AuctionBytes-Update Number 61 - January 6, 2002 - ISSN 1528-6703
Please recommend this newsletter: <http://www.auctionbytes.com/Email_Newsletter/Recommend/recommend.htm l
>
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IN THIS ISSUE:
1) Affiliate and Referral Programs
2) How to Buy Books in Used-Bookstores and Resell them for Profit, Part III
3) Online Sales of Antiques & Collectibles Shoot Up in 2001
4) This & That
5) Collector's Corner: S&H Green Stamps
6) Letters to the Editor
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FROM THE EDITOR
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Online sales of antiques and collectibles on the TIAS.com Web site shot up in 2001. And their holiday sales were excellent. (See my report in Article #3.) People are more comfortable shopping online,
according to several recent reports. So what should we wish for in 2002? Here are the top three items on my wish list:
1) Online fraud prevention. Auction sites and online payment services should pay
more attention to member complaints about fraud. One con artist can do a lot of damage; how many different people have to complain about the same perpetrator before he/she is permanently banned from a site?
2) Low fees, stable postage rates, and free bubble-wrap. Okay, the last one is more a dream than a wish. But lower average selling prices combined with higher costs do not make for happy sellers.
3) Better ways to market myself so I am rewarded with repeat business for good customer service.
Speaking of marketing, we were profiled in the Boston Sunday Globe a few weeks ago in DC Denison's
OnSite column. He paid us one of the highest compliments possible (as far as I'm concerned) when he said David and I engage in "Click and Clack" style banter. (If you don't know Click and Clack of Car Talk,
shame on you! You should go immediately to <http://cartalk.cars.com> and listen to their hysterically funny radio show.)
David and I are doing our own gig on the radio, and appear weekly on Gary Sohmer's "Calling
All Collectors" program. We are the online-auction correspondents and report the news on Monday mornings at 10am on WSRO 1470AM in Massachusetts. You can call a toll-free number 1-877-977-6100 and ask
questions - even if you aren't in the listening area. And Gary does psychic appraisals. Give us a call - we'd love to hear from you!
Besides being an expert himself, Gary has lots of other appraisers
and industry gurus on the show every day. Reyne Haines is Gary's regular guest on Thursdays if you have glass questions. (Reyne founded the JustGlass.com auction site.)
I've been keeping you updated
about a new Content Management system coming to our Web site in the New Year. Things are still on track for a January launch. This being a "technology thing," there may be a few glitches here and
there. If you do experience any problems, let us know!
Here's to a happy, healthy and prosperous new year!
Ina Steiner, Editor
Email: ina@auctionbytes.com
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1) Affiliate and Referral Programs
==========================
by Ina Steiner
When PayPal first came on the scene, people were highly motivated to use their service. One, because it made online transactions so much easier, and
two, because PayPal offered a generous referral program. In early 2000, if you joined, PayPal added $10 to your account and credited your account $10 for each new member you referred, up to $1,000.
Online companies use affiliate and referral programs to take advantage of "word of mouth" and the "viral" nature of the Internet (you tell 5 people, they each tell 5 people, etc.). There
are probably thousands of companies with programs that reward people for sending them new members. (Most are probably not as lucrative as the initial PayPal program.)
Affiliate programs usually
require you to have a Web site, while referral programs do not. There are 3 keys to participating in affiliate and referral programs:
1) the product or service you are referring should be worthwhile from
a reputable company;
2) the product or service you are referring should complement your own services;
3) it should generate enough revenue to make it worth your while.
One affiliate program
that has been around for years is Amazon.com <
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/associates/join/associates.html>. As an Amazon.com "associate," you earn up to 15%
of the sale price on individually linked books that you feature on your site and 5% on anything else that is purchased through your links, including CDs, videos, DVDs, toys and consumer electronics.
It's free to join the Amazon Associates program, but you must have a Web site. You must submit an application, and there are restrictions. Amazon will not allow Web sites that it feels are unsuitable. Sites
that promote sexually explicit materials, violence, discrimination or illegal activities are prohibited.
