Personally delivered to you by Steve Lindhorst, author of
"Selling on 'the River' and "The Niche Book"
It's been a while since the last newsletter, and I've been busy. I have been furiously working on my Bonanzle booth. (By the way - I encourage you to take about one minute and sign up at Bonanzle for free.) Another reason it's been a while is I just haven't found anything very exciting to talk about, till now. On a personal note: since the last newsletter I have also managed to lose 27 pounds. I've got a ways to go, but I feel better already! On to the newsletter...
Here are the topics for this issue:
In This Issue
- Is the Rich Jerk a Big Scam?
- A possible solution to a USPS shipping problem.
- Reaching real people at eBay.
- "What should I sell online?" - A new twist on an old question.
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1. Is the Rich Jerk a Big Scam?
A few years ago I got laid off from my job. I was looking for possibilities on the internet and I ran across an ad for The Rich Jerk. I clicked around on his site, and sure enough - his website is full of insults and bluster. It intrigued me, but I didn't buy it.
Last week, I ran across The Rich Jerk again. I noticed that his product was on sale for $9.95 and thought, "What the heck, I'll spend that just to find out what this thing is all about. I'm really glad I did. I found a ton of information and learned a lot of new ways to make websites that bring in money.
I've heard from a lot of readers who have lost their jobs and need income as fast as possible. This ebook gives you several formulas that will
work. I know because I'm already doing some of what the ebook recommends. The sales page doesn't tell you what's in the book, so I will:
- Creating an Affiliate Website that Sells like Crazy
- Unique Search Engine PPC Strategies the Kill the Competition
- Search Engine Optimization Strategies (SEO)
- Selling Your Own Informational Product
- Buying Wholesale and Selling on eBay
- Websites you can Make Profitable Right Now
- Supplemental Info for Beginners
- Quality Products/Services I Highly Recommend
This is one of the best ebooks I've seen for explaining how to make money on the internet. In addition to the main book, there is an excellent bonus ebook all about creating a brand and branding. Just like the Rich Jerk has done. The Rich Jerk is just a made up brand, and it works.
WARNING: If you are visiting The Rich Jerk for the first time, it really is full of dumb insulting language. It's a joke. Don't be offended - just pass it up and get to the ebook. I will say this too: I was really annoyed at the loads of pop-ups I had to wade through. Ignore them. And when you are asked for information they require a phone number. I don't give that out - so I used a fake number. It's all worth it for the ebooks.
Now that you've been warned - visit The Rich Jerk and get it for $9.95.
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2. A Possible Solution to the USPS Tracking Problem
I'm not sure about you, but I think the U.S. Post Office's tracking system stinks. I pay $.18 for tracking when I create labels through PayPal. When I actually want to track the package I get no information until the item is actually delivered.
Evidently the Post Office does not scan every package. In those cases there will be no tracking information for you to see. There goes $.18. So how do you get their attention so your package gets scanned? A green highlighter.
If you ship using a self-printed labels and have noticed your local post office does not always scan your outgoing packages. Here’s a seller tip for you:
Seller tip:
Use a green highlighter to mark your shipping label near tracking section. This not only looks like a standard green “Delivery Confirmation”, but also grabs the delivery agent’s attention to scan your package.
This tip was found on the Amazon Seller Support blog. It's only a few months old, but if you're not reading it regularly you are missing some fantastic tips. It's written by Amazon staffers and has some really practical advice for sellers at all levels. You can also ask questions there via the comment form. Check it out at: http://sellersupport.typepad.com/seller_support/
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3. Reaching real people at eBay.
This may get me in trouble. In fact, I'm not sure it even still works anymore, but I'll bet it does.
When I worked at eBay years ago, there were only about 1500 people working there. But it was a pain to try to find a single individual. Then I found a trick to eBay's internal email system that made it easy to locate anyone. All you need is their first and last name.
Employee Email Addresses
Employees can have custom email addresses, such as griff@eBay.com. But imagine if your name is James, or Susan. There are probably dozens of each. So a fall back is the last name. eBay's system used to be set up with an eight character name followed by "@eBay.com." The eight characters were made with the first initial + the first seven letters of a person's last name. If a person has less than seven letters in their last name, just use the entire last name. I hated my assigned email address. I was slindhor@eBay.com. (Just say it out loud and you'll see why I hated sharing it in a big meeting.)
If an employee didn't want to use the eight character name, you didn't have to guess. The most reliable way to find anyone at eBay was (and may still be) this format: firstname.lastname@eBay.com. Obviously, it's not foolproof since there are some people with exactly the same name working there now.
How can you use this? Well I get emails from readers asking how to contact various departments at eBay. An example is when they've been rejected by the eBay Partner Network. There is a generic Contact Us form at: https://ebaypartnernetwork.com/files/hub/en-US/help.html#h1.4 . But if you'd like to reach a particular person about something, search eBay's announcement board for the subject in question. Get the name of the person that makes announcements about that subject (i.e. My eBay, Best Match, ePN, Feedback policies) and use the firstname.lastname @ eBay.com tip. Many of these folks have admins that handle their emails for them, and they'll route it to the correct people.
eBay's Phone Number?
Yes, they have phones there. Most of the time they won't answer them, but they are there - I've seen them. They do check voice mail. So how do you leave a message for someone?
Call 800-eBayCom ( 800-322-9266 ) and press "0" for the "Dial by name directory" - then just type the last name of the person you're trying to reach. Leave a voicemail. Done.
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4. "What should I sell online?" - A new twist on an old question.
The last thing I wanted to share in this issue is a new thing I've been trying when I scout for things to sell online. I've always been most interested in collectibles. Items new in their box were almost invisible to me since I was looking for "old" things. But as I have sold more on Amazon I have come to see anything with a barcode as an easy sale.
If you see a salad shooter in it's original box, or a down comforter that has it's original packaging - including the UPC barcode - grab it. List it on Amazon. I still do best on eBay for collectibles - but if it has a UPC, go for the quick and easy turnaround.
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Thanks for reading. Now I'm going to go try to lose more weight...
Steve
PS - Get the Bonanzle user ID you want - while you still can - it's growing fast!
