8 Dolls That Sell Well on eBay

From the beginning, eBay's primary growth came from the
collectibles market. There are two basic models for eBay
sales:

1. Currently available consumers goods. This is a price-
driven model, and although smart sellers can earn above-
average prices, buyers are there looking for a bargain and
price is the #1 consideration.

2. Other buyers are collectors, looking for one-of-a-kind
unique items that they can't locate elsewhere. Here, price
isn't a as it is with consumer goods. The power
of this market is obvious because, before eBay and the
Internet, most collectors were confined to a local market.

Dolls have always been big sellers as eBay collectibles and
eight of them are especially strong sellers:

1. The Cabbage Patch Kids began in 1978 and are never
"sold". They are 'born' at Babyland General Hospital in
Cleveland, Georgia and proud parents pay an 'adoption fee'.
The Cabbage Patch Kids were one of the greatest toy
phenomenons of the later 20th century. At one time, it was a
common sight to see grown women shopping and lunching with
their babies in hand. In restaurants, the Kids had their own
chairs and were always appropriately dressed for the
weather.

2. Precious Moments began in the early 1970s when creator
Sam Butcher began drawing the endearing teardrop-eye
children as gifts for family and friends. Today Sam's
Precious Moments artwork is among the most recognized in the
world, and eBay prices reflect this popularity.

3. Madame Alexander dolls were created in 1923. These
beloved dolls range from Charlie Brown to babies and
children to elegant dressed women to glamorous and famous
women like Greta Garbo and Judy Garland. With all the
varieties of costumes, a single doll can be a 1920s flapper
as easily as a member of the court of Louis XIV.

4. Lee Middleton dolls, according to legend, are so real in
appearance that grown men sent for a rescue squad to save
"the baby" from a locked car! Mistaken identity is
supposedly a frequent occurrence and the dolls have been
counted as "passengers" on airplanes and rescued from store
countertops to prevent the 'baby' from falling. As one happy
owner says, "These dolls are so lifelike it's uncanny."

5. American Girl dolls are loved by millions of little girls
(and grown ups, too!) They are not only from different times
and places, but are ethnically diverse: Felicity from
colonial Virginia; Josephina from the 1830's in New Mexico;
Kirsten is "a pioneer girl of strength and spirit growing up
in Minnesota in 1854"; Addy is alive in the 186o's, having
escaped from slavery with her mother; Samantha is "a bright
Victorian girl living with her wealthy grandmother in 1904";
Kit is growing up in 193os, during America's Great
Depression; Molly lives in the 1940's while her dad is away
at war; Kaya is a Nez Perce Indian living in the northwest.

6. Hasbro dolls are one of the products of the gigantic
Hasbro company, who claim to have been making toys for eight
generations, including famous games like Monopoly, Scrabble
and Clue.

7. Bratz dolls, unlike older dolls like Madame Alexander and
Cabbage Patch Kids, have no long history as favorite toys or
collectibles. Nevertheless, their price has astonished eBay
sellers and the Bratz collection was one of the 'super hits'
of the 2003 holiday season and sales have been strong ever
since.

8. And, no surprise, Barbie is the best-selling doll on
eBay. Since Mattel has recently announced that Ken and
Barbie will no longer be an "item", dolls from the 'good old
days' when the name "Barbie" was rarely heard without 'Ken',
will inevitably become more valuable.

Anyone who loves and understands the doll market, can do
very well selling dolls on eBay. They've been strong
sellers for the 10 years eBay has been in existence and are
almost certain to remain popular for years to come.

7 tips for selling expensive collectibles on ebay

Recently, a friend asked me to help her brother sell his collection on Lladro glass figurines on eBay. These are expensive glass collectibles and I knew nothing about them - but I don't have to. The principles for selling expensive collectibles on eBay are the same, regardless of what is being sold.

Obviously, like any eBay auction, the seller must have a powerful listing with great pictures. This is always true regardless of what the merchandise is. Expensive collectibles offer splendid opportunities, but also need special precautions.

1. Price: decide the lowest amount you will accept for each figurine and set that price as a reserve. Then make your opening bid absurdly low - yes, absurdly.

Example: if you will accept $1,000 - make your opening bid $25. There is no risk in this, because you don't have to sell unless the bidding reaches $1000, but the low price attracts buyers, (assuming there is demand, of course).

Looking at completed eBay auctions allows us to track prices, Again and again we learn that starting the price where the seller hopes it will end is not a wise tactic.

For instance, a seller wants to get $750 for his figurine. An opening bid of $750 won't attract nearly as many buyers as an opening bid of $25 and - surprisingly - the lower bid almost always gets higher prices. There is some psychology at work with the cheap price. It may not make logical sense, but it's the reality of life on eBay.

2. Devote space in your auction listing explaining how you will pack your item to ensure safe transit. This is critically important because in the back of every buyer's mind is the dread of receiving a package that rattles. A collectibles buyer will inevitably be thinking of the hassle she will have to go through - and the possible loss of purchase price - if her item is broken. She needs to know that the seller has carefully considered this issue and has a solution.

3. For the protection of both of you, insist that the buyer pay for appropriate insurance. Don't allow this to be an option. You definitely do not want the liability of a broken collectible that costs hundreds of dollars. In fact, if a customer objects to paying for insurance, this might possibly be a red flag. A genuine collector is very eager to add to her collection and wants her figurine to be protected.

4. We can safely assume that every Internet buyer has heard stories of fraud on eBay and elsewhere on the Net. Therefore, anything you can do to prove the authenticity of your collectible is well worth your time. Is there a marking on the bottom? Do you have the original box or other container? Does it have a label? Is there a certificate of authenticity or an appraisal by a respected organization? If the answer to any of these is "yes", then be certain to emphasize your authenticity in your auction. Taking pictures of your proof is especially effective.

