Author: vasil morice

Marketing is all the activities and processes of planning, communicating and executing a product, with a price, the promotion and the placement of an item to an end user. Your music is your product which you are then supplying to the end user – the music fan. Between you and the fan is a big space on how to bridge this gap. You may think that if you just get a record deal with some label, your prayers are answered and this instant bridge is built across that space. This is for the most part, not how things work today.

As an aspiring indie or unsigned singer, songwriter, or a musician in a band you can not do just a few things to promote yourself and expect success in your music career. Offline and online music promotion and marketing exposure is an ongoing process in this DIY age. Music companies are looking for artists that already have fan bases, sold CDs, and are proven ready to move up to a higher level. Presented here are more than 100 tips and ideas for you to think about and tweak as you will, to get noticed, gain fans, and get heard. You have to find a way to stand above the crowd, for talent alone is not enough.

Promo Tip #1 A music artist must start somewhere, that’s usually locally, but it’s better to not just dive in without a plan. But begin you must. Create a plan with some ideas and set goals as to what you need to accomplish weekly, monthly, and yearly. Start small and make it progressive. Reach bench marks and keep at it.

Promo Tip #2 Image is everything. Image is the complete package – artist/band name, look, performance, merchandise, and style, to how that brand is marketed. A stage name can be a descriptive statement of the image you or your band project. Be unique and interesting to look at in some way….build your own unique stage persona.

Promo Tip #3 Word of mouth has always been the best promotion – tell people what you do. Get people talking. Create your buzz by just giving enough info to get people interested, but hold some secrets close.

Promo Tip #4 Those that promote the most win.

Promo Tip #5 You may be a truly great talent, but without getting out there and consistently marketing yourself, networking, meeting the right people, maintaining your image, and being humble, your talent will only get you so far.

Promo Tip #6 Be innovative in your promotional efforts! The Internet has made it possible to hear a LOT more music, from a LOT more artists. You are now a very small fish in a very large pond – you will need to find a way to stand out, above and glow in the dark. Think beyond the box on every promo tip.

Promo Tip #7 Learn web basics to use the Net to your advantage. The Internet thrives on links, quality content, keywords and consistency. Properly use the tools of the Internet to build your online brand.

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The irony of eBay is that as it grows to be ever more successful, it draws the unsavoury element of the internet towards it. I’m talking about people who make it their business to attempt to defraud you and I in our eBay and PayPal transactions.

Of course, not all dodgy dealings on eBay are fraudulent. Some are just mischievous. Others are by chancers, who perhaps reckon their victims won’t be bothered to pursue them.

Whoever causes it, it’s left to the targeted buyer or seller to try and sort out the problem. All that we as users can do is to be extremely vigilant and cautious in all our eBay and PayPal activities.

Here is a list of practical steps, in no particular order, which buyers and sellers can take to help avoid becoming the next victim.

Hopefully you are already aware of some of these. It doesn’t necessarily follow that if one of these applies the auction or person is fraudulent. But if you use your head, and build up a view of the overall transaction based based upon a number of these factors, you will reduce your chances of getting conned.

a) Stock photos and descriptions
Because they don’t have the item they are “selling”, some fraudsters use a stock photograph of the item. And they will probably use the manufacturer’s product description too. So, stock photos and no original description might be a sign. Search for other auctions by the same seller, and see if they are brazen enough to advertise the same item more than once.

b) A price too good to be true often isn’t true
A fraudster wants your money quickly, so you may find they offer to close their auction early with you as the “winner” having bid a price which you know to be somewhat of a bargain. Why would anyone close their auction early if the price hadn’t reached market levels? I’ll give you one guess.

c) High value or high volume, newly registered sellers
Although the vast majority of new sellers are genuine and honest, be cautious of buying from people selling high value items in bulk, very early on in their eBay career. This pattern isn’t quite normal. Think back to your own first sales. You would have been tentative, and probably have tried single, low value items initially. So, a new seller fitting this profile may be someone who has perhaps been previously suspended and has registered another ID.

d) 1 day listings
Although 1 day listing are used by genuine sellers who have more than one item or who want a quick sale, unfortunately this duration is attractive to fraudsters too. They sometimes use a 1 day auction duration to gain a quick sale before their actions can be reported and acted upon. So, be extra wary on auctions with 1 day listing.

e) Invitations to trade off-eBay
This is a classic ploy of fraudsters. Having made some kind of contact with you, or you with them, they will invite you to purchase or to sell off eBay i.e. without using eBay’s auction services. The attraction here to the fraudster is that they can drive the transaction along the lines they prefer, whether that be escrow, PayPal etc. Another reason why trading off eBay is not a good idea is that you have to keep your own formal records of the transaction, and you forfeit any cover from eBay buyer protection and PayPal buyer protection. Plus, and this might be a minor point, but you will not be able to leave feedback to let others know your experience with this seller/buyer.

