• Welcome from Brian McGregor 
• Inspirational Quote of the Day
• News and Views
• The Old eBay Seller's Almanac
• 106 Free Information Products You Can Sell on eBay
• Simple Delivery of Ebooks to Your eBay Buyers
• A Gift from Me to You
• Someone's auctioning what? Unusual items currently available
• Finally
• My Products Catalogue
• Back to Newsletter Archive

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.

As I'm writing this, the summer action here in the UK has really started to make an impression. The Derby horse race was run last week. The Wimbledon tennis tournament has begun, although rain is expected some time later today - surprise, surprise! The England cricket team have just lost a one day international against Australia. Ah well, some things never change - although we might have reason for hope this time. The Lions rugby union team will probably have played their first Test Match against New Zealand by the time you read this. And Glastonbury started today, with a 5 hour deluge giving the Festival goers that special English welcome!

The point of all this is that it reminds me the year is half over!

When I contemplated in January what I wanted to do in 2005, I should by now be 50% of the way towards achieving those objectives.

I know I'm not. Like many people for whom the internet is a much loved companion, I recognise I've been deflected onto activities which won't help me get to my goals!

Is this a problem?

Not really. While it's great to meet a target, to make a sale, to achieve an objective, in my mind it's equally important that you enjoy your waking hours.

So, when December 2005 arrives I can make one promise. I will continue trying new things, probing and prodding, seeing what I can do. I know I will not have attained what I set to do on January 1. But whatever I've done, I will have had a few smiles on the way in doing it.

I wish you much happiness in your internet activities!

Speak to you again soon.

Brian
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1. Simple Cropping and Re-Sizing of Your eBay Auction Pictures

If you ever need to crop or re-size a picture for your auction, here is a nifty online utility.

You simply upload your image, select how you want to crop or re-size the picture. You then download your modified image back to your PC. It's very easy to use - an excellent idea!

The service is free, and you can find it here.


2. Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman Scorned

A DJ from Birmingham is mourning the loss of his Lotus Esprit Turbo after his outraged wife sold the car on eBay UK for the grand sum of 50 pence (90 cents).

Tim Shaw interviewed model Jodie Marsh on his radio show for Kerrang 105.2. Flirting was natural, but seemed to go too far when Shaw said he would leave his wife and children for Jodie!

Unfortunately for Tim, wife Hayley was listening to the interview and took the words seriously. She snapped! And she put her husband's £25,000 ($48,000) sports car on sale on eBay with a Buy it Now price of 50 pence.

She finished her eBay auction description with, ”I am the registered owner and I have the log book. Please only buy if you can pick up tonight.”

A lucky buyer snapped up the car immediately, and left positive feedback: “thank you Hayley the car is excellent thank your hubby for me”.

The radio station said Mr Shaw was taking a few days off to talk things over with his wife.

OUCH!!!

Stop Press
It appears some doubt is being cast upon this story. Could we have been duped by a clever publicity stunt? Read what this observer has to say, and make up your own mind.

3. Auction Software Programs

At some point in your eBay activities you may want to consider what software programs might be available to assist you in your eBay buying and selling.

There is a wide range of software designed to help eBayers to be more effective, better informed or simply better organised.

If you want to review what is available, you might find this site to be useful. It contains an outline of around 180 software programs, categorised within selling and buying headings.

You should find what you're looking for here.


4. Speedy Update

If you're a regular reader, you may recall me talking previously about how to get broadband speed at dial-up prices.

This is achieved by a remarkable piece of software which you simply download and install on your PC. Once you've done this you instantly get broadband connection speed. You don't need to do anything else - you use your present modem and keep your current ISP.

The company who have created this software have just announced the latest version. And this increases the speed of connection by a further 20%.

If you would like to find out more, you can read all about it here.

If Ben Franklin was alive today, he'd probably be setting up shop on eBay. It would be the perfect marketplace for this most industrious and enterprising of Americans.

And chances are Ben Franklin would be a PowerSeller. The man who said, "Early to bed and early to rise" would have been first in line at the local estate sale. And the same advance planning he promoted in his famous Old Farmer's Almanac would smooth out the peaks and valleys of selling on eBay.

Experienced sellers know that sales slow in summer, only to pick up dramatically around October and November. How can you promote a steady stream of sales throughout the year? Follow the philosophy of Ben and create your own eBay Seller's Almanac.

By planning a year in advance, you'll follow seasonal demands as well as eBay's own promotions, organizing your sales activities around them. Looking ahead will allow you to buy when prices are low and sell when prices are high.

You might create the following entries in your almanac:

January
Christmas and Hanukkah are alive and well this month! Now is the perfect time to buy wrapping paper, figurines, ornaments, decorations, and anything else that stores are closing out. Create a long-term storage area, and pack holiday items in clearly labeled boxes so you can retrieve them when needed-about ten months from now.

