Digital Items Banned On eBay
Please note this is a rushed post as I felt you needed to know of this new eBay policy ASAP. Therefore I will be providing more information as the week goes on…
I woke up this morning to find a ton of emails in my inbox plus my members only forum regarding this new policy.
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200803.shtml#2008-03-24125416
There is also a ton of activity on eBay’s discussion boards.
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=1000671814&start=0
So as of 31st March 2008 anyone selling digital items will be in violation of eBay’s policies.
Now this does not only affect eBook sellers. This affects anyone selling items delivered digitally.
This can include:
- eBooks
- Audio/mp3
- Digital Videos
- Websites
- Domain Names
- Graphic Design Services
- Photo Services
- And any other service delivered electronically.
Now you may have noticed I have never ever bad mouthed eBay and I have no intentions of starting now.
There is just no point, I would much rather look for the positives that can be taken from this new policy.
And let me tell you the positives actually outweigh the negatives.
There is only one negative issue I can find so far and that is your eBook business can no longer be automated. You will need to make your items physical. And the best way to do this is to burn your eBooks to CD Rom and send it via regular mail. This is not as hard as it sounds once you set up a system to burn and ship CD’s. This task can even be outsourced if you wish.
John… Your joking. I can’t do that…
Oh yes you can, and let me tell you it’s not as bad as it sounds. Let me explain.
By selling physical items you are no longer restricted by eBay’s digital item policy.
For starters you are no longer restricted to the ‘buy now’ option. This means you can list auctions.
You also may be able to list in other categories other than Everything Else > Information Products (I am waiting for a reply from eBay and will confirm this soon)
The up-sell opportunities are truly massive. Remember, you are mailing a physical item to your customers so you have a lot more chance of your further ‘offers’ being viewed. And this is what selling eBooks on eBay is all about.
UK users can list on ebay.co.uk again, no more having to list on ebay.com to avoid the digital item policy.
The chance of selling multiple items will increase dramatically. By offering extra items for no extra shipping means you will sell more. All you have to do is add all purchases to the same CD rom.
Higher perceived value. Because your customer is getting something in the mail you can put your prices up. Just look at the price of any home study course delivered via regular mail.
These are just ideas off the top of my head. I will have more but I felt I needed to get this post ‘out there’ before doom and gloom sets in.
Remember! People who want to succeed will not look at the negatives, they will look for the positives and at the moment I feel the positives far outweigh the negatives.
This is a massive policy change for you and I but we can make this work in our favor.
I expect to make more posts regarding this over the course of the week as I am waiting for a response to a few questions I put to eBay PowerSeller support. Please feel free to share your comments, thoughts, ideas.
Hi,
This is fine if you sell thousands of items.
I’ve been selling on eBay for over two years and average one e-Book a week.
May as well give up.
I’m in Australia and the minimum postage for a CD is 5 quid - who’s going to pay that?
Nobody that buys on eBay, thats for sure. They wouldn’t pay 5 quid for the bl**dy book. LOL
The Grumpy Old Chef
John,
Thank-you for this
Keep up the GREAT WORK!!!
Regards,
Johann
Oh my God.. This is a huge blow…
However, shipping physical ideas indeed is a good alternative.. but john… I am based in India and suppose a person buys my CD from USA.. so I will ship through some courier service.. right? and do I need an export license to do the same?
I am confused.
Please guide me..
John,
Thanks for the post. You’ve made a lot of great suggestions. I knew you’d be right on top of this. Do you know how this affects eBay stores?
Valerie
Ahh Well!!
Information publishers will just have to evolve again, That is what I like about this business, You are always learning!!
Onwards and Upwards, I can’t wait for the next installment.
Regards
Julie
Catalysthere
I know for sure that listing items in the classifieds isn’t a good choice, that is for sure.
Here was a twist of your idea, John. Most of us have something like My Digital Dispatch running. We could continue to do so and offer the instant download as a courtesy to our buyers…or something along those lines.
As long as we can get consumers to eat our costs of shipping, I think we can get through this.
At the very least, it opens the door to a while lot of eBooks to be written since a lot of them are outdated in one week. One way to filter out a lot of product that is circulating from non-active sellers. It will also put a final end to a lot of eBook sellers who won’t put in the extra efforts.
So, in that respect, it could open up the market and make it more profitable in the long run….just with more effort on our parts.
I, too, see no point in complaining about eBay policy. It just confuses me why they would do this in such a “hurry” (one week’s notice). When the fees changed in Feb they emailed us about it for a month or more.
I think it wise, to concentrate on getting buyers OFF of eBay instead of whining about eBay.
I wish there were another platform, but lets admit it, there just isn’t.
Hey thanks so much for tuning a negative into a positive!
I am still new to web marketing so to keep it as simple as possible,
is there anywhere else we could list and sell like ebay ——-
just wondered!
Hi John,
Good post.
I had just learned about this a few hours ago and was pondering the pros and cons and you know this could be a great benefit for serious e-book marketers.
The vast majority of total junk presently being sold as information products or software is going to vanish leaving, hopefully, a better quality which translates into bigger profits.
That’s probably mainly wishful thinking but it’s a step in the right direction.
Ade
Hi John,
Well, I’m still in a daze over this. Am I going to have to give up my eBay Store?
Many Thanks,
Woody
just goes to show you,
never have all of your eggs in the ebay basket. i feel for people who are depending on this income. ebay has put thousands out of business and i can’t wait for a new platform!
John,
Apart from the fact that ALL of your products discuss how to sell digital items on eBay (or at least 95% of them do), you shouldn’t have a problem.
Great! (Heavy dripping sarcasm). Just when I thought I was ready to begin to sell and have pretty much got everything set up! I take the point about the physical items. Would it still not be possible to offer your purchaser a choice then direct them to your domain for a digital download, a bit like having a PDF instruction booklet for a toy? I wonder if it will be possible to offer split mail rates, one for the physical product and one for the digital delivery. I bet MyDD and SMARTDD are chuffed to bits with this new policy.
Ebay is just full of whammies. Why not just send send the file after the transaction is complete manually. This would work for smaller ebook sellers the larger sellers would be overwhelmed.
Well ok the SHOCK is almost over and it’s true. I thought it was April fool at first. We simply have to adapt to change. Yeah you may have issues with postal problems; you may have to look into how you are going to restructure your business. These things happen and we will always be faced with problems.
My first thought was to send the items on CD. You need to work out the cost of bulk buying CD’s, padded envelopes and add these to the delivery cost of your items. The cost will be minimal and no difference to the end result. You may even make more money as you can raise the price of a physical item, and with a good sales page it will sell. We will still retain Powerseller Status as you only need to sell 100 items per month.
Inside the envelope you can provide a nice printed sheet of paper like your download page, step 1 insert disk to your PC, step 2 use the read me file supplied on the disk, step 3 check out my blog or news letter for 5 free eBooks with immediate download and how to make a ton of cash and so on. This way you still get the signup to your mailing list and a chance to sell affiliate products, also your eBay fee’s remain the same.
eBooks and digital items are still going to be one of the lowest priced items on eBay, so you will still find buyers buying your products for feedback. But this time eBay cannot do a thing about it because you are selling a physical item. The only thing that will change is the way we deliver them.
This is a great alternative if your sales are mostly in the US however the majority of my sale are outside of the US.
John,
I didn’t believe it,I thought it was an attention catching subject.
So it’s true!
I am off to close my ebay account.I have nothing else to sell and I can’t do CDs because the postage will be higher than the cost of my ebooks.
Thank you so much for the information.
Beatrice.
That was just what I was thinking of doing, John. I have seen a few successful sellers on eBay selling digital items delivered on CD. I suppose it’s worth a shot instead of just giving up.
Maybe you can also post later how to go about putting the files on a cd? That would be helpful.
Thanks for your informative post.
Keith
What a great opportnity for some one to open a digital eBay. Maybe call it Digital eBay.
Keries
Thanks John!
I guess I’m from the “old school” and I prefer a physical item over a digital one. I’ve made copies of cd’s and dvd’s for 2-3 years and the cost of mailing one cd in the United States is $.58 along with the cost of your cd & mailing package will cost you around $.65 total.
But I can’t understand why eBay would do this, especially since there are hundreds or even thousands of digital items listed over the course of a day. With the cost of listing these alone would amount to a large chunk of change. Now I wonder what will be next?
Thanks again! !
