Are You a Professional?

I'm probably not going to make any friends with this blog post, but I think it is something that needs to be talked about. Are you trying to start a business online? Perhaps you have a product to sell on eBay or another online marketplace and need to write descriptions that entice the lookers to buy. Or, maybe you want get into Internet marketing by providing a service to other online entrepreneurs. Well, I have a question.

Here's the question. Can you spell? Can you write using at least halfway decent grammar? If you want to look professional, you need to act professional and write in a professional manner. In a face-to-face business, potential customers judge you by what you wear and how you speak. In an online business, they initially only see what you write. The first contact with you might be a blog post you wrote, a sales letter they've found on an emailing, a free newsletter you sent out, or even Twitter. You won't appear professional if there are spelling errors, run-on sentences, no paragraph breaks, or other obvious grammatical errors. "Why do I need to look professional?" you might ask. Because 'professional' usually equates to traits like 'competent', 'trustworthy', and 'knowledgeable' for most people.

A program based or web based spelling checker is a first step. Always spell check before sending out anything. But a spelling checker is not enough. You need to proofread what you wrote after correcting any spelling mistakes caught by the spelling checker. Case in point, I was reading a blog post today where the writer used the word incite, when she really meant insight. The spelling checker knows they are both valid words, but with two very different meanings. Just this week I noticed two different people on Twitter who had a typographical error in their blog link that they put in their 'Bio'. Also, learn the correct usage of commonly misused words that sound alike, such as 'there', 'their', and 'they're' as well as 'to', 'two', and 'too'. If your blog posting software or other writing tool doesn't have a good spelling checker, write in Word or another good word processor and then cut and paste into your blog or other media. Then you'll also get the benefit of some grammer checking that the more robust writing platforms provide while spell checking.

Finally, use capitals and lower case as appropriate. That all lower case thing is so last century. And please don't use smileys or acronyms if you want to appear professional.

So, there, I've said it. I'll get down off the soapbox now. Oh, by the way, my grammar is not what my college writing professor would want to see on a thesis. I use a more conversational style, which, while still professional, comes across as 'friendly'. Comments are always welcome.

Getting Targeted Twitter Followers

Do you Twitter. If you have any kind of business, you need to market it on twitter.com. There are many and varied ways to market on Twitter, but we'll start with the first one.

First you need to get targeted followers to your Twitter tweets. There are a number of ways to do that, but here's how I do it. My way isn't the faster or easiest, but it may be the most effective. Here it is:

1. Begin by locating several other Twitter members who have similar business' to yours. If you eBay, then find sellers on Twitter who you respect or you know are active in marketing their ebay business. If you do something else, find people in that genre on Twitter. All you need is one to start.
2. Go to that Twitter member's page by clicking on their Twitter ID.
3. Click on their 'Followers' link in the upper right of the page.
4. Now this is the most important part. Mouse-over each ID in the list one-by-one to see each person's Bio. Look at the bio to see if that person is involved in your area of interest. If you ebay, do you see the word 'eBay' in their bio? If so, click to follow them. If your genre is selling jewelry, look for people who may be interested in jewelry, etc. For instance, I sell many things for children (clothing, toys, books, CDs,...), so if I see someone who appears from their bio to be a mom of small children, I click on them too, even though the word 'ebay' doesn't appear in the bio.
5. The other thing to watch for while going through the list of followers are Twitterers who you know and respect in your genre. Make a note of their Twitter ID and repeat this process with their list of followers.
   
6. You have just followed these people. Most will soon follow you.

There are other ways to find targeted followers, but this is perhaps the only way to create a list of super-targeted followers for your future marketing related tweets.

Watch for my next blog on this subject for tips on using Twitter to get your message to your followers. Hope this helps.

Ken

Buyer's Guide To eBay Feedback

I couldn't wait to share this with you. If you sell on eBay you should check out my friend Marlene's blog for her letter to buyers about how to rate a seller from whom they've just purchased.

In the Savvy Seller, she lays it all out for the buyer so they understand the different DSR ratings. After reading her letter, the buyer will know that a 3 doesn't mean 'Good'. And that a seller is failing if their average rating is 4. There's no way I could improve on her "Holiday Note to Buyers", so just go read it.