5. I don't suggest offering a guarantee except in the most general way - that is, you, the seller, are telling the truth about the product. Anyone bidding on a collectible is knowledgeable and therefore they know what they're buying so there should be no reason for a return. If someone expresses dissatisfaction and mails your merchandise back, there is every likelihood of it being broken. You do not want the hassle of trying to collect on broken merchandise or putting yourself into a litigious situation with someone who refuses to believe that the collectible was broken via return shipping.

Also, you don't want to take a loss on your eBay fees, which might be substantial if the price is high.

6. With a really expensive item, always offer the option of an escrow service - at the buyer's expense, of course. They may not take want this service, but make certain they have the option. You, of course, know that your merchandise is legitimate, but the buyer isn't so certain. eBay recommends an escrow service that is available to all members.

7. If you're willing to ship worldwide, you need to take special steps to protect yourself. In the US we have AVS (Address Verification System) which offers some protection. A very large portion of the fraud suffered by buyers occurs outside the United States and you are justified in protecting yourself. Losing the purchase price on a $5 item isn't such a big deal - but a $1,000 collectible absolutely does matter.

Your bank can advise you on the time it will take to verify foreign funds. Be certain to let any prospective buyer know in your auction that there will be a delay if they are outside of your country. Do not let your merchandise out of your hands until you are sure!

If you follow these 'rules', the chances of selling your expensive collectibles at the highest possible prices will be greatly increased.

7 Simple Steps To Profit Without Your Own Product

Most people do not succeed on the internet because they are selling products no one desperately wants.

If you want to be truly successful sell only things that people really really really want to buy!

Sounds simple? It is.

You only need to find out what people desperately want and then give it to them.

Unfortunately most people online (and offline) are ignoring this basic fundamental law to sales success.

So without further ado, just follow this 7 step system to profits even if haven't made a dime online yet....

1. Go to Ebay's 'Hot Item Forum' and find out what products and services are selling well.

2. Find a local wholesaler who sells the products or services that are selling well on Ebay who doesn't already sell on Ebay (most won't be)

3. Ask them, "If I was able to move X amount of units of your product, what percentage of your profits would you share with me?"

4. If they are interested and are willing to give you a decent share of their profits, get them to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement and a Joint Venture Contract. They are both simple documents that you can find and download from the Internet.

5. Arrange shipping with the company. Ask them to dropship the products to the people who have purchased from you on Ebay. (If they won't do this get them to ship pallets of the product to you for you to do the shipping.)

6. Get them to provide you with a complete list of their in-stock inventory. You'll then be in a position to offer related products to any ebay customers who purchase from you as extra backend sales. Just make sure you agree a good profit percentage on each backend product with the company.

7. Advertise the products on Ebay and rake in the cash. If you are a complete Ebay newbie or you have very limited time, go to the 'Easy Trading Assistant' homepage to do the selling for you if necessary.

This is a proven, simple, elegant formula for anybody with a few spare hours a month to make good profits online. It requires zero technical knowledge and even a complete newbie can get started immediately.

It only requires some surfing of Ebay & the Internet followed by a few phonecalls to some wholesalers. The rest is child's play. In fact you can even use the Ebay Trading Assistant to do the selling for you. (They would take a small cut of course).

Remember on Ebay the shipping cost is a standard extra that the bidder pays, so you should have no problem negotiating with the wholesaler a fair price to do the shipping for you.

The most important factor to increasing your income is to launch what I call your own little 'oil wells' which bring you in cash like clockwork. The above system shows you how easy this is to do.

A fantastic resource for this simple system is available at http://www.hotitemfinder.com/cliffsfriends

6 steps to Adsense Domination

When you make your living online, you realize the need for multiple streams of income.

One of the easiest and most lucrative ways to generate a secondary income, which also happens to be passive, is via Google’s Adsense program.

I’m sure you’ve read the claims of a few individuals generating five figure monthly incomes from Adsense. For many of you, I’m sure you are wondering why you aren’t making this same income yourself.

Well, wonder no more. If you follow my simple six step system, you will be well on your way to healthy Adsense profits within three months.

Are you ready? It’s now time to pay attention.

Step 1 – Preparation.

The key to making money with Adsense is all about numbers. BIG numbers!

Sure, there are a few people making serious money with less than ten sites, but these are the exception.

Your goal will be twenty-four sites in three months. That’s just TWO sites per week!

In order to accomplish this, I recommend one of the many available page generation tools available today.

Step 2 – Determine Your Markets.

In order to maximize Adsense income with only twenty-four sites, you must know which markets are paying well.

To break this down even further, you need to know which keywords within those markets are paying the most.

Step 3 – Register you domains.

Once you’ve identified and chosen your markets, you must register domains appropriate to those markets. For example, if your market is ‘Cabbage Patch Dolls’, a domain such as http://www.cabbage-patch-doll.com/ would be appropriate.

Step 4 – Create your site.

Using your favorite page generation software and keyword list, it’s time to develop your site. There are several key points to bear in mind when you develop these specifically for Adsense.

1. Format – Always use the large 336x280 large rectangle.
2. Border – Match the same color as your background.
3. Background color - Border – Match the same color as your background.
4. Link = "0000CC"
5. Color_url = "999999"
6. Color_text = "333333"
7. Position – Far left or center and just above the page fold (Top 25% of site)

Step 5 – Verify and track your site

Visit your site and make sure all links work and that the sites appear to your satisfaction. You should also check out the ads Google is displaying. Are they targeted to your primary high paying keyword? If not, recreate your site using your high paying keyword in a higher density throughout your site.

