Archive for August 2006
Use Your Knowledge to Grow an eBay Business
When people find out that I own several home-based businesses, they always ask what I do. When I mention eBay, I can see their eyes light up, because everyone wants to know how to start making money with eBay auctions!I then mention a few of the things I sell on eBay, and since it has [...]
Seek Outside Ways to Increase eBay Traffic
When you see the Powerseller logo beside the userid of an Ebay seller, what goes through your mind? Do you, like most people, naturally assume that this person has got the Ebay game all figured out (and make no mistake — it IS a game!), or do you, like me, blink dispassionately at this trivial [...]
Learn How to Find a Reliable Wholesale List for eBay
It is of sum importance to know the difference between a reliable wholesale list and the 1,2,3 by the hundreds wholesale list online contacts. Because of the market and wholesale business source confidentiality, many businesses have jump on to the wholesale niche selling outdated wholesale sources that are found by the dozens in many Internet [...]
Get Trained Straight From eBay University
That is right you read this title correctly, eBay has a training center called eBay University. Now they don’t give out any traditional diplomas at this institution of higher learning because you won’t need them. What you do get is real world practical advice, tips and tricks to making the most of your eBay or [...]
New Skype Phone Released by TrendNet
Click to ZoomThe bigger names in the home networking game may be D-Link and Linksys, but TrendNet wants to be a major player as well. Looking beyond routers and network cards, TrendNet recently released its ClearSky Skype handset and based on early reviews, it works very well, even if it isn’t the prettiest phone on [...]
Google Checkout Has A Few Glitches Compared to PayPal
Since late June, Kirby Witmer has twice tried buying electronics for his customers using Google Inc.’s online-payment feature, Google Checkout.But all he got were a couple of Google (GOOG) T-shirts.The first arrived after Witmer, who runs an electronics business called KirbTech from his home in Carlisle, Pa., canceled his order for a flat-screen monitor from [...]
Babble Trys to Compete With Skype
The ever-growing Skype community has achieved world renown, but there’s a smaller cult operating in the VOIP underworld known as ‘Babblers’. They’re signed up to a Skype-like service called Babble, and this is their USB stick for instant free calls on your laptop.Like Skype’s Flash phone, the Babblestick plugs into your USB port and automatically [...]
Home Parties Making A Comeback
BusinessWeek: A Pickle Party is in full swing. Thirteen women are gathered in the family room of Denise Dailey, where they look over an assortment of brightly colored cloth handbags and purses. The women flip through binders of sample fabrics. By evening’s end, all of them have combined different shapes, fabrics, and liners to design [...]
Five Secrets To A Successful Launch
Business 2.0 Magazine: Trying to come up with the next big thing? Forget flashy tricks – start with a simple insight and shape it into something unique. When you look at some of the most successful innovations of recent years – products like Apple’s iPod and Motorola’s Razr – it’s apparent that the best innovators [...]
NFIB.com: Though health-care costs are on the rise, several consumer-directed health plans available today can help small-business owners and their employees take more control of their health-care dollars. Consumer-directed plans include health savings accounts, health reimbursement arrangements and flexible spending accounts, and are designed to save employees money by encouraging them to be more involved [...]
The Wall Street Journal Online: Where can entrepreneurs find office space, a research assistant, mentors and access to reams of market research — all free of charge? Try your local library. In an age where Google has become a verb and entrepreneurs have easy access to information from their home computers, libraries have been trying [...]
The Wall Street Journal Online: For sole proprietors, finding the time to build the firm is one of the biggest challenges. More than a third of owners (35%) of one-person firms say that the toughest part is their inability to focus on generating more business, according to a survey by Score, a nonprofit group of [...]
Thomas Antony has a interesting idea about how marketing and selling ethnocentric bracelets: Everyone knows the Livestrong Lance Armstrong bracelets right? I actually did some research in some producers of these bands and you can buy a bulk of these for pretty cheap. Now the idea is this. Create these bands to meet specific target [...]
Britney Spears Leftovers Pretty Costly on eBay
A sandwich which was partially eaten by Britney Spears is being auctioned on internet auction site eBay.The waiter who served Britney and her husband Kevin Federline at a recent function has also put his leftovers up for grabs on the site.Both Britney’s egg sandwich and her husband’s accompanying corndog have already attracted bits in excess [...]
Google & eBay In It For the Longterm
Google and eBay may butt heads when it comes to e-commerce, but yesterday they announced a deal that has the two Net giants sharing revenue on search-related text ads delivered on eBay’s sites outside of the U.S. They’ll also jointly develop “click to call” ads.The deal shuts out eBay’s U.S. advertising partner, Yahoo, and shows [...]
PayPal co-founder Has Fraud Lawsuit Filed Against Him
PayPal co-founder Peter A. Thiel and his hedge-fund management company, Clarium Capital Management, are accused of fraud in a lawsuit filed Monday.The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California by Amisil Holdings Ltd., names Thiel and Clarium as defendants, along with Clarium officers Jason Portnoy and Mark Woolway.Amisil, a risk [...]
