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June 19, 2002

In this issue:
*An Update On Free Website Traffic
* Reader Feedback
* Feature Article: Turning Negative Feedback Into A Positive, by Gary Wilkinson
* Amazon Illustrates One Of The Worst Trends In The Auction Business
* Post Office Rate Increase
* What A Clever Idea!
* The "Hot List" of Antiques and Collectibles
* News From eBay
1. Easy Multiple Listings
2. Newsweek Looks At eBay
3. Another Slimeball Is Trying To Cheat eBay Sellers
4. "Sell Your Item" Form
5. Changes to "My eBay"
6. If You Have A REALLY Bad Case Of Auction Fever ...
7. Coming Soon: Fixed Price Format
* Is This The Core Secret Of Success?

An Update On Free Website Traffic

In the last issue of AG, I mentioned that I had joined a free service called Traffic Swarm. I am a bit suspicious of the latest rages in net marketing, so was very skeptical of this one.

However, in the past two weeks I have gained 147 subscribers to Auction Gold. Welcome to all of you!

Is this the most impressive result I've ever had? No, but it's ...

1. Free
2. It took me a total of about five minutes to sign up, and I haven't done one single thing with it since

So, if you have a website, you might find it worthwhile.

Reader Feedback

1. Unsolicited Testimonial

"Sydney,
I can never thank you enough for sending me to the free classes you mentioned in Auction Gold. It seems that no matter what I did, I couldn't get this auction business to work right. So, I decided to sign up for the classes – I figured that since they had a 30 day guarantee I couldn't lose. I am in a motorcycle club and they helped me find sources for Yamaha and Arai parts and accessories. As part of my homework, I wrote some listings and one of the people in the office took the time to get on the phone with me and go over two of them. Because of this I made (clear) $1734 the first week and $2386 the second week. I will make that much or more this week! I am going to take every single class they have. And I promised my wife that if I could keep this up for four months, she could quit her job. She's even happier than I am. God bless."

Yulan Orsky, Cincinnati, Ohio

(As we mentioned in a past issue, we no longer publish private email addresses because of spam abuse. If/when Yulan gets his own website, we will gladly give his URL.)

- - -

I frequently mention Erin Fogerty in this ezine. It's because I am so darned proud of her, and because we write to each other often about auction experiences. Erin lives in New Zealand and started in the auction business after she read Make Your Net Auction Sell! She didn't know anything about auctions, but took off like a rocket and even started her own very successful website. Here's an inspiring part of a recent email:

- - -

Had a good day at the auctions yesterday. Sold a book:
Purchase price NZ$1
Sold NZ$440

My best yet is a postcard.
Purchased (off eBay) NZ$4.50
Sold (on eBay) NZ$622

Find stuff you never knew you wanted at the Auction Stockroom
http://www.auctionstockroom.com

- - -

She was especially excited about the post card. What percentage return is that on her investment? According to my trusty calculator, that's a 13,822% return on her investment! Eat your heart out, Wall Street.

Feature Article: Turning Negative Feedback Into A Positive
by Gary Wilkinson

I recently received an email from the winner of one of my auctions which went like this:

- - -

hi
im sorry but i bid on the wrong auction so i dont want this one.s
orry for the mistake.

- - -

I can get back Final Value fees from eBay, but I spent:

1. $3.30 for a listing fee (I relisted the item and it sold, so I will receive credit for it)
2. $19.95 for a Featured listing
3. $.25 for a gallery picture

This $20.20 isn't refundable. Was I irritated? You bet. BUT ... should I give this guy some very negative feedback, or just let it go? Many Power Sellers don't give feedback simply because of the retaliation. Their ratings are too important to them to risk negatives.

This outstanding article removes some of the worry from that vital feedback rating and give some alternatives if/when you get some.

- - -

"One of the most talked about aspects of the online auction business is Feedback. Sellers new to the auction business dread the thought of getting their first "NEG".

Sooner or later though, if your in this business for long, you are going to receive negative feedback. No matter how nice you are or how hard to try to be sure everything is just right, something is going to go haywire at some point and an upset buyer is going to leave you negative feedback.

Perhaps a package got lost in the mail, and instead of getting a hold of you, the buyer just gives you a negative feedback. Perhaps the buyer isn't satisfied with the condition of an item you sent him or her. Whatever the reason may be, instead of giving you a chance to fix the situation, the buyer just leaves you a negative feedback.

When that happens, don't give up. All hope isn't lost. Handled correctly, you can turn a negative feedback into an experience that will reflect positively upon you and your business.

Here's an example of a situation a friend of mine found himself in a few months ago. Between online auctions and his web site, he ships between 75-100 items a week. Somewhere something went wrong in the follow up system he has set up, and a Nash's spice tin never got shipped even though it had been paid for.

