Are you still stuffed from Turkey day? Seems almost like a distant day with holiday sales now in full gear. I know many of you have written and told me about having to frantically find additional help for shipping because of the increase in your sales!! Woohoo!    I am living between two worlds as I write this…I just left my home in Seattle where we have literally been snowed & frozen in for the last 2 days. I got caught in the initial storm where it took me almost 2 hours to travel 1 mile – egads! I was one of the very lucky ones – for many people it took over 14 hours to get home and quite a few arrived to their houses to find the power was out.    But now I am here – Venice beach…walking distance to the boardwalk. Writing to you from the warm sand and beautiful surf is a nice change from the cold…but I honestly do miss how beautiful and sparkly Seattle looked blanketed in that yummy white stuff. Wonder if they will save me some for when I get back.       I have always been a huge proponent for education – but only if it helps you do what you dream – become what you were meant to do in this world…   When I was in college I remember being very frustrated…many of the teachers in my upper level courses were having me teach the classes because of what I knew, and in one class I remember having a stupid argument with a teacher about the fact that she said Nike was based in some foreign 3rd world country and I was trying to explain to her that the Nike headquarters were in Beaverton, OR – perhaps 20 minutes from where that conversation was taking place. I finally had to bring in one of my Nike shoeboxes to prove it to her.    Our final paper had to be on ‘non-biased journalism’ (yeah right). So I wrote my paper on the internet – keep in mind that this was over 12 years ago. I wrote of a world where we would be able to receive the closest to unbiased information – where we would be able to talk directly to a person in the town in another country that had just been bombed, or listen to a person halfway across the world describe symptoms that were the same as ours - assisting in diagnosing diseases, where we could communicate, shop and network with anyone in the world, and where we would even be able to take classes online. When I received the paper back I had a failing grade. She told me it was science fiction…    I am now down in California to meet with the some of the faculty at the new entrepreneurial college I have talked to many of you about. This past year, I was very honored to be asked to be the Dean of eBay Business for L.A. College International. This amazing online accredited educational program will be starting January 7th!! I am currently writing the curriculum for the 2 year degree and then will move onto the 4 year degree. You will be able to obviously take the mainstream classes that you would at other schools, but this college has an emphasis on entrepreneurial education. Gosh I wish they had this when I went to school, I definitely would have passed that journalism class! Some of the courses we are developing include: eBay Business (obviously – lol), search engine marketing, website development, and (one of my favorites) a class on social networking – how to use MySpace, U-Tube, Facebook and others social networking opportunities to market your business. After working 16 hour days to develop this curriculum, I am thrilled at how in-depth and powerful these classes are going to be! If you would like free information from the college about these classes or any other question you may have, please go to: www.janelleelms.com/lacinfo to sign up. There is absolutely no obligation to get this information – they simply wanted to make sure that anyone who was interested in this exciting, new style of school could find out more about it.     The launch of the eBay Store Success Video was, in a word – successful!! LOL. I was so impressed at how many of you took your future into your own hands, purchased this in-depth video, and have already begun to see the wild results! A person in the sporting goods arena tripled their sales already – they have only implemented two of the tips from the video A business who is solely online in the art/crafts field increased their business by 400% since seeing the video. Another person wrote and asked me why I was charging so little for such powerful information – LOL. See, what I have taught you guys about pricing your items too low is true!! Perhaps I should start thinking of raising the price for next year. You can still get this amazing video to help take your business to the next level at www.StoresSuccessVideo.com.   When you purchase the eBay Stores Success Videos, you get: An amazing online education experience that includes video modules, walk-thru screenshots, step-by-step tutorials, checklists and more...    SERIES ONE: Building Success for your eBay Store Set up your Store to be picked up on Yahoo, MSN and Google, and get instant access to buyers all over the world. SERIES TWO: Basic Marketing for Your Store Learn the secrets to attracting high-end buyers who are hungry for your product. Discover EXACTLY what they want, when they buy, and what will draw them to you. SERIES THREE: Advanced Marketing for Your Store Take unfair advantage of the hottest new e-commerce tools that have just hit the marketplace to make your Store stay far ahead of the competition. PLUS, you get:  Over 4 hours of online educational instruction  Complete transcripts of the entire video  Checklists for you to stay on track with your Success And links to all of the success tools you will need to create your Success AND, you get the "Top 10 Tips for your financial Success" from ten of the industry gurus AND exclusive access to the 1 Percent club website.    Many of you understood how powerful the video was and how it could change your business, but wanted to make a few monthly payments in order to afford it – especially during this holiday season. Totally understand…and I went to bat for you with VLS (the company who created the video). They have agreed to offer to let you pay for the video in 3 payments – woohoo! Simply contact me or VLS – help@visuallearningsystems.com for the information. The video will be the same price, $495, but you will simply pay it in 3 easy payments of $165. You will have instant access to the entire 4+ hours of video, the "Top 10 Tips for your financial Success" and exclusive access to the 1% Club Website.    Also, I just got the word that you can choose to view the video online OR the CD is now available for purchase as well. Same fabulous information, but different options for different ways of learning! As you know, there is a 10 day, no questions asked, 100% money back guarantee with this product. Although tons of people are now on their way to being part of the 1% club, there were a couple of people who bought the video and took advantage of the 100% return policy. I assumed that they bought the video, realized they were already part of the 1% club, and returned the video – which is why I created this guarantee.    However, the real reason they returned the video makes me sad – not because they returned the video and got their money back. I was sad that they were going to fail. I took the time to do a little bit of detective work, found their eBay Stores, and was shocked that their Stores WERE NOT set up correctly. Neither of these people had their Store set up to be ranked highly on the major search engines – Yahoo, MSN and Google. Neither seller was taking advantage of the extra search engine optimization that is included in their eBay Store for free. I teach you about all of these ‘secret seo’ areas in the video. Both of them were failing in their retention efforts – neither was using the #1 marketing tool that is included for FREE in their eBay Store. One of these people is a PowerSeller with almost 10,000 feedback – Stores that are set up incorrectly like his, is the exact reason that I created this video. He wasn’t even using a technique that takes literally 10 seconds to do, and puts legal pop-ups on your buyers computers when you list new products!! Now you can see why I am sad - he isn’t willing to be wildly successful. Why wouldn’t you want to be wildly successful? eBay Stores are a very powerful tool in building your e-commerce success. But I will be honest with you…it requires work. Running an eBay Store is no different than running a successful real world business. It requires removing your ego out of the way. You might know everything about anything – but where there is money concerned, you should put that ego aside, and be willing to learn from the experts.    Ok, I am done being sad…this is their choice to fail. I am honored that SO many of you are now on your way to becoming part of the 1% Club…and I LOVE hearing all of the success stories that you have been sending me.    “If you aren’t thankful for what you have… How can you be thankful for more?”          I am delighted to announce the winner of the eBay Stores Success Video Contest…    Tom Scerbo, from Long Valley, NJ – huge congrats Tom!!     This eBay Store’s owner has just won $2000 in online coaching session from me!       