Recent eBay Changes

A few short weeks ago the world of eBay digital download sellers (those selling ebooks, software, anything that was sold via a download link) was confronted with this news:

EBAY BANS DIGITAL MEDIA PRODUCTS – TRAGEDY STRIKES?

Dateline 25th March 2008.

Ebay bans the sale of Digital Media Products. The end of the world for "thousands" of people who had built up a business on eBay selling those wonderful high quality 1c eBooks. All that hard work for nothing - copying and pasting sales letters, low resolution ecover images and entering "0.01" in the "Buy It Now" dialog box on the eBay listing page. The chance to earn a good living taken away by those uncaring corporate types at the world's largest online auction site sitting smugly in their offices in sunny San Jose, California. Marketers switching off their computers for the final time last seen heading in the direction of the local job centre.

The above is the opening paragraph to an article I wrote recently about this change – you may have read it online. Obviously there is a tone of irony in there, but if you read the various forums on eBay and some of the Internet Marketing forums, the tone was generally one of doom and gloom.

The effects of eBay’s policy change, instead of being a disaster have presented you with a fantastic opportunity. This just wasn’t there a few weeks ago; a few weeks ago I would have had very few people interested in a Digital Media Master Class. How could you possibly sell an ebook on a CD for $10 or more, plus charge postage and packing when there were tens of other sellers on eBay selling the SAME product for under a $1?

The answer is – you couldn’t.

Ebay’s policy change is a MASSIVE opportunity in disguise. Most won’t see it. I am willing to bet that the majority of the eBook sellers who existed on eBay before the policy change have left, never to return again. They don’t know what to do so they missed that opportunity that is yours today.

However, take heed of the warning….

Not only have eBay done all of us a favour by taking information products ‘up market’ but this policy change has also been a very timely reminder to marketers and would-be marketers everywhere. The old adage “you should never put all of your eggs into one basket” has never been more true.

Remember, eBay exists primarily to make money for eBay, not for you or me. Ebay is a vehicle for getting visitors to look at your products (or traffic), nothing more. It is one that is, at this moment in time, very helpful to us but that could change at any time. What you must do is make sure that your business does not need eBay to survive and plan around that.

This Master Class teaches you to be independent of others such as eBay so that your business is structured the right way. Imagine if any of the following scenarios happened:

1. Ebay closes your account

2. Paypal closes your account

3. Ebay only allows the sales of physical products

4. Ebay only allows auctions, i.e. no more classified ads

5. Paypal only permits payment for real physical goods

Once you have completed this course none of the above scenarios will worry you. You will use the fantastic opportunities presented by the huge traffic that eBay generates but you will not depend on it, eventually.

Lets look at the positives using eBay in your business from the outset.

Positives:

1. eBay is the 5th highest ranking traffic site on the the internet, and not just any type of traffic! Each and every one of eBay's 298 MILLION worldwide registered users, is a surfer "pre-conditioned" or pre-sold on the idea of parting with their cash. In otherwords - they are looking to buy something, potentially from you and your eBay shop.

2. Due to the sheer amount of traffic, it is very easy to capture subscribers into the funnel of your business, this makes eBay a phenomenal listbuilding tool.

3. Viral marketing is potentially the most powerful medium online. Simply put - viral marketing is simply setting up your business for the potential for it to spread like wildfire through the internet via word of mouth or incentive based marketing- and eBay makes this EXTRA easy to implement into WHATEVER business you run. Whether it be eBooks or Underwater Knitting products it IS possible to go viral on eBay in a relatively short time, as every sells realises the potential and are quick to grasp onto the concept of resale rights using eBay!

4. Joint Venture - Relationship marketing - Using eBay you can tap in to the massive sellers marketplace and build critical friendships that WILL make you thousands of dollars - just like they have for me... more on this in the Internet Marketing Tactics section soon.

Keep in mind that the change of eBay policy is a good thing, as it allows you to sell more information-products, for more profit - whilst ethically "stealing" eBay customers into your business...

Look at this image below - it shows that because I have bothered to put the work in to set up my business for physical item sales, I will reap the rewards, as I have a total of 5 people waiting to purchase my high priced products...

...and remember, these products are the only eBooks placed on to a discs and I am charging 3 TIMES the original price!

:)

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