Vintage Little Golden Books

There are few vintage collectibles that capture the joy of a baby boomer era childhood better than Little Golden Books. Whether the books explore magic and imagination, holidays, pets, toys, or everyday life, the words and images are nostalgic and charming.

Little Golden Books are one of my favorite things to collect - and to sell - on eBay. I personally collect Little Golden Books about dogs and Christmas, as well as Eloise Wilkin illustrations. Two of my books are in the photo above. I have a special fondness for activity books, like Trim the Christmas Tree, which has little paper ornaments to cut out and assemble. I had a copy of this book in my childhood - which of course I used to make ornaments. I am delighted to have another copy now that is complete.

As a seller, there are several things a buyer will look for with Little Golden Books. These include:

* Title
* Author of Book (some authors are collectible)
* Illustrator of Book (there are some treasures here – i.e. Corinne Malvern, Eloise Wilkin, Richard Scarry, Garth Williams, etc.)
* Book Number (top right corner of front cover). It is important to note that numbers featuring a hyphen, i.e. 254-12, are newer editions, and not as collectible.
* Original Price of Book (top right corner of front cover). 25¢ and 29¢ books are the best sellers in the vintage market.
* Date of book publication - On copyright page, make sure you have included the last date of publication included. For instance, if you see 1950, 1962, 1976, then the date to include is 1976.
* Edition - For older books (i.e. 25¢ - 29¢ books) you will also find the book’s edition inside the back cover. Open the back cover and look at the bottom of last page of book in the book gutter at binding. With oldest editions, you will see a letter, i.e. A, B, C, etc. A is a First Edition, B is a Second Edition, etc.
* Condition, including any writing or marks in book, child’s name, gift inscription, etc.

Little Golden Books are a uniquely charming baby boomer vintage collectible, and great fun for buyers and sellers alike!

Trish
eBay name: birdhouse-in-your-soul
eBay Store: Birdhouse Books
Fan page for updates and vintage chat: Facebook.com/birdhousebooks
Trish's blog: Adventures on eBay


(Many thanks to Trish, proprietress of Birdhouse Books, for today's guest post.)

Product Sourcing With Close-Out Deals

I'm ready to reveal my sources. Well, one of my sources.

When I was actively selling products from my own inventory, one of my favorite places to find liquidation sales and close-out bargains for resale was Graveyard Mall, "Where high prices come to die!" (Gotta love their slogan.)

I've found great deals in their collegiate products department, health and beauty, home improvement, and more. I could name several items that I purchased in bulk then practically gave away on eBay but still doubled or tripled (at least) my investment.

The best tip I can offer about buying on Graveyard Mall is to research the items first, before you get carried away because of a low price. Remember, these are close-out type items and sometimes they're being closed out for a very good reason: nobody wants them. Nobody. And that means your customers won't want them either, so do your due diligence before you buy. You will find some bargains, though. For instance, I see one particular item priced at $1.99 that's selling for $9.98 right now at Amazon.com. Seems someone could turn that one around and make some money, wouldn't you think? (I'll give you a hint: It's in the Dollar Store category.)

Sign up for the newsletter to to keep up with their specials and visit the site daily to check their Deal of the Day. Hope you find some great bargains!

For more ideas for product sourcing, check out Where to Find Stuff to Sell on eBay.

How to Get Buyers to Read Your eBay Newsletters

Are you a store owner on eBay? Do you use your mailing list capability, the one that eBay provides along with your store? I hope that you do as it can be a very powerful tool. Speaking as a buyer, I enjoy receiving newsletters from eBay store owners - occasionally. The majority of the time, though, I simply delete them without opening because I know they're going to be a waste of my time. How do I know that?

When I see these subject lines, I don't ask questions, I just delete:

"eBay Seller Email: Check out my Newly Listed Items"
"eBay Seller Email: Sale! Shop my eBay Store for Big Savings"

Those are default subject lines, the ones that eBay supplies for you. They're the lazy seller's way of sending a newsletter. Inside, I can expect to see a list of items for sale and little else, sometimes not even a personalized message from the store owner. In fact, unless I scroll to the bottom of the page, 99 percent of the time I have no idea who sent the email. Why? Because eBay's default does not supply the store name at the top of the email. The only place I might find it is on the feedback section that is (by default) plugged in at the very bottom. Sorry, but I have too many other things to do than search an email to see who it's from. I'd rather shop with sellers who catch my attention with subject lines such as these:

"eBay Seller Email: Birdhouse Books - New Year's Sale"
"eBay Seller Email: 25% Off Selected Flat Wallets & More"
"eBay Seller Email: Happy Holidays from Handmade by Martha"
"eBay Seller Email: New 2 Day Sale Fun Stuff from Annie Star"

Aren't those subjects more appealing? Absolutely! Don't they make you want to see what's inside? Of course!

