Business in Your Own Back Yard, Avoiding Common Amazon Pitfalls

Personally delivered to you by Steve Lindhorst, author of
"Selling on 'the River' and "The Niche Book"

The past week has been a busy one. I updated the sales page for Selling on 'the River' to make it a bit fresher and easier to read. I hate those long sales pages, but they work. eBay's earnings call was last week, and as you likely know, their revenue was down. Hmmm... maybe all of those sellers who've moved to Amazon or started their own websites are beginning to have an effect.

Here are the topics for this issue of the newsletter:

In This Issue

1. Business in Your Own Back Yard
   
2. Your eBay Success
   
3. Avoiding Common Pitfalls on Amazon
   

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1. Business in Your Own Back Yard

I finally took the plunge and spoke to a local businessman about his presence on the web. He has a business selling auto parts to local shops, and he has roughly 150 customers. We have known each other for years, and the other day I asked him about his website. He didn't have one.

In the ten minute conversation that followed, I asked him about how he contacts his customers. He generally calls on them once per week, at their shops. If he has something new to sell them or a promotion to discuss, he does it on one of these weekly calls. But if the mechanic/customer is with a customer or under a hood working, he just replaces the stock and leaves.

My suggestion to him was to let me set up a simple website for his customers. He can write about anything he wants to communicate with all 150 customers about promos, new product lines, contests for NASCAR tickets, whatever. Then his customers can get the message at a time when they are more relaxed. He will collect their email addresses on the route, and I'll set up a mailing list using Aweber.

He is going to pay me $200 per month just to manage the list for him, and create and send the emails to his customers. He tells me what to say, and I create one email per week. That's about an hour of work for $50.

I have a list of people I'm going to call on to do this again. It's is one of the most simple ideas I've found. I will probably charge a bit more once I get going. But just think. For about a half-day of work each week, five customers would bring in $1000+ per month.

Could you call on local business acquaintances to set something similar up? Here are some ideas:

• A local coffee shop can collect email addresses to let their customers know about the coffee "drink of the week"
  • By submitting their email address, each customer gets entered into a drawing to name the drink of the week
• Local clubs - wine clubs, health clubs, etc. - Many health clubs don't use email to contact their customers. What a great way to let existing members know of a two-for-one special
• Bed and Breakfasts - some of these places have hundreds of guests per year. Many come back each year. Why not let their customers know if there's a weekend available?
• Schools - emails are perfect for fundraising events.

The list goes on and on. You would be amazed at how much you know about the web, compared to average local business people. Plus, they don't have the time or desire to do it. The business is right in your own neighborhood, you just have to be willing to go get it.

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2. "Your eBay Success"

Don't let the name fool you, this is not all about eBay. In fact, if you're selling on Amazon, this could be a goldmine for you.

Over the past few months I've made friends with a fellow named Steve Maxey. Steve and I met after he read my ebook about selling cars for auto dealers, Showroom Secrets. Steve started two very successful businesses on eBay. I've heard a bunch of stories over the years. Some involving "tricks" to get eBay to work for you, big investments up front, blah blah blah. In my experience, the only way to make real money is work. But there is a trick - work smarter.

Here's what I like about Steve's story:

• You don't sell your own inventory - local merchants will supply you.
• There is no upfront cost.
• You already know how to sell online.
• Even in a small town, his methods will work.

There's no secret. It's basically a consignment business model. What I found so compelling about Steve's story though, is it's real. He really did it. Twice! Plus, with the down economy, businesses will be looking for ways to sell slow-moving merchandise. Much of that merchandise is new and in the box, so you'll have no trouble listing it quickly on Amazon.

He's not a website builder, or a writer. He is a really nice guy, and he's a businessman who wrote his story down, and gives you step by step instructions on how to approach this business. His ebook is called "Your eBay Success" and it's really two ebooks in one. Steve has allowed me to be the very first to promote it. As of this writing, you will not find it anywhere else. Take a look at: Your eBay Success.

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3. Avoiding Common Pitfalls on Amazon

As you likely know, on Amazon.com, the product detail page is the center of information for any item. The customer uses information on this page to learn about the product, not the seller. (Your turn comes later.)

A detail page is made up of all the information, from all sellers that are offering the item at that time. This is known as "community selling" and makes Amazon what it is. Amazon's goal is to have all sellers who are listing the exact same item visible on only one detail page. As Amazon says:

This allows the customer a streamlined shopping experience and promotes pricing competition which in the end benefits the customer.

So what are the pitfalls on product detail pages? If you're a seller creating a product detail page, avoid statements that are unique to you as a seller. This page is for everyone. Do not add statements like "Free Shipping" or "Brand New," since other sellers may come along later and offer the item used, or without free shipping.

So where can you stand out as a seller? My favorite is the condition comments box. It's really easy to write something witty, or at least different than every other seller. Be creative, buyers will notice.

A second pitfall deals with the condition comments box. Some eBay sellers think they can use that box to let buyers know their item is different from the product detail page description. Wrong-O!! Don't do this. One Amazon employee told me this is the number one mistake eBay sellers make when they move to Amazon.

To illustrate the point: You have a Woodstock LP you want to sell. Since you cannot find the product page for a Woodstock LP, you decide to just use the product page for a Woodstock CD and add a note in the condition comments box that "This is not a CD, it's an LP."

When the customer receives the package, there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth because there's not a record player in the house, and the kids think it's a flying saucer. Based on the product detail page, the buyer thought they were getting a CD. The condition comments box didn't change anything. Amazon will back the buyer on this one.

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As usual, I appreciate you reading the newsletter, when you get some time, take a look at some products I've reviewed.

Steve

Tagged as: Amazon, amazon mistakes, consignment selling, eBay, ebay motors, local business