Entries Tagged 'Niche' ↓
September 26th, 2008 — Education Specialists, Niche, Popular, eBay News and Talk
John Donahoe is less popular than President George W. Bush. The President took years to get to this point, Mr. Donahoe accomplished it in just one. Exactly one year ago this weekend, Mr. Donahoe was a guest speaker at the Legg Mason Capitol Management Thought Leader Forum. The topic was "Disruptive Innovation," and Mr. Donahoe spoke about his plans for eBay. Let's see how he's done. It get's better the farther you go, as I get more frustrated and sarcastic. This is a long post, get a donut. I'll wait. The following contains actual quotes from Mr. Donahoe's speech. At the bottom of this post, I've included the "concept cards" from his presentation that can be found on the Legg Mason Capital Management website. Oh and along with my sarcasm. Feel free to add your own.
The topic of disruptive innovation and the history of eBay have a lot in common. In many ways, eBay itself was a disruptive innovation. All three of the major businesses that are a part of eBay are disruptive innovations. I'd like to spend a little bit of time talking about how eBay got to where it is and then talk about how we approach innovation going forward. Today we're dealing with phase two or phase three of disruptive innovation. We've had the disruption, now we must disrupt our own disruption. That's part of the challenge.
Okay, does he know which phase we're in? Because that seems like it would be important. And this sentence, "We've had the disruption, now we must disrupt our own disruption." reminds me of the guards in Monty Python and the search for the Holy Grail, see what you think:
Other points made by John (can I just call him John?) are found here when he talks about the idea of "disrupting" a successful business (no I'm not kidding):
We set out a year ago to think about how we could change before we are forced to change. We took a good look at ourselves in the mirror and didn't like everything that we saw. We saw a very successful business and a lot of momentum but we saw that our user experience and ability to satisfy our buyers and sellers wasn't what we wanted it to be. By using a real focus on the customer, we embarked on a series of fundamental changes that will ultimately span a three year period. We started by creating a future vision. This was critical because not everyone felt the impetus to change, given the amount of success we were experiencing. There's a real push to keep doing what you're doing because it's working. We dove deeply into an understanding of our customers, their needs, their unmet needs, and their alternatives. We had to confront some sacred cows. These are often some of the most difficult things to handle. They're perceived as values of the company. For example, we talk about the level playing field. We treat every seller the same. Now, the level playing field really means that the little player shouldn't get shut out. It was never intended to mean that we treat a bad seller the same as a good seller. Intermediation is another one. It doesn't mean that we can't intervene to make a better buying and selling experience. We also had to address some of the cultural and organizational dimensions.
Okay, looking back on a year of this "innovation," let's reflect on how things have gone. They completely admit to fixing something that wasn't broken. They just wanted to fix it before it was broken. "A very successful business and a lot of momentum" was pretty much slowed down and made not nearly as successful. He also refers to "our buyers and sellers" which is really interesting, since in this very speech he emphasizes that eBay is just a platform and not a retailer.
And I'm sorry John, those "sacred cows" are not just "perceived" as values of the company. eBay told us those are the values of the company!
Take notice of the part where he says, "We dove deeply into an understanding of our customers, their needs, their unmet needs, and their alternatives." Their unmet needs? I have been saying on this blog that eBay has turned into a company that feels they know what you need more than you do. This proves it. How's that workin' for ya?