Make sure you track your Adsense format, position, and traffic with a tracking system specifically designed for Adsense. Once you know your stats, you can adjust for maximum clickthroughs and higher revenues.

Step 6 – Get your site listed in the search engines.

This is simple… no tricks involved. Simply rent links to your site. A PR7 or PR8 link will do the job.

While I’ve simplified the process here, you are now armed with enough information and resources to make some serious money with Adsense.

6 more free steps to making money online

If you read my previous article you will know that the goal of these articles is to teach you ways to get started making money online without having to spend any money.

This is the second in the series and this time we deal with having your own blog. There are endless ways of making money once you have traffic, and your blog will get you traffic. The income we will be looking at today will come from Google Adsense.

There are multiple benefits to og including the low cost (or no cost), the resources that will help you get traffic to your blog and the fact that you can provide your blog as an RSS feed. An RSS feed will allow readers to automatically receive your updates into their RSS reader.

Let's get started with our 6 steps.

1. Set up your blog. You will need to decide what you are going to blog about. You should decide on a theme and name your blog appropriately.

There are a number of free ways to set up a blog & to have it hosted for free. We will go with Blogger.com for our first blog.

Blogger will allow you to set up a blog for free they will host it for free and they will ping search engines every time you update, meaning you will get spidered & found.

Visit blogger.com & click the button on the front page labelled 'create your blog now' then follow the step by step instructions that Blogger provide.

Some key settings you will want to get right are:

I) 'Host your blog at Blogger' = Yes
II) 'Add your blog to our listings' = Yes
III) 'Ping Weblogs.com' = Yes
IV) 'Publish Site Feed' = Yes

2. Write some content. Before we move any further there has to be some information on the site & that means that you have to make some entries. You can write some of these entries yourself & some can be quotes from sites of interest to your reader that you can post using the Google Toolbar.

You can download the Google toolbar for free at toolbar.google.com. The toolbar includes a Blogger button. When you visit a site that has something of interest to your readers you can highlight the appropriate text & click the Blogger button. The content will then be added to your blog along with a link back to the site.

3. Once you have some content eg a weeks worth of blogging with 1 or 2 entries for everyday, you can apply for an adsense account. When you sign in to Blogger you will see an invitation to join Adsense. Use this link and apply for an account.

You can find out all about Adsense on the Adsense page but basically you get Google ads on your site & get paid if your visitor clicks them.

Google will decide what adverts show on your site based on the content it finds within.

You need to be aware that Google will decline your application if your site is not considered to have content. Nobody outside of Google knows the precise rules on this.

Once you have been accepted you can get some javascript from Google to add to you site. Copy this & then log in to Blogger.

Once you have logged into your blog you will see that one of the tabs across the top of the screen is labelled 'Template'. Click this. You will need to know a little bit of HTML to help find the right location to paste your Google code. But with a little experimentation you will find the right place for you. See the resource box at the end of this article for more help.

I would suggest that the ads need to be seen when the site loads but should not be too obvious or dominate your site.

4. Write some more content. Try and keep your content coming at regular intervals as a number of directories will check on your site at regular intervals & the smarter ones will visit on a schedule based on your update schedule. They will probably determine this in the hours after you first submit to them. Which is what we will do next.

5. Submit your site to Blog & RSS directories. Because you are hosting at Blogger, Weblogs.com will already be notified when you update your blog. (That means that every time you make a new entry they are automatically notified) You will need to manually submit to the various other directories some of which will require a link on your site to theirs.

You can add these links to your template below your Blogger logo. For a list of directories to get you started visit www.themoneyseed.com/rss

6. Keep writing interesting content. Ideally you want people to come back again and again. As with customers its harder to get a new visitor than to keep existing visitors. So make it interesting, in fact make it so interesting that they can't help but tell all their friends about it also.

As with most free ways to make money this will take time to get going, but if you can build a following you will make money.

6 Easy Ways to Increase your Adsense Revenue

How much revenue do you generate from Google Adsense?

Recently there has been a lot of discussion about people who earn over $10,000 a month just from Adsense. Furthermore, there are rumors of a few individuals who earn over $1 million a year just from using the power of Google advertisements.

So what is Google Adsense and how can you use this program to earn a six-figure income?

About two years ago,of the page.

2) Use the Large Rectangle-With Google Adsense, you have the option of picking different ad formats. Most of the time people opt to use the Leaderboard (728x90) or Wide Skyscraper (160x600) style ads. Unfortunately, this is the wrong choice, because both look like blatant advertisements. Instead smart webmasters have found that using the Large Rectangle (336x280) yields the best amount of click-thrus.

3) Ditch the border- Many people experience a sharp increase in Adsense revenue when they changing their border. What they change is very simple…they get rid of the border on their Adsense blocks. This is another way to make the advertisements look like useful web content.

4) Adapt the font- Whenever you write content, it should be the same font size and style as your Google Adsense block. This will help make it appear that the advertisements are a natural part of your website.

5) Match the colors- In addition to changing the fonts, you also should match the colors of your website. For instance, if your content is written in black, and your hyperlinks are blue, then the Adsense blocks should also be the same color. Again, this helps the advertisements appear to be normal web content.

6) Don't have too many distractions- On a webpage, it is important to give web visitor a limited number of options. By having too many links and graphics, the web visitor might go to a section that doesn't help increase your profits. While it is important to inform and entertain your web visitor, it is also vital that you monetize your site. So if the main focus of your site is to earn an income through Google Adsense, then get rid of all non-essential links and graphics.

