First Journey Begins
By Scott Ryan |
The first Day Penny Train just left the station and is taking place on the track of GRAPHICS.
A surprise delivered every Sunday for 52 weeks.
Let’s see… a penny a day… that’s seven cents for each Sunday surprise.
My, oh my…
You can see the sales copy here.
I will be making up an auction on eBay and putting the graphics on CD for shipping.
April Fools!
Topics: Graphics Journey | No Comments »
CDs? You’re joking.
By Scott Ryan |
I’ve listened to John Thornhill’s interview. John has said the eBay changes will cause, “A massive gap in the market” and that “gap will be filled by physical products”. He may see an opportunity for himself in the short term. But my immediate reaction to his comment is, “What ‘gap’”?
Take it from the standpoint of a customer. NOTHING HAS CHANGED. As a customer, you will still be able to search eBay for ebooks and get results for DIGITAL DOWNLOADS.
The results are simply in the eBay classified ad format instead of an auction format.
So there’s no feedback mechanism in play. But as a customer legitimately looking for information NOW, I DON’T CARE. I am looking to buy information for the information’s sake, not to play games with boosting feedback.
If anything, as an eBay customer, I WELCOME this as a step in the right direction, as an attempt to improve the legitimacy of the feedback mechanism. What did I say in an earlier post? I was out to do what I could to establish my first auction and establish my legitimacy starting with zero feedback, avoiding the bogus approach of boosting my feedback through buying crap just for the sake of what can only be called counterfeit feedback.
“Ooooh! Great buyer! ‘Prompt’ payment! Would sell to again!”. What bullshit. It’s that kind of crap that turned me off to eBay for years. Ever since I attempted to buy an old book on Turbo C and the seller was behaving like they weren’t there. I “won” the auction, but there was NO response from the seller. I attempted to contact the seller. Again no response. So finally I received a message from eBay saying that since x number of days had passed, the transaction had been canceled. So I did a “copy/paste” of the exact phrasing of what eBay had said and put it in a feedback comment for the “seller” and gave them a neutral, NOT a negative, but giving them “the benefit of the doubt”.
And then I was shocked to see the seller, leave a NEGATIVE feedback for me, saying all in caps like they were shouting, “DON’T BUY FROM THIS PERSON! THEY ARE A FRAUD AND A THIEF!”. Interesting comment about the “BUY” since all I was trying to do was make a purchase. I wasn’t selling anything.
But that experience turned me off to eBay for years. Why should I do business with a business (eBay) that permits such bullshit to take place? The seller, after every couple hundred sales, seemed to “go off the deep end” and leave someone who had a legitimate gripe an insane comment like some kind of “revenge” negative feedback, sounding like they forgot to take their meds.
From that experience I learned firsthand the feedback mechanism to be nothing more than a game, quite detached from reality. And therefore, my future purchases were to occur at AMAZON. And THAT’S what eBay has been attempting to address these past few months with their changes regarding feedback. They want customers like me BACK. Good luck with that eBay. You’ve got a long way to go to step out from the shadow of Amazon.
Pulling the rug from under the sellers of crap to remove them from the feedback mechanism was long overdue. John Thornhill now talks about packaging his items into a “home study course”, taking advantage of a “MASSIVE opportunity”. Sidenote: I refuse to use the word “massive”. I got burned out on that word from years of reading Ewen Chia’s copy.
Fine, go ahead John. Present your “fantastic” offer (that one’s for Lee McIntyre). One of your competitors will buy your CD, study it, then put a clasified ad up on eBay saying,
“Why pay shipping charges? Why wait? You can have my wiz-bang ‘home study course’ RIGHT NOW and you SAVE MONEY. No HASSLE!”
What’s the prospect going to do, John? I know what I would do.
And the idea of appealing to those STILL with “dial up” access, offering them a CD as an alternative. Well, go for it, John. I think it’s admirable you want to meet the needs of… what is that now,.00001 percent of the BUYING market? Now THAT’S a niche for you.
I don’t make these comments as some kind of “expert seller”. But, like many others numbering in the millions, I do make these comments as a potential buyer who knows what they want. THAT I’m an expert at! And what I want is valuable information NOW at a price I can afford. If you can give me that you’ve got a sale. And if you’re asking me to buy a CD, thinking that CD media somehow makes it more “valuable” from my POV, then think again.
Have you noticed how Netflix has “Watch Now” buttons appearing next to movies in your queue? It is a TREND. It is a response to the marketplace where people do NOT want to wait a day or two for the DVD to arrive. Why should they? You want to make them wait?
Go for it! You will LOOSE MARKET SHARE!
Perceptions change. Information is information. Sell me speed. Sell me value. You are not going to sell me on the “sneaker net”. You may as well package it on “eight-track”.
One last thing for this post. I am married to someone who has been a successful Powerseller of used books. She goes “way back” to the days of half.com not being part of eBay. My wife also attended with our son the first eBay convention held in Anaheim. While for myself, I have not been on the “frontline”. I have had the luxury of acquiring intimate knowledge about eBay transactions, feedback and customer relations vicariously through my wife for many years. She is a PRO. You can look her up: OCEANBOUNDBOOKS. While her selling has been rather quiet this first quarter of 2008, one site where she still routinely sells a book or two every few days is… you guessed it, Amazon!
Topics: eBay Journey | 2 Comments »
Is It Worth It?