Note that the "eBay Seller Email" part is always provided by eBay, identifying that the mail is not s-p-a-m, so that's okay. However, it leaves you, the seller, a limited number of characters to work with, so be creative and use the space wisely.

If you've been taking the lazy way out by using the eBay default subjects, check your stats to see how many subscribers open your newsletters now, then try it my way a time or two and see if that opening rate increases dramatically. I truly believe it will. If I'm on your mailing list, I can guarantee it will. Then come back here, leave a comment and let me know if it worked for you.

Happy selling and prosperity to all in the new year!


P.S. It's tax prep time. Need advice? The eBay Seller's Tax and Legal Answer Book: Everything You Need to Know to Keep the Government Off Your Back and Out of Your Wallet

EBay Seller? Diversifying? You Need This!

If you're one of those savvy sellers who has been diversifying your selling venues beyond eBay, have I got some great news for you. It's called EveryPlaceISell.com and the name alone should give you a huge hint about its purpose.

Steiner Associates (as in AuctionBytes.com) has created EveryPlaceISell.com as a user-generated directory for online merchants to list and tie together every venue on which they sell. Do you sell on eBay? Amazon? Etsy? Your own site? List them all here - f r ee - and help your customers, as well as new shoppers, find you at all of those locations. Besides the obvious benefit of having all of your sites available in one place, the backlinks this will generate for your sites should make the search engines very happy.

The fact that this new site is owned by Steiner Associates should give you confidence in its future; the Steiners know their business and do it well. The site is beginning to boom, so don't delay in getting your registration process started. Policy states that every registration is verified within 24 hours though may take longer due to high traffic; my initial registration was confirmed within minutes.

By the way, you don't have to be an eBay seller to use this site. You are allowed to list 10 different sites and there's a long list, alphabetically from Abebooks to Wibix, of venues to select from. With EveryPlaceISell.com you have nothing to lose and everything to gain, so give it a try, then let me know how it works for you.

P.S. Here's my link.


My52cents-Susan52 Online

October 2008 Best Selling Items On The Internet

By Luis Galarza - Internet Marketing Tips.

So, I'm Ready To Become An Internet Marketing Entrepreneur! But, What Products Can I Sell Online? What Are The Best Selling Items On The Internet This September and October 2008?

OK, I know the month of September is almost over but that doesn't mean you can not be able to make money online promoting the best selling items on the Internet right now, these products are so popular that is no way you can increase your month end income a bit. The secret to start a successful home base business selling on the Internet any of these items is all about three words "Taking Action Now". Yes, that's it, I know you maybe was expecting the magic secret code of Internet marketing, the truth is that there is not magic code, is just setting goals, writing a strategic planning, taking daily actions, testing those actions, and improve those actions.

Below I added two tips to help you start selling online in less than 48 hours... Yes, is possible if you know how, and the thing is that is not difficult, but will need some hard work if you want to really make some extra money before this month end, which will give you the push to continue next month even stronger. So, don't forget to read the bottom part of this article.


September and October 2008 Best Selling Items On The Internet Hot List:

Back To School Products.
School already started, but there are a lot of people still looking for school supplies and accessories, searches still high and these can make you some or a lot of cash if you act now, of course. Some of those hot supplies are:

• Schools Supplies.
• Backpacks.
• Bags.
• K-6 supplies.
• Books.

Computers.
As you know computers are always been one of the best selling electronic items online, that's why it has it's own category. Here are some of the hot computer goods this September and October:

• Laptops.
• Monitors.
• PDAs.
• Desktops.
• Printers.
• Software.

Electronics.
Last Christmas digital cameras and video games were the most popular products on the Internet, but by now some of that has change, which also give us some views of what this Christmas hot sellers are going to be, but I'll talk about that tomorrow. Below are the hottest electronics for this month:

• Cellphones.
• Digital Cameras.
• MP3 Players.
• TV and Video Items.
• Video Games.
• DVD Players.

Student In Dorms.
Focus your Internet marketing campaign on college students can become a very lucrative alternative for your online business or money making venture. Many entrepreneurs have found that targeting college students can turn into big business, and the market still have a lot of room for new smart netpreneurs who want to monetize using strategic marketing campaigns that convert. Here some of the items those students want right now:

• Dorm-room Essentials.
• Room Accessories.
• Laptops.
• Stylish Backpacks.
• Stylish Bags.

