Sincere apologies and free gifts
publication date: Oct 12, 2006
*******
- Editorial
- eBay Affiliate Program by
JohnVWHowe
- From eBay Zero to Power-
Selling Hero: What It Takes by
Isaiah Hull
*******
Hi,
SO SSS-OOO-RRR-RRR-YYY"
Oh dear, it's time for apologies,
admissions, pleas for forgiveness.
There was I, late yesterday
afternoon, just about finished this
eLetter, editing and spell-checking,
and just getting plain tired. In fact
I got so tired I took a few minutes
off and... that was my BIG
mistake... because by stealing
those few minutes for myself
... I forgot to send the eLetter
to my publisher.
That means YOU did not get it on
time, and it also means my
publisher broke her promise to
provide you with updates every
Wednesday!
SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED -
did you ever watch Rumpole of the
Bailey? - wasn't the least bit
pleased with me, but she is a
forgiving sort and allowed me to
catch up today AS LONG AS I
ADMITTED THE MISTAKE
WAS MINE and I apologise
profusely and offer a nice free gift
to my readers!
So there you have it, I AM
SORRY, I will slap my wrist and
try harder next time, and wait for
it, THERE IS A NICE FREE GIFT
to hopefully compensate for the
mistake.
AND I GET TO KEEP MY JOB!
The subject of mistakes leads me
nicely into a special problem this
week suffered by one of our
readers who innocently caused
four people to bid on and pay for
one solitary item available.
It was an easy mistake and I'm
sure she won't mind me disclosing
the mistake here, without breaking
confidence. Basically she had one
product for sale, she listed it, four
people bid, four people bought.
One product means one happy
buyer and three potentially
disgruntled eBayers.
How did it happen? I actually
made the same mistake myself in
my early eBay days so I'm
definitely not the frying pan
calling the kettle black.
She had one item comprising four
pieces and innocently in that part
of the eBay listing where it asks
you to list number of items
available she put '4', rather than
'1'. At this spot the number she
should have entered is the number
of potential buyers for her four-
piece product. 1 item!
By putting '4' and running an
auction she had inadvertently
listed her product as a Dutch
Auction which means people can
bid up to their maximum and the
top bidders get the goods down to
the number of items available in
this case One lot of Four Matching
Items, not Four different lots as
indicated in her listing.
It's an easy mistake, but our friend
was distraught, she had worked
hard to build positive feedback and
all she saw now was negatives
blotting her hard won reputation.
It should not be a problem, we all
make mistakes, that's why they put
rubbers on the end of pencils.
The solution is to accept you will
get it wrong sometimes but, hey,
we're not selling to people who
never make mistakes themselves.
People understand we all make
mistakes, most will happily accept
an apology and an explanation, it's
a very odd person - and a nasty
one - who takes revenge by
leaving negative feedback.
In such a case this is what I would
do:
* Work out who should actually
get the item. This should be the
highest bidder and you can find
this information from your eBay
'Items Sold' listing.
* Write to that person,
congratulate them on the win, send
the invoice if they have not paid
already, send out the product.
* To the remaining bidders I'd
right something like this:
------------
Dear (Actual Name)
I am so sorry but I have made a
mistake in my listing which has
resulted in a my listing more items
than I actually have available. As
you know the item was a four
piece (ornament, pictures,
whatever) set and I have just one
set to sell.
Due to my own inexperience I
indicated four items were available
rather than just one lot comprising
four items.
Consequently four winning bidders
emerged and I feel honour bound
to fulfil the product to the highest
bidder. I am truly sorry that I can
not fulfil the product to you but I
am sure you will appreciate this is
an innocent mistake.
I hope it does not inconvenience
you in any way and to compensate
I hope you will consider bidding
on my items again one day when I
will be pleased to give you a ten
per cent discount on your first buy.
Let me know if this is acceptable
to you and please accept my
apologies.
Customer care is paramount to me
but I guess we all make mistakes
sometimes.
Best wishes
Your Name
---------------
* If the three unsuccessful bidders
have paid I'd refund them right
away and maybe offer a little
discount on whatever else they buy
in future. If they paid by PayPal
go into your PayPal account, find
the transaction, go to the bottom of
the page, press the 'Refund' button
and add another apology referring
to your earlier explanation.
That's it, now get back to selling.