Ok, one final trinket of information. Some of you know that Rob Cowie – co-founder of WorldWideBrands, is also a filmmaker and the producer of The Blair Witch Project. Robin credits much of his success as an “Independent” producer to the fact that he has paid his bills by running eCommerce businesses. The Internet has allowed him the freedom to make the movies he really wants to make. On December 19th Rob’s next movie, Altered, will be available on DVD and he wanted to invite all of you to take a sneak peak. On December 5th, the trailer will be available on www.YouTube.com here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-Ib1F-NT6c. You can also check out the movie website at www.AlteredMovie.com. I wish all of you wonderful holidays, joyful buyers and an amazing New Year, Fabulous blessings, Janelle        ”How many successful complainers do you know? ”        Fabulous Holiday Gift Ideas       Shop for a Cause – My dear friend Michael Kaiser whom I tour with just let me know about this wonderful opportunity. Michael’s day job is Director for the National Center for Victims of Crime. They have created a shopping portal page at http://www.ncvc.org/ncvc/main.aspx?dbID=DB_Shopping224. You click on the link, purchase items from top merchants including eBay, Dell, Apple, Amazon, KB Toys, Office Depot, Overstock, Macy’s, Cooking.com and more. The NCVC then receives a portion of your purchase from these companies. You do nothing but get your shopping done (& help a very worthy cause in the process.)          Soundview Book Summaries – give the gift of time! These great 8-page summaries of the top business books allow the entrepreneur on your list to get the ‘cliff notes’ for major new business ideas. I LOVE my subscription – saves me so much time AND saves me money by giving me a sneak peak of what the book is really about.        Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation – give the gift of LIFE! The #1 killer of children between the ages of 1 to 14 is childhood cancer – the most lethal form of this is pediatric brain tumors – killing approximately 25% of these young souls. Donate money in your loved one’s name to assisting in finding help for this killer.        Habitat for Humanity and the DOUA are also fabulous causes to support this time of the year. (actually, they are fabulous causes to support ALL year long!) Of course all of your donations are then tax-deductible.         Their own domain – give them a gift of opportunity! Go to www.janelleelms.com/godaddy and buy their name, or pet name (!!), or business name, or… AND, if you want to be really creative – contact my fabulous webmaster, Marcus, to quickly (& inexpensively, I might add) put up a website for them. Hey, even if it is only a one page information page about their dream job, how cool would that be?       Along that same idea – give them the gift of identity! Go to www.Logoyes.com/ebay to personalize a logo for that nice/naughty person on your list          (Ok, so don’t tell my personal trainer, Shai, this…but, for Christmas he is getting exactly that. A website, with the domain purchased from GoDaddy. Marcus is creating a great basic site about Shais workout/health philosophy and training. I also went to www.janelleelms.com/vistaprint and got him the free business cards with his new logo and website on them. I think he is really going to love this!)    For the baby - Handmade Vintage Chenille Baby Security Blanket – forget the baby, I want one of these for when I travel…how yummy do these look? And did you see the incredible price?? For the pets – Cat Kitten Toilet Training Kit No Litter Box – no kidding! For the medical student, doctor, nurse…an entire Store to shop from Medically Speaking 4 Medical Gifts For the Craft Lover…Want the hottest new tool for that scrapbooker in your life? Check out the new Cuttlebug machine from Provo Craft. Cut a shape, emboss a shape, or cut then emboss shapes with the inspired designs available exclusively with Cuttlebug cutting and embossing dies. Expressing your creativity has never been easier!    Give the gift of gab – with their very own Skype phone…not sure what I would do without my high phone bills…oh wait! Yes, I do Give the gift of gab – with their very own Skype phone…not sure what I would do without my high phone bills…oh wait! Yes, I do …buy more shoes!! Check them out at Skype. They also have some great starter kits that are perfect for stocking stuffers!           Fabulous Stocking Stuffers    Give the gift of health – ok, so this has to do with my cooking (for those of you who know what I am talking about, quit laughing). So I don’t exactly know how to cook, BUT, I think I found a super-cool (and inexpensive) gift for the chef – or want to be chef – in your life. Here is what their website says:     On the way to the store? Staring into an empty pantry? Wanting to create a memorable meal for that special someone? Call ChefsLine and you will talk live with one of our famous cookbook authors, award-winning restaurant chefs, or experienced cooking instructors who share the common goal of wanting to empower you to become a better and more creative cook.   This is only a $10 item for a private consultation!! Woohoo – I already grabbed a few of these for my friends. This is very cool. (LOL, wonder how many of these I will get this year!!) - ChefsLine       Gourmetibles Walnut Candy Cookie Toffee Confection – need I say more? For only $6.95, everyone’s stocking can be filled with yummy Christmas morning treats (much better than bran cereal). For the Shoe Addict in your life…a Shoe Hammer & matching Screwdriver (comes in 5 other colors too!) For the Disney Lover…this amazing limited edition bracelet has 32 individual 2-sided charms. It is Sold-Out and very hard to find.     For these last few…I have no clue what heading to put it under – but you have to go check out especially the last one, if only for the title of the Store…    Toilet Seat Christmas Removable Lid Cover    Daddy Sold My Toys - and whatever you do, don’t click on the category link WEIRD / STRANGE EBAY AUCTIONS unless you have a twisted sense of humour like me! (I think my Scottish friend is getting the UNDER KILT FRESHENER in his stocking this year!       I met a fabulous eBay entrepreneur during my most recent touring set. Besides being full of energy and ideas, Elise is a sweetheart. She sent me a packet of goodies after the class (much better than an apple, I think!!) and included in the packet were some postcards. On one of them was this link: http://ftc.gov/grandscam. On the front of the postcard was a very cheesy ‘used car salesman looking’ guy saying, “Take the Grand Scam Challenge.” Well, any excuse to not have to get real work done, off I went. What a hysterical and educational site the government has created. 30 minutes later I was still being entertained. Even if you know all the answers, it is still an important reminder of how easily it is to get taken in this world. I would definitely pass this on to all your friends and loved ones! HUGE thanks Elise for everything. Oh, and I love how positive and affirming she signs her name – with a heart above the ‘i’, the‘s’ is turned into a $ sign, and the swoop of the ‘e’ becomes a smiley face – You rock!!  Check out her 1st Store – PaCRatz Collectiblez Check out her Trading Assistant Items – IcanSell4You Check out her My World page - (I love her Review & Guide about “ALTOIDS Collecting 101 The Curiously Strong Collectible”)          A VERY profitable garage sale shopping tale        I went to a garage sale a couple of Saturdays ago. I saw the sign on my way to the gym but decided there probably wouldn't be enough interesting things there to make it worthwhile to stop. (The weather in Seattle is too rainy in the winter for many garage sales. Most of the winter sales are moving sales or estate sales, and there are way too many dealers for the few available sales.) On my way home from the gym I decided to see if there was anything left, knowing that there had probably been at least 30 dealers there in the 2 hours the sale had been open.          I found some interesting things including some Swarovski tiny figurines for $1 apiece. Behind the Swarovski I saw an ugly, quite plain 4" tall metal vase. When I picked it up to check for a mark, I noticed it was quite heavy and well made. The mark on the bottom was fairly elaborate and looked like it was probably from at least before the second world war.    I bought the vase, which was $.50. When I got home I searched for "Karl Kipp" (what the mark said) on ebay and found a few metal pieces that were attributed to this maker. Several listings seemed to indicate a connection between Karl Kipp and Roycroft, a famous Arts & Crafts design workshop. I looked at Roycroft vases and found a couple of similar size vases in the $400 range. They were cleaned up and looked much nicer than mine.    I then looked on Google for "Karl Kipp" and found a site with a history of hand hammered copper that confirmed that Karl Kipp was the foreman and one of the finest designers at Roycroft. With that information I googled Roycroft and found a site that looked like it belonged to someone who knew about Roycroft and had a "contact us" button on the homepage.    