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Thursday 3 May 2007

What are ebooks?

An ebook is an electronic format of a regular book.
The only difference between a regular book and an ebook
is that ebooks are not printed on paper. Ebooks are
published in a large variety of electronic file formats
and can therefore be acquired in formats appropriate for
all hardware.

Ebooks are part of the new frontier of cyberspace.
They are an entirely new medium for sharing marketing
information, ideas, techniques, and expert knowledge.
Each day the number of people accessing the Internet
grows, causing the exposure of your ebook to increase
incrementally. It's obvious why electronic
self-publishing has become so popular so quickly.

The publishing industry, I hope, does not intend to
forever banish the printed word to the dustbin of
history. Books in print have their own special
qualities and merits, and the world would be
diminished by their disappearance.

Having said that, let's look at what makes ebooks so
important and so unique. Ebooks have certain abilities
and qualities that other mediums do not possess.

Ebooks can be downloaded in a matter of minutes depending
on the size of the file and your internet speed. Ebooks
come in all different sizes, depending on the length of
the book and the number of images.

Ebooks are easily and rapidly distributed online. They
are also easily updated; they do not require a second
print run. All you need is to go into your original
creation and modify the text or graphics. Because of
this flexibility, ebooks can change and grow as fast
as you can type.

Ebooks are also immediately obtainable. You don't have
to go to a bookstore or search through endless titles
at an online bookstore. All you have to do is download
it from a website, and presto. It's on your computer,
ready to be read.

Wednesday 2 May 2007

Registering As An eBay Seller!

Starting an account on eBay is a simple process, and even better, it's free!
Just go to www.ebay.com, click on "Register Now"!
eBay will ask you for a valid email address. Almost everyone has an email address. If you use a free email service, eBay will require credit card information from you in order to validate your identity. eBay's registration is free, so you won't be charged.
You'll need to create an eBay ID. Your potential customers are going to see this name every single time they look at one of your postings.
You'll be prompted to create a password, and also to choose a "secret question" that eBay will ask you in case you forget your password.
You'll be asked for your date of birth, just to make sure that you're of legal age to do business on eBay.
You'll be asked to agree to eBay's User Agreement. Read it before checking the "I Agree" button. eBay will now send a verification email to the email address you gave them, and you must click on a link inside that email in order to finish the signup process.
You're now ready to post items on eBay.

Tuesday 1 May 2007

The Pros And Cons In Establishing An Ebay Store!

Ebay has provided some amazing opportunities for many people to earn online. This widely popular auction site has become the primary destination for users who wish to purchase anything – ranging from tangible products to digital items – hence making eBay a website visited by millions of people every day. Because of the volume of transactions happening in its pages, eBay has also become a virtual market place where thousands, if not millions, of dollars exchange hands on a daily basis as well.

Do you want a piece of that big, big pie?

Then you must first have to establish an eBay store.

Now, this is not a strong recommendation. This article is not meant as a sales pitch for a membership with eBay, rather, it seeks to present the advantages and disadvantages of building your own eBay store. You must remember that eBay isn’t the only place where you could peddle your goods. It is a good place where you could sell your items, but there are other alternatives you could consider. Should you settle with eBay? Or should you explore the alternative options? Let’s study the matter more closely.

There are most certainly a lot of benefits that could be gained from establishing your own eBay store. Let’s take a look at them.

* You’d be able to sell in a hotly visited environment. You’ll be able to expose your products to a wide array of prospects.

* A Featured Store would also deliver some advanced reports for your auctions. You could use the statistics delineated therein to improve the way you construct your sales pages, and the way you present your items for better efficiency in your future offers.

* A Featured Store will also allow you more eBay pages, which would mean more exposure for your products. It’s still a numbers game. The more auctions you have running, the more earning opportunities you could capitalize on.

* A Featured Store would allow you to reduce the size of the eBay banner appearing in your every auction. This would give you the chance to work on your page and bring the focus of your visitors to the items you will be selling.

* Ebay provides a certain level of seller protection and dispute resolution for potential problems you might encounter with your buyers.

Though these are great advantages for your online business, please bear in mind that they do not come without cost. There are also other disadvantages that are attached to having your own eBay store.

* Having your own eBay store would pressure you to perform well when it comes to your sales. Though some may consider this as a benefit since such will motivate the seller to plan his course of action, the dangers will be experienced when you fail to earn enough profit to cover the cost of your subscription.

* People go to eBay expecting the best deals in the online market. You have to compete at this level, otherwise, the moment people would see the going rate for your auction, they’d immediately hop to the next item up for sale.

* You’d be bound by eBay’s selling policies. You cannot go around some of these restrictive policies, otherwise, you account can get suspended, or worse, terminated.

Establishing an eBay store is a solid choice for a business model. But you have to determine your goals as well as your marketing plan. Would an eBay store help you accomplish them? Or would selling your own goods in your own website be better for your online business?

The choice is yours.

Monday 30 April 2007

Ebay Secret: Finding A Drop Shipper!

Drop shipping involves a contact with a wholesaler, known as a drop shipper. The drop shipper would offer some items for wholesale prices. The clincher?

There are a couple of them, actually:

1. You’d get to purchase these items at wholesale prices even if you’re going to get them per piece.

2. The drop shipper will take care of shipping the item to the designated location.

You won’t have to buy items for resale. You won’t have to create items for your offers. You just need a relationship with a drop shipper, select from his selection of products, and market the same at eBay. You could place your own markup. And you wouldn’t have to worry about storage space or shipping. Better yet, you wouldn’t be too pressured to make a sale, as your items aren’t technically in stock, rather, they’re with the drop shipper who will be awaiting your word as when to deliver the same to the winning bidder.

Now, here’s what is of the essence. Where could you find drop shippers?

Here’s an important piece of advice: forget about offers that promise to provide a list of drop shippers. More often than not, these lists contain outdated information, dead links and even fabricated entities. This is a fact that has been confirmed by eBay itself.

Here’s a fact that you should know: 80% of manufacturers would be more than happy to do some drop shipping for you. Whereas a couple of years ago, drop shipping was a novel approach to selling items online, nowadays, manufacturers have realized that drop shipping can be an effective evolution of the direct selling model. It’s easier to look for drop shippers today than it was a couple of years ago.

The first thing you have to learn is how to focus. What do you want to sell, exactly? Have you researched the market for it? Is it a profitable market?

The second step should entail researching appropriate products for the market you have chosen. What are available for the same? What, among these choices, do you want to sell?

All that remains to be done is to pinpoint specific manufacturers based from the list you have prepared, and contacting them individually. Ask them if drop shipping is among the services they could offer for willing partners. Chances are, you will get an affirmative reply.

The bottom line is this: drop shipping can make your eBay business more profitable and more convenient.

Sunday 29 April 2007

How Ebay Sellers Can Protect Themselves From Auction Scams.

Are you an eBay seller? If you have been conducting your business in this widely popular online auction site, then chances are you would’ve experienced some fraudulent activities perpetrated against your enterprise. Scam artists are everywhere, it seems, and the sheer anonymity provided by the World Wide Web makes the virtual world a paradise for all sorts of unscrupulous folks.
Condemning them is one thing. But you do need to positively act on the real perils of getting scammed. You have take some precautionary steps and adjust the way you operate your online business to minimize, if not completely eliminate, the risks that these scam artists present.
For many of us, eBay offers great income streams that serve us well. We must strive to protect the opportunity we have been given by being vigilant against scams and combating them through the implementation of precautionary measures for our every auction.