Hello and welcome to Rim Digest, the ezine for

"Responsible Internet Marketers".

Striving to be the BEST resource for Small Biz Owners...

October 15, 2009 volume 9-issue 39

Your editor: Jan Tallent, rimdigest@usa.net

Rim Digest ezine: http://www.rimdigest.com/

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Today's issue is sponsored by:

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Today's Issue Contains:

Publisher's Spot

Featured Article

Selling on eBay

Okay, I must start out with this reminder, I am not,

nor do I claim to be, a writer. But, I do know

marketing and am getting quite a bit of experience

with the ups and downs of selling on eBay.

At its peak, I had almost 2,000 items listed.

Not only is this five cents per week per item

listing fee, there is a selling fee ( they call

it final value fee ) of eighteen cents for one dollar

items and thirty six cents for three dollars, etc.

Add to this, I built an eBay store which enabled me

to GET the five cents listing fee, as an auction one

or general sale is fifteen cents per week per listing.

For this store, I pay $15.95 per month. My main reason

for wanting the store is that when my buyers find one

thing they are searching for, they will usually browse

my store for other items to combine with this item as

I also offer combined shipping.

Take, for example, my videos. Most are classics or

out of print, which we call OOP - in case you ever

run across that term when shopping on eBay for movies.

I charge the maximum, $3.00, shipping for one video.

One will usually go anywhere in the USA for $2.38 to

$2.75 - leaving a few pennies over to help on the

cost of mailers, bubble wrap, tape and the other

items we use to send the movie(s).

I then offer a one dollar shipping rate on any other

movies purchased at the same time, PER movie.

I can usually send three, actually, for between $2.77

and $3.00 to the USA. Obviously, I make a bit more

if they do NOT buy more than one item from the

shipping end of things.

Then, I pay a paypal fee to GET the payment unless

they have made prior arrangements for me to accept

a money order or check. By offering this option,

I have made quite a few sales to people who did not

have a paypal account and so far, ALL have been good

checks or real money orders. Also, so far, ALL have

become return buyers.

With this movie we are pretending I have sold, I

send an email thanking the buyer for the purchase

and let him or her know when I am mailing it plus

remind them to please leave me feedback and to come

back soon if they are pleased. As of today, I have

almost 1,000 positive feedback comments and 2

negative for the year. It is really true that you

cannot please everyone but I, personally, feel

that this is a pretty good average. Most bad

feedback is from someone not reading your

description or just not being as happy as they

expect to be and I do my best to make all of

my buyers happy and want to return and a lot

of them do.

I carefully wrap each movie, book, etc. in either

bubble wrap or tissue paper and then stick my

eBay business card in the mailer, seal it and

write Jan / eBay on the back of the package

as well as using an address label on the front.

I do this so they know the minute they get their

packages that they are from me and also can cut

down on paper waste ( and ink usage ) by not

needing to print out a copy of the sale/order.

I send movies and books "media mail" except

for the rare occasion that first class is less

expensive or the same price. ONE package of

the last 300 I mailed had a claim of not getting

there. I give the United States Postal Service

a big hand for that statistic. And I have to

admit that my *girls* at my small town post

office are real treasures when they happily

check all of the mailing options to make sure

they are giving me the best possible rate.

They have even bragged on my pretty packaging

and the wonderful gray plastic mailers I use.

I was a Power Seller for one month. I got

really excited over that and having the logo

for Power Seller magically added to all of

my listings. The next month and each since

then, my sales have gone down so I lost the

PS designation BUT have a "highest possible"

compliance and fair trade ranking, so am

still pretty happy with that. :-)

I spend at least one hour per day doing

research to see what the average price is on

the items I am selling and do it all again

once the item ends and it is time to relist

it. I have actually immediately sold something

as soon as I raised the price and also when

I have lowered one. It really seems to depend

on who is looking for what and when.

Next week I will share some tips on making

the least work out of maintenance on your

eBay store. I am still working harder than

I probably need to but that is just me.

Jan Tallent, with a few tips

from being an eBay seller:

http://stores.ebay.com/downmemorylanetreasures

To your success!

Jan Tallent is the editor of Rim Digest ezine for marketers

and small businesses and the owner of Tallent Agency

Virtual Assistance at http://www.tallentagency.com

calling all writers, I need some good marketing or business

articles. Not big ads and those will just be deleted- if you

have one or more you want to share, please send to me:

mailto:rimdigest@usa.net?subject=Article

plain text only, about 400 to 600 words, wrapped here:

123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890

or shorter lines, please :-)

also make sure you send a signature box like mine above

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Freebie of the Day

Foods that HEAL

http://www.rimdigest.com/FoodsThatHeal.txt

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Vote for this Ezine at the Cumuli Ezine Finder:

http://www.cumuli.com/ezines/vte.html?ez=rimdig

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Positive Quote

When you take a risk and step out of the norm,

you run the risk and sometimes you fail.

But you only fail if you give up.

-- J Peterman

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Feedback

none this issue :-)

just think, you can have your feedback in this

section with a link to you or your biz, hint, hint.

************************

remember, this is YOUR newsletter, send any

comments, good or bad, address change or other

needed correspondence to mailto:rimdigest@usa.net

and use a subject, please. :-)

if you like this ezine, please forward a copy

or an invitation to a friend. :-)

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Together, we can fight world hunger

with each and every click and it is F R E E:

http://www.thehungersite.com/

be sure to click each tab, every great cause

on this website is free to give, funded by

contributing big companies.

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"Bye" for now and thank you for reading. I appreciate your

being part of my *rimmers* family. Hope to "see you" for

the next issue- which will be delivered next Thursday.

Your email address will NEVER be sold, traded or in any

other way used for any purpose other than to send you

issues of the ezine or solo offers from our advertisers.

The offers are paid for by the ad runners but mailed to

you exclusively by ME, Jan Tallent.

If you feel a need to stop getting Rim Digest eZine use:

mailto:rimdigest@usa.net?subject=Leave

To send feedback, an address change, article submission,

etc. use: mailto:rimdigest@usa.net and a SUBJECT, please.

or call me from 10am to 6pm central USA time: 573-775-4520

Movies, Memorabilia and Gifts from the past-

http://www.downmemorylanetreasures.com/

Great bargains on Movies, Books, CD's, Memorabilia

and lots more at my eBay store as well:

http://stores.ebay.com/downmemorylanetreasures

Rim Digest runs articles and ads in good faith but offers

NO guarantees unless expressed by ME or Rim Digest eZine.

Please use your best judgment in ANY transaction

or deal you enter into or offer you respond to.

Jan Tallent, aka the Software Warrioress

http://www.softwarewarrioress.com

and Publisher of Rim Digest eZine,

http://www.rimdigest.com

Both Divisions of the Tallent Agency

http://www.tallentagency.com

po box 858 - Steelville, MO 65565 USA

There are still a few honest marketers/ezines out there!