eBay restricting and banning digital goods (ebooks etc.)
Posted by admin in General on Mar 25th, 2008 | 50 commentsYesterday there was a big announcement at eBay about “digital goods” which includes ebooks. Since many readers of this blog and my newsletter have sold or do sell ebooks on eBay I wanted to address the issue as quickly as possible.
My take on it is that eBay is overreacting to an issue they’ve been dealing with for awhile. The heart of the issue is feedback manipulation.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE EBAY ANNOUNCEMENT
HEY EBAY: How about a minimum price of $5 on eBooks, or block the ability to leave “shipping” feedback on digital goods instead? Or, you could talk to your top legit sellers (like John Thornhill) first and get some feedback on the issue.
Later the same day the same eBay rep Brian Burke posted a note that includes the fact that digital goods have just been banned in Australia and the U.K. and have always been banned in Germany. See the post here: CLICK HERE
As of this writing there is still no official announcement on the eBay U.K. or eBay Australia eBay sites on this issue though. I think Brian may have jumped the gun, but the announcement is likely coming very soon.
What’s it all mean?
It’s potentially bad news for those that:
o had a BIG ebook business set up on autopilot on eBay with auctions launching and delivery occurring automatically.
o don’t understand classified ads on eBay
o have all their eggs in one basket
It’s potentially good news for those that:
o understand the power and potential of eBay classified ads
o realize that eBay very likely has just given us permission to include external links in our classified ads
o have quality ebook and info products that can be shipped to customers on CD
o realize that the competition herd on eBay just got WAY thinner
o have their OWN ORIGINAL products
The good new (once again, as with all major eBay announcements that seem to go against sellers) is that the CUSTOMERS are still there on eBay. eBay is pouring marketing dollars into attracting them and it’s our job to find ways to funnel them into our businesses. As long as the customers are there we’ll be there finding creative ways to market to them.
What’s your take on it? Click the comment button below and leave your thoughts. If you are just mad at eBay don’t bother posting – I’m looking for intelligent, insightful comments and observations. It’s okay to be mad, but venting here does no one any good.
I’ll post more on the issue once I gather more facts.
UPDATE: One of our contributing experts at MySilentTeam.com David Lovelace has a special report he put together recently that talks about converting ebooks and digital products into CD products and automating (outsourcing) the whole thing. Check it out: CLICK HERE He’s dropped the price for us to just $10 if you use that link – normally it’s a $27 book.
50 Responses to “ “eBay restricting and banning digital goods (ebooks etc.)”
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What I appreciate the most about Jim and his membership site, books and ideas is to stay positive inspite of ANY change that happens with eBay and Internet Marketing. I think we have to get used to changes and find out how to work with them “if they never existed” before.
eBay may be making some changes we don’t like or agree with, but we don’t own eBay, or at lease I don’t. As one who is new to online marketing and working on his first eBook, this doesn’t hit me like it will other people.
Skip McGrath’s book which is a BONUS on Jim’s Membership site gave a great point… Stop Complaining and blaming others for your problems. Work the business and be in business and do something, stop complaining and work with it. With eBay affecting affiliate marketing, BANS, feedback, fees and now digital products… we just have to press forward and think creatively. eBay is still the largest place today where people shop with a credit card on one hand and a mouse in the other.
John Thornhill and Lee McIntyre and many others on Jim’s site have taught me the most important fact when running a BUSINESS online, have incredible Content and people will pay for it…
ok, back to work.
Doug Renz
I was just on the verge of returning to the eBay ebook selling scene when I got the email on this announcement. Initially I was pretty shocked and upset, but the more I’ve thought about it (and read posts such as Jim’s), I’m starting to see the light. I think it will be great to purge eBay of lower quality products (and the sellers that promote them), and could offer a huge new opportunity for those of us that jump on quickly. There’s no way I can pass up the opportunity to utlize eBay’s traffic to funnel to my websites!
This is absolutely NOT good news! It will virtually cripple anyone selling downloadable goods. Not to mention, disabling the automated delivery system which was extremely helpful. My sales were $3000+ dollars per month in all digital goods for a unique product that I created and now ebay simply pulls the plug due to some people manipulating feedback? Anyone can still manipulate feedback by selling one cent CDs?!?!? It is a huge overkill which will hurt thousands of sellers and it will certainly not prevent feedback manipulation if that is in fact the goal it attempts to accomplish. Also, the Classified Ads “solution” is certainly not viable. FOr example, I offer nearly 300 products so my eBay fees would be $3000 dollars per month just to list the items individually as Classified Ads. The time has come for someone like Google to immediately release an “eBay-alternative” that actually caters to buyers AND SELLERS alike. eBay’s lack of concern for sellers offering is blatantly apparant when they throw the baby out with the bathwater by banning all digital goods. Placing a minimum price for digital goods would have solved the problem much more effectively than banning all items which will literally put thousands of sellers out of business in one week with no warning and little (no) solution in terms of viable alternatives. Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, anyone, can you hear us? Please provide some competition to eBay to keep them from doing whatever they please, however they please.