Look at the next part, and think back over the last year. Think about how eBay is meeting your "unmet needs" with things you didn't even ask for in regards to "finding." Before you read this - ask yourself: Does this sound like a person that uses eBay? :
One of the most fundamental activities is "finding", or what most people think of as "search", on eBay. Historically, the core part of our business model started with a search and the results came back with time ending soonest-the items that are ending soonest at the top of the list. That makes sense during auctions because at the last minute you want to bid and win. Today over 40 percent of the items on eBay are fixed price. We have such volume that many of our buyers said that there was too much abundance. They just want to buy a Nike watch and instead they get 12,000 results back. That's too many. They want to get to what they want, faster. We agreed. There's a lot of talk around the Internet about relevance engines for advertising. Nobody on the Internet has more close transaction data than eBay or PayPal. We have the opportunity to build the best finding experience there is. We weren't collecting the data in a way that we could use it, so we had to change that. Tinkering with the finding experience is also tinkering with one of the core jewels of eBay. But we recognized that eBay has more product searches than any other property on the net, including Google. We convert single digits from searches to bids or buys-a fairly small percentage of those searches-and all we have to do is move that by a fraction to have a profound impact on our company. Over the last eighteen months we have set out to make a series of incremental improvements in our finding functionality. We bought Shopping.com, which is a great destination site but also brought us great finding and search technology. We experimented with eBay Express and built a separate parallel site to experiment with relevance-based search. We went completely with relevance-based search in Korea. Finally, we began layering in something called "best match" into our core site. Those of you who use eBay, if you look in your search box, you can select best match as an option which will help you get to the items you want more quickly. Finding is a core area that we're going to launch a series of improvements in during the next few months.
I KNOW!!! Here are the roots of the broken finding system on eBay. (By the way, the term "Nike watch" only pulls up 1,804 today.) "Too much abundance"? wow - sorry John, I thought you wanted us to list on the site.
He pretty much admits eBay Express was an experiment to tinker with the search technology. Then talks about relevant search. Relevant search is once again saying, "we know what you want better than you do." How would you like this? You go to Macy's and ask for the necktie section, and instead of the clerk letting you shop, she comes back with five neckties from which to choose. When you ask to see them all, she says "there's just too much abundance over there, these are the Best Match for you."
In this next quote, notice the philosophy being promoted. Would you like working at a place like eBay? Evidently, according to GlassDoor.com, only 28% like it right now... Oh, and see if you can find yourself anywhere in this equation:
Based on our experience, here's how innovation at the core worked. We had to create a mind shift at our company-we had to think bold and not just incremental. We had to create a vision of the future so people could let go of a very successful past. We had to understand that this wasn't going to just happen overnight. While we're doing this, we're running a successful business. We need to drive these principles of disruption at the same time that we're executing a very successful business. Second, we have to look at all parts of the business model-the whole end-to-end user experience. We're using our global portfolio to test and learn. We're testing ideas in Korea, France, Italy and elsewhere around the world. We're testing various pricing mechanisms. All of this requires new infrastructure, whether it's new data, testing or advertising capabilities. Finally, even I may have underestimated how important organization and culture are. Antonio [Perez] talked earlier this morning about needing to get rid of 70 percent of the people to change a culture. We don't have that luxury. We're growing at 30 percent a year. We need to build on the team we have and help shape the momentum in the right way. We had a bit of a restart with our vision. We set off on this and the senior team was all aligned. But we hadn't invested enough in the rest of the organization. So last year in the fourth quarter we took our entire organization through the process.
"Let go of a very successful past"? Wow. They're delivering on this one.
I also like the part he says about "executing a very successful business" - poor choice of words John.
And they have solved the "growing at 30% a year" problem. Now they can focus on getting rid of 70% of the people to change that pesky eBay culture. A year after this speech, is the senior team all still aligned? Well, now that some have departed, I don't think so. And besides that - aligned with whom? The other members of the senior team? or the community? employees?
Okay, here's another quote. This is the last one I'll share, because you can read the entire speech for yourself if you'd like. This one is cute. It tells how eBay is willing to churn out new products even before a business case has been made for that product. In other words, people dream stuff up, they put it on the site, and we either like it or not. Imagine what cars would look like if automakers did the same thing:
We're providing a forum to bubble-up ideas. We have a skunk works in-house. We're creating lightweight, cross-functional teams. We're giving the teams the freedom to focus on the right user experience and then worry about monetization. If we ask for too firm a business case up front, they'll never get out of the gate. We give them the space and energy to move aggressively and we use user adoption as the metrics in the early days. We talk and listen to customers, but for this kind of innovation, customers don't always know what they want. No one would have asked for a widget, but when they saw it they liked it. There's a real balance between being customer-driven and going with your intuitions. We also put the right people on the team - not everyone can do this kind of innovation. We are acting like internal venture capitalists with our resources. We give them just enough to get to the next round. We also know when to cut them off or keep them going. Finally, we involve people from the core business in these ideas, but not too early in the process. People in the core business typically want to kill these things when there's a tight quarter.