Ken

Store Tips for Holiday Sales

As the holiday season approaches, the best selling season also approaches. Anyone with a store, online or brick and mortar, will tell you that their sales jump up during this time of the year. If you are selling from your store on eBay, Amazon, Auctiva, your own website, or any other online store, taking advantage of the holiday buying fever that seems to increase each year is nothing but common sense. But how do you do that?

1. Decorate Your Store - Add some holiday graphics to help visitors to your store get in the holiday buying mood.
2. Have a Sale - Pre-holiday sales can help jump start your selling season. People who come to your store for the sale may come back and bring their friends (via word-of-mouth) even when the sale is over. There are many procrastinators out there. Get them to buy early or they may end up buying elsewhere on the eve of the holiday.
3. Advertise Your Store - Put up flyers, send ads out to your email list, get your store on some of the bump sites, use Twitter, tell people on Facebook and MySpace about your store, consider using Google Adwords, etc.
4. Stock up on what will sell - Think gift items and consider using the pre-wrapped "Gift" shipping option for your eBay listings! Also, try to stock up on items that are HOT!
5. Shop for Closeouts Now - If you live near a summer resort area, everything is on sale now! Many of those items will make great gifts. You can also haggle if you are buying in quantity for resale. My friend Jen at Down the Shore with Jen just posted about End of Season Deals.
   
6. Use Buy it now style listings - People are often stressed out at this time of year and will not waste time with auctions.
7. Offer free shipping on some items- Many buyers come to the online world at this time of year to avoid the crowds and the time needed to shop.Not having to compare shipping costs from seller to seller simplifies and shortens their experience.
8. Start Now! - There is a lot to do to get ready. Don't wait until October or November. Many people start their holiday shopping soon after Labor Day.

Hope you can put these tips to use. Best wishes for a successful holiday selling season.

eBay Live 2008 Chicago

I promised you a report of my trip to eBay Live in Chicago this past June 2008, but I've been struggling a little with how I feel about the trip, hence my foot dragging has us all the way into the end of July already. My apologies for that. So here goes....

This was my third eBay Live in three years. I attended the eBay Live in Las Vegas in 2006 and Boston in 2007. Las Vegas was amazing. I had never been there before and it's a very exciting town. And eBay Live itself was very exciting with so much education there for the taking. I soaked up seminar after seminar and visited almost every booth on the Solutions Hall floor, which is where all the exhibitors are located. I was like a bird flying around with no one telling me I had to go here or there. The one thing missing was that I didn't know anyone. So, while that gave me freedom to do what I wanted, it was somewhat of a lonely existence. But I wouldn't have missed it for the world and it helped me immensely as an eBay seller. Probably, the highlight was hearing Janelle Elms present her Ebay Stores 101 class. More about Janelle later.

In Boston, my sister (goneantiqueing) flew up from Tucson for her first eBay Live. We had the advantage of staying with our other sister who lives an hour outside of Boston. The crowd was a little smaller at Boston, but that was to be expected because Las Vegas has more glitz than most other U.S. cities. Here I was a little pickier about which classes to take and which Solutions Hall vendors to visit. I also had made some eBay friends in the past year and took time to meet up with them during the three days. Boston was another great success for me both personally and for my eBay business. I grew again as I began hearing about becoming an Education Specialist and how websites like MySpace could help my growing eBay business.

I have mixed feelings about eBay Live Chicago. There seemed to be a cloud hanging over the convention. I guess that cloud could have been called "Upset Powersellers." In February, eBay's management made several rules changes that were designed to bring in more buyers to the eBay arena, but to do so meant making some changes that disadvantaged some sellers. eBay said the changes only hurt "bad" sellers. Not everyone was in agreement with that statement. Being neither a powerseller or a "bad" seller, I didn't have a problem with the changes, and even some of my powserseller friends told me that by and large they would make more money after the changes than before. Still there was this aire of discontent wafting about the corridors and seminar rooms from a small, but vocal group. In addition, attendance was down from the previous year and the back half of the Solutions Hall had no vendors.

I said I had mixed feelings and that is because I was there with a group of very 'positive' eBayers. About five months before eBay Live, I joined Janelle Elms' new group called OSI Rock Stars. I am so excited about being part of the Online Success Institute Rock Stars. About 25 of the members (Janelle calls us Rock Stars) were able to attend eBay Live in Chicago. It was like a mini Rock Stars convention within a convention. We had special events, our own T-shirts and goodie bags. But the best part was being able to meet all these super talented people and talk about eBay in real time. You see, Janelle has filled this group with many multi-talented eBayers that are the most positive people you'll ever meet. These folks, along with Janelle herself and other experts, have created over a thousand hours of webinars, podcasts, and video classes for the OSI members only. And as members of OSI Rock Stars we help each other in the extensive online forum. Well, I guess you can see why I really enjoyed this latest eBay Live more than the others.