Hi Jim,
Great post!
This was a scary thing to read a t first. I have a considerable portion of my ebay business built on digital products.
However, I have noticed problems with the digital sales system in place now and I assume eBay is addressing these issues with this latest change.
There is a TON of digital “garbage” being sold via eBay and this new policy will weed out a lot of this junk. eBay must maintain a reputation. Their site being loaded with junk makes them look bad. This will weed out the ‘lazy’ sellers and should help to raise the bar with product quality.
Now to figure out how to restructure my listings to adheare to this new policy.
Any suggestions to streamline this process. I for one have no intention of giving up. In fact I think this clears the playing field a fair bit and I want to get my store upgraded ASAP so I am ready for my new business model.
I am getting more excited about my options as I write.
Best of Luck digital sellers.
I was just finishing the 7 day plan that John Thornhill generously put on this site. I feel like I have been shut down before I got started. I am glad I stopped before I built my ebay store, what a waste of money that would have been. I was always taught “mind your nickles and dimes, and your dollars will take care of themselves”. If ebay is willing to lose an enormous amount of “nickles and dime” sales, plus what seems to be a lot of revenue generating stores, who does that help? Looks like more fee increases are coming. I feel ebay pulled a knee jerk reaction instead of an informed, rational decision.
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 Thornhill 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 !
Two days ago this would have bothered me more than it does today. I just purchased an eBook on eBay that was not digitally delivered. It was shipped to me on a CD. In addition to the eBook I received two bonus reports and a great “How To” video. It was very nicely packaged, priced right, shipped fast and I was 5-star happy. I am working on my first eBook so on the bright side I won’t have to master the art digital delivery, at least not yet. I will have to find an inexpensive way to burn quality branded CDs but I will end up with a better product, more back-end sales, and a higher selling price. Thanks to Jim and John Thornhill for maintaining a positive perspective. Skip
I think the whole issue is (as always) something went wrong for a few and the many shall pay. Instead of investigating whatever issues or complaints came across to eBay, they just decided to make it easier for themselves by implementing this new ruling. After all, it takes time and effort to weed out those creating the problems.
It’s unfortunate this decision has impacted the ethical patrons and sellers…Human behavior circles the globe so, hang in there everyone. At least eBay has not completely refused access for selling digital products on their site.
If I have not misunderstood, you can still hang your banners on “my page†right?
The problem of life is to change worry into thinking and anxiety into creative action.”
by Harold B. Walker
The new digital policy will cost buyers more money. If information has to be sold on Cd’s, shipping costs will have to be added to the price they pay. There will also be packaging material costs.
Buyers will not receive products instantly causing inconvenience to them.
Ebay’s total lack of concern for honest sellers is truly appalling. Ebay is so busy trying to fix the feedback system, that they are losing sight of the big picture. If you make it so difficult for the average person to sell on Ebay, you will be left with fewer sellers and a much smaller selection of products available to the buyer. This will be great for the sellers who survive, but result in higher prices for the buyer because autions will be more competetive.
If Ebay continues to make arbitrary decisions of this type, no one’s business will be safe. I’m sure the one sided feeback system wil not end abuse. It will just be the sellers who are abused, instead of the buyers.
Instead of making these sweeping changes, Ebay needs to concentrate on finding the culprits who abuse policies, and stop penalizing the sellers who abide by the rules. Or at the very least, make changes that are not so destructive. For example,
they could have charged a minimum opening bid on ebooks, as other members have suggested.
This change will affect a considerable number of people who put 1c and small value items on eBay and only provide items which in some cases are several years old.
During the coming weeks the experts like Jim and John will identify a way forward that enables everyone who are genuine with their business in maximising the changed requirements.
The larger businesses will have the finance to adopt outsourcing some of the extra activities that will have to be involved in handling CDs and the like.
The smaller businesses (tight financially) will be faced with doing the extra work themselves which will involve either additional hours or a reduced activity.
I look forward to see what comes out over the coming weeks.
Over the Easter Weekend I tried to post an ad
on the classifieds and they would not take it.
That was Sunday night. I was puzzled as I thought I had not done something right. WRONG!
Monday when my mind was clearer I went back at
it – And here is what I found -
“You can not submit your listing due to the following problems”
“Please note that all listings that can be digitally downloaded or transfered must be listed in the Classified Ad Format Only. As of March 31st, all listings for digital items
not in classified format will be considered a policy violation.”
I believe what they are saying you cannot have anything that be copied or given Free.