Clothing.
Before clothing was one of those products that took a lot of time to be accepted as an e-commerce product, because many people really need to touch, and try it on before buying. But, with new web technology, better customers services, good guarantees, and the fact that people notice that buying cloth online were no different from buying it from a paper catalog, that turn clothing into a hot selling good. Here is what people want to wear right now or at list the most popular categories:

• Women's.
• Men's.
• Teen.
• Lingerie.
• Shoes.
• Accessories.

All this categories are popular right now and can generate a good substantial income for you, just harry. Halloween products aren't included here because I plan to write a post just about that before Friday.

Tip: When doing your keyword research go after the long tail to speed up your success. If you don't know what's the long tail is, here is an example: If you are going to target your marketing campaign to the "computer" which is one of the best selling items on the Internet I mention above, you need to know that "computer" is the main keyword, which has a lot of competitions and will be very, very, very difficult for you to optimize your site or blog for that keyword, and if you thinking on using PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising like Google Adwords, you must know that targeting the main key phrase will be very expensive, up to $15 to $20 per click.

The long tail is simply a longer key phrase use by web users who are looking for specific information or product related to the main word. In the case of the "computer" keyword the long tail can be something like "black desktop computer in New York", this phrase is cheaper and easier to optimize your site for.


Internet Marketing Tips To Make Money Online.

You can use many ways and strategies to create a new revenue stream with any of those best selling items, right now I going to give you two tips monetize this opportunity...

1. - Find this products below wholesale provided by drop-shipping vendors, then open a store on eBay and list at least 5 products on the right category using good headline sales copy to make it appealing to buyers, then use good description and list the benefits with bullet points, this is the easiest type of sales copy you can apply successfully. because you're not an eBay powerseller, you need to bring some traffic to your store so you can boost your bids and your sales, to do that you can use PPC targeting the long tail, also you can open a free Squidoo account where you need to provide some good unique information and link back to your eBay store, plus you can add eBay items right from the Squidoo integrated affiliate system, which can give you more stream of income per lens or Squidoo webpage.

2. - Use Google Knol and Squidoo to create a mass marketing campaign targeting the hot products that you like or have interest on, because this way you will put more efforts in building better pages with these two already search engine optimize content management systems. Google Knol will make you money with Adsense and affiliate programs, and Squidoo with their affiliate system, other affiliate programs, and you can use them to link to your main blog.


You can use these two tip and make it work for you, you can also mix the two to maximize your profits. After you income sites are set up you can increase traffic and your revenue by testing and tracking more Internet marketing strategies. Don't forget to write a simple marketing plan to help you get the best out of these best selling items.


To learn how you can be part of an online association full with expert on selling on the Internet and web business advisers by visiting the Internet Entrepreneurs Club.


In Conclusion: Each of the hot items from this list can be turn into profits, just remember that some strategies for selling on the Internet need some investment from your part and some work. Just research the keywords and make a list of long tail phrases that can be turn into cash. Don't try to create a marketing program for each popular product, instead pick one or two that you would like to learn more about or already know something about and make it work... You can pick other niches after learning how to make it work successfully.

To your success,

Luis Galarza, Internet Marketing Consultant In Massachusetts.

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Selling On The Internet

By Luis Galarza - Internet Marketing Tips.

Selling On The Internet Is Simple And Very Effective When Is Done Right, It Doesn't Matter If Your Are Promoting Your Own Products, Affiliate Programs, Services, Network Marketing, Business Opportunities, Free Items, Or Even If You Are Selling On eBay... Here Is A Simple Internet Marketing Strategy To Help You Make Money Online Successfully!

First, you need to know that Internet marketing works best when your efforts are focus and have a well develop strategic selling process behind it, of course there are more element to an online business to reach long term success, but today I want to help you increase your sales by giving you a simple, yet effective marketing strategy that will boost your success factor on your effort for selling on the Internet.

Making money online is not rocket science, is actually a very simple process that depends on strategic elements to make it work. When I talk about strategic elements, I'm referring to the selling strategies you are going to use and to each "purpose focus" action steps that will make it do what it supposed to do, make sales.

Do you have the answer to the next questions...

- Are you feeding your audience right?
- Are you letting them know how good is your food?

Something You Should Know.

