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ARE YOU MAKING THE SAME MISTAKES THOUSANDS MAKE ON EBAY?

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic (by 2 people)   Your rating: 1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic

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Rated G. (Control what you see)

THE AUCTION REPORTER ISSUE 3

 

This lens is the third free issue of my newsletter - The Auction Reporter.  Follow my progress on eBay  and learn tons about eBay that you might know already but need reminding of or totally new things that could really jazz up your eBay career.  Don't forget to check out my website http://www.theauctionreporter.com

and keep an eye on progress at:

http://stores.ebay.com/theauctionreporter 

FREE AUCTION REPORTER ISSUE 3 

CONTENTS

HELLO & WELCOME

INTERVIEW WITH POWERSELLER - ASK DANNA (NOTES)

TIPS FROM THE TOP
New Goals
Auction Copy
Niche of the Month - Rock t-shirts

THE BEST OF EBAY WORKSHOPS (January)

DID YOU KNOW ABOUT?
Alternative Auction Sites
Paypal Versus Google Checkout

QUICK START TIPS
What about this feedback tip!
Magic Moments!

WEIRD & WONDERFUL AUCTIONS!

PLANNED AND NEW ON EBAY
New eBay.com Listing Fees
Feedback 2.0

EBAY IN THE NEWS
Man's life goes on Sale on eBay

THE AUCTION REPORTER PROGRESS AND PLANS

PLANS FOR FUTURE ISSUES

SOURCES USED THIS MONTH

THIS MONTH'S FREEBIES & RECOMMENDED

HELLO & WELCOME 

Okay I'm still not an eBay expert by a long shot (but I'm learning and will get there one day soon!) but as a researcher I know good information, that can be learnt from and implemented, when I see it.

I am learning as much as I can about eBay, after all education, education, education (and action, action, action) are the keys to success online and anywhere else for that matter.

On the following pages you will find the best tips and strategies from eBay newletters, blogs, forums and articles. The Auction Reporter has brought them to you in a summarized form (rewritten with my personality and take on them as not to break any copyright rules) so you can learn and implement the best eBay tips, techniques, strategies and keep up with the latest happenings on and about eBay.

At the end of the tips, good advice and fantastic content I will update you with the Auction Reporter's own progress on eBay. And have I got a load of freebies for you this month!! You'll find them on the last page.

I have got my first Powerseller Interview for this issue. Unforunately I have chosen to keep this for my paid subscribers.

POWERSELLER INTERVIEW NOTES 

ASK DANNA

As you know (if you read last month's newsletter I am a big Myspace fan and I was luckily enough to find and network with Danna. She is a huge Powerseller and inspiration to us all and she was very happy to answer my questions. I highly recommend you visit her store, look at her listings, buy a couple of her ebooks and learn from a master.
ASK DANNA STORE
ASK DANNA has been on eBay since the beginning and you can learn lots by looking at her store and how she conducts her eBay business.
The Auction Reporter Store
And you'll have to get the paid version of the newsletter to read it .....Go to my store at eBay to get this edition of the newsletter so you don't miss out on this great interview and all the other sought after eBay information not included in this free edition.

TIPS FROM THE TOP 

New Goals %u2013 FOCUS!!!

Something that I have never done is written out goals, as a result my head is usually all over the place. I'm trying new things starting them never finishing them. I want it to be different with this eBay venture. I also want it to be different for you if you are in the same situation.

How many of you are professional procrastinators? - I know I'm not far off.

There are a lot of articles, posts and newsletter features setting goals in January.

Basically they are saying setting goals is essential to success. After three years of dabbling in Internet marketing I have had no great successes, a few mini ones but nothing major.

One thing I have never done is decided on one thing to pursue, I get all excited about ideas, I even have create websites on some of them but something stops them from being successful. Is this the lack of a plan - the lack of a focus?

I am beginning to think that it is. So this month I have drawn up a plan that I will stick to for the month of February. I am going to see how it feels when I tick something off that list. See how it feels when the list is completed and most importantly see if it makes me more successful. February's list of goals are listed in The Auction Reporter's Plans and Progress section. I am accountable to you so in telling you these plans and this will be a motivation to succeed in itself.

Why don't you list you plans and goals for the month of February and beyond and see if this is what is hindering your success or may be you will see your own success soar to new heights. So write out that list, pin them above your computer monitors and lets hit the skies together.

