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October 23, 2002

In this issue:
* New Auction Genius Class To Begin Saturday
* Reader Feedback
* Painful Change Of Address
* Help End Breast Cancer
* Auctions Are AWESOME!
* Feature Article: What, Exactly, Is “Closeout”?
* News From eBay
1. Selling Manager
2. eBay/PayPal Marriage
3. More Options On eBay Motors
4. New Warranty Program
5. eBay Enraged At iOffer
* Making Your Auction Life A Tad Easier
* A Halloween Laugh
* 1000 Marbles

New Auction Genius Class To Begin Saturday

I am really excited about the Auction Genius class beginning this Saturday, 10/26, at 8 a.m., Pacific time. Not only do we learn how to create an eBay BUSINESS, instead of an eBay HOBBY, but there are some very valuable bonuses:

Bonus #1: My Auction Manager

This incredible system creates buyer invoices, ads, tracks auctions, inventory, tracks your expenses and profits ... and that's just the beginning.

Value: $250

Bonus #2 Deep Analysis Software

Let me tell you a sad story about a new auction seller called me one day.

"You've got to help me!", he exclaimed frantically. "I bought 200 computer games for $10.99 each. I put them on eBay but none of them sold. So, I checked my competition and guess what? They're selling the same game for $6.99 and $7.99. What do I do now?", he wailed.

This software would have prevented this costly and unfortunate mistake!

Value: $179

Bonus #3-8: Six Free Bonus Classes Of Your Choice From The Online Auction Academy

Taught by experienced auction sellers, each one normally costs $99.

Value: $594

Bonus #9: Class Recordings

Ever take a class - and then days or weeks later scratch your head trying to remember exactly what they said about "X"?

No reason for that with the Auction Genius Course. Look and listen to the classes anytime you want!

Bonus #10: The Auction Investment Fund - Available ONLY To Auction Genius Students:

Come across really great deal - but you just don't have the money? Perhaps we just might finance it!

For example, you find Levi jeans for $4 a pair. Oh, joy! The same pair is selling for $19 on eBay. BUT ... the catch is that you have to buy 1000 pairs to get this awesome price. And, you just don't have the $4,000.

Your deal might qualify for our Investment Fund. If it does, we will:

a. Buy the jeans
b. Store them in our warehouse
c. Dropship them to your buyer

We'll split the profits.

Bonus #11: Collect $200 on every sale, instead of the regular program which pays $75. Right now we owe our top affiliate a check for $1,000!

If you're considering the Auction Genius course, now is the best time. Why? Because the holiday breaks will give us more time to “get” it.

Reader Feedback

In the last issue of Auction Gold, the feature article was “The Unpopular Truth About Your Auction Business”. I asked for reader feedback, and I got it. Here are 2 of my favorites:

You should turn in your internet marketer's membership card right now.

>Truth #1: No one can “give” you, or me, a successful business.

Flat out wrong. Santa Claus has given me all sorts of stuff and I wasn't always a good boy.

>Truth #2: It ain't easy, folks!

Of course it's easy. Anyone who's ever been in a MLM program knows that. Why do you think that MLM companies don't last more than a year or two. Obviously because everyone who joined became a millionaire and so the company wasn't needed anymore.

>Truth #3: money.

Need money to make money? That's old school thinking. Why just today I sent out a bunch of letters and if nobody breaks the chain, I'll be living in Hawaii by next month.

And I do wish you watch your foul language. Using four-letter words like "work". If people actually thought it required effort to succeed, 90% of all marketers would go out of business. And what would they do then? There are only so many spots to fill at McDonalds.

But I've decided not to cancel my subscription so I can try to keep you from leading people astray.

David Mitchell
(We don't publish reader email addresses due to spammers).

I wonder if I could have permission to reproduce your amazing feature article in the latest Auction Gold on my "About Me" page at E-Bay. I want to use it to promote my AGC affiliate link.

It's wonderful...just wonderful! You've said what everybody else is too scared to say.....that everyone else avoids.....but many know is the truth. Everyone in e-commerce wants to make it sound so easy....and all this does is turn people sour in the end and makes it harder and harder for those with genuine opportunities to promote them. No one knows WHO to believe anymore???????!!!!!

Nothing makes more sense to me than the model you teach in the course.....it's so intensely practical and yet very sophisticated at the same time. I've wasted so much money and time over the last 4 years on "hyped-up dishonest scams" that looked so genuine on the surface and had all the "bells &whistles" to suck you further and further in......then after awhile it dawns on you .......AGAIN......that you've been taken for a fool!

It's almost "cathartic" to hear someone on the "frontline" telling it "like it is” .......CONGRATULATIONS!”

Brett Margison
New Zealand

A “P.S.” to last week's article: a new product from one of the most successful online marketers (or, so they say) includes the following line:

"How To Make Your First Million Dollars Online (Guaranteed)!"