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There are many eBay scams out there to keep an eye out for when you are selling on eBay. This article will cover a few of the known and not so known scams to be aware of. Whether you’re a causal seller, or a professional seller on eBay, you need to know about these scams so that you can take measures to prevent or recognize if it’s happening to you.

Bid Shielding
This scam is something you need to watch out for as a seller on eBay. Basically the scam is run using two separate eBay accounts. The scam works like this. You put your item up for auction. Let’s say your item is worth $100 and you have no reserve. The first bidder (scammer) comes along and bids $5 on your item. Right after that, another bidder working with the first bidder comes along and bids $200 on your item. Since your item is only worth $100, you receive no more bids for the duration of your auction. Right before your auction ends, the first bidder backs out and cancels their bid, leaving the $5 bidder the winner, effectively shielding all other potential bidders because of the $200 bid.

Because of the potential for this scam it is always good to have a reserve on your auction. Also, I would put some sort of disclaimer on your auction stating that if you suspect bid shielding on your auction, you reserve the right to back out of the sale. It’s always a good idea to keep an eye on your auctions and watch for this type of behavior. If you suspect this is happening to you, be sure to report the parties involved to eBay right away.

Wholesale List Scam
This scam takes advantage of the fact that many people don’t pay close attention or read the fine print on an auction. This scam is targeted at buyers who are looking for deals on electronics and technological items on eBay. The wholesale list scam is basically an auction that looks like the seller is offering a great deal on a product like an iPod for example. They may have a buy now price of $40 for an iPod that is worth $150. However, if you actually read the fine print on the auction, you will find that you are not really buying the iPod. In fact you are purchasing a wholesale list.
To avoid this scam, just be sure that you read the entire details of the auction before making a bid or a purchase. Basically, just use common sense. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is, so read the auction carefully.

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Recently, a friend asked me to help her brother sell his collection on Lladro glass figurines on eBay. These are expensive glass collectibles and I knew nothing about them – but I don’t have to. The principles for selling expensive collectibles on eBay are the same, regardless of what is being sold.

Obviously, like any eBay auction, the seller must have a powerful listing with great pictures. This is always true regardless of what the merchandise is. Expensive collectibles offer splendid opportunities, but also need special precautions.

1. Price: decide the lowest amount you will accept for each figurine and set that price as a reserve. Then make your opening bid absurdly low – yes, absurdly.

Example: if you will accept $1,000 – make your opening bid $25. There is no risk in this, because you don’t have to sell unless the bidding reaches $1000, but the low price attracts buyers, (assuming there is demand, of course).

Looking at completed eBay auctions allows us to track prices, Again and again we learn that starting the price where the seller hopes it will end is not a wise tactic.

For instance, a seller wants to get $750 for his figurine. An opening bid of $750 won’t attract nearly as many buyers as an opening bid of $25 and – surprisingly – the lower bid almost always gets higher prices. There is some psychology at work with the cheap price. It may not make logical sense, but it’s the reality of life on eBay.
2. Devote space in your auction listing explaining how you will pack your item to ensure safe transit. This is critically important because in the back of every buyer’s mind is the dread of receiving a package that rattles. A collectibles buyer will inevitably be thinking of the hassle she will have to go through – and the possible loss of purchase price – if her item is broken. She needs to know that the seller has carefully considered this issue and has a solution.

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Millions of would-be entrepreneurs want to sell things on ebay. eBay is the #1 home-business opportunity in the world right now, so it’s natural that many are eager to find highly profitable items for re-sale on eBay. However, it’s important to know that there are certain items that can’t be sold. Here are a dozen of them …

Some items are copyright infringement and can actually land a seller in federal prison:

1. Knock offs of music, TV shows or movies. The “bootleg” movies, for example, are often made by guys who sneak a movie camera into a newly-released movie where presumably, they crouch behind a seat and make a crummy copy. There is a large production of these counterfeit items in Asia where US laws have no power.

