Now the digital dust is starting to settle you should be thinking of what you want to do with your eBay eBook business.
To help you I have recorded a 54 minute audio session with my support manager Daniel Sumner. It’s off the cuff, from the heart and most of all it shows you what you can do to make this policy change work for you.
Download it from the link below:
(Right Click – Save As)
http://www.resalerightsrevival.com/audio/part1.mp3
I am still working on my report and that will be ready tomorrow but for now check out the audio.
As always please share your thoughts. It helps us all.
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Hi John
Thats a great session and it is really helpful, some great tips.
Will have to look into getting some equipment to write Cd’s If anybody can recommend anything, that would be a great help.
I would recommend checking out John’s audio session.
Thanks
Zahid
Hi John
Just wanted to say “great audio”. I’m at about 44 mins and still listening.
I started off selling physical products and had an excellent system going for shipping and did really well from the customer service point of view.
I totally agree with you, this is a fantastic opportunity to build your business. Yes, I think people will give up because many people haven’t got the time or the inclination to put themselves out and do that extra work involved — and lets not be shy about this, it is quite hard work running a mail order business — but it is profitable and rewarding.
So if people are really serious about their business they will have to climb out of the digital world and start making an impact on the physical world. The profits are there for the taking.
Best wishes
Paula Brett
http://www.PaulaBrettBlog.com
Hi from Houston, Texas in the U.S. Just heard your audio session about eBay’s policy change. Thank you for putting it out so soon!
I recently bought the eBook Website from you and started to get to work on it this weekend, but now….I’m wondering about several things. One of the reasons I got the website was because of the automation and also because you are considered 1) a powerseller, 2) an expert, and 3) an honest man. I sell Yu-Gi-Oh cards on eBay and love it, but there can be quite a lot of work involved for one person.
Would it be possible to send a CERTIFICATE for the customer to download the ebook from another cite? That is a physical thing and would eliminate the necessity of buying CD’s, covers, cases, etc. Also it wouldn’t bog eBay down with digital downloads or artificial feedback.
Something else that may figure into this: There was an article in the paper this week saying that by 2011, the traffic on the internet would be so heavy that everybody’s system will be running a lot slower. I think this may figure into the picture somehow.
I’m a real newbie to ebooks so please bear with me. Another thing, if you are burning a CD, do you have to worry about whether you are using Windows 2000 or Vista, etc. and which operating system your customer is using?
Thank you!
Linda
John,
Great little audio there and the only question that I have is how do you put the autorun on the cd, do you have a source to learn this?
Also when burning a dvd can you put data on it like an ebook in pdf.. ??? do you know where a person can learn this for free??
thanks
Candy
Hi John,
Thanks for the audio session! There’s some great tips and tricks in there and I’d recommend everyone to take time out to download and listen to it.
You are clearly coming out in favour of transforming your digital products into physical products on CD and I can certainly see the many benefits associated with this. The downside of this approach is just the sheer amount of time that it will take to burn, print, package and post all of these items and I think this will deter many people, (especially if they are trying to do it alongside a full-time job). Of course you can outsource all of that but, as you point out, you lose a degree of control in doing so.
I’m sure that you have seen the message from Socrates Socratous, the author of My Digital Dispatch, announcing that he will be releasing an upgrade next week that will allow MyDD to integrate with a fulfillment company so that selling digital products on CD can be totally automated. This is something I will be seriously looking into.
The beauty of selling digital products for many was the fire-and-forget aspect of setting things up the one time and then letting it run on auto-pilot. For this reason I think that the classified ads are still a viable option for many. One tactic that may work is to link back to your About Me page from the ad. Once at the About Me page you can display a message and a link to let buyers know that you can still supply instant, downloadable digital products from your own e-book website.
To be honest we are all learning here and so I’m going to experiement with both approaches before I decide to jump one way or the other.
Best regards,
Dave Ovenden
Great interview, John. Entertaining and informative.
Gone are the days when info products lose value as a result of undervalued eBay listings. Hallelujah! Time to start collecting addresses for physical delivery (in addition to email addresses).
A great method is to offer a free CD, charging only for shipping and handling. Of course the majority of your profits are made with upsell offers (of both physical and digital products), on the back-end.
Good luck, John, and I look forward to your future insights on physical delivery of info products (on eBay and otherwise).
Sincerely,
Richard Howell
Such a hot topic right now! Really good ideas for turning a negative into a positive.
Something that may have slipped by some of your listeners… Other avenues for selling digital products.
If anyone is using eBay as their only avenue of selling… you are putting all your eggs in one basket… Big – Huge mistake.