February
When eBay announces fee increases, as they did earlier this year, they sometimes take effect in late February. So get your sales online during the first part of the month. Look for a promotion around Valentine's Day like the five-cent listing day announced by Bill Cobb on February 13.

March-April
Secondhand stores, as well as retailers, will be removing winter items from their shelves. Make your purchases of gloves, scarves, and sweaters now. You can put them up for sale in early fall, before they appear on retailers' shelves.

May
School days are ending and the mood switches to vacations, picnics, and trips to the beach. This is when you put out those warm-weather items you've been saving since last fall.

June-July
Your venue of choice for selling should now be eBay, during the eBay Live conference. Why? When many sellers are out of town, your competition dwindles.

August
Open boxes labeled "backpacks," and "extra-long twin sheets," and "school supplies" and put the contents up for sale. Think of it as helping to advance education.

But don't get so distracted with selling that you forget to buy. From swimsuits to beach balls, summer items are ripe for the picking. If you stock-up now at rock-bottom prices, you'll be in good shape for the following spring.

September
Take advantage of closeouts of binders, folders, and other things students need so you won't be tardy when the school bell rings next August.

November
If you buy leftover Halloween costumes and decorations now, you'll have eager takers next October. But there's no rest for the weary; also focus on unpacking all the holiday merchandise and gift-worthy items you've been saving for the end-of-the year season, which is the busiest time of year on eBay.

December
Your kids may counting the days until Christmas, but your present arrives December 26 or 27 when eBay holds typically holds a seller promotion. But that's not the only time you can get a good deal. Watch for other free listing days on other eBay sites. These are usually announced here on AuctionBytes, so keep checking; you can upload sales to the Australia, UK, or Canadian versions of eBay and save substantially in insertion fees.

Scheduling is very important, but be aware that there are some eBay promotions you just can't anticipate. The following was posted on the Announcements Board (http://www2.ebay.com/aw/marketing.shtml) less than a day before the sale began:

1-Day Only: 50% Off Fixed Price Insertion Fee or Free Buy It Now for Auction Listings

Also keep your eyes open for special savings opportunities like a one-cent subtitle deal that was held April 11, and the eBay Treasure Hunt, which was held February 15. The best way to be on the look-out is to subscribe to receive eBay's announcements on a daily basis by going to the eBay Groups page for the General Announcements Board and clicking the Join Group button.

To sum up with some Ben Franklin-style words of wisdom: Set aside a long-term storage area where you place your end-of-season purchases; create a seller's almanac - a calendar on which you write reminders. To make it most effective, divide it into two categories: one month in advance and eight to ten months in advance, using different colors for each.

The important thing is to plan ahead to buy bargains and take advantage of every opportunity to sell at a profit. To paraphrase a wise man, "A penny saved on eBay is a penny earned in your PayPal account."

This has been a guest article by Greg Holden.

About the author:
Greg Holden, who lives in Chicago, is the author of several books about eBay, including the upcoming How to Do Everything with Your eBay Business, second edition, and Collectors' Guide to eBay, both published by Osborne-McGraw Hill. Find out more on Greg's Web site (http://www.gregholden.com), which includes a blog related to his book Internet Babylon: Secrets, Scandals and Shocks on the Information Superhighway, published by Apress.

Are you looking for information products like ebooks to sell on eBay, but you're not sure how to get your hands on such products?

Or you may currently be selling info products but you're looking for new and different ebooks to offer.

Just for you, I have managed to get hold of a massive package of 106 niche ebooks which you can sell on eBay. You can sell the package, or individual ebooks, as you wish.

Best of all, the ebooks come with Master Resell Rights, which really helps to make your auctions fly. Take it from me, if you offer Resell Rights with ebooks it makes your auction much more attractive to potential buyers.

Did I say that the Resell Rights was the best part of this offering?

I wasn't being absolutely honest.

Without doubt, the best part of this package of 106 niche digital products is that it's absolutely free!

All you have to do is download, and start selling on eBay. To help you do this, each ebook comes with a pre-prepared sales web page which you simply modify to turn it into your personal auction description page.

(Before we move on, I know that one of the issues many sellers have with selling ebooks on eBay is that they have no easy way of delivering them to their buyers. Some sellers have their own website, or have hosted web space, and they know how to set up an ebook delivery mechanism. But what if you don't have any of these facilities, or you've never sold and delivered ebooks before?

Well, the next item in this newsletter shows you a really slick way which gets over all these problems very simply. And at zero cost. So, keep reading about this superb package of ebooks, and I'll show you how easy it can be to deliver these to your buyers.)