2. Software and computer games can likewise be copied and their sale is illegal by all US laws.

Naturally, the items above may be sold if you have a copy that you purchased legitimately and no longer want.

3, The so-called “replica” market for handbags, designer sunglasses and clothing is definitely forbidden although these items are often sold in physical stores around the US. Ironically, when attending eBay Live In New Orleans in 2004, we found a store in one of their famous markets selling replica purses that were not allowed on eBay.

4. Lazy and less-than-honest sellers often steal copyrighted material from other sellers. This has happened to me many times and eBay has a program called VERO (Verified Rights Owner) that will remove offending auctions, although there seems to be no penalty attached to the seller, which is unfortunate.

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Artists, craftspeople and photographers are successfully selling their wares everyday on the online auction site, eBay. According to a recent analysis of eBay sales, a crafts-related item is sold every nine seconds, a scrapbook item is sold every minute, and 40 cross-stitch items sell in an hour on eBay. Sales of craft items on eBay have grown almost 60 percent in the past year, according to TheBidFloor.com.

But, at the same time, many would be sellers are listing their pieces for sale on auctions and getting no bids, concluding that eBay just doesn’t work.

Here are some tips from James Dillehay, craft artist, eBay seller and author of the new book, “Sell Your Crafts on eBay” (Warm Snow Publishers), on how to profitably sell your wares online:

1. Anyone who can type and has access to the Internet can sell on eBay. But the creative person has an advantage on eBay when she turns that creativity toward researching overlooked opportunities.

For example, during the months before Christmas, more than 3,000 Christmas items are sold every 24 hours on eBay. Research methods outlined in Sell Your Crafts on eBay showed that between February 12 and March 12 of this year, 4,107 auctions with ‘Christmas ornament’ in the title completed successfully at an average price of $17.34. Imagine how much more money a smart crafter can make all year long knowing how to ferret out this kind of information from eBay sales.

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Most people who sell on eBay would like to be in the position of selling highly sought after items. But how do you know which products are the ones that are in high demand?

You might not have realised it, but eBay itself has several ways for you to determine exactly what these items are! In fact eBay gives you four ways to do this.

Whilst this data is only available on ebay.com, depending on the categories in which you operate, the information may well be of interest no matter which eBay country site you use.

Items In Demand

In this part of Seller Central, you will find each of the main categories is listed. If you scroll down, you will see within each category area there is a heading of In Demand. If you click on this, you will see what are the most popular items currently within that particular category. To see the In Demand page, go to http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/sellbycategory.html

Hot Items by Category Report

eBay produces a monthly report called the “Hot Items by Category” report. This report lists the fastest growing categories on eBay for the previous month. The explanation for what eBay considers “hot” can be hard to understand on first reading. The important matter is that the categories listed are ones where buyer demand for the items under those categories are growing fastest. This report is a PDF file. You can view it on your browser, or download it and open it with Adobe Reader. Go to http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/whatshot.html and select “Hot Items by Category” from the menu on the left.

eBay Pulse

This is an area on eBay where you can find “a daily snapshot of current trends, hot picks, and cool stuff on eBay”. With eBay Pulse you can get this information by category, or across eBay.com as a whole. Go to http://pulse.ebay.com/ to see eBay Pulse in action.

Merchandising Calendar

eBay promotes specific categories on its home page each month. Savvy eBayers know that this home page exposure results in more interest in such categories. Fortunately, thanks to eBay’s Merchandising Calendar, you can know in advance which categories are going to be featured in each month. Thus you can be prepared with appropriate auction items, ready to take advantage of the increased traffic in these categories. Go to http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/calendar.html to view the current Merchandising Calendar.

I hope this insight into eBay’s services helps in your selling.

About the author:
Brian McGregor is an internet entrepreneur specializing in leveraging the power of eBay. He is author of ‘The eBay Formula’ on how to sell successfully on eBay time after time. He is also publisher of the eBay Auction Newsletter – Subscribe free at
http://www.workwinners.com/Newsletter_archive.htm