I wrote to the owner of this site explaining what I had and asking if he or she could give me any further information or point me toward other information on the internet. We exchanged a number of emails in which he shared information and told me several times that he'd like to buy the vase. He finally offered $250, and I said I'd let it go for $300 if we could have an agreement that if he finds that it is either OVER or UNDER that value, we'll renegotiate the price. I had a good feeling about this dealer - not pushy and very helpful without any strings attached. I have no doubt that he'll let me know if he thinks the vase is unusual enough to be much more valuable than he thought from looking at the pictures.    Why would I sell this piece to a dealer rather than putting it up for sale on ebay? Despite having read quite a bit about this maker, I really have little idea of the retail value of this piece. In my experience, you don't get the "ultimate price" for an item unless you are an expert in that area.  Since there aren't a lot of pieces with this mark, it is likely that most of the people who'd be seriously interested in it would look at it the first time it was offered, so there would be only one opportunity to market it properly, and I don't feel I'm qualified to do a good job on it because I'm not knowledgeable enough.  I know that I shouldn't use a cleaner on this piece, but it needs some cleaning in order to show well. I don't want to destroy the value because I don't how to clean it properly. I don't know anyone I think would be a good resource for preparing this piece for sale.  Bottom line - Making 600 times my investment seems adequate to me. If the buyer makes 2 or 3 times his investment, more power to him.           Please remember to add newsletter@janelleelms.com to your email list so you can always receive newsletter notifications. ALSO, if you have a program that makes the ‘newsletter’ click a link to accept it, please turn it off. The newsletter can’t click – lol. One last reminder, every single person who writes to me will get a reply – granted, it will probably be one of my assistants you hear from due to the sheer volume of letters I receive, but you will get a reply. IF you haven’t received a reply, please check your spam filter/file first. 95% of the time your reply is in there. The other 5% of the time your email bounced back due to: your spam filters, full mailbox, etc.      My World    Have you taken advantage of your My World page yet?   eBay just recently gave us another fabulous opportunity to market our business and take advantage of the powerful search engine optimization that takes place on the eBay pages. Your My World page allows you to promote your Store, auctions, blogs, reviews and guides, YOU and all on one page. Your My World page link is now starting to show up all over eBay…on transaction/question emails, a link off of your About Me page and (I haven’t seen it yet), but I am sure there is an icon on the way that will be put next to your User ID when you have your My World page set up.        It’s very easy to sign up and create your My World page. Let me show you now: You can either go to myworld.ebay.com Or Simply log into your My eBay account and scroll down the left side to the My World link.    On the right side of the page, you have two icons ‘Add Content’ and ‘Change Layout’, click the first one…   Here we can add/edit your Blog, Listings, Store, Personal Bio and showcase your Reviews & Guides.   For your Blog – you can choose to display short excerpts of your blog, just the titles of your blogs, or long excerpts. You also get to pick how many blog posts will be displayed on your My world page.   For your Listings – You select if you want all of your listings to be featured on the My World page, or perhaps just your auctions…or Store Inventory. You also get to pick how you want them displayed (highest priced first, ending soonest first, etc), as well as how many listings are displayed. (up to 10).   For your Store – You get to choose the following options: Display my store description Display link to "Add to Favorite Stores" Include link to "Sign up for Store Newsletter" Use the current image from my store AND, you also get to promote up to 3 of your Promotion Boxes!    For your Personal Bio – This one is HUGE – not only for the fact that you get to talk all about YOU and everything that exists in your world…but your customers get to know more about the real person behind the business name AND the search engine spiders LOVE this section. Almost all it incorporates the linking strategies I discuss so often at eBay University.    For your Reviews & Guides – You can choose to display up to 5 of your reviews and 5 of your guides. You can also designate to only show the Titles of the reviews or guides.    You can also do some of this editing right on your main My World page as well. Just click ‘edit’ to go into that specific section.    Under ‘Change Layout’…you can decide how your page is going to look – where you want everything to show up on the page. You simply move the sections by clicking the red arrows.    Other things you can do is (on the left side) Edit Your Image – by default your Store’s logo goes in there…but if you want a picture of a product or even you, simply click the Edit image link.    These are some very exciting new technology pieces that eBay has recently provided us to help communicate with our buyers as well as take advantage of the powerful search engine optimization that takes place on this page.       ”What would your world look like in 2007 if you are grateful?”     Holiday Shipping Information    Here is some important Holiday Date information from the USPS -               UPS Rate Hike in 2007        To help you plan for the coming year, we want you to know about new UPS rates and services that will take effect January 1, 2007.    Next year, UPS Retail Rates will replace On-Demand Rates. This means your rates will be the same whether you prepare your shipments online and drop them off at any of our 63,000 locations and UPS Drop Boxes, or have your packages processed at The UPS Store® locations or UPS Customer Centers.    UPS published Retail Rates will change as follows*: UPS Ground service to commercial and residential destinations will have the same transportation charge, based on the lower commercial rate, and will increase 4.9%. The Ground residential surcharge that was previously built into the Ground residential rates will now appear as a separate charge on your UPS invoice. Air and International services will increase a net 4.9%, through a combination of a 6.9% increase in rates and a 2% reduction in the air fuel surcharge. In addition, the Delivery Area Surcharge and Residential Surcharge will both increase by $0.10.    On December 1, 2006, you may preview 2007 rates and accessorial charges, and download the Surcharge Reference Guide, at ups.com/rates2007. The complete 2007 UPS Rate and Service Guide will be available for download on the site beginning January 1, 2007.    Conversion from Oversize to Dimensional Weight Billing Oversize charges for larger packages shipped via UPS Ground services will be replaced with a simpler rate calculation based on dimensional weight. Dimensional weight will only apply to UPS Ground packages measuring three cubic feet (5,184 cubic inches) or larger. Packages measuring less than three cubic feet will continue to be billed based on actual weight. As a result of this change, dimensional weight charges will gradually increase as the package size increases, eliminating significant steps from one Oversize tier to the next.    If the actual weight is greater than 70 pounds, an Additional Handling Charge of $8.00 will also apply. To offset this cost, we have lowered most UPS Ground rates for packages weighing more than 70 pounds. For more information, please visit ups.com/dimweight2007.       ”What you see is what you look for. ”     I love this next company – one of the few really good internet newsletters I am signed up for. This quiz was in one of their recent emails…thought you could have some fun testing your online sales knowledge.       How did you do? Check your answers here: http://www.internetretailer.com/top500/ (click on Today’s Quiz Answers)       Cool PayPal News… Print 50 labels at once with PayPal new multi-order shipping. Learn more by logging into your PayPal account, click on Merchant Services, scroll down to Free Shipping & Tax Calculators, and click on Multiple Shipping Labels PayPal has recently launched a new website that will help you start and grow your own business. It contains a variety a tools that you could utilize in your online business. Find content about Online Payments, Growing A Business, Security & Fraud, Web developers, and more at www.OnlineMerchantNetwork.com  PayPal just recently changed their currency list – up from 6 international currencies. PayPal now takes currency from 16 different countries! Also, PayPal recently expanded from 55 countries to 103 – woohoo! Here is a list of the new currencies: US Dollars, Canadian Dollars, Pounds Sterling, Euros, Japanese Yen and Australian Dollars, Czech Koruna, Danish Krone, Hong Kong Dollar, Hungarian Forint, New Zealand Dollar, Norwegian Krone, Polish Zloty, Singapore Dollar, Swedish Krona and Swiss Franc.    