Really John? "Customers don't always know what they want?" How would you know for sure if they can't find it? So let me understand, the customers are saying what they want, not getting it, and leaving. Sellers are unhappy, buyers can't find things they are searching for, and eBay has people inventing new things that haven't been asked for yet? Brilliant! I feel so disrupted.
Does anyone know if John is speaking at the Thought Leadership Forum again this year?
UPDATE: Someone posted a link to this post on the eBay discussion boards early this weekend. Evidently, eBay has deleted the entire thread. If you'd like to see what they found so offensive, you can look at the cached version here: http://tinyurl.com/3lrgac
Here are the "Concept Cards" from the speech (click them to enlarge):
Popularity: 100% [?]
September 23rd, 2008 — Niche
Do you have a Goya Guitar? Want one?
Here are the quick facts:
- They were marketed in the United States beginning in the 1950's by Levin Instruments.
- They are named after the Spanish artist Francisco Goya because he featured guitars in his paintings and these look similar.
- It was felt "Goya" would be a more marketable name than "Levin" in the U.S.
- Goya guitars use nylon strings instead of steel strings. This made the guitars favorites of folk musicians.
- They were known for their high-quality, shiny finish.
Here are some current Goya Guitars on eBay:
Popularity: 35% [?]
September 13th, 2008 — Niche
Of all the items I've seen on eBay, paintings by a mysterious group of men known as the Highwaymen may be the most intriguing. Most artists seek to be recognized. They can be snooty, eccentric, arrogant - but not these guys. Most of them went to their graves without any formal recognition. Some pieces of their art now sell for thousands of dollars - but when the paint was newly dry, only brought the standard $35 each.
The Highwaymen artists are/were a collection of black artists from Fort Pierce, Florida who painted vivid landscapes and Florida scenes. They painted from the 1950's to the 1970's. With few exceptions, you could not purchase their paintings in galleries. Their works were sold mostly from the trunks of cars to passing motorists. They could also be found carrying their paintings door to door in business districts and even selling on busy street corners.
These artists were masters at capturing Florida sunrises and sunsets. Their paintings often feature the vivid colors of the royal poinciana tree and colorful skies and palm trees with the water of the Indian River in the background. They are truly some of the most beautiful paintings I've seen.
Highwaymen, by tradition, work fast and sometimes talk even faster. Some paint three or four pictures a day and have a smooth sales pitch. They seldom waste an ounce of paint or an extra brush stroke on a picture. Lacking canvas, they sometimes painted on the back of cheap boarding used in house overhangs. They built picture frames out of carpenter's door trim. They used house paints instead of the expensive art store colors.
For most, painting was, and continues to be, a way to escape minimum-wage jobs or welfare. It wasn't about the art as much as creating an income. Despite the incredible beauty of their work, few have struck it rich or become well-known.
While a few highwaymen still paint, they keep a low profile to avoid the scrutiny of state or town officials, or the IRS.
Where can you find their paintings? They still turn up at garage sales and estate sales. I've seen reports of people spending as little as $1 on these paintings at garage sales. Looking at how they sell on eBay shows it would be well worth knowing what to watch for...
Here is a list of known Highwaymen (in alphabetical order)
- Curtis Arnett
- Hezekiah Baker
- Al Baker
- George Buckner
- Ellis Buckner
- Robert Butler
- Mary Alice Carrol
- J. "Hook" Daniels
- Fox (first name unknown)
- James Gibson
- Alfred Hair, aka "A. Hare" and "A. Hir"
- Israel Knight
- Lewis McDaniel
- R.A. McClendon
- Harold Newton
- L. Newton
- Sam Newton
- Livingston Roberts, aka "Castro"
- Charles Walker
Popularity: 23% [?]