Where do they tell you what their classified
add format is and its size and restrictions.
I need answers. I will put my ad on a website
for now. I will put the classified in “GREEK”
Ron Hands
[[reply from Jim]]: Many are reporting a glitch in the classified ads system right now. It’s temporary I’m sure. Even eBay tech support is saying that…it will be back soon.
One of the potential solutions to this change in eBay policy is to transfer digital content to CD and then sell it as a physical item.
The downsides of this are the potential for a lot of additional cost and time involved in producing the CDs but I have found a great resource that will do all of the hard work for you at a very reasonable price.
Given that many people here seem interested in going this route, I’ve put together a couple of Camtasia videos which walk you through the whole process. You can view them at my blog here:
http://daveovenden.com
Please note – no affilate links – this is just useful information (I hope) and nothing more.
Let me know what you think!
Regards
Dave Ovenden
DaveOvenden.com
At least the products will have to be sold at a higher price now. I hate it when I find a nice $37.00 PLR digital product to sell, but only to find out that 45 people are selling it on Ebay for 99c or mayber $1.47.
That does nobody any good. For people to sell digital products on Ebay “Buy It Now” ads, then they will have to sell it at a higher price because of offering it on a cd or dvd. Coool. Makes me happy.
It appears Ebay have taken a sledgehammer to crack a digital peanut!
If they are so keen to preserve the integrity of the feedback system all they needed to do was to state that anything under say $2 dollars would not qualify for feedback, this way it would ensure that the feedback could not be manipulated. This would ensure they retain their fee income from the ebook business, which they look like losing 90% of as a result of this move.
I don’t think I am overreacting to say that this move as it stands blows the ebook business out of the water as far as selling via ebay goes. I would have thought it also now makes much of the contents of Jim’s own ebook SSM now redundant!
[[reply from Jim]]: I like your sledgehammer visual…very fitting I think. Also – don’t worry about the SSM book (SilentSalesMachine.com). After that last revision it includes very little info (possibly even none) on the topic of selling ebooks via auctions on ebay. The creative ideas in the book aren’t even all about eBay anymore. The next release (version 6) is due out within 30-60 days. All past readers will get it free! Details coming in my newsletter soon (join for free in the upper left hand corner of any page of my blog)
I’m actually pleased, in a way, with the changes since it seems that eBay is placing more positive emphasis on the ClassAds format. As Jim points out, it may force eBay to finally be more clear about what is allowed (or not) within ClassAds – such as external links.
Ok, so if I have an eBook to sell, I have to list it in Classified Ad format. Fine. Naturally, I want the process to be automated – I don’t want to contact each prospect and tell then to go to my site to pay and download.
Possible solutions (that I suspect are ok):
1) Include autoresponder signup within my ClassAd (Jim, is this kosher?) and have an automated email directing them to my website, or PayLoadz pay/download page.
2) Slap a PayPal Buy Now link right within the ClassAd, again using my web host or PayLoadz for the hosting/delivery of the digital item.
I know people are talking a lot about putting their digital items on CD and shipping them (or having a fulfillment shop do it), but I don’t think it’s necessary to revert back to the dark ages – there’s still demand for immediate download and there are, or will be, ways to make it happen.
[[reply from Jim]]: There are many eBay sellers using classified ads and putting squeeze pages and even direct affiliate links in the ads. There is no need to revert to physical products. The only issue on the table still is what the ebay policy will be. Classified ads on eBay have been around for about 2 years now and they still have NO policy on what can and can’t be included in them. It’s the number one issue I’ll be getting in the face of eBay “Trust and Safety” about at eBay Live this year. BTW – that was the number one issue I got in their face about last year too and it didn’t do much good….still no policy. The good news is I’ve yet to hear of anyone having an account shut down over a classified ads policy. They can’t do it because there is LITERALLY NO POLICY in place.
As a powerseller on ebay I sell both didgital products and physical products. With ebays new ruling I embrace the opportunity to still keep selling digital products but using one of the methods that I learned in an ebook that I purchased a long time ago. It was written by one of my favorite mentors, Jim Cockran. Using the ideas presented and reading between the lines you can still sell digital items using ebay as the vessel to bring traffic to your website off of ebay.
I think part of ebay’s motivation for this change is to draw more attention to the classified ads.
I think most buyers don’t even know the ads exist. But as the ads become known for having ebooks, the traffic should pick up.
I am sick of ebay and there policy crap, I think the time is ripe for someone to start a new ebay for ebooks and tell ebay to go ^*&^)*&^ there policies
I’ve been working on a digital product to sell via eBay for some time now. I’m in Australia so not only does this affect my intended launch in a few weeks time, but I’m also pretty sure that classifieds are not available on ebay.com.au. (I’ve never seen them). There will be a workaround I’m sure, so I’m going to keep my eyes and ears peeled for that. I have the PDF document, an Excel spreadsheet and a series of videos, so CD delivery sounds perfect. Thanks for the very prompt heads up Jim, I was just about to login to mysilenteam to get the skinny.
