» 2009 » August

Marsha Collier’s latest book for the Dummies series is out for eBay sellers. It is kind hard to believe that this book is now into it’s 6th printing! Wow, that makes me feel kinda OLD, I started with version 2 of this book back in the day.

So what is new? Basically everything!!! eBay has made many changes to the way it does business and most of those changes are with the platform itself. What worked in just 2007 is "old school" and not nearly as competitive or successful in 2009.

You must keep up with the changes and strategies for implementing good practices for the new eBay. The game has changed and eBay for Dummies by Marsha Collier is primed for play. Marsh puts the other so called "eBay experts" on notice with this latest publication. The undisputed "Queen of eBay Commerce" is BACK BABY, game on!

Get the information you need, delivered in the manner you can understand. eBay for Dummies gets 4.5 Ice Cubes…

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Buyers Cash & Carry Ft. Washington
9/3/2009 – 9/3/2009
P.O. Box 899, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
Phone: 717-796-2377; Fax: 717-796-2384
The Buyers Cash & Carry features eye-catching originals, folk art, museum quality replicas, country collectibles and handcrafted furniture. This immediate delivery show features shopping carts, loading assistance, on-site UPS shipping and plenty of free parking!

Boston Gift Show
9/5/2009 – 9/8/2009
1690 Roberts Blvd., Suite 111, Kennesaw, GA 30144
Phone: 678-285-3976 ext. 347, 678-285-3976 , 1-800-318-2238; Fax: 678-285-7469
The Boston Gift Show is a semiannual regional show. Exhibitors include manufacturers and distributors of stationery, gourmet products and foods, general gifts, toys, personal accessories, and much more.

Gem, Jewelry & Lapidary Trade Show
9/10/2009 – 9/13/2009
P.O. Box 98, Flora, MS 39071-0098
Phone: 601-879-8832; Fax: 601-879-3282
This show specializes in gems, jewelry, lapidary equipment and specimens. **** ALL G&LW SHOWS ARE WHOLESALE ONLY – COPY OF BUSINESS OR RESALE CERTIFICATE REQUIRED – DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE ****

Gem, Jewelry & Lapidary Trade Show
9/10/2009 – 9/13/2009
P.O. Box 98, Flora, MS 39071-0098
Phone: 601-879-8832; Fax: 601-879-3282
This show specializes in gems, jewelry, lapidary equipment and specimens. **** ALL G&LW SHOWS ARE WHOLESALE ONLY – COPY OF BUSINESS OR RESALE CERTIFICATE REQUIRED – DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE ****

The Hawaii September Market Trade Show
9/11/2009 – 9/13/2009
P.O. Box 1247, Kaneohe, HI 96744
Phone: 800-525-5275, 808-254-1773; Fax: 808-254-3324
Hawaii’s largest trade show with over 300 booths. These shows are the largest of their kind, providing a sales environment for over 6,000 trade buyers from Hawaii and the Pacific Basin. The Hawaii Market offers the latest in gifts, jewelry, fashion accessories, resort wear and boutique merchandise.

San Antonio Wholesale Jewelry, Gift & Accessory Show
9/11/2009 – 9/13/2009
206 Lido St., Austin, TX 78734
Phone: 512-261-4223; Fax: 512-261-3503
This is a For Trade Only show of the finest in costume and genuine jewelry designs. Held four times a year.

Charlotte Gift & Jewelry Show
9/12/2009 – 9/14/2009
800 Briarcreek Rd., Ste. BB503, Charlotte, NC 28205
Phone: 704-377-5881; Fax: 704-358-9115
This show is a wholesale trade show for buyers of gifts, jewelry, housewares, silk flowers, stationery, toys, and much more.

Atlanta Fall Gift & Accessories Market and Atlanta Gourmet Market
9/12/2009 – 9/14/2009
240 Peachtree St. NW, Ste. 2200, Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: 404-220-2234 – Mary Ellen Jackson / 404-220-2262 – Eva Kotylak; Fax: 404-220-2299
Wholesale order-writing show with General Gift, Home Accents, Garden, Children’s, jewelry and fashion accessories, bath and body, etc. Jewelry cash & carry also. Atlanta Gourmet Market is gourmet and related products.