By taking the time to implement these six simple steps, you'll see a dramatic increase in the click-thru ratio of your ads. If added to all of the content of your site, your Adsense income will skyrocket!

5 Ways to Drive Traffic Away from Your eBay Auction

eBay is a one-stop solution to any one who wants to make money online. Whether you just selling a few unwanted items from around your house or your want to develop a work from home business, eBay removes many of the obstacles for you. Not many other websites can help you drive targeted traffic towards your sales, process the order on your behalf and accept payment though paypal. All you need to do then is dispatch the item to your winning bidder.

And let's not forget the biggest advantage over selling on eBay. The majority of users have money in their hand just waiting to find the right item.

So if eBays so great why would you want to drive traffic AWAY from your auctions?

Well there are a few reasons why you'd be better off selling from your own website, rather than though eBay. Firstly & most importantly, think of all the listing fees & final value fees you could save if everything you sold on eBay you could sell on your own website. Personally it would save me thousands of dollars per year alone in listing fees.

Secondly, you'll be protecting yourself from eBay policy change. Imagine you were selling thousands of ebooks weekly and then suddenly eBay policy changed to prevent any ebook listings.

Overnight your business would simply disappear & your income would vanish. It's the same with listing fees - A sudden hike in fees could wipe out your business & profit overnight.

With any business, especially an online one you need to safeguard yourself against measures that are out of your control. So by driving traffic away from your auctions to your own website you'll slowly start building up an alternative source of revenue. The following methods can be used on eBay. Some are on the borderline of eBay policy & you should check out any policy violation before using them. Saying that, a huge proportion of sellers use these on a daily basis.

1) Image Hosting

All the best sellers have auction templates developed to maintain a professional listing. And of course those sellers ALWAYS use images or graphics to accurately show the condition of the items their offering.

eBay itself allows you to upload the images to their servers, other commercial & free services are available. However really you want to store any images on your own server. Not only will search engine robots follow the links from your listings to your site (helping in improved visibility in any search engines), but many browsers will show the address of where the images are loading from in the status bar - For instance "Loading Image From http://From http://www.visitmyshop.com" or "Waiting For http://www.visitmyshop.com". This is a great way for your visitors to see to become familiar with your site.

2) Feedback

Many sellers include their own website in the feedback comments they use. Strictly it is against eBay policy but many Powersellers use comments like "Thanks for your custom from http://www.Visitmyshop.com" as standard. This is perhaps one of the widely violated policies on eBay. I've never known of anyone receive a warning for this policy, but use it with caution as you could be the first.

3) Email Address.

eBay allows your listings to contain one email link address, in addition to the "Ask The Seller A Question Link" they already provide. Use the opportunity to show the an email account associated with your domain name for example sales@visitmyshop.com. The only condition about showing your email address is the one shown must also be your registered email account with eBay. Before you list it, make sure they match up.

4) About Me Page

eBay actually allows you to link to your own website from your About Me page, as long as the actual page does not directly offer to sell items. Therefore make it an information or about us page that you link to, BUT one where visitors can easily navigate to your catalog of items for sale. Additionally drive traffic to your About Me Page by including a link on every listings, for example "Click here to learn about me". An average basic shop on eBay will get over 1500 item views within a month. If you can drive just a small proportion of these to your about me page & then to your site you'll certainly see a difference in your non-eBay sales.

5) User Id

While eBay does not allow your user id to be that of an website, you should have it as closely to resembling your site name as possible. You CAN NOT attach .com, -com or *com to the end of your user id - this is strictly against eBay policy. However nothing would stop your id being VisitMyShop. The idea is to get your eBay visitors comfortable with dealing with you away from eBay.

I hope these tips help you drive traffic away from your auctions towards your site & lessens eBays grip on your business. Remember, Ignorance is not an excuse eBay accept if you do violate their policy. While you initially get a warning for policy violation continuous offences may result in your account being suspended. Having said that, eBay mostly rely on policing from other users to enforce their policy so as long as no reports you should be in the clear.

Good luck with your eBay activity.

5 Secrets To Make A Killing on eBay

Secret #1: Find a ‘real’ wholesale and drop ship company

Do you know what one of the biggest problem is to be successful on eBay? ‘What should I sell”? I can tell you, I get many emails per day from eBay sellers, asking me what they can sell. Let me explain this more in detail.

Let’s take John and David for example. Both are sellers and try to make money on eBay. Let’s start with John. He mainly gets his items from garage sales. So, every Saturday morning he gets up very early, hops into his car and drives around the neighbourhood to check out the garage sales. So he went last Saturday. John did not buy anything on the first two garage sales, but on his third garage sale, he found a little treasure. An old book from 1897 - for a bargain price of $10. Bingo! John was proud! ‘I can sell this for huge profit’, he thought and he went home. He took his digital camera and he made a high quality digital photo. It took quite some time but finally he was happy with the result. Then he had to upload this picture to his computer and he spent some time writing the sales copy. Late Saturday afternoon finally he was finished and launched this book onto eBay. 7-10 days later his item got sold for $75!! John is excited. He packs the item, labels it with the buyers address and then he drives to the nearest post office. Oh no, what a long line. After 15 min of waiting he could finally post this item to his customer! Wow, a lot of work for $65 profit? Don’t you think?