September 5th, 2008 — Niche
Have you ever wondered what the top sellers on eBay are? Well here are the top 20 for the first half of August. All of these products had a 100% sell-through rate. The price ranges are from $354 (#1) to $158 (#20).
There are a lot of calculations that go into this list, but based on the success rate and average price, these are the tops.
There are several things that can help online retailers. Notice that not every keyword is a product per se. For example, #16 & #17 are both searches for warranties. But the warranties are within relatively specific categories. Whether you sell on Amazon, eBay, or your own site, you can see that a warranty is very important to shoppers looking for digital cameras and Garmin GPS systems.
Digging for Niche Products
This list is also a way to spot niche markets. The broad categories that stand out are: iPod, Garmin GPS, Laptops & Notebooks, and Digital Cameras. Few of the top products are the actual product, most are associated products or "long-tail" products. That's where you can start to focus in on niche markets.
In just twenty lines, looking at the search terms, along with the specific categories, you have a goldmine of information.
The Number One Selling Product on eBay
If you sell Dyson vacuum cleaners - good for you. The DC17 is the top seller. Notice the F/S in the keyword. That means Factory Serviced. Here are the DC17s ending soon...
Popularity: 21% [?]
August 21st, 2008 — Niche
Researching one thing often leads to another. I was researching antique radios for my site RadioGems.com, and found ham radios high on the list for eBay.
Using Terapeak, I searched ham radio and found the keyword tuner in many of the top sold items. Searching for ham radio tuner led me to a pretty nice niche for someone using Build a Niche Store or phpBay Pro. Here is a Terapeak screenshot of 90 days of eBay activity on the term ham radio tuner:
In case you can't see the results well. The Avg. Price is $130.59, and the sell-through rate is 81.61%. Pretty good.
Many other ham radio items were also doing well. Ham radio antenna was another item that stood out.
If you're looking for a niche to build around. This could be a candidate, especially for an eBay affiliate site. Here are the current eBay listings for ham radio tuners:
Popularity: 17% [?]
April 28th, 2008 — Niche
In my never-ending effort to find interesting niches, I've found a great one thanks to one of my eBay students - Mason jars. Well, not just Mason jars, but fruit jars. The one at left recently sold on eBay for $1025. On average though, it's the amber jars that bring the highest return. Some brands bring more than others. Names like Lightning, Globe, Canton, and Eagle add to the value.
Color Matters with Fruit Jars
You'll notice in the examples below that color matters. If you list fruit jars on eBay, make sure you list the name, and the color. Common special colors include:
Don't invent your own colors if you're selling fruit jars. Learn which terms the collectors use and stick with those terms. You want the collectors to find your jar, and they search for certain terms.
Keep your eyes peeled...
Watch your local garage and estate sales for these jars. They are out there. I'm kind of kicking myself because I passed up a case of aqua jars recently. They weren't the really old ones, but I should have known better.
The more primitive the jar, the better. Look for the "wavy" glass and bubbles in the glass. That's known as "whittling" and you'll see the high priced items on eBay often are "whittled". Midget is a popular term for real midget jars. And if it has a matching glass lid, just buy it. Chances are, it will sell on eBay.
The average price for "amber fruit jar" according to Terapeak, is $70.25 over the past 30 days. The best selling time is Sunday between 6-7PM Pacific time (surprise). The avg. sell-through rate is about 50%. Take a look at the amber fruit jars on eBay right now. This is interesting stuff:
Popularity: 26% [?]
April 24th, 2008 — Niche
I'm speaking on niche selling at eBay Live! this year, so I have been working hard at finding profitable niche markets. I've tried to find a good balance between:
- high average price
- intense interest from consumers
- high sell-through rate
- product availability
Red Wing Crocks
One product I found has great potential. Red Wing Crocks. I'd never heard of them until I started doing the research but it turns out Red Wing is a pottery company in Minnesota that makes some pretty desireable stuff.
