An online auction was pulled from the eBay auction site. There are several reasons why an auction listing can be pulled off of eBay. One seller found out one of those reasons when her listing was recently pulled. She had listed hip boots for fly fishermen and offered a bonus free book. It was her bonus that got her listing pulled. Her bonus book had nothing to do with fishing gear or great fishing spots. Its topic was the upcoming eBay seller boycott. You may wonder exactly how this violated eBay policy and got this online auction listing pulled off the eBay auction site.

eBay's purpose is to provide an auction arena where buyers and sellers can arrange purchase transactions. Any other purpose is not allowed. Furthermore, eBay does not allow the posting of personal opinion in auction listings. eBay felt that the seller's posting of the bonus book concerning the eBay sellers' boycott did not comply with eBay's purpose, and it also expressed personal opinion.

I know eBay is a huge marketplace and a great place to get the word out about anything. But I have to question the seller's wisdom in trying to use eBay against itself. Maybe the seller thought eBay would not stumble upon that one auction listing among all the others. Anyway, click below to go read more about how the online auction was pulled from the eBay auction site.

A few days ago, I wrote a post about problems with the eBay feedback system entitled Neutral Feedback on eBay Leads To Lawsuit . I pointed out that many eBay sellers were also buyers. But as buyers, they were hesitant to leave honest negative feedback for other eBay sellers. They were afraid they would get backlashed with undeserved negative feedback from the seller in revenge. And as eBay sellers, they could not afford to have their feedback rating damaged.

Well, I read a post today that gives a perfect example of this type of seller backlash. Read this lady's experience with a bad eBay seller (Be sure you come back to read the next twist in the story):

Here is another breaking eBay news story. Unhappy eBay sellers plan to boycott eBay for May 1. This boycott will extend beyond the United States. On May 1, these sellers will not list auction items, read listings, or make eBay purchases. Although the recent ebook policy changes are key to this boycott, there are other issues involved. Apparently the feedback received by sellers affects what fees they will be charged. Some eBay sellers feel like the eBay fees and Paypal fees are eating up their profits.

eBay feels their recent decisions in policy changes reflects their goal to provide the best buyer experience, and eBay feels that sellers that do not share that goal do not belong with eBay. eBay is confident that it can weather the boycott. It has many sellers that want to stay with eBay. And eBay's sales are up from last year.

This latest eBay upheaval has been good news for Chris Fain, founder of Online Auction. His auction site has experienced great growth in membership since the ebay sellers plan to boycott eBay, and many of them are flocking to his site to reestablish their businesses. He has a monthly seller fee plan that he feels will be a welcome change for those sellers leaving eBay behind.

To read the full story of how ebay sellers plan to boycott eBay, go read this article:

Auction site eBay defies boycott threats

Here is some more eBay news. Apparently back in 2004 eBay bought shares in Craigslist from one of their former executives. eBay has now taken Craigslist to court. eBay claims that the board of Craigslist has taken measures to limit its investment by 10%. To protect the investments of eBay's stockholders, eBay has decided to seek intervention from the courts in remedying this situation. I am including links to two articles for you to read more about this latest eBay news. One version suggests that eBay is surprised by Craigslist's actions because the two parties have always been amiable. A second version implies that is not true. It says that eBay has involvement with a second classifieds business, and the relations between Craigslist and eBay have never been happy ones. So if you are interested in reading more about it, click on the two links for the different versions of this eBay news.

eBay Files Corporate Governance Suit to Protect its Investment in craigslist

eBay Finally Loses Cool: Sues Craigslist Over “Stake Dilution”




Note: (I haven't forgotten that I promised you tips on studying feedback on eBay when you want to make a purchase. I'm working on it. Check back later.)

Unbelievable. I just read a post at a blog by Tim Gross. An eBay seller is suing one of his buyers for leaving him neutral feedback on eBay. I have no idea what the feedback said. This could turn into such a nightmare if the seller wins his case.

However, the eBay feedback system already had problems. It was often manipulated by the "sell penny ebooks strategy" for the fast road to feedback success. And now all the ebook sellers are in an uproar because eBay changed their ebook policy to try to improve the feedback system again.

