Slapped by eBay
You may have already heard all about this from somewhere else, just in case you haven’t I thought I better publish it here just in case you missed it.
eBay has changed their policy and are now disallowing the selling of downloadable items.
Now you might be wondering what all the fuss is about.
You can read about it here:
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200803.shtml#2008-03-24125416
There is also a lot of talk about this 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.
What dies this mean? It meas that all those sellers making an income selling eBooks have been slapped by eBay and this affects anyone selling items delivered digitally.
This includes:
- eBooks
- Audio/mp3
- Digital Videos
- Websites
- Domain Names
- Graphic Design Services
- Photo Services
- plus any other service delivered electronically.
At one point I was someone selling eBooks through eBay, and it was also a method I used to attract subscribers, so you might think I am going to get on my high horse and have a go at eBay for doing this. Well you should know by now I’m not one to focus on the negative, so here is my positive take on what eBay has done.
You might be surprised to find out that the positive actually outweighs the negative.
Ok, so now you can’t sell a digital download of the book on eBay, that doesn’t mean you cannot sell a physical version. I’ve already started creating products to sell on CD and DVD and I actually think it works better and is more secure. Sure someone can copy the CD and give it to a friend, but that is limited. When it comes to making a product downloadable you have to go to a lot more trouble to secure the link and download area than you do when you provide it on CD. You can also pack a lot more on a CD ands the customer doesn’t have to worry about download speed or losing it on their hard drive. It’s always available to use on the CD no matter what computer they are working on. You can even outsource the creation and delivery of the CD so the whole process becomes automatic, and there is one very good company I use all the time for this.
I know what your thinking. It all sounds too hard. Well it really isn’t.
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. Rather than simply putting the eBook or program on the CD you can include a lot of other programs for free and even by using some clever software and techniques you can include a lot of soft advertising as well.
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.
This is something about CD and DVD products I like the most compared to downloadable.
Higher perceived value.
Your customer is getting something in the mail, so you can put your prices up. Just look at the price of any home study CD or DVD course delivered via regular mail.
These are just some of the things that came to mind as I was writing this. I’d like to hear your ideas and you are more than welcome to share them in the comments. Remember, I use commentluv to give you valuable back links so why not take advantage?
Remember this!
People who want to succeed will not look at the negatives, they prefer to look for the positives in any situation.
Regards,
Ian
PS Can I ask one further favour? You will see above this post, between the Header and the post heading, a couple of new buttons. If you like my blog I would appreciate your vote by clicking the button that says Vote for me. Thanks 
Mail this post
Hi Ian.
And thanks for this post.
I dont do eBay so I’d missed this but your positive spin on
this made me want to post about it at my blog. Look out
for a link over the next few hours.
I’ve known about “going physical with digital products”
for a good while now. Seems like this is a great time
for eBayers to think about it. http://www.kunaki.com is
one site I know of that handles the whole process
for sellers. You upload your digital file, they
accept payments for you, they burn it onto CD and mail
it out for you. They even send you a free copy of your
CD/DVD so you can check it before product launch time.
And cheap too. Memory says $1.35 per disk mailed out
but that might have changed.
Gary
Find Hot Markets Blog’s last blog post..CPA Goldmine
[Reply]
Hi Ian,
Michael here.
I agree with you on the upsell-opportunities resulting from the changed eBay Policy.
But on the opposite, selling physical infoproducts viameans handling packaging and shipping etc.
Issues i don’t like to deal with …´-)
So to me it’s somehow a fallback to a sort of non-digital stoneage office.
Will i let ebay turn me into a digital Caveman?
Definitely not!
And i think a lot of others will feel like me and turn their back on eBay …
Regards,
Michael
pS.: You’ve got my vote …*-)
Michael’s last blog post..Earn Online With Lazy Lists. Part II
[Reply]
You’ll probably hear this same basic message throughout the forums, however I’ve yet to find anyone who really has a solid plan of how they’re going to deal with this slap in the face by eBay.
Basically, I understand why eBay made this move. I just think the way they sprung it on us was, well… infuriating.
We can do what we can to persuade them to repeal the decision, but I doubt they will. But what I think we really need to focus on is evolving.
I’ve got very specific plans on how we can (all of us digital retailers) actually turn this problem into an opportunity. I’ve written about it in a little more depth on my website http://thedigibay.com
I’m an Internet Marketing Coach and I have a soft spot for everybody who is busting their butts to sell stuff on eBay. I started a lot of my newbie students out on eBay. And have since taught them to build a more solid business model, and work on multiple revenue streams.
Probably the most important takeaway I can give you right now, is that if you’ve been selling on eBay for a while, you’ve already got one of your greatest assets.
A LIST OF BUYERS. As we all know, a list of buyers is exponentially more valuable than a list of prospects.
I propose that we all extract the names, emails, and product purchase details out to our bulk mailers. Then, setup a “coming soon” page website with an optin form. Work on making the new site a respectable looking shopping cart behind the scenes. While building a buzz with our list about our upcoming website launch.
I expect to have a nice big pay day in a few weeks when I relaunch the information products part of my business on a new site.
If you’re really feel stuck in the mud, and aren’t 100% sure how you should proceed from here. You might want to subscribe to my newsletter. In each email I’m going to spell out, step by step what me and my friends are going to do. I won’t be hiding any secrets from you guys, because I truly want us all to be successful.
In case you need it again, here’s that address, it’s the easiest way to get in touch with me:
http://thedigibay.com
Glen McNiel’s last blog post..eBay Listing Cancellations - Who gets affected?
[Reply]
People list the weirdest things on ebay.
[Reply]