It’s about time that eBay did something to remove all that junk and illegal crap from their website!
But I do think they could have given their honest sellers more than a week’s notice to change their business infrastucture and practices. I am not whining, but eBay certainly doesn’t give the impression that sellers are an important part of their business.
On a positive note, this action will, hopefully, get rid of most of the scum — that can only be a good thing for the honest sellers that remain.
And classified ads are still a very cost-effective way to get leads and/or drive traffic to your website. What would you have to pay Google to get the same using AdWords?
Nick
Hi Jim -
I was going to do the digital download route too. I was seriously considering an eBay store and had been checking out Turbo Lister and Selling Manager Pro. I spent many man hours on the eBay site learning the best ways to do it. What shocked me was the one week advanced notice not the act itself. It almost feels hostile.
I know you can create the CD’s and printed material. I was trying to eliminate the whole pain of outsourcing the CD burning, packaging and fulfillment. There are also different non-eBay auctions sites that allow digital downloads and this may increase their popularity. I know I will be looking in other directions for that option.
As a buyer I prefer to download the products. When I want to buy I always try to find it as a digital download. I really don’t like to wait for conventional mail or delivery service. I don’t need 100 extra CD’s laying around the house.
I will need to focus my attention toward using eBay classified. I will start educating myself in that area tonight. Thanks to your videos I kind of understand it and I have all your books also. It would be a much harder transition if you weren’t around.
Thanks – John
Just when I figured out the digital delivery system and was ready to start making my fortune, the Ebay Slap! I agree with Jim and John to stop complaining and work it thru. Nothing EVER EVER stays the same (remember the Google Slap) so, the lesson is don’t put all your business eggs in one basket. This is an opportunity in creativity. Stick with Jim and John and they’ll pull us thru.
It may be Shock & Horror now, but as the dust starts to clear and our options are realized there will be “Opportunities Galore”
Problem + Solution = $ PROFIT $
Peter
http://www.HomeBasedWealth.com.au
As you would expect, there has been a massive reaction from eBay sellers to this announcement. From despair to joy and every other emotion in between, people seem genuinely shocked by this move from eBay.
I’ve been following many of the blog and forum posts and there seem to be 4 main options emerging from the majority of the posts.
To save people having to search through all the comments I’ve tried to summarise them all here:
http://mynetbooks.co.uk/newsletter/
I’m certainly going to try the first 2 options before giving up selling digital products on eBay but some people are quitting without even trying to adapt which, quite frankly, just amazes me. It takes all sorts I guess!
Regards
Dave Ovenden
http://DaveOvenden.com
I’m actually glad they did this, because those who were selling penny ebooks were dragging the value down for the other sellers. Maybe now buyers will be more willing to pay a decent price for quality information and ebook sales will get back to where they should be…putting profit in our pockets!
eBay tells us it’s to get rid of the garbage, but is it really? I think they are just trying to drum up more sales of their classifieds, at almost $10 a month…greed, that’s all it is.
And I think they went about it the wrong way. Terrible way to institute such a change, giving everyone less than two weeks notice for crying out loud. Placing a bottom line on how much the lowest prices for ebooks could be set would’ve been much better, for us and for eBay. Perhaps they would’ve held onto more of their sellers who are leaving in droves now.
I’m a little confused … and worried! It says UK is banning digital downloads. I’m HOPING this just refers to an EBAY.UK ban, and not a new policy being introduced by the Superpowers.
If it’s just an eBbay change, well that’s their option. We can still use their site to send people to external sites. As far as I’m aware, ebay.uk never allowed you to store digital goods for instant delivery anyway … which is why I developed my delivery system to work in conjunction with eBay sales / direct sales.
But if the ban is GOVERNMENT lead – and I can’t see how they could close every site selling digital items – my business is shot!!
Maybe I’ve misread the article, and it DOES only refer to eBay banning digital goods. I sure hope that’s the case.
NB: My sites are still being “fine tuned”, so bear with me if you take a look.
[[reply from Jim]]: Relax Chris…the “digital goods” policies I’m talking about above are all referring to EBAY only. There is no government involvement in any of this. Sorry for the unclear phrasing…
http://www.thehowarddepot.com (Under Construction and Coming Soon)
Hi Jim,
I am a newbie of sorts and was almost ready to launch some of your SSM’s on eBay. Perhaps it’s due to my inexperience, but I found myself seeing this eBay announcement as good news. I am going to place a Classified Ad in the first place to gain exposure for my Antique Clock Repair and Restoration business. With this new policy from eBay, now I can simply use Classified Ads for my Ebooks and it solves my problem of having to dance on tiptoes to get around the Ebay rule of linking to an off eBay site.
