First Leassons Learned! Part I

I have been of the blogger for a short time, not because I was fed up with it all, nope, just because the research I was involved in took a lot of time. Searching and browsing takes more time than reading a book I found out but I did progress in trying to understand what E-commerce is all about.

As I blogged before I listed my first item on ebay.com  an occasion to celebrate? No don't be silly, millions do it everyday! It had it listed for a term of 7 days and chose to spend some advertising money on it (about $2). After days of carefully monitoring my object I only acquired 9 views and nobody even took the bother of "watching" it (option in ebay). What a disappointment! Then again a reality check is never a bad thing.
I asked myself a few questions:
- Is my product to expensive?
- Is my product visible enough?
- Is my product to expensive?
- Are my shipping terms a problem?
- Is my product attractive enough for anybody?

Well all the above caused me to start searching Google like an idiot for people or companies with similar problems. After some frustrating searches and some surprising results I learned there is such a profession as profit engineer. Very interesting but not what I was looking for. My jackpot came when I stumbled upon E-commerce Fuel. This was exactly what I was hoping to find! I suddenly realized that Andrew Youderian has basically written a blog about his life and route to building a successful e-commerce business. He even went as far to publish an e-book you can download for free. A bit sceptical I downloaded it and it took me by surprise. A nicely written and summarized guide. A lot of stuff in there that I never even heard was brought to my attention. Ever hear of the following:
- Measuring Online Demand
- SEO
- Match Types
- Page Ranking

This is just a quick summary of all the things that Andrew Youderian has been so kind to share, but it has been educational and really opens up a window of opportunity once I fully understand the working and linkage of it all.

Anyways back to my attempts "to make money out of the internet by the bootstraps"! Well what have a learned when I project it to my one product online: It is was to highly priced, the product has no name reputation and it will never have, it was not visible enough. So I relisted it again against a lower price, more visible but it still doesn't change the fact that it is simply not popular enough. So Andrew is right; find a niche with a product that sells to a target audience

That is where i am going to spend some time on now!

Update you soon!

Any questions or remarks let me know!

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The Plot Thickens... Every action triggers crucial questions

For those of you who read this for the first time; I am an internet dinosaur now trying to establish if I will be able to sell something on the internet via any auction site. I will never post any direct links to my auctions in this blog as it is not meant to make me money but to share a bit of insight. If you find that valuable that is the biggest pay off for me!

Yesterday my accounts on both ebay.com and the local website got activated. On both sites I listed some items to see what happens. What has happened? Nothing really, watching paint dry is more exciting than my first steps as an internet seller... Hold don't stop reading I haven't finished.

What I noticed is that most sites will offer you, against a modest fee, enhancements that will make your auction item easier noticed by the shopping crowd. Of course I refuse to pay anything additional and try it the gold old fashioned way, by the Bootstraps (yes my new motto in life)

The interesting thing I realized is that for the first time in my life I approach a product from a Sales point of view (for all you adult website maniacs yes you can abbreviate it too: POV) and not from a consumer point of view. If I project my listings in current shopping mall, I have my little shop with hundreds of people passing by, some of them taking a peek, most of them not interested as they are looking for a different product. Why look at the cigar store if you are looking for a smoked salmon.
Mmm it has made me realize that visibility and targeting is probably the most important thing to get a consumer's attention, nothing new but again; Selling presents a different perspective than buying and I am just realizing that NOW! God it feels good to be alive!

The question I ask myself is how do I get people to notice my products, buy them and return in the future.
If I look at the products I have on listing; an old watch, slightly overpriced if I am honest. Two new leather bags.
The used old watch will sooner or later be sold if I only drop the price, which I could do but that would ruin my experiment
The two leather bags are on offer for 14 days at "buy-it-now" rates and will most likely sell.

What do I have to offer to a potential buyer?
The only thing I can offer them is real quality against a, I think, fair price. I will respond to all their queries and ship according to the terms and notify them accordingly.
Now that I am reading the above, it makes me realize I have nothing "special" going for my little venture! Just  a sound correct business moral

What does my potential buyer see?

My entire history on the auction site (which is rated by the entities you do business with) is not even above 10, so no detailed feedback available for any potential customer only that all is a "100% positive" and that I am only recently active and only accept Paypal or PayU. I am prepared to return default product etc. Again sound correct business moral

Secondly I have no special focus market or some product or segment I am concentrating on. Anything will do at this stage. As I wrote earlier in one of my blog, given the size of the internet and the availability of product that will be a challenge to master it all.

What impression does my venture make on possible first time buyer?

New guy, not much product, no specialization, small fish. All of it is true, still no reason not buy the watch or a bag for yourself! Hence granting me my first sale! :)


Last and not least I have to come to an early conclusion that my enthusiasm itself is not enough, I have to really think, come up with a plan or goal. After that I will have to make decisions into what direction I will steer my interests.

Thanks for taking the time to read today's contribution, if you are really interested how it all will develop subscribe to my blog or "Google plus" it :)

Till the next blog!

Activating an account to Sell online.. it took more than I'd expected

In my previous blog I vented my frustration regarding Ebay.com's activation of a sellers account.
Well I have to be honest 24hrs can, and in this case, makes a difference.

I contacted the CS of Ebay.com via the chat window and within 4 minutes the issues was solved.
The Customer Service rep simply transferred my profile from the US (.com) to the country I reside (.x)
My listing etc was swiftly executed after that.
The problem itself; listing as a non US based resident on Ebay.com will probably cause a few new subscribers a bit of good old fashion tantrums, all in the game I suppose. Still better to register on the local domains of ebay (co.uk/.de etc) to avoid all that

Something that surprised me but made sense is that before you activate your account a cross boarder agreement (relating to Tax/Excise and Customs Duty) will be presented to confirm and agree too, if you decline I have no clue what happens!

A couple of things you should be spending a bit of time on when selling or buying at sites like Ebay.com:
- Go over the commission Ebay charges you for selling
- Shipping conditions and other charges might and in most cases will impact significantly
- Ebay.com will present you with the accepted payment conditions and which services you prepared to  accept. Be secure in how you handle your cashflow! Protect your data and identity, Paypal is the most widely accepted.

If you purchase from outside the EU, be sure you check your local Customs Website whether or not excise or import charges will be levered by Local Customs. The same goes for a sold good; for instance in California a Sales Tax is being levied which you should make clear to your buyer that he/she is responsible for that one.
I also checked the option of becoming a Sole Trader with local Tax Services, more as a future option then something permanent.

Next time hopefully a less boring and less logical post