Gift & Home Furnishings Market at the L.A. Mart
9/13/2009 – 9/15/2009
1933 S. Broadway, Ste. 542, Los Angeles, CA 90007
Phone: 800-LAMART4, 213-763-5800; Fax: 213-763-5881
The L.A. Mart is the prominent center for gift and home furnishings products in the Western United States. With nearly 300 showrooms encompassing 724,000 square feet of showroom space, the L.A. Mart is dedicated to showcasing a wide array of lifestyle merchandise including gifts, fine furniture and home decor, decorative accessories, tabletop, stationery, collectibles, holiday ideas, gourmet foods, floral, linens, paper products, bath & body items, apparel, children’s giftware and handcrafted products.

Transworld Merchandise Center – September Buyer Fly-In Show
9/13/2009 – 9/15/2009
TransWorld Merchandise Center, Inc
2200 & 2400 East Devon Ave.
De Plains, IL 60018
Phone: 312-201-3800; Fax: 312-201-3803
Brand name closeout inventories sell out fast, and our exhibitors’ inventories are always changing. We bring you 7 events per year so you can find the right merchandise – just when you need it.

ASD East
9/13/2009 – 9/15/2009
11835 West Olympic, Suite 550E, Los Angeles, CA 90064-5810
Phone: 310-481-7337; Fax: 310-481-1937
East Coast’s largest variety and general merchandise show.

Philadelphia National Candy, Gift & Gourmet Show
9/13/2009 – 9/15/2009
P.O. Box 496, Abington, PA 19001
Phone: 888-CANDY-89; Fax: 215-884-6101
The Philadelphia National Candy Gift and Gourmet Show, Americaâ??s largest show dedicated to the retail confectioner, is sponsored by the Retail Confectioners Association of Philadelphia.

Gem, Jewelry & Lapidary Trade Show
9/18/2009 – 9/20/2009
P.O. Box 98, Flora, MS 39071-0098
Phone: 601-879-8832; Fax: 601-879-3282
This show specializes in gems, jewelry, lapidary equipment and specimens. **** ALL G&LW SHOWS ARE WHOLESALE ONLY – COPY OF BUSINESS OR RESALE CERTIFICATE REQUIRED – DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE ****

GTS Florida Jewelry & Apparel Expo
9/19/2009 – 9/21/2009
Osceola Heritage Park Hall, Kissimmee Florida
Phone: 770-410-9771, Fax: 866-807-0808
Wholesale Trade Expo

Garden Market Expo
9/23/2009 – 9/24/2009
3947 Lennane Dr., Ste. 150., Sacramento, CA 95834
Phone: 800-748-6214 Ext. 16; Fax: 916-567-0505
Trade Show representing garden, nursery, lawn, trees, equipment, patio, greenhouse, wholesale growers, supplies, tropical foliage, outdoor related building materials, lighting, seed, sod, container plants, cactus/succulents, power equipment, amendments, bedding plants, horticultural publications, chemicals/pesticides, accessories, pots, irrigation, pond, container plants and more. Attendee Profile: Independent Garden, Nursery, Retail Nursery chains, Hardware Centers, Mass merchandisers, Pet/Feed Supplies, Home improvement Stores, Specialty Gift, Online and Mail order catalog, Boutiques, Landscape Designers, Casino/Resort/Landscape management, Landscape Contractors, Architects… Features WoW Zone; Incredible International Innovation Center, Garden Revue Fashion Show, Railroad Garden and Pond Displays, Beer Gardens, Plant islands, and more…

Gem, Jewelry & Lapidary Trade Show
9/27/2009 – 9/28/2009
P.O. Box 98, Flora, MS 39071-0098
Phone: 601-879-8832; Fax: 601-879-3282
This show specializes in gems, jewelry, lapidary equipment and specimens. **** ALL G&LW SHOWS ARE WHOLESALE ONLY – COPY OF BUSINESS OR RESALE CERTIFICATE REQUIRED – DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE ****

Buyers Cash & Carry Marlborough
9/27/2009 – 9/27/2009
P.O. Box 899, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
Phone: 717-796-2377; Fax: 717-796-2384
The Buyers Cash & Carry features eye-catching originals, folk art, museum quality replicas, country collectibles and handcrafted furniture. This immediate delivery show features shopping carts, loading assistance, on-site UPS shipping and plenty of free parking!