There were other problems with the ebook feedback, though. Some eBay sellers were getting away with selling total garbage. But people didn't want to leave negative feedback because they were afraid the seller would burn them with bad feedback for their honesty. And many eBay buyers are also eBay sellers, so they don't want to get bad feedback on eBay over a digital product that cost less than $10.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not against eBayers selling ebooks. In fact, eBay was my favorite source for buying ebooks. I got many good ebook deals from great eBay sellers. But there were those who sold trash and counted on others to keep quiet to keep their feedback score high. Let me give you a few examples of what I'm talking about:

1. One eBay seller was selling an ebook package for $9.99 with master resell rights. When you got the ebook, there was a notice in the ebook that said you didn't have master resell rights unless you purchased the ebook from the product web site. The eBay seller didn't have the right to sell the master resell rights.
2. Another eBay seller was selling you a guide to get free products like cameras or xbox systems. When you received the guide, you learned that the methods were unethical. (I'm not saying that all guides for free products on eBay are bad. I'm talking about a particular one that I purchased.)
3. Another one was selling a money making plan that they said you could make a living with. The plan involved getting paid to complete offers from a list they would give you, and you couldn't make enough money to live for even one week.

That is just a few I could remember of all the ones I have seen in the last three years. Yea, I know. You're thinking what a sucker she is that she bought all those products. Well, I love to read and learn new things. And most of the products I bought weren't bad for the money.

Here is the bottom line though. Eliminating ebook feedback from the system might help some, but it is not going to totally solve problems with feedback on eBay. Some of the other inexpensive products on eBay, besides digital products, are junk. As long as eBay sellers have to protect their reputations with a high feedback score, they are going to be hesitant when leaving feedback to other eBay sellers who have just sold them any inexpensive but worthless product. Even if they left totally honest negative feedback, the eBay seller could leave them totally undeserved negative feedback in return. If you spend sometime reading feedback on eBay, you will see that it can get quite nasty sometimes. For an eBay seller, leaving honest feedback on eBay on a bad purchase you made is risky business. Maintaining your reputation as a seller through a high feedback score may outweigh seeking justice on a cheap ripoff. The sad result of this is the eBay seller that is selling junk does not get his just negative feedback. His feedback score stays high, and he is able to go on peddling his garbage and raking in the cash.

Oh well, I guess no system is perfect. At least, eBay is trying to maintain a fair system for leaving feedback on eBay. That is evident in their recent ebook policy change.

By the way, don't forget to go to Tim's site to read the article that set me off on this long post: Buyer Gets Sued For $10,000 By eBay Seller For Leaving “Neutral” Feedback

And take heart, my next blog post will give you some tips for looking at seller feedback on Ebay when you want to make a purchase.

If you want to make money with eBay and you don't know where to start, you should check out the eBay Cash Guide. There are many ways to make money with eBay. The method explained in this ebook is still fairly new. I have seen some eBay sellers using this method effectively to make money with eBay, and I have heard talk about this method here and there. But this is the first ebook I have seen come out that really explains how to set up this type of eBay business step by step. The good thing about the business method discussed in the eBay Cash Guide is that you will:

• know how to get unique products quickly
• you will not need a web site
• you don't need a lot of money to get started
• you can get set up rather quickly
• you do not need a lot of time to maintain this business

The eBay Cash Guide ebook is being sold in one of George Pluss's famous Dime Sales. The price of the book increases $0.10 with every purchase. At the time I am writing this post, the price is $10.50. If you are looking for an internet business that you can start without building a web site and without investing a lot of money, you should get a copy of the eBay Cash Guide.

Learn a New Method to Make Money With eBay

I have no doubt that we will be seeing several new strategies to sell ebooks to the eBay market to get around the new eBay policy forbidding the direct sell of digital products. Think about it. Google is constantly rethinking their algorithms and slapping the many marketers competing for high placement on this king daddy search engine. And marketers keep putting on their thinking caps and coming up with new ideas to get right back to the top of the listings. EBay sellers can be just as ingenious. I'm sure over the next few weeks, many ideas will surface and sellers will be once again peddling their digital products to the auction crowd. One man's roadblock is pure opportunity to the next man.

Even now, one solution is already being offered. The objective is to convert your digital product to a physical product that can be delivered via the postal service. A disadvantage is that you have to deal with packaging and shipping and probably charge a shipping fee. An advantage is that you can charge a higher price for a physical product if it is a quality product. You can also send a flyer with the product offering other products to increase your sales.

But what if you don't know how to implement this strategy to sell ebooks to the eBay market? You may not know how to transfer your digital product to a CD or DVD. Well, two companies have a solution for you.

