My first foray into home working was when I discovered eBay. I sold the family “junk” and then spent many hours trying to find a profitable niche to turn my exciting new hobby into a regular money earner.

As anyone who has ever tried to find the “perfect eBay product” knows this is easier said than done!

I needed items that I could source repeatedly so trawling through junk at thrift stores and boot sales uncovering the occasional nugget was not the answer.

I needed items that I could mark up sufficiently to allow an acceptable profit AFTER all of my costs and selling fees were taken into account.

I didn’t have access to storage space other than a spare bedroom in my home so these items needed to be small and easy to store/ship.

My initial strategy was to identify items that were popular on eBay and then approach a wholesaler to negotiate a bulk purchase. I tried this a number of times but when I compared the wholesale prices to the retail prices on eBay I realized that there was barely enough margin to cover the selling fees let alone leave a worthwhile profit.

In fact, I couldn’t see how the eBay sellers were making any profit at all, they were all competing on price and it quickly dawned on me that the only sellers making any money were the ones who could negotiate the best prices with the wholesalers/manufacturers because of the size of their orders.

This experience taught me that the best way for ordinary people like you and me to succeed on eBay is to sell items that nobody else is selling – in other words I needed to create my own unique products OR I needed to sell unusual items such as vintage collectable items.

Unfortunately I didn’t have the skills or knowledge to create my own products so I began to focus my attention on vintage collectable items.

During my many hours of eBay ‘completed listings’ research I had come across several very successful sellers who were selling book plates (full page illustrations) removed from old books.

I was fascinated by the amazing diversity of different artists whose printed work was being snapped up by eBay’s hungry collectors. These items were fetching very healthy prices and they were certainly easy and cheap to store and ship the remaining question was – could they be sourced repeatedly?

A little more research and I uncovered a price comparison website that specialized in used books. In fact, this one website gave me access to 20,000 booksellers from across the globe and millions of individual books!

My eBay business model was starting to take shape!

Ebay’s completed listings confirmed exactly what the buyers wanted and the prices they were prepared to pay and my price comparison website enabled me to find the cheapest available copies of the source books and have them delivered to my home without ever having to leave my armchair!

Eureka!!

After literally hundreds of hours research I had finally found the perfect eBay product!

• Cheap and simple to store and ship (is placing a piece of paper in an envelope simple enough for you?)
• Forget 10% profit margins – I make between 200% and sometimes as high as 1,000% profits!
• I can tap into an almost inexhaustible supply of old books

Oh, and this is no flash in the pan business either, the story you have just read happened seven years ago and I am still making amazing profits selling vintage book plates today!

Remember, this is so simple that ANYONE with an eBay account can do it, you don’t need any special tools or skills, this doesn’t require lots of time or money.

Ready to get started?

I have created a free report with lots of real eBay screen shot examples to excite and inspire you!

Click to download it here with no strings attached (no opt-in required)

Best of luck and thanks for reading!

Stuart

This is a guest post written by Stuart Turnbull, if you would like to be considered for a guest post please contact me.

So how do we make more money from our existing products?

Simple! We ‘multi format’ them…

Let me give you a few examples from The 90 Day PowerSeller Challenge Version 4.0.

Here it is live on eBay.

That is the physical CD version sold to the eBay crowd, people browsing eBay may come across that product and decide to buy, notice the low cost and free shipping option to encourage sales, but what about people who maybe don’t browse eBay or don’t want to wait for a physical product to arrive in the mail?

Simple, they can buy a digital version online. Go check it out here.

http://www.powersellerchallenge.com/

So now we have 2 versions of the same product online, what else can we do?

We can sell it on Amazon in the Kindle store.

Check my kindle version here.

BTW, I used a great guide created by Val Waldeck to get my book on Kindle and it comes highly recommended. Check it out here.

So is there anything else I could do? Well I could create a ‘lite PDF’ version of my product and give it away to build my list. Maybe even drive some traffic to my freebie via a Warrior Special Offer, check out my free WSO here. I could also add my freebie to a few giveaway events such as this one or maybe do some ad swaps.

Because I want as many people to consume my product as possible I also offer resale rights and even branding rights so it goes viral and the traffic from the actual product is generated on autopilot.