Jeanette
Can someone point me to some valid places to sell other than eBay.com?
In the past I have tried some other places, but they do not seem to be worthwhile. I suppose clickbank will become the superseller for eBooks once again?
Like many, I will also try to sell the info products, graphic design, and more via CD but this will really upset costs and potential customers.
Is there any way to convince eBay not to do this??
Good luck everyone!
~ DataWorkZ
How will this effect MYDD and DLguard. Any ideas
Hi John,
Solution is simple
DONT USE EBAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s not the only online auction site.
Paul.
Universal Money Magnet
www.unimag.net
Well I never! I’m glad that we’ve got a guide like John because I have just this week begun preparing a site and material to start selling my E-Books from EBay/Web Site. Now I’m completely taken by surprise by this sudden counter-stroke. How did EBay know I was about to succeed at last?????!!!!!
I’ll try to remain positive, whilst secretly performing some mental strangulations!! I currently sell some rather heavy candles on EBay, and from our Shop Web Site, and I was really looking forward to finally using MyDD and NOT having to parcel things up and then try to find a Post Office that is still open (they just closed my local one!).
Such is life - I look forward to further discussion and a rapid adaption to a new formula!!
Thanks John, at least I am aware of it now!
John Reed, York, UK
Just a thought but how do you define a physical product? Is a letter with a website URl a physical product? So we have come full circle with email being replaced by snail mail.
Keries
Hello
what would you recommend on using paul?
BTW if one lists any digital products in the classified ads, please note that it will cost you $9.95 up front for each and every eBook or digital item through eBay.com for 30 days listing. And eBay will also list their own ads on the pages in which you have no control over.
They say that the eBooks and digital items cost little to make, but not for those who take the time to research, market, and professionally make an eBook.
Please let us know the ruling on if one can sell via placing any digital items on CD, I for one would like to know more if it will be allowed, somehow though I doubt it.
And my next question is, for those that sell many eBooks and digital items, will they provide an easy method of removal or switching over, or will it have to be hand done for those that own the basic stores. Seems kind of unfair to do this to people and give only a week to make any changes to our own stores and such.
Hmmm. Positive, I have yet to see much to make it positive.
~ DataWorkZ
Agree with Paul to an extent. I know eBay is big but no one auction site is as big as the customer base? Surely if all power sellers downed tools for a week eBay may be convinced to change thier (tiny?) minds. With the advances in web technology and everything that the ebooks I’ve bought suggest, I thought that the digital industry was all set to keep expanding big style. I guess eBay do not want to have the global reach anymore. I reckon they are going to lose a huge wad of money on this as newbies and one off digital sellers will not want all the grief that will be associated with CD making etc.
I cannot find a mention of the ban on eBay itself. Where do I need to look for this info? How will it affect listing policies for digital items. Will it just be the delivery or the posting of adverts and auctions?
John
It seems odd. If they were concerned about feedback on cheap digital items being used to cheat the system why didn’t they just say that no feedback would count on items under £5 or whatever figure they think is appropriate.
Some websites sell for hundreds of dollars so how could they suggest that the feedback from those sales is not valid?
Tina
Well this is just fantastic….
what happens to those of us who mainly sell ebay related tools etc?
Have just read a reply posted by ebay on the ebay.com discussion boards kindly mentioning that UK and Australian ebay sites are to ban digital goods outright… not even giving the classified ad facility.
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200803.shtml#2008-03-24125416
This is the link that PlanetSMS posted.
I was thinking the same, if there was a way for us all to get together on this and approach eBay, maybe we can get them to change their minds.
Another note: most of us here do not sell just on eBay, some do. But with asking the question of where else to sell, I was trying to open it up for conversation to allow others to see other places to sell, not just by telling people where to go. And with people chiming in to say what works better for them and opinions on those sites will help make it easier for others to make a choice for other places to sell.
Do you think eBay will allow selling eBooks and digital items to sell? Their policy states no digital items in the auctions. So how is an eBook or digital item sold on CD going to really work? I think we need to see what eBay rules on this to see if this still is a good thing or not. eBay might still not allow digital items of any form, CD or physical delivery by mail or not!
But this certainly creates a show stopper of questions on this topic doesn’t it?
Good luck to all in the eBay digital boat!
~ DataWorkZ
Just a minor thought…..
I wonder if the following could work?
List a classified ad offering all of your digital items, and also list the items individually with shipping on CD etc, but include links such as ‘view other items’ to direct people to purchase the digital download versions via the classified ad…
Food for thought?
Hello Jon,
Thank you for bring out this newsletter so quickly about this decision. I sell mostly ebooks in my Store. I do not believe in the Classified Ads at this time, they have proven not to work for me.
I wonder if Ebay is doing this has anything to do with the new feedback rule coming up in May…I came to the same conclusion as you, to put the Ebooks on Cd and mail them out. Yes, you can put extras on the cd that could bring you business to another website or back to purchase another cd in your store. The change is here, we can either adapt or take out business somewhere else. I believe Ebay must have a good reason for this, but wish they would have given us longer notice to fix out business…
Looking forward to your next newsletter,
MagiesPlace.info
Free Ebay item Advertising
Thank you for the update, John. This news is unbelievable! Guess I’ll be re-working “My Plan” today.
Truly,
JoAnn
LOL…… Come on John,
Be honest - You wanted more traffic to your blog so you bought ebay and made the policy changes ????
OK - maybe not yet…. hehe
What’s done is done - but one thing is for sure …..
There is a MASSIVE opportunity for people who ‘think outside the box’ to formulate new systems and methods to operate here…
And those who do and jump on it quickly will surely find more success and far more quickly than they probably would have under normal circumstances!!
I fascinated to see what comes out of the wash of it all.
Randy
www.SuccessAndYourHead.com
John,
I’m devastated! I’m a total newbie, and I am just about ready to go live with my website after following your resale rights blueprint, (it’s taken me 6 weeks with my other commitments). Surely Ebay will be cutting their nose off to spite their face with all the shops and listings that they will lose revenue on, anyway no use crying over spilt milk, I think that Daniel Sumner’s Idea sounds a great way around this problem, but please can you let us have a blueprint to making CD’s asap, and I’ll definately keep watching my inbox for your mail.
Thanks for the info.
Veronica
Hi John,
thanks mate for the very positive feedback to all the negative that may now resolve due to ebay’s decision, to ban digital sales on their auction site.
I am one of your pupils on the coaching course, however I was laid off a little because of an illness I had. This cost me 3 weeks so I am now going to catch up and get my e-book finished which I then have to put on CD and also on my website at www.digitalebookstore4u.com
You wanted to view our blogs John so I am killing two birds with one stone here, mine is www.geoffreyhadley.com
I will start posting now I am back on my feet and get some traffic going to it. In fact, I will post this comment I am writing now. Why not?
I can understand a lot of people getting p….. off out their, (especially Clive from Australia or “The Grumpy Old Chef” as he aptly calls himself), but what the hell, if this didn’t happen it would be something else.
If you don’t change what you are doing today, all your tomorrows will look like yesterday!
So changes take place and we have to adapt to them as best we can. We cannot sell digital products on ebay anymore! Well big deal. We will have to change things around and pick out the positive things that will without a doubt resolve out of this change in our online business ventures. Where there is a negative, there is always a positive and vise a versa. We live with this phenomena every day of our lives, but no one takes notice of it.
Well, now some people will, because it is now affecting their lives and their business.
Go for it people. As John rightly said, a lot of positive will come around due to this change and he will be there to help us out. He has already given you the path you may have to take and it is not a bad one at that. I am no Computer freak but I am sure that I can burn one of my e-books to a CD and wrap it into a neat little envelope with loads of data about me and my different business issues I have on the net. I think that is better than a digital delivery to be quite honest.
I will now contact my customer physically and I can personally hand him/her my details.
“People do not join companies, people join people”
Yes, we will have to change a few things around but, a change is always good.
You just watch how the clever people out there use this drastic change to their advantage.
See you sometime in the real world!
All the best and all success
Geoff
I think eBay just shot themselves in the foot. Over the last three years my focus has been to develope automated income streams. I have been driving traffic from my websites to my “Buy it Now” listings on eBay.
Goodbye eBay Hello ClickBank!
I discovered this new policy yesterday when i tried to upload my weekly sales listings for magazine subscription… they have been banned as of MARCH 24… SO, I figured… no problem I increase my dogital offering… so I went and created a few new ebook listing…
I discovered the new policy when I was unable to add the new digital products to my ebay store…
yesterday was one of those days…..