After a period of time, the buyer put up negative feedback, without bothering to contact him first. It showed up as:

- - -

NEGATIVE: Never received item. Beware, this guy's a rip off artist. Stay away.

- - -

As soon as my friend saw this, he did two things. First, he posted a response and openly acknowledged that he had messed up big time. This can help other buyers realize that he had made an honest mistake.

The negative feedback now looked like this:

- - -

NEGATIVE: Never received item. Beware, this guy's a rip off artist. Stay away.

RESPONSE: He's right. Entirely my mistake. I offered full refund and the item for free. Sorry.

- - -

Second, he e-mailed the buyer immediately. He apologized profusely and offered a full refund or to send him the item he bid on plus a freebie. He then put the spice tin plus two additional Nash's spice boxes he had in inventory, into the mail to the buyer immediately.

The next day he heard back from the buyer who said the freebies weren't necessary, just to send the original tin.

A few days later, he received another e-mail from the buyer apologizing for the negative feedback, thanking him for the two additional spice boxes, and saying he had posted a follow-up comment.

The negative feedback now looked like this:

- - -

NEGATIVE: Never received item. Beware, this guy's a rip off artist. Stay away.

RESPONSE: He's right. Entirely my mistake. I offered full refund and the item for free. Sorry.

FOLLOW-UP: Mistake remedied and he sent bonuses. An honest seller! THANKS!!!

- - -

Many prospective buyers don't just see a negative rating and decide not to buy from you. They will take the time to actually look at the comments for the negative transactions.

An admission that you messed up and a second comment from the original buyer that is positive will go a long towards undoing a lot of the damage of a negative feedback.

In the instance given above, the original upset buyer has since purchased three additional items from my friend. All three for much more money than the original tin sold for.

Naturally, you would rather not have the negative feedback on your rating, but handling a negative properly can reduce much of the sting from it and even turn it into a positive.

- - -

Remember Gary's great book, How To Sell Common Everyday Books On Half.Com Like Crazy!. He reliably makes $750-$1,000 a month, with very little time cost.

My favorite part of his book is his list of 50 books that reliably sell for $19.95 and up. Buy them for 25 cents to a dollar – sell them for almost $20. Works for me! (And Gary actually gives us 51 titles).

http://sellonhalf.auctionknowhow.com

Amazon Illustrates One Of The Worst Trends In The Auction Business

Amazon has recently become an "authorized" Sony dealer but to get this status, it must remove "unauthorized" Sony dealers. That usually translates to the small sellers like us. No matter how big we become as individuals, we will never be able to compete with the giant corporations.

When I wrote Make Your Net Auction Sell!

http://auctionknowhow.sitesell.com

I was really mistaken on one point. I never thought that corporations would be doing so much business on auction sites. I thought the profits were too small for corporate consideration. Wrongo!

Perhaps the bright side of this is that it will promote more of the smaller, niche auction sites and some healthy competition.

Post Office Rate Increase

Drat! The post office is increasing its rates as of June 30 – which is NOT good news for auction sellers (but probably is for UPS). For an update on the bad news go here:

http://www.usps.com/ratecase/html_rates/R700.htm

What A Clever Idea!

It used to be a great idea to have your eBay ID as a live link or email address. Example: "me@worldsauthorityonbooks.com"

eBay, though, doesn't allow that anymore. So, here is a clever idea I read somewhere in the past couple of weeks.

"Put a name or word first and then include your web address in parenthesis."

So, I could use sydney(www.auctionknowhow.com) as my ID. Not as good as a "live" link, but certainly better than no link at all.

(My apologies to the originator of this idea for not giving them full credit).

The "Hot List" of Antiques and Collectibles

According to TIAS, which has 440,000+ antiques and collectibles for sale, tin May the highest sellers were:

1. Avon
2. Cookie Jars
3. Plates
4. Teapots
5. Rings
6. Lamps
7. McCoy
8. Carnival Glass
9. China
10. Noritake
11. Dolls
12. Roseville
13. Pyrex
14. Lefton
15. Figurines
16. Pitchers
17. Limoges
18. Dogs
19. Fenton
20. Furniture

It's amazing to me that furniture is such a big seller. The shipping nightmare of collecting furniture would stop me in my tracks.

More news about collectibles: according to eBay, collectibles used to account for 2/3 of its business – but has now dropped to 1/3. That isn't as significant as it sounds, however, since there are now so many corporations selling products on eBay. Among individual sellers, like you and me, collectibles and antiques are still tops.

If you want to sell collectibles or antiques, one of the best resources online is:

http://kovels.com/

Terry and Ralph Kovel are highly respected authorities in the field and their site includes all kinds of goodies, including price guides and their Yellow Pages: "The ultimate directory for antique and collectible sources".