I don't have the space or the time to tell you about every item in the package, but here are some of the topics covered by these free ebooks:

How to Buy A Car With Little or No Credit
Chinese Recipes
Self Improvement Tips
Bringing Your Golf Scores To Life
Camping & Outdoor Recipes
Practical Guide To Swing Trading
Family Finance Planner
Recipes For The Deep Fryer
Ways To Get Fit & Stay Fit
How To Use Your Mind For Study
Atkins Diet Recipes
Ways To Stop The Money Leak
Insider Secrets - Currency Trading
Egg Recipes
Steps To Happy Relationship
Get Paid To Shop
Lip-Smacking Good Jam Recipes
Vintage Crochet Patterns
Chicken Recipes
French Language Phrases Ebook Guide
Refreshing Punch Recipes
Self Improvement Tips
How To Stop Your Depression Now
Crock Pot Recipes
How To Be An Air Courier
Great Gifts In A Jar
Recipes For Chilli Lovers
How To Stop Smoking Forever
About Dreams
Tried And True Amish Recipes
The Influence Of The Zodiac
Easy Money Savers
Weight Loss And Health Tips
Cheesecake Recipes
Divorce How To Rebuild Your Life
Home Based Answering Service
Chocolate Recipes For Chocolate Lovers
Dutch Language Phrases Ebook Guide
Delicious Diabetic Recipes
Happiness And Marriage
How To Write Special Feature Articles
etc etc etc

These amazing ebooks are not only great resources for you, but they can lead to substantial eBay revenues!

Is there a catch?

The only one is that this is a limited time offer. It is only open for a short time. And I apologise now to those people reading this newsletter on my website after the date of publication, and who find that the link to this package is dead.

All I can advise interested readers is to click the link today.

This is your personal access to the free 106 niche ebooks with Master Resell Rights. Click here.

Good luck with the ebooks. I hope you find them useful and make lots of sales.

Don't forget, if you've never sold ebooks before, and you're concerned about how to deliver them to your buyers, the next section is for you......

Here is a way in which once you sell ebooks on eBay, you can have them delivered to your buyers both easily and for free.

Using this new method, you upload your ebook to the service and it takes care of the download mechanism to your buyers. It's called DropLoad, and it's free.....

First of all, go to www.DropLoad.com and register.

All they want is your name, email and a password. Optionally, you can request that DropLoad informs you when your recipient claims their file. Also, you can ask that DropLoad scans your file for viruses. Both of these options are very useful, and I suggest you elect to use them.

Once you're registered, you can login and go to the process to send a file to a buyer.

A form is presented in which you give your buyer's email address. You then browse to the ebook file on your PC which your customer has purchased. You can also add a note for your buyer. In here you could place your eBay auction number and Title, and a thank you to your buyer etc. Finally, you then click the 'Drop It' button.

DropLoad uploads your file to its servers, and tells you an email has been sent to your customer.

When your buyer receives that email, it explains a file from you is ready for download, and it includes the note you added. There is a link address in the email which the buyer clicks on and it takes them to a web page from which they download the ebook file.

Once they have downloaded, this triggers DropLoad to send an email to you letting you know your buyer has picked up the file.

And that's it. You're done.

I can tell you, it's much more complicated to explain this than to perform it!

A great way to see how this all works is to send a file to yourself. You do this by registering, and then logging in to send a file. In this case key in your own email address in the 'To' box. (You can send and receive at the same email address.) You can then see the total process from both the sender and receiver's viewpoint.

The only limit to DropLoad is that any file you wish to send cannot exceed 100Mb. Given that the largest ebook I've ever seen is just over 3Mb, I think there's plenty of leeway for us here, don't you?

If you have any problems using this service, let me know and I'll try and help.

I believe DropLoad, together with the 106 Niche Products, is an ideal way to get into this fruitful eBay market area. I hope you can benefit from all of this.

This time instead of giving you one gift, I thought I'd give you hundreds! At least, access to hundreds.

Let me give you some examples selected at random from this source. Are you interested in software which will help you in any of these areas?...

Vehicle performance analysis
Invoicing program
Club/Association membership
Bells and Whistles for Outlook
Comedy writing
Timekeeping, Billing and Book-keeping system
Network Marketing management
Personal Passwords Manager
Random Test Generation
Web Speed Accelerator from Google
Real Estate referrals management
Hairdressing Salon system
Screenwriting
Customer Management system

These are a few of the hundreds of software applications which you can find here.

Note that most of these applications are free, but do watch for the occasional product which incurs a license fee.

Apart from that, search and download away to your heart's content!

Here's the link again.

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

I hope you've got plenty of puff!

Hmmm I bet nobody has reported this one to eBay - yet!

Wow. That's what I call a whopper!!!

Anyone know what is the idea behind this?

Surely you can't have Big Mac and taste in the same sentence?

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