Secrets to using blogs for out of this world sourcing   I had an email show up the other day in my inbox touting another ‘thing I must have immediately’ if I were to be worth anything in this world – lol. It was interesting enough to cause me to click on the link to their website…where I found a lot of interesting things. Also, as I was snooping around, I saw that they had a blog on their site. Always the curious chick, I checked it out…and was floored with what I had suddenly happened upon. (Now I shouldn’t be so shocked because of a top-secret project I have been working on for the last 2 years – but we’ll leave that for another month…)    The owners of this site were talking about cool things they had found out and about in the world – egads! Many of the entries included links to the original manufacturer or distribution company and sometimes an email or phone number. (the ones that didn’t, I simply googled my way to that information)    WOOHOO! My own personal sourcing minions (& I don’t have to keep them on payroll either!), I thought as I sought out other blogs that were like this. Amazingly, there are a ton of people out there, finding cool stuff in their particular niches ALL THE TIME, and then telling anyone who wants to read their blog all about it. And, since blogs have RSS feeds with them, I don’t have to visit 25 different blogs throughout the day, my RSS reader (www.rssreader.com) will just keep them all handy and organized for me. Here are a few of my favorites: http://www.stylehive.com http://charlesandmarie.com http://charlesandmarie.com/top-nav-pages/retailer-info/  - this is a link for you to use if you want to become a distributor of the products you find on this site!! http://www.thisnext.com http://www.mightygoods.com http://www.kk.org/cooltools/index.php - LOVE this one http://www.shoppingblog.com http://www.huntandgatheronline.com - for boys (& some fun stuff for us gadget girls too) http://www.popgadget.net - check out Duck Vader Now that I have given away all my secrets (my holiday gift to you!), now I am going to give you even more…(I must really like you guys!)    Here are some places you can go to find even more blogs in your particular niche area: http://www.blogcatalog.com/directory http://dir.blogflux.com - over 23,000 blogs http://www.search4blogs.com/bloggers/index.php http://www.bloggernity.com - truthfully, I just like saying this one’s name http://www.blogarama.com - over 36,000 blogs http://blogsearch.google.com - in beta, but it rocks http://www.technorati.com - this one is unique – doesn’t check general blogs, but looks for your keyword(s) in specific blog posts! Happy blog hunting!       ”Create a list of 10 things you are thankful for and watch the creative energy explode! ”       5 tips on how, why, & where to find the best all around deals on wholesale merchandise after the holidays are over by Donna Bond Why?  You can save tons of money by buying “holiday clearance” & “out of season” merchandise. Lots of eBay wholesale sellers are ready to move that bulky merchandise around this time of year & make room for the new stuff. Stock up & stock pile until the time is right to launch them onto eBay auctions. But, if you have an eBay store, don’t be afraid to go on & stock your store up with this stuff, because if its summer & you have a ton of leather boots, its not hot everywhere around the globe. Local retailers that are in your area have crazy bottom dollar “after holiday sales” everywhere! Read your newspaper, listen to the radio & most popular is your TV. Even search Google & eBay’s wholesale section. Also check out local estate sales & storage unit businesses. They are having auctions all the time! If you don’t want to leave your home, Google is the best all around solution. Use great search engine keywords like, “wholesale & then your “keyword”, “wholesale clearance merchandise”, & be sure to use keywords of a specific product to narrow your searches. This is a little more time consuming, but its amazing at what you can find during that time of the year. For bigger bulk buying, check out liquidator.com Be sure to visit all of the clearance racks at your favorite retailers & even check with the DM (district manager) or GM (general manager) to see if in your area they can give even a bigger discount for bulk buying. They too want to move the merchandise on out. Another favorite that is very popular this time of year are higher end consignment shops as they too are trying to push old stuff out getting ready to bring in new spring items. Many times you will find NWT items for pennies! Donna Bond is one of the top 15 eBay Education Specialist in the country and an eBay PowerSeller. See her education bio here: http://www.poweru.net/ebay/instructor/insBioFull.asp?id=29   And check out additional information about the upcoming Southern Tour here: www.online-auction-princess.com         A Word To The Wise… I was absolutely shocked…someone had introduced me to a very yummy health bar that actually didn’t taste like cardboard AND was good for me (no, that wasn’t what I was shocked about). I kept the wrapper hoping to contact the company about the possibility of purchasing in quantity (and possibly selling them – they were that good). On the label, it had the companies email address, it looked like this (without giving all their info away): theirhealthybarcompanyname@comcast.net  eGads!! How very unprofessional, I thought. It would take them two seconds (ok, maybe 3 minutes) to set up a professional looking email account from their website, www.TheirHealthyBarCompanyName.com. (especially if they had someone as fabulous as my webmaster Marcus). Your customer’s value two things – security and confidence…buying from someone who is still using a personal email address does not instill either of those. You should have emails that look like sales@theirhealthybarcompanyname.com or info@theirhealthybarcompanyname.com or even Sally@theirhealthybarcompanyname.com. On a whim, I checked Go Daddy to make sure they owned theirhealthybarcompanyname domain name. IT WAS STILL AVAILABLE!!! Now do you see why I am so shocked? A domain will run you a few dollars each year. It doesn’t mean you have to have anything on it. But you had better grab it before someone else does. Head now, ASAP, to Go Daddy or any other domain registrar and buy your business name, buy misspellings of your business name, buy anything that is close. Not everyone is as nice as I am (I emailed her immediately to let her know this information – she said she didn’t know that she could buy a domain of her business name??)…your competition will just buy your domain if they realize you have not been wise enough to secure it. There is a great story of a man who did just that in the world of PR. Other companies hadn’t realized yet that perhaps they would eventually need a website (they are in the world of PR for heaven sakes), if only for informational purposes. He went and bought all of their domains and had them redirected to his website. All of the money they paid to get traffic through branding was actually paying to send free traffic to their biggest competitor! AND, if you think because it is your business name you can just demand it back, you are in for a surprise, a long court process and more money. Some companies have been able to sue for cyber squatting, but not all of them have won…and it took them a lot of money to recover a simple domain they could have had for $8 bucks.        Ten Tips for Drop Shipping Success by Rebecca Shapiro – Pig & Panda    When I first heard the word drop shipping, I wasn’t sure what it was. I knew it had something to do with orders being shipped directly to a customer, but how did it work?    Drop shipping, also referred to as blind shipping, is a certain kind of retail business. In a nutshell, here’s how it works: You find a company that drop ships. They have a product you want to sell. You sell the product to a happy customer and collect their money. You place the order with your drop shipper. They ship the order to your customer. Your customer is very happy with their product and service and shops with you again. You make a profit on the difference between the wholesale price and the retail price.     Here are some benefits to drop shipping: You don’t have to warehouse inventory You don’t pay for merchandise up front and have it sit on your shelves while you wait for it to sell You don’t have to ship orders and make arrangements with shippers You don’t have to pay for packing supplies, boxes and someone to ship orders This can be a cost-effective way to do business, especially when you are growing your business and investing in inventory can be limited by your cash flow. Hey, that sounds great! But, there are some things you need to consider. Here are ten tips to keep in mind as you integrate drop shipping into your business:    1. Find a reputable drop shipper. You can call around to companies whose products you’d like to carry and see if they have a drop ship program. You might even ask companies that you’re already buying from if they have a drop ship program. Many times companies do have select items available for drop shipping.     