Always… Always… think of lot’s of ways to sell your digital products, other than just eBay. They are the easiest and largest marketplace for digital product sales… but when your one avenue goes away… you loose all your business.
Poof! Gone in one day! Run your business as a business… not an eBay driven business.
To Zahid #1, there are many freeware software programs for writing to CD, have a look here for some of the better ones I have used myself.
John as well as some of the regulars over at Jim Cockrum’s MST forum are tightening their thinking caps and showing what a little clear headed thinking will result in.
No doubt that this is an opportunity. Not only to rethink your position, but to come up with new and fresh Internet Marketing ideas.
A couple of things that come to mind are…one getting your customer’s snail mail address is golden. Some of the most successful marketers use direct marketing as a funnel.
If I’m not mistaken MyDD handles instant digital delivery as well as dvd and cd delivery…while you sleep…sun…or party.
~~gourmet coffee snob~~
Always Drink Better Coffee
spotajavacoffee.com
Hi john,
Interesting indeed! But, unfortunately, for me, ‘manufacturing’ and mailing cd’s is not a great option. It’s a digital world! I feel like, in some way, that it’s taking a big step BACK, not forward. But that’s just my situation and my opinion. Most people want INSTANT downloads. For the ebooks that i create myself, i cant see spending the extra money, or the time to do this. I take care of my terminal mother-in-law full time, so the automated system was fantastic for me, and covered my share on the mortgage, too. When i have the time and funds to invest in the “physical” info world, i may use your wonderful suggestions. But for now, im really going to get hit hard by this ebay change. Im creating another website for digital deliveries and including links in my about me page for now. Any other options or ideas other than the physical mailing would be greatly appreciated!
Keep up the good work! Look forward to hearing more!
Reply by John:
We are all frustrated by this change Sherri but unfortunately this is the situation we all find ourselves in.
There are options to still automate your business and I will be letting you know all the options you have in my free report.
I’m working on the report all day to get it complete before the policy comes into effect and it should be ready on Sunday night.
Stay positive.
Hi John,
Audio file – part1.mp3 not found.
Kindly sort it out.
Thanks,
Rajesh
Reply by John:
The file is there Rajesh. Just right click and select ‘save as’ or simply left click to play the file directly from the internet.
Is anyone else having problems?
Hi John,
I just finished listening to the call. I just realized something, you stand to benefit tremendously from this change. Since none of us really know what’s going to work until this change takes effect a lot of people are going to be watching you heavily to see how you handle these changes. That’s certainly going to help your business ESPECIALLY if your theories about how to handle the changes pan out.
As for me, since I’m not a powerseller and the feedback system isn’t a big deal for me I’m going to go with the classified ads approach for now. However, I really like some of the ideas you suggested such as selling multiple resell rights products as a “multimedia information package” or taking private label rights products and creating your own home study course from those products. I’ve certainly have lots of ideas of physical products that I can develop for my niche. With these new changes, now is the best time for me to get off my butt and get to work on them.
Roosevelt Cooper
http://www.web204mlm.com
Hi John
Just been listening to your call and I found it very interesting.
But for me as a part time internet person and only 3 months ago started selling ebooks I am of the opinion that in the short term I will not recover any of my costs. (RRB, MYDD and Aweber)but never the less I will move on to the next generation.
I hope with all the information you put out I will be able to succeed.
As you a a good mate of Socrates Socratous at MYDD I wonder what your thoughts will be on his delivery sistem he hopes to have up and runing by April 1
Best Regards
Trevor Jeffrey
Hi John,
I feel that if we all have a little patience, eBay will come to their senses, and reconsider their rash decision. As others have mentioned, all they have to do to solve the feedback problem is set a price point to qualify for using their digital delivery system.
Jerry Nokes
Hello John,
I had trouble opening the m3p file. I tried what you suggested to the other blogger and it didn’t work. Do you have a script of the video? Maybe I can catch up to it later as I know you are busy trying to get some other information out today.
Sunshine to the Future!!!!! Lets us not forget; we are in the
DIGITAL AGE. If it was not for digital delivery, ebay would not
exist. Everything is digital dilivery. How you list on ebay; how
you pay fees to paypal, how you e-mail. WHAT HELL GOING ON ON ON ON!!!!
lOVE YOU ALL!!!!!
thelma
stores.ebay.com/homedecorsandenterprises
Hallo, Chums!
I have been looking at multi-media presentations presented on CD/DVD using autorun menu creators. There are many types of autorun programs out there that will do a lot more than simply automatically run your disk on the user’s computer.
