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Welcome to all of our new subscribers!!
Welcome to the eBay Success Newsletter. This month’s exciting features include:
And of course I have lots of hot tips and tricks sprinkled throughout the newsletter too!
Before we get started…one of my readers (actually quite a few of my readers…) pointed out that my newsletter isn’t really a newsletter…it’s more like a book each month – LOL. Many of them mentioned that they print it out and read a bit whenever they get a chance, going back and book marking certain sections – even printing out & filing other sections. Some even have 3 ring binders for my ‘newsletters’. Others said they read it all in one sitting – devouring like yummy chocolate. (ok, they didn’t say the chocolate part.) So, whichever is your taste in learning and educating yourself about eBay, I welcome you and hope you enjoy your time…(as much as I enjoy chocolate)…
Boy, has it been a very exciting month…
Winston’s new little brother now has a name…huge thanks to all of you who entered the contest. I was amazed at the responses! Many of you chose Churchill as an appropriate sidekick name. Some of you did research on what certain names meant or their historical significance!! I even received a poem about the bunny’s new name from one eBayer. And a few of you think his name should be Bubba – lol! I had a lot of fun reading all of your emails and Winston had fun picking a name. There were many we loved…Franklin, Benson, Cody (that one came from Australia!), and even Sherman…but the only one the new bunny would answer to was…Sam. Congrats to Charlene from Atlanta, GA for her winning entry.
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The two bunnies are best of friends and have found a ton of trouble to get into together…with Sam always trying to keep up with
Winston... his ears flapping up & down. And Winston licking/grooming Sam so much that he now has a bald spot on the top of his head! |
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I also had a white homing pigeon named Harvey adopt me a couple of weeks ago, but that’s another
story... |
I have been getting ready (especially with the new airline regulations) to start touring again. I’m headed to Dallas, Tampa, NY and Los Angeles here soon with
eBay University.
I also have upcoming dates in Portland, New York, Vancouver, BC & Seattle for
Ladies Who Launch. I was recently honored to be one of their ‘Featured Ladies’…you can see the interview here:
http://www.ladieswholaunch.com/featuredlady.cfm/featureid/189
I hope to see some of you during the upcoming tour. You can see the complete schedule
here.
L.A. College International is the first college in the US to receive government accreditation approval for an entrepreneurial degree! I have been honored with the title of Dean of eBay Business and am working day and night on the curriculum for the AA degree and then will be starting on the 4 year degree program. We are hoping to have our ‘first students’ start in January of 07. I couldn’t be more thrilled – how I wish that there had been an entrepreneurial college when I went to school. I will have more details for you about the school, classes and other educators in the coming months.
I receive thousands of emails from the eBay Community and promise you that I read them all (can’t always respond to all of them – otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this newsletter, but I definitely read them). I truly appreciate your excitement, concerns, questions, and positive encouragement. You are truly the reason I work so hard at finding valuable, legitimate information and passing it on. I wanted to share with you one of the recent emails I
received...
“Janelle -- I have to tell you that of all the newsletters I get -Yours is number (1)!
Your sources of info, important Ebay (selling and buying info) and personal touch is the most interesting I have ever spent time reading. Any Ebay selling info I buy in the future will be written by you or your recommendation!
I am un-subscribing all the rest that are basically selling their own or friends expensive Ebooks, that usually only repeat info. And spending my time with you!!!!!!!
THANKS AGAIN ---- Johnnie Price ---- Misplaced Southern Rebel in Southern Calif.” |
Thank you Johnnie (eBay User ID - bookandthings4u2), and all the others who let me know that the information is making a difference in your world.
It was in one of these emails that I heard that some comments from my last newsletter caused a bit of ruckus over on the eBay boards – WooHoo! That is what is so great about living here in the US…free speech. Plus, I truly must thank the original poster on the boards as I have received an overwhelming amount of eBay Sellers not only signing up for my newsletter, but taking my advice and adjusting their Stores to take full advantage of all of the amazing tools eBay offers…and I couldn’t be more proud of those who did! I just wish the people on the boards hadn’t wasted so much time fussing about something that was taken out of context. It would have been time much better spent discussing what I really said, which was that some eBay Store owners are making stupid business decisions….which they are – going to a no-name auction site because it is only $8 – yet has no buyers – is a stupid business decision. Asking Google to run an auction site and thinking they wouldn’t make the same smart financial decisions eBay has made – is a very naive business decision. Instead of running your business, choosing to waste a lot of time; believing everything you read, whining on the boards, and posting protest auction – is a…well, you get my point. But it was only a few people, and the personal attacks they made towards me I chose to not take personally. How could I, they didn’t even have their Stores set up correctly.
I guess the part that made me the saddest about the comments that were made on the discussion boards was the realization that they have no idea how good we have it here…not necessarily just eBay, (although eBay is pretty amazing!) but to live here in the United States. To live in a country where I, as a woman, can run my own business, to be given every opportunity to call myself an entrepreneur, to be able to live the
'American Dream' – and I wake up every morning delighted that I have that choice and eager to fulfill all my dreams and goals. It was a year ago when I took a trip to South Africa. It was supposed to be a vacation, but the universe had other things in mind. I remember going out to the townships where the shacks people live in are 10 ft by 10 ft,
you can’t even call them houses.