Let’s look at David. He usually gets up very late – usually at Saturday around lunchtime. He is still in his pyjamas and he makes himself a nice cup of coffee and gets onto the Internet. He logs into his drop ship account and browses through some hot selling product. ‘Yes, I can sell that” - A nice laptop for a bargain price of $550 (wholesale price). But David does not have to pay upfront for this item, so he just downloads the professional digital photos offered by his drop ship company to his computer. ”Oh wait”; David has just discovered that this drop ship company has also a ‘ready-to-use’ auction sales letter available. That’s really cool …and David copies and pastes the source code of this letter into his eBay listing and he launches his auction. A Dutch auction, since the drop ship company announced that they have more than one of this laptop currently available. Great, David could sell 6 laptops. He hits the submit button for this Dutch auction of 6 laptops and enjoys his coffee (which is still hot by the way). After 7-10 days David has sold all 6 laptops for $830 each. All what David does is the following: Heollowing: He waits until he gets the payment from his 6 customers in his paypal account, sends the address of the customers together with 6 x $550 (wholesale price) to his drop sip company via paypal. He has made pure profit of 6 x $280 = $1,680 in about 25 min of work – total. That’s why David is a smarter eBay seller than John. I think the idea is clear …drop shipping can be the answer to your problem what to sell on eBay and it can saves you a lot of time too. No packing, posting etc.

Secret #2: Have a professional auction listing

A professional eBay auction site is like your business card. If you are serious selling on eBay you should show your potential customers that you are a professional seller and that you are selling high quality products. Please, don’t just upload a photo and type the text in the description box. Do your homework and learn some HTML. Look around there are many professional tutorials and ebooks around helping you in that matter. It’s definitely worth it. And you’ll be surprised, because if your auction listing looks nice and professional potential buyers stay longer on your site and usually it’s more likely that they place a bid.

Secret #3: The money is in the follow up

“Yes, I’ve heard this before”, you may say. But, this is a very important aspect of your successful eBay career: Follow up with your customers. Send them an email ~10 days after they have purchased the product and ask them how they are going with the product and if everything is all right. Invite them to have a look at your other auctions. (You have to be careful though not offending anyone, but if the products are related and you ask how they went with the product, that’s fine). I never got complaints by doing that and your customers are happy to get some “insider tips”. You’ll be amazed how many customers will buy from you again, since they value you as a seller. Keep in mind that it is easier to keep an existing customer, instead of getting a new customer. You could also send them a thank you gift in form of a downloadable digital information product. That’s easy for you and they get some valuable information. You’ll see that your existing customers will be very thankful and they feel good that they have bought from you and will do again in the future.

Secret #4: Sell internationally

This aspect is often neglected by many eBay sellers: Sell internationally! First, check with your drop ship company in which countries they are shipping and how much postage they charge to send the item overseas. If you have sort out these details, you can go ahead and list your item internationally. You’ll be surprised how many more items you are selling when the potential buyers see: Ship worldwide. Don’t miss this opportunity or you are leaving big bucks on the table.

Secret #5: Be creative – Be different

How do you think your listing will be stand out from the crowd? Good question isn’t it. In my 4 years of being an active Power Seller, I have tried and tested a lot. First have the photo in the gallery; it just costs a bit more to list but these additional cents are well spend. A recent study has shown that people almost ignore listing without a picture in the gallery. So that’s mandatory! The next step is your title. Do you know that only the title is spidered by eBay when potential customers are searching for specific products? So, you have to make sure that your title includes as much keywords as possible. But be careful here, eBay does not like “keyword stuffing”. So, be creative and come up with 2-3 different titles for the same item. Try them all and you’ll see what works best.

5 Reasons Why Playing Music On Your Auctions Is A Bummer Of An Idea

There are 147 million registered users on eBay, and tens of millions of those are desperately fighting to make sales on eBay. When trying to make their auction listings as powerful as possible, many sellers use ill-advised tactics. They think that if they entertain buyers, they are more likely to get a sale. And as the Internet becomes more multi-media, there are many temptations thrown in our way, especially the use of sound.

Using background music or sounds, unless you're selling music, is probably a bad idea. If you are going to include music or even an audio product pitch, you are wise to include a command panel that will allow the viewer to listen or not as she pleases. Do not! Do not! Do not! set up your auction listing so that a potential customer is greeted with loud music as soon as they click on your page. Here's why:

1. Potential buyers are there to see your Gucci handbag or Oakley sunglasses, not to be entertained. Making a buying decision is serious business and you to do not want to take their attention away from your merchandise. Instead, the entire focus of your page should be directed at whatever you are selling. Music is simply a distraction.

2. At this time, we cannot count on the quality of audio technology. Buyers have different browsers, different connections and possibly antiquated equipment. Even worse than unwanted music is unwanted music that sounds terrible, that is scratchy, too loud or of awful quality.

3. You will most likely not know what kind of music your perspective buyer wants to hear. If you are selling to teens you can be reasonably certain that they do not want to hear Big Band music. But can you know whether they prefer Eminem or Travis Twitt? Obviously not.

4. Consider the situation of your buyer. He might be prowling eBay while he is at work and is not supposed to be surfing the net. Sudden blaring music as the Vice-President of the company walks by is the last thing he wants. Or a Mom might have just gotten her colicky baby to sleep and when your music wakes up a cranky infant you can be certain you will never get a sale from that irate parent.

5. Audio files take longer to download than text. If your prospective customer has dialup instead of a high-speed connection, they will most likely be gone before your auction page has even loaded.

Ignore the temptation to make your auctions 'more exciting', and instead, concentrate every element on the page on your merchandise. The last thing you want to do is distract a serious buyer who might decide to purchase. Let them find their entertainment elsewhere!