I too agree CD’s are the way to go… there is a learning curve but
Kunaki is the way to go…
I’ll be adding my stuff today… sure wish I had MRR to the Kunaki script… lol…
This will be a good thing… those of use who continue on will reap the rewards…
For me I don’t have a choice.. 90% of my income comes from my ebay store
from the announce ment they say the reason for the change is feedback manipulation issues real and perceived…
I think the real issue is all of the lazy people who are running 99 cent sales to build their lists… and the associated customer
service issues…
I know when I sell an ebook if I have any sort of melt down a long the way to the customer getting their purchase, many ebay user are quik to complain… the smaller the purchase the more they complain…
I get more complaints about my $1 items then I do my real money makers that sell for more then $10
My policy from day one has been to hit the refund button for any purchase if I receive the slighted negativity within my guarantee period…
JOe
So the great eBay fall out begins. They’ve already upset top sellers who’ve gone elsewhere.
I think that someone in the company saw that ebooks and such delivered electronically was cheapening the system so they have a polite way to get rid of them. Notice that you can post them in the Classifieds section for $9.95 for 30 days. Might as well use craigslist.
eBay is over for me. No interest anymore.
Talk about being boned, this takes the prize! I was toying with a plan whereby I would basically give away large quantities of (almost) free stuff from my website in the hope that I could get free publicity. Reading this forces me to cancel that plan. Add to that Ebay’s 20-30% commission fees, and it almost guarantees I will never sell anything again on that site. I defy anyone to prove to me that they are making, rather than losing, money on Ebay.
As a buyer and a seller it is difficult to see how this is a positive step and i’m a fairly positive individual!
As a buyer, my preference is buying digital eBooks and digital downloads of mp3s. I prefer having something instantly and usable in just a few minutes. I’m definitely less likely to order a CD etc. when I’m looking for instant information and prefer it. That’s what made the option so great. I personally think it is a little backwards in thinking. It’s 2008 and electronic information is the way to go!
In my other job in the Oil and Gas industry, I initiated all the work to be done electronically which has allowed me to work remotely from home, saves 40,000 a year on paper costs and the client receives their report in less time. If I was told electronic items are no longer allowed, we would be out of competition, I’d be back in a negative office, and we would be adding extra costs to the company! Doesn’t that sound backwards??
I will try to see the positive and see how we can move forward but I think maybe eBay’s approach could have been a bit different.
Linda
I can seriously think that even though using a CD will be a good idea, it will also be time consuming.
Perhaps there are other options?
Isn’t it about time someone else produced an auction site, so that when ebay closes its doors to digital sellers they can use the new one.
Maybe someone can come up with this.
I’m a programmer and graphic designer and can offer my services for this project if needed.
Any ideas.
Daniel
Thanks, John, for being so positive on something so potentially negative.
Here is the Announcment Link…
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200803.shtml#2008-03-24125416
Don
www.TeamThrifty.com
Unreal. I am a Power Seller and have a 100% feedback of 1598, with a 4.8 rating - I sell an ebook for 12.97. None of my feedback is from “feedback manipulation”. Why am I being punished? Well, onwards and upwards I guess.
Here’s a question - on a classified ad, are you allowed to put a PayPal button for payment, or a link to a page with a PayPal button for payment? I see others doing it. I guess the bad part about that would be that sales would not count towards Power Seller ratings, or feedback.
Good luck all!
Ken
Daniel, I agree with you, someone should really come out with an auction site that can take over it lol..
Its because of the 1cent items that others are being punished.. how… lame? lol
When a door closes, another opens?
I think this is a great new opportunity and opens the door to those looking to ramp up sales through classified ads. Shovel away the dirt and we may be entering a new era for digital goods on eBay. That article literally opens the door for anyone wanting to sell digital goods without penalty from eBay or feedback.
I look forward to the new challenge!
John,
Wondered why my automation rules were failing this morning!
All seems very swift and no nonsense. I have to agree with you though and we must see this as an opportunity to create some upside but feel a busy period of “regrouping” coming on.
Thanks for being on the ball!
Neil
I guess you could still use DD and other tools like it, by having some kind of webstore and using ebay to drive traffic there? One good thing about that, is that there would be no listing fees. You could also offer two prices, one for it on cd, and another for downloadable.
I wonder if one of the reasons they are getting rid of ebooks is because there are lots of sellers who sell for one penny, and people who buy and sell for this price in order to inflate their feedback. For all we know, ebay could well be planning on buying or creating an ebook site, and advertising it on ebay like they do gumtree. Whatever plans they have, be sure its in their favour in the long run, not the individual sellers.
Also, there are lots of very rubbish ebooks out there, so it could seperate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. You’re more likely to get bad feedback on a rubbish ebook if the customer is paying more for it on cd.
On a personal note, I’ve managed to lose some ebooks that I’ve paid good money for because my hard drive died. Two in particular I would have prefered to have them on cd, and wish I had transferred them to that myself when I got them.
I think planetsms is in a good position to start a download ebook auction site because he is quite well known and if other ebooksellers were to use it, they could help with getting traffic for it as a joint effort rather than just sitting there waiting for an item to sell. I’m sure other auction sites would get more traffic if the sellers plastered their name everywhere and helped get them more well known and not just leave it to the owner to sort out. It would be in everyones interest.
David Grace, what about people like me who are interested in joining ebay and selling ebooks?
Seems strange that a leading internet company is moving away from doing things digitally and forcing people back to using old-school methods, surely their boffins could have come up with some way of stopping people manipulating their feedback. Ebay have got people just by the sheer number of buyers hit their site every day, but I’m sure there will be somebody out there that will rustle up an alternative digital product marketplace.
I have posted my answer to the “rule change” on eBay.
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?messageID=1012450968�
Don
www.TeamThrifty.com
From what i think…
Ebay will be losing their sellers and customers soon… hmm
I have watched the evolution of ebay for many years whilst searching for business opportunities that would make me some small profit to add to a poor wage.
I have also noticed how as it has grown, it has put obstacle after obstacle in the way of the seller. New rules thrown in on a whim, heavy increases in price for sellers etc, etc.
This last one just had to happen eventually. When an industry grows into a power, it is always the users of that service that begin to suffer. Maybe the time is ripe for change but with all of the changes that ebay have implemented so far i can only see difficulty for the ones that are already struggling to make an ebook business work.
It is obvious that the ones that have a thriving business will be able to handle the change and the strugglers that cannot adjust will indeed find it harder to make any income at all. This will then lead to more profits for the thriving businesses and if they were to tell the truth, they will not care one iota about the ones that cannot continue.
The one and only solution that will benefit all ebook and digital sellers alike it for a group of people to come together and implement an auction site dedicated to digital products. Yes i do realize that this would take considerable time and effort for it to get to anything like the recognition of ebay. I do feel that this at least would give all sellers a better chance in this field to succeed.
Will PayPal i ask myself be next to abuse the people that made it what it is today, especially now that it is part of ebay or vice versa throw more spanners in the works as it already has done to the Paid To Click industry. Only time will tell on the whole of this outcome.
Vince
Create an ebook Marketplace.
Where everyone can buy and sell ebooks.
Classified ads are cheap and easy lead generators. This is a great opportunity and you can create sites easily at a low cost where you can use your classified ad to create a list and then point people to your site (Here is mine: www.grace-sales.com). Be creative, this is a great opportunity!
Don’t let eBay beat your creativity!
Also, a lot of John’s ideas will be transferable, and I bet he is making some adjustments as we speak. Let eBay become what it needs to be and says in the news clip - a lead generator!
Hello! John thanks a lot for telling us.
Yes, we have to think positively, but we have to have a brain storm to get the best method or 2-3 methods from where each person can pick up what is best for that person.
This is what I am thinking:
1) we can have a classify add
2) from classify add we send people to a squeeze page, we collect leads – this is good, and now we are outside of eBay now
3) From squeeze page we send people to a pre-sell page with more that just one product, each product will have PayPal button. We have a PayPal account we can use it outside of eBay as well
4) We also have MyDD correlated with our Paypal acct., MyDD will send the eBooks digitally as it is doing now
5) Step 3) and 4) are outside of eBay and I suggest doing them in a different window, the people can come back and buy more.
In conclusion what I am saying is:
• We use classify adds just to use the eBay traffic.
