Profit for selling nothing

Posted by in Creative Ideas | 6 comments

This article originally ran in Jan ’07, but I’ve added some updates to put a new twist on this great idea.One of the most creative ways to profit using eBay that I’ve ever encountered actually involves SELLING NOTHING from your own eBay account.

Let me explain.

You can partner with powersellers on eBay to “back end” sell eBooks and other easily delivered products (products you write/create or products created by others).

Take advantage of the huge customer base and massive traffic exposure of the powerseller and split the profits you help them uncover. My estimate is that 95% of all powersellers on eBay have NO IDEA how to do this.

These partnerships can be tricky to establish and must be built on trust. You have to be sure not to violate eBay policy in the establishment of these partnerships (be careful how you approach other sellers to avoid being accused of spam).

…but when done right this is a VERY simple and powerful concept.

EXAMPLE: Many eBay sellers running a large number of auctions could be adding 50 or more new leads to their email list every day…but they have no idea how to do it or why they even should.

Let’s step through one example:
o Powersellers get a lot of traffic to their auctions
o Most powersellers do NO “back-end” marketing
o A simple aweber.com name and email capture form on their about me page would yield great results
o There are many ebooks to be found that would make GREAT up-sells and back-end sales for the eBay customers that join the mailing list
o You could easily sell a product found on clickbank.com and share the profits with your eBay powerseller partner

Another possibility:

Most eBay sellers are very intimidated at the thought of adding video to their auction, but we know the power of video right? (There are several recent videos about the power of adding video to your eBay auctions on this blog

Do you see where I am going with this? High volume sellers on eBay are great potential partners!

You need to know the rules though when using these strategies.

For example, you MAY NOT invite eBay customers to join your mailing list from within your auction listings.

You MAY NOT send an email to your eBay customers with the sole intent of inviting them to join your mailing list.

You CAN invite your customers to join your mailing list using your “About Me” page.

You CAN invite customers to join your mailing list as part of any email follow up message you send them (don’t make the invitation the main point of the email).

The vast majority of eBay powersellers would be delighted to be able to take back some of the control of their business from eBay. As a reader of this newsletter you hold the keys to helping them do that.

As a reminder these kinds of ideas are what we are all about at MySilentTeam.com and it’s the kind of thing that my book (Silent Sales Machine) is full of.

Stay creative!

Be sure to leave a comment with your thoughts on this article! I love to hear from you.

  • http://stores.ebay.com/U-Mall-Unique-Boutiques-and-More Bluedolphin Crow

    Oh my goodness Jim! I can't believe I missed this one!!

    What a fantastic idea to partner with Powersellers to build and sell them backend and upsells that will increase their profits without increasing their work load.

    I also did not realize some of the DO NOT's that you listed. I sure am glad you put them there to help us.

    I am going to add this to my marketing systems and put it into action right away.

    I enjoyed reading your books and your newsletter a lot. And I've learned a lot everytime I reread them.

    This time however, you have brought up an idea that is right up my alley. I was ill last January and have not had time to finish reading your back issues yet, so I missed this entirely.

    Thank you so much for tweaking it and bringing it back to life!

    I am very excited about this.

    Thanks again and have a marvelous week,

    Blessings,

    Bluedolphin Crow

  • http://www.globaltradersresources.com Charlie

    Hey Jim!

    I hope all is well with you and the family.

    More great ideas. After all of these months being a member of MY SILENT TEAM and subscribing to your newsletters the light finally came on. I know that there are several small business in my area that can be helped with the information you shared with us today. I will be making several calls first thing tomorrow.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Charlie; AKA stringmkr

  • Duke Snyder

    Nothing like just meandering online and eventually come to Jim's email, again be refreshed and enlightened and just want to shout out, "Thanks again, Jim!!!"

  • http://www.runwebs.com Pete

    Hi Jim – Thanks for some more brilliant tips! I kept away from video for a long time as I thought it was all too hard. Once I tried making a video on my new PC, I found it was not too bad, even using just photos and some 'copyright free' music. I then discovered a fantastic program that makes video production real easy and very fast with stylish results that are different from all the 'Movie Maker' videos. Thanks for inspiring me once again. Pete

    (Apprentice Movie Producer ;>) http://www.runwebs.com

  • http://www.dropbuy247,com Rodney Dunn

    Hello Jim

    I'm new to all this (got involved about 10 days back) when we (my wife Rose and I) purchased your silent sales machine. This has been very helpful and informative. We are operating our business from Auckland, New Zealand. Please keep the info flowing as there is so much for novices like us to learn. We are both excited about getting into this new venture. A month ago we knew very little about ebay. Just getting our site up and running now. Thanks for your help.

    Best regards

    Rodney Dunn

  • Ira

    Wow dude your good ! ! ! that's a good one idea if its not to much to ask maybe you have other tips on how to profit in the internet. I'd love to hear more from you. Thanks and more success.