Oh, remember I mentioned promoting your eBay business on MySpace. That was just the tip of the iceberg. Between what I learned at eBay Live this year and what I am learning at OSI Rock Stars, now we have Blogging, Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Del.icio.us, Technorati, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, Squidoo, YouTube, Bumping, etc. Yes, these are all ways to increase your success on eBay.

How about your Auction Progress? Are you keeping up? Leave a comment and tell us which eBay Live you liked best and what you are doing to improve your eBay success.

Are You Bumping?

eBay Store sellers have had some setbacks in the past few years as eBay eliminated our store listings from eBay search results, and made other changes to the site that reduced the number of buyers finding our listings.

Many eBay sellers have taken to advertising their auctions and store listings on other websites. At first, you had to get a domain name, design a website, get hosting and develop good search engine optimization techniques before anyone would find your site to click on a link that would take them to your ebay listing or store. Now all you have to do is put a link to your eBay store or auctions on a 'bump' site.

My friend and fellow Rockstar, Brenda, from The Crabby Nook has done a marvelous job of explaining bump sites in detail. Check out her Squidoo lens on Bumping for "how to" information and links to sites.

If you are bumping already or have a question, please leave a comment by clicking on the word "Comments" below.

What Don't You Understand About NEW and USED?

eBay just announced they will make changes to product attributes, called Item Specifics, in certain categories in August. In Books, DVD & Movies, Music and Video Games categories, eBay will change "Condition" values from "New" and "Used" to "Brand New", "Like New", "Very Good", "Good" and "Acceptable."

I think this change will muddy the water and introduce a level of ambiguity to the condition of the item for used books, DVDs, movies, music, and games. NEW and USED are pretty easy to understand. On the other hand, what do "Like New", "Very Good", "Good" and "Acceptable" mean? Without eBay defining each of these, sellers can't accurately describe their items in terms that the buyer can agree with.

There are published descriptions for various condition levels out there already, such as at the International Online Booksellers Association (IOBA). Some used book sellers are already using one of the accepted standards, such as IOBA, and the rest are doing their best to describe the condition of the item in the listing description. And that works up to a point with the current NEW and USED condition specifics.

In my opinion, eBay needs to publish a similar set of definitions for each of these categories and they need to be easily accessible by both buyers and sellers. Otherwise, I think there will be a steep rise in the number of dissatisfied buyers and unpaid item disputes due to the confusion this change will create.

So, what do you think? Leave a comment below by clicking on the word "Comments".

Janieruth Seriously Hurt at eBay Live

I promised you all a report on my visit to eBay Live in Chicago June 19-21. And that will be coming along soon. But first I need to share some related news of a more serious nature.

An eBayer and fellow OSIRockStar, Janieruth was seriously hurt during a visit to the Chicago Art Museum with friends. As I understand it, she somehow fell ten feet over a banister or railing. She suffered serious brain injuries during the incident, but is bouncing back so well it is even surprising the doctors.

Janieruth's immediate family is with her at the hospital as well as others from the eBay and Rock Star community. Besides the weeks in the hospital to help heal her injuries she is facing an astronomical hospital bill that won't all be covered by insurance. In addition her family is facing major expenses staying near the hospital where she will remain for several weeks.

A fund has been set up to help with these medical expenses. As a friend of Janieruth's, I'm appealing to you, my readers, for anything you can manage to give, $10, $5, even a dollar.

Going To eBay Live!

Thursday, June 19, 2008 begins another eBay Live! This is an annual international convention of eBay buyers and sellers. This year it is being held in the 'Windy City', Chicago of course. The number of attendees this year is expected to be above 10,000. I'll tell you all about it when I return.

Right now I want to share a new contest that is premiering at this year's eBay Live! It's called "Spot The Rock Star". Among the 10,000 attendees will be 35 OSI RockStars at eBay Live! If you are going to eBay Live look for the Rock Stars. When you find one they will give you a card to get to a special part of the Rock Star website. Go there and register for the contest and you can win one of the many prizes -- over $5000 worth.