Since drop shipping is becoming increasingly popular, scams are popping up so be careful to work with someone with a good reputation. I highly recommend subscribing to a database like World Wide Brands. They have a legitimate directory of drop shippers and an excellent reputation. We use them for sourcing product at Pig and Panda.       2. Once you find a drop shipper, be sure to ask the following questions: Can you use their images and descriptions? How do you submit orders? Do they have a form they want you to fax or email? Will they take emailed PO’s? If they take emailed PO’s, create a template PO yourself to fill in each time you have an order. It will save you time. How long does it take for them to process an order? How long does it take for the item to ship? There is a time difference between when an order is received and when it ships. Which carrier(s) do they use? How do they handle backorders? What is their return policy? Many drop shippers require a return authorization number. Make sure that you make return instructions very clear in your listings. Even if your customers don’t read the fine print, it’s essential that you’ve done your part to inform them of the rules. Will they take rush orders? Will they ship internationally? Which carriers do they use? Will they email you with tracking numbers once the item ships? Many drop shippers try to stay on top of this request but I find I frequently have to request a tracking number or notify customers once I receive the invoice in the mail.  What is the weight of each item? What is the cost of each item? 4. Make sure a drop shipper is well organized to handle your business. After a few drop shipping relationships and asking the questions above, you’ll be able to tell which companies can actually handle drop shipping. Some companies have good intentions but aren’t capable of providing you with images or descriptions. Some companies have poor communications. You’ll have to decide whether these high maintenance situations warrant your time and attention.     5. Does the drop shipper have MSRP requirements? This is important to know because some drop shippers will not allow you to sell their product for less than the manufacturer’s suggested retail price. If you’ve done your market research and find that the product is selling well at less than MSRP but you’re not allowed to dip below that price, go find another product line to sell. There’s plenty out there that will work for you.    6. Be prepared to deal with backorders. There will be times when the product you sold is on backorder. If you have asked the drop shipper in the beginning about their backorder policy, you’ll be able to handle these situations. The best policy is to notify your customer immediately that the item is on backorder. Tell them when they can expect their order to arrive and ship. Offer them an opportunity for a full refund. I have yet to run into a customer who isn’t willing to wait for the order and request a refund. Be sure to clearly outline backorders in your listing description: “At times this item may be temporarily out of stock. We will notify you immediately and you will have an opportunity to proceed with the order or receive a full refund.”    7. Be prepared for returns. Most of the time, drop shippers will want the customer to return the merchandise directly to their facility and the customer will contact you for a refund. Many times they will require merchandise to be returned in its original packaging. They can also require a return authorization number prior to accepting returns. Since you’ve already discussed the drop shipper’s return policy early on, you know you need to clearly indicate the policy in your descriptions. On a side note, it’s important to offer a good return policy. This gains buyer confidence and shows customers you run a fair business. In the last two years Pig and Panda has had three returns out of thousands of orders. We have yet to have a drop shipped item returned.     8. Be prepared to pay for drop shipped items with your VISA or MasterCard. Very few companies will allow you to place orders on account unless you’ve been with them for several years. It’s important to stay on top of your credit card bills so that they don’t get out of control. You will need good wiggle room on your card to continue to place orders so pay down the balance as often as possible.     9. Get organized on your end: Develop a good relationship with your representative. Good communications and friendly relations are critical when deadlines are tight or mistakes happen. Don’t kid yourself, sometimes you’ll miss an order or the drop shipper will overlook submitting an order. Just make sure you communicate professionally and be friendly with the drop shipper and your customers and you’ll be okay!  If the drop shipper doesn’t have a form for you to fill out when submitting orders, create a standard PO for your company.  When submitting an order via email, request a confirmation email from your rep that the order has been received.  Create a spreadsheet or some way to track the orders. Check this spreadsheet frequently to make sure orders are being processed in a timely manner.  Be sure to submit orders within 24 hours of payment since processing and shipping on the other end will take time. Email customers with a tracking number as soon as you get a number from your drop shipper. Most drop shippers try to email you with the numbers but aren’t consistent. Many times I receive tracking numbers when I get the invoices through regular mail. I simply email the clients and say something like: “You may have already received your package but incase you haven’t your order shipped on (date) and your tracking number is (number).” Even when customers have already received their merchandise and get a late notification they are appreciative of the attention.      10. We’ve already mentioned a few of these but make sure that your listings clearly indicate the following: Define your backorder policy. Outline the return policy. Clearly indicate how long it takes for processing and shipping. For example, you could say “Please expect orders to process and ship within 7-14 business days.” Be sure to include the word “business” because many drop shippers aren’t open on the weekends or holidays. Do not carry products that cannot ship within 25 days. Drop shipping is a real business and can significantly enhance your existing product line so treat it like one. More online businesses are finding that a healthy blend of purchased, on-site inventory mixed with drop shipped inventory makes for a more robust store selection. And everyone knows that a full online store keeps customers on site and buying. Be professional with your drop shippers, organize yourself and stay on top of orders, communicate clearly with your customers and you can sit back and enjoy the success or drop shipping!      Rebecca L. Shapiro is the Artist and Creative Director for Pig and Panda, Inc™. Pig and Panda provides artists & crafters with beautiful, functional & exclusive arts & crafts products that arouse creativity and inspire you to Embellish Your World!™. Rebecca is continuously experimenting, designing and expanding her products to inspire herself so she can offer the ultimate experience with superior customer service to her clients. Her ultimate business goal is to take advantage of the multibillion dollar craft industry, positioning Pig and Panda as an uber-successful online arts and crafts store, eventually expanding into fine art sales and art licensing.   Rebecca, who was classically trained at Smith College in Northampton, MA & studied printmaking at the Glassell School of Art in Houston, TX, has enjoyed over 20 group and solo painting exhibitions since 1999. Her works hang in private & public collections in New York, Massachusetts, Washington & Oregon. In addition to illustration and painting, Rebecca has worked with beads and fibers for more than 20 years and loves texture, form and color...especially when she can experiment with materials, techniques and unusual applications. She has taught painting, drawing, jewelry and knitting classes to children and adults and loves sharing her experiments, successes and surprises! You can also see Rebecca’s alter art ego at her new eBay store Rebecca Shapiro The Artist, presenting art lovers and collectors with an opportunity to purchase her original pieces, limited edition prints & ACEO cards!         