Remember the best intentions are not good enough. You need to set goals and meet them. It's the action not the thought that is important.

In the words of DANNA it's about being positive and focused. So here's to the new Helen Farmer and the successful Auction Reporter!

TIPS FROM THE TOP 

Auction Copy

I promised this section to you last month and I was amazed to find a lot of auction copy reading material literally fall on my lap this month.

Firstly I bought The Auction Profit Machine - It includes Bob Sterling's Info Millions Course with "The Information Products Advertising Arsenal" 191 pages of successful advertising letters, ads and sale literature to learn from and apply to eBay!

Then I found Terry Gibb's free "Improve Your eBay Auction - 44 Common Mistakes Found in Many eBay Auctions Explained" where an auction is dissected and his newsletter readers comment on a particular auction and how it could be improved. This is one of your free ebooks you can find further down the lens.
Making Your Auction Sell
You know the famous Make your Site Sell series? Well there is a free version available on making your auction sell. Lots of information to digest and from a well known professional too. Go here to grab it now before the offer is pulled. You'll have to browse through the links I'm afraid but there are loads of great free deals to be found so I think you will enjoy it!
GREAT ARTICLE ON EBAY COPY
Lastly I found a great article by Skip McGrath on writing good eye catching ebay titles - he recommends keyword rich titles written in capitals. Think about what people would type in to search for your items and try to incorporate as many of them as you can. Also use hot button words like new, sexy and unique and avoid symbols as much as you can - none of that l@@K and stuff like that. See the full article here:

TIPS FROM THE TOP 

Niche of the Month %u2013 Rock T-Shirts

Each month I try to identity a hot item. This month I have found concert t-shirts to be a potential hot seller (also domain names but that's in a section later on).

Do you remember your teenage years? They might seem a long time ago (I'm only 28 and it seems like a lifetime ago!!) but you probably had some concert t-shirts, these can sell for a substantial amount of money on eBay. Particularly if you were a 60s or 70s teenager into the Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin or such like. I suppose Nirvana and Red Hot Chilli Peppers could prove quite popular too.

As an item to sell on eBay they are easy to pack and post so next time you pass a vintage shop or a charity shop take a look to see what you can find.

Some older shirts cam sell for over £150 and more common ones around £25. Worth some research and experimentation if that niche tickles your fancy!!

EBAY WORKSHOPS WORTH NOTING THIS MONTH 

As obvious as it may seem one of best places you can find out gems of information about eBay is eBay itself. eBay workshops are online discussions on all sorts of aspects of eBay related topics and make for very interesting reading.

Some very active ones for January are:
RECOMMENDED WORKHOP 1
Listing Template Design & Layout Clinic - Jan 22
RECOMMENDED WORKHOP 2
Power Up Your eBay Business! - Jan 16
RECOMMENDED WORKHOP 3
10 Tax Tips to Start 2007 Off Right - Jan 10
RECOMMENDED WORKHOP 4
The Surprising Truth about Title Word Misspellings and Typos - Jan 08
RECOMMENDED WORKHOP 5
Member Workshop: How to Create a Selling Strategy - Jan 05
RECOMMENDED WORKHOP 6
How much are your unwanted Christmas gifts worth? - Jan 30
RECOMMENDED WORKHOP 7
Customer Satisfaction and Retention - Jan 26

DID YOU KNOW ABOUT? 

Alternative Auction Sites

This section includes little snippets about eBay and other auction sites that you may or may not know about or not given much thought to or just me just being very slow on the uptake (but if you haven't tried them yet don't forget to take a look)!

Like with most things there is not just one auction site. Although all we hear about ie eBay eBay eBay - here are a few auction sites worth a look:
Rummage Monkey
Rummage Monkey Auctions
UBID
UBID auctions
FREESELL
Freesell Auctions
Overstock
Overstock Auctions
Tazbar
Tazbar Auctions

DID YOU KNOW ABOUT 

Paypal Versus Google Checkout

There is a big song and dance about the fact that eBay has banned use of Google Checkout, especially as they are no fees being charged until Dec 07, in fact there is a petition about removing this ban that can be found below:
Petition
I suggest you sign it because alternative payment methods especially ones with no fees, would benefit us all.