• When we are outside of eBay PayPal and MyDD must work as usual.
I think we have to contact Socrates at MyDD and see his input on this.
Again thanks
Regards
Michaela
Well, there goes my life. I sell only digital products, and eBay was the best place to do it. I live and work in South Africa, so sending a physical book or even a CD to other countries won’t be an option. With the Rand/Dollar exchange rate as it is and with our expensive postal rates it will eat up all my profits, or at least make the product too expensive. No buyers, no profits = no income.
If eBay callously cut the throats of all the legitimate sellers to get rid of a few scammers the problem is in their way of thinking and their system. Who’s going to go at the next problem?
Frans
This is a very bad move for ebay. Before I even knew there was a change, I tried to change the title of one of my ebook listings yesterday. It kept prompting to change to the classified ad format. (All digital goods had to be in the ‘classified ad’ format.) So I kept going back and trying to change the format. There was not any classified ad format choice given. When you are selling a $15 ebook and they charge $9.95 for the listing PLUS their final value fees, plus their listing fees, (and lets not forget Paypal’s divvy,) ebay can just go jump in a lake. I have been very frustrated at them for YEARS and this just takes the cake. Its nice that John (and others) can stay positive about them. I am usually a very positive person. There is only one thing I’m positive about here though. Ebay is making a big mistake. They will lose a lot of business! No ones happy about this change! You might be adapting, but you’re not happy!
Here might be an alternative. I can across this site when I was browsing thru one of the giveaways. It’s called Bidszilla. They currently charge no listing fees and a very small final value fee. There are not many listing of digital items there so I listed one to give it a try. They offer different types of stores ranging from free to premium and from just looking around the site it looks like they are open to suggestions as to other catagories. Maybe if a bunch of us start using this it will become the next “eBay” Just a thought.
– TIP –
RE: “You need to work out the cost of bulk buying CD’s, padded envelopes and add these to the delivery cost of your items.”
Instead, use a fulfillment company to do all of this for you. I use Kunaki.com and it costs me $6.75. $5 of that is passed on to the customer. So for $1.75 I get a CD (in a DVD case) shrink wrapped and shipped internationally to my customers.
You can manually go to the admin area and fill out the order form for each customer. Beats manually creating the CD each time (or duplicating) and shipping it out yourself. Plus, they now take PayPal. You take your eBay payment via PayPal and turnaround and send Kunaki their $6.75.
I have some videos that show you how to create an auto-run data CD for digital items, and how to use Kunkai. I sell the Kunaki videos alone for $27, but I would be happy to put the videos together in a package for $7-10 if it would be helpful to anyone. These are licensed videos, and per the terms, I can’t give them away. But given the situation, I have no problem letting go for cheap if it helps.
If John feels this is a good suggestion, I’ll work something out with him for you guys. I won’t hi-jack his excelleng blog with an Ad.
Of course, as I understand it.. you can still sell digital items exclusively in the Classifieds for $10 (for 30 days).
Dave
I can understand ebay have a problem. It has been far too easy for a fraudster to buy a heap of 99p, or less, ebooks and build up excellent feedback records in no time at all and then go scamming people before they disappear again. Something needed to be done.
The option Ebay have chosen seems daft though. In the age of digital information they are effectively putting the block on it.
I see their wording is “all goods that can be digitally downloaded or transferred electronically” so CDs should be ok to sell.
It may mean that the totally hands off method of selling will end and there will be a few trips to the post office required but profit margins will increase though numbers of sales are bound to drop.
Charge more for the product and then add a little bit more for P&P. It might work very well for those who can get their systems in place to run their businesses like this.
I do wonder how many ebay sellers have had heart attacks this morning. It must have been a terrible blow to a many, many people and there must be quite a few ebay selling guides that are instantly out of date after this sudden change.
The bottom line is that this is what happens when you run a business. Things change, customers go elsewhere. It’s adapt or die folks.
John
Well to be honest I am not surprised with eBay. They have just become greedier and greedier. They seem to have this policy of giving with on hand and taking double away with the other!
To be totally honest I knew this day would come. It made me sick seeing people selling eBooks of 1 cent or 1 penny. I was totally against people doing that as it showed no respect to the eBook authors and no regard to the hard work that some authors put into thier eBooks.
There is no ways I am bowing down to eBay, I think I’d rather give up than break my right to freedom of movement, speach and anything else that is our right. I just cannot understand eBays thinking. There will be a lot of fees lost on their part. Soory I just needed to have a rant!!
Rant over….
We can remain positive and devise new ways to sell, new ways that’ll in the end make eBay the looser. eBooks sellers are crafty people and I am sure within a couple of weeks there will be a huge list (or eBook) of how you can beat the new eBay policy and new ways to make money.
John thanks for the notification.
Take care
Valda
Bugger!
There are alternatives to eBay!?
I presume that MyDD works outside of eBay as it relies on the PayPal return (I guess SMARTDD and DelGuard do the smae). As long as the title exactly matches the paypal button etc then I see no problem with using a classified add as a pure lead generator. You could do a lot worse than $9 odd/month to promote a site. The problem is going to be for those that need to build a list (like me!). Those that have a list already will do okay as they generate mucho leads through the list.
It would be great to think that likeminded people (us!) could get together and create a new social/info product site, each building each others list. Sales could eventually (?) be taken off eBay completely(?).
Whaddya thunk!
john (a complete noob)
ebook-bliss.com
John
I have great respect for your usual marketing, but this blog post title is misleading.
The policy at eBay states:
“To preserve the integrity of the Feedback system, effective March 31 all goods that can be digitally downloaded or transferred electronically must be listed using the Classified Ads format.”
This interprets quite differenetly from “Digital Items Banned On eBay”
“Digital Items Restricted On eBay” would be more to the point, and avoid the Chicken Little syndrome.
This will be interesting for those of us selling websites - I have sold several that would never have fit on a single CD - and I usually sell them as a package - on their own account and the new buyer just takes over the whole package, and I transfer the domain name to them.
Open to all ideas!!
melody
I am a student of John’s coaching program and here’s how I see all of this…
“Where others see misfortune or coincidence we must see opportunity and providence. That is the true heart of an entrepreneur.”
To me, the solution is simple, There are 2 ways you can look at this and you just have to chose one or the other:
1) You can make this the excuse for your failure.
2) You can make it tthe reason for your success.
So how will you tell your story one year from now?
How many times have you tried to sell an ebook on eBay and seen that dozens of people have it listed for 1 penny?
If we really think about all the riff raff and over saturation of GARBAGE on eBay, I actually think its about time it all got cleaned up! When the trash is eliminated the gems will shine!
Here’s what I see in the near future…
A dozen new tutorial topics for ebooks to help people cope with this adjustment.
A brand new auction site Specifically designed for digital delivery sellers like us that will grow to rival eBay. (Perhaps created by ME!)
Many of you will become bitter and resentful towards Ebay. Thats OK, because humans inherently have trouble coping with change. But the reality is that there are some things you can control and some things you cant. Deal with it.
The key to survival is to quickly adapt. If you choose to sit on the pitty pot crying “poor me.. poor me..” you will get run over by entrepreneurs that are charging forward to look for new cheese.. LIKE ME!
To your success,
Omar-Martin.com
Suggested reading: “Who Moved My Cheese” by Spencer Johnson, M.D.
Greetings John,
Thank you for the information!
While it may seem as if the bottom dropped out for some of you, this REALLY is a good thing when you consider the fact that it means you can raise your perceived value (and therefore increase your prices). Now…you can deliver the ordered product on the CD but also include more freebies on it that help “spread the word” about other products you carry!
The possibilities are endless if you get super creative!
Imagine, on a CD you can deliver the original item purchased, plus:
1. A digital catalog of ALL your products and/or services.
2. A slide show of your most popular items.
3. Audio and video salesletters to guide users to other websites you own.
4. “Triggered events” using iframes and audio.
5. Previews of any workshops or teleseminar products.
6. Your digital business card.
7. Trial versions of other products you want to sell.
8. Your printable “order form” they can print, fill in, and mail to you!
… and so on.
Sure, some of you are worried about the “shopping costs” that are involved in shipping the one item ordered but you’re not thinking outside the box here. The fact is, you can NOW deliver much more to these same customers — by delivering it on a CD ROM and actually SAVE money on the shipping cost that it would take to deliver them individually.
IMO — take it for what it’s worth.