From USA Today Phishing attacks now using phone calls Posted 11/26/2006 10:54 PM ET  By Jon Swartz, USA TODAY SAN FRANCISCO — And consumers thought they were safe by not clicking on links in unsolicited e-mails. Now comes a new batch of phishing scams that rely on an old tool — the phone — to trick people into giving away their personal information. Vishing — short for voice phishing — is one of the latest iterations of phishing, a long-running e-mail scam that instructs recipients to click a link in the e-mail to confirm data such as their Social Security number and credit card number. But the link is really connected to a bogus website where the data are stolen. Vishing has emerged as a new threat with the rise of Voice over Internet Protocol, technology that allows cheap and anonymous Internet calls. The new batch of e-mails appear to come from PayPal, eBay's online payment service, and — like most phishing e-mails — they warn the recipients about a problem with their account. An e-mail advises victims to call a number to verify basic data. But the number is actually recording data with the intent to steal it. The information often winds up on cybercrime forums, websites that function as digital marketplaces for stolen personal data. Some vishing attacks don't even begin with an e-mail. They come as calls out of the blue in which the caller already knows the recipient's credit card number, and asks for the three-digit security code on the back of the card. "Hackers are moving away from the Web and using something victims are more comfortable with: making a call," said Paul Henry, vice president of technology evangelism at Secure Computing. "Consumers are programmed to enter in information on the phone. It's a natural evolution of phishing." In the ruthless world of phishing, there is no shortage of sophisticated ruses for pulling a digital fast one on consumers. Consider: Phishing-related losses to date are $2.8 billion, market researcher Gartner says. Victims, on average, lost $1,244 this year, compared with $257 in 2005. Six out of 10 banks were phishing targets in the year that ended in October, according to a Gartner survey of 50 top U.S. banks. The frequency of the attacks underscores the concern that anti-phishing measures at financial institutions and other large companies are not entirely up to snuff, Gartner analyst Avivah Litan says. Symantec detected 157,477 unique phishing messages in the first half of 2006, up 81% from the last six months of 2005. Home PCs were targets of 86% of security threats in the first six months of 2006, according to the Symantec report. Incidents have soared as attacks become more sophisticated and evolve every few months, says Dennis Maicon, executive vice president of financial-services solutions at computer-security firm Digital Resolve. And the victims are no longer just the usual targets, including customers of AOL, eBay, PayPal, Citibank and Bank of America. Early this year, phishers began preying on customers of regional banks and credit unions. "As large banks improve their computer defenses, phishers are moving downstream to smaller banks that don't have the same level of security," says George Tubin, a senior analyst at researcher TowerGroup. The deceptive e-mail messages and websites have also gotten much craftier. One recent phishing attempt actually warned customers about phishing and asked them to update their information for security reasons. To assure wary users, the legitimate 800 phone number of a targeted company was included in the e-mail. In others, customer names and addresses routinely appear. Previously, scams were addressed to "Dear valued (company name) member." "This is slick stuff," says Ron O'Brien, senior security analyst at computer-security firm Sophos. "But as long as it works, expect more."         Research Tips that Will Set You Apart From Your Competition by Dave Frey – Terapeak    Hello fellow eBayers! I would like introduce myself; I'm Dave Frey, Director of Marketing for Terapeak, the premier eBay research company. I have recently returned from a cross country speaking tour with Janelle at eBay University where I spoke to thousands of eBay sellers about the benefits of using research for their eBay business. In this column I will provide you with some insider tips on how to use research to be the most successful eBay seller that you can be.     For those of you who are unfamiliar with Terapeak, we provide in-depth analysis on eBay sales, showing sellers when to list, what price and auction format to use, and what their competition is doing. Recently we launched a brand new version of Terapeak with a boatload of new features to help YOU become a BETTER seller. One of those new features is our Automatic Research Email Function, which will be the topic of this insider column.    Best Practices for eBay Research A major factor in being a top eBay seller is focusing on Best Practices within your business. Best Practices is a business term that asserts that there is a proper method or technique to get your desired results. This means that you should find the most effective and efficient way to perform critical business functions to avoid unforeseen problems. I am going to focus on providing you with some tips for implementing Best Practices for your eBay research. Topic for today: Staying Current with your eBay Research.    Create a Selling Strategy for your different products, or product groups It is a smart idea to perform research prior to listing their items on eBay. Research can be done to find new products to sell, to evaluate current products or to create a Selling Strategy. I will assume that you already have great products to sell, and will briefly describe what is involved with a Selling Strategy. A Selling Strategy includes;     1. Setting the appropriate price 2. Choosing the most effective listing type 3. Finding the best time of day, day of the week, and time of year to sell 4. Choosing a listing duration that is effective for your product group 5. Building listing titles that drive traffic to your auctions 6. Selecting the listing features that increase your success rate 7. Understanding your competitions' sales strategy    Research can help you create the right Selling Strategy for your product mix. For example, if you have a wide product mix that includes children's toys, DVDs and antique jewelry, you can research each product (or group of similar products) to find the optimal combination of price, listing type, listing features, etc. to create a Selling Strategy that will ensure you have the most success for each product line. It is best to do this before listing them for sale on eBay.    Create a Research Schedule to Stay on Top of Current Trends Once you have created a Selling Strategy for your products (or product groups) you can test them out by listing your items to eBay. But in the eBay environment it is very important to stay up-to-date with your sales strategy, as experts maintain that eBay trends can change every 14 days. For that reason it is best to maintain a Research Schedule.    You are probably thinking that performing research for every product, or product group daily or weekly could become very time consuming. Well you are right, if you had to manually perform your favorite searches every week it would take a long time. That is why Terapeak has developed a great feature to simplify this process for you called Save and Email Searches.    Using Terapeak's Save and Email Searches Function Terapeak provides you the ability to save your favorite searches and to have the results emailed to you weekly. To do this simply perform your search in Terapeak and then click the save search icon on the top right hand side of the page. You can then select the day which you would like to receive this search by email. I choose Tuesday, because Monday is to hectic, but I want to receive my information early in the week.    Terapeak allows you to save every type of search you do. I suggest making sure that you have refined your search so that you have the right parameters. For example, if I were searching for TMX Elmo dolls I would make sure that I had the right time frame, search terms, category and price range. That means that I would be searching for:    Date range: 30 days  Search Term: “TMX ELMO” Category: Toys & Hobbies > TV, Movie, Character Toys > Muppets, Sesame Street > Elmo Price range: $64 - $127    You can also set the email function to email you with reports on your competitors so that you can stay current with what they are doing. To do this, simply perform a search on the eBay seller that you want to research. Once you have the results you are looking for, simply click the save search icon on the top right hand side of the page. It's as easy as that.    By having your favorite searches emailed to you on a weekly basis, you can stay current with your research, without having to manually research your favorite products and top competitors.    Take Away Tip: When performing research it is best to stay on top of current trends. A fast and simple way to do that is using Terapeak's Save and Email Searches function.        