Restrictions
Most affiliate programs pay quarterly and wait until there is a minimum
amount in your account before cutting you a check. In addition to having to wait for commission fees to accrue, there are usually other restrictions. For example, many programs have anti-spam policies. And
some programs do not allow you to apply your own purchases to the program.
Amazon will apply commission fees to your account for the duration of the visitor's stay on the Amazon site when they have
entered through special links on your Web site. Once they leave Amazon, you earn nothing unless they re-enter through links on your site.
Reports
AuctionBytes joined the Amazon affiliate
program in 2000. I'm very happy with the program, and Amazon makes it very easy to create links and view reports. I can specify dates and look at traffic and order information. A note about privacy - I can
never tell who ordered what. The reports show aggregated figures only. If there are 100 books sold in January, I don't know if one person bought 100 books, or if 100 people bought one book each. But I do
know which books were sold, and how many people visited Amazon from my links each day.
I can create links to specific books and include them in this newsletter (for example, here's a link to the book,
"Protecting Your Collectible Treasures - Secrets of a Collecting Diva" by Judith Katz-Scwartz <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1564773884/auctionbytescom> on Amazon). I can
also create many kinds of banner links for the Web site. See our front page at <
http://www.auctionbytes.com> and look in the lower right-hand corner.
Here are links to more information about Affiliate programs:
<
http://www.webreference.com/promotion/affiliates.html>
<http://www.wilsonweb.com/cat/cat.cfm?page=1&subcat=em_Associate
>
I've created a chart of some affiliate and referral programs that might be useful to AuctionBytes readers (Note - I do not endorse any
of them - please use caution and research them thoroughly yourself). I've posted the chart in the AuctionBytes forums at <
http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?topic=175&foru m=7&> (in Online Auction Services).
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2) How to Buy Books in Used-Bookstores and Resell them for Profit, Part III
==========================
By Craig Stark
I suspect many of you may not know
this, but there's an exclusive group of booksellers on eBay who have everything figured out. They make money hand over fist, sometimes on as few as a dozen auctions a week, routinely attracting final values
well above what ho-hum presentations do for exactly the same items. I keep a list of the ones I know of. At present there are seven names on it, and it took me the better part of two years to find them.
That's how scarce they are.
If you looked at their auctions, it might not be readily apparent that they had anything in common.
There are technical differences in their presentations,
variations of style, even different categories of books offered for sale. Howeverand this, in my opinion, is the key to their successevery one of them share one characteristic that elevates them to a level
the rest of us fall short of.
By the way, I don't include myself in this select group. Yet. It not only takes a recognition of what works and why, but also, an ability to pull it off.
Most of
this is learned; some of it, I suspect, is simply the expression of a God-given talent. In any case, I think I'm much closer to getting it right than I was a year or so ago because I've deliberately studied
what works and attempted to integrate it into my own listings. My average final values have climbed proportionately, and there are those delicious times, more often now than ever before, when a book sells
for far more than it seemingly has any right to.
The reason I've included a discussion of presentation in this series of articles about buying inventory in used bookstores is that the kinds of books
I've recommended looking for would, if listed by any of those seven eBay sellers I mentioned, play directly into their strengths. You can't expect to make this work with any book. There may be a bookseller
out there who can, but I haven't met him yet. No, for things to work well, I strongly believe that you need to offer books that will elicit, or bring forthand here is the key of all keys: an emotional
response from a buyer.
If you can somehow get your buyer to think with his feelings, actually lead with them, and not his brain, it's nothing short of amazing what this can do to your bottom line.
This is exactly what my 'Magnificent Seven' booksellers do in their auctions. They pick the book they know they can stab you in the gut with, and then they stab you.
Think about what sorts of things
in your own life are emotionally charged. To use the example I cited in the second article of this series, if you're 10 or 20 or more years out of college, I can almost guarantee that something that triggers
a memory of those days will lead to a strong emotional event. For many of us, college was our first taste of freedom, our first step in the direction of becoming something more than somebody's kid, and the
memories associated with this are almost inevitably powerful.