Redwing Stoneware Company in Redwing, Minnesota started in 1877. In 1894 they merged with two other pottery companies and were called the Union Stoneware Company. One of the three later went out of business and the remaining two formed the Red Wing Union Stoneware Company. They settled on the name Red Wing Potteries, Inc. in 1936.
The vintage Red Wing crocks have several different markings on them that changed with the history of Red Wing. The vast majority of the Red Wing crocks have “Red Wing” written on them as an identifying mark. Other Red Wing crocks marks are:
- Union Stoneware Co.
- Minnesota Stoneware Co.
- RWSW Co.
The 30 day stats for "red wing crock" using Terapeak:
- Average Price: $123.48
- # of Listings: 360
- Sell-through: 77.50%
The one mark that is truly the mark of a vintage Red Wing crock is the stamped “wings”. Keep your eyes peeled for those.
Here are some examples of Red Wing Crocks on eBay right now:
Try Terapeak for free! You can find your niche here!
Popularity: 46% [?]
March 4th, 2008 — Niche
Uranium glass or Vaseline glass? Tomato or to-mah-to? This is one of the most interesting things I've ever seen on eBay. I found it by accident one day years ago and have searched for it ever since just to look at the pictures. It sells well on [tag]eBay[/tag], and can still be found in antique stores and even some thrift shops and estate sales if you have a sharp eye.
What is uranium glass?
[tag]Uranium glass[/tag] is a type of soda-lime glass made with a small proportion of uranium oxide. It was usually made with a very low percentage of uranium, usually 2%, but pieces from the 19th century could contain as much as 25% elemental uranium by weight.
The uranium glass you can find on eBay is primarily antique or retro glassware. Uranium became scarce during the Cold War, and that led to a sharp downturn in production of this amazing glass.
The color of uranium glass depends on the oxidation state of the glass. Colors range from yellow to green, although other colors may occur if additional coloring agents are used. One of the coolest things about this glass is that it fluoresces bright green under ultraviolet light. It looks so nuclear!
Isn't this stuff dangerous?
There are some pieces that can actually register higher than background [tag]radiation[/tag] on a really sensitive geiger counter. But most uranium glass is harmless.
Vaseline glass
The most typical color of uranium glass is pale yellowish-green, which in the 1920s led to the nickname [tag]Vaseline glass[/tag], since it kind of looks like Vaseline. The name has a decidedly unromantic ring to it though, in my humble opinion.
In any case, some people now interchange the term "Vaseline glass" for uranium glass. They are not completely accurate though, because the term Vaseline glass has become common for any translucent, greasy looking glass. But without the uranium, it's just greasy looking glass and you won't get that impressive "glow" under the UV light. Go for the real thing - I've added the most current eBay items below so you can see what I mean.
photo credit: JanneM
Popularity: 13% [?]
February 25th, 2008 — Niche
If you've been told money doesn't grow on trees, whoever told you had not heard about pen blanks. [tag]Pen blanks[/tag] are pieces of wood, cut to about 6 inches long and 1 inch square. They are put on a small lathe, and turned to make the most beautiful [tag]wooden pens[/tag]. Most of the craftsmen are making these pens at home, some have created for themselves a nice retirement income.
The amazing thing is that cabinet makers and wood workers throw away some scraps that could be sold for pen blanks. I few years back I was contacted by a gentleman who wanted to do just that. He had a tree farm with many semi-exotic woods. He harvested the trees to create boards used as trim inside very nice homes. He saved the scraps and hired me as a [tag]Trading Assistant[/tag] to sell them for him. I regularly sold maple, hickory, red bud, box elder, and even Japanese maple blanks. I'd sell sets of 10 (which fit nicely in a USPS Priority Mail video box) for $15 - $30 depending on the wood type.