As the Director of Marketing for Terapeak, the premier research tool in the eBay marketplace, Dave designs and hosts monthly workshops on eBay.com and teaches thousands of users how to maximize their business using research. In addition, Dave manages the popular eBay Research Community. Dave is an eBay Certified Consultant whose interviews and articles have been featured in Practical Ecommerce magazine, The Toronto Star, Auctionbytes.com, and many other websites and publications. He has experience leading informative sessions at eBay events for hundreds of eBay sellers and is passionate about empowering them through research. As a survivor of the Tsunami in South East Asia, Dave has been featured on several national television and radio news broadcasts in efforts to educate the public and raise money for the people affected by this disaster. Get your 1 month FREE trial of Terapeak at www.janelleelms.com/terapeak            Since it’s the holidays…I just had to show you what Dave’s second job is when he isn’t being a marketing research genius with Terapeak… (double-click the arrow to start)           GuruOfSales     Hey Guys,    I hope everyone had a very good turkey day and an even better cyber Monday (The black Friday of online sales).    To Janelle: Congratulations on finally launching your eBay success store video; I know that this is the best information video anyone can ever think of when it comes to opening and improving an eBay business. My advice for all of you is to get it and follow it, and I guarantee you will succeed in your business.    I will start this month’s column with confession: I am an online addict! There it is that is my secret and now you all know it, the funny thing is that I found (Thank God) that I am a good online addict since there is lots of other bad internet addictions like gambling and online gaming (However I love playing chess online, and that’s about it for gaming).    Last month I told you that one of my nick names online (And probably the first) is: Lorddy. Here is the story of how I got that name like I promised in last month’s issue:    In the early days surfing the web was not as important to me as online chatting, I never searched and browsed website as much as I spending my online time on chatting and making friends online, after all the main reason I got my first MODEM back then was the fascinating idea of typing something to someone 1000’s of miles away and instantly start a chat. When the first and best true IM software came out that looks like all the IM software now (Skype, AIM , yahoo, MSN and trillion).    It was mIRC and ICQ and I used ICQ more because I thought it was better. The first version of the program was released in November 1996 and the company was acquired by AOL in 1998. I was one of the very first people to get ICQ and I had to choose a nick name.    I choose the name LORDDY as a result of a previous chat with my old British friend: lady Gadiva (and no, she is not associated with the famous chocolate godiva, although she was a sweetheart). From my chat with her prior to downloading my first ever ICQ she was talking to me on how polite and nice I was and how in some European countries I would match someone with a “Lord” title!!    The idea was to create my nick name as “lord” but there was about 20 “Lords” on ICQ already and I have talked to my online smart American friends and they told me that in the USA it means: God and they gave me the idea of American nick name like Mikey for Mike and Johnny for John. Until today there are only few people online with the name Lorddy and I have most emails and IMs nick names as Lorddy, and that’s how it became kind of my unique name online.    I was finally cured of online chatting addiction and became a surfing addict (In a good way) and one of the websites that I surf a lot is www.alexa.com and that’s our site to talk about today.    1- What is alexa.com?    Alexa internet is the company that operates the website www.alexa.com founded in 1996 and was acquired by amazon.com in 1999.    Alexa began a partnership with Google in spring 2002, and with the Open Directory Project in January 2003. Today, Alexa is primarily a search engine, an Open Directory-based web directory, and a supplier of site information.Alexa's Web site is built on the notion that timely and relevant information is essential to a vital web experience.     Alexa Search and Browse - Alexa has taken search and browse to the next level and made it more complete, more relevant and more useful. Some key features include thumbnail images of sites and site information balloons, both of which help you to make quick decisions about which results are useful to you and which are not. Try Search (www.alexa.com) and Browse (http://www.alexa.com/site/browse?p=DestTrLearn_W_g_40_T1).    Alexa Site Information - Alexa has built an unparalleled database of information about sites that includes statistics, related links and more. All of this information can be found on Alexa's Site Overview pages, Traffic Detail pages and Related Links pages. To access these pages, simply type the URL of any site into the Alexa Search box.     In addition to the features mentioned above, Alexa also has Movers & Shakers (http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/movers_shakers?lang=en) (sites jumping in traffic) Hot Searches (what people search for) and lists of Top Sites (http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_500) in available by language or categories.    Webmaster Services    Alexa has created a series of tools specifically for web site owners. These tools can help to drive traffic, make money, and find broken links and more!    2- How to use alexa.com?    First, download the alexa toolbar here (some spyware removal programs will consider alexa as a spyware only because it collect information about sites to help better and more accurate ranking) and alexa toolbar is only available for IE 5.0 or higher and it doesn’t slow your computer.    Then visit the alexa.com website, I listed below the best links to browse alexa and I have to tell you how it works. It’s very simple: alexa ranks websites by numbers; for example: Yahoo.com is ranked number 1 most visited and page browsed website, Google.com is the 3rd and eBay is the12th website as of the date writing this article. It basically help you find out about the biggest sites online so with eBay being 12th biggest website worldwide you know it’s no brainer to start selling on it.   Here are the links for alexa.com:    Top 500 Sites : Browse by country, language or even subject. Movers & Shakers Browse and Search   All you have to do to really learn about alexa is to give it about an hour of browsing and you will find out how easy it is to learn about alexa.    3- How to use alexa.com for marketing?   One word: Research.    Research is a vital element of marketing for anything anywhere and the alexa.com portal is a great way of doing so, for example, I used it to decide which online stamps service was best for me before using the paypal service and I found out using alexa that it was stamps.com. Not only it will tell you which one is best for us to use but it will tell you about links related to that site so you can compare and chose what’s best for you.    There is unlimited use of the alexa internet services but research was always on top when it came for marketing, so use my advice and learn as much as you can about marketing then email me with your feedback or different examples on how to use alexa or with any question regarding that.    Now it’s time for the,    Tip of the month:    This month’s tip is for every seller on eBay and it’s in regards of communications.    Use the “Skype me” button in all of your listings for faster communications with your potential buyers and higher chances for better sales. If you don’t have Skype already (shame on you) you can download it from www.skype.com   Did you know?    That online addiction is a real thing and it has lots of different types and also there is the good healthy ones and the bad ones? Visit: www.netaddiction.com  for more info.       Keep in touch    Last month I got more phone calls than emails in regards of this column and my website, I was surprised!     I am used to emails from people more than calls, I get more info in emails than phones usually and in the past month I got a lot of people calling and leaving a message that’s not clear to hear or they say their number at the end but they hang up before they finish the number!!    Please if you feel shy or uncomfortable please don’t call and hang up or leave an unfinished message. Send me an email (emails don’t byte) and I will get back to you even faster than phone calls.    And I apologies about my website www.guruofsales.com it’s taking me more than expected to finish, but I promise all of you it will be done before the end of 2006. Please send me an email to: Alex@GuruOfSales.com and I will inform you as soon as it’s up again.    Emails: GuruOfSales@hotmail.com or Lorddy@hotmail.com and I welcome all your emails even if it’s to market your products.    Phones: (212) 444-2744 or (973) 981-2896 those are my 2 cell numbers & you can call me any time and leave a message if I can’t answer, I will get back as soon as I can.    Until next month, happy holiday season selling and happy holidays to everyone.               