipped directly to the end customer by the supplier. The big benefits are that the seller doesn't have to invest up front in stock, and they don't have the problems of storing, packaging and shipping goods. They simply offer goods for sale, take orders and payment, and forward the customer details and the agreed price to the dropship company.

The dropshipper then packages the item and ships it directly to the customer.

As in all businesses, there are good and bad examples of dropshippers. With some, you will find the prices you are required to pay for items makes it difficult to sell at reasonable profit margins. With others, it is perfectly possible to sell items on eBay and make money doing it.

Dropshipping is undoubtedly a 'hot button' at the moment. And there is another way in which you might wish to capitalise on all of this interest.

How about owning your own website, selling information and sources of dropshipping?

If this is of interest, you can see the idea here.

Have you heard of a private auction?

You can set this up for any item you sell on eBay, where you're protecting the identity of bidders from other bidders. Why might you wish to run a private auction?

Perhaps in the tight-knit world of collectibles, major collectors identities are well known.

Or where you're listing in highly competitive categories and you wish to protect your bidders from solicitations by other dealers selling similar items.

Or if the items are of a personal nature, it may be sensible to keep the bidders privacy.

Until now, the impact of using a private auction hasn't really been known. However, a survey was conducted recently by AuctionBytes and some interesting facts emerged.

Over 76% of respondents said that they had never used eBay private auctions as a seller. And nearly 65% said that a private auction would make them less likely to participate as a bidder.

The quoted reasons for avoiding private auctions as a buyer were:

+ The seller has something hide.

+ It may be a scam ... private auctions enable unscrupulous sellers to hide the identity of their bidders so that no one can warn them.

+ It defeats the only protection a buyer has on eBay, the modest element of transparency.

+ Of the sellers who had used private auctions feature when listing, nearly 45% stated it was to keep competitors from soliciting customers.

Maybe, after all, private auctions don't deserve the stigma which seems to be associated to them.

If you'd like to see all of the AuctionBytes survey, you can do so here.

"Don't spend another penny on eBay listing fees until you read this!

If there's one thing that dismays me about eBay, it's that so many sellers are simply throwing their listing fees away.

First off, can we agree that there's little point in listing your item unless buyers are going to view your auction? Yes?

In which case, why do so many sellers create auctions which are NEVER going to get viewed?

There are millions of sellers who don't know it, but they've wasted their listing fee before they even get to eBay's auction description page.

They make a fundamental error earlier on in their auction creation, and it really doesn’t matter how good their description page is....."

The above is the introduction to a page which I've written for those who aren't having the success with their eBay auctions that they'd hoped for.

If that describes you, it may well be worth your while taking a look here.

You will find a possible solution to your ebay auction problem, plus a very special offer which is only available to my newsletter readers.

If you're looking for some assistance in creating auctions, you may find this software is useful.

eZy Ebay Ad Builder helps you to generate eBay auction descriptions. You select a template to start with, choose from over 40 backgrounds, and then you insert pictures and your custom description.

The software is in a zip file, and you can download it from here.

Nothing surprises me when it comes to internet auctions. Amuse yourself with some of these beauties.

Fancy being a maid of honor at a Canadian wedding? Really...

You're going to need a calculator to work out the success fees on this one.

Now, THAT'S what I call a niche market in this day and age!

If you're a royalist, this MIGHT interest you. Don't forget, I did say might!

This is a challenge - even for eBay!

Disclaimer - I have no association with any of the sellers of the above items.