Digital Media Solution provides professional tutorial videos that will teach you how to convert your ebook or digital product into a physical CD or DVD, complete with a navigational menu and a dynamic cover. And they will show you how to accomplish this goal using free tools, so you will not have production costs.

Kunaki handles the production for you. You use their software to design your case cover and disc, and they will make the product in one day. If you desire, they will let your customers purchase the product from them using a credit card and will quickly ship the product right away.

Since eBay allows you to sell your digital product (ebook, recipe, template, coupon code, etc.) in a physical format, CD or DVD, both these companies provide you with strategies to sell your ebooks to the eBay market.

One very important tip: Before you produce a physical product to sell, make certain that you have the legal right to publish and sell the product in this format.

Lisa Suttora, who owns the WhatDoISell.com web site, brought it to my attention that many sellers who have started setting up their ebook and digital product offers in the classified ad format are committing an eBay violation. They are putting their PayPal buttons directly in their classified listing, so that potential buyers will make an immediate purchase. This goes against the very principle that led eBay to change the policy in the first place. EBay does not want the sale of the ebooks or digital products conducted on eBay. The classified ad is more of a system to generate leads. The seller should be putting contact information in the listing, so the buyers can contact the seller to arrange a purchase off eBay. The listings that include the PayPal buttons will probably be shut down soon for committing an eBay violation.

If you are wondering why did eBay change their policy on selling ebooks and other digital products, like recipes and coupon codes, here is a brief explanation. EBay's Brian Burke said that the policy change will help eliminate manipulation of eBay's feedback system.

EBay's feedback system is important for helping build up trust and credibility between buyers and sellers. But eBayers have been trying to rapidly increase their feedback score by selling tons of penny ebooks. This has given false impressions about how much experience a seller really has. Under the new policy, ebooks and other digital products can only be advertised through the classified ad format. Then the buyer must contact the seller to buy the digital product. Since the product is not actually being purchased through the eBay system, there will be no exchange of feedback by the buyer and seller for the transaction. Hopefully, this will help to rebuild the reliability of eBay's feedback system. And that is why eBay did change their policy on selling ebooks and other digital products.

The new eBay policy requiring ebooks to be sold on eBay in the classified ad format will affect other sellers who aren't selling ebooks but other digital products. Digital products that are delivered through the email or through an instant download, such as recipes, online coupon info, templates, patterns, etc., will also need to be sold via the eBay classified ad format. I have seen a lot of debate on forums concerning what is and what is not allowed. There is a lot of conflicting info going around. I will keep you informed as I learn anything that seems reliable.

EBay has set the auction arena in a frenzy with their new policy regarding the sale of ebooks on eBay. Ebook selling on eBay is still possible, but it will be done differently from here on out. You will not be able to sell your ebooks in the normal auction format, the buy it now format, or the dutch auction format. You will only be able to offer your ebook product in a classified ad format.

Are you new to selling on auctions? Or are you an experienced auction seller who just wants to find new products to sell? Do you want to learn about sourcing products? If so, then you may be interested in participating in an eBay workshop entitled:

Last night, Lisa Suttora, founder of What Do I Sell.com, held her teleseminar to discuss the impact of the upcoming increase in the Ebay Store Fees. She was going to give tips to help Ebay store owners adapt their businesses successfully inspite of fee increases.

I arrived home late and dialed into the seminar about twenty minutes late. And then to my disbelief, my portable phone went out during the seminar. All summer long, my daughter has complained that none of her friends wanted to talk to her. Well in the last few days, they have been on a talking binge. She used all the juice in both my portable phone and my cell phone. I was unable to dial back in to finish the seminar. I hope Lisa will be putting the recording on her web site.

Fortunately, however, I did hear some of the seminar. Lisa talked about how everyone enters Ebay on the first and lowest merchant level. A smaller percentage of Ebay sellers will move up to the next level of seller success, and a few will move higher still.

One important factor that causes many to stay at the lowest level and many to give up has to do with product choice. 80% of the Ebayers all want to sell the same hot items. The competition forces the selling price too low and leads many of the sellers to give up. The 20% of Ebay sellers who study the Ebay market and find a demand for a niche product have a better chance for moving up to the next level of Ebay seller success. From then on, the seller must find a way to set himself apart from the competition. He must find his unique selling proposition. He may offer free shipping or specialize in a specific product line. He uses his Ebay store to brand himself. He may provide helpful information in his Ebay store. He builds trust with his customers and develops a good Ebay seller reputation. This leads him up the ladder of Ebay seller success and increased profits.