5 Instant Income Streams That No One Knows About

Something truly dramatic has happened over the past couple of decades. The world has made a transition from the industrial age to the information age, and the income rules that used to apply a few decades ago have now been blown apart. Possibly the biggest myth in personal wealth creation today is that you should focus on one thing for your income. We are all trained into believing that in order to be successful you need to train in a chosen profession. Then get a “good job” within that industryour way up the corporate ladder. In other words we are all programmed to compete and succeed at the rat race by our parents, the school system and our peers. The simple truth however is that very few people gain either happiness nor financial stability by using this cruel, tired old formula. And whichever way you look at it, the problem with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still just a rat.

If you wish to gain happiness and financial independence then you need to find new income sources and this insiders report will help you do just that. I am not advising that you rush to work tomorrow, throw hot coffee at your boss’s face while quitting to start up new ventures – everything takes time. But you should certainly consider using a wide number of different methods to provide income streams for you. Do not fall into the trap of depending on one source of income for your livelihood. Look around and you will discover that there are hundreds of different and very feasible ways of making money. The key is to educate yourself and then take action.

So what are the five income streams that you can set-up immediately to earn a constant stream of income? We’ll look at these one by one:

(1) Arbitrage – Do you know that the internet age has resulted in thousands of online bookmakers all competing for your money? Now if you are not a gambling man do not worry because arbitrage is an investment concept that can be used to derive a guaranteed 5% to 20%+ profit within a few hours with no possible chance of losing your original cash. How is this possible? Well online bookmakers often have huge differences in opinion on the same sporting events – this creates some incredible anomalies in the way that certain sporting events are priced between different bookmakers. This is great news for us because everyday these anomalies allow us to invest money on all sides of a sporting event so that no matter who wins/loses/draws we can walk away with a risk free and guaranteed profit. These arbitrage opportunities are present many hundreds of times each week and the beautiful part is that you can find them in asd them in as little as five minutes per day once you know how. This is one of the least known and used income sources around and one that you should certainly set-up and profit from.
(2) Recycling Cell Phones For Profits – Last year over 100 million cell phones were replaced. Only a tiny fraction of those were recycled. Many end up tossed away at the bottom of peoples attics, or are simply thrown away. Did you know that each old cell phone is worth upto $70 (although on average this is closer to the $20 mark)? Cell phones are a multi-billion dollar business and that trend is growing on a global level – governments are beginning to offer incentives for those who are willing to recycle their phones and recycling companies are now setting up and offering a decent level of cash per phone that they receive. As an individual there are some very powerful ways of collecting hundreds of phones per week and selling these on for some monster profits. The start up costs are practically zero and this is a business you can operate from home.
(3) Importing Goods From India And China – If you want a very solid, profitable and enjoyable work-from-home business then this is it. Some of the most popular goods cost a fraction of the cost that they are available for in UK/USA/Europe – for example I regularly have access to top quality items from India that cost me 95% less per item than in the UK. One of the best things about importing for profits is that once you setup a product and find a supplier, you have secured an income stream that lasts, often, for years into the future. There are literally MILLIONS of products that can be imported profitably into your home country – finding suppliers is not very difficult and you can boost your income further by selling them on auction sites such as ebay. There are also other benefits when you operate an import/export business from home – you can write off travel expenses against profits and the set-up costs are actually very low. Get involved today.
(4) Reselling Works In The Public Domain – Have you heard of the public domain? Maybe. Did you know that there are literally millions of books, videos, plays, courses, music and more that exist within the public domain that you can legally take, brand as your own and sell to keep 100% of the profits? Did you know that there are online sites that actually GIVE you text documents of public domain works – you just download the document and you’re ready to repackage it into your own product. Not a lot of people know that Walt Disney created the Disney empire out of a story that he found on the public domain – it is simply a treasure trove of cash waiting to be discovered.
(5) Ebay – I know it is hardly “unknown” but it really had to be mentioned - If you have not ventured into this incredible opportunity, you really ought to. Receiving over 1.5 billion page views a month and 9000 new customers everyday, ebay is a sellers dream. No matter what you wish to sell, there is a buyer waiting for you on ebay. There are powersellers who are making $100,000 and more per year with ebay – and if they can do it the simple fact is so can you. Simple, addictive and fun you should setup your eBay income stream today.

So there you have it – five instant income streams that you can setup today to earn an immediate online income with little or no capital. Now that you know about them the next (and most important) step is to actually start (something that sadly 95% of the readers statistically will not do). Remember, that once you set-up a new income stream it will derive cash for you years (if not decades) into the future. Don’t be lazy – get started today!

5 Hidden Resources For eBay Users

Many thousands of people making a living both buying & selling on eBay. Currently ranked as the 37 biggest site on the net (according to Alexa figures) eBay shows no signs of slowing down, even fortune 500 companies are opening eBay shops to sell surplus & unwanted stock. The following are five resources that I use personally & encourage you to use them to increase your eBay profits with ease.

Reports show that over 90% of searches on eBay are done using the search facility. What users do not know about eBays search factility is that by default it only searches the item titles - not the descriptions of the items. Remember this fact as it will show the significance of some of the resources listed below.

1) FatFingers

How professional a seller are you? Do you check your listings before submitting them or even does someone else proof read them for you? With millions of listings on eBays networks of sites at any one time, a small proportion of these listings contain errors - & a misspelt word is about the biggest error you can make.

Imagine your selling a Sony Television for example. What if you misspell the item as Sony Televisoin. Anyone who searches for the term "Sony Television" simply isn't going to be presented with your item. Only those eBayers who search manually though the category will find your items. Needless to say that if people can't find your item, they're unable to bid on them.

FatFingers is a service you can use to find all misspelt variations of a term. Why would you need such a service?