A tip for sellers: Wetting the wood before taking photos is acceptable and really brings out the grain better. It gives a better representation of what a varnished pen would look like. You may want to indicate in your description that you've sprayed the wood to bring out the grain, just to make sure everything is clear to the buyer.
What kind of wood sells?
Most of the blanks sold on eBay are hard woods, some are very exotic and bring high prices. A couple types you'll commonly find fetching higher prices are:
- Hawaiian Curly Koa from Hawaii
- Cocobolo Rosewood from Central America
- Afzelia Xylay
- African woods such as Puduak, Bloodwood, and Purple Heart
- Australian Corrugata Burl
These woods bring very good prices because they're difficult to obtain. What about more common types of wood though? It sells very well too, the hard maple you have in your back yard may make a nice pen. The quality most desired is heavy, dense wood that can be worked on a lathe. No one wants a pen made of balsa wood.
Spalting
If you look into pen blanks, you'll notice a term that pops up over and over on the higher priced items: Spalting. Spalted wood has generally developed an intense striped characteristic that makes a very exotic looking end product. Spalting is usually caused when mold develops inside the wood. Disease and insects can also create these colorful marks. Since it is a type of decay, soft or "punky" spots can develop in the wood, making it unusable for some products. Large pieces of [tag]spalted wood[/tag] can be used for things other than pens, such as turned bowls.
Below are some current examples of pen blanks being sold on [tag]eBay[/tag] right now:
Popularity: 19% [?]
December 15th, 2007 — Niche
The online holiday selling season isn't over quite yet, but close. I'm rushing to fill [tag]eBay[/tag] and [tag]Amazon [/tag]orders and ship in time for bare walls to be covered with bright shiny posters, bookshelves to be a little fuller, and curio cabinets a little more interesting.
So far, so good.
I have had the best [tag]selling[/tag] season ever this year due to a few things I chose to do right after Labor Day:
- getting plenty of inventory, and making sure it's listed - in years past I procrastinated and didn't get things listed till November
- [tag]garage sale[/tag] hunting - I have increased my traffic (and my bottom line) by having unusual and interesting items found at garage sales and thrift shops
- expanding my sales beyond eBay to Amazon - this is a whole new area for me, one that I'll definitely be talking more about in future posts
Yes, somehow I've made [tag]money[/tag] the past couple of months even though:
- eBay charges fees
- [tag]Meg Whitman[/tag] is still running the place
- Stores aren't included in search results
- eBay owns PayPal,
(let's see, have I left anything out?...
...Oh yes, I made money selling on eBay because I didn't spend my time griping about not [tag]making money[/tag]. How 'bout that? [tags]eBay Stores,eBay fees,Bill Cobb,ecommerce[/tags]
Popularity: 7% [?]
December 6th, 2007 — Niche
With the success of my Diana Vreeland ALLURE book, I went to the Friends of the Library sale here in my town last weekend. I bought about 25 books for $16.25. None were earth-shattering when I checked them out on Amazon and [tag]eBay[/tag]. Some were worth $20-$30 which is nice, but I wanted a bell ringer. The last one I pulled from the bag was this book. It was in a silver box when I pulled it off the shelf, and my son was losing his patience so I never looked at it. It was heavy and big and $1 - so I stuck it in my pile.
Turns out this book was brand new and flawless in the box. It's from 2001 and covers in extraordinary detail and quality, the [tag]24 Hours of Le Mans[/tag] race, including all the participants.
This could be the nicest copy of this book there is. It was evidently never opened since it sounded brand new when I took the photos. This is a great book. The printing is stunning, it's a nice heavy 230 pages, hardbound, and it is a little time capsule. It's a must for a [tag]Le Mans[/tag] fan.
