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Rating:
Level of Review:
Researched - read the book, found some highly useful information
in it. Did not eBay according to her instructions because
it is not something I want to do full time - I prefer writing
and web building.
Overview:
Book - How An Overworked, Traveling, Soggy Sandwich
Eating, Dental Hygienist Makes $11,212.00 A
Month—100% Online
Product:
Hers product is the book. Yours is whatever you
choose to sell on eBay.
Costs:
$39.95 for the book, plus fees, stock, efficiency
tools, etc.
Compensation:
Profit from sales, minus fees.
Conclusion:
One of the problems we have in reviewing business
programs and books is getting past the hype. This
one took me 2 weeks to get into deep enough to
figure out whether or not the writer actually had
anything useful to say, and whether or not she
could deliver on what she promised. Not having the
money to invest in every single item to review it,
I have to go on subtle clues given in the sales
pitch. Initially I could not actually read the book.
Those of you who
know our linking standards already know that we are
not going to pan this one! But it was not an easy
review. Many scams just tip you off right away.
Hype is one of the biggest tips that something is
not what it seems. Occasionally though, someone
will market something with hype out of a mistaken
idea that it will get them more sales and grow
their business better. While it might get them more
sales in the short term from people who are
susceptible to pressure sales and unrealistic
ideas, it does NOT get them satisfied customers of
a type that will actually succeed from using their
materials. I feel this book falls into that
category.
The author offers a
subscription to an ezine which she uses as a
marketing tool. The first several issues were
nothing except “buy the book” statements
- filled with fluff and exaggerations - “are
you tired of not being in control of your
future?”, “start operating your eBay
money machine NOW” and that kind of thing. A
lot of talk about what she was promising, but no
real clue as to the substance. A couple of later
issues though finally let on that the author
actually DID have some practical information to
offer. She still markets on the shady side, and
some of her products walk the line on ethics (she
has a paid survey site which you pay to use - I do
NOT recommend that site!). But I feel the eBay book
is a reasonable risk, and can actually help you if
you fit into a certain profile.
First of all, eBay
is NOT for everyone. In order to use it, you must
be scrupulously honest. If you are not, you will
get bad feedback and it will run you into the
ground. You must also be able to be organized. You
must develop a system of processing orders, and of
tracking what stage the orders are in - auction
pending, sale made payment pending, payment paid
shipping pending, boxed and ready to ship, etc. And
you must have a sales tax license if that applies
to your state. You are also responsible for filing
taxes, collecting sales tax if the sale occurs in
your state, etc. It is a BUSINESS, and it involves
a lot of WORK. It is in NO WAY a "money
machine".
She implies that
anyone can do it. Not true. Some people just
won't have the self discipline to do it. And
it is a lot of repetitive drudge work.
I could do
this. I could make a lot of money selling on eBay
if I chose. But I do not choose to because it is
frankly work I do not enjoy. I enjoy parts of it.
But setting up displays, photographing items,
listing items with a template, tracking, packing,
and shipping just aren’t what I want to do
with ALL of my time. I like having lots of
different things to do. I work best when I have
several irons in the fire, and a little pressure to
complete things. I have done a fair amount of
eBaying (I have a good feedback rating), and eBay
marketing gets boring to me after a while. It
doesn’t to everyone though! People are
different! If you can do it everyday and enjoy it,
then it might be just the thing.
Make no mistake
though, it will COST you some money in commissions,
fees for services to speed things up, and you will
have to keep to a regular schedule. That schedule
can be flexible as far as what time of day you do
things, but you pretty much have to monitor your
auctions daily. When someone emails, you must
reply. When an item sells, and is paid for, you
need to ship it within a few days. These are things
that must be done on a tight schedule.
Now one of the nice
things about eBay is that you can register, list a
few cheap items to get your feedback rolling (do
not list any that you need to get a high price out
of, or any that need a high level of trust until
you have a feedback rating of at least 50, half of
which has come from sales), and you don't owe any
fees until about 10 to 30 days later. eBay bills
you monthly, after the sale, so you don't have to
have money up front. If you fail to pay your fees
though, they will suspend your account until you
do.
You have to learn
the ins and outs of the system. And you have to
sell a LOT of things to make serious money! Profit
margins are generally small, even if you find items
with a 75% profit margin at the outset, you have
fees to deduct. And when you are talking making
just a few dollars per sale (average), you have to
sell a lot of them each hour to make seriously good
money.
Those who make big
money on eBay love doing it. They work in their
spare time because they love doing it. I am that
way about my business. I’d just as soon be
designing a site or writing an article as taking a
vacation. I just feel that way and it is easy to do
it. Sometimes though, I don’t feel like
working, and when I don’t, it is hard to force
myself to get back in the mood. You have to decide
to do something that you CAN do, day in and day
out. You should be excited most days to get up and
go to work. If you aren’t then doing it long
term is going to wear you down and you’ll end
up hating it and being miserable. The money will
NOT make up for hating what you do!
That said, if
selling on eBay is something you feel you can enjoy
(and MANY people do!), then this book can help you
to get past some of the painful learning period
that everyone has to go through. It can help you
devise ways to systemize the repetitive tasks so
they take as little time as possible, and to keep
things efficient so you do not mail the wrong thing
to the wrong person. It should also help you
understand what things you need to figure out in
calculating pricepoints (how much you need to make
to call it a profit, and how much to call it worth
your time), how to deal with shipping costs, where
to find suppliers of products that sell, how to
know if an item WILL sell, etc. Those are all
critical bits of information if you want to succeed
quickly, or at all.
If eBay is your
target venue, you do need a book to teach you some
things. I feel this one is a good one to start
with. If you are looking for something easy, or
even something that does not involve handling
product, this is not it.
If you want to test
the waters some, then read my eBay Seller's
Handbook, follow the instructions there, and see if
you like it. That quick instruction booklet will
help you get started without making any serious
errors. Then when you need to make your business
more profitable, go with the book above.
UPDATE:
A few months after writing this review, I was able to read
the book. She does give information that it is to your
benefit to know. eBay is a rapidly changing world, but
the strategies she outlines for pricing items, for finding
items that are salable, etc, are practical and adaptable.
This is NOT a book for
a casual eBayer. It is for someone who wants to be a PowerSeller,
and who wants to move product through on an assembly line.
You can start small and grow, certainly. But this book
focuses on professional management and moving thousands
of dollars of merchandise. Her advice about pricing is
dead on... Most books talk about one of two extremes: Price
low and hope the low bids attract more, or setting it for
what you want. She looks at the bottom line, and prices
for profit. She says if you cannot purchase a product at
a price that will allow you to do that, then move on and
find something that you CAN price for profit. Business
is for making money.
A lot about eBaying is
philosophy. I feel hers is a good one, and if it doesn't
quite work for the product you are selling, then it is
the easiest place to start from when you start adapting
and fine tuning your own system for success.
Written By Laura
Wheeler
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