All good things,
Bonnie
Hi John,
Thanks for keeping us informed. I just cannot believe that
eBay would do this… seems like there would be much better
solutions to resolve the feedback issue. Banning all digital
items? I have sold a lot of websites on eBay, I suppose they
would fall into this category too??
I read through the other post, a lot of people looking for
another solution. I recommend Kunaki. They will produce
and ship your information cd, or dvd very inexpensively.
Valleres has a script that will integrate with Kunaki and
automates the entire thing, more here:
http://SoftwareKing.us/pro/kunaki.htm
Be Blessed!
Todd Moss
http://toddmoss.com
Thanks John for that timely information. I don’t actually sell digital download items on eBay but I do sell eBooks on eBay and deliver them on CD and I also use their Classifed Ads to grow my mailing list for eBook sales outside of eBay.
I read with great interest your comments about placing products on CD. I also agree this is the way to go, I used to sell quite a lot on CD a few years ago and then just stopped when I restarted selling collectibles.
I have however produced a short report your readers might like about selling ClickBank products via eBay Classified Ads which more or less works just as well for other eBooks. The report was almost finished until this announcement came from you about eBay banning digital download products from their auction listings but still allowing them in Classified Ads. So I’ve decided to add a bit more to the report and cover more than just ClickBank products. If any of your readers would like a free copy, it will be ready in a few days, then all they have to do is email me - ah@meanderpress.com and I will send the download details when it is ready. They’ll forgive me I hope if I don’t reply to their emails until the report is ready as I want to bash on and finish it fast.
I know most people, including myself, are very grateful to you John for this timely information. Thanks so much.
Avril
Agree with Omar (sort of)
As a complete noob who was just about to go live (having sourced quality products, set up my domain etc etc and basically followed all of John Thornhills teachings (plug!) this just may be the opportunity for a new generation of digital product sellers.
Omar is absolutely right in how dissillusioned (huge word!) one can become when you think you have a real quality product only to see 100 or so listed on eBay for less than 5p (old money!).
Perhaps ebook creators will now come into thier own. Maybe we cannot rely on resell rights alone. I personally think that the PLR business will soar (err, more than already!).
I am wondering how easy it would be to set up a site that allows info product exchange as well as sales.
If you are promoting quality then the classified add will work in your favour(?).
This is not the death of info products on eBay, rather a New Dawn.
ebook-bliss.com
PS - I will not be upset by this, or the fact that I have spent the last 5 weeks of my life setting everything up! I will take it on the chin and crack on! As a noob there were / are many hurdles in the way anyway, 1 more is not going to put me off!
This is no surprise to me. I am just starting out selling eBooks, eBay has been having some problems with this digital products for some time now. There is still Amazon, and Yahoo stores. (right Now) and you can still sell off your own website. It doesn’t cost that much to ship a CD, We may have to increase or book price a little to help offset this, but I am willing to bet Yahoo, Google, or someone is not going to let this source of income die!
Another thing, do you think the top power sellers are just going to roll over concerning their lively hood??
Hi Everyone,
I think that eBay has finally realised that all the junk and illegal information products sold on its site is a real issue. Of course, their decision to effectively shut down the selling of downloadable products by forcing sellers to use classified ads will have a huge impact on the honest sellers, too.
I guess anyone who has been relying entirely on eBay for their business is now realising that maybe they ’shouldn’t be putting all their eggs in one basket’.
As John says, “…look for the positives…”.
Nick
John I had similar thoughts on burning to cds… in fact I have a video game/video rental store, and have actually sold a few cheat guide ebooks to my “physical” customers. They give me a buck or two and I burn them a cd to take home. I spoke with a guy from ebay on the phone who suggests not using the minimum price of $1 and maybe go to $2 or more for each… this will probably lower sales in volume but may raise it in dollars, and will definately improve the quality of products circulating.
Here is an important piece I want everyone to know. I have two ebay accounts one is all ebooks of course the other is all media (video games, dvds, cds, books, ebooks). The media account is 8 years old, 4008 feedback, 4 negatives… not bad. This account was almost suspended with no questions asked just for selling ebooks, as if you sell them with other physical products they consider it “Feedback Manipulation”. People have been adding ebooks just to boost their DSRs. Most sellers have problems keeping the s&h charges and times categories high, and use ebooks to improve their score so they can over charge shipping on other items. If not for my powerseller account manager saving my account I’d be completely out of work… just for selling ebooks on the side.
It’s all over…
When people are not ready to pay for ebooks worth $0.99, then who the hell they will pay $5-$10 for shipping…I have idea…John have big email leads…so why not start his own portal like ebay…a portal where we can sell ebooks.
Nick, the guy from ebay that called me says the big wigs at ebay are concerned with people using ebooks to boost their DSRs and that way they would get the powerseller discounts of 5% - 15% when they don’t deserve it. They only did this because their last policy change regarding feedback and fees is flawed, and this is how they cover their asses… they basically told me this on the phone, and that is why they almost suspended my account… Even though I do $10,000+ each month is sales of all types of products, all they cared about was their money and making their new policies work.
Anyone selling physical products and ebooks together as I was, should stop ASAP before you loose your other business right along with it.
Alex
Hi John,
I just bought your ebay manual - which I really enjoy & appreciate, thank you - when i noticed your email about ebay banning digital products from 31 Mar 08 - typical!
I’m with you - no point bad mouthing ebay - it’s their train set and they can do what they like with it. It will mean a bigger impact on the environment though - instead of downloads that have almost nil environmental impact, we’ll all be burning CDs and DVDs, with their plastic cases - lots of oil-based plastics plus the aluminium in each disk, and then the fuel to transport the finished item across the world to the customer - not green at all, and perhaps over time this is the angle used to get them to reverse their decision.
So, alternatives…? How about sending a letter in the post to each customer, providing them with the download details - perhaps we include in it a ‘free’ version of the report on paper, and the full version they download… using something like DLGuard to generate a download code that can only be used say 3 times, to stop abuse and download theft?
I wonder how long before somebody comes up with an alternative to ebay digital downloads… perhaps we now turn our attentions to ClickBank and CJ and the others maybe?
Anyway, just some thoughts.
Your manual still has lots of relevance, though I guess you’ll be updating it soon in light of this ebay development? I’ll look forward to an updated copy!
Thanks again,
Martin
Hi john,
This puts a cat amongst the pigeons.
I have a suggestion.
You know plenty about the ebook market. Start another one, on the
pattern of ebay, just named differntly.
Must be worth getting in a good techie to do the soft ware.
come on john I’m yours forever!
John,
Digital sales can still be automated - via classified ads. I followed through on one or two such ads on eBay.com. In most cases there’s a link in the ad to a mini site selling the product. In one there’s a PayPal button that takes you straight to PayPal to pay for the product, much as you would do with a normal ‘Buy it Now’ transaction.
Regards
Trevor
Melody, from way above… if your websites are too big for cd, then what you can do is have the cd include just a download page link. Instruct your buyer to cut and paste the link the same as you would with an auto-email delivery. That would take up no space and then you could sell anything really.
P.S. I was thinking of doing this for all of them so that I can still generate traffic… post a reply or email alamundo@aol.com if you have an opinion on having the cd redirect to a download page to generate traffic.
Alex
Looks like there are going to be many people scrambling around for a way to use eBay after March 31. Be interesting to see what happens.
Let’s stop offering our digital articles on ebay for a while. We can hit them at the only place where they are sensitive: their wallet!
Question.
Let’s co-ordinate a co-op.
We’ll take profit shares in relation to our sales achieved, you want to sell for $0.01, It cost you profit at the end of the financial year.
Come on where are the Soft ware fundis? Write the soft ware.
Talk is cheap money buys the whiskey.
If you have a lemon, don’t throw it out cause iot is sour, put a little sugar and we have a lemonade. Opportunity par excellence!
Let me know, int134@gmail.com.
I’ve got a few bucks fopr the soft ware guys.
Why should ebay rule?
Money is a product of success. we made them what they are, we can dismantle them. Lets use people power!
Ok here is another since I can’t stop thinking about this… What if we listed the items as CDs, but still have Outlook Express (that’s still what I use, not sure how mydd works), send the instant link. We would of course still have to send the cd, but could still provide instant access… “with more content and bonuses to come with the cd. Anyone have thoughts on that or know if it would be legal or not?
Maybe ebay have bought shares in companies that make blank cd’s!