News From eBay

1. Easy Multiple Listings

For years, eBay has had a program called Mister Lister that allows sellers to enter multiple listings in a more efficient way. Personally, I have never used it. I have tried repeatedly, but every single time my computer freezes and it simply won't work.

eBay has announced a new tool called eBay Turbo Lister. It is coming this fall and will replace Mr. Lister. It is supposed to "bulk list hundreds or even thousands of items to eBay efficiently". It also will allow users to save product descriptions for future re-listing.

Ebay says it will eventually work with all eBay sites, but will initially work only with eBay US, eBay Germany and eBay UK.

Gripe: it's going to be free – BUT it will cost extra for some features, including the one I want the most. I find that I make more money by listing later in the evening and would love to be able to set my auction at 10:00 a.m., but have it kick in around 9 p.m. (Eastern time). This new software will do that, but will charge extra for the privilege. The fee for this "will be announced at a later date". This feature is free on some smaller auction sites that don't have nearly the resources of eBay.

http://pages.ebay.com/turbo_lister

2. Newsweek Looks At eBay

A June 10 issue of Newsweek magazine reported on eBay:

* On one day in May, Newsweek tracked 1,000,000+ auctions with sales of $26,422,255,

* In 2001, $9.3 billion worth of goods were sold

* Large companies accounted for a much larger piece of the eBay site

3. Another Slimeball Is Trying To Cheat eBay Sellers

In one of the latest scams, someone is calling eBay sellers, claiming to be from eBay. He offers to change eBay fees from your credit card to your checking account.

He is claiming to call all Power Sellers. I received such a call myself, but unfortunately I was on the phone and the call was taken my someone else in my office. My caller ID says that the number he was calling from was 954-623-9000. According to the operator, that number is not in service.

He wanted checking account information over the telephone. Fortunately, I know better than to ever give such information over the phone, but certainly he has duped others. So, beware this kind of call.

4. "Sell Your Item" Form

eBay has a new form for listing your items for sale. Up until now, it has been optional because the old form has been available. Sometime later this month, though, the old form will no longer be used. I have read a lot of seller complaints about the new one, but haven't had any problems with it myself. Regardless of the resistance, eBay has declared that is the way it's going to be, so we might as well get used to it. eBay is too lucrative for me to give up, just because of a form. Details here:

http://pages.ebay.com/sell/sellyouritem2/faq.html

5. Changes to "My eBay"

My eBay allows us to monitor auctions in several different ways, all on one page. They are making changes, such as being able to monitor 30 items, instead of 20. If this is something you like to do, you can learn about the changes here:

http://pages.ebay.com/myebay_preview/index.html

6. If You Have A REALLY Bad Case Of Auction Fever ...

If you really have to track your auctions while on the golf course or having lunch with friends, now you can do it. For $2.99 a month, you can find out when you have been outbid – and raise your bid accordingly. Personally, enough is enough for me, but if you want this service, a company named InPhonic now provides it.

http://www.InPhonic.com/b2b/news_PressReleaseArticle.asp?artid=160

7. Coming Soon: Fixed Price Format

eBay is about to introduce a "fixed price" format that is different from its "Buy It Now" feature. It is to:

1. Give sellers an easy option to sell multiple quantities of the same item at set prices
2. Attract new buyers and sellers who prefer to sell and purchase at a set price
3. Show fixed price items in eBay's regular search and listings pages

It seems to be focused on multiple unit auctions. The current Buy It Now doesn't apply on dutch auctions, and it disappears once a bid is placed. If you might be interested in this, go here:

http://pages.ebay.com/services/buyandsell/bin.html

Is This The Core Secret Of Success?

This is absolutely some of the most fascinating research I have ever seen in my entire life. Don't miss this outstanding article by Charles Burke, author of one of my favorite ebooks, Command More Luck. The implications of this are really ... well, staggering.

What does it have to do with auctions? Success is no accident. Have you ever wondered why some people succeed at everything they touch and live almost magical lives, while others, no matter what they do, just can't get it together? Well, I've wondered about it. Some answers might be here.

- - -

WHAT HAPPENS TO OUR THOUGHTS ... after we think them? Do they just die away in a silent and indifferent void, without even an echo to mark their passing? Or do they somehow live on for a while?

We have read often that the things we fill our mind with today are the very things we will meet face to face on tomorrow's path. But how true is this - in actual practice?

Could it be like the stories of the bogey-man we heard when we were children? Just a tale to scare us into obedient behavior?

Even for those of us who see the universe as, first of all, a spiritual realm, it's easy to get caught up in the press of our daily routines and put all our awareness into "doing things," losing track of our inner connection.

So when unwanted events come our way, we may find ourselves demanding...

========================
Who's Doing That To Me?
========================

You already know your thoughts pack enormous power.

