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Hello and welcome.

A particularly warm welcome to you if you're a new subscriber. It's good to have you as part of the family taking my eBay newsletter.

First of all, a small apology. In the last issue of the newsletter, I offered to review one of your eBay auctions, if you cared to submit the auction number to me. I limited the number of cases I would take on to 10. If you submitted an auction number to me, and I've emailed you back to say sorry, you weren't in the first 10, then I'm afraid I can't help you on this occasion.

If, however, you've submitted an auction number to me, and you haven't heard back yet, the good news is that you are in the first 10 and I will be reviewing the auction you sent me. So, if you're in that 10, and you haven't received your review, please bear with me, I will be in contact soon.

I must admit, I've been pretty busy lately on household stuff. We've had a new kitchen started to be fitted this weekend. I'm sure I read somewhere that moving house was the most stressful activity known to man? Whoever said that should try buying a kitchen from IKEA!

The problem is that my partner wanted a particular colour and a particular design of kitchen. We went round all the usual suspects but couldn't find anything suitable anywhere. Until that fateful day she suggested we try IKEA.

I thought they just sold candles and the like. You know, things that you need to see out a Scandinavian winter. I didn't realise they had so much stuff!

Anyway, she found the style and the colour. The store checked that everything we wanted was in stock. Great. And then, quicker than I could say Smorgasbord, she ordered it.

And then, this week, it started.

The phone call that said one of the items wasn't in stock, so it won't be coming with the rest of the kitchen. "But you said you had everything...."

"Ah yes, well you see, it's these computer systems you know, you can't trust them. When our guys went round the warehouse to pick out your items, this piece was conspicuous by its absence from our shelves. Sorry"

That was really helpful! The kitchen fitters were due on Saturday, and we'd kind of hoped all the bits would be there for them. Was the missing item important? Let's check on the order form.

I don't know about you, but I find IKEA speak almost impossible to fathom! We'd just about worked out that Faktum meant kitchen. But what the h*** is a double oven housing in Swedish?

Then another phone call the next day to say the missing bit was in stock, and it would come the day after the rest of the kitchen was delivered. Saved by the bell!

So, it's been takeaways for me this weekend.

I've just kept out of the way and played on my computer.

Speak to you again soon.

Brian
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1. With a Little Help From Above?

A Volkswagen Golf which once belonged to the new Pope, has been sold on eBay for $244,000 (£129,000).

21 year old Benjamin Halbe bought the VW in January from a car dealer in Germany for $12,900 (£6,800). It was when he was checking out the car's documents that he discovered one of the previous owners was Josef Cardinal Ratzinger.

Despite the misspelling - it should have been Joseph - Pope Benedict XVI was indeed confirmed as a previous owner.

This story gets even more bizarre. It turns out the winning bidder is the Golden Palace Casino in Austin, Texas.

What on earth is a casino going to do with a VW previously owned by the Pope?

Maybe it's an attempt to counter any divine intervention which punters might enjoy the tables.....


2. Don't Get Square Eyes

In May 2005, eBay.co.uk will be advertising on TV hoping to increase bidding and listing activity.

There will be over 40 satellite/cable television spots that will highlight the range of products available on the site, "from golf clubs to cars." The sponsorship will run continuously from May 4 until the end of June.

eBay UK ran an ad campaign on TV and radio last year which it said brought over 1 million new users to eBay.

eBay's announcement this year said, "We know that the categories featured within last year's advertising campaign saw strong growth and so we expect the same will happen this year. These categories are: Sport & Fitness, Golf, Fishing, Cars, Bikes, Clothing & Accessories, Home, Garden, Baby, DIY, Technology, Collectibles, Entertainment and Music. If you sell or have a business in these areas, you might want to prepare for the increase in demand from early May."

Got it?

3. Negative or Neutral

If you're thinking about bidding or buying on an item, one of the checks you will most likely wish to carry out is to vet the seller's feedback.

If you're like me, what you really want to do is cut to the chase, and just read those negatives or neutrals.

To save you time from leafing through page after page of feedbacks, there is a lovely tool which will take you straight there.

It doesn't cost anything to use, and you can find it here:


4. PayPal UK Contact Telephone Number

I've publicised this before, but it's well worth a repeat mention.

If you've any problems with PayPal, you can contact them by phone on 0870 7307191.

I just hope eBay take notice of this!!


5. Here's a "No Brainer"

Do you surf the internet every day?

If you do, did you know you can get paid for this?

I've been quietly trying this one for a while. And it works great! I've received payments in each of the last two months, just for surfing.

Now I don't want anything to interrupt my normal internet work, so when I learned about this program, this is how I implemented it:

1. I load up Deepnet. This is a smaller, alternative browser to Internet Explorer. It's also free. You can read about Deepnet and download it from here.

2. Within Deepnet I go onto the paid browsing website, and I set it away surfing.

3. I then carry on with my usual work, using Internet Explorer for any internet access I need in relation to that.

4. While I'm working, Deepnet automatically moves from site to site, earning me money while it surfs.

Can you make much at this? Well, you can earn up to $400 (£211) per day. But you can also start small and build it up.