Remember! This is all from one product, and there’s so much more I could do. I could convert my product into a physical book, maybe even create an audio version by recording myself or someone else reading the eBook out loud. I could add more material to it such as video training to create a full on home study course. I could even create slides from the product and hold a ‘PowerSeller Workshop’ and charge people to attend, and of course the workshops would be recorded to give me yet another product…

You are only limited by your imagination. So if you have any products out there that are simply not performing as they should or as they used to, see if changing the format helps. Remember that everyone is different, some people like training videos while some prefer to read. Some may prefer to read it on a Kindle while some prefer a physical book, some people love attending workshops and seminars while others prefer to stay at home and watch online. Cater for as many different people as possible by creating your products in multiple formats and you will sell more. Period!

Anyone who has followed me for any amount of time will know that I got started on eBay. I’ve still been doing a little bit of selling on eBay and I actually have earned Top Rated Seller status. If you are unaware of my eBay id here it is in all of it’s glory.

I plan to get started by updating and making The Ninety Day PowerSeller Challenge 4.0 available first, I will also have one or two of my ClickBank products added to my store by the end of next week. Complete with upsells, downsells and more, yes it can be done and as a valued subscriber/blog reader I will show you exactly how I do it.

All via The Ninety Day PowerSeller Challenge 4.0.

I’ll also show you all the inventory needed to set this business up and a whole lot more, but what I want to reveal to you now via this blog is I will start by selling 500 units of The 90 Day PowerSeller Challenge Version 4.0 live on eBay for a very low price indeed, probably under $2.

Now as it costs me over $2 to ship to the UK and over $4 to ship the the US you may be thinking I’ve lost my mind. Well as I’ve always said when it comes to selling information products on eBay it’s all about what happens after the sale. So if you’re interested in learning any of this be prepared to fork out at least $2 next Monday. Oh, and I’ll also present you with everything you need to start selling on eBay so if this is something you want to try, be ready.

As this is still a work in progress please let me know if you have any questions and I may include any answers in the new version.

On another note, eBay never died for me, other things got in the way but let me assure you that I’m back and I intend to teach you everything I know and everything about my eBay business starting next Monday. I’ll also be revealing a lot about my eBay business via this blog.

If you want to keep right up to date with this I have set up a special FaceBook page here.

http://www.facebook.com/PowerSellerChallenge

As always your comments are welcome.

I have just held a 3 day firesale on eBay and the results have been fantastic with just under $9000 in sales generated, and this was with no affiliates on board. For me holding a firesale on eBay is a fantastic way to generate extra revenue and here’s why.

Side note! If you don’t know what a firesale is in the Internet Marketing world it is basically a sale where you compile a collection of your existing products or resale rights/PLR products and sell them as a package at a reduced price offering incredible value.

Firstly, when you list anything on eBay the scarcity isn’t false so it works really well. I’m sure you have seen countless times sales pages that say the price is about to rise or the product will no longer be available only to find that after the deadline ends nothing happens. Using false scarcity or urgency tactics leaves a very bitter taste with any customer and it’s unlikely they will buy from you again. It also makes this tactic less effective as most people see it as false marketing or simply ignore the urgency claims.

However, when you use this tactic on eBay it can have an incredible effect as the countdown timer on eBay can’t be tampered with. This can have an incredible affect on sales as the auction ends. Especially if you have a limited amount of items for sale.

E.G. If you have 50 items for sale people can see this isn’t false and are more likely to buy, especially if you are selling a popular item that sells well. Once you get a few sales under your belt sales will pick up as people see time is running out.

The ‘me too’ effect also works brilliantly on eBay. When you start to make sales others see this and they feel they are missing out if they don’t buy. The beauty of eBay is all sales are recorded and are there for all to see. The more you sell the more people want to buy to be part of the in crowd.

One successful firesale can get you top rated seller status. That’s right, one firesale is all it takes to achieve eBay top rated seller status, if you sell other items on eBay this is an excellent way to boost your eBay credibility. Top rated sellers pay less in listing fees and are rated higher in searches and have the credibility that comes with having the top rated seller logo shown on their listings.