The more specific the trigger is, the better. The reason that specificity is so important is that it's the concrete image, not the general
one, which brings forth an emotional response in a buyer and motivates him to open his wallet. When he recalls his alma mater, for example, it's not a general thought of the college he attended; it's
something much more specific--the entrance to a building, say, or a face.
This is why town histories have such an emotional appeal as well. They deal almost entirely in specific things: surnames,
street names, and the like.
Hometowns are emotionally charged topics for almost all of us. Think about other things that affect you similarly. A song? A toy you had as a child that you later see in a
vintage catalog? If you make a list of these things, focus on those topics exclusively when purchasing inventory, and effectively communicate your emotional response in your presentation, you'll be on your
way to eBay stardom.
In Part IV of this series, I'll discuss in detail how to create a presentation that dovetails with this class of books. Contrary to what you might think, the idea is not to dazzle
your buyer with bells and whistles but to draw him in, subtly, and capture his imagination.
NOTE: Part 1 of this series can be found at
<http://www.auctionbytes.com/Email_Newsletter/57/57.html#books>
Part 2 of this series can be found at
<http://www.auctionbytes.com/Email_Newsletter/59/59.html#books>
---
Craig Stark is
a full-time online bookseller working at home. He currently lists books on both eBay and Amazon Marketplace. Email Craig at braintreebooks@yahoo.com. Craig also hosts the Book Forum on the AuctionBytes Web
site. If you have questions or comments about selling books online, go to <
http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/index.php>.
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SEASONS GREETINGS!
On behalf of all of us at Craters & Freighters,
We wish you a joyous holiday season and a Happy New Year.
Thank you so much for your continued support.
Best Wishes For Peace On Earth,
Your Packaging & Shipping Experts,
CRATERS & FREIGHTERS - Call 1-800-736-3335
http://www.cratersandfreighters.com/cgi-bin/gocf.cgi?ref=4MGSJ
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3) Online Sales of Antiques & Collectibles Shoot Up in 2001
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by Ina Steiner
Fixed-price online sales for antiques and collectibles at TIAS.com grew 32% in 2001. Most of this increase was due to better than expected sales in the 4th
quarter.
Online-auction sales for merchants grew as well. TIAS.com merchants sold $1.9 million in Gross Merchandise Sales (GMS) on eBay in 2000. In 2001, that grew almost 90% to $3.6 million in GMS.
"This year people were much more comfortable shopping online," said Phillip Davies president of TIAS.com "We saw a tremendous surge in holiday sales in November and December. Our
merchants did quite well."
TIAS.com is an online version of an "antiques mall." You can go to the TIAS home page and search for particular items, and it will search all of the stores on
the Web site. TIAS is the oldest antiques mall online and has an average of 390,000 items up for sale.
Mr. Davies noticed another interesting trend in 2001 - the sale of furniture online. Shoppers who
want to find one-of-a-kind items are turning to sites like AntiqueArts.com, a site specializing in high-end fine antiques. Eight of the top 20 search terms for 2001 on the AntiqueArts.com site were
furniture-related; the top four terms were, in order: Furniture, Tables, Beds, and Chairs. Services like Craters & Freighters (an AuctionBytes sponsor) make sales of large items possible online by
providing door-to-door packaging and shipping of large and awkward items.
