I make my living selling full time on ebay.
And while it sounds simple it really is as hard, if not harder, than a normal job.
Any job that involves working for yourself involves not getting paid on a regular basis, how I lay in my bed at night wishing I got a regular paycheck, even if that paycheck is less than what I earn now!
Each morning I wake up and fill out the mornings orders, then answer any emails that need responding too.
Then it's time to do research - this takes up nearly 50% of the working day.
Why do so much research?
Because I need to stay ahead of my competitors, if not then they will catch up to me and take away my market share.
The one thing I have noticed when researching is that I get what I pay for.
We'll start with free advice
You really do get what you pay for here.
Ask a question on a forum board and ask a open ended question (e.g "What is the best way to do this?") then you will get 101 differant answers; of which 10 will be accurate.
Another method of asking questions on ebay is to ask ebay directly - this would be the worst thing you could do as they 'cut and paste' the answers, and I'm convinced that a computer reads the email and trys to answer it. The answers I have received to my own questions have been so wrong as to make my head spin.
What I find offensive about this is that each month I receive a large bill from ebay (which I pay straight away), so you would think that they would have better customer service for paying customers - but I digress.
Cheap advice
I have bought a lot of ebooks off ebay for around the $1 - $10 mark. And most of these have snippets of advice that is worth the price of the ebook, but they also include a lot of waffle (It's not BS information, the writer is simply trying to fill out a 20-30 page ebook so it looks like you are getting your moneys worth).
Rarely have I bought an ebook at this price and been disappointed, but nothing has ever really stood out from the crowd.
Medium(?) advice
Medium is the wrong word to use, but if I think of a better term then I will come back and edit this blog :)
Ebooks around the $10 - $50 mark are the ones I refer to here.
Because of the price I can't afford to purchase each ebook I see at this price; but the one's I have bought are usually worth it - the writer has several points to make and knows their stuff.
I notice with these ebooks that the writer has gone out of their way to show their credentials throughout the sale; this may include screenshots of payments, screenshots of search engine rankings.
My biggest mistake was not buying a particular ebook valued at $30 that showed how this person got a number 1 ranking on google. The writer gave out the term he was number 1 for and if you searched in google (which I did) his website was number 1 AND number 2!
I think I saved it in my 'watched list' but didn't do anything for a long time and it disappeared!
I search for the ebook regularly but so far I have come up empty handed :(
Expensive advice
This is for ebooks or courses over $50.
The best purchase I ever made was from a marketing course, it cost me $600 (at the time I only had $800 in my credit card, but I took a chance).
The sales letter was very impressive so I thought I would give it a go.
And it was the best purchase I ever made!
I'm currently reading the whole thing for a third time (I read it once a year) and each time I congratulate myself on buying it.
James
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Koala Comics - a humour comic
'Captain Koala' was a cartoon character I came up with in 1993, since then I have put out 8 issues of the comic and there is another 7 scripts that are ready to be pencilled.
I won't be getting those penciled unless someone comes up to me and asks to do it because they need the experiance (it happens every 2 years, that's why the artwork is differant for each issue).
The comic started because I wanted to get into the industry, I always wanted to be a writer and I thought I could do comedy.
So I wrote 5 scripts, the trouble started when nobody would edit them but my mother told me to follow my dreams and get them printed. They stank :(
I got a lot of negative press in the Australian comic industry which stalled the comic at issue 5 - one of the longest runs ever by an Australian comic!! I stopped the comic because of the feedback but then something really wierd happened - when I announced that there would be no more a lot of people came out of the woodwork and said it was the funniest comic this country had ever produced!!
So now what? I was only making enough money to cover my costs so it was only a hobby, but when you get asked by several people to make another issue - it's fairly flattering.
So a year later I put another issue out - and because my writing had improved I felt it was a lot better. My fans loved it, the press hated it but now it upset me, there opinion had never upset me before, so why now?
because they admitted they hadn't read it....
The comic stalled again. But my fans called out for more.
So 2 years later (1998) issue 7 came out - and my writing had improved again - and the critics still didn't read it.