Every once in a while an honor is presented to you that you just can’t wait to tell your friends about. Well this COULD have been one of those instances, but actually is was not.

I was on the phone with a friend of mine who lives up in Virginia. We were just chatting and stuff like we always do. Nearing the end of our conversation he says to me "Hey, good job, I saw you made it to the big time with your American Express "thing". That was the word he used "thing"…

So I really did not know what he was talking about? I figured he was just commenting on the fact that I use the credit card to pay for my stuff. Then he went on to say…"We are thinking of starting a business and your video was inspiring"….OK, now he really had my head spinning, so I was like wooo, hold on, what video? WTF are you talking about dude?

He was like the American Express video! …. HUH? WHAT? … The one on the American Express Business Site. Now he REALLY has me now, I am like dude, send me the link to what you are talking about. He, laughed at me, like man you got this hot video on Amex and you did not even know about it? NOPE.

So there it was in living color, ME on the American Express Open Forum highlighted as a profile business for both our Web Site and our eBay Store. Now HOLY Freholies Batman, that is a big time profile for me and a proud moment for our business.

Click HERE to play the video

Well, it has been just a couple of days since the an eBay bidder from Japan won the Marilyn Monroe burial plot for $4.6 million. And now that bidder has backed OUT!

Beverly Hills widow Elsie Poncher, whose dead husband was laid to rest in the crypt directly above Monroe, put her beloved’s valuable vault on the block Aug. 14 to help pay off the $1.6 million mortgage on her home.

Bidding started at $500,000 and shot to $4.6 million in three days. Everything seemed to be going so well, until the widow’s rep sent an invoice to the winning bidder Monday.

"I am awfully sorry, but I need to cancel this because of the paying problem," the unidentified bidder said in an email, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Well, if that was not bad enough, just to add insult to injury…eBay decides to tell the 80 year-old widow that she is no Warren Buffett either!

Read the full eBay response below and watch this VIDEO!!! Your boy, ColderICE has a few select words for this entire incident.

BIDDING ON EBAY: A SOMETIMES ODD BUT ALWAYS SERIOUS BUSINESS

Long time readers of Ink know that I tend to stay away from individual auctions or specific sales in the eBay Marketplace, focusing more on trends in the industry and news coming out of the company as a whole. However yesterday, two auctions that were unusual enough to capture the attention of national and international media came to a close. On the surface, it was just a normal Tuesday in the eBay Marketplace.

What made the day standout was not the similarities between the (pardon the pun) cradle to the grave auctions. Sadly, what stood out was the fact that people bid on items for which they had no intention of buying. Something that undermines the very integrity of the marketplace.

eBay has no tolerance for this sort of behavior (the two high bidders in these auctions have been banned – for life – from eBay) and because placing a bid enters someone into a legal, binding contract, the consequences might not end there.

One of the bidders may have even lost his job over the matter, and both may also face suit from the sellers for breach of contract. If you are a seller and you ever find yourself in a similar situation, please report the bidder here: http://resolutioncenter.ebay.com/ so that eBay can take appropriate action.

eBay prefers to be able to work with sellers in advance of a high profile listing in order to best ensure a successful outcome (FYI… selling a crypt above Marilyn Monroe’s that currently houses your late husband qualifies as high profile). They have done this numerous times in the past, the most obvious example being the annual charity auction for lunch with Warren Buffet. In those auctions, eBay has helped to raise millions of dollars for worthy causes with nary a hiccup, because they have been able to work with the sellers in these auctions to pre-approve all bidders.