That concept was brought home to me vividly last week in two different articles that I read.

Brian Reid, in a Washington Post article (reprinted in the May 14 Japan Times) wrote about an odd phenomenon that appears to be the exact reverse of the placebo effect.

Doctors have long known that when you give harmless sugar pills to a group of sick people, a certain percentage of those patients will get better, just because they THINK they're getting medicine and they EXPECT to heal.

Well, a while back, researchers uncovered this fact: women in their study who believed they were prone to heart disease were four times more likely to die than women who didn't believe they had heart problems. No statistical difference in physical condition - at least in the beginning - only a difference in expectation.

Some people are executing themselves with their thoughts.

Then a couple of days later, at a health website run by Dr. Joseph Mercola, I saw an article about a researcher in Japan who has proved that thoughts physically change how water freezes.

Dr. Masaru Emoto experimented with directing various thoughts such as "love," or "gratitude," or "you fool" toward bottles of water. He would then quickly freeze droplets of the "treated" water, and take photomicrographs.

The results, which are repeatable, are dramatic.

Pure mountain spring water naturally freezes in beautiful and complex crystalline patterns. Polluted river water, on the other hand, forms ugly, misshapen non-crystalline patterns.

However, when Dr. Emoto or his assistants sent thoughts of love or kindness into the polluted water, beautifully complex crystals formed during the freezing process. These ice crystals approached the complexity and beauty of natural water crystals.

Clean water that was subjected to harmful or insulting words became degraded and lost its ability to form complex crystals.

Emoto also did an interesting study where assistants took bottles of water and taped onto them pieces of paper bearing words - some in a foreign language that the assistants didn't know. The written words were just as effective as spoken words.

You can read more about the experiments at:
http://www.mercola.com/2002/may/8/prayer.htm
http://www.mercola.com/2002/may/8/distilled_water.htm

An interview with Dr. Emoto, is posted at:
http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/nov1/cwater.htm

Now, if our thoughts can either kill us or prolong our stay here on earth, how choosy should we be in selecting what we think about?

Do you get up in the morning thinking about all the things that could go wrong today? Do you list up all the aches and pains you've got? Spend a lot of time in worry?

Or do you devote some time each day to being glad about the events and people in your life? Perhaps you find yourself stopping several times a day, looking around and saying, "Thanks, I'm really happy to be here". And if you don't, it might not be a bad idea to start.

Clearly, your mind influences your own health and well being.

But what about your influence on the world around you?

If Dr. Emoto's experiments are any indication, blessing and giving thanks for the food we eat and the water we drink may be one of the most beneficial things we can do for our own health.

My father laughed years ago when he read that an angry woman in the kitchen could damage her family's health with the violent energies she embedded in the food she prepared. Now nobody's laughing. It has been proven as a scientifically valid fact.

Would it be effective to repeat certain beneficial words over and over like a mantra? Well, a human being is much more complex than a bottle of water; however, the short answer is - yes, probably.

But be sure you match your words and your feelings.

When I was 20, I once borrowed a car from a friend to go pick up my girlfriend across town for a date. This was Chicago in December, and it was rainy, icy and cold.

I was so afraid that I'd have an accident that I constantly repeated the word, "safety-safety-safety" over and over as I drove. Even though I was saying safety, however, I was feeling fear and dread that I'd mess up my friend's car.

You've seen people in movies hold up a cross to keep a vampire at bay? I was doing more or less the same thing, trying to use a positive word as a sort of magic amulet.

In any contest between our thoughts and our feelings, which will always win? Right - our emotions - and that's what happened.

I had reached my girlfriend's house and was swinging through an empty parking lot to turn around when I ran head-on into a light pole. Smashed the radiator, cracked my head, and of course completely destroyed my belief in "positive thinking."

It wasn't until years later that I realized the overriding role that emotions play in forming our reality.

Now, when you repeat your mantras of "love" or "happiness" or "success," don't do what I did. I was holding up the word "safety" in fear, trying to drive away the encircling misfortunes that I imagined were hounding me mercilessly.

My surface affirmation was "safety-safety," but my REAL affirmation was "fear-fear." This is often called a "PS" or "tail-ender" or "hidden saboteur." My mind was filled with all sorts of negativity.

With such an image of reality, is it any wonder I used to attract "bad luck" like a magnet?

So, yes, say the words. But at the same time, be sure to work on generating within yourself those positive feelings you're describing.

Then you won't have to go out seeking success, love, happiness and riches.

Opportunities for all those things will be drawn to you like a magnet.

And as you watch the events of your life unfold, you'll know with absolute certainty that, all along, you're the one who's "doing that to you."

- - -

You can read about Charles' fascinating book, Command More Luck at:

http://luck.auctionknowhow.com