How embarrassment can be a good thing!
publication date: Jul 5, 2006
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- Editorial
- Making Easy Profit with the Public Domain
- Four Special Rules for Selling Software on eBay.
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Editorial
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Most people know how the game 'Whispers' works
and that it probably emerged from a reported major
military misunderstanding during World War One.
The story goes that an army officer asked for a
message to be sent to headquarters: 'Send
reinforcements, the troops are going to advance',
which was passed on, incorrectly at some stages, until
the message finally arrived at headquarters:
Send Three and Fourpence, the Troops are Going to a
Dance!
Ah well, that's the joking over, but the laugh was on
me this time last week; based on a simple
misunderstanding, I was the laughing stock! But hey,
it doesn't matter, the joke actually backfired on my
opponents at postcard auction seven days ago, and I
can only hope I face big-time embarrassment much
more frequently from now on.
It all happened in a major Yorkshire auction house.
There were so many auction lots that no one had time
to view all. I viewed about 20 of thirty lots and
determined my maximum bids for those I'd studied
the previous day. I ran out of time and lots 21 to 30
went unnoticed.
Then came bidding day and, thanks to the World Cup
keeping people away from auction, I discovered few
people bidding against me. Every one of my chosen
lots went at low, low prices, all to me. Instead of an
estimated £38,000, I'd spent just £33,000. I had money
to spare, should I or shouldn't I? Should I or shouldn't
I invest in a few of those lots I hadn't even looked at
earlier?
Based on the fact this auctioneer only sells quality
stuff and is pretty much bang on with his values, I
decided to spend another few thousand on untested
items, starting number 21.
'Vintage News Postcards', the auctioneer said,
'Eighty cards in pristine condition', catalogued at
four hundred pounds, who will give me £3200?'
All hands stayed down, there was giggling all round
the room, no doubt taking the Michael out of the
auctioneer who couldn't understand why no-one
wanted these eighty news postcards.
Anyway, long story cut short, the auctioneer says:
'Final Offer, I mean it mind you. Who'll give me
£3100 for these eighty news postcards?'
I couldn't resist it, my hand went up like a shot, and
came down just as fast when the auctioneer said:
'Anyone bid £3120? £3105 then? No? No-one else
want them?'
Followed by: 'Sold then, to the lady at the front of the
room, eighty postcards, eighty NAKED Ladies!'
Oh no, not NEWS postcards, they were NUDES
postcards, and me the only bidder!
The giggling came again, I couldn't hide my shock,
the auctioneer looked to be coming over with water,
he asked if I really wanted them, I said 'Yes, no
problem'.
In truth there was no problem, I'd made a mistake,
yes, but nude postcards sometimes fetch double
figures, sometimes three figures sums on eBay. I
wanted them, of course I wanted them, but previously
not enough to bid on them in front of all these men.
Then it struck me, these cards went for a tiny fraction
of their real market value; some of those men were
eBay postcard sellers too, why hadn't they bid against
me?
The truth came at half time, when stamp lots appeared
and postcard buyers headed for the coffee room.
'THEY' were still laughing but a friend with far more
experience than myself of this particular auction
house told me 'THEY' never bid on nude postcards.
'THEY are too embarrassed', he said.
And so had I been, too embarrassed to bid! Until that
day when I bid by mistake, on 'News' postcards that
turned out to be 'Nudes'.
And guess what, I wasn't embarrassed at all to bid, I
didn't actually realise what I was bidding on anyway, I
hadn't felt embarrassed at all.
And now that first hurdle's over, I probably won't be
afraid to bid on high market value, fast selling risqu=E9
postcards ever again. But those men will probably
remain too frightened to bid, no one wants to be first.
Which brings me to the point of this story. You really
have to cross barriers sometimes, do the things that
frighten you most, and when done, whatever bothers
you now won't ever worry you again.
So those of you who've never quite raised courage to
even bid at auction, the message is, just do it, give it a
go, it won't be half as bad as you think. And once
you've bid on one thing, you'll do it again, and again.