Did I mention it was free to join?

I told you it was a no brainer!

You can find out about it here.

Finding items to sell on eBay is sometimes difficult, and it can take time. Depending on how much stuff you have left in the garage or attic, whether you like attending thrift stores or car boot sales, you may find yourself without much else to sell.

What I'm about to talk to you about is a simple way for you to make some extra cash on eBay. Also, you don't have to search your local garage sale or flea market for hidden treasures to sell on eBay. Best of all, you can make this item available to eBayers worldwide. Here's what you do....

First of all, find a market on eBay that is buying. Take a look at completed auctions or current hot auctions. This is a good place to start - just scroll down the page, select a category and click on the In Demand link. Once you find an area in which you're interested, you move on to the "hard bit".

Write a 3-5 page report on the subject. You can create it as a Microsoft Word document, although PDF is better.

Here is a free converter to get a Word document into PDF.

If in your report you can solve a type of problem or explain "how to" do something, even better. You offer your ebook, for that's what such a report is, on eBay for somewhere between 99p and £4.99. Be sure to make your auction title and description keyword rich so it gets viewed by the right audience.

You will definitely make sales of your ebook. You won't make a fortune, but this is only the start.

Now, here is the tip that puts you in a position to earn more money AFTER each sale of your ebook.

If you haven't heard of "affiliate marketing", then you need to read this section. In a nutshell, affiliate marketing is where you sell a product which is owned by someone else, and you get a percentage of the sale. What I want to talk about here, are digital products. By this I primarily mean ebooks. There are thousands of ebooks which you can offer for sale as an affiliate, and receive a percentage of sales made via your introduction.

The big companies in this field which enable you to sign up to any number of affiliate schemes are cj.com and Clickbank.com Sign up for free to one or both of these two, and then select digital products to promote. In this instance you find ebooks which are related to the topic of your own ebook.

When you find an ebook you wish to promote as an affiliate, you are given access to a special text link which is unique to you. When anyone clicks on your link, they are taken to the sales page of the ebook you're promoting. Should they buy the ebook, you are credited with a percentage of the sale.

Affiliate links can appear to be quite cumbersome. A good idea is to go to www.tinyurl.com where you can convert a long URL link into a shortened version.

Blend your links into appropriate places in your report. Don't overdo it. I would suggest two different links maximum in your 3 - 5 page ebook.

Remember, you can sell your ebook over and over again on eBay and you have exclusive rights to it! And, for every buyer, you are giving them the opportunity to buy further related ebooks for which you get a percentage of the sale.

And you haven't had to go rummaging around to find an item to sell.

One of the eBay experts I have a lot of respect for is Jim Cockrum. His ebook 'The Silent Sales Machine Hiding on eBay' is excellent.

Well, recently Jim managed to interview an ex eBay employee of eBay.com. And he asked the kind of questions which you and I have been itching to get answered.

Here's how the interview went...

Jim: What were your job duties at eBay?

ex eBay employee: During my employment at eBay. I worked in several departments. As a Customer Support Rep. I answered general support emails from members. I was also on the phone team for a short while. Yes. eBay DOES have limited phone support believe it or not! I learned most of eBay's policies on the phone team because we got calls from Just about everyone for every reason. I covered the globe in eBay Policies & Procedures that way. I also had experience in the Safe Harbor department where ending auctions and suspending members made me feel quite empowered.

Jim: Do most eBay employees have an eBay account?

ex eBay employee: Actually it is an unwritten policy that ALL eBay support employees have an eBay account. Part of the hiring process requires that they have knowledge of at least the buyer side of eBay. I'm sure they'll say they do this so they can be sure each employee can actually give first hand knowledge of how the site is run and therefore provide better customer service, but some will argue that this is not the best hiring practice as many new employees have never even used ebay until just before their interview. Others say it only helps eBay to increase the number of registered members for the analysts.

Jim: How is the eBay site monitored for violations? Is it really monitored only by eBay users or are there eBay sponsored 'police' as well?

ex eBay employee: Both. EBay does rely on their users to police the site. This "tattle tale" system is what eBay used to solely rely on. In the last year or so. eBay has created teams that target certain types of auctions: this is a very proactive approach. eBay has also developed their own applications that actually go out and run searches for unique phrases and foul language content (among other variables). A rep then reviews the list of items that are captured and then goes through to confirm and sort the violation and then just copies and pastes the seller's ID into another program which automatically ends all auctions or suspends the users as appropriate. Some reps get a great sense of satisfaction at doing this as it makes them feel almost God Like.

Jim: How should you handle an email from eBay that tells you that you've violated an eBay policy?

ex eBay employee: eBay does not like to point out exactly what you are violating because it is costly to research each auction for the exact guideline. There may not even be an exact policy that covers your specific item anyway. eBay won't tell you the exact guideline in the policy that you violated. Instead, they'll send you the guidelines and Just remind you to follow them and hope that you can determine the violation on your own. Most users don't think they've done anything wrong and because they've seen the exact same listing on another user's auction, they feel as if they are being singled out or that eBay is out to get them. Thus they become defensive and rightly upset that they now have to resubmit all of their auctions after they correct the issue. This leads to hot headed emails to eBay's Safe Harbor department and trust me. read 100 or so nasty emails from upset users and you'll have NO problem understanding why some reps Just flat out don't reply or reply with more bad news. The bottom line here is: catch a rep on a bad day and be the brunt of his/her frustrations!

