Sunday 22 July 2007

Amazon Auctions Vs. Ebay

Why Don't Amzon promote their Auctions? Amazon auctions don't cost anything to list, they have a secure payment system in place, they have a trusted name, yet amazon don't promote this service at all.
Well amazon don't promote Marketplace (third party sales) either, but there is little need to do this as the product searches show the prices from 3rd party sellers quite adequately. Yet Amazon don't take this opportunity and they are about the only internet company that are in a position to compete with Ebay and give the consumer some real choice.

The only draw back with amazon auctions are only one image is permitted and their is a limit to html available to use and only 3,700 characters allowed. Not that much of a drawback really!

Well, I'm going to be putting my money where my mouth is and list a few things on amazon auctions and see what happens as a result.

The only down side I can see is that I will not be able to see how many people actually view my auction. I suppose I could look for an image hoster that will provide impression counting if I wanted to get scientific, and perhaps I will as this experiment continues.

The 2 items I have listed on amazon tonight are shown below, with breif details and with links to the amazon auction. I'm going to attempt to add tracking id's to these links, so let me know if that causes them not to work.

proargi9Pro-Argi9

ProArgi-9 Mixed Berry Flavor uses an all-natural sweetening system to deliver its delicious fruity taste. Like regular ProArgi-9, it contains 5,000 mg (5 grams) of elemental pharmaceutical grade l-arginine. IT IS A LOW GLYCEMIC PRODUCT. It does not contain sucralose and only contains natural sweetening from the mixed berry fruits.

One of the previous problems with L-argine has been its taste - this product overcomes that problem with the natural berry flavour.

ProArgi-9 Mixed Berry Ingredients:L-arginine, L-leucine, L-isoleucine, L-valine, Gamma Oryzanol, Transferulic acid Trutina dulcem (fruit sugar, natural flavors, kiwi fruit), fruit acids, natural berry flavors, beet powder (for color), silicon dioxide (flow agent).

L-arginine has been in the forefront of medical interest for many years and is considered one of the most important nutraceuticals ever developed.

The L-arginine phenomenon is changing standard methodologies in circulatory health, immune function, adiposity-generated concerns, blood pressure, sexual function, and human aging.

L-arginine provides one of the building blocks necessary for the body to maintain its own growth hormone levels, which may help promote muscle mass, support muscle growth, and stimulate muscle development.


The exclusive patented ProArgi-9 formula was developed by leadingl-arginine researcher Dr. Ann de Wees Allen. It has been safely used in humans since 1983. Dr. Allen received the first glycemic patent ever awarded for her development of the low glycemic delivery system in ProArgi-9. The methodology developed exclusively for ProArgi-9 is proprietary, and involves a complex 32-step process to extract the non-competing properties from organic fruits.

ProArgi-9 is used and promoted by famous world-class athletes who use it to bolster their nutritional intake and enhance their athletic performance.

ultimate raw mealThe Ultimate Raw Meal

Made from raw, wildcraft, mostly organic, properly sprouted and fresh-freeze dried ingredients, The Ultimate Meal replaces