I will be sharing another auction tip from Lisa tomorrow. Lisa's website -What Do I Sell.com,is an Ebay Certified Service Provider that provides auction training for Ebay sellers.If you want to start selling on Ebay, get a FREE e-course from her website entitled "15 Ways to Make Money on eBay". This special e-course includes 5 vendor reviews to help you source out products.

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Wondering what all the fuss is about? If you didn't get the letter from Ebay announcing the increased Ebay Store fees, you can get a look at the price increases by clicking on this link:

Increased Ebay Store Fees

If you are an Ebay Store owner and these new prices have taken your breath away, be sure to read the next post - "How Will An Increased Ebay Stores Fee Impact Your Ebay Business?"

Please remember that these fee increases only affect the Ebayers who are selling through the Ebay Store format. At this time, there is no increased Ebay fees for those individuals that are selling through the regular Ebay auction format.

Keywords: increased Ebay Store fees, fee increases, Ebay

Last week, Ebay announced to over one million Ebay sellers that they would increase their Ebay stores fee effective on August 22. Of course, this has caused quite a stir among Ebayers that are making money with their Ebay business. An increased Ebay Stores fee will have an impact on their profit margin. It may totally eat up the profits of sellers who can only sell their product with a small price markup.

Lisa Suttora is the founder of What Do I Sell.com . This web site business is an Ebay Certified Service Provider that provides training for Ebay sellers. Lisa will be teaching a FREE teleclass on Thursday, August 3 to share strategies to help you adjust your Ebay business plan to deal successfully with the increased Ebay stores fee.

You can register for this teleclass for FREE if you will just send Lisa one question you would like answered about this issue. To register for this FREE teleclass, click on this link:

Free Teleclass: eBay Stores, Fees and the Future
more...


You may also be interested in this report that was released last year:

January 2005 SPECIAL REPORT "Fees Into Profits"
No matter how you feel about the new eBay fee increases, in order to continue to grow your business, you need a plan of action. In this exclusive What Do I Sell.com Special Report, we will give you specific techniques to grow your business and increase your profit margins. more...



For those of you who are just starting up with your Ebay business, you may be interested in the ongoing training at What Do I Sell.com . To find out more about their training opportunities, visit their website and get a FREE e-course entitled "15 Ways to Make Money on eBay". This special e-course includes 5 vendor reviews to help you source out products.

This past week, I went to a silent auction at my daughter's school. Her art teacher is always doing some kind of community help art project. This time they participated in a nationwide project called the Empty Bowls Banquet. They used clay to mold and design bowls with artistic flair. Then they sent out an invitation to the silent auction and soup dinner to raise money for the hungry. The soup they served was just plain old Campbells soup with rice. They cooked rice on the side and added it to the pot along with water to keep the pot full. The added rice was tough, and the soup was almost cold when it was served. It was not very tasty, but it humbled you to know that there were people who could not even afford this to eat. (No offense intended at Campbell's Soup. We all know that nothing beats a hot steaming bowl of Campbell's chicken soup on a cold day, especially when you have a cold or sore throat.)

I don't know if they followed the official rules for running a silent auction, but this is how they did it. When you came into the cafeteria, you made a donation for the meal and were given a number to use for bidding. There were about ten tables that held the decorated bowls. In front of each bowl was a pen and a paper with the item number on it and the artist's name. People were allowed to freely walk around the tables and examine the bowls. If you found one you liked, then you could bid on the silent auction form by posting your bidding number and your bid amount. The minimum bid was $5.00. After the initial bid, most people increased the silent auction bids by $1.00. We did see someone who snuck in a last minute penny bid to win the bowl of their choice.

After the initial viewing, there was some choral entertainment and a brief speech from the representative of the Oasis Compassion Agency. This little five minute speech from Sharon Gill brought to the forefront of our thoughts the growing problem of poverty and hunger in our local area. She credited the Empty Bowl Banquet with not only raising money for the hungry but also for helping to get the word of need out. If anyone is interested in learning more about this organization, they have a website at http://www.lifesteps.org/ . Volunteers are needed.