Photo from news.bbc.co.uk – mine were lost
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They're put together with pieces of scrap metal, dirt floors, no electricity and no running water. Usually families of six to eight people live in them. I was out in the townships talking to people and one of the guys walked up to me… he had no idea I was an internet marketer who taught/consulted with others on how to sell online. He made crafts and he proudly showed them to me. I asked him,
'Do you sell these online?' And not knowing who I was or what I do he looked right into my eyes and said,
'No, but someday you will teach us.' |
I knew then that I wasn’t in South Africa for vacation at all. I went back to my hotel room and cried at the enormity of this idea that was being shown to me…of what I & others like me could potentially do for these people. For the rest of my time there, I was shown numerous amazing things (like the fact that in some parts of South Africa, the internet is $100 a day!!) and met some of the most incredible people. These people wake up each morning with, by US standards, everything stacked against them. Little food and clean water, no electricity, 150 daily reported rapes in South Africa & 62 of them are children, a living wage around $120 a month and no government assistance programs exist. Yet they wake up each morning truly believing that if they work hard enough they will be successful. It was absolutely amazing to watch them work. I heard a report the other day that said, ‘70% of the US believes the American Dream is dead.’ It’s not dead – it’s just living in Africa, where people don’t take things for granted, are willing to work incredibly hard for their dreams & goals, and have an unwavering faith that their success will happen. I never heard them blame their lack of success on everything & everyone else – they took responsibility for all aspects of their life. I have never in my life seen such strength and determination. So you can understand why it becomes a tad bit hard to listen to people whine and complain and blame others, when the people I met in South Africa would give anything to have these same opportunities we do.
That is why
1.
I am so very proud of all of you. Especially after the last newsletter, I got to hear so many incredible stories from you about what you have been working so hard on to become successful and achieve what you want. You sent me before and after pictures of your eBay Stores (they are looking good!), you went to workshops to learn more about what you need to succeed, some of you found other resources & people to assist you in your dreams, and many of you gave back to others to help them learn (we all started with zero feedback – lol). You are all I have been talking about to my friends and business contacts at eBay. You are the reason why there is an eBay Community. Keep up the amazing work and don’t ever give up on your pathway to the American Dream.
2. I started work on developing a foundation. It has been a bit of a slow process as I work on finding people who can assist me in all different aspects of what we will need to run this group. But the more people I tell about this idea, the more puzzle pieces fit into place. Here is a rough overview of what it looks like…there are 3 main areas that I want the foundation to concentrate on:
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Sending teams to South Africa (initially, and then other places) to teach people how to run a business. This could be for a local business or an online business. I have started to network with many of the local businessmen (we’ll have to work on balancing out this male dominated part – lol) and we are actually talking about the possibility of wireless internet cafes where people could run their businesses from. The people of SA have numerous talents, and everyone I met could be running a very successful business if given the right tools and financial means to do it.
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Ship products over to the US (& Canada & the UK, etc) to be sold here. I was floored at what items were selling for in SA compared to what they could be sold for over here. Very unique handmade women’s handbags (designed by a young woman who also designs clothes) – selling on the street for $12…would easily sell in boutiques in NY for well over $250. Amazing, large, fully hand beaded artwork that sells for $50 in SA, would sell for easily 10 times that much in an art gallery here. The list is exhaustive. Unfortunately, shipping from SA to the US is VERY expensive. A small box of mine that weighed less than 5 lbs cost me $100 and took 7 weeks to arrive back in the US.
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Bring people over from SA to either the US or the UK (found that immigration laws may be a bit easier there) on work/student visas. The artist I met on my fateful day does the most incredible wall mosaic murals that he could be booked solid for work with designers in NY or L.A. for years.
I am blessed to have people who have offered to donate their time for setting up the foundation and dealing with the legal parts. I also am starting to get volunteers to go to SA and help teach. And of course there is already a line forming for the products that I want to import. A few people have offered to be on my board, and others are helping me work on additional contacts in SA. But, what we need more than anything right now is additional connections (anyone know Oprah – lol) and obviously funding (like any foundation)…so I am still working on those pieces and will definitely keep all of you updated on it’s progress. But right now, more than anything, I want to continue to assist all of you in helping continue your success with your online business…I have some very exciting features in this newsletter...
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.
Dr. Seuss (1904 - 1991), The Lorax |
Learn
from the experts…An interview with Troy Ylitalo & Sarah
Schaller Linn, winners of the “Best In Stores’ award for two
years running for their eBay Store – Period Paper
I had the honor of meeting
Troy & Sarah of Period Paper in person at eBay Live when I hosted the Best in Stores Panel. Two of the most amazing people I have met…incredible entrepreneurs, very creative & business smart, huge hearts of gold and the nicest people ever. I was blown away by their views of ‘how to be an entrepreneur’…not to mention how they executed them so successfully. Their marketing techniques in their eBay Store are some of the best I have ever seen. I highly recommend immediately signing up for their
newsletter (Troy hints that a huge surprise will be delivered to their newsletter subscribers next week on
Period Paper’s 2 year anniversary!)
It is with great delight and HUGE thanks to both of them, that I present a recent interview I did with them…
User Id: periodpaper
Name: Sarah Linn & Troy Ylitalo
On eBay since: Nov 2002
Anchor Store: Period Paper
Best in Store winner:
2006 Best Store Marketing
2005 Best Custom Pages
How did your business get started?
Sarah and I were looking for a way for us to work together and something that we could build that would ultimately give us more time than our respective careers did so that we could support some of our personal missions related to family, community, and charities. We actually looked at many different types of businesses and business models and nothing seemed to fit right. Then, a friend that we helped move in 2003 asked us to sell some old magazines on eBay for them. They
knew we had been buyers on eBay for about a year. When we researched the value of these magazines, we found them to be not worth much. But, I found one item that sold on eBay for $100.00. It was a specific corvette advertisement from a 1961 Time magazine. This
led me to months of research to see if there was a market for vintage print advertisements on eBay. In fact, there was. And, no one was fulfilling the high end of that market. Premium & rare items with exceptional provenance, packaging, service and support. Period Paper was built
to support that market.
