Mark Zuckerberg adopts a puppy

In the news:  Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook) made a page for his new puppy is named Beast.  Hmmm…well, I suppose that’s not so bad, considering I have a page for my Smart Car (as well as a blog by the car—have you seen it?)

My Little Smart Car would appreciate some more “LIKES” on it’s page if you’re so inclined.  Oh, and I suppose you could go look at Beast’s page, too.

What does eBay cost?

My students last week asked how much it costs to sell on eBay.  Here is a simple list of the fees you may be charged when selling on eBay:

• Insertion Fee – A nonrefundable fee may be charged to your account when you list your item on eBay.  Sometimes eBay offers "specials" when you may list your item without any Insertion Fee and pay only if it sells. If your listing ends without a winning buyer you may qualify for a credit by relisting the item.

• Listing upgrades – Additional fees that are only charged if you choose optional selling features such as Subtitle, Bold, Listing Designer, etc.

• Final Value Fee – This is based upon the final sale price of your item and only if your item sells. Right now for most items it is 9% of the final selling price.

• PayPal Fees – When you use Paypal to collect payment you will be charged another percent that is a sliding fee (check on Paypal for a complete fee chart).  Also, there are no monthly fees to have a Paypal account. The only fees are when you receive money when your item sells.

Free Book

I found where you can get a free download of the Dale Carnegie book SUCCESS SECRETS. It has some great ideas for improving your business--lots of basic rules, but still it's good to be reminded!  Download it here.

In addition to the free book the Dale Carnegie Training site offers a couple of free newsletters (not automatic with the book download) that you can sign up for. 

$40,668.00!

A lock of Justin Bieber’s hair has sold on eBay for $40,668.

The auction closed yesterday with the successful bidder paying a whopping $40,668 for the tresses plus a chance to meet the teen sensation next time he appears on Ellen’s talk show. Ellen has donated the fee to charity The Gentle Barn Foundation.

The purchase was made by GoldenPalace.com, a frequent buyer at celebrity charity auctions. They said in a statement that they plan to put it on tour at Bieber concerts to raise more money for charity.

Lock of Justin Bieber's hair, bought by GoldenPalace.com, encased in plexiglass for future generations

GoldenPalace.com has made headlines across the globe by winning similar auctions in the past with much of the proceeds going to benefit various charities. Some of their most noteworthy purchases include the Beckham Ball, Pope Benedict XVI's used VW Golf, and TV star William Shatner's kidney stone.

eBay's constant ebb and flow

Notice the little difference on the eBay sign-in page? 

eBay users can now stay signed in to eBay for 24 hours, even after they've closed their browser. "If you return to eBay within 24 hours, you won't have to sign in again unless you're changing your personal information (such as your password or email address) or if you signed out after your last visit."

The new default option is to let users stay signed in for 24 hours, but users can uncheck the "Keep me signed in" box if they don't wish to remain signed in. 

I'm pleased because I sign in and out of eBay at least 10 times a day!  (What?  You thought I was signed in ALL the time? Why ever would you think that?)

Timing your eBay Listings

The timing of any eBay listing is important, because in the final few hours before its end, it becomes increasingly more visible and prominent to visitors. This narrow window of time is when your item is most likely to sell.

To help find an ideal time, you can first eliminate when you don't want your listing to end. Assuming the majority of your buyers will be in the U.S., I would think you don't want your auction to end anytime between 11pm & 8am, since the majority of people will be asleep.

Also, you might ask yourself if your type of item would be used for work or personal use only. If for personal, it might be worth considering that during a lunch break or near the end of a workday (5pm), or mid-evening may be an appropriate time to list such an item.

For professional work-related items, perhaps it less likely that someone may search for these items in the evenings, but more during working hours. If you have a store, you may also view statistics to see what day of the week and what time of day most people visit your store.

My personal experience has shown that 11am to 8pm PST tends to be the most effective time ranges. Avoid holiday mornings and afternoons, as many people sleep in and usually go shopping and are away from computers in the afternoon.

Telephone Frustrations?

Are you tired of getting talking computers instead of humans when you call a company?

Go to http://gethuman.com/ and get the dial in numbers that will connect you to a person. Many companies have other numbers to get to their operator rather than '0'. Ex.: MasterCard - dial their number then press '0' three times in a row; at Chase - once the robot voice begins speaking, push in "*0".

I also heard that if your call gets transfered to a foreign company (India and Philippines most likely), you can request to be transferred back to a US assistant. Often it is too difficult to hear over the boiler room noises or to understand and communicate. You are legally entitled to this transfer so insist if you need to.