Until finally your working week is filled with buying
at auction and selling at huge mark ups on eBay. As
easy as that!
Happy eBaying!
Avril
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Making Easy Profit with the Public Domain
By LisaBeers
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Public domain is the world of knowledge that is freely
available to the public. You can find literally tens of
thousands of books free to download online from the
public domain. The vast majority of these books are
usable commercially. This means that you can make a
profit from these resources, leveraging the original
author's work for your own income. Once a copyright
expires, the book becomes public domain. It is
completely legal in most cases to resell these works
for your own profit.
One easy way to make money with books you
download from public domain is by selling them for
use on PDAs and iPods. More and more people want
to have books available to listen to on their PDAs and
iPods. It makes commuting easier, it helps while
standing in long lines, and it's simply fun to
always have a book available to enjoy anywhere you
happen to be. It is so incredibly easy to profit from
public domain in this manner because the format most
books are downloaded in is .txt. This is the same file
type required for use in PDAs and iPods, so you do
not need to convert the documents before selling
them. This can be so much quicker and easier than
creating a typical eBook in a format such as pdf.
Another great way to profit from public domain books
is by creating audio eBooks. You can read public
domain books out loud, recording them into your
computer, and then convert the files to MP3. We all
know how popular audio books are, and how popular
downloading audio is, so put the two together and you
have an unlimited audience of potential buyers. Think
of how many high-school and college students would
rather listen to the great classics than to have to read
them.
To make lots of money using public domain books,
you can build your own web site, or even sell on
eBay. If you can't build a web site, or you do not want
to build your own web site, you can easily outsource
this task cheaply. You can also cheaply outsource
having your downloaded public domain
books read out loud for conversion into an audio
eBook. This is a very easily executable idea that you
can start using right away to create an income steam.
LisaBeers is a web developer who has had own
successful business for seven years. She has created a
web site to help you get great money-making ideas.
Visit http://www.officialbigseminaraudios.com for more
information.
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To find out about my own Public Domain book
Avril
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Four Special Rules for Selling Software on eBay.
By DonGuindon
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Here are the various kinds of software that you're not
allowed to sell on eBay, and how to spot them. You
should always try installing used software before you
sell it, as this might give you a few clues.
1.Pirate Software. This one is reasonably obvious,
but pirate software can be hard to spot. The biggest
giveaways are auction listings that don't have pictures
or only have pictures from catalogues, unrealistically
low prices, and come with no manuals or
documentation. Microsoft software comes with a
Certificate of Authenticity, which you should check.
Software that is on recordable media such as CD-RWs
is usually pirated. If you see software offered for
download only, it is often pirated but not always.
Some small software developers allow download
licenses for their software to be resold on sites like
eBay. Type the name of the software into a search
engine, and go to the manufacturer's site to check.
Remember that software you download is very
unlikely to come with resale rights, though.
2.Beta Software. Beta software is pre-release
software, issued by companies for testing purposes.
Companies generally do not give permission for their
beta software to be sold or redistributed, as it won't be
as good as the final product. Do not buy anything that
says it is beta, and return anything you receive that
says beta or not for resale or distribution anywhere on
the CD or during the install.
3.Academic Software. Some companies sell special
educational editions or student licenses for their
software, which are designed to make it affordable to
students and teachers. You can only sell this software
if you are a licensed educational reseller for the
company, and your buyers are educational users.
Academic software will usually say somewhere on its
CD or in its installation what it is.
4.OEM Software. OEM stands for 'Original
Equipment Manufacturer' this is software that is only
supposed to be distributed with a new computer, as it
came pre-installed on the computer. The licences for
this software usually stop you from selling it without
also selling any hardware. Look out for the message
for sale with a new computer only, or similar. Note,
though, that it's usually fine to bundle any OEM
software you come across with computers that you
sell on eBay. If you sell any kind of software that isn't
allowed, then eBay might shut down your auction, or
your sellers might realise what they've bought and
leave you bad feedback. It's not really worth the risk.
Look for more DonGuindon articles at