Top tips for a starting entrepreneur:
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Research,
research, research. Know your marketplace so that
you can fill a niche that no one else is fulfilling.
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Ask
yourself these questions below. Build your business
around the answers.
a. What makes me (my service or product) special?
b. What makes me different?
c. Do customers want or need what I have?
d. What will they pay for what I have?
e. How can I add value, perceived or actual, to my
product and service to differentiate myself from
other sellers?
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Build
a brand, a site, an image, a logo, a message, a
style, a product or service that lets the world know
the answers to the questions above.
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Write
a business plan. It’s OK if you’ve never done
one. The components of that plan will force you to
examine the things that will make you successful,
prepare for the obstacles, guide your expenditures
and efforts, open doors with investors, explain to
employees or third party suppliers what your
business is so you can hold them accountable for
meeting your needs.
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Know
your strengths and weaknesses. It seems over
simplified. But, it’s critical. Where your
natural talents and skills exist, rely on them.
Where your weaknesses and fears exist, hire a
professional. If it’s somewhere in between, buy a
book, do research online from reputable sites, or go
to a library.
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Exercise
and eat right. Being an entrepreneur requires
endurance, mentally and physically.
How has eBay helped you with your business goals?
If you want to start a business online, it simply makes sense to be supported by someone or some entity that’s already successful. Better than that, if that entity relies on your success to be successful, then you’re starting from the best position you can be. eBay has spent millions of dollars, if not 100’s of millions of dollars, acquiring companies, building technologies, designing tools, and creating a marketplace to support you as a new business person. Every major component of what it takes to be successful online has been addressed.
For us, it’s the constant presence of the millions of buyers, the technological backbone, and the simplicity of the operational marketplace that has meant success for our business.
How did opening an eBay Stores affect your business?
We started our business exclusively as an eBay store. Sure, we run auctions, constantly. But even those are managed, categorized, and marketed through our store. It’s the smartest decision a serious seller can make on eBay.
What eBay Stores product features do you use the most? Why? Favorite store feature?
We certainly like the new categorization capabilities. We use all 300 of the category and subcategory breakdowns. It helps our customers navigate through the site. Perhaps my favorite though are the promotion boxes. There’s a great number of standardized options that are powerful for marketing. But, the ability to customize them with your own html gives you infinite ways to use these to promote products, promotions, services, etc.
What has been the biggest contributor to your success?
A business plan. I’ve never met a business person, young or old, new or veteran, educated or not, who regretted going through the process of writing the plan. Don’t do it for anyone but yourself. You’ll thank yourself for years to come.
If you could give 3 tips to a new eBay Store owner, what would they be?
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Make your store represent who you are and what you sell. Make it feel like who you are
and what you sell. Once you decide what makes your service or product special, every word written, color used, graphic designed, promotion run, email sent, should position your store and service or product to match what it is that you have to offer and it should fit the customers you are trying to attract. You probably already know what your buyers are like… so, make them feel at home.
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Build a custom template inside your listing descriptions. Every link in that description should take your customers to your store. Ideally, when they’re reading the description, they should feel like they’re already in your store. This way, you can have a few key items in auction and bring these valuable, interested customers, to the rest of your products that are being inexpensively maintained/inventoried in your store.
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Go to eBay Live. You’ll meet the people who have answers. Who make eBay work. You’ll get education. You can meet with 3rd party suppliers who support eBayers. It’s the least expensive national conference you’ll ever attend.
Customer service tip?
BE NICE. Basically, it solves almost every single crisis you’ll ever have related to customer service. And, it’s free (for the most part). Trust us. With over 5,000 transactions on eBay, and nearly 4,000 positive feedbacks left (100%), all coming from niche collectors and art collectors who know more about their respective niches
than you as a seller across diverse niches ever could — nice always wins.
Favorite eBay story
About every 4th sale or so, we have a customer who will email or call us to tell us what
their purchase from us means to them or their family or friend. We love these messages as we are primarily in the nostalgia business. One of us will always follow up on those messages as building relationships with our customers is another key to our success. Also, we simply enjoy it. Sarah recently responded to a customer in France who had sent a kind message. In a return message, the customer sent us a photo of the Eiffel Tower that Sarah subsequently sent to her 90 year-old father. Her father and mother were married in Paris in 1945.
Who did your branding?
I believe branding begins with your business plan. So, if it’s done right, I think that 90% of time the only person that can actually “do” the branding is the owner of the business. Then, all you have to do is execute the branding in the marketplace. For us, it was Marketworks who took the logo we developed and all of our identity work we created, and executed the initial basic design for us 2 years ago. Since then, we’ve done almost all of our own creative work as we have evolved with the exception of some wonderful small projects we hired Pixclinic for in the spring of 2006.
If you were stranded on a desert island what 3 things would you have to have?
1. Each other (Sarah & I both agree on this)
Nothing else would really matter or would create an obstacle that couldn’t be overcome.
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Want to know a secret…eBay will give you FREE, yes, you heard me, FREE Consulting – by a REAL person at eBay – for FREE…doesn’t matter if you are a new kid or you have eBay by the tail (we can always learn something new, right? Head over to eBay Seller’s Outreach Program and see for yourself…
http://www.scheduleonline.com/service_ebay.php |
My favoritest Sniping program is back in business!
Check out how easy it is to
'bid to win' with this website
I am SO excited! As many of you know…I am a PowerBuyer on eBay and love the thrill of the hunt. But I almost always use a ‘sniping’ tool to assist me in my bidding. Just in case…Sniping is bidding in the final moments of the auction, and hopefully winning. However, I prefer to not call it Sniping, but rather a Bidding Automation Tool, because that is what it really is. There are many reasons to use a Bidding Automation Tool:
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By not bidding on the item you are interested in during the auction, you
won't draw unwanted attention to the item by other bidders.