I wonder ... if I buy his product, and I don't make a million dollars as a result ... do you think he will give me the million dollars himself? :-)

Painful Change Of Address

An Auction Gold reader faced the tedious process of acquiring a new email address and changing all his email inquiries. This was because someone acquired his AOL email address and sent some “pretty rough porn stuff” using his address.

He says:

Please let everyone know not to answer an insta- kiss from anyone they do not know- this is how the spammer found out my aol password and ID. It looks perfectly real as if coming from AOL somehow.

Rick Haines
http://www.stores.ebay.com/fortressofsolitudecollectibles

Help End Breast Cancer

PLEASE go to the site below and click on the pink ribbon. They will donate $1 to breast cancer research. This is ONLY for the month of October. Please pass this word to anyone you know.

http://www.cignafoundation.org/

When I ran screaming from my J-O-B years ago, it was partly because I wanted to have more FUN! Auctions are sometimes exasperating, but they certainly aren't dull. Here is a great example:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1390808501

It's a guaranteed one-line part in a new TV show called “Lucky”. The star is John Corbett. I was pretty certain I knew who he was, and I was right. He starred on a show a few years ago where he was an alien abductee. (Yes, I was an X-File fanatic for years!) I really loved the show and was sorry when it was taken off the air.

Anyway, if you don't know who he is, check here:

http://www.john-corbett.com/

And, if you've got $7,854.33 (one penny above current bid) you may be the lucky new actor.

Feature Article: What, Exactly, Is "Closeout" Anyway?

There are three main categories for discounted merchandise: closeout, wholesale and drop shipping. Like most things in life, the greater the risk, the greater the possible reward. And that is definitely the case with closeout.

Closeout comes from store returns; discontinued stock, damaged; salvage' liquidation and more.

The good part: you can buy goodies for a very small percentage of its retail value – much cheaper than wholesale or drop shipping. The potential profits are gigantic.

Look at this example:

The downside: you must usually buy in larger amounts, although many closeout merchants will agree to samples.

Individual items can be quite lucrative. For example, here is a tape of an “I Love Lucy” show entitled “The Loving Cup” On Amazon, this video sells “from $9.98”. The word “from” means that $9.98 is the bottom price.

Here is a closeout listing for that same video, plus another one named “Lucy Does A TV Commercial”. The price for both: $3.

Special Profits From Closeout

If you can take advantage of whatever is currently profitable, you can further increase profits. For example, patriotic jewelry has been popular ever since last September:

Naturally, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas merchandise is now quite popular. But, keep an eye on current affairs for clues about selling.

A prime example is the upcoming Stephen King movie “Dreamcatcher”. It is quite possible that dreamcatchers will be (temporarily) hot items.

You can find thousands of closeout items in our Wholesale Database:

http://wholesale.auctionknowhow.com

News From eBay
1. Selling Manager

eBay has a new online sales management tool. According to eBay, it will:

• Greatly reduce the time you spend on buyer emails by using customizable email templates
• Access eBay Selling Manager through My eBay - and turn My eBay into a more powerful selling tool
• Relist your sold and unsold listings in bulk
  
• Print professional labels and invoices
• Track all of your sales and bidding activities
• Store and send your favorite feedback comments - without having to retype them over and over
• Reschedule and manage your pending listings

There is a 30-day free trial and then the service costs $4.99 per month.

http://pages.ebay.com/selling_manager/

2. eBay/PayPal Marriage

eBay has begun to integrate PayPal into its empire. Now you can:

• Choose of PayPal as a payment option on the Sell Your Item form
• Visibly place the PayPal logo on the View Item page
• Sort by listings that offer PayPal as a payment choice

eBay is phasing out its own payment plan, Billpoint, and after the first of the year, no seller will be able to sign up for it.

3. More Options On eBay Motors

Starting next month, sellers on eBay Motors can lower the reserve or Buy It Now price of their
vehicle once during the listing cycle, even if the item has already received bids. The current eBay rules state that once a bid has been placed on an item, these changes may not be made.

This new choice is available only on eBay Motors and only in the categories of:

• Passenger Vehicles
• Motorcycles
• Other Vehicles

All active bidders on the vehicle will receive an email revealing the lower price.

http://pages.ebay.com/ebaymotors/help/lower_price.html

4. New Warranty Program

Many buyers hesitate to buy electronics and computer items because they fear that their new items won't work properly. To ease these fears and boost sales, eBay has teamed up with N.E.W. Customer Service Companies to launch a new warranty program called "Warranty Service for eBay provided by N.E.W."

Now, eBay sellers to can offer optional warranties with their listings.

According to eBay, "Warranty benefits for buyers include free repairs and a No Lemon Guarantee. Buyers purchase the warranties for a low price directly from N.E.W., who offers 24x7 customer service and a nationwide network of over 25,000 service providers."