In fact I think I am going to get on the band wagon with this issue and use my Myspace network, eBay and hopefully you to get on board with this one. There are only 293 signatures at the moment - if we all forward this on we should get a notable amount on there that eBay will have to take notice of.
Google Checkout
You are probably well aware of Paypal, you can find more details on Google Checkout here.
Comparison between Google Checkout & Paypal
A comparison of the two services can be found here. It's more the principle of the matter as far as I'm concerned (Google Checkout is US only at the moment).

QUICK START TACTICS 

  • What about this feedback tip!
    You know you are not allowed to leave you website or auction name when you leave feedback. But you can leave a feedback trial along the lines of "Collect your free bonus from my About Me Page" This is a great tip and had brought me a new subscriber from the first day of implementing it.
  • Magic Moments!
    If you plan to list all your auctions on days when eBay offer discounted listings you can save a great deal of money and still have success.

    There is a lot of talk about the right day and time to list your products, it is usually recommended that you time auctions to end at the weekend and weekday evenings but a recent University of Pennsylvania shows that a listing ending during these times result in a 10% less chance of selling because of the sheer number of other auctions ending at this time.

    So it is best do some experiments yourself and see what works best for you and find your own selling plan.

WEIRD & WONDERFUL AUCTIONS! 

If you haven't looked at all the weird and wonderful auctions on eBay, you should because some of them sell for extraordinarily high prices. They are mainly listed in the Weird Stuff categories and get thousands of hits. If you have a creative mind or an overactive imagination you could have so much fun and make loads of money creating these types of auctions not to mention the traffic they can generate
TATTOO ON MY FOREHEAD YOUR COMPANY ADD FOR LIFE
Didn't sell they wanted $250,000!!!
Tattoo Your Logo On My Body!!!!!!
This sold for $5,000
Advertise your business on the back of my head/tattoo
Sold for $2025
EVERYTHING I OWN! Laptop, DVDs, Truck, Bike + LOTS MORE
SOLD for $4050
Get your name or company name on a FEATURE FILM $30
There are current versions of this auction still available. I must admit I'm quite tempted . . .

PLANNED AND NEW ON EBAY 

New eBay.com Listing Fees

There had been a song and dance about the fee increases just put in place at the end of January. There are only a few cents and yes if you list hundred of auctions a month you will see the difference. In this day and age you have to expect price increases it is inevitable.

PLANNED AND NEW ON EBAY 

Feedback 2.0

Ebay is launching Feedback 2.0 to test markets outside the US over the next month. The system will be rolled out in UK, Italy, France, Poland, India and Australia so that it can be tested and tweaked before being used on eBay's biggest sites - US & Germany.

This new feedback system means that buyers will now be able to rate individual transactions on description, shipping time, shipping & handling charges and communications.

eBay have also decided to archive all but the last 2 years of users' feedback history. Each Members' total scores will remain what they were, but the positive feedback percentage will be based only on the last 24 months of activity.

EBAY IN THE NEWS 

Man's life goes on Sale on eBay

Australian Nicael Holt sold his 'life' on eBay for 7,500 Australian dollars (US$5,875). He is prepared to go through with the bid as long as the highest bidder pays cash. The winning bidder being "ridderstrade."

The deal included all of his belongings, his friends, the 8 girls he has been flirting with, training in surfing, handstands and fire twirling skills to become him and also a 'Cruisy job' delivering fruit.

Nicael, a philosophy student hopes to make a documentary about the whole eBay experience and hopes that one of the top 5 bidders is genuine.
Man's life goes on Sale on eBay
View this hysterical, I mean historical, eBay description here!
Niceal Holt's Myspace Page
And if the documentary goes ahead, keep up with the progress here.

THE AUCTION REPORTER PROGRESS AND PLANS 

January's Progess

Well this month on eBay I made about a £1! It's start! Here are the links to the completed items so you can see what I sold:
Four Leaf Clover
The Curse of the Four Leaf Clover - sold for $0.55

AND
BYEBYEBUSH.COM
Premium .Net Domain Name: www.byebyebush.net - $1.25

I aim to a least double that this month!! How about that for an aim.
My Home Page!
I have this month jazzed up my home page.