I’ll continue to monitor your site for further info and updates in case I have misunderstood this policy but it seems like a winning change to me. I can always link back to eBay for my tangable items if the customers found me from “off-eBay” means and then I can win due to a sale and an affiliate commission.
Anyhow, THANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing your ideas, techniques and positive outlook.
Jake Howard
I am new. First time I have read anything on this website, so if I am redundent, I apologize.
Personally, as a a seller this does not affect me at all. I am dealing with problems such as not being allowed to put more than 10 of my products up because it is a fav of counterfeits; the best match system which has placed users with less FB & a lower score above me I believe because overall they sell used products so offer items at a lower price; and someone whose name is different by mine by one letter & is selling the same products and profiting from my hard work.
As I said, I don’t sell digital products–but I have many friends that do. Let me take you back a week to the 2 sisters that had the cornflake shaped like Illinois. The auction was pulled. If I remember correctly they then listed a coupon that could be redeemable for the afore noted cornflake.
Why couldn’t this work for digital delivery? You are not selling digital delivery. You are selling a coupon redeemable for a digital product. For instance: auction templates. Which product? Why, the one you used in the auction, of course!
Now, I know NOTHING about Ebay’s policies about coupons, but if 2 girls from Illinois could figure it out…
C’mon–the mystery auction sellers found a way around their problem. There has to be one around this one, too.
Now, I guess I need to start solving my own problems…
I, like most others, was really shocked to hear this announcement. There is a lot of garbage on eBay, but this new policy throws out all the good with the garbage. Digital is the future, not physical products. Someone will figure out a way around this. Either a new eBay for digital products or a bending of the existing rules. I read the forum on eBay last night and it is 99 to 1 against this new policy. If eBay sticks to their guns, I predict a lot of sellers leaving and going elsewhere. There are positives in every situation, but in this case, I think this is vast overkill and the negatives far out weigh the positive. Shame on eBay for having so little regard for the people who do follow the rules in an attempt to penalize the people who don’t.
When I first heard the news I was a bit bummed because my digital sales were really beginning to take off. Rather than sulk about it I began coming with up ideas to move forward. I began looking at this setback as an opportunity. What else can you do?
Jim, I don’t want to offend you. So if you think this post is inappropriate, please delete it. But I think it is relevant to the discussion and could help others in despair. I hope you let it go through and thank you in advance for considering it.
Hi All,
Today I had a very unpleasant surprise from eBay.com. They cancelled my classified ad listing because “I was in violation of listing policies”. The root of the problem was that I had a link back to my website, which I thought was permitted in a classified ad. I also had an embedded HTML opt-in form but they didn’t complain about that. Now, a number of people have suggested in the past that classified ads can include links to external websites, opt-in forms, and even affiliate links. Clearly this is not the case. I have written to eBay and await their response.
To cut a long story short, my ad had been viewed 50 times before they pulled it. I listed it on 22 March, so 50 viewings is not bad considering it was Easter weekend and folks had better things to do than wade through eBay listings!
So I revamped my ad after reviewing the link policies. I now have only one link to my website, which provides more information, and an email address (which connects to an autoresponder).
If some of you don’t quite know how to use the power of classified ads, I would encourage you to examine my listing – click my ‘name’! If you care to follow the whole process through, you will see how I have built in multiple income streams by giving away a free, yet valuable, product. And if anyone can see what else I am doing wrong, I would be very grateful for your feedback.
Long live viral ebooks and digital delivery!
Oh, and thanks to Jim and others for teaching me the tricks of the trade. I thoroughly recommend Jim’s Silent Sales Machine ebook, and I understand a new edition is just around the corner.
Wish you all the best and don’t let eBay’s ban prevent you from following your dreams.
Nick
[[reply from Jim]]: I’ve heard of several instances where classified ads have been canceled for supposed links policy violations, but once you point out to the ebay rep that there is no such policy (there are actually NO policies for classified ads) the ads are typically reinstated with an apology. This has happened many times. I suggest you be polite and persistent. The main point you need to make to the ebay rep is that the ads are already paid for and they are by design intended to complete a transaction outside of eBay and generate multiple leads. Let them know that there is no other way for you to follow up with all the leads besides your website because you are a web based business. These are all sound arguments and in most cases they wind up seeing it your way. Let us know how it goes for you…it’s a real crap shoot right now unfortunately. There is sever inconsistency in enforcement, but the GOOD news is I have yet to hear of anyone having their account shut down (even temporarily) for classified ad link violations.
It sounds like bad news but if you sit back for a few minutes and look at alternative methods of delivery. You may well discover ebay has just done you a huge favor.
