I’m getting myself a cartoon character from a designer at elance.com!

I’ve received 20 bids from my would be designers…. I had to sift through all of them and shortlisted 4 of them. Now I’ve gotta choose just 1. That’s a tough decision because they’re all great cartoonists.

Meanwhile, my blog template is almost complete! Previews coming soon!

Categories: Web Design | No Comments »

This is the LEGO Toy that sold for USD $58.89!

Too bad I didn’t get paid for it! I have reported this particular buyer to eBay.com. According to eBay’s Non-Paying Bidder/Buyer Policy:

The key to successful sales on eBay is direct communication between sellers and buyers. However, from time to time, misunderstandings occur.

If you have a non-paying buyer and want to get a Final Value Fee credit, follow these four steps:

Contact your buyer. - Done!
Send a payment reminder (optional). - Done!
File a Non-Paying Bidder Alert (this is the same for auction-style listings and Buy It Now). - Done!
Request a Final Value Fee credit.

eBay’s policy for non-paying buyers is:

First offense: warning
Second offense: warning
Third offense: indefinite suspension

Well the eBay policy only lets me get back my Insertion fee and Final Value fee but not my wasted time and effort! Danm it! I hope this doesn’t happen too often!

Categories: eBay | No Comments »

Its been a while since I have updated my BLOG….

I managed to sell 100% of the LEGO toys! Not too bad for my first few tries on eBay.com! All my buyers have paid up except for this 1 guy who hasn’t. I think its because he bid too high for a particular "Recycle Truck" toy and regretted his decision. He actually bid up to USD $58+ for a tiny LEGO toy. I wouldn’t bid that much for a toy but he actually did it…

If he doesn’t pay up within 7 days, I’m gonna have to report this to eBay.com. Hopefully he pays up within another 10 days or something bigger is gonna happen.

Another item I managed to sell off was this Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Premiere Goodie Bag I got last year. I sold it for USD $26! I got it for nothing. Fantastic!

Categories: eBay | No Comments »

Sometimes I do get angry at myself for buying into some of the hype dished out my some internet marketing guru. I’ve got about 5 ebooks this year and I have refunded all of them. Thank goodness for Clickbank.com’s refund policy…. Simply email to refu...@clickbank.com and you’ll get a refund within days.

I’m not sure if these "gurus / experts / mentors" write these stuff to teach people to reach their levels of success or simply to make money off unsuspecting newbies like us. I scratch my head while reading their ebooks to figure out where he’s leading me to next. A higher priced product, coaching program, subscription site etc.

I feel like I’m getting sucked into a black hole. It never ends! You feel like you know what to do but not how to do it. They tell you what to do but they don’t show you how to do it like what they claim. They omit critical information about certain elements in their "System" and "Simple, Step-by-Step" instructions for some reason. I wonder if they want you to learn what they do or simply make money off you.

Don’t get me wrong… We’re all here to make money. Its just that I put honesty and integrity in all my business and personal dealings. It pisses me off when some puts greed before honesty and integrity. There will be crooks like that…. That’s just too bad.

I think I got wiser after reading up more about Internet Marketing. All the tricks like testimonials, "FREE Bonuses", scarcity tactics like "Try before you buy", $1 trials are simply ways to entice you to buy their products. I believe some of them are good. I actually bought an eBay ebook that was fantastic. A lot of them are simply rehashed information you can get for free on the internet. The bonues valued at $XXX are actually freebies you can find with a little more searching on the internet.

Maybe I’ll create a web site to "grill" these gurus with user reviews of all their products. Some web sites have user reviews from the webmaster which I think is just a way to make some money through their affiliate program. How great would it be to have actual users review the product?

That way we’ll know the TRUTH on what’s good and what’s not. It will definitely save a lot of heartache for newbies looking for honest, usable information to make some good money on the internet.

Categories: Internet Marketing | No Comments »

I bought an ebook by the title of "The Silent Sales Machine Hiding On eBay". Its quite a popular ebook on Clickbank.com and the sales copy was attractive and I thought it would help me make more money on eBay.

All was good, I read the ebook and the newsletters for all the great ideas to implement on my eBay auctions.

The most irritating thing about ebooks for me is that they are really good in making big promises, giving you "step by step" instructions to apply what the information in the ebooks. BUT… That’s not always the case. So far I have yet to find a clear and precise "step by step system" that they claim in the ebooks.

In Jim Cockrum’s ebook on "The Silent Sales Machine Hiding On eBay", he recommends adding affiliate programs to your About Me page and inviting people to sign up for your newsletter. Of course he aggressively promotes his own ebook and newsletter and kindly invites us to market his stuff for a tiny profit.

The idea is fantastic but the examples he provided was simply a graphic of his product on an old eBay account he once used. There is 30 min report on how to create the About Me page. I wondered why he didn’t include in the ebook in the first place…. There were supposed to be some HTML templates provided by him, couldn’t find it anywhere…..

That’s my experience of Jim’s ebook. Wait till you hear about the phone call from someone claiming to be Jim Cockrum of the silent sales machine.

I received a phone call at about 7:00 am this morning while I was traveling on the bus to work. This guy calls up and asked me if I have received his "program". Program? I thought I got his ebook? He sounded really friendly and asked me if I have read the testimonials and web site.

He went on with a little small talk and asked me a whole list of questions on my goals, motivations, money I have, credit card debts if any, how much money I had to invest. He was promoting me some kind of coaching program. I was very skeptical and simply played along to see where he was leading me to. He seems to want to make me a success story… how nice eh?

We ended the call with an appointment with his "Senior Director" the next morning at 4:00 AM. Ha! I never received any phone call. I emailed Jim Cockrum that night and asked him for an explanation. He replied to me saying it wasn’t him and he’ll investigate this. No news from him yet… I don’t like the smell of this…..

Categories: Internet Marketing | 1 Comment »

Last weekend, I went to my friend’s house to snap photographs of his LEGO collection. He wants me to help him auction them off at eBay.com. We’ll split the profits once the items are sold! What a great way to get some experience on eBay.com and earn a little profit at the same time. There’s very little risk involved…. not my toys, its his! I only pay for the eBay listing fees!

The process of selling these toys on eBay.com was a little daunting at first. I had to get the shipping rates of UPS Singapore and Singapore Post, jot down the various boxes and packages they have, delivery times etc. Lucky for me, Singapore Post has an autofax service for all their shipping rates etc, UPS Singapore were very helpful, they actually emailed me all the forms and rates I needed. I prefer UPS Singapore because they supply me with all the packaging and the UPS guy comes right to my door.

I’ve been reading a few ebooks on eBay.com selling. I must say they’re some great ebooks out there with very practical and usable tips you can apply straight away. The one I am read is by Terry Gibbs of www.iwantcollectibles.com. Check it out!

Categories: eBay | No Comments »