You can take advantage of eBay’s huge buyer traffic. Most people browsing eBay have their credit card in hand and are ready to spend. This is the best type of traffic you can have look at your offer.

You can easily upsell more products. When your product is delivered you can include even more items such as bonus CD’s or printed material that can promote more of your products or affiliate related offers.

So what’s the best way to hold a firesale for maximum effect?

First make the offer the best you can, compile your products and make the offer irresistible. Be sure to state the individual price of each product to paint a mental picture of the price in your prospects head. If you can mentally have your prospect add up thousands of dollars worth of products they will be ready to buy when they see your final price that shows massive savings.

After you have compiled your products add even more value. This could be additional services such as consultations, telephone support, additional training, interviews, etc. Again give each item a value so the prospect paints a mental value in their head.

Once you have your listing compiled you can run 2 types of auction. A timed auction that will expire after a certain amount of time, or you can set a certain amount of items for sale and let the auction run on a ‘good till cancelled’ basis till it sells out.

Good till cancelled auctions are better if you don’t have a way of driving additional traffic to the auctions, where timed auctions are more geared towards people who can drive traffic to get things rolling and tend to suit sellers who have a mailing list or have ways to drive traffic of their own to the auction, so if you don’t have a mailing list (BTW, you should have) go for the good till cancelled listing as the costs are low and you can set it and forget it. Just set your amount and let it run till you sell out.

Always offer free shipping and ship worldwide. Offering free shipping gets you a better seller rating and instills trust in any potential customer, shipping worldwide opens your auction to a worldwide audience. Also be sure to ship any sold items promptly and always within 48 hours.

Holding a firesale on eBay isn’t hard to do and if done right can bring in fantastic results while at the same time enhance your eBay reputation, so if holding a firesale on eBay isn’t something you have thought about in the past why not give it a try. If you do I’d love you to share your results and let me know how you get on.

As always your comments and questions are welcome. Also, if you would like me to put together a series of training videos showing you exactly how to set up and run a firesale let me know by replying to this post and if enough people request it I’ll consider putting something together.

I also show you how you can create an interactive CD and I have a ton of other stuff to show you including everything you need to start selling information products on eBay, all 100% free.

All is revealed in the video that can be viewed by Clicking Here.

If you have any questions or comments please post them here.

Remember, none of this information will do you any good unless you
take action!

I am probably revealing too much in this video but what the heck. As it’s almost Thanksgiving I’m thanking you for visiting my blog by giving great content.

You may want to have a pen and paper ready to take some notes.

Simply hit the play button below to watch the video.

As always your comments are welcome.

If the thought has never crossed your mind you should think about it. Here are some advantages of converting your eBooks to books:-

• You Gain More Credibility. Yes, as a book author you instantly gain more credibility as you are seen as an expert.
• You Get More Exposure. Your book can be seen on the worlds leading online bookstores such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. This gives your name, and therefore your business more exposure.
• You Have Another Product To Sell On eBay. With the current eBay rules you cannot sell an eBook as a digitally delivered item. However, if you convert your eBook to a book you instantly have another product to sell on eBay.
• You Have Another Way To Generate Traffic. You can still add links to your existing products in your book, just as you would with an eBook.
• You Have Another Way To Generate An Affiliate Income. Yes, you can still generate an affiliate income from your book and I will show you exactly how to do it.
• You Have Another Autopilot Business. If you choose not to sell on eBay and from your website you can still sell from websites such as Amazon and the whole process is 100% automated.

I’m guessing you may be thinking that the book publishing process is hard work. Well once you see what I have created you will think differently. I have created a video series showing you how you can turn any eBook you have rights to into a book in under an hour.

But the real beauty is I figured a way to sell via online bookstores such as Amazon. And I don’t have to lift a finger because when a book is sold it is printed and distributed automatically. In fact all I has to do is spend the money I earn from the book sales.

Just visit the link below to find out more.

www.ebook2book.com/

***UPDATE***

As Requested I have provided a video series showing you how I created this income stream. CLICK HERE for more info.

 I have just created yet another income stream and this one cost me nothing to set up.

Why? Because all I have done is turn one of my best selling eBooks into a book. It’s already for sale on eBay and within 6 weeks will be available for sale on Amazon.

You can check it out here.