What most sellers don’t know is that eBay can offer you the same sort of assistance it offers to Mr. Buffet. In the future, if sellers are interested in listing items considered to be high-profile and/or likely to garner media interest, we suggest the following process:

1) Complete a request at http://news.ebay.com/media-request.cfm. Include specifics about the item, timing, and contact information. Upon reviewing the request, eBay will determine the level of support and contact you within 3 business days.

2) If warranted a high-profile listing, eBay will work with you to create the listing in compliance with policy and implement a pre-approved bidding process to ensure only legitimate bids are placed on your auction.

Cheers,
RBH

A widow just sold her husbands spot directly above the resting place of the late Marilyn Monroe to pay off her mortgage. The seller, Elsie Poncher but the ad on eBay to auction the tomb that resides in Westwood Village Memorial Park, Los Angeles.

The ad simply stated…

Here is a once in a lifetime and into eternity opportunity to spend your eternal days directly above Marilyn Monroe.  This crypt in the famous Westwood Cemetery in West Los Angeles currently occupied above Marilyn Monroe is being vacated so as to make room for a new resident. "Spending Eternity next to Marilyn Monroe is too sweet to pass up", recently quoted by Hugh Heffner, who has reserved his place in eternity next to her.  The lucky bidder will be deeded a piece of real estate that he or she will make their last address. And below you will be Marilyn Monroe.  In fact the person occupying the address right now is looking face down on her.

Amazingly this item ended on August 24, 2009 at Noon PST for a whopping $4,602,100.00…I love the shipping terms! Local Pick-up offered, LMAO

According to Wikipedia : At EBay auctions the following have been some of the most expensive sales:
1. Grumman Gulfstream II jet ($4.9 million)
2. 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card ($1.265 million)
3. Diamond Lake Resort, western Kentucky ($1.2 million)
4. Enzo Ferrari ($975,000, October 2004)[7]
5. Shoeless Joe Jackson’s "Black Betsy" baseball bat ($577,610)
6. Round of golf with Tiger Woods ($425,000)
7. Portions of the 1996-2001 Jeopardy! set. The 9-foot-high Jeopardy! logo that was etched in glass as the backdrop sold for approximately $100,000. One of the contestant podiums sold for nearly $10,000 (proceeds of the set’s sale went to charity)

As we go into the final quarter of 2009 the race will get tight for the top of the mountain. What I think many forecasted would take place years down the road could possibly manifest in the next 4 months?!? Could Amazon overtake eBay in the 4th quarter?

I could be speculating and accelerating this thought, but IF the changes that eBay is planning for October 2009 miss-fire, Amazon could put the smack down on the king of e-commerce. The changes to eBay are mostly geared toward facilitating better sellers and seller experience. Although many of the changes are masked and marked as "improving the buyer experience", do they really? Are they improving buyer experience directly or only do by default?

For me, what was lacking on eBay changes is a fundamental OVERHAUL of the antiquated interface. While eBay may want to distance itself of the old style auction format, they made NO announced changes to the distance from the old interface?

An average search page on eBay gives up nearly 30% of the above to fold real estate to Banner Ads, Multiple Search Bars and space wasters.

Banner ads on an ecommerce website? damn dude that is so "2000 and late"! Any given eCommerce web designer would tell you that multiple search bars are confusing and space waste. While a good best practice is that you should push to SELL above the fold as that real estate is the most important part of the customer view.

A quick view comparison of the two site searches shows that Amazon is PRIMED to sell in the new millennium, while eBay seems to be stuck in the 90’s. What is most telling to me about an Amazon search vs. and eBay search is simple.

1. Amazon will display just about EVERYTHING I need to know about the product right in search, while eBay makes me click and READ…ewe.
2. eBay shows MULTIPLE listing of the same exact item over and over, while Amazon rolls the duplicate items into 1 listing.
3. eBay search shows only 3 items above the fold while Amazon shows 5.

I could go on and on with this comparative analysis…And I just might one day soon, but for right now? I am afraid that eBay spends way too much time trying to keep sellers from selling stuff instead of making it EASIER for buyers to buy stuff. That could ultimately leave it open to conquest by the competitor sooner than expected by anyone!