After Sharon's speech, the guests were allowed more time for viewing and bidding, but we were given a cutoff time. The competition for the silent auction heated up. Some of the artists got very nervous because they wanted their mothers to buy their artwork, but there were other interested bidders. At seven o'clock, the art teacher, Linda Morgan, began the countdown. Going once, going twice, sold! Thanks to the impulsive bidding of my daughter, I was now the proud owner of five one-of-a-kind handmade designer bowls for the winning price of $46.00. I was told that bidding on one of the student's bowls actually reached $60.00. The next day my daughter told me they had raised over $900.00 from the Empty Bowl Banquet. That was a very impressive sum to be raised by a group of art students, and it was all going to help the hungry.

The students were very proud to be able to display their artwork which they had worked so hard on. And all of us parents were very proud of their work and of the efforts they made to raise money for the hungry. I would say the silent auction was definitely a success. And I thoroughly enjoyed my first experience at a silent auction.

Someone seems to be seriously hooked on phishing - what a hobby! Since my last post on identity theft and ebay scams, someone has taken a few more stabs at my account. Does this person have nothing better to do than sit around thinking about new ebay scams to try to rip me off. Here is the latest hooks that this happy phisher cast my way:

In the first email, this scammer claimed to be Ebay. He was advising me that another ebayer and myself had mutually agreed to withdraw negative feedback from each other. I just needed to log into my account to finalize acceptance of this agreement. Guess where the link led to? It brought me to the phony Ebay sign in page.

The second Ebay scam attempt also claimed to be from Ebay. The email said that I had purchased some kind of bubble bath product, and that the seller had filed a complaint against me for non-payment. I needed to log in to my account for more information. The link led to one of those infamous phony Ebay sign in pages. (Ebay should file logo copyright claims against these bozos.)

Needless to say, I can't use most bubble bath products and knew instantly that I had not made such a purchase. But just to make sure that there was no mix-ups with my account, I opened a new browser and logged onto "My Ebay" account. I checked the messages in "My Ebay", and there was not a copy of either of those emails in my messages. If those emails had been from Ebay, a copy of them would have appeared there in my messages in "My Ebay". So I forwarded a copy of these fake emails to spoof@ebay.com. They have reported them to the authorities.

It is sad that so many have taken up this hobby of phishing for identity theft and have found that Ebay is one of their favorite phishing grounds. We must keep on the alert for these Ebay scams and proceed cautiously when responding to auction related emails. If you have been tricked into logging onto one of the phony Ebay sign in pages, you need to act quickly to change your passwords for your Ebay account and your email account that you used to sign up with Ebay to avoid identity theft. Also, if you didn't immediately realize that you had been scammed and some time has passed since you logged onto the phony page, you may need to take measures to protect your credit card information. For more details on how to handle these Ebay scams, read my blog post entitled "Keep An Eye Out For Ebay Scams That Lead To Identity Theft."

Also, feel free to visit Auction Site Thrills for free auction ebooks.

If you have been surfing the internet for awhile, there is a good chance that you have been exposed to ebay scams known as phishing. Phishing is when a not very nice person sends you an email pretending to be some corporation or organization. Their purpose for the email is identity theft. They usually tell you that something is wrong with your account, and that you need to log in and update your information. They conveniently include a link that leads you to a sign in page. The sign in page will look just like the sign in page of the real company. But when you log in with your user name and password, you will usually get an error message or you will just see the log in screen again. If you don't catch on that this was a scam, then you will not go and change your passwords. The crooks will take your log in info to ebay, sign in to your account, and steal your bank or credit card information. They may also make purchases or put items up for sale, which creates quite a mess for you and the other ebayers that are victim to these fake purchases.

While you may have received one of these emails before, you need to stay on your guard. The low lifes who run these ebay scams have come up with a few new twists in their phishing emails in their pursuit of identity theft. These tricks are targeted at Ebay sellers. The first one is a letter that they send to sellers that invites them to join the powerseller club. The letter is in html code and carries the Ebay logo and page format. It looks like the real thing. At the bottom of the letter, it gives you a link to go get more info and to join the club. When you click on the link, it will bring you to an official looking Ebay sign in page. However, if you try to sign in, it will not work. But you will give them your sign in information. The page is coded to collect that information.

The second trick they use is to send a letter to an Ebay seller telling them that a buyer has placed a complaint against them to Ebay for not delivering a product for which the customer paid. It provides a link for you to go find out more information. Of course, this leads to the phony sign in page.