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By bidding in the final seconds of an auction, you will stick to your
budget... you won’t have time to go, 'oh just one dollar
more...'
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By giving my bid to a 3rd party tool, I
won't forget to bid. This also gives me the freedom to bid while I am on an airplane, giving a class or sleeping.
Remember, with any Sniping tool, you still have to be the highest bid, no matter how close to the end of the auction you bid.
So, about my excitement... my favoritest Sniping tool is back in business!
Cniper!! I spoke with Daniel Odio, Owner, a couple of weeks ago when they went live again with the site. He was thrilled to be able to bring this amazing site back to life. This easy to use and FREE sniping tool does 95% of my bidding for me. Here is a snippet from their press release:
Cniper, once the web’s most popular eBay sniping service, has been resurrected by a new owner and put back into service.
Cniper has enabled thousands of users to bid on over 70,000 auctions since 2001.
(egads…I wonder how many of those were mine!)
“Sniping,” a popular form of bidding on eBay, allows users to pre-load their eBay bid on the Cnipersite. Cniperthen swoops in to place the user’s bid in the last seconds of the auction, totally surprising other bidders who thought they had won the auction.
Cniper is the only free eBay auction sniping service on the web and has been successfully used by thousands of users in tens of thousands of auctions. The service was offline for eleven months but has been resurrected by Daniel R. Odio, an entrepreneur and
Cniper user who loved the service too much to see it stay offline.
"Cniper was one of the gems of the Internet, and
we're really excited to have brought the service back. I hope
Cniper can regain the following it had in years past,” said Odio. “We’re fully dedicated to ensuring its long-term
success."
Huge thanks Daniel!! Check it out here: Cniper
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Hot off the Presses – the Ultimate eBay Resource…Entrepreneur’s eBay Startup Guide – Success on eBay. These bi-yearly issues always sell out. Get yours at your local book store now (before you have to buy it on eBay for $35!!) |
Update on My Favorite eBay Live picks
Each month I will update you on news from the 5 hottest companies I picked from eBay Live this year.
I would have to say I am most impressed, so far, by
Prosper as one of my hottest picks for this year. Here is a link to read previous entries about
Prosper:
http://www.janelleelms.com/ebay-success-newsletters/july06.html
http://www.janelleelms.com/ebay-success-newsletters/august06.html
Currently I have bid on over 10 loans…and am currently the winner for 4 (5 here in a moment)…with return rates ranging from 11.41% to 21%. Pretty amazing. I thoroughly checked out all of the people/businesses whose loans I bid on. Some of them had excellent credit rating…and some of them didn’t. But the reason I started ‘loaning’ money on
Prosper was to help fellow entrepreneurs who truly wanted to achieve success, not to judge people on their lack of credit history or financial past. A recent survey that
Prosper did truly confirms that sense of community:
And the survey says...
At the end of July, we conducted a survey that was sent to all Prosper
lenders. We achieved an overwhelmingly strong response—over 35% of our lenders took the time to weigh in.
A few interesting results are summarized below:
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55% of lenders heard about
Prosper
through either word of mouth or via he press
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45.2% of lenders sign onto
Prosper
once or more per day
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27.1% of lenders participate in the discussion forums
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48.9% use a strategy of diversification achieved by blending overall credit characteristics
The response to question 7, which asked "Why did you become a lender on
Prosper?", was particularly revealing. Over 53% responded that the ability to help others while earning a return was a driver in their decision to become a lender.
Lenders agree: Prosper
is about people, and the social impact of bringing borrowers and lenders together results in the ability to earn a great return in a new asset class while making a positive difference in the lives of others. We love it.
Check out Pig & Panda’s listings…she has included
Filmloop into all of her listings – fabulous cross-promoting tool!
I am headed up to Vancouver, BC later next month and will be meeting with
CityMax. I hope to have an update for you in November on this company.
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I have fabulous magical people in my life…like my webmaster
Marcus who I truly don’t know what I would do without (fast and cheap – yeah!!) I think I just found another one to add to my group the other day…but haven’t tried the service out yet. Her name is Phoenix and she is cross between computer tech support, a shoulder to cry on, a hand holder, and a genius at technology – wow! Her business,
Dancing Trees offers nurturing phone support for what ails your computer. Plus, she doesn’t just fix the problem, she can also teach you what she is doing and how to do it yourself if you are so inclined. (and haven’t thrown your computer out the window). If you use her, let me know how it goes – her website sounds like the service is a godsend. |
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I have a perfect one for the Back-To-School shoppers – be part of the ‘in’ crowd – no one will ever call you ‘four eyes’ again in
these...
What a perfect Store for back-to-school time. Victoria EyeWear carries the most amazing selections of fashionable eyeglass frames I have seen. She has been in the optical business for over 20 years and has some killer deals on eyewear.
Victoria EyeWear
carries fashions for the hipsters – Bebe,
Casino &
Hugo Boss plus many more. And fashions for the kidlings –
Barbie,
Fisher
Price, Looney
Tunes, & Sesame
Street. I also love that she has written two
Reviews and Guides to help you with picking out your eyewear:
What Do the Sizes Mean on An Eye Glass Frame?
And
What Are The Parts of an Eyeglass Frame?
Don’t forget to sign up for her newsletter to get updates on new fashion eyewear –
Victoria EyeWear
(scroll down to the bottom left hand side)
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Still treating eBay like a garage sale and getting garage sale prices? Begin taking steps to running a professional eBay business. Start with a professionally branded logo. My two favorite logo design sites?...
www.logoyes.com/ebay
- allows you to easily create your own logo (this tool is TOO much fun to play with) and you don't pay for the logo until you love it.
www.janelleelms.com/73graphics
- the genius designer, Dwight, at 73graphics did my logo...I get so many compliments on it, because it matches who I am (my brand) so perfectly. Check out his portfolio - amazing branding work. |
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PowerSeller Newsletter Contest
See who won…and how they did it. Hot tips on driving customer’s to sign up for your most valuable marketing tool – your eBay Store’s Newsletter
How many Newsletter Subscribers do YOU have?