My buddy Sherman Hu just put up a story about a terrifying flight he recently had. As he was leaving Atlanta returning home, his plane lost cabin pressure and was forced to an emergency landing! Check out his tale HERE on his ShermanLIVE blog as he details how this experience changed his life.

Boy, I tell you we were both just talking about the long journeys we were going on. He had a 10 hour flight time back to Kelowna Airport in Canada and I was embarking on a 20 hour trip to Sydney on that same day.

On my way back home from Sydney we had a medical emergency on our plane about 1 hour into the flight and we were forced to return back to Australia and dump all of our fuel so the plane could be light enough to land. That added 3.5 hours to an already long 13.5 hour flight back to L.A. But that was NOTHING compared to what he had to endure.

Check out his story.

Before I left for Sydney, my buddy Shane asked the question that we ALL want to know. For years we have heard the myth about toilets on the other side of the hemisphere flowing backwards. Is it true? Well, I tested the myth while I was in Australia for him, check out the video!

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Recently I was tapped for a comment on a "speculation" that eBay was doing away with its Voices program. For many years eBay has had a focus group program internally called the Voices of the Community. It is an ancient program created back in the 1990’s so eBay and its seller base could communicate.

Most of the members are… how you say this delicately? OLD! Not like Moses old, but kind of just old school LMAO. The story was picked up and put into an Auctionbytes blog and titled "eBay Silences Founding Voices Members". Seems eBay decided to turn over some of the "elder statesman" that were sitting on the panel in exchange for some new blood.

So, when I was tapped for the response to this development, I simply laughed. I think the inquirer thought I was smoking weed, because I actually found the concept of being in an unpaid position to express your opinion in 2009 sounded like BLOGGING?!?

WTF do you need to be in a corporate sponsored "program" just to express your opinion about eBay developments? I do that crap every day right here on ColderICE.com, LMAO. So I found the initial inquiry just kind of funny. The person that contacted me was all alarmed about it and I was like chill out dude.

It is 2009, not 1999…its the new millennium and communication has changed dramatically. I found the charge rather irrelevant cause anyone can communicate to the masses using social media now. Hey, if you have seen me speak LIVE, the you would "Get It". Social media has changed the world of top down corporate communications forever.

Today, I woke to find that Richard Brewer-Hay actually responded to this article from AuctionBytes directly on the eBay Ink Blog.

Wow, looks like RBH at eBay answered the claim on their official blog site. So the community is actually able to assess both sides of the issue and determine what really is taking place here.

On some level, I think the Voices program has been outdated for a LONG time. But looking at it objectively, I have a few questions that seem to raise for me about its effectiveness….If the Voices program was so "valuable" to the eBay selling community, why do they not take more HEAT for changes that the community does not agree with? Does the program really work? Has it ever? WTF do they do there, drink tea and chat? LMAO

So what do you guys think? Is the Voices program really effective or is it past its prime? I would LUV to hear your opinion on this?

It is official, after last week, I am now "internationally known on the microphone"! Wowzers man, I am still not over my buzz and excitement from Sydney Australia. The trip down under for the keynote presentation was AMAZING to say the least. But what is REALLY the most amazing thing is the feedback I have gotten from the organizers. All of the guys from the Professional eBay Sellers Alliance (PeSA) there in Australia were extremely complementary after the presentation was done.

Now I was sitting there thinking to my self "aw shucks, thanks guys, but I bet you tell that to all the presenters" LMAO. However, a few days later the surveys from the paid attendees began to roll in, and WOW they are really very high marks. The event as a whole was really well received and the "imports from the USA" (Jonathan Garriss and myself) scored very high in the satisfaction ratings.

I am overjoyed at being invited, and then overwhelmed by the kindness, reception and over-all great treatment I enjoyed while there. Many have requested the slides from my presentation so I decided to take them public for all of my readers to see.

I share the enthusiasm of all the participants in saying that this is one of the BEST events I have attended and I hope to be invited back next year for Melbourne event in 2010. Well, actually they did hint that they wanted me back…so see ya in 2010 guys!!!