The gift I promised you? I haven't
a clue what to offer right now, I'm
too busy trying to get this eLetter
out before I cause more problems
for my publisher. So here's the
deal. I will choose something nice
in a few minutes and some time
after six tonight I will upload it for
you at http://www.1st-in-
auctions.com - go to the very
bottom of the front page where I'll
hide it from unauthorised access.
Oh yes, I forgot to say: SORRY!
Happy eBaying!
Until next Time,
Avril
P.S. Look out for info on an exciting eBay
business idea I'm going to tell you
about next week!
***
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***
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Go to the 'Free Stuff' section and get
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***
eBay Affiliate Program by John
V W Howe
***
Did you know that eBay has an
affiliate program? This is
sometimes overshadowed by the
sheer size of eBay, but you can
make affiliate income from eBay.
Here is how it works. Go to the
http://affiliates.ebay.com and sign
up. This will direct you to
Commission Junction
(www.cj.com) which handles the
commissions for eBay. You should
spend time on Commission
Junction after you join to see all
the other affiliate programs that
you can join as well as eBay. You
will be amazed at all the affiliate
programs that are available on
Commission Junction.
You will notice that you can
become an affiliate of eBay in
several countries. If you speak the
language of another country, you
can become an affiliate of that
country if you desire. I am an
affiliate of eBay USA, Italy,
France, UK, Canada, and India. I
am not active except in the US and
Italy. Italy you say! No, I do not
speak Italian, but I found an Italian
translator through elance.com who
helps me with my Google
Adwords ads that drive traffic to
eBay Italy. When they join and
buy, I receive my commissions in
US dollars through Commission
Junction.
If you refer a person to eBay who
is not already a member and they
join and purchase an item, you get
referral fees and a commission on
the sale. eBay recently increased
its fees. These fees changes will
help the smaller affiliates make
more money at lower transaction
volumes.
Currently, the initial fee for
causing someone to join eBay is
$12.00. Under the old structure,
this covered the first 499 people.
Then the fee rose to $16.00 each
over 499.
The new structure still pays $12.00
for the first tier, but the tier is for 1
- 49. At 50 - 499 the fee is $16.00.
This structure is much more
favorable for the little guy.
To understand how this all works,
go to eBay and study it. The fee
structure is located at
Learn about the eBay affiliate
program and other affiliate
programs on the Net. Affiliate
programs when used correctly can
make you money without having
to monitor them constantly.
Good luck as an affiliate of eBay.
JohnV.W.Howe is an
entrepreneur, author, inventor,
patent holder, husband, father, and
grandfather. He has been involved
in entrepreneurial activities for
over 40 years. He founded
online.com to help Boomers (baby
boomers) become entrepreneurs
when they retire.
***
From eBay Zero to Power-
Selling Hero: What It Takes by
Isaiah Hull
***
Have you ever wondered what it
takes to be 'the best of the best';
to outcompete everyone who tries
to do what you are doing--and to
keep them guessing exactly what it
is that makes you so much better?
If you've ever owned a commercial
website before, you know who
these people are: they're the ones
who sell the same product as you,
but make $200,000 each year
doing it. They have top rankings
on search engines, flocks of loyal
visitors, and a mailing list with
500,000 subscribers.
As a webmaster, two things
separate them from you: time and
money. Either they spent time
gaining experience, building a
business, and promoting a website
or they hired a professional staff
that multiplied their time by
carrying out those tasks.
Money also separates you from
them. They can buy cutting-edge
products, hire elancers, and
purchase more lucrative forms of
advertising.
As an eBay seller, things are quite
different. You don't have to build a
25,000-page website with unique
content and promote it to the ends
of the earth just to get search
engines to notice you.
There is only one search engine
you need to worry about--and
that's eBay's, the search engine
millions of shoppers use on a daily
basis for one purpose only: to buy.
eBay gets 1.5 BILLION page
views each month. And as a seller,
you have access to it without
'building' anything. All you have
to do setup shop and pay a small
fee for your 'slice' of the traffic
pie.
To make things even better, you
don't need a team of scientists
working around the clock to get on
the first page of listings. When
your auction is closing, you will be
on the first page--just like
everyone else.
eBay puts you on equal footing
with your competition.
Even if they're rich and
experienced, you can outcompete
them by understanding the single
market medium you are both using
better than they do.
...and that's all it takes to be a
'Power-Selling Hero'. even if
you're a zero right now.
Go to
net/ebay.html to read more about
Isaiah Hull.