These Are The Basics

In my life as an eBay addict, I have picked up quite a lot of knowledge about how to do things on eBay, the right way. Some from reading books and ebooks, some by reading eBay help topics, some by joining in online and face-to-face discussions with other eBayers, some by taking eBay classes, and some by trial and error. In an effort to help those of you just starting out as well as those who have been selling for some time, I'd like to share a little of what I've learned over the next few posts here on "When Do I Get To Retire?" It never hurts to get back to the basics. These are the basics.

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. People everywhere are fascinated by pictures and depending on how one displays the picture of the items you are selling, a decision to buy or not to buy hangs in the balance. Often a prospective buyer will scan the search results and not even read a listing with a poor picture or none at all. Every listing needs at least one digital picture of the item. The picture must be clear and sharp and preferably in color. The background must be a solid neutral color that provides good contrast for your item. Your picture must be cropped so the image of your item fills all or most of the frame. These are the basics.

It is said that one who fails to plan is one who plans to fail. The same goes for research on eBay. Research of products similar to, or the same as, your product is essential. Before you list your items up for sale, check out what other sellers are asking for the same kind of product that you want to sell. This shows you what prices and practices (Titles, Descriptions, shipping methods, etc.) you will be competing against. In addition, search for the item you are selling under "Completed Auctions". This can help you to determine how much the items are really selling for. Setting your beginning bid or fixed price too high will mean failure. Remember also to pick a product that is selling before investing in inventory. These are the basics.

After the picture, the Title is the most important element in your listing. After all, the picture and the title are the first things the prospective buyer will see in the search results. The title must be filled with keywords. Keywords are what your buyer will search for to find your product. Think like your buyer. What keywords will she type into the search box. Put them in your title. You have 55 spaces. Try to use them all. These are the basics.

Your description is not only about listing the basic information about your product. You must market it too. Make an effort to describe your product in detail. Break your description up into paragraphs. One long paragraph will scare buyers away. Bulleted lists work well too. Learn to use words that make your buyer want your product instead of the ones the other sellers have listed. Free is always a good word...as in free shipping for instance. You can think of other words too, but don't sound like a used car salesman. People will go to the next seller. These are the basics.

Buyers like name brand products, great prices, good customer service and fast shipping. The good news is that in eBay, this is totally under the sellers’ control. So while selling, make sure you always include the correct shipping costs and explain how it will be shipped. You have no control of how long it will take to get there, so don't make those promises. These are the basics.

Choosing what payment methods to offer your prospective buyers is not just a personal choice. You need to try to meet the payment abilities of the greatest number of buyers while tempering that with your ability to deal with an occasional problem. Paypal handles most credit card purchases along with seasoned buyers with a Paypal balance. However, some buyers either aren't comfortable with a service like Paypal or they have no credit cards or even a checking account. So, your choice of allowing, or not allowing, money orders, bank checks, or personal checks may mean the difference between you or another seller getting the sale. These are the basics.

A good reputation matters more than anything else on eBay. Unless you are just on the site to sell one item and leave, the first thing that you should focus on is getting good feedback on your sales. A good percentage of eBay buyers will check the track record (called Feedback) of the person from which they are considering bidding or buying. So the better the comments and ratings you have from your past buyers, the better the chance you have of getting new buyers. These are the basics.

Lastly, providing good customer service will give you an edge over other sellers. This is shown in your attentiveness to questions sent by prospective buyers during the auction, how comforting your return policy is, and the amount of follow up in terms of emails that you provide to your customer after the sale. These are the basics.

Yes, these are the basics. But there is so much more to being successful on eBay. Check back regularly for more ramblings from an eBay addict. You never know what you'll learn. Also, if you live in the New York City greater metro area, consider taking one of our classes at Auction Progress, where you'll get the whole story, not just the basics. Our motto is "Helping eBayers Get to the Next Level."

Ken


Technorati Profile

Finding a Local Group of eBayers

Okay, as I've said previously, I am an eBay addict. Some eBay addicts are buyers. They never sell anything, they just buy, buy, buy. To them it's like the Home Shopping Network without the TV. It's even better since it's not on TV, because their non-computing friends envy them for their techie status.