Finding And Selling Collectibles on eBay
eBay is one of the largest auctioneer sites on the Internet and literally millions of people use it to either buy or sell items. It is a particularly favorite site for collectors. No matter what you collect, be it cuckoo clocks, antiques, sports memorabilia or jewelry of every kind, you can find it there. This [...]
Have you ever wondered how those Powersellers sell hundreds or thousands of dollars a month on eBay? Once they have the buyer in front of their auction, and they’ve read the description, what encourages them to place a bid? Include a Picture: You MUST include a picture with your listing. Statistics show that auctions with [...]
MarketingSherpa: Podcasting is about to celebrate its second birthday and we don’t know of a marketer out there who isn’t at least mulling over the possibilities. Invented in August 2004, podcasts are one of the fastest-growing media channels in history — from the podcasters’ side anyway. The good news is millions listen to podcasts. The [...]
eCommerce-Guide: With eBay fees up and shares in an overall freefall, there’s no shortage of alternative auctioneer and Web store companies courting disgruntled sellers. And while no one can match the traffic at eBay, some of these smaller companies are seeing a spike in business. Here are three businesses, all experiencing steady growth recently, that [...]
Los Angeles Times: The first note of Ray Foulkes’ weekly piano lesson is the staccato double ring of his telephone. Every Monday at 8 p.m. Foulkes picks up his cordless phone, clicks on the loudspeaker and sits down at his piano to practice jazz and pop standards with teacher Mark Miller. Miller listens closely to [...]
Entrepreneur Blog: Shure Pets, a pet-products distributor that works through independent sales reps and home-party sales, is running a contest to find the best new pet invention. The winning product of the Ulti-mutt Product Invention contest will be sold by Shure Pets, and featured in its catalog and newsletter and by home-party salespeople. Shure Pets [...]
Mom Turns Lunch Bags Into Business
The Beacon Journal: Three years ago. Kristi Thomas was a stay-at-home mom of a second-grader. Each morning, Thomas would spend a few moments adding a special touch to her daughter’s school lunch bag. Some days, it was a love note or words of encouragement. Other days, it was a brainteaser, joke or fun fact. Whatever [...]
6 Tips for Working at Home With Children (tags: workathome) A Graphical History of Home Values (tags: realestate graphs)
Philips is about to launch a Skype phone that allows you to make free web calls even when your PC is not switched on.The device will be unveiled at a press round table at the IFA consumer electronics show in Germany. Few details are available but it seems that it will use a Wifi link [...]
6 Tips for Working at Home With Children
During a typical week, I work from home for twenty to thirty hours. Although this allows me greater opportunity to see my wife and two small children, it can also be a little tricky at times. I’ve developed the following rules and routines for making the best of the situation. Create an office separate from [...]
If You Build It, They Will Come
BusinessWeek: One emerging trend is that some cities aren’t waiting for economic growth to come to them — they are creating it for themselves. And town governments are finding that they, too, have to redefine themselves to attract businesses and entrepreneurs. Like the NFL, towns are seriously recruiting businesses. Along the lines of “if you [...]
Health Care Taps ‘Mystery Shoppers’
Startup Journal: When James Loden, an ophthalmologist, recently peered into a patient’s eyes, he was evaluating her for laser surgery to correct her vision. But her eyes were sharp enough to have already scanned Dr. Loden’s office, noting a small water stain on the ceiling in the hallway, the technician’s missing name tag, and that [...]
Women Outpace National Start-Up Rate
Inc.: The number of women-owned businesses is growing more than twice as quickly as the national start-up average, according to a new report by the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy. While the number of all U.S. businesses increased 7% between 1997 and 2002, the number of women-owned firms grew by 19.8%. In 2002, women [...]
Beginer Basics For New eBayers
Ebay is the internet’s largest marketplace, and it’s an excellent place for buyers to find what they want at bargain prices, and for sellers to find buyers. If you haven’t posted an auction on ebay before, It’s fairly simple to post your first auction on eBay. Just do the following five steps.Step 1: Open an [...]
Blogs Helping Grow Your eBay Business
eBay has recently jumped on the blog bandwagon. They have opened a new section of the website called eBay blogs. This allows a registered eBay user to sign up for and maintain a blog. This is a wonderful new feature and if you are serious about growing your eBay business then you should definitely consider [...]
This site finds all misspellings on eBay, these typos often have no or low bids as buyers usually miss these when searching using the correct spelling. It’s amazing how many misspellings you’ll find on eBay, if only sellers knew that by misspelling their auction description they are losing thousands of buyers as their auction is [...]
eBay’s Partnership With HostedSupport To Distribute ezSuppport
With more people using the Internet as a shopping mall, it has become the first stop for the Internet savvy consumer. However, the convenience of online shopping brings a new challenge for all online sellers and merchants: email overload.To help overcome this, eBay’s ProStores has entered a partnership with HostedSupport to distribute ezSupport Pro and [...]