And while I don’t think I will earn a fortune from direct sales of the book I do know this book will earn me a lot of money, allow me to explain.

I am now a book author. I can now be known as ‘Best Selling Author John Thornhill’. It sort of gives me more credibility doesn’t it?

Once my book is for sale on Amazon my name will be getting more exposure. Google my name and see what you find. This can only lead to more sales of my high priced products such as my Coaching Program. And who knows, with the exposure I will receive from Amazon I may sell thousands of copies.

I also promote my other products and affiliate products in my book. For example I promote Push Button Health, here is the affiliate link I need to use:

http://www.pushbuttonhealth.com/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=planetsms

Now I can hardly put that in a book can I? So what I did was buy the domain www.pushbuttonhealth.co.uk and set up a re-direct to my affiliate link. I explain how to do that in video here.

So in my book when I recommend Push Button Health I simply tell the the reader to visit www.pushbuttonhealth.co.uk and I still get the affiliate referral if the reader decides to join. I have done this with a ton of products.

And on top of all that I also have another product for sale on eBay. This will lead to increased earnings and more credibility.

Doing this wasn’t hard, as I had already written the eBook the hard work was done. Now I just needed to convert the eBook to a book. This was done with the help of www.lulu.com

Lulu provide everything you need to create a book for free. It costs nothing at all to set up and you can have your book created within the hour.

You need to understand, just like a resale rights eBook and selling on eBay, the real money is not made in the sale of the product but on the backend sales generated. If you really want to see how I am doing this I would suggest you buy the book and you will learn more.

I am also thinking of creating a step by step guide showing you how you can convert an eBook into a book and generate a backend income. If this is something that may interest you please leave a comment. If I receive enough comments I will create the guide.

***UPDATE***

As Requested I have provided a video series showing you how I created this income stream. CLICK HERE for more info.

The main thing you will notice is this change will result in a massive gap in the market as the ‘one cent eBook’ will become extinct, however don’t be so naive as to think this will end all feedback manipulation as there will be people out there who will continually try to cheat the system.

So how do we keep selling our products? The answer is to turn them into a multimedia product because eBay has nothing against selling products what are not digitally received. So turning your eBooks into physical products is the answer, as soon as it is physical it isn’t digitally received therefore is not breaking any rules on eBay. This is great news for all the people out there who provide excellent customer service as this will now be a key factor in selling your new physical products on eBay and also you can charge more for these type of products as much as 10 times meaning more profit for the people who stay with eBay and make eBay work for them.

Another benefit is also the chance to up-sell is changed hugely. As if you provide a professional looking multimedia product with covers and maybe even printouts to accompany the CD they instantly respect your opinions and trust that any other products created by you will be as good as the one they received.

This is where there is a chance to capture their email via an opt-in form or even direct them to your other eBooks on the internet via links in the product and if it is outside eBay it can still be automated. This adds people to your list and also has the chance of them making even more purchases.

Think of your new physical products as a website on a CD and a means to advertise your other products without breaking the rules of eBay. With this in mind this change could be what the hard-working internet marketers out there needed as it will weed out the minor competition leaving a path to success for the people with the right ideas and well worked out businesses.

Well what if I told you the most comprehensive product ever created to show you how to become creative and use eBay to your advantage has had a major update?

Yes, allow me to introduce The Silent Sales Machine version 6.0. That’s right, version 6.0.

The author Jim Cockrum is probably the most respected ‘eBay expert’ on the planet. He wrote the original ‘Silent Sales Machine’ way back in 2002 and since then has sold almost 100,000 copies, it is probably the best selling eBay guide of all time. And the good news is it has been brought right up to date with the release of version 6.0.

When you visit the sales page by clicking the link below you probably wont even be aware of the update. That’s because Jim hasn’t even updated the sales page yet but he will soon, but don’t worry, you will receive version 6.0 (and all future versions free) after you make your payment. But you better hurry as once the page is updated the price will rise so if you want to get The Silent Sales Machine for the best price ever now is the time.

The Silent Sales Machine

There are some products every budding entrepreneur must own and I strongly believe The Silent Sales Machine is one of these ‘must own’ products. Don’t delay, check it out now.

The Silent Sales Machine