We had a contest in our Pacific NW PowerSellers group last month – to see who could get the most subscribers to their eBay Stores Newsletter in 20 days. HUGE CONGRATS to
FastBackStack who was able to get 41 subscribers!!
Your eBay Store Newsletter is THE most powerful marketing tool you have in your online business. These are people who are asking to spend money with you again. And it is a crucial part of your retention model – keeping the customers you work so hard to get. After buying from 1000’s of sellers on eBay, only two of them have asked me to come back and spend money with them again – TWO! Your newsletter is a quick and easy way to stay in touch with those customers – that way you are constantly in front of them and not forgetting who you are and buying from your competitor.
To help you with optimizing your subscriber list and taking advantage of this powerful marketing tool...we asked the participants what they did to achieve such great success in just 20 short days...
What did you do to promote your newsletters?
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Diann of d’clutter
sales:
Simply added a promotion box to the top of her store front and jumped up to 17 new subscribers.
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Alice of
Stitches:
In every auction Alice asks people to sign up for her newsletter . She uses the store promotion box. She has 3 specific newsletters so they have a choice of what they want to sign up for. Signed up for two PowerSeller board groups and added to groups. She asked in the blogs. In her closing email she asks them to please sign up for her newsletter.
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Tom of Tallzag
Auctions:
Sends out newsletter request in his emails...Thank you for buying...Thank you for paying...Shipping email. Did a promotion box and added $5 shipping discount if they signed up.
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Rebecca of Pig &
Panda:
Used promotion boxes. Two stores.
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Gene of Geenogee:
Put newsletter notice in with the ants (he sells ants for educational purposes). Free weekly download for folks who purchase music program. Gene's newsletter is very informational. Use bullet points to divvy up your copy. Gene also utilized a single promotion box style that goes all away across the top of the Store's page.
Tip:
You could print your newsletters and toss them in your packages.
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Carol of Wandering Creek
Antiques:
Added a promotion box to the top of her eBay
Store
Tip: When you sell so many different kinds of things like Carol & Diann, you could give tips on care & cleaning of silver, reasons why Antiques Roadshow fuss about cleaning things, cleaning & organizing tips. Talk about finds and collections like a treasure hunt. Create excitement when there's only one item available.
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And of course from our winners, Rhonda and Lee who run FastBackStack -
an eBay Store specializing in Classic Mustang Parts offers these tips:
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Sign up for
fellow eBayers individual newsletters, and hopefully they will reciprocate.
-
Offer $5 off shipping on any purchase for those that sign up for the newsletter (by the way, we saw an increase in sales by doing this also...a 'win, win' situation!)
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Promote $5 off shipping within a promotion box on our store. Change the color of the promotion box to make it stand out. Include a 'limited time offer' for the customer to act now.
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Promote receiving helpful tips for mustang restorations, and learning about new listings of rare, original Mustang parts by signing up for our newsletter. Promote this within the promotion box on our store. Again, change the color of the promotion box to make it stand out. (I utilized both promotion boxes at the top of our store to reflect the Newsletter)
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Update current auctions to say 'WOULD YOU LIKE TO SAVE $5.00 ON SHIPPING?' then briefly explained about the newsletter, and included a link to sign up.
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Update end-of-auction email to include wording about saving $5 when signing up for the newsletter. (Wording also included joining our exclusive group of those receiving special information: tips for Mustang restorations, new listings, etc.)
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Update invoices to include wording about saving $5 when signing up for the newsletter and joining our exclusive group. Included a link to sign up.
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Update 'Payment Received' email to reflect wording about saving $5 off shipping when signing up for the newsletter and joining our exclusive group. Included a link to sign up.
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Update 'Shipping Notification' email to reflect $5 off shipping when signing up for the newsletter and joining our exclusive group. Included a link to sign up.
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If the buyer didn't automatically sign up, I sent a personal message to the buyer through ebay email thanking them for their purchase, letting them know about our outrageous inventory of Mustang parts and indicating that we would love to have them sign up for our newsletter and offered to refund $5 of their shipping price if they wanted to take advantage of our 'Summer Special' by signing up (this worked really well having a personal message go directly to them).
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Notified our local Mustang customers we know that have ebay accounts and asked them to sign up.
****then, we*******
12. Sent out our first 2 newsletters!
I also just received these free goodies in my email box...they are great! The first one is the most comprehensive and usable for an eBay Stores marketing campaign, but the 2nd one will really help you with understanding what the ‘numbers’ from the newsletter mean.
Top Ten Success Secrets of Email Marketing - click
here
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?1004123
- great article about what your average delivery, open, click through and opt-out rates are for an email marketing campaign.
How to set up your Promotional Boxes for
Newsletters...
Scroll to the bottom of your eBay Store, Click Seller Manage Store. Once you get into the Seller Manage Store page, head down the left side to promotion boxes. Click there and up is going to come the Promotion Boxes page. Click ‘Create New Promotion Box’. You are going to select location, either category page left or right. You can also select what type of box type that you want. After you choose your location, it is going to ask you what categories you want to promote. Click All Categories. Promotion Box type? Pick the Newsletter Sign Up.