This is timely foir me as I have just created a video CD showing step-by-step how to convert eBooks ect to CD. I intend to get this finished asap and have it up for offer at ebay soon.
A great advantage of physical product delivery is you are going to get the buyers “Postal Address” No spam blockers there and you can always send via mail your specials ect.
Selling books in bulk is easy to format as well.. Just group your ebooks, say health, fitness, nutrition, weight loss.. bla bla and place them all on one CD sell as Health & Fitness package.
For those selling websites, same deal just burn them to CD
I am sure we all will survive and at the very least we are all now thinking. LOL
Happy days,
Ken Mathie
What’s not to like? I think this is a great development!
Ebay’s new policy will not remove the $0.01 sellers. If you take a look at the category eBay says we must use “Information Products-Everything Else” you will find it is loaded with these low-end products. These sellers are capturing contact info for backend sales and it must work because they are paying $9.95/month per ad.
Converting downloadable products to CD/DVD is an alternative but an expensive and timely one. My customers buy from me for 2 reasons: high quality and instant delivery.
The upside is you get more control over your sale and customer with classified ads. By sending them to your website to purchase you can use all the tools of internet marketing without interference from eBay. Use squeeze pages, upsell pages, membership enrollment, free bonus products, etc. None of those are available through the auctions or fixed price eBay setups without a lot of extra work and contacting buyers outside of eBay. Which by the way is against eBay policy. Although many sellers ignored that rule. The buyer in essence was eBay’s customer, not yours.
You don’t need to find a way around this new policy. Simply learn the classified ad setup system and use it to your advantage. Yes, you will need to learn a little bit about copywriting, keyword usage, etc.
For those sellers without a website it will be tough. There are easy and cheap ways to get a website up and running. Many web hosting companies offer web building tools that are easy to use and require no knowledge of html, php, flash, cgi, asp or any other web langauge. All for less than $10/month.
Right now eBay doesn’t have any set guidelines on what you can put in a classified ad except it can’t be illegal. So put your affiliate links, website links and anything else that sells product. What does bother me is that eBay can change this on a whim, also. They haven’t paid much attention to the classified ads up to this point. That may change when a flood of digital product sellers switch. And, so far nothing eBay has done in the past year has been of great benefit to the seller. No reason to think that will improve.
Search out additional markets for your products and increase your visibility. You must own your business not eBay.
Hey there Jim,
I truly cannot think of a business that the crap will not hit the fan from time to time. Offline businesses have to roll with it when the street department decides its time to tear out that chunk of road in front of your store to replace the 100 year old water pipes.
What are you going to do…According to some of the eBay Digital Product sellers, its time to close the biz and stick your head in the sand where its safe.
Come on now – have they never heard the saying…when life throws you lemons, you make lemonade (I’m sure thats not it exactly, but you get the idea – hopefully).
Jim, as you said in your tongue and cheek Boycott Ebay Video, for those of you that wish to boycott Ebay or quit Ebay all together never to return…well you are right, you should do just that. This of course will leave all those wonderful customers with money to spend looking at my products and not yours.
Of course I mean this in only the most sarcastic of ways.
Will this “fix” by Ebay cure the problems. Maybe for a while but my money is on – no it will not.
Like most things in life, you have a choice here, you can get mad every time someone changes the rules on you, or you can come to grips with the fact that this kind of thing will always happen and learn to deal with it. The sooner you can do that the happier you’ll be over all.
A happy salesperson will ALWAYS outsell the mad, brooding “why me” salesperson every time.
So….
Don’t Worry – Be Happy
SELL SELL SELL
Steve Dougherty
http://www.how2info4u.com
P.S. A great place for making cd/dvd products is called Kunaki. It cost you about $1.75 per item and they burn package and ship for you.
http://kunaki.com/
Hi Jim,
Great post. I am sending my readers here and to John Thornhill and to the Silent Forum.
There is a silver lining when we dig it out. I have experimented with digital products from time to time. I am now on the verge of moving more towards classified ads and digital products. eBay just gave me the push.
Just think, without all the junk ebayers putting up thousands of listings just to get more feedback, classifieds will now have more exposure (30 day exposure).
Besides, if you have a clickbank product you may have a double benefit – you can use classifieds to point directly to your squeeze page, or someone else may use classifieds to point to your squeeze page with an affiliate link.
Just a thought.
I will be going to the Silent Team Forum and waiting on John Thornhill’s update. For those looking for a leg up without having to learn new techniques – join the experts and let them help you.
Shameless plug but someone has to say it.