One reviewer wrote "... this comic is up to issue 7, if you can beleive that ... ". Why not? Guess what pal, comics dont' last 7 issues if they are as bad as you make out. On a forum board I challenged this reviewer to name the main bad persons race (it was something you wouldn't forget if you read it) - he had no idea as he admitted that he had not read it.
2 years later (2000) issue 8 came out, and I never read the reviews. Heck, if they won't read my comic why should I read their reviews?
After that issue life got in the way, I do a lot of other things now and don't have the time to do another issue- but as I said before, there is another 7 issues scripted (my writing has really improved so they are very funny).
If someone wants to draw them then they are welcome, but for the mean time I'll stick with other things.
I won't be getting those penciled unless someone comes up to me and asks to do it because they need the experiance (it happens every 2 years, that's why the artwork is differant for each issue).
The comic started because I wanted to get into the industry, I always wanted to be a writer and I thought I could do comedy.
So I wrote 5 scripts, the trouble started when nobody would edit them but my mother told me to follow my dreams and get them printed. They stank :(
I got a lot of negative press in the Australian comic industry which stalled the comic at issue 5 - one of the longest runs ever by an Australian comic!! I stopped the comic because of the feedback but then something really wierd happened - when I announced that there would be no more a lot of people came out of the woodwork and said it was the funniest comic this country had ever produced!!
So now what? I was only making enough money to cover my costs so it was only a hobby, but when you get asked by several people to make another issue - it's fairly flattering.
So a year later I put another issue out - and because my writing had improved I felt it was a lot better. My fans loved it, the press hated it but now it upset me, there opinion had never upset me before, so why now?
because they admitted they hadn't read it....
The comic stalled again. But my fans called out for more.
So 2 years later (1998) issue 7 came out - and my writing had improved again - and the critics still didn't read it.
One reviewer wrote "... this comic is up to issue 7, if you can beleive that ... ". Why not? Guess what pal, comics dont' last 7 issues if they are as bad as you make out. On a forum board I challenged this reviewer to name the main bad persons race (it was something you wouldn't forget if you read it) - he had no idea as he admitted that he had not read it.
2 years later (2000) issue 8 came out, and I never read the reviews. Heck, if they won't read my comic why should I read their reviews?
After that issue life got in the way, I do a lot of other things now and don't have the time to do another issue- but as I said before, there is another 7 issues scripted (my writing has really improved so they are very funny).
If someone wants to draw them then they are welcome, but for the mean time I'll stick with other things.
Monday, May 29, 2006
Websites I maintain
Welcome to my blog which shows the inside of a person who tries to manage several web sites while trying to raise 2 daughters (I'm happily married so it's not THAT hard)!!
Since this is my first blog I'll make a list of all the web sites that I am currently working on with a brief description of each -
Learn Ebay the easy way - My instructional guide on how to trade on ebay.
koala comics - A comic book that I used to produce years ago, I still have some copies left over to sell :)
Emma's Emporium - My wife's web site where she sells Jewellery and embroided items.
Clifton Bazaar - My ebay name and a site that I used to sell 'Magic the Gathering' cards.
Spica Publications - My mothers web site where she sells Astrology books, mostly out of print ones (some written 100's of years ago).
Elliott Containers - My Step father is an international container broker who can help you with any problems you may have with shipping containers.
The land of blood and gold - An online game that I made and always update with a new adventure every now and then (usually when the inspiration hits me!). At the moment it's in test mode so any help would be appreciated.
Since this is my first blog I'll make a list of all the web sites that I am currently working on with a brief description of each -
Learn Ebay the easy way - My instructional guide on how to trade on ebay.
koala comics - A comic book that I used to produce years ago, I still have some copies left over to sell :)
Emma's Emporium - My wife's web site where she sells Jewellery and embroided items.
Clifton Bazaar - My ebay name and a site that I used to sell 'Magic the Gathering' cards.
Spica Publications - My mothers web site where she sells Astrology books, mostly out of print ones (some written 100's of years ago).
Elliott Containers - My Step father is an international container broker who can help you with any problems you may have with shipping containers.
The land of blood and gold - An online game that I made and always update with a new adventure every now and then (usually when the inspiration hits me!). At the moment it's in test mode so any help would be appreciated.
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