Jim: So it sounds like your tone is important when writing eBay - cooperation will take you far...

ex eBay employee: Yes

Jim: How hard is it to get you account back up and running if it's been turned off (suspended)?

ex eBay employee: It depends on your infraction: it isn't that difficult unless you are indefinitely suspended. That can be nearly impossible. The clue here is to not get all hot headed and defensive about your suspension. The louder you yell the slower they investigate they're only human after all. Obviously, eBay wants you as a member because you are a valuable revenue stream for them. however, if you are a problem member who is costing eBay money by using up their resources. they will have to let you go.

Jim: How does eBay really feel about one user having multiple eBay accounts?

ex eBay employee: Certainly, no one at eBay corporate will frown upon you having multiple accounts after all. It DOES make eBay "appear" to have more registered members and that only helps eBay's image to investors.

Jim: Do Power Sellers really get preferential treatment when it comes to eBay policy? It seems so...

ex eBay employee: Oh yes. many do. I know of one PS whose feedback score got so high that eBay actually created the top flying star icon Just for him. He also got an expense paid special invitation to visit with Meg and tour the facility in San Jose and Salt Lake City. In fact eBay now offers their Gold members health insurance! Of course, they all still get that special email account that is really answered within 2 hours and Bronze/Gold members get a special phone number they can call for immediate help. Gold members even get their very own account manager to hold their hand through Just about anything.

Jim: What are the hottest categories on eBay (get the most TRAFFIC - and bids)?

ex eBay employee: eBay MOTORS is the fastest growing category since 1999 and ELECTRONICS is probably the top-producing category for number of items listed (lots of fraud in Electronic items so beware!) Collectibles & Antiques still remain to be the hottest items traffic wise on eBay. Oh. but wait - did I mention the other side of eBay? The Mature Audience categories don't get publicly counted but are THE #1 highest traffic source on eBay.

Jim: I won't be going there...

It's Brian back again. I don't know about you, but I could have done with another half an hour with that guy.

Anyway, well done Jim for getting the interview in the first place.

And I thoroughly recommend you review Jim's ebook, 'The Silent Sales Machine Hiding on eBay". It's just been completely updated, and you can see it here.

If you're on the mailing list of any of the big internet marketing gurus, you cannot have avoided receiving an email about the firesale which Michael Rasmussen is currently running.

If you haven't heard of Michael, he's written some top selling ebooks and he's now selling four of these ebooks with resale rights. The firesale element means that the price for his offer goes up at regular intervals. In other words, the earlier you buy, the lower price you pay.

What I would like you to do is look at his offer, and note two of the titles. The ones called "How to Start Your Own Profitable Paid Membership Web Site" and "Search Engines Revealed". You will see that these best selling ebooks are normally sold at $47 (£24), and the resale rights are $997 (£527) for each.

Now, I'm not trying to sell you on Michael's offer. The reason I'm mentioning this is that from 1st May, both of these superb ebooks are available to my Keyword Pro members. This means that Keyword Pro members have been given copies of both "How to Start Your Own Profitable Paid Membership Web Site" and "Search Engines Revealed", plus they also have resale rights to each of them.

In fact they are just two of the items in Keyword Pro's Treasure Trove of products. There are now 15 top notch ebook and software products which Keyword Pro members get access to, and for which they have the Master Resale Rights. Which means they can sell them on eBay and elsewhere, and keep all the profits.

Currently, the sales value of products in the Treasure Trove now total $440 (£235). The total value of the Master Resale Rights is incalculable!

If you want to consider subscribing to Keyword Pro, there are still a few licences available the special newsletter reader price. Click here for more information.

You may know that a great way to find bargains on eBay is to search for items with misspellings in the auction title. What you're trying to do is locate auctions which have little or zero traffic due to the seller having used an incorrect spelling.

When you uncover one of these, you're likely to find the bidding activity is tiny or even nonexistent, and you have a great chance of buying at a very low price.

Now, you could do this searching manually. Or you could use Lost Auction - a very useful software program.

With Lost Auction, you simply key in the correct spelling of the keyword you want to examine. It creates a list of possible misspellings, and starts searching for occurrences of these across eBay. You then have the option to visit the individual auction pages and see what you think!

You don't just have to use Lost Auction to find bargains to buy. You could buy an item, and place it straight back for sale on eBay. With the correct spelling of course!

You can download Lost Auction from here.

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

This is one for the ladies. Any takers?

This would make a great present for any anglers out there

Now this is what I call that Bulldog British spirit. Well done!

I would say it qualifies. This truly is an unusual item for eBay.

Talk about an inflated ego! And look at the postage costs too!

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