Inside are teams like [tag]Saleen[/tag], [tag]Corvette[/tag], [tag]Bentley[/tag], [tag]Audi[/tag], [tag]Porsche[/tag], [tag]Callaway[/tag], [tag]Ascari[/tag], [tag]MG Sport[/tag] and Racing, and many more associated with what is known as the "Grand Prix of Endurance" - 24 Hours of Le Mans. There are copies on Amazon, and other places but none as nice as this one. They all indicate some shelf wear, but this one has never been on a shelf.
Let's see where this one ends up. [tags]grand prix,racing,formula one,F1[/tags]
Popularity: 5% [?]
December 5th, 2007 — Niche
Have you purchased your calendar for 2008? Expensive huh? What will you do with your 2007 calendar? Let me share a tip with you that worked for me. A couple of years ago I turned about $20 into $360 on eBay within a couple of months and anyone can do it.
Time is your friend
While wandering in a mall in the middle of the week in late January 2004, I walked past the kiosk selling calendars. The kiosk appeared for a few months every year, sold calendars till the new year started, then disappeared. On the day I was there, everything was 75% off since they were about to close. Good thing about calendars, they get cheaper as the new year slips by. There were a number of calendars there featuring transportation such as [tag]Harley Davidson[/tag], muscle cars, Corvettes, trains, and exotic cars. At 75% off they were about $3 each. Each one had nice printing with clear pictures (no ads, month names, or any other stuff unrelated to the actual photos). Each one had at least 12 nice photos - one for each month.
I got home, and carefully trimmed each calendar down to individual pages. Photographed each one, and listed it on eBay for $6.95 per photo page. After fees, I would wind up with about $5 per page if they sold. Know what? They did.
All of them.
My $3 investment for each calendar had turned into at least $60 once I sold them piece by piece. I was very clear in my description that the print was from a calendar and contained a calendar page on the back. No secrets. Since the pages were relatively thin, I used a small diameter shipping tube to 
save on shipping (and offer a low shipping price - USPS First Class).
Six calendars at $3 each = $18
72 photo pages at $5 profit = $360
Many sellers on eBay are trying this, but they aren't doing it right. They're trying to sell stuff my grandma would put on the walls. Sell what people get passionate about! Ferraris, Harleys, Corvettes, and Dodge Chargers, not pictures of scenery and puppies. This is basic stuff.
The nice thing about this is it doesn't matter how old the calendars are. The dates don't matter anymore - just the photos. Take a look at what I found.
Comments are welcomed.[tags]niche selling,ebay,calendars,selling ideas,ecommerce,calendar,posters,prints,corvette,ferrari,dodge charger[/tags]
Popularity: 4% [?]
November 21st, 2007 — Niche, eBay News and Talk
After teaching [tag]eBay[/tag] classes for the past five years, I figure I should be practicing what I preach when it comes to finding things to sell on eBay. Last Saturday I went out to one [tag]garage sale[/tag] not too far from my house. I arrived at 8 AM. As I scanned the tables I gathered a few items I thought would do well on eBay. I forked over my $7.50 and hurried home to check out my new treasures on [tag]Terapeak[/tag]. I was quite happy with what I found. I'm going to write about most of the stuff in the next day or two, but I thought I'd share this one auction with you to show what can happen if you educate yourself a bit in a few areas of eBay.
I saw this book poking up from a box with an orange sticker on it. It is by a very famous [tag]fashion[/tag] editor named [tag]Diana Vreeland[/tag]. Evidently she pretty much invented the idea we have today of a "fashion editor." (Think "The Devil Wears Prada") This lady was pretty fascinating, she was friends with all the [tag]New York society[/tag] types from the 1930's till her death in 1989. People like [tag]Jackie Onasis[/tag], [tag]Andy Warhol[/tag], and oh so many others. The book has tons of photos, and her commentary on all of them. But that really isn't my point here...
I hadn't heard of Diana Vreeland...