Once we choose what kind of promotional box we want it is going to display the content. For the title it says Store Newsletter. Well we don’t want something that is that simple. Edit the title to something enticing, like ‘Be the First to Now…’ or ‘Rare one of a kind widgets’. Also edit your body text to entice a person to sign up. Once you have down what it is that you want in your body text, check which mailing list
you want to include (you can have up to five different mailing lists.) We have got General Interest checked and then we can preview what that actually looks like. Down at the bottom you can choose to have different colors and fonts. These actually match what is already in your store. Hit ‘Save’.
Go to your eBay store, there’s the promotional box, right there on your promotion page depending upon where you have placed it. This is going to promote your newsletters but like I said you can promote anything you want in these promotional boxes. This is free; included in the low price of your eBay store.
NEW
Column
Donna Bond, who is a Featured eBay Education Specialist, Trading Assistant and carries the title,
"Online Auction Princess" shares her "5 Expert Tips on Becoming a Successful eBay
Seller"
I was delighted when Donna Bond agreed to write a monthly column for the eBay Success Newsletter titled, “5 Expert Tips about eBay”, with a different topic each month. Donna is a PowerSeller, one of the top 15 eBay Education Specialist in the country, a Trading Assistant, and has been featured in newspapers, books, and even Entrepreneur Magazine. To see her full bio, and check out what she just bought because of her success on eBay, go to:
www.janelleelms.com/donna
For those of you in the Chattanooga, TN area, please note that
Donna has teamed up with Steve Espinosa and their eBay Education Tour will begin October 7th in your area. Check out
http://online-auction-princess.com/Chattanooga_TN_Class.php
for additional information as well as other tour dates and places upcoming.
5 Expert tips on becoming a successful eBay seller
-
While making money on eBay is very simple, it is NOT EASY!
Anyone thinking of making millions on eBay overnight after buying an e-book or some “Info-Product” is in for BIG disappointment.
Selling on eBay is like selling anywhere else, know your product, know your market, and plan on hard work, and then you can build a successful business.
-
The Importance of Finding a Niche: Initially, I listed everything and anything I could get my hands on. You really need to sell items that you yourself enjoy personally or it will not interest you as much & you will become bored with it. When I finally found my Niche, that’s when my love for my job grew.
Know your items, be an expert on your product.
-
Provide clear, close-up photos and honest descriptions with lots of details. Remember to take the photos as if there were no description and write the description as if there were no photographs. My motto is:
Always think like a buyer!
-
Great customer service will set you apart from the competition and create a life-long customer base. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve received a poorly packaged item with nothing inside but old, crumbled newspaper and not so much as a thank you note, or receipt. If possible, even toss in something for them as a “thank you” gift & a thank you note. This will go a long way, or even a 10% off coupon on their next order & even better, FREE s/h on their next purchase. Ship promptly.
-
I am convinced that the most successful and effective sellers are those eBayers that began their eBay experience as eBay buyers and became successful and effective BUYERS first, before trying their hand at selling.
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
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Get your FREE eBay Store’s Report – “I Want To Be That 1% - 5 Quick eBay Store Fixes” nat
www.JanelleElms.com/eBayStoreTips
- Don’t forget to use Go Daddy to redirect your URL for 75% off your Final Value Fees |
Entrepreneur Time-Saving Tips
a new book is published every 30 seconds – learn how to keep up with the ‘entrepreneurial Jones’ and stay on top of your business reading.
There are too many business books out there. But unfortunately, if you want to keep an edge on the competition, many of these books are must reads…Good To Great, Blink, Loyalty Myths, Automatic Millionaire, and more. (My new favorite…Waiting for your Cat to Bark). I’ve read all of these, and dozens more. How in the world?..you might ask with my busy schedule… Well, one of my secrets definitely has to be
Soundview Executive Book
Summaries. They are a Must Have in my business. Soundview Executive Book Summaries allows me to receive a condensed book version of several top rated business books each month. You know me…if I can get someone else to do something for me…well they do. They read the books and then just give you the Must Know stuff. This comes in numerous forms…online reading, Microsoft e-book, Palm. But my two favorites – mp3 and printable. The mp3 versions of the books allow me to download them to my i-pod and listen to them when I am on that stupid, boring treadstairclimbrunevilmachine at the gym. I also download and print copies of the books as well – those are perfect for when I am traveling (I see lots of the business people flying with these in their hands).
My other secret is magazines – shorter articles that are easy to read when you have a few minutes of down time (the waiting in a dr’s office is time much better spent learning something rather than reading 5 year old National Geographics) Two of my favorite magazines are
Entrepreneur and
Pink. Entrepreneur is just filled with good business information, inspiring stories, and creative ideas.
Entrepreneur.com is also filled with tons of information (different than the magazine).
Pink is a relatively new magazine – but I am very impressed. (Their website also rocks!) It is targeted to women in business and every single article was a Must Read – I couldn’t believe how spot on they knew their audience. Trends, business ethics, hiring how to, and more. I subscribed to it when I realized I had read it cover to cover in one sitting!
Now, I also keep the Soundview
Summaries, as well as my other reading materials in my car. Stopped at a red light, stuck in traffic, waiting for someone – all perfect opportunities to catch up and pass up your competition!
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Looking for an opportunity to ‘give back’? The DOUA is always looking for mentors for their students. Check them out at
www.doua.org. Marjie will love you for it!
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do you know what is HOT on eBay (& making seller’s money?)…now you will!