Well obviously if an item has low visibility on eBay it's also likely to have zero or few bids enabling you to snap yourself up a bargain. I've known people use this service to make a full time living, purely buying items cheaply and relisting them without errors.

Details at: Fatfingers.com

2) eBay Pulse

Back to the search facility eBay pulse shows you the top 10 searched keywords in every category. It's a real gem of a service, obviously by looking at the most widely used search terms you can see what eBayers are after. And if your selling in this category, by inserting some of these keywords within your title your items will be seen by more users.

The only thing to watch out with this service is make sure the keywords are relevant to your item, IF NOT DON'T USE THEM. How many times have you saw listings such as "SONY PANASONIC LG WIDESCREEN DIGITAL TELEVISION GUIDE", - listings such as these are well thought out to earn high visibility from the way users search. Anyone searching for the items with any of s will uncover your listings.

While it may lead to a high number of views, firstly fellow users will get annoyed if they find your item completely unrevealed to what they searched for, Secondly keyword spamming as it is known, is against eBay policy and will lead to your item being pulled. I use pulse daily with all my listings but make sure it's relevant to your item first.

Details at: pulse.ebay.com

3) Keyword-Pro

Keyword-Pro is a commercial subscription service which is similar to eBay pulse. However, the main difference is Keyword-Pro offers a much more in depth list of relevant keywords. It lists the top 50 keywords for every category for both eBay.co.uk & eBay.com. This is a great addition, especially if any of the terms found in eBay pulse are not relevant to your item.

Keyword-Pro is available as both a web service or as a small program that downloads the list onto your P.C. It's data is updated weekly to keep you informed of the latest search terms.

Details at Trading-Web-Solutions.com/keywords

4) Selling Manager

When you first open a selling account on eBay, options listed under the sell tab of eBay are enough to get you by. However, you can upgrade to a more in depth service known as Selling Manager. As eBay describes the service "eBay Selling Manager is our online sales management tool for medium to high volume sellers". It allows you to track every eBay sale, customise your feedback comments, print shipping labels & much more. It saves me about four hours a week tracking orders and watching my sales.

Selling Manager is FREE on eBay.co.uk & has a small monthly charge of on eBay.com (after one a month trial free). Once I moved over to Selling Manager, there's simply no way I would go back.

Details at: Click on services once you've logged into your eBay account.

5) eBay Popular Products

Here you can see, directly from eBay, what the most popular products are in several categories. an invaluable tool for an eBay seller.

Details at: http://product-index.ebay.com/best_selling_1.html

I hope you find these services useful & time saving in your goal for a successful home business on eBay. Remember, your most important resource is your time when your starting or building up an online business & if you discover any site, person or opportunity that can save you time give it the attention & serious consideration it deserves. Every top Internet marketers constantly educate themselves by purchasing & reviewing almost every new product released. The way I look at it, if an ebook costs $197 and the information within the ebook saves me this or allows me to make an additional $197 it's well worth it - once you can do it once you'll be able to repeat the exercise over and over again making repeated profits. If you discover a precious eBay related resource let me know & I'll consider revising this list for future editions.

Good luck with your eBay selling.

4 Steps To Unleashing Profits In Your Online Business

Ever wonder how the thousands of "under the radar" web
businesses that earn well over $100,000/year (many with
much higher sales) out of their own home do it?

Over the last year I've had the great fortune to speak
with many of these true, hidden entrepreneurs at
conferences, seminars, e.t.c.

What I'm about to share with you also came true for me,
and is outlined in more detail in my Ultimate Information
Entrepreneur's Success Package

Here's an example of their business model:

1. Information Products. Without a doubt, each one of
the successes I know market their own infoproducts.
For some, it's an ebook. Others have special reports.
Still others run online coaching programs, membership
sites, paidinars, or produce
digital audio or video products.
It's not their only source of income, but is a MAJOR
source of income, and more important, brands them an
expert in their field leading to success with 2 and
3 below.

2. Market related Affiliate Products. Again, in almost
every case, these online success stories become experts
at finding and creating joint venture deals with partners.

But, they work differently than most affiliates.

They start by ALWAYS reviewing the product they will market.
Second, they look for a different way to present the
product or service - a more beneficial way to show users the
real benefit in the affiliate product. Third, they use
the branding from 1 to negotiate higher commissions and
focus on high commission programs only.

3. They monetize their traffic using Adsense or selling
advertising on their sites. For high traffic pages
where adding paid ads or Google's Adsense will not impact
their own sales, they will run ads to further monetize
their sites.

4. Sell their time. You will find that truly successful
people online LOVE to help people succeed. But...for
every person who is really dedicated to succeeding there
are 10 "tire kickers" who want someone to hand them
success on a silver platter. It doesn't work that way,
nothing works that way. So, in order to leave time to
help those who really want it, coaching programs are
formed. Yes - you have to pay big money, but you should
easily be able to get 10X the value for money spent.

So as you can see, there is no ONE single way to build
your wealth online.

Instead, you build a diversified, rich and healthy
business by focusing on these 4 pillars. Not only will
you earn more money, but your business will be stronger
and build momentum faster when you do.

4 Steps to eBay Affiliate Success

Getting started with the eBay affiliate program is as simple as 4 easy
steps. eBay knows you have a business to run, so they have created a step-by-step guide to see you down the road of success. With the eBay Affiliate Program, you could bring in an extra $25,000 a month, as well as gain access to many tools and strategies that will optimize the working of your website, its effectiveness with search engines and on the Web in general. Getting started in a successful venture has never been so easy.