By Scott Ryan |
I want to answer a question you might have. You might be wondering if Sky High Auctions is worth it. My answer is yes. But now ask me if I think you should join. My answer is… well, maybe… but probably not.
SHA makes one thing clear in the very first lesson. And to be perfectly honest, I can understand why they do NOT mention the information given in the first lesson on their sales page.
It’s mentioned that in order to achieve success with eBay it does not take a lot of money. That’s good. And it’s also a natural for a sales page. It definitely tells the reader what they want to hear. But then the lesson says something most will not accept. It is the reality check: it is going to take time and it is going to take work.
And that is where the “rubber hits the road”. The fact is 95% of the people purchasing SHA will not succeed. SHA is not a magic lamp. It is a guide. An experienced guide that, ironically, will save you time and effort, saving you from making unnecessary mistakes. But it still takes time and effort to make it all work. Becoming an eBay Powerseller is not something you achieve by just throwing money at. If you want to throw money at something, I certainly know what you could throw your money at for an absolutely incredible return. But that’s for another post, probably on one of my other blogs.
So this is what I recommend, and for what it’s worth, because I don’t know you, all I can do is play the odds. And the odds are, from my POV, you will not succeed if you join SHA. So don’t do it. I’m about to take this “eBay Journey” “down the rabbit hole”. So if you are still curious about SHA and what it really takes to become a Powerseller, well then you’ve got the opportunity to have a front row seat. And like the theme of this site is, it’s going to cost you a “whopping one cent” a day for the entertainment and the “cheap” education, saving you a helluva lot of frustration and mistakes. That’s my job to experience those things.
I’ll get the payment mechanism in place this weekend for a one year “membership” to this “eBay Journey” that will cost $3.65.
The next post on this topic on this blog will contain the payment button. After that, all posts will be “down the rabbit hole”. And the first post will be my angst and solution concerning what should be the “item” of my first auction!
Be Seeing You,
Scott
A postscript: the next post does not contain a Payment button. I’ve decided, given the recent events with eBay, to leave my comments for the time being “open to the public”. I need to establish more anticipation for readers before I ask anyone for literally, a few cents.
Topics: eBay Journey | No Comments »
Giveaway Takeaway $77
By Scott Ryan |
I put out the effort, ala Tony Shepherd’s and Sara Brown’s ingenious marketing technique, to create a free download in preparation for the “Easter JV Giveaway”.
So it’s ready to go and I’m ready to upload at the “Giveaway” site. But then I’m hit with a request to pay $77 in order to upload. Nice of them to tell me that upfront
Forget it.
I’ve added a link to “Become a Squidoo Guru in Just 24 Hours” on the sidebar under “Links”.
If you’re interested in the free download please, enjoy. Tony’s ebook is great – even if it’s “free”.
I included in the zip file a surprise bonus. If you’d like to download that here just right-click on the title. It’s Sara Brown’s “How to Break Into The ‘How To Make Money Online’ Niche“. Within that ebook is a link to yet another great ebook: “Licensed To Quit”. That is the ebook that covers Tony and Sara’s brilliant marketing strategy where everyone wins.
And as an aside, I do have news on my eBay Journey that I will post on before the weekend.
Scott
Topics: Personal Use Only | No Comments »
Better Than Feedback!
By Scott Ryan |
I’ve been exploring a few of the lessons in Sky High Auctions.
Before putting up your first auction they recommend taking 2 or 3 weeks to explore eBay and make purchases, enabling you to build up a feedback of between 50 and 100.
The problem with that is I really don’t want to be taking such a lengthy delay before putting up my first auction. And I really don’t want to be buying things for the sake of creating feedback! I want to be buying things for the sake of… well, those things!
A feedback of 100 isn’t going to keep anyone from being the victim of a scam. So I’ve thought of an alternative. Something I hope will enable me to “hit the ground running” with the placement of my first auction within the next 24 hours.
I call it “Better Than Feedback!” and you can watch it here.
The whole point is to let you know I am accessible and available to be of service.
Scott
619.806.3090
Topics: eBay Journey | No Comments »
Bringing It All Together
By Scott Ryan |
Inspired by the recent explorations of Dennis Becker, I yesterday established a wikidot site in order to promote the “eBay Journey Track” about to take place on Day Penny.
Background information that inspired the creation of Day Penny can be found on the About page.
I’m working through the first few “Sky High Auctions” lessons and will post my thoughts later this week.
I also need to prepare for next Monday, St. Patrick’s Day. No, not the purchase of stout or corned beef. I’m talking about sending off my first question to John Thornhill. Each day, for 28 days, I am permitted to ask John one question. This opportunity was a bonus from making my purchase of “Sky High Auctions” through John’s affiliate link.
The rules of this bonus remind me of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp. I’m certain John will not permit one of my questions to create more questions beyond the 28, like the hard rule of no wishing for more wishes.
I’m sorely tempted to “photoshop” that (by now well known) mug shot of John and add a genie’s turbin. I think it would look great! I wonder if he would mind?
You need to know the Q&A with John will not be open to the public. That added value falls within the domain of a “Day Penny Track”. And a “Track”, which moves beyond such overviews as this introduction, will cost a whopping penny a day, $3.65 for a year’s “Track” membership.
I will also be “filling out” the “About” page over the next few days to explain more about the nature and purpose of the “Day Penny Tracks”.
Be Seeing You,
Scott
Topics: eBay Journey | No Comments »