More to work to be done though so keep and eye on it. You could go to that site sign up to my affiliate programme if you liked:)
My About Me Page
Also made changes to my About Me page and offer a past issue from The Auction Reporter for free, which is what I am beginning to say on my eBay feedback as per tip earlier.

THE AUCTION REPORTER PROGRESS AND PLANS 

I have to admit I lost focus a bit, my Mum came to visit and I lost a few days due to wedding plans. My 9 to 5 job is very stressful at the moment and as a result I found it hard to motivate myself to do a lot of work in the evenings but next month there will be no excuses!!

I will let you know about progress and how I get on next month. I'll have to get cracking!!

As I said earlier I have written a list of goals/tasks to complete this month so here goes:
  1. SET UP A STORE!! - I am trying to think of a good store name, keyword rich and all that but now I'm thinking TheAuctionReporter store would be more synonymous with making name for myself a the The Auction Reporter. So we'll see. I will least at least 10 items (preferably nearer 20) in the store. I now see there is little risk because you can list these items for pennies. Some good titles and descriptions in your store can mean some good search rankings in Google.

    What I'm scared of is listing 20 items a day in mainframe eBay and not making enough to break even. But I will be certainly listing a few.
  2. I am going to attempt another Classified Ad or two promoting affiliate programs without the featured item bit. I will look at a few others and try to come up with what would be a good idea on an affiliate. Will report back on this.
  3. This is a maybe item. Get audio for eBay listings. Failing that I will get a free radio that plays different songs every time an item is visited.
  4. More Advertising of http://www.theauctionreporter.com and its affiliate program and creation of some sales literature to help affiliates.
  5. GOING VIRAL!! Hopefully the Auction Reporter Logo will appear in one of Ask Danna's new book and been seen by loads of people over the next few months. Also I will be doing an interview with Alex Jeffrey's of Easy Profit Auctions and will be turning this into an viral ebook too.
  6. Getting some traffic from Myspace, by adding my banner to my profile, with Myspace Butterfly (you get a free copy on the later in this lens) and combining eBay & Myspace tactics.
  7. Trying to master the Domain Name selling game on eBay. This month I will be trying to sell:
    theLcd.Tv
    TeeStation.com
    DidYouC.com
    Gift-Crazy.com
    Hallowqueen.com (is it too early for this one!!)
    I also accidently bought ScubtheWeb.com but it gets quite a bit of traffic so I'll put that up as well.

PLANS FOR FUTURE ISSUES 

  • More personal success stories from The Auction Reporter(and I'd love to include your stories of success or eBay woes as well!)
  • More 'Tips from the Top', 'Did You Know About' and 'Quick Start Tips' (they are my favorite sections this month - are they yours?)
  • More Interviews from Powersellers
  • Tell me what you'd like to see, if you like what's here, what sections are your favorites, what I can improve or change

SOURCES USED THIS MONTH 

http://www.skipmcgrath.com/newsletters
http://blog.skipmcgrath.com
http://auctionbytes.com
http://www.planetsmsnewsletter.com
http://www.auction-enterprise.com
http://www.silentsalesmachine.com
http://www.olivergoehler.co.uk
http://www.ukauctiononline.co.uk/newsletter.html
http://www.auction-genius-course.com/blog/
http://www.powersellerking.com
http://www.ebaystrategies.blogs.com/ebay_strategies/
http://www.whatdoisell.com
http://www.auctionresourcenetwork.com
http://ebay.about.com/
http://www.workwinners.com/Newsletter_archive.htm
http://theauctionrebel.com/
http://www.ebay.com
http://www.iwantcollectibles.com
http://www.auctiontips.com
http://www.platinumpowerseller.com
http://www.platinumpowerseller.com/eBaySellingSuccessSecretsVideoBlogNewsletter/
http://www.easyprofitauctions.com
http://www.tprweb.com

THIS MONTH'S FREEBIES 

INTERVIEW WITH SKIP MACGRATH
FREE BONUS
"IMPROVE YOUR EBAY AUCTION"
By Terry Gibbs
THE IMFAMOUS MYSPACE BUTTERFLY
Hit Myspace with this one - yours to resell. It's doing quite well on eBay, looking at the completed items.