There are splash screens, menu buttons that take the viewer to websites, open pdf’s, show slides, movies (on your own customized movie player), play audio, and have security features such as the ability to lock or unlock the disk – create expiration dates for trial versions, install software, and you can even create .exe versions for instant delivery, as well, with some of these programs.
I know that is dicey for some users but it is available in many of these programs. Go have a look for them. I won’t recommend any because it has been years since I used them and today all these extra features I mentioned weren’t available when I created my disks.
I just had a basic menu with a silent splash screen. Today, you can play music when the splash screen opens if you like, decide if the disk menu opens full screen or not, or uses a specific shape that appears on the desktop, whether a desktop icon appears to recall the files copied to the user’s computer from the disk so the disk doesn’t have to be running each time you want to use the information on it – there are all kinds of new bells and whistles on these programs and many cost about $40 or less!
As to shipping costs, look at Netflix. They deliver their DVD’s in the most flimsy paper envelope I have ever used but it is very effective. I also received a great autorun CD once from an eBay seller who sent his CD in a cardboard storage sleeve that was barely larger than the disk but it had his logo and website printed on it and looked rather classy, I thought. So it is all in the presentation of your product, its perceived value, while maintaining low costs for you!
Once you have your system set up you can burn CD’s in a few minutes and remember each time you do it is like PRINTING MONEY! If you give the viewer a great experience, can send them to your website or include a catalog of your other products in an interactive environment on the CD/DVD you are engaging them a lot longer than when they are simply reading an ebook.
I used to resell OPEN OFFICE on a CD (yes, you could download it for eight hours with a chance of errors or your could get in a few days on my CD! Not many had DSL then!) and I used an autorun menu that was just a menu but it looked impressive and installed whatever the user wanted from the disk with a single click.
I used a paper thank you card that explained what to do if the automenu didn’t run and I personally signed the card! Dropped the mailer in the post and cashed my checks at the same time! This was before Paypal automated payment.
Today you can have a fulfilment company burn and ship the disk for less than two dollars and pass the shipping costs on to the customer which are not much domestically. Internationally, yes, it is more but again you can let the fulfilment company handle that after the sale. All you have to do it make sure the customer knows what the shipping will be to their door. So if you are selling in volume, you are not doing any repetitive tasks with this method if you have set up a script that works with your fulfilment company.
Worth looking into, I’d say. Otherwise, just do it yourself.
It may be that most of us will be creating more than a simple ebook on CD/DVD in the future. There are many opportunities here for creating upsells and affiliate links sales pages on the menu. It could be very creative.
Some of this material could appear on every CD/DVD you create if you are worried about how to fill each new product disk with material in addition to the new item you are selling.
Suppose you sell/archive 150 ebooks on your website? Make a catalog of them that could be included on every disk which creates an instant download situation for the user and cuts out competition from other sellers while the user is viewing your disk!
Or send the user to your Classified Ads. Send them to your other Auctions (on eBay, or other auction sites!) give them a document to read about why Feedback is important to you, and customer satisfaction. Take them to your help desk, your blog, your newsletter signup page or whatever. Hell, guys, this could be rich with opportunity!
Well that was a nice long rant!
Regards, David~
Thanks John
I’m excited from listening to your call. This eBay change is rich with opportunity 🙂
Cheers
Ian
http://ian-mcconnell.com/
Can anyone tell me where the classified ads section actually is on ebay and how an ordinary customer arriving at the site who finds themselves automatically at the auction site can find it?
True, there is a classified link tab at the top but it’s always dark and doesn’t work.
If ebook sellers now have to use classfied ads – how does anyone actually find it?
Even on the ebay site map, classified ads does not appear.
Hi John – Why don’t you redirect your ebooks to Amazon? I am a newbie but that seems to make sense if you want to keep it on autoresponder. Any thoughts?
David,
They find the classified ad from the search only. It is shown in the search results…
I had an AD for 3 days now… 564 views!! but not a single contact.. although my item sells very well when in the auction format!!
Pam,
Amazon has stopped digital items too 🙁 as per some people selling there!
Just skimming through the posts, you guys are all worrying about saying that eBooks are dead ect well maybe on ebay, But I have never sold on ebay, its always been a bit of a joke,
I dont think I will waste my time printing propucts ect I have many successful online business and ebay does not mean the end of eBooks.
Danny
Looks like people arent selling much ebooks in ebay anymore
Hi John,
Just a quick note to say that I found your audio session with Dan so insightful. It made me think of so many opportunities that I never gave a second thought. It also made more sense of the resale rights and digital products market.
I burned the audio to CD and I listen to it a couple of times a week when in the car on my sales rep job.
Many thanks again,
David
http://www.multimediainformationproductsonline.com/recommends/InstantCD/