Skype Teams Up With Google To Expand Network
Just when you thought that eBay and Google were girding for an all out rumble, the two companies decide to bury the hatchet, and play nice. Thanks mostly to Skype, the multi-billion dollar purchase that has yielded little in terms of revenue for auction giant, eBay.Skypeâs current strategy of earning miniscule royalties by licensing its [...]
eBay Compared to the Government & Taxes
Hundreds of eBay Inc. merchandisers say they have closed their online storefronts, and some took their listings elsewhere, in the wake of a controversial [6%] fee increase eBay began charging earlier in the week.This is of interest because the same phenomena occurs when government raises taxes. Substitute ‘government’ for eBay and ‘businesses’ for ‘online storefronts’ [...]
New USB Skype Phone Very Conventioonal Looking
This!RST102UsbPhone.jpg I’ve been testing an evaluation unit of the SkyTone USB Phone (RST102) from Radian Technologies, a conventional looking telephony handset with a USB cord designed to be used with Skype. It works very well and, based on feedback from dozens of people I spoke to using it, the sound quality is somewhere between “sounds [...]
eBay Faces Possible Class Action From Sellers
EBAY faces a possible class action from disgruntled Australian sellers pushed out of business after the online auctioneer jacked up its merchant and other fees by as much as 500 per cent.An online forum lists at least 250 Australian-based internet stores that have closed since the US internet auction giant hiked its fees last Monday.The [...]
New Skype Detection & Blocking Method
Lynanda CS, an independent European IT solutions provider, announced a new methodology to detect and block Skype’s traffic. As the increasing use of Skype in corporate environments is raising concerns among security administrators, such technology could see notable commercial application.PARIS, Aug 26, 2006 –The use of Skype application is constantly increasing in corporate environments and [...]
Chicago Scams Tracked Down with eBay Help
Stacey McBride had gone through a divorce and she needed to sell her $10,400 wedding ring. So the 36-year-old New Jersey woman put the jewelry on the eBay online auction site and soon received a taker. But the taker was a faker.Calling himself Christian Hamilton, he e-mailed McBride offering to buy her one-carat ring and [...]
eBay & Google Teaming Together For Advertising
In a deal between two of the Internet’s most prominent properties, Google Inc. will begin selling advertising on Web auction leader eBay and help buyers quickly ring an online merchant to do business.The arrangement announced Monday promises to introduce “click-to-call” Web site technology to a broader audience and potentially speed its adoption as a means [...]
eBay Not Letting Students Get A Hold of Teacher Manuals
The Internet auction giant eBay has banned the sale of all teaching manuals for homeschool teachers, reported World Net Daily yesterday, causing widespread concern among members of the homeschool community who rely on the trading centre to obtain necessary materials for home study.The new policy prohibits the sale of all teacherâs edition textbooks and related [...]
CNNMoney.com: Facing a $345 billion tax gap, the Internal Revenue Service has set its sights on a new target – the rapidly expanding world of online business. In an effort to crack down on under-reporting by individuals and businesses that sell goods online, an IRS official said the tax agency is discussing creating new tax [...]
Google Scores Ebay Advertising Deal
Associated Press: One more giant advertising partnership was announced today, and this could be one of the biggest yet. EBay has announced that Google will serve up text ads on its sites outside the US. The sum was undisclosed, but must be gargantuan. Half of eBay buyers are reported to live outside the US and [...]
This week’s Carnival of Business is up at SMB Direct Marketing.
Six Ways to Stay Focused at Work
Dave Cheong: Here’s six ways to stay focused at work: 1. Write out a daily task list and plan your day. 2. Allocate time slots colleagues can interrupt you. 3. Do not check personal email in the morning. 4. Set your instant messenger status as busy. 5. Use shortcuts on your computer. 6. Listen to [...]
Productivity High, Clothing Low When Working From Home
PowerHomeBiz Small & Home Business: SonicWALL, a leading provider of integrated network security and productivity solutions, got very interesting results on a survey they did recently on those working from home. The study focused on out-of-office workers, not home business entrepreneurs, but it gives a sneak peak at what home based workers are doing. Here [...]
While researching a story on yard sales I came across an astounding statistic. Gretchen Herrmann, an economic anthropologist who has studied garage and yard sales for decades, estimates that $4 billion is exchanged in nine to 10 million garage sales EACH year. $4 billion a year! 10 milion yard sales. Do the math. That works [...]
This week’s Carnival of Personal Finance is up at My 1st Million At 33.
Junk Boys Find Niche In Home Cleanup
Wichita Eagle: Nick Naparstek needed to get rid of some household junk that was too big to move on his own, but he couldn’t find a service that suited his needs. So he started a business called Junk Boys. It’s a full-service junk removal company that will come into a home and remove items from [...]
Google Expanding Into Business-Software Market
CNNMoney: Google Inc. is making a concerted move beyond search and advertising into the business software market, starting with a set of Web programs for e-mail, scheduling and communications. The online search leader said it has created a software platform to run basic business activities – based on programs it already offers separately. The move [...]