What will be the hottest thing (high demand, low supply) in Apparel, Consumer Electronics, Photo, Toys and 14 other top categories on eBay this Holiday Season? By analyzing previous holiday sales data, keyword & item specific combinations, and utilizing top industry experts, eBay has created a very detailed list of these hot products!! This site will tell you what category to place this merchandise in, what keywords to use in your title, and what Item Specifics to use to get the most money for these hot items. Now where did I put those Star Wars Lego sets…Check out the 2005 Holiday Hot List here:
http://pages.ebay.com/holidayhotlist2006/
Also, August’s Hot Items report is now up on the site. This is a Must Print-Out Monthly file. This monthly list shows what the buyer’s want, but the seller’s aren’t providing – which means money in your pocket if you come up with the goods! Hhhmmmm…I know I had some Mars Attacks Trading Cards around here somewhere… Check out the Hot Items report at:
http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/hotitems.pdf
Also, the latest eBay Catalog just arrived in the mail boxes of numerous eBay buyers – the best part…eBay tells them what keywords to search to find these items. What does that mean to you – well…if you know those keywords, then they better be in your title! Check them out here:
www.ebay.com/catalog
Our monthly columns
eBay Meetings
Local eBay meetings in the Pacific NW,
Tour Dates and eBay
Workshops. Somehow I ended up with two workshops this month – lol…one on Marketing with the fabulous Phil Dunn and the 1st of 3 workshops about eBay Stores.
Local eBay Meetings – www.janelleelms.com/free-ebay-meetings
Tour
Schedule
http://stores.ebay.com/Auction-Profit-Education-Consulting/Tour-Schedule.html
eBay
workshops:
Topic:
eBay Workshop: Learn
to use Blackthorne Pro
Host: eBay Staff
Date: Thursday 09/07
Time: 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm PT
Description: Join
the Blackthorne Software team for this workshop to learn
about Blackthorne Pro, the redesigned Seller'sAssistant
Pro. This top-of-the-line sales management tool can help
you scale your eBay business. To learn more, go to the Blackthorne
Pro page.
Topic:
eBay
Workshop: How to Create, Manage &
Maintain a Successful eBay Group
Host: tornado-lynn,lanahi and eBay
Staff
Date: Friday 09/08
Time: 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm PT
Description: Join
expert members and eBay staff to learn what it takes to
run a successful eBay Group. Long term group
leader tornado-lynn will share her strategies for
successful management. lanahi will then talk about
what sorts of activities keep members engaged in
the group. maeve@ebay.com
will go over basic eBay Groups policies and give tips on
resolving management questions.
Topic: Member
Workshop: What you need to know about your
E-Business, the IRS & a Potential Audit!
Host: keepmore
Date: Tuesday 09/12
Time:
11:00 am - 12:00 pm PT
Description: It is boldly stated in the audit
manual for IRS Revenue Agents that “The potential for
omitted income is greater in E-Business due to the
borderless and paperless feature of the
organization……”. With that one simply
statement, the IRS is taking an aggressive stand on
unreported income in E-Businesses such as your eBay
business. During our next workshop, Phyllis
Wischer, Lead Business Coach from Certified Provider
KeepMore.net, will discuss some of the top 27 questions
an IRS agent will ask you in the event of an audit of
your eBay business. Join us to learn what you will
be asked and how you can prepare yourself in the event
of an IRS audit of eBay business.
Topic:
Member Workshop: Tax Calendar for your eBay
Business
Host:
dkennedycpa
Date: Wednesday 09/13
Time: 10:00 am to 11:00 am PT
Description: Payroll taxes, sales taxes, quarterly
estimates, payroll reports, income taxes - do you ever
feel like you're lost in a sea of taxes and the
required reporting? Please join best
selling-author and CPA Diane Kennedy for this workshop
as she explains what you need to do when it comes to tax
withholding and reporting and when you need to do it
Topic:
eBay Workshop: Listing Items with the New
Sell Your Item Form
Host: eBay Staff
Date: Wednesday 09/13
Time: 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm
PT
Description:
The new Selling form is here! Learn about the new
time-saving features and other helpful benefits. The
eBay team will be on hand to answer your questions,
so join us for this interactive workshop. Learn more
about the new Selling form here
.
Topic:
Member Workshop: How to Choose a Product from Millions
of Possibilities
Host:
worldwidebrandsinc
Date: Thursday 09/14
Time: 11:00 am to 12:00 pm PT
Description: Many people struggle with deciding on a
product to sell on eBay. Matt Hedges, marketing
manager for WorldwideBrands.com and author of the book The
Online Research Guide, will step sellers through the process
of selecting a product to sell from the millions of possible
options available to eBay sellers.
Topic: eBay
Workshop: eBay Giving Works Announces New
Changes
Host: eBay Staff
Date: Wednesday 09/14
Time: 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm
PT
Description:
eBay Giving Works has announced some changes to the
program, including lowering the minimum donation amount
to $5! Please join us for this workshop to learn
more about the lower minimum donation, as well as the
upcoming update to the charity listings policy.
Topic: eBay
Workshop: Cyber Safety for Our Children
Host: Amber
Lindsay, Communications Coordinator NetSmartz.org &
eBay Staff
Date: Friday 09/15
Time: 10:30 am to 11:30 am PT
Description: Cyber safety for our
children is a growing concern for parents and educators
across the
United States. Join NetSmartz's, Amber Lindsay and eBay's
Community Outreach Program Manager, Cheryl Fujii for
cyber safety suggestions you can implement at home
or in a classroom environment. This workshop will
provide information in a fun interactive manner to assist
parents and educators create safer Internet environments
and to initiate conversations to develop cyber
awareness. Don't miss this great opportunity to
discuss online safety with a NetSmartz expert! For
more information on NetSmartz, please visit http://www.NetSmartz.org/.
Topic:
Member Workshop: The eBay Seller's Toolbox
Host: planthabit and
jill.of.all.trades
Date: Friday 09/15
Time:
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm PT
Description: Please join Janelle Elms, lead
instructor with
eBay
University
, author, and Silver PowerSeller and Phil Dunn, marketing
and advertising writer and for The 7 Essential Steps to
Successful eBay Marketing workshop series. We'll help
you design and implement comprehensive marketing
and sales strategies so you can gain a competitive edge.