Exciting Changes for the Monthly Seattle Meetings    As many of you already know, I am changing the direction of my business a bit. After receiving numerous emails from people all over the US, as well as Internationally, requesting information on the incredible meetings I hold monthly here in Seattle (& asking how they could participate), I have decided to honor that request. Going into the future, the traditional ‘meet in person’ monthly meetings will no longer occur. In the coming months, you will see announcements from me about this new direction that my company, The Winston Group, will be taking. It is quite exciting and I have just recently hooked up with the company who is going to assist me with this new endeavor.     Another reason my business is changing course has to do with the lessons that these free classes/meetings have taught me and an amazing man who I heard speak last year. I was listening to his ‘free’ class, where they convince you to buy their $5000 weekend seminar. He owned houses, cars, boats, and was about to buy his second plane. He stated that he didn’t need the $5000 per person – it was truly a drop in the bucket to him. He went on to explain that he used to give the program away for free so that everyone could have access to it – but quickly realized that no one gave it any perceived value and that the success rate in his seminars was very low. He changed the price to something that would give most people a perceived value of the product, and he had almost a 100% success rate – for the same classes.    I noticed the same thing happening in my free classes – although some people intrinsically knew how powerful the information was that was being given to them monthly and ran successfully with it, most people did not see the same perceived value and chose to not take full advantage of all of this free information.    Ironically, right after I announced this at one of the meetings, an attendee came up to me and said if I charged more for the meetings they would have done all the homework – but since I didn’t charge for it, they hadn’t felt the ‘shove’ to get it done. Perceptions are an amazing thing.    I will miss all of you who have attended the free Success meetings here in Seattle for the past 3 years – the eBay Success Group (eBay 4 Beginners), the Women of Intention, and the PowerSeller group. So many of you are dear business associates and friends. I have learned so much from all of you and am honored by the work that you have done and all that you have accomplished.    The third reason I am making this change has to do with something a wise person once told me…’Janelle, at some point someone moved out of the way to open up the opportunities you have taken advantage of…now it is your turn to step aside to move on to other things and allow someone else to have new opportunities.’    I am thrilled to announce that as I took this step aside, Cindy Shebley mentioned wanting to run her own group. I love the universe!! She will be starting the NEW eBay Success Group meetings back up in January. Please email her at cindy@clovertown.com to be included on the new mailing list for the meetings. Meetings will be the 2nd Friday of each month starting in January Breakfast meetings from 9am – 11am Each meeting will take place at: The Friends Meeting Room Third Place Commons 17171 Bothell Way NE Lake Forest Park WA 98155 $3.00 per person will still be in effect to cover room costs And BYOC&B – (bring your own coffee and bagels) Also, since the King County Library is right there, you will have WI-FI access. And, I know that Cindy has some amazing plans for this group including guest speakers!! (How lucky are you?)          Coming Next Month Breaking up with your wholesale/dropshipper What the heck is an RSS feed? How to add Audio and Video to your e-commerce business    Fabulous blessings, huge, soft snowflake wishes, and joyous New Year hopes to you all,   Janelle       ===================== Copyright Information ===================== Copyright 2006 The Winston Group Inc. You MAY reprint any of the articles in this newsletter in your blog, newsletter, About Me Page, or for any other purpose. However, no portion of the article can be modified in any way. You MUST also include the following tag line at the bottom: Presented with permission from Janelle Elms Janelle Elms, eBay University instructor, best-selling author and Dean of eBay Business for L.A. College International, specializes in coaching individuals and companies to build successful eBay businesses and maximize their profits. Check out her wildly successful eBay Stores Video Series at www.StoresSuccessVideo.com

Open an eBay Store       A complete e-commerce solution for your eBay Success…all for only $15.95 a month         WorldWide Brands     Leading Edge newsletter of Product Sourcing Information and Expert Advice         The Online Research Guide      Learn how to use research to increase your profits for your online business          Terapeak     The leading research information company. Receive a One Month FREE trial to see how you can optimize your listings for profit       International Selling       Want to easily increase your eBay profits by 16%? 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How cute is this site?         Busy Boutique       Fabulous items for babies, kids and parents          Wandering Creek Antiques       Period Treasures of Quality & Value          Pig and Panda       A delightful assortment of quality arts and crafts items…including children’s crafts kits, furniture, scrap booking and more          Pugster       All the Italian Charms you could ever want!          eForcity       Cheap ink cartridges, extensive ipod and phone accessories, dvds, computers and other electronics          Melrose Stamp Co      Fast and inexpensive, personalized stamps for all of your business needs            Gotham City Online       With names like Cole Haan, Steve Madden, and BCBGirls, does it surprise you that this company gets all my shoe money?           NY Pizza       The BEST pizza comes from NY – have it delivered overnight to your front door!          Strangelings Art Gallery       One of my favorite artist’s on eBay!            Frenchy Bee       Yummmmy goodies from France…delicious soaps, linens, gourmet food and more        not2bright Lamps       FABULOUS, unique lamps made out of everything and anything. I LOVE my blender lamp!!         Grapevinehill       Phenomenal shoe selection, great prices, and amazing customer services. Got my favoritest cowboy boots from here          Period Paper     Incredible selection of historical ads, posters, and art. Troy and Sarah are amazing human beings and run a fabulous eBay Store with outrageous customer service.         Rebecca Shapiro The Artist      Delight in the hysterical musings and art of the mom of a teenager!        Ladies Who Launch     Original. Amazing. Beautiful. Unique. These are just a few of the way products and service created by Ladies Who Launch members have been described.        D’clutter sales     The place to find what is special and good – Longaberger, antiques, historical & costume pattterns and more.        FastBackStack     Classic Mustang Parts for all your needs! Hard to find – obsolete and over 100,000 original classic Mustang items in stock!          Stitches      Needle and Thread Arts – Quilts, patterns, gifts and collectibles         Tallzag Auctions     Specializing in classic cars, especially Mopars, reproduction parts, disc brake set-ups and Tallzag also serves as a Trading Assistant.           LA College     Receive free information about the first accredited entrepreneurial college in the US!         EZ Auction Photography     Finally! Finally someone has written an easy-to-follow guide on taking photos that will equal profits in your auction listings.           Disabled Online Users Association   Our Dear Marjie quite successfully runs this amazing group that teaches disabled people how to empower themselves by running an online business           Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation     Brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer death in children under age 20, and are the third leading cause of cancer death in young adults ages 20-39.          Habitat 4 Humanity     Help victims of the Gulf Hurricanes rebuild their homes         Free Silver Jewelry     Just pay shipping! I LOVE this site – jewelry fits perfectly into a card for a fabulous little thank you          Ebates     I use this program when I shop, gasp, outside of eBay. It pays me to shop on various websites around the internet. To date, they have paid me over $300!       Crystal Icing     They “blinged” my new Sidekick III phone…and they can do yours…and your PSP, and your ipod, and you belt buckle, and…           Style Statements     Your Style Statement is your life trademark. It is a compass for designing a life that reflects your best self. Your Style Statement is where your essence meets your expression.           The National Center for Victims of Crime     Shop and help Victims of Crime…purchase items from top merchants including eBay, Dell, Apple, Amazon, KB Toys, Office Depot, and more. The NCVC then receives a portion of your purchase from these companies.