Step# 1

To register for the eBay Affiliate Program simply to go http://affiliates.ebay.com/ and do a little research. When you have seen the unlimited opportunities for success that the eBay Affiliate program affords its members, you will next want to click on the ‘API Program Join Now’ button. At this point you will be prompted to select the platform you would like to join with. The platform you choose will influence the tier and type of business your eBay Affiliate Status becomes. Each platform offers unique advantages, and should be considered carefully. Once you have selected your program platform, simply click the Join Now button for that particular platform.

Step# 2

After you have completed your application, the eBay Affiliate network you
choose will send you an email with your login details and instructions on getting started. The application process itself is easy, and simply requires some information about your business. This information helps eBay optimize the tools and guidelines they provide you for your success. The application takes only a few minutes, and is not sold to competitors. The Affiliate network you chose will be in touch with your personal information and you can get started with your successful new venture.

Step# 3

Once you have received your password and login information, you can proceed to the affiliate network site http://affiliates.ebay.com/tools/ to find eBay banners, text links, and search boxes. This website offers detailed tracking statistics. The tracking statistics will help you see which products and companies are performing best. This information will help guide you as you develop your affiliation with eBay, and will enable you to make the best decisions for your website’s performance.

Step# 4

The last step to success with the eBay Affiliate Program is to further grow
your eBay strategy using the affiliate website and all of its many features.
The affiliate website will not only get you started down your road to success with eBay, but they will provide you with invaluable tools to maximize your strategy. These tools and kits will help you transition into the affiliate member you want to be, and will continue to keep you updated so you stay current with trends and technology.

These 4 easy steps take you from learning about the eBay Affiliate Program, to being a super successful eBay affiliate.

3 Unusual Formats For Auctions on eBay

eBay users are accustomed to only two "standard" formats for
sales on eBay: either the 'regular' auction which involves
bidding and waiting; and the Buy It Now, which is an instant
purchase.

But there are three other formats that are less well known.

1. Live Auctions

Before eBay, the traditional auction included live bodies in frequently unintelligible). Any buyer can still participate
in these live auctions via eBay. Live auctions are a hybrid
- a buyer is 'sort of' present in a live setting yet is at
home using an Internet connection.

The products for sale are usually expensive and unusual.
There are such items as expensive and unique coins, Asian
art, native American artifacts, incredible jewelry, costly
furniture, memorabilia from major sports stars and even
history. Today, for instance, there are documents signed by
John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, James Madison and Ulysses
Grant (he confides that he was strenuously opposed to the
"wicked" war with Mexico).

If you choose to participate in a live auction, be certain
that you register first because you can't just drop in on a
whim.

You can find all the details here:
http://www.ebayliveauctions.com

2. Private Auctions

Private auctions are similar to the typical auction that
we're all familiar with except for one detail - the
identities of the bidders are kept secret. Only the seller
has access to the names.

Why would anyone create a private auction? It's usually for
one of three reasons:

* The item is quite expensive and buyers might be
uncomfortable having others know they can afford such
merchandise. Their concern about their financial status is
most likely misplaced because it is quite possible to
distance yourself from eBay contact information, but much of
selling is about perception.

* The buyers might be embarrassed by the nature of the
merchandise.

* Some sellers habitually use private auctions to make it
harder for their competition to snoop on them.

3. Restricted Access Auctions

This is usually for sales of "adult" items. The main purpose
is to prevent children from seeing this kind of merchandise,
and is similar to having covers on racy magazines at store
checkouts.

To bid on these items, the buyer must:

* Be 18 years old

* Must have supplied credit card information to eBay.The
theory is that no one under 18 can get a credit card and
therefore cannot get into these sections.

* Agree that he is voluntarily accessing restricted access
auctions

In addition, restricted auctions are excluded from the
Featured pages. So if you are a seller using this format,
your listing will be harder to find.

Even though they are less well known, these three formats
for auctions on eBay still account for tens of millions of
dollars in sales each year. If they suit your business
model, you might consider them.

3 Internet Home Based Businesses Anyone Can Do

If you’re serious about having a home based business, then you need to prepare. The leading reason for a failing home based business is the lack of preparation people commit after they’ve made a decision to start a home based business.

So what kind of home based business opportunity should you take on? Do you want to have an internet-based home business? Millions have done it, are doing it and are earning good livings doing so.

Here are three different kinds of Internet based business models you can try:

1) Be an online retailer for reputable companies. Your home based internet business can give reviews about all the products and services of these companies. Your customers will browse around your website, and then click on to the link. The link will send the customer to the company’s customer service website, which takes care of processing and shipping their order.

Your home based online business website does the marketing, promoting and advertising aspects for these companies. Your commission comes from the proceeds of the sale. You don’t even have to spend money for expensive e-commerce software.

2) You may not be able to bear the pain of separating from your oldest possessions, but how about auctioning these things off? For a minimal entry fee and closing fee, you can put your prized possessions on auction at Ebay or other spin-offs found on the net. This is a virtually free home based business since you don’t pay for web presence. You’ll get traffic since Ebay receives as many as 4 million visitors a day, and you won’t need to worry about your e-commerce software. Plus your small home based internet business stays open even when you go fishing!

3) Sell information. You can start your home based internet business by writing on a subject that you enjoy or are knowledgeable about. If you can do this, then this small home based internet business is for you. Write your e-book and sell it on sites like Ebay.com, ebookAd.com, or Clickbank.com.

These home based internet business are all simple and easy enough to do. You can earn a living on these ideas if you view this small home based business with passion and commitment.

Just remember these home based internet tip:
Constantly fine-tune your marketing strategy and always test new ad copies to see what brings you the most sales!