The following "Hot List" from TIAS contains the top 20 search terms in the area of antiques and collectibles for
2001. Remember, these are not sales, but indicate items people were looking for on the TIAS site.
1. Cookie jars
2. Carnival glass
3. Lamps
4. McCoy
5. Depression glass
6. Roseville
7. Dolls
8. China
9. Noritake
10. Furniture
11. Avon
12. Teapots
13. Plates
14. Limoges
15. Rings
16. Clocks
17. Hull
18. Pottery
19. Nippon
20. Milk glass
Source: Tias.com <http://www.tias.com
>
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4) THIS & THAT
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New Glass Discussion Forum on AuctionBytes Web Site
Check out our new
Glass forum in our discussion area at <
http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/index.php>. Harriet Wintermute moderates this forum. Harriet has been a part-time eBayer for
2.5 years and a collector since she was young (My Little Pony). She is fascinated by and enjoys collecting Depression and '40s, '50s, '60s glass. Her favorites are Pyrex and refrigerator dishes. For a
sampling of refrigerator dishes, check out Harriet's website <http://www.limedragon.com
>. Stop in and ask a question or share your collection!
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c2it Online Payment Service Is Free
In case you missed it,
Citibank's online payment service is now free. c2it, which was originally charging buyers (as opposed to sellers) for transactions, is now free to both buyers and sellers! I called their 800 number Friday
night at midnight and got a very nice, helpful customer service rep; And I wasn't put on hold! I have great hopes for this service.
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BuyItSellIt.com Launches Storefronts
BuyItSellIt.com has launched StoreFronts. The price of StoreFronts vary according to how many items you sell, ranging from $19.95/month for up to 50 products to $44.95/month for 250+ items. Basic StoreFronts
are free, and include listings for 10 products and an integrated PayPal shopping cart.
<
http://store.buyitsellit.com>
For a chart listing major StoreFront offerings, go to
<http://www.auctionbytes.com/stores/stores.html>.
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New Newsletter for Searching eBay
TimeBLASTER has introduced the "Dr. Search Newsletter" to help you search eBay
more effectively.
Say you are looking for a Hemingway first edition. Typically there are about 450 "Hemingway" items on eBay. TimeBLASTER say that only about 10% of them are first edition
books.
How do you eliminate the 90% that you don't want? Develop a list of "exclusions" and the right additional qualifiers representing the ways different sellers describe 1sts.
For example, by excluding the word "mariel" you will help get rid of items having to do with Hemingway's grandaughter Mariel Hemingway, a model and actress.
By spending a little time
constructing a good search, you will save lots of time. To learn how to construct a good search, what "exclusions" are, and more, be sure and sign up for the free Dr. Search email newsletter at <
http://www.timeblaster.com/110
>.
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OAUA Update
The Online Auction Users Association board of directors announced a change to its Membership Agreement set to take place on January 17, 2002. The change deals with
eligibility for membership to the non-profit group. The current membership agreement is available at <http://www.auctionusers.org/membagree.shtml>. The organization also asked members to log
on to the site and verify their membership information <http://www.auctionusers.org/members
> for the purposes of keeping member rolls current and maintaining the ability to communicate with members as necessary.
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If you sell Antiques, Crafts, Collectibles,
Art, Jewelry or Gifts online. We can help.
Since 1995 TIAS.com has been showing
merchants how to get their merchandise sold.
Find out why TIAS merchants succeed.
http://www.makeashop.com
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5) Collector's Corner: S&H Green Stamps
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by Michele Alice
A recent spate of newspaper and magazine articles regarding the electronic makeover of the
venerable Sperry and Hutchinson Company into S&H Greenpoints has revived a lot of memories among the general population and generated a buzz among collectors.
S&H, which first introduced
Green Stamps in 1899, reached its zenith during the 50's, 60's, and 70's, but had begun to fade when sold in 1981. Barely surviving over the subsequent two decades, the company was purchased in 1999 by
Walter Beinecke, the great-grandson of original co-founder Thomas Sperry. With headquarter walls lined with old S&H ads purchased on eBay, Beinecke and CEO Rod Parker have begun to transform S&H into
a combination online and card-swipe presence.
So, what have the old S&H trading stamps got to do with collectibles? Two things: First, the stamps themselves, the stamp saver books, and the
catalogs are collectibles in their own right. They represent a period in our history when consumers did not "shop" price, but were rewarded for their loyalty to merchants with the little green
stamps redeemable for a host of consumer goods.