A third trick they use is that they will send an html coded letter that looks just like a message sent through the Ebay member-to-member communication system. The letter will supposedly be from a customer who is trying to communicate with you. It will say something like this:

"HOW COME YOU NOT ANSWER ME? WHAT ARE YOU DOING? I THINK THIS IS A SCAM. I'M GOING TO REPORT YOU TO EBAY. EMAIL MEEEEEEEE!"

Then you will see the linked image that says "Respond To This Email Now". When you click on the link, again you get the phony sign in page.

So how can you tell if an email is really from Ebay or if it is one of the Ebay scams putting you at risk for identity theft? Well, the first clue is that if you click on the link in these emails and it takes you to the sign in page, the address that appears in your url address bar will not be an ebay.com url. Often the address will be a number like http://124.456.876.com . These are clearly not from Ebay. But other urls they use for identity theft can be cleverly tricky. They might use something like http://ebay.auctions.com, or they might try http://signin.com/ebay . This can be confusing. So here is the procedure that Ebay suggests you follow if you are not sure if the email is really from Ebay.

Do not click on their link in the email to sign into Ebay. Open up a new browser window. Type in the www.ebay.com address and go to the Ebay site. Click on the "My Ebay" link and then sign in on the log in page that it takes you to. Once you are in "My Ebay", look to see if you have received any new messages. Ebay says that any email that they send to your email account will also appear in the messages of your "My Ebay" account. If there is not a copy of the email in your "My Ebay" messages, then the email did not come from them. Before you delete the email from your email account, Ebay would like you to forward a copy of the fake email to spoof@ebay.com, so that they can report it to authorities if necessary. Ebay will respond shortly and let you know for sure if it was from them. By sending the email to Ebay, this allows them to take quick action to shut down that fake web site before someone's identity is stolen.

If you are caught off guard by one of these Ebay scams and you put your log in information in one of those phony sign in pages, change your Ebay password and the password to the email account that you signed up to Ebay with as soon as possible. You can also click on the "Security and Resolution Center" link found at the bottom left side of your "My Ebay" page. Then just follow the directions to report the scam and see further directions for protecting your identity.

I am sorry to say that every time I start listing items on Ebay, I receive another of these Ebay scams trying to make me a victim of identity theft. It is a shame. But if we keep on the alert and report all phishing emails to Ebay, perhaps they can catch some of the crooks that run these Ebay scams.

I hope this information will help you. And if you need some auction resources and auction ebooks, please visit my web site at http://auctionsitethrills.com .

Kelli Workman

If you have been wanting to experiment with selling ebooks on auction sites, now is a great time to start. "Why," you ask. Because you can get tons of great free products to start selling right away. Have I caught your interest yet? Let me stop keeping you in suspense and share the secret. Over 1300 internet marketers are currently promoting a huge joint venture project that runs until April 9. Over 300 entrepreneurs have donated free ebooks, software, videos, and ebook club memberships to be given away during this Easter promotion. The products provide invaluable information on internet marketing, affiliate sales, auction business, and so much more. You can use these gifts to learn how the big boys are running their businesses and raking in the cash. And you get these great products for free. And to sweeten the pot, many of the free products are coming with resale rights, so that you can sell them from your own web site or on any of the auction sites that you choose. You keep all the profit.

So you want to know what is the catch? Why are they giving away all of these goodies? They want you to join their mailing lists. Now before you groan and shut me down. Just read on for a few minutes. This is not such a bad deal if you are wise about it. Let me explain.

When you join the list, you are not committed to stay on it for any period of time. They just want the chance to get you to know them. When you access the site for the gifts, there are over 300 of them. So you need to be selective. Shop carefully through the pages. Join the lists for the free products that you want. They will send you emails with the links to go download the products. Depending on how many lists you join, you may suddenly be getting a lot of mail. Take a few days to read the emails. See what each entrepreneur offers in his emails. Some will be sending you some very good information. Others will clue you into other free ebooks. Some will not be very good. Slowly eliminate the ones that hold little value for you.

The reason I am advising you not to just go and quit all the lists after you get the free products is because I have received some good products and opportunities from some of these lists. Some of the entrepreneurs often give out products with resale rights, so I can add to my inventory of products to sell without it costing me anything. By being on Brad Smith's mailing list, I received the invitation to participate in the Easter Giveaway joint venture. Now I have added hundreds of members to my list. This is an opportunity that I would have missed out on if I wasn't on his mailing list. So choose your lists wisely, but don't throw the good ones out with the bad.