Hi John
Can we still offer free eBooks for digital download when they visit our store or auction on eBay or join up to a receive our newsletter or is this banned?
Thanks
Karen
I have just stopped selling all digital items. Yeah this is going to be a pain but it is time to think “out the box”.
How about using Classified Ads to promote your item. If they don’t like that, then use it to promote your website. May be use Classified Ads to give away a free eBook - that has links to affiliate programs and to your website.
Don’t forget that we can still use Jim Cockrum’s ideas of building our list while moving physical items.
Don’t lose hope/faith. This is not the end, it is only he beginning!
P.S. - Make your voices heard at eBay Live this year !!!
Hello John,
What you say about the positive aspects of eBay’s announcement are quite correct. Not only is it possible to ship physical products easily within the UK, but there’s a company in the US that burns, prints and ships CDs and DVDs, presumably anywhere. More importantly, it allows customers in the US and Canada to have physical digital products shipped at local rates.
I’ll bet there’s a similar service available, or likely to become available in other parts of the English-speaking world. Bearing in mind that eBay operates world-wide and presumably in other languages, you can expect the service to become available on a global basis, possibly in countries where postal and packaging charges could be perceived as low by western standards.
Marketers in India and South East Asia won’t be slow to see the advantages, although there used to be a high rate of theft within some of their postal systems. Whether things have changed for the better remains to be seen.
For my part, I don’t think sellers are disadvantaged by eBay’s decision, and in any case, buyers can still be referred to the sellers’ websites following, and possibly during the inital sales process for further promotions…upsells, OTOs and so on.
eBay clearly feel that digital sales as currently conducted don’t form a particularly significant chunk of their global business, much of which can be recovered via listing and sales fees for the physically rendered digital products.
And there might still be scope for customers to receive a digital download anyway: many ebooks, for example, are listed at very low prices on the front end and sold via the ‘buy now’ option. This scope arises because of another announcement by eBay intended to deter unscrupulous sellers from overcharging for shipping. Sellers whose shipping charges are noticeably higher than those of other sellers for similar items could have their auction delisted or given less exposure.
So a reasonably low shipping cost for the buyer would meet eBay’s requirements, and could be an acceptable amount for the buyer to pay for the service of having their purchases delivered over the web. The cost to the buyer could then be offset as a discount on their next purchase. That introduces a new incentive later in the process. Just imagine…the OTO already part-paid.
And so far as eBay is concerned, the seller’s charging for shipping and handling, follows the auctioneer’s rules; and the buyers - it is to be hoped - love the sellers (their service, anyway) and leave plenty of positive feedback. Happiness reigns and pots of gold are once again found at the end of rainbows.
Phew!! Got all that off my chest…and don’t be surprised if this turns up on the web as a short report. Well, you heard it here first, straight from the horse’s mouth. Now where are those sugarlumps…..?
Best wishes to all,
Anthony Harris
I think Mark has got it right..Most of us use Ebay as a tool to not only sell e-books ,but as a platform to launch/promote our websites..So a quality ad with a link to our sites should achieve the same results.
Also if hard copy products are advertised on the Auction style listings with the offer of a digital download in addition to the hard copy then just maybe we can improve our business.
We always need to move with the times no matter how chalenging they are.
Luck to All
Kevin
www.collectivewealth4all.com
With ervery CD you send, ebay will cash Paypal fees on your shipping costs
Been there and done thatand got the t-shirt with burning CDs and mailing them. This is what we had to do before eBay implementd the last digital item pilicy a couple of years ago. I’ve been trying to sell decent digital products on eBay since January, 2001 and eBay has never been able to make up their minds. The real problem is that so called power sellers with no scruples turn around and sell the same products for peanuts. The delivery is not the problem at all. We can go to the trouble of mailing CDs and the same thing will happen. Better to be on your own than to associate with eBay!
Sorry John, now that I have calmed down lol, can you tell us if this affects eBay worldwide or is it eBay.com.
Why I ask is if it is just eBay.com can for example those in the UK list as normal and use thier digital delivery systems to deliver eBooks and other digi products?
I think some of the major power sellers of eBooks should really look into starting up a site (like eBay) but for all digi products. The main policy being setting a “price cap” so people won’t be seen as feedback soliciting. This I think is what has caused this whole banning thing in the first place.
Okay, I’ve read all of these posts and I have come up with a partial answer.
Drop Shipping. I already sell real books and hard goods, I can be up to speed with cd books in a day or so. We ship everyday anyway, so why not? I have no idea yet what to charge for the service but I think on a net net basis I would want a couple of bucks per unit for my time. Obviously, I would not be producing made to order CD’s. I would be keeping you in compliance, any Bonus items could be delivered your way.
If someone can figure out out to automate this it would be great too.
Think about it, I’m sure others can do the same job I can. But the Huge advantage of working with me is that you can travel to San Diego and write it off as a business trip!
Thanks,
Charles
[…] I clicked through and John is telling the truth. You can read his full post on the topic by clicking here. You can also read eBay’s annoncement and the reaction to this on the eBay […]
So why do you not simply sell a physical product such as a dog-collar and send a flyer for your ebook “how to fit your dog-collar” or “dog-training for morons” to your purchaser? Highlight how much they will benefit from reading your ebook now they have bought your physical product.
That’s how to benefit using eBay, but in any case you need to concentrate on selling ebooks from your own website and using traditional traffic-generation systems to market your ebooks. Microsoft doesn’t promo through eBay yet they do all right! So can you.
P!$$ on Ebay. Start using Ebid.net
I agree this is not the best news for eBay ebook sellers. I myself had just had graphics done for a product related to selling ebooks on eBay but now this product is pretty much unsellable because of these changes. However, in my opinion the eBay ebook market has been increasingly difficult for some time now. Because of this I started setting up a website, newsletter, blog combo back in October 2007 which focussed on a totally different niche and didn’t rely on eBay. Although it is by no means a full time source of income it’s left me prepared for something like this announcement so I can now focus more of my time on this other niche.
My advice would be to do the same, even if you are planning to adapt and continue selling digital products on CD. By relying on eBay for all your income your leaving yourself at their mercy. They could introduce a rule next month saying no self-created CDs and DVDs can be sold on their website. Then what would you do? By all means adapt and continue to sell your ebooks but don’t focus all your efforts on this. Try setting up another blog, website or newsletter with related products or affiliate products that would not be affected should eBay suddenly make that side of your business obsolete. With outsourcing and PLR now available at reasonable prices their’s no better time to try your hand at creating a niche website, blog, newsletter or product.
Let’s see, maybe this would work. Set up your ad stating that you are selling the CD, then include a coupon in the ad, and where they can get the coupon. Include your digital download site after the payment with the coupon.
Just a thought.
Rob Lee
There’s probably something along these lines already posted, but I have yet to finish reading all 96 as yet, so if this is a rip-off of someone else’s suggestion, I apologize right now.
If you’re selling to folks in the US and you’re in Southern Australia, India, SriLanka, wherever, you can still have your digital product fulfillment accomplished without OVERSEAS postage, etc.
No one has said that you can’t send your product to a third party (outsource your production/shipping) like www.speaker.com, have them burn your CD, print your Book, so on and so forth, fulfill your orders from a US post-office or via UPS/FEDEX/DHL whoever, comply with both the letter and spirit of the restriction and STILL preserve 90 percent of your margin or better.
Ebay says they are changing the feedback policy, to restore buyer confidence and bring buyers back. By banning digital products, they will be costing buyers more money. Now buyers will incur shipping charges. Also it will inconvenience many buyers, as they want to have their products instantly.
Once again, Ebay will be penalizing honest sellers.
I notice that a lot of people are not happy with certain websites. I wish to let them in on a secret.
There is a new auction website without any listing fees and no restrictions on items to be listed. The site only charges when a seller makes a sell. Try it free…
http://www.globalbidstore.com/
There is a way out for information product sellers. Obviously, you could sell your stuff on ClickBank, use classified ads on USFreeads, Freeads and other classified ad sites, other auction sites such as eBid, or even the new service that I have just discovered.
Don’t get too depressed! Stay positive.
Nick
Alot of you have said that ebay is going to lose a lot of money over this and customer respect e.t.c
But really? How much money do you think ebay make, they are not going to be bothered in the least bit about a couple of million dollars.
All they would need to do if they were bothered is add a penny on to there charges for motor vechiles or something.