Second, the stamp catalogs are GREAT, not only as collectible items showcasing the kind of merchandise widely available at the time, but also for
identifying and dating all kinds of "common" goods from tidbit trays and umbrella stands to Melmac dinnerware and Libby stemware. Just peruse any period trading-stamp catalog and you'll probably
recognize all sorts of items that you've passed up or picked up at yard, church, and estate sales. For example, last summer I discovered a mint-condition casserole dish, sans box, at a yard sale. It was in a
retired Corning pattern, but I did not know the name for the KIND of dish, which is no longer being manufactured. There it was in an old S&H catalogpattern, description, and number of books.
Unlike the old Sears and Montgomery Ward books that have been showing up at yard sales at ridiculously-inflated prices, I've been able to pick up a number of trading-stamp catalogs for under a dollar, some
even as low as ten cents or a quarter! I never use old catalogs or books as price guides, as the collectibles market is in a state of constant flux and current prices are easily available on the Internet. It
was nice to know, however, that my casserole had been traded for 2 books of S&H stamps ($6.00--$3.00 per book--in 1967 dollars).
(TIP: Trading stamp catalogs come in a variety of sizes, but I
have found that most store quite nicely in 9x12 or 10x15 polyethylene comic bags.)
S&H was and is the most popular of the rewards companies (MacDonald Plaid Stamps, Top Value, Gold Bond, etc.),
and the old lick'm-and-stick'm stamps are still offered by a few stores scattered around the country. So, if you happen to have saved any of the old filled books, you can still redeem them since, by law,
they never expire!
For more information, check out the following:
<
http://www.greenpoints.com> The official S&H Greenpoints Web site
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17717-2001Nov26.html
>. The article by Justin Pope, AP Business Writer, that originally piqued my interest.
Interestingly, I could find no book
currently in print that covers the subject of trading-stamps! If anyone knows of one, please let me know.
---
Michele Alice is AuctionBytes-Update Contributing Editor. Michele is a freelance writer in
the Berkshire mountains of Massachusetts. She collects books, science fiction memorabilia and more! Email her at makalice@adelphia.net eBay ID:Malice9
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6) Letters to the Editor
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Dear Ina,
I have a credit card I use strictly for online purchases. As I use it mainly to purchase books I have a limit of $200 on
the card. I feel that I can afford to write off that much if my card is compromised. This way I am not using a credit card that would enable anyone to run up large bills if I get hacked and I don't have a
hassle replacing the credit card I normally use for large purchases and for my business.
Several months ago my daughter made a purchase online using her credit card. She sent her card number by email
-- half the number in one email and the second half of the number in a second email -- and was hacked and her card number was stolen. She did not, however, send it encrypted.
She is sadder but wiser now!
In closing I would just like to say I find your column very helpful and informative. Thanks for all your hard work it is appreciated.
Sincerely,
Pat
I
wrote back to Pat, and she told me that they did catch the hacker, and her daughter lost about $50 as a result. Pat also told me that when you deal with the credit card companies, "They will try to talk
you into a higher credit limit when you apply for the card, and you just have to stick to your guns and make them understand you really do only want the lower amount."
Thanks for the info, Pat!
-Ina
******
Just a note of appreciation for your auctionbytes. You have, with its contents, cleared up a lot of questions I have had, and given me some really great leads on how to market
on the web. I particularly appreciate the bookselling recommendations....and now, for the first time, I know why I was summarily rejected from opening a z shop....we already have eight books listed there.
So, a great holiday season for you and yours, and again, my thanks for your very, very welcome email messages.
R.P.
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AuctionBytes-Update ISSN 1528-6703
Ina Steiner, Editor, Publisher, Founder: ina@auctionbytes.com
David Steiner, President, Founder: dsteiner@auctionbytes.com
Michele Alice, Contributing Editor
AuctionBytes.com
c/o Steiner Associates
PO Box 668
Natick, MA 01760 |