You'll also get valuable advice on enhancing and
expanding your business. In the second installment of
this seven-part series, you'll learn how to use
specific eBay and 3rd party resources to build better
listings, improve sales rates and increase profits.
Topic:
Member Workshop: Listing Template Design &
Layout Clinic
Host: aswas
Date: Monday 09/18
Time: 11:00 am to 1:00 pm PT
Description: In this workshop, Debbie
Levitt, President of eBay Certified Provider As Was,
will review some of the key elements eBay listing
designs and templates should include (and avoid) to help
you generate sales and inspire repeat business.
She'll then take questions, and look at one listing each
from workshop attendees who would like to get feedback
on their designs. Please note, this workshop will
be held one hour longer than normal to provide members
an opportunity to obtain feedback on their
listings.
Topic: Member Workshop: 7 Traits of a Highly Successful Product
Line
Host: whatdoisell
Date: Tuesday 09/19
Time: 11:00 am to 12:00 pm PT
Description: Highly successful and
profitable product lines are not a matter of luck or
guessing, but rather a result of thoughtfully
assembling a dynamic inventory of complimentary
products. In this workshop, Lisa Suttora,
Founder/CEO of What Do I Sell.com, an eBay
Certified Service Provider, will discuss the 7 traits of
a highly successful product line. Find out what
characteristics separate product lines with explosive
growth potential from those that are lackluster and then
languish. During this workshop, Lisa will also look
at workshop attendee's eBay stores and make suggestions
for product line enhancements.
Topic: Member
Workshop: Shipping Solutions for Items Over
150lbs
Host: freightquoterates
Date: Wednesday 09/20
Time:
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm PT
Description: Are you missing
big sales because shipping big items is a big hassle?
Are you limiting your sales by only offering local pick
ups? eBay has several tools to help make shipping
freight-sized items easy. In this workshop, the
Freightquote team will demonstrate how you can save time
and facilitate sales by adding a Freight Calculator to
your auction. We will also discuss how you can utilize
the eBay
Freight
Resource
Center
to schedule pickups, create shipping documents, and
track your shipments all in a few easy steps. Join
us for a fun, informative session.
Topic: eBay
Workshop: Upgrading to the New Turbo Lister
Host: eBay Staff
Date: Thursday 09/21
Time: 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm PT
Description: Still using the older
version of Turbo Lister? Download the latest version
that was released in April to help make selling items in
bulk faster and easier. Join the Turbo Lister team to
learn about the enhancements, ask questions and get the
help you need to upgrade.
Topic: eBay
Workshop: Buyer Disputes: How to Avoid,
Manage & Respond to Them
Host: PayPal and eBay Staff
Date: Friday 09/22
Time: 11:00 am to 12:00 pm PT
Description: This workshop is designed for new and
experienced sellers who would like to learn how to
avoid, manage, and respond to buyer disputes. While a
vast majority of transactions occur without a hitch,
there are those rare instances when something goes
wrong, such as the item never arriving or the buyer
feeling that the item is different from the original
description. In this workshop you’ll learn some best
practices for dealing with situations like these.
Also included in the workshop will be pointers on how to
use the Item Not Received Process on eBay and the PayPal
Dispute Resolution process on PayPal. Whether you
just received your first buyer complaint or have tried
to communicate with a difficult buyer dozens of times,
this workshop can help you ensure your response is
effective
Topic: eBay
Workshop: Finding the Right Seller Tool
Host: eBay Staff
Date: Friday 09/22
Time: 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm PT
Description: With the holiday season
approaching, now is the time to examine what you use to
list, manage and grow your sales. Whether you are new to
selling or are looking to ramp up your business in time
for the holidays, you’ll want to join this workshop to
learn more about the different eBay’s
seller tools built specifically to save you
time and effort.
Topic: Member
Workshop: Preparing your Store for the Holidays
Host: jill.of.all.trades and eBay
Staff
Date: Monday 09/25
Time: 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm PT
Description: eBay Stores are one of the
most powerful e-commerce solutions for running an online
business, yet most of them are set up incorrectly.
Join Janelle Elms,
eBay
University
Instructor and online business consultant and the eBay
Stores staff as they show you how to take full advantage
of the tools that come with your eBay Stores
subscription. Get your eBay Store in top shape for
this year’s busy holiday season by learning how to set
up your Store for search engine optimization, choosing
templates, business names & logos, and setting up
custom categories to assist your buyer’s in spending
their money with you.
Topic:
Member
Workshop: The Formula for Deciding What's Hot
on eBay
Host: htdeepanalysis
Date: Tuesday 09/26
Time: 11:00 am to 12:00 pm PT
Description: Please Jen Cano of HammerTap
market research, a Certified Solution Provider, as she
discusses the formula for discovering hot products to
sell on eBay. The question isn't whether a product has a
great sell-through rate or whether it sells for a great
price--it's whether you can make a profit on it. The
answer to that question is different for every seller.
Join us to learn how to forcast a product's
profitability, to predict when a product is gaining
momentum in the market, and to make educated decisions
about how to expand your business.
Next
Month
I hear the pitter patter of Holiday Shoppers’ feet…do you? We are less than 110 days away from Christmas, but already the shoppers are pouring into eBay. Next month, we will have an exciting and timely article by
PowerSeller Rebecca Shapiro of Pig & Panda, about getting your eBay Store/business ready for the holidays!
Donna Bond will be offering up her 5 tips on fabulous Customer Service
One of eBay’s main holiday pushes this year will be eBay Express – are you set up to show up?
And a few surprises too…
Until next month – go NINERS!!
All my best,
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
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