Others are sellers. (Actually, I've never met a seller who isn't also a buyer on eBay.) They want to make some money. How much money depends on the person. For some it's a hobby and others a business. I think the last statistic I read was that there are over 12 million sellers on eBay running a full time or part time business. With the exception of this last group, it's not about the money...well, not just about the money. If you are an eBay addict, you eat, sleep, and play eBay as much as you can get away with. For some it even borders on OCD, we... 'er they feel drawn to the computer all the time. Did I sell anything in the last 5 minutes?; Did anyone send me a question about one of my listings?; Are their any new sellers in my niche? etc., etc., etc.

So, one of the things that eBay addicts enjoy, is talking to other eBay addicts. Well, since this whole thing revolves around the computer and the Internet, how does one do that? Let me count the ways.... There are discussion Forums on eBay's website. There are Groups on eBay. There are even Blogs on eBay. You can also send email to other users through My Messages of eBay. I have a baseball cap with the eBay logo on it that sometimes gets another eBayer to say hello. With the possible exception of the last one, these methods are not really 'talking' to other eBayers.

What's the answer? You attend a local eBay networking group meeting. If you can't find one, you start your own local group. A couple of years ago I found a group in the neighboring state. It was an hour and fifteen minutes each way for a two hour meeting once a month. But I went, month after month...for awhile. It was great! Then one day I was reading some of the discussion topics in an online eBay Group meant for eBayers from my state. One discussion was titled, "Meeting other eBayers in Person." That got my attention. There was a lot of posting on the topic back and forth for months, but nothing ever came of it.

So I just went ahead and started a group. It's called the eBayers of Northern NJ. We meet one a month at a local Panera Bread restaurant which has free WIFI. It's not a big group , but we put notices in some of the local newspapers and we regularly get new visitors. It's so enjoyable to talk to others face-to-face and share what we buy or sell on eBay. We trade tips and techniques and stories about the products we buy or sell.

You can do this too. Go to eBay Groups and search for any groups with the name of your state as part of their name. Then join some of them and ask if there are any face-to-face networking groups in your area. If not, consider starting one. You can then go back and tell the people in those groups you visited, about the new group you started. Another way to find eBay meetings is to go to the website: Meetup.com. There you can browse groups by city or search for a meetup group with the word 'eBay' in the name.

Now, I'm looking forward to the big daddy of eBay meetups in a few weeks, the eBay Live convention in Chicago. This is eBay's annual education, networking, and exhibition gathering. I'll tell you all about it, in a month from now when I return.

Ken

Things That Get In The Way

Wow. I didn't realize it had been so long since I last posted an entry in this blog. Where do I start? Let me catch you up with my attempt to make sense of this thing called retirement.

I have been an eBay buyer and seller since 2002. When I left my last full-time job at the end of May 2006. In the beginning it was just a casual pastime, but has built up to a fever pitch here as we enter 2008. More about this journey in upcoming posts.

I thought that I would try to expand my eBay selling activities and possibly make a little money. Little did I realize the road I was about to travel and the pitfalls I would have to overcome.

Jo, the love of my life, who is NOT retired, had other plans for me. It seems that, in her eyes, we had switched roles and she was now the bread winner and I was now the house husband. I could understand that, but I was now expected to do the cooking, food shopping, errand running, clothes washing, and house cleaning. Along with all of this, the roles of house handi-man, yard and garden worker, car washer, computer and network geek, and small-time mechanic remained. I embraced this challenge -- with one exception -- I hate house cleaning!

I think mentioned last time that we also own a summer condo at the shore (that's what we call the beach in New Jersey) and I bought a 22' Catalina sailboat. Some time later we bought another shore area condo as an investment. I became a board member of both owner associations and president on one. Oh, I can't forget that for the past year I've been general contractor on our complete kitchen and bath makeover.

What to do? How do you do all the household chores and these other responsibilities and still put in full time hours developing a new business. Yes, I can hear all the working mothers saying, "Well I do it!". Regardless of that I concluded that I couldn't or wouldn't.

So, I decided that I would do my best on the chores and work at the new business part-time. By the way, the sailboat is for sale since I've only had time to go out in it a few times in three years. Golf? I've forgotten where they put the course.

Needless to say, the development of the business has taken a back seat. However, in many respects I've still made significant progress since May 2006. Stop back soon to read what I've accomplished as an eBay seller, an Internet marketing guru, an Internet affiliate, a teacher of eBay selling classess, a blogger for dollars, a website developer, and more.

Ken