It would be easily fixable on there side, however for us i believe we should stop looking at the negatives and look at the positives which many have pointed out.
Lets lay some physical ass down on ebay!
Hi all
I don’t fully understand the implications yet but I am certain the industry will find ways around this.
There IS a site that’s way underused that I have used for selling and buying. perhaps we should crank up the status of this:
Go to http://www.ebid.net/ and choose your country. I’ve only tried the UK site. NO LISTING Fees and small final value fees.
it’s been suggested that web designers sell a CD with a link on the the actual site … so why do we not all do this with eBooks. Sell a Resource Guide to where the eBook is. Then simply send a printed ‘leaflet’ (not a CD) containing a link (which would expire after time).
I guess eBay wouldn’t like this .. but does their wording preclude this IF we are actually selling the guide? Isn’t this the same as those who sell guides to Police Auctions etc.
There are plenty of cases where the actual item is not delivered on eBay ie buying a holiday or timeshare or house. If a buyer goes to a web site …. isn’t this the same as Buyer Collects???!!!!!
Let’s get creative about this ….
John Gordon
The Infotainer
…who was just about to launch a range of Persuasion Magic info products in my eBay shop.
Never used the classified ads section, and to be honest, I and (in my opinion) most people never will. The perception of these type of ads…is chancers and crap products.
The option of sending a CD is viable if….
1/ You burn the CDS’s yourself (errr quite time consuming).
2/ You buy in bulk.
3/ You can get somebody to pay the shipping costs.
4/ You live in the USA where most business is.
Cost per CD could be as low as 10c each, and the plastic wallet probably 1c. The package to send (bought bulk)…maybe 20c.
Postage…maybe 50c local or $2 international.
Starting to sound VERY unfeasible.
John, how does this affect your mentorship program? I know it pretty much puts the kibosh on the content of most of the ‘How to ebay’ ebooks I have.
Basically bye bye digital ebooks…hello ….errr something else!
Well, digital delivery is on the way out anyway. Remember when itunes went out of business last week?
Seriously, as an ebook publisher who has been pirated on ebay countless times, I’m sort of glad about this, although I do feel bad for the legit sellers on there.
I’ve read all of the comments above and it’s great to hear that everyone is remaining so positive.
However, I fail to see how switching to delivering products on CD via snail mail is the way forward!
1. It adds cost
2. It’s slow
3. It’s not environmentally friendly
and finally…
4. It requires too much effort for the potential return (burning CDs, packing, posting etc.)
The only upside I can see is that you can retain buyer feedback.
So, for me, the answer lies in developing the classified ads route as a way of growing a list to sell digital items to outside of eBay. This is something that Jim Cockrum has been pushing in his newsletter for some time.
I already have an e-book website and MyDD works just as well outside of eBay as it only relies on the PayPal description. If I can add a customer rating system to my site and write a killer classified ad, I’m away! Any ideas anyone
I also like the idea of setting up a digital product alternative to eBay, although this could take time to grow. I’m sure John will be working on this as we speak though!
This is a big change for everyone selling digital products on eBay but that’s life. The good news is that big changes always bring big opportunities for those who are creative and/or clever enough to grasp them.
I for one intend to move forwards not backwards!
Regards
Dave Ovenden
DaveOvenden.com
I haven’t really done much in the way of digital items on ebay myself, I have dabbled a few times, but I have mainly concentrated on physical items.
Is it a shock ?…….. Not really, it was always on the cards, not because there is anything wrong with Digital items on Ebay, but simply due to the amount of problems some sellers have created for the rest of Ebay sellers, and Ebay themselves.
What I mean, is some sellers cannot see the wood for the trees and simply go all out to make a sale at any cost by undercutting/discounting other peoples products, to such a degree that they ultimately become worthless, and there are some really great products that have gone down in value due to this.
I know there is a lot of value in selling a digital product on Ebay, cheaply, for the backend sales you can create etc.
I personally think this move will only improve the realtionship with Ebay and the sellers, which will then give the paying customer greater value for their money………. And as John stated, this is not something to be upset or angry about, as selling physical items will definately bring you in more profits than you will first realise . . . . . If anything, as a physical item seller myself, I’m going to be a little disapointed that now I will now be having more competition…… Ah well !
I meant to add that ebay’s stated reason about feedback manipulation is ridiculous- certainly that could be done with cheap physical items as well.
John
I have been selling nothing but digital products on ebay. I think this is huge. I could not beleive it yesterday when I tried to sell a ebook. I figure this new policy will put alot of people out of business. I am new to selling ebooks so I will just have to adapt. I been looking into new online auction sites last night and some offer free listing fees. I think this might acually be a good thing.
What if you list as a physical product (cd) then email buyer after payment and offer digital download. There has to be a way around it. Please John Keep me Informed.
I know you are probably writing the next new 90 day powerseller 2008 edition.
I am thinking of writing my own book to exploit this new rule of ebays.
Please email with any more info on this rule
Josh
I was thinking of writing an ebook titled
“How to get round the ban on selling digital products on ebay”
But I’m not sure where to sell it (lol)
Keep smiling folks all is not lost
While I’m not happy about the change because of the extra work it creates for me, Ebay is still the best deal going. Not to sound harsh to those of you giving up on Ebay, but good luck trying to make money elsewhere.
For starters, the keywords that I list in my Ebay auction, the average cost per click on Google Adwords is $0.61 to $0.91. I typically average about 20 visitors to one of my Ebay auctions. To get that type of traffic on Google, it would cost me anywhere from $12 to $18. Keep in mind search engine users are looking primarily for information. A much smaller percentage are actually looking to buy something. I would probably need to generate 100 visitors on Google to get 1 or 2 that want to buy. That works out to $61 to $91. That means I would have to sell a product that’s at least $100 just to make any money in that keyword!
On Ebay, right now, I’m getting 20 visitors for $0.45. Unlike search engine users, who are looking for information, Ebay users are looking to BUY something. That means you can generate sales with a much smaller amount of visitors. I’m getting 1 to 2 visitors per 20 to buy right now. I don’t know anywhere else on the internet where I can pay 45 cents and get 1 to 2 sales off 20 visitors. If you do, please let me know, I’m right behind you!
Other than giving up and going somewhere else, there’s two options available. You can go with the classified ad, like Ebay is suggesting or you can go with the physical product like John is suggesting. Both of these options may be a blessing in disguise.
Good luck trying to make money selling a 1 cent ebook or even a $1 ebook using the classified ad. Even at the $1 price point, you are going to have to sell 10 of them just to break even. Sellers that choose to migrate over to classified ads will have no choice but to raise fees. Buyers will have no choice but to pay, because they really aren’t going to get the information for any cheaper than what they can get it on Ebay even with the additional fees. This might very will INCREASE profits in my business if all my buyers have to pay me more money for the same product.
Good luck trying to make money selling a 1 cent ebook on a CD. When you factor in shipping cost, postage cost, time spent creating and preparing the CDs, time spent going to the post office, etc, it’s just not going to be practical. Again, sellers will have no choice but to raise their fees, just like with the classified ad listing.
Bottom line before we jump to conclusions, we really aren’t going to know how this is going to affect our businesses unless we test and track it. If physical products are not an option for you, put your stuff on classified ad, increase your prices and see what happens. Who knows, you might actually make MORE money that way than you are now. If physical products are an option for you try that. Again, with some of the suggestions made on this board, you might actually make MORE money doing that than you currently make now. You really don’t know until you actually TEST and TRACK it.
Roosevelt Cooper
http://www.web204mlm.com
Just so you know, I did just now get confirmation that selling an eBook or other product and placing it on CD or DVD and mailing it snail mail is allowed. They are sending me confirmation of our telephone conversation shortly to confirm it in writing.
Keep the ideas coming, remember while the ideas might not help everyone, they might help those who really need some direction, with this new eBay law. All is not lost!
And yeah, why doesn’t someone start a digital item service website? I wouldn’t mind seeing how I can help or be a part of it.
And if this is successful with eBay, how long do you think it will take other websites and companies to follow suit by banning or limiting sales of digital items?? Any research on this?
A lot of great minds here on this blog, let the creativity flow….
Guess I have to start changing my 256 store items fast, so thanks for letting me post…
Kris Williams,
http://www.dataworkz.com
yeah this is going to hurt us all! Well we sell there because its where a bulk of the webs traffic is… and we all know traffic = sales. Youtube has just as much traffic as ebay, ive already started promoting my products there and have been for some time now, and the results out do ebay. Its a simple system to learn, A good starting point would be the tube mastery system, found at www.tubemastery.com
keep moving forward!