Before I give you the answer about those questions that will actually reveal the marketing strategies for selling on the Internet, you need to know what your campaign should do before it makes the sale, the fact is that if you don't know this your campaign will not be as effective. Every strategic selling element and action steps need to make your audience take the path that will bring them to the order form and make the purchase. This process can be different depending on your strategy, market, target audience, and products, but for the Internet marketing strategy that you are going to learn today the process should do the following:

1. - Promote your brand to a target audience that will be difficult to reach with your site.

2. - Build your web authority in your niche.

3. - Create a trusty relationship that will increase your credibility.

4. - Will give your audience a strong reason why to follow the sales path.

5. - Will increase the value of the product or service you are selling, even for affiliate marketers.

6. - It needs to build your data base of hot sale leads.

7. - Needs to make money even if your visitors don't follow your sales path.

8. - Needs to have a multiple stream of income build in the process.

9. - Also needs to increase profits during and after the sale.

10. - It must build a strong relationship that will generate future easy sales.

Internet Marketing Is Simple Not Easy!

Remember that to make money online you need to put some hard effort or some money or both if you want to be successful, I going to teach how to do it using free web tools, but the same basics will apply to paid services.


The Answers.

So, do you have the answer to the question above? Maybe you do, I need to answer it anyways, because many of my visitors are newbies to selling on the Internet, and I want everybody to be on the same page before reading and using the marketing strategy. Why do I relate this tactic with food? The reason is simply because many successful restaurant use this technique offline and online was first introduce by in the adult industry marketing.

The technique is simple:

• First you show the goodies to your audience and make their mouth watery.
• Then you give them a little sample that will make them want more or the whole thing.
• And then you show them how to get the whole thing right now.

How many products can you sell if you follow that method. It works great for restaurants and the adult industry, it can also work for you if you apply it right. Let's get to the action...


The Strategy.

This tactic don't have every single element but it works excellent, and you can add all those strategic elements I talk about before, just make sure is focus and relevant to your campaign goals and your audience.

OK, here is the free tactic for selling on the Internet whatever it is that you're selling (nothing illegal, I hope):

Step 1 - Show the goodies with article marketing.
You need to write quality unique articles and submit them to article directories, I recommend yo to start with Ezine Article, because it gets a lot of traffic and Google love that site. Now when righting the article you need to make sure that you only show the goodies, don't give them a sample, or worth, the whole enchilada. You can right about some facts about that market and tell how your product can fix the problem. Don't sell, educate.

Step 2 - Give them a sample or a taste with a landing page or Squidoo.
For this part you need a landing page or better a detail recommendation where you are going to pre-sell your visitors on your product or service. If you don't have a website or money for one, you can use a blog from Blogger or a Squidoo lens, both of these services are free and easy to use. For better results use Squidoo to build recommendation pages for each of your campaigns because they can be optimize to get on the top of search engine result faster than a blog, it has a affiliate program build in the system for you to add another stream of income to your Internet business.

But, you can use the blog to build your web authority, provide traffic to your Lenses and to syndicate more content. Also, you can make money from your blog too. Pre-sell and educate more.

Step 3 - Show them where to order and make the sale.
This step for selling on the Internet is divided into two different approaches, the first is to be use if you're selling your own product or service, and the second one works well if you are promoting affiliate programs.

• If you are selling your own product online you can just link directly to your product sales page or sales letter and let the copy do the rest.
• If you are using this technique for affiliate marketing, the best way to do this is by sending your visitors to a squeeze page or lead capture page, where you can collect their emails before sending them to the merchants landing page, or you can send them to your review post on your blog, if you don't have the money or time to set up an autoresponder system. But, I personally recommend you to set up an autoresponder to build your list of hot leads, because if you use good email marketing tactics you can make more money in the long run. You can also do this when promoting your own products. You can also read my 48 Affiliate Marketing tips post for more advice about selling other people's products.
  

I told you it was simple, now to make it effective you need to put some work in it. So, start writing article, building Squidoo lenses or landing pages, and a lead capture page or review post. The trick here is "The more the better", this mean the more articles, the more Lenses or landing pages, the more money you are going to make.

I know this strategy works, just take the time to set it up right, if you have any question just click on the "comment" link below to submit it, I'll be happy to answer or clear any part of this tactic.


To learn how you can be part of an online association full with expert on selling on the Internet and web business advisers by visiting the Internet Entrepreneurs Club.


In Conclusion: Plan you strategic selling process to have most of the success element that I mention before, and keep each campaign focus on one product or service, this will make it more effective. Also, try to build lenses or landing pages targeting the long tail of the main keywords, this way you can see sales faster.

To your success,

Luis Galarza, Internet Marketing Consultant In Massachusetts.

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