RECOMMENDED 

EBAY DEVELOPER
How To Start Your Own High Profit eBay Home Business Within 24-Hours...
Easy Profit Auctions by Alex Jeffreys
Alex Jeffrey's Easy Profit Auctions (THE course for the next generation of eBay entrepreneurs)

WHAT YOU ARE MISSING!! 

THE FULL CONTENTS OF ISSUE 3 OF THE AUCTION REPORTER

HELLO & WELCOME

INTERVIEW WITH POWERSELLER - ASK DANNA
(IN PAID COPY ONLY)

TIPS FROM THE TOP
New Goals
More on Classified Ads
eBay Affiliates
Auction Copy
eBay Arbitrage
Niche of the Month - Rock t-shirts

THE BEST OF EBAY WORKSHOPS (January)

DID YOU KNOW ABOUT?
Alternative Auction Sites
Wholesale Sources
Paypal Versus Google Checkout

QUICK START TIPS
What about this feedback tip!
Magic Moments!
Domain Names on eBay

WEIRD & WONDERFUL AUCTIONS!

PLANNED AND NEW ON EBAY
New eBay.com Listing Fees
UK Listing Fees
Sort Facility on eBay
eBay Stores Markdown Manager
Feedback 2.0

EBAY IN THE NEWS
New Year - New Career
Man's life goes on Sale on eBay

THE AUCTION REPORTER PROGRESS AND PLANS

PLANS FOR FUTURE ISSUES

SOURCES USED THIS MONTH

THIS MONTH'S FREEBIES & RECOMMENDED

GET THE FULL ISSUE 3 OF THE AUCTION REPORTER BELOW 

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eBay

WHAT DO YOU THINK? 

Junyuan wrote...

I must say that eBay is one of the fastest proven source for anyone to start generating a good income online. You have a very good lens that contains really good tips on how one can use eBay to generate good money online. I've given you 5-stars for your lens. I have a lens on how to sell digital products on eBay using eBay classified ads. Perhaps you may want to drop by and let me have your comments. :) You may also want to add your lens to my Internet Marketing Directory to get more traffic to your lens... :)

ReplyPosted September 24, 2008

Junyuan wrote...

I must say that eBay is one of the fastest proven source for anyone to start generating a good income online. You have a very good lens that contains really good tips on how one can use eBay to generate good money online. I've given you 5-stars for your lens. I have a lens on how to sell digital products on eBay using eBay classified ads. Perhaps you may want to drop by and let me have your comments. :) You may also want to add your lens to my Internet Marketing Directory to get more traffic to your lens... :)

ReplyPosted September 24, 2008

Lensmaster

maryluaggo

Great lens!! Very informative. Check out myspace layouts- http://www.basketball-layouts.com.

ReplyPosted July 11, 2008

Readytobid wrote...

Uk auction and free classified
www.readytobid.net

ReplyPosted April 20, 2008

ebayriches wrote...

Hey! Nice site you have on eBay. Great information. Very useful! I have just set up a lens on how one can a living on eBay at http://www.squidoo.com/ebayriches. You might want to check it out when you're free. :)

ReplyPosted September 12, 2007

 
1 of 2 pages

OTHER FREE EDITIONS OF THE AUCTION REPORTER AVAILABLE 

THE AUCTION REPORTER FREE ISSUE 1
Ground zero issue of The Auction Reporter
THE AUCTION REPORTER FREE ISSUE 2
The second free issue of this well written informative eBay newsletter
THE AUCTION REPORTER FREE ISSUE 4
A jammed packed issue four that is full of juicy eBay tips and news
THE AUCTION REPORTER ISSUE 5 (Full Version)
This is a full version of The Auction Reporter, freely available for everyone to read so you can see just how good the newsletter is.
THE AUCTION REPORTER FREE ISSUE 6
Another issue helping you to get to know eBay inside out.
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TheAuctionReporter

About TheAuctionReporter

Hi I am The Auction Reporter and the lenses I will be creating will all be about uncovering the secrets of eBay and to success on (and through eBay!)


The first Lenses I will be creating are the free editions of my Newsletter - The Auction Reporter and as you will see they all contain fantastic and useful information about eBay.


Of course the paid version will have more information and if you are interested in it, you can the latest newsletter here:
http://www.theauctionreporter.com/


Or past editions from my eBay store
http://stores.ebay.com/theauctionreporter

TheAuctionReporter's Pages

See all of TheAuctionReporter's pages

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