The price was typical yard sale level and I stacked it up with my other things. I didn't know who Diana Vreeland was, or what the title "[tag]ALLURE[/tag]" related to, but I didn't have to. How did I decide to buy it? Here are the things that crossed my mind, while I pushed other books aside:
- it is a big [tag]book[/tag], dealing with a popular subject, in great condition
- it's from 1980, and a [tag]first edition[/tag]
- it's fashion-related, so its content is dated - likely [tag]out of print[/tag]
- the book has its original dust cover
- the cover under the dust jacket is extremely nice, sharp corners and no marks inside or out
When I got home, I looked it up on Amazon.com, Abebooks.com, and eBay using Terapeak to check the history over the past 90 days. I was pleasantly surprised. A couple of copies had sold on eBay for $100-$123. Nice! On Abebooks, sellers listed it for an average of about $130-$175 in this condition. On Amazon.com they are listed for $150. I figure eBay is the best place to judge the actual market, so I hope it runs over $100 on [tag]Cyber Monday[/tag].
Oh and how much did I pay for it? I'll let you know after the sale next Monday. You will be inspired I'm sure.
UPDATE: Ok, I paid a dollar for this book. It pays to keep your eyes open, and arrive early to the garage sales...
Popularity: 9% [?]
November 13th, 2007 — Niche
My son came bouncing into the room about a year ago going on and on about the [tag]megalodon[/tag] and how big they are and that they were two or three times the size of the great white shark and now that's his favorite and ....well, you get the point. He was pretty worked up. He wanted me to look it up on the "innernet" - so I did. I found out these creatures were pretty amazing, and me being me - I looked it up on [tag]eBay[/tag] too. I was surprised at what I found. There is a very robust market for their teeth.
Carcharocles megalodon was by far the largest predator to have ever lived. Imagine a [tag]prehistoric[/tag], gigantic [tag]shark[/tag] - that's pretty much what it was. Although experts haven't reached an agreement on the size of these things, estimates run in the range of 55-65 feet long. A full grown man could stand up in its jaws, but he probably wouldn't want linger. 
So why don't we see any Megalodon skeletons? Because sharks don't have skeletons made of bone like we do. That's why pretty much all we have to go on is the teeth. But the teeth give us a clue to the size of this massive beast. Fossilized teeth from this shark have been found up to 7 1/4” in slant height and weighing more than a pound. By comparison, the largest Great White teeth weigh only a couple of ounces, and max out at about 3 1/2". The best examples are rimmed with razor sharp serrations. Much more of this information can be found at MegalodonTeeth.com. Steve has one of the best megalodon sites with tons of information, in fact much of the research I did for this post is from his site, and I sincerely appreciate him letting me tap into his knowledge base. Take a look at what he has for sale on his site. It's amazing stuff.
One of the top sellers of these teeth is Garry Dye of MegalodonSharkTeeth.com. His site has some amazing info on how and where they're found, among other things. Garry allowed me to use these images from a couple of his eBay auctions. From my research he has some of the most consistently amazing specimens on eBay.
Nowadays, fossil hunters highly prize the megalodon teeth. The smaller teeth (3 1/2” - 4 1/2”) are not all that uncommon, it's the larger teeth (5” and over) that are really sought after. Besides the fact that they're rare, finding them with their original luster, un-chipped (even the megalodon iteself chipped a tooth once in a while), and large makes them worth hundreds of dollars each.
The color also matters. They come in blue, white, orange, gray, and many other colors and this adds to their scarcity among the real collectors and dealers. The color is determined by the type of sediment the tooth was in while it fossilized. Over millions of years, the teeth absorbed minerals from the material surrounding it, and took on the sediment's color.
Megalodon teeth come in different shapes and colors. The color of a tooth is determined solely by the color of the sediment in which it was buried while fossilizing. The tooth absorbs minerals from the surrounding sediment, and, consequently, becomes the same general color as the sediment.
Many of the teeth are found off the southeastern U.S. Getting them from the ocean depths may be tough for many. But if one was to ever find one of these teeth at a sale it would certainly be worth picking it up and listing it. Using eBay, or sites like MegalodonSharkTeeth.com to educate yourself is a great idea not only for these teeth but other fossils that are sold on eBay. There is a
