bidbits

It's Not Bad Enough It's Spam, Now it Has to Insult You..

Got this in my email inbox today...

"Julia, THIS is why you're fat - Please don't be 
disgusted though, it's NOT your fault. 

"Hi Julia,

"My name is Suzanne, and I'm a real doctor that 
would like to show you why you may be "fat" and 
why you're unable to lose weight no matter how hard you
try. 

"First off, please always know that it's not your 
fault...I would like to show you the disgusting 
truth right now as to what is keeping you fat!"

[ link deleted because I don't want to reward
 them for insulting me ]

New Niche Site Builder tool

My friend Mike Enos, otherwise known as the PlatinumPowerseller, has come up with a cool new tool for building niche web sites.

You can get started by clicking the below banner. I have a couple niches in mind I've bee rarin' to get niche sites set up for, so I'll be trying it out and reporting back here asap.

New USPS Video-sized Box

More fun from the Post Office: we're getting a new box. This box sounds like a good, small but not-too-small size:

A friend of mine sent me this; I think it's from the USPS site but not sure:

The USPS is also introducing a new Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Box which will cost $4.80 for domestic delivery. This box will also be available for international delivery and will cost $10.95 for delivery to Mexico and Canada and $12.95 to other countries. 

The box measures 8 5/8" x 5 3/8" x 1 5/8" and is about the size of a video cassette.

Do You Qualify for the Postal Service's New High Volume Price?

The US Postal Service is rolling out some changes in the coming days. One: new price incentives for high-volume shippers.

My first question was what is a high-volume shipper? Well,  about 25 pieces a day.  Here's what they say in their release:

"To qualify for Commercial Plus savings, customers must ship 6,000 or more pieces of Express Mail per year — about 25 pieces a day — or 100,000 or more pieces of Priority Mail per year — about 420 a day. Customers also must use a USPS-approved payment method, including an Express Mail Corporate Account, Endicia.com, Stamps.com, Pitney Bowes or other USPS-authorized online postage provider."

 (25 a day...I'm not quite at that point. Not yet, anyway. Though, I think I'd rather make more money on fewer packages!).

Here's more about  the change from the USPS:

"...Commercial Plus pricing launches Jan. 18, with up-front price incentives for qualifying shippers using USPS overnight and 2- to 3-day expedited services.

The incentives will be available for domestic Express Mail and Priority Mail users who meet established volume requirements. On average, Commercial Plus prices for Express Mail will be 14.5 percent less than USPS retail prices; Priority Mail Commercial Plus prices will average 7 percent less."

"...Reblin says customers benefit from the competitive price position of Express Mail and Priority Mail in the market, especially for packages weighing 5 pounds or less. “Even before the new incentives, Express Mail and Priority Mail services are the best values in shipping,” he said. “Commercial Plus prices are the icing on the cake.”

As an example of the savings available, Commercial Plus customers will pay $14.96 for an Express Mail Flat Rate Envelope, compared to the $17.50 retail price. Commercial Plus Priority Mail flat-rate savings compared to retail prices are shown in the accompanying table.

Flat-Rate Envelopes and Boxes	Retail	Commercial Plus
Priority Mail
Envelope	$4.95	$4.75
Small box	$4.95	$4.75
Regular box	$10.35	$9.67
Large box	$13.95	$13.27
Large box (APO/FPO)	$11.95	$11.30

Report Lists Sites for Listing Auctions

Report Lists Sites for Listing Auctions

[from the Jan issue of Yard Salers newsletter, at www.yardsalers.net]

Hi Julia,

I just wanted to drop a quick note to let you know that I really enjoy your newsletter. I'm an eBay seller (jlmccutcheon) and understand some of the frustrations eBay sellers have at times. I love eBay - but do use Bonanzle to list items that don't sell on eBay. Anyway, in response to Suzanne in the last ezine issue:

/Does anybody know of another online site that we could list auctions on, because we have had it with being told or forced into having to accept ebay's paypal./

I have put together a little PDF that covers some other online places where you can sell your stuff:

http://www.jackiemccutcheon.com/blog/dont-put-all-your-clicks-in-one-basket-301.html

It's a small report, but I've had a lot of my clients ask the same question as Suzanne, so I decided to put the information in a quick reference format.

Keep up the great job on the ezine. I love receiving my copy and have learned so much. Merry Christmas!

-- Jackie 
Jackie McCutcheon 
~~ eBay Trading Assistant ~~ 
http://www.jackiemccutcheon.com 

~~~ 
Hey Jackie!

Thanks so much for writing and the kind words! So glad u like the newsletter. The report looks great! I'd like to post a link to it in my next newsletter if that's K with you (and my blog).

Julia

The Largest Antique Ever Transported

This is too fun...I was emailing back and forth with one of my Yard salers subscribers, and she mentioned she was from Havasu. I hadn't heard of it so looked it up and found Lake Havasu City. Then I found out from her it was home of the London Bridge, the largest antique ever transported!

Sure enough. I found this article about it on RoadTripAmerica:

http://www.roadtripamerica.com/places/havasu.htm

"In 1962, London Bridge was falling down. Built in 1831, the bridge couldn't handle the ever-increasing flow of traffic across the Thames River. The British government decided to put the bridge up for sale, and Robert McCulloch, Founder of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, and Chairman of McCulloch Oil Corporation, submitted the winning bid of $2,460,000.

The bridge was dismantled, and each stone was numbered. Everything was shipped 10,000 miles to Long Beach, California, and then trucked to Lake Havasu City. Reconstruction began on September 23, 1968, with a ceremony including the Lord Mayor of London, who laid the cornerstone. On October 10, 1971, the bridge was dedicated."

Twee bay: new eBay for Twitterers

Twee bay

Dee, one of my ever-vigilant and savvy Yard Salers readers, alerted me to a new marketplace on twitter...called, what else, Twee bay!

I'm going to create my first listing soon, but here's what they say about it:

"Twee bay is a Free way to buy and sell your stuff using the power of Twitter. Twee bay will NEVER ask you for your Twitter Password. In order to do something on Tweeb bay, you MUST be following the Tweebay Twitter User. Every time you do some thing on Tweeb bay, we will send you a Direct Message on Twitter to confirm its you. Happy Tweeb baying.

The Tweeb bay Team"

(hmm...is is Twee bay or Tweeb bay? Guess we'll see...)

Big Bucks Flips: New eBook

A lot of my readers have asked about the popular Flip of the Week contest, and there seemed to be interest in having all the flips in one nice, neat, package. So in the spirit of the New Year, I decided to put together an ebook of just that.

I also saw there were a lot of lessons learned there in all the weeks of the contests, and the tips readers had for each other about finding things, the best types of "under the radar" things to buy to resell. I also expanded on some of the success stories by digging up photos and comp prices of similar things on eBay.

Finally, I add "Julia’s Favorite and Most Reliable Flips of Items that You are Actually Likely to Come Across," things that I have found again and again at sales and have become my bread and butter, and can become yours too.

For right now I'm giving everyone a crack at the very low subscriber price of just $4.50..low than most any paperback book! You can get yours at: http://www.yardsalers.net/flips_ebook_sales.asp

Enjoy, and Happy New Year!