The link to go and get your gifts is http://www.easterjvgiveaway.com/success/go/49 . Also if you have a product that you have the rights to give away, I think you can still get involved to build your own list by going to http://www.easterjvgiveaway.com/success/jv/go/49 .

One more thing, when you download your free ebooks and open them up, there is usually a section that defines what rights they are giving you with the product. Some of the products have resale rights where you can sell them. Others have non-transferable master resale rights where you can sell the product and the rights to sell it to your customer, but they can't pass on the resale rights. Some have full master resale rights, that allow you to sell the product, the rights to sell it, and the rights to pass on the rights. This makes it a more valuable product to sell. But some books have limits on their rights that should be listed in the book. For instance, some will let you sell their product but not give it away. Some set a minimum sell price. Some will not let you sell their product as part of a group package of products. And this one is real important. Some will not let you sell their products on Ebay or any of the other auction sites. So read the rights before you put them up for sell. To get a free copy of the Resale Rights Report that explains the different types of sellers rights, click on this link - Free Resale Rights Report.

Now I've taken up enough of your time. Go get your products and get some auctions listed. And when you get some free time, go visit my web site at http://auctionsitethrills.com and see if I've added any new resources or services. Thanks for dropping by.

Kelli Workman

Did you know that Ebay has one of the largest affiliate programs on the internet? It's true. And it is possible to make up to 70% commission on Ebay revenue. That's right. You make a percentage of the fees that the auction seller pays to Ebay when you send Ebay the winning bidder. You can also make up to $20 commission for new active users that you refer. The affiliate program is handled by Commission Junction. Once you sign up with them and Ebay, you can use the Commission Junction online account interface to track your commissions earned. And Ebay goes beyond what most product owners provide to help you promote their products. Instead of just banners, they provide advance technology for marketing their services. One of the marketing tools that they make available is their Editor kit. This special code allows you to put real-time Ebay listings right on your web site. You can even type in the keywords that match your web site, so you can display product listings that keep to the theme of your web site.
Then if a customer to your site clicks on one of the listings and places a winning bid, you will be a winner too. Ebay will give you a share of the fees for that auction. It's a win-win situation for the bidder, the seller, Ebay, and you. You can't beat that!


Kelli Workman
http://auctionsitethrills.com

When you first start listing auctions, it can be very tempting to add all the features to your auctions. But this can be very costly, eating away at your profits, and it may not make a big difference in the outcome of your auction anyway.

My first item to list on Ebay was a woman's bustier. When I listed the item, I set a price of about $21.50. The initial listing insertion fee was $0.60. Then I started adding features. I added the Buy It Now Listing Fee $0.10, the Gallery Fee for a picture $0.35, the listing designer fee to use Ebay's template $0.10.They were running a special sale on the border feature for $0.25, which normally ran about $3.00. So I jumped on the sale, added the border, and added the $0.25.

I had researched what the items had been selling for before i ever posted my auction. But the market constantly changes on Ebay. After my auctions were already running, i redid the research and discovered that the item was selling for more than it previously had been. My item was underpriced. So I edited the auction and adjusted my price to $28.50. I could do that because noone had bid on my auction yet. No one was even watching my auction yet. But when I raised the price of my auction above $24.99, I now fell into a different pricing category. My insertion fee jumped from $0.60 to $1.20. So now it had cost me a total of $2.00 to list my item. But I was getting ready to make even a more costlier move.

During my research, I discovered that one of the sellers that was successfully auctioning this same product had listed her item in the bridal category as well as the lingerie category. So I decided that I needed to do the same. Guess what happened to my listing fees when I added the second category to my auction? It doubled all of the fees. I was now paying $4.00 to list this auction. That did not include the end of auction fees that were added when the item sold. This chewed up quite a bit of my profits on the item that sold. But what really hurt was that out of six items that i listed, i added the second category to three of them. And I only sold one item from those three listings. So I lost $4.00 each on the other two that did not sell.

From further testing, I have found that the border and the second category listing were not really that effective. I do still use the gallery picture, especially when the competition is using it. But I have read in some ebooks, that I should not waste my money on that feature. You will have to experiment on your own to decide if the different features are beneficial to your auctions. But proceed carefully in using these features, so you do not eat up all your profits. I have even observed auctions where the seller was actually losing money because of the features he had added. It is important to keep on top of the math involved.