I’ve spend months “getting ready” and was just about there! What a blow! This is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Surely this will be refined, but…
Just a little bit more. I see above that somebody says Microsoft does not use eBay and they do well. If I was a big company like Microsoft I also wouldn’t use eBay. I have my own domain on which I do some selling. To say “just sell from your own domain with old way of getting traffic” doesn’t cut it. Not that easy. In fact bl**dy difficult and/or expensive. eBay’s classified ads doesn’t do it either. I will find some other ways but what do I eat in the meantime? Tis is not being negative, it’s being realistic.
John,
I have honestly always sold my e-books on cd or printed and mailed them as physical booklets. That is sound advice for anyone who needs to “convert” the format.
It is very easy…and doesn’t take that much time or energy if you simply build a little system.
Joseph Ratliff
Author of The Profitable Business Edge 2
Whoaa! Just when I was beginning to think I could start selling my own original e-books on Ebay! I’m a total beginner both at writing my own ’stuff’ and selling anything at eBay!
Thank you John for alerting us all on this new policy! Do you think the exiting of Meg from her authority position and getting a new guy in there with new policies was a faction?
Anyway,John, I’ll be waiting for your new informational reports on how we should do the ‘new CD policy’ you are telling us about that can be handled by us beginners! And thank you all who posted here today. Your information on how you would or could handle this was much appreciated.
Kathlene Amerine
“Remember! People who want to succeed will not look at the negatives, they will look for the positives and at the moment I feel the positives far outweigh the negatives.”
Wrong John. People who want to succeed WILL look at the negatives and improve upon them or work within them, like you did in this post.
As an analyst, I’ll look at the positives and negatives of a business. Then I’ll decide if I can improve upon the negatives. If I can, I buy the business, improve the negatives, and resell at a profit.
This isn’t “make you feel good” business. It’s all about how to fix the negatives.
Hi everyone…..Ebay used to be my life and I had nothing but positive things to say until last week….
I just read that Ebay banned digital items. I have been with Ebay for over 10 years. I have mainly sold baseball cards and DVDs. I started selling Ebooks mid February and was doing well with about 10 sales day. Before Ebooks I had 450+ feedbacks and high DSRs.
Once I got into ebooks with 10 sales a day my feedback of course was going up but that wasn’t my focus, the sales were. I tried raising prices some on the ebooks but didn’t work so I lowered it back to 1 dollar and refunded the couple customers who bought. Thats the kind of seller I am.
Then Ebay emailed me last week closing my account stating I violated their Feedback Manipulation policy - because I was getting all that feedback from Ebooks without really shipping anything. I was appauled since I have been with Ebay for 10+ years without an issue. I thought selling Ebooks was ok on Ebay except for those selling for a penny just to get feedback. Believe me I wasn’t in it for the feedback - just for that extra gas money each week which was working. I already had high feedback and DSRs so didnt make sense to me. I have customers emailing me still asking what happened and shocked when I tell them. Ebay didnt seem to care about my 10+ years with them - only the past month.
So I am not surprised now they ban the digital items yet my account remains closed, my emails go unanswered and even contacting their office of the president goes unanswered.
Ebay is concerned about getting trust of the consumer but how can it do that if they rip the rug out from under you each time? They truly dont have good customer service and when you get email responses from them its so generic and preformatted with little concern for a customer. Thats why there is no trust in ebay.
I now have lots of free time since I am no longer selling my baseball cards and DVDs on Ebay. The kids are happy!
Hoping to find another Auction site who can give good service, reward loyalty and has good values.
Hey John, Thanks for the quick response to this unfolding drama. I agree with you that there are always positives — when eBay throws lemons - make lemonade! After sleeping on the “news”, this morning I decided that this is really a means to increase targeted traffic to my web store. We can, at this point anyway, still link to websites from our About Me page on eBay but you can only list CDs in your store. Drive more auction visiters to your About Me page, and let them know that they CAN get the same products INSTANTLY DELIVERED from the web store. And we, the store owners, save eBay fees, get more targeted traffic, make more sales, etc, etc etc. How long eBay will allow this is anyone’s guess, but at least for now, it’s time to start “squeezing those lemons” and make something SWEET! (like more money!)
Kathy Keefe
www.allinfo24-7.com
Wow…I’ve been reading ALL your e-mails for the past few months and TODAY I went to PlanetSMS to see about purchasing the e-Book website…now what!!??!!
Thank you so very much for the information you continue to send out. I will read the blog daily to see what you have determined is the best thing to do. I know that there has been much scandal attached to dishonest e-Book sellers and it hurts eveyone!
Thank ypou so very much for mentoring us ALL.
I agree that we will all be best served by looking at this as an opportunity. I have never used the classifieds before — some of you mention using them to point at your website. I sell to a micro-niche,
(How to earn money at home sewing doll clothes, dolls or children’s outfits) I have tried to keep costs down ($9.95 Free Shipping) as most of my buyers are young mothers at home, retirees or disabled, people looking for an inexpensive way to begin making money.
How does one advertise the classifieds? Do they come up on an ebay search? Anyone who has hints or tips on using and promoting the classifieds, I’d love to hear from you.
Trying to figure out why ebay does what they do is wasted effort in my opinion. We need to figure out the best way to go forward from here and help each other as best we can.
I have been building a small list. I plan to survey my buyers to see how much an additional $5.00 (I’ll eat part of the cost) would affect additional sales of my ebooks and patterns.
So far I have gleaned a lot of good information from these posts and do expect more in the days to come.
karen@bayoudreamer.com
Here’s a start for alternatives, UK based as I guess quite a lot of Johns readers are.
http://www.auctionlotwatch.co.uk/auction.html
Here’s the US version.
http://www.auctionlotwatch.co.uk/usauctions.html
I guess like a few on here have said, this was inevitable when you saw what had happened to the whole ebooks thing.
I for one see it as a potentially good thing, but I own up to being able to produce and ship physical product without too much hassle. We have several physical product web businesses already.
I do feel for those who are operating from home, obviously one big attraction was the auto-pilot way of running it.
Someone told me a few years back “Here’s a box, you’re not in it, GET THINKING”.
Sound advice it seems.
Best of luck whichever way you decide to jump.
Phill
Thanks for the Heads up John,
I’m in France and haven’t seen anything about this on ebay.fr so far.
But should it happen, instead of selling a CD, why not sell a link to a downloadable ebook. The link would be snail mailed which would cost just an envelope a stamp and a sheet of paper, instead of having to burn a cd ? (of course the link could also be mailed once the transaction is completed).
Off course Ebay probably won’t like that !!!
I think alot of people are relying on ebay too much. There are other avenues to make money online and ebay is just one of them. Its time to think outside the box.
Look at the bright site, be optimistic, evolve again….
Yaga, yada, yada.
Bull S***
I’m so freaking tired of eBay. I just built my Information business on eBay to about 4k a month.
Just two days ago I signed up for the eBay Stores 30 Day Trial.
Just now canned it. Now as soon as my 287 current listings expire, so will my association with eBay.
They can kiss my a@@.
I’ll go dig ditches before I give them another freaking dime of my money. They are greedy, self serving, I’m in if for me idiots anyway.
95% of my sales are 20 bucks and less. And I list every two hours.
With hard product information products, NOT ENOUGH people will want to pay shipping and wait for a CD to be mailed, to make it worth it. PERIOD !!
eBay knows full well what they are doing. PERIOD!!!!
I just did some digging on my hard drive and found a script to set up and run and auction style site. It looks like it may need some work for payment processing, but if anybody is interested in taking a look drop me a note at admin@organizationaltool.com and we can take a look at it.
Mark
I think most people may have been prepared to part with a couple of dollars for an ebook with instant gratification [via digital download] but I think it may be tough to sell the same product for several times more and have the customer wait several days for it instead!
Stay positive, think logically and solutions and Opportunities will follow.
Peter
www.HomeBasedWealth.com.au
I have had a quick glance through these comments and to all those worrying about shipping CDs and to the firstcommneter in Australia who said he might as well give up, PLEASE remember - NEVER GIVE UP.
My Mum who passed away when I was 16 taught me “nothing ventured, nothing gained” - she didn’t teach me