Ok Jim,
This is all your fault. Classified ads were a little known secret and now everyone knows about it. (Just kidding) I made a recommendation to ebay that this move does effect a lot of legitimate sellers of digital products other than ebooks. We are in a world where we worry about saving the rain forests, global warming, recycling etc. and ebay choose to increase the polution by making things digital banned. Go figure. My solution to this dilema was ebay has the manpower, financial power and technical knowhow to create another venue as ebay motors but call it “Digital World”. Instead of an ebay store sellers would be able to create a “Library” where they have their items listed. In this fashion ebay could do away with the feedback system in this area only. Feedback is merely an opinon of the moment from those who participate. How many items have you or others sold, left feedback for the buyer and received nothing in return?
By implementing the “Digital World” it will not interfere with the “Crybabies” who are screaming about the feedback. They can still sell their physical items and maintain their “Clubhouse snobbery” and the people who advanced into the “digital” century can still earn a living on ebay. One last parting note: Does ebay not recognize that they are “Digitally delivered”. Amazing isn’t it!
This news is definitely not a pleasant one.
I understand eBay has the rights to change it policy. But I just wonder, if it could just give some warning to the seller. Changing policy in less than 1 month, to me is ridiculous. This is not the first time eBay does this. Stop behave like a big brother.
By the way, I never even received any email informing me about this from eBay. I got to know about it via a 3rd party site.
Nevertheless, we still need to find ways to make money
Folks, please take note that the linking policies that apply to BIN and auction listings *appear* to apply to classified ads, too. Please read my previous post #31. My classified ad listing was cancelled because it contained links to my website.
I think I am right in saying that current linking policies allow you to place a link to:
1) your About Me page;
2) a page on your website offering more information about the product you are selling;
3) a contact e-mail address.
Affiliate links and general, unrelated links to your website are not permitted, and although classified ads are a gray area, I think my experience is an indicator of how unpredictable eBay can be about these issues.
I still have not had a response from eBay regarding my questions concerning the cancellation of my ad, and I am not holding my breath waiting for one. If I get any response, it is likely to be a standard canned response that will be totally unhelpful. That has been my experience to date, and I have been with eBay for quite some time.
Regards,
Nick
[[reply from Jim]] : Please see the comments I just added to your post above (number 31) to help clarify why I still think that adding links and opt-in boxes to your classified ads on the US based eBay site is a viable option. Simply stated there is NO policy in place for them to shut you down with. Politely and persistently make that case and you’ll win out 99% of the time.
This policy will dramatically reduce the profitability of a huge number of businesses and possibly even destroy some altogether. There are workarounds and I’m sure the more creative sellers will survive, but I have lost all respect for eBay with this move. The ridiculously short notice shows nothing but contempt for sellers.
Thanks for your response, Jim.
Yes, I too thought that there were no links (or any other) policies for classified ads.
However, I just received a response from eBay this morning. It was the usual canned response I have come to expect from them. Once again, they insist that my classified ad violated the links policy found at:
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/listing-links.html
So, eBay is insisting that classified ads MUST conform to the links policy that applies to other types of listings. I agree with you that the help pages for classified ads do not mention that, and it is a very gray area indeed.
I have responded to eBay’s email and I guess I will just wait for the next canned response.
In the meantime, I have revised my ad and removed the opt-in form. All that remains is a link to a page that further describes the product I am giving away and an email address, both of which are permitted as per the links policy referenced above.
So far, the revised ad has been running for around 38 hours, been viewed 55 times and I am still getting sign-ups from the new listing, despite the sign-up procedure being less straightforward, i.e. no opt-in form. That’s quite encouraging but I would like to revert back to an opt-in form to simplify the list building process.
We’ll see how it works out. I will keep you all posted. You never know, I might even use the info I am gathering from this experiment to create an info product!
Regards,
Nick
[[reply from Jim]]: Are they intentionally being as confusing as possible here? That policy they are pointing you to is on the ebay UK site….it’s not even a policy that applies to the U.S. site (which is where your classified ad resides). That’s a first brother! Wow – it’s becoming quite evident that eBay policy makers have NO CLUE what they are doing. Here’s a tip for eBay policy makers: if you find yourself in a hole the first step is to stop digging. I’m sure there are more changes coming though. It’s going to be comical…
This is ridiculous. Why would eBay turn their backs to solid digital sellers. The buyers are happy, the sellers are happy, where is the problem. Maybe this mayhem is a good opportunity for someone else to take a slice of the pie. I have been experimenting with http://www.zipidee.com and so far I have liked their service. I can sell all my digital content with no listing fees. I dont have to pay a cent until it sells. Really happy so far.
Hi Jim,
Having been inspired by Nick in your posts above, I have just got my first proper eBay classified ad off the ground in preparation for the new eBay policy. (Link in the post header above)
I had actually already started to experiment with classified ads based on content in your newsletter about 2 weeks ago so I’ve simply adapted it for the new situation.
Anybody else runing classified ads? If so, how’s it going?
I’d love to hear your feedback on my ad and your experiences.