I saw one seller paying $19.95 to feature his item at the top of the page. The item only cost $0.99. He was selling multiple items, but had only sold one by the time the listing ended. He lost $19.00. That hurts. So be sure to add those features with caution, keep on top of the costs, and do testing to determine whether those features are even effective in your auctions.

For more Auction Resources, visit http://auctionsitethrills.com

Hello everyone! I found a great article today about whether you should pay taxes for your Ebay earnings. This article would also apply to any earnings that you made on the other auction sites. My personal take on the matter is that you should claim your earnings. Getting in trouble with the IRS is a situation that you truly want to avoid. But read the article for yourself. It is quite interesting.

K Workman
http://auctionsitethrills.com
Your Auction Resource Site

Is Selling On eBay Just A Hobby Or A Real Business? By: Tim Knox

Small Business Q&A with Tim Knox
Q: I made extra money selling things on eBay last year. These were items I picked up at yardsales mostly. My husband says I am responsible for paying income tax on the money I made, butI disagree. This is just my hobby, not a business. What do you think?—Gladys A.

A: With so many people selling on eBay these days this is a question I get all the time. To many eBay sellers the thought of running an actual business is about as appealing as getting negative feedback, so they go out of their way to convince themselves that selling on eBay is really “just a hobby” and therefore, should not be susceptible to income tax laws.

While you might think selling on eBay is just a hobby and the extra money you’re making is not reportable as income, depending on the circumstances, the IRS just might disagree with you.
The IRS rules are clear: you must pay taxes on all personal and business income and that includes money you make selling on eBay.

In its most basic sense, the IRS rules mean that if you buy a vase at a garage sale for $10 and sell it on eBay (or elsewhere) for $20 you made a $10 profit and therefore must report it as income and pay Uncle Sam his fair share.

In reality, if you are a casual seller who only sells a few items on eBay every now and then it’s doubtful the IRS is going to lose much sleep over the few bucks you make.

However, if you consistently sell on eBay the IRS may deem your activities to be business oriented and you will be required to file a Schedule C and claim the income.

The IRS uses a number of factors to determine if a hobby is really a business. These factors include:

1. Do you carry on the activity in a business-like manner?
If you conduct your eBay activities in a business-like manner, i.e. you keep business records, track profit and loss, keep a separate checking account, etc. then whether you think so or not, your hobby is really a business.

2. Do you spend considerable time working on your hobby?
If you put considerable time and effort into your eBay sales, the IRS may contend that you do so for profit and not fun. It seems the folks at the IRS don’t believe in doing things strictly for pleasure. My guess is, neither do you. If you weren’t making money selling on eBay I doubt you’d bother getting up at4 a.m. to hit all those yardsales.
Then again, maybe you would… )

3. If you depend on income from your eBay activities for your livelihood?
If so, it’s a business, not a hobby.

There are a number of other factors the IRS uses to determine ifa hobby is really a business, but that covers the basics. You can learn more at the IRS website at www.irs.gov.

What’s eBay’s take on all this?

eBay is vehemently opposed to anything tax related (especiallythe forced collection of sales tax, which is a whole ‘nother issue). It’s understandable that eBay is not a fan of the IRS since trying to enforce tax rules on buyers and sellers would undoubtedly be detrimental to the way eBay does business.

eBay does not does not issue 1099 tax forms to sellers, nor does it report seller’s sales figures to the IRS. eBay considers itself a faciliator, i.e. they provide a marketplace in which buyers and sellers come together to do business.

However, since eBay is not directly involved in the transactions that take place between buyers and sellers, it would be impossible for eBay to report sales figures. Furthermore, eBay does not track if a seller actually gets paid by the buyer, so they have no idea how much money actually changes hands, making it impossible for eBay to issue accurate 1099s to sellers.

On the bright side, if you do sell on eBay as a business you can deduct a number of business expenses, including the cost of inventory, listing fees, shipping, envelopes, packing materials, etc. You might also be able to deduct things like the purchase of a computer for business use, office space (even if it’s a home office), office supplies, and more.

I’m not an accountant (nor do I play one on TV), so please do not take any of this as tax advice or legal opinion. Talk to your accountant if there’s any doubt as to whether you should or should not be paying taxes on your eBay earnings.

Here’s to your success!

Tim Knoxtim@dropshipwholesale.net
For information on starting your own online or eBay business, visit http://www.dropshipwholesale.net
http://www.30dayblueprint.com
http://www.timknox.com/