The warranties can cover most new, refurbished, and used products. Sellers also have the ability to earn cash bonuses through warranties. N.E.W will handle all details related to the warranty purchase, fulfillment, servicing, and customer support.

According to eBay, “There's no cost for sellers to participate in the program and no additional resources are required”. Well not exactly. There's a cost for the warranty, and it's not cheap. For example, if the purchase price is $0.00 - $50.00, the cost of the warranty is $9.99. It seems possible to sell an items for $5 – and pay almost $10 for the warranty. Hopefully, the seller will have the experience and knowledge to avoid such a situation.

For more information, go

http://pages.ebay.com/help/warranty/seller_overview.html

5. eBay Enraged At iOffer

iOffer is a “trading community”, meaning you can post want ads for items you are seeking, make offers on other goodies, and not be outbid at the last minute, or have to wait for days for an auction to close.

The site has recently introduced a free downloadable tool, Mr.Grabber, that will import eBay listings (auctions and fixed price) from eBay to iOffer. On auction items, the item will be listed on iOffer as a "make an offer" listing. This way the seller can have an auction active on eBay and also have a "make an offer" listing on iOffer. If the seller sells the item on eBay, they just remove the item from iOffer. If the seller makes an acceptable deal at iOffer, they can end the auction early, or predicate the sale on iOffer contingent on the auction ending on eBay. Since there is no listing fee on iOffer, this will cost the seller nothing. In other words, advantage goes to the seller, since it costs nothing to list your products on both sites.

It is also supposed to have other features, such as allowing sellers to import their feedback numbers from ebaY, and dynamically update that number. Since this program is downloaded on the seller's computer, it is the seller who controls when and if it is used.

iOffer describes Mr. Grabber as "a simple tool that allows eBay users to transfer their current feedback rating and all of their items to iOffer. Even if you are not currently registered for iOffer, Mr. Grabber will take care of that by letting you automatically complete your iOffer registration. Mr. Grabber could be used at any time after that to update your rating on iOffer or transfer your new items listed on eBay."

eBay recently contacted iOffer, saying it had "serious issues" with Mr. Grabber, saying it was an "unauthorized importation of eBay feedback ratings."

iOffer denies any infringement of eBay rights. "Mr. Grabber is an application that users download onto their computer, so it's their computer going on eBay and grabbing this information.

"Our position is that the seller owns their items and really their rating is their reputation that they've built over the years. Some people spend five, six, seven years to build this reputation and it's a little unfair to expect it only be used on eBay.”

"I kind of liken it to your credit rating. It's very important and should be shared anywhere you do business, want to finance or spend money."

iOffer claims that this is yet another example of eBay attempting to squash competition. And, of course, he is right.

What do you think? Does your feedback belong to you, or eBay?

You can find Mr. Grabber here:

http://www.mrgrabber.com/MrGrabberSetup.exe

Making Your Auction Life A Tad Easier

This week a reader sent me an email asking for eBay contact information. With apologies to that reader, your email was accidentally deleted and I have no way of replying.

At any rate, auctionknowhow.com has a “Resource” section, just to make life a little easier for all of you. Sometime plowing through these auction pages is a daunting job, and this might provide a shortcut. So check it out if you need:

1. an eBay fee chart

2. eBay's often elusive and hard-to-find contact information.

3. When can you get your Final Value Fee credited back to your account?

4. Yahoo contact info

5. Amazon contact info

6. Do you ever see those letters at the end of a URL, like "de" and wonder what country they represent? This handy little tool will tell you. And, if you know the country, and wonder what letters represent it, it will do that, too.

7. Is it okay to list that what-cha-ma-call-it on eBay? Check out our "Prohibited and Questionable" list.

http://auctionknowhow.com/resource

A Halloween Laugh

This wonderful piece of fun comes from my wonderful New Zealand friend, Brett Margison, who was quoted earlier in this ezine. Don't fail to turn on your sound, because the audio adds a lot: It's starring everyone's favorite cartoon car, Garfield (almost as cute as my fat, lazy cat Millie!)

http://www.garfield.com/fandg/postcard/images/gfanhw01.swf

Happy Halloween to you and yours!

1000 Marbles

Here's a beautiful story that reminds us all of the point of life on earth ...

- - -

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the basement ham-shack with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it.

I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind; he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whomever he was talking with something about "a thousand marbles." I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say.

"Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital" he continued, "Let me tell you something Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities."

And that's when he began to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles."

"You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years. Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime."

"Now, stick with me, Tom, I'm getting to the important part. It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail" he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy. So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic container right here in the sack next to my gear."

"Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focus more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight."

"Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure that if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time."

"It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the band. This is 75 Year Old Man, K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning!"

You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. "C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast."

"What brought this on?" she asked with a smile. "Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. And hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles...."