Regards
Dave Ovenden
Hi Jim,
Yes, I should have pointed that out. I am registered on ebay.co.uk and the links listing policy differs somewhat on the two sites. Check them out:
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/listing-links.html
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-links.html
So, does the ebay.co.uk links policy apply because I am registered in the UK, or does the ebay.com policy apply because I listed my ad on the US site? Interesting, eh?
Also, when I am logged in at ebay.com and I attempt to reply to a message in My eBay, I get redirected to ebay.co.uk and have to log in again before I can continue. It’s always been that way!
I know the next canned response is going to leave me even more frustrated than I am now. How can a multi-national company like eBay have such an appalling customer support system? And how do they get away with it year after year?
Regards,
Nick
Realize that eBay very likely has just given us permission to include external links in our classified ads.
Did they?
Hi Jim
Now the dust is beginning to settle perhaps there are other ways of overcoming ebay’s short sighted approach.
What is there to stop listing any ebook/report etc on ebay in the normal way, however rather than be able to download the ebook as before direct from ebay the customer would automatically download a gift voucher or similar when paying for the item, which they could then go to the seller’s own site and download the ebook as they would have done previously via ebay.
While it involves another process,Would this not overcome the costly business of providing hard copy on dvd etc and then having to ship the item.
Just a thought!
[[reply from Jim]] eBay is making it clear that they will not allow you to make a digital download offer in the ad, so you have to be prepared for those that say no to the download option after the sale. Another idea: offer a $15 credit toward the purchase of a related product if they opt out of getting the shipment. Still, you have to be prepared to actually ship the CD because many will want that option since it is what you sold them.
Hi All,
I thought I would come back and give you an update, as I promised I would.
I have now had 4 canned responses from eBay and they are still contradicting themselves.
The third reply came as a bit of a shock — they actually apologized for erroneously cancelling my classified ad. This was followed by a statement in the next paragraph that informed me I could relist my ad but if it did not comply with listing policies, etc it could be removed again. So as my listing was originally cancelled for “violating listing policies”, you can imagine I was left quite confused. If they have erroneously cancelled my ad, that would imply that my ad did not violate listing policies, right? So I replied to the email requesting them to state definitively whether my ad had violated listing policies or not. You haven’t fallen asleep yet, have you?
The fourth response took me back to square one. The rep that crafted this response duly informed me that my ad had been cancelled because it had violated listing policies!
On a different note, my revised ad is still running and has now been viewed over 100 times. Well, actually, it could be more as I believe the hit counter ignores repeat viewings from the same visitor. So I would say that is pretty good for 4.5 days. I can’t wait to see how many viewings I get over the full 30 days and, more importantly, how many I have added to my list.
Something is definitely happening in the ‘Everything Else > Information Products’ category at eBay.com. This morning when I took a look, it was still Sunday as far as eBay.com local time was concerned. There were over 90,000 listings. As I write this, the official eBay time is Monday, March 31, 2008 08:19:25 PDT and there are fewer than 20,000 listings left! Get ready for a rapid fall in the number of listings left at the end of the day — I found this question on The Chatter:
Question: Should sellers end these listings themselves if they have listings that will run past March 31st? What about Stores sellers who have Good ‘Til Cancelled listings for these items?
Answer: We will end these listings and credit their fees to these sellers.
See more questions here:
http://www.ebaychatter.com/the_chatter/2008/03/digital-downloa.html
Well, that’s it for this update, folks. Hope I didn’t bore you too much.
Regards,
Nick
Hello Jim,
I have a question for you, On 3-24-08 on a popular IM forum you stated
“Classifieds ads on eBay are GREAT. They show up right along all the other listings and eBay has actually just given us OFFICIALLY the green light to put links to external websites inside classified ads. They didn’t have a policy on this issue before. WOW – this is GREAT NEWS guys.”
In the statement that says “eBay has actually just given us OFFICIALLY the green light to put links to external websites inside classified ads.”
Is this statement still accurate? Although I have’nt seen the actual policy on linking to external websites thru classified ads, I have read many people saying that eBay will not allow you to link to external websites or even paypal thru classified ads.
I would just like a little clarification from you on that statement. And if you cant link to external websites, can we still use the method taught in Silent Sales Machine allowing you to link to external websites via my about me page?
Thanks for all your help!!
Sean
Looks like eBay is hosting a Workshop on the topic on April 11th. Sweet.
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000544349
“Brian and Griff will also answer any question or concern you might have about the recent policy change.” — Oh boy, are they gonna be swamped!
We can’t change it, so we might as well learn to live with it. Those are just the facts. The ones that adapt will overcome. The end users will still thirst for the products that they were purchasing last week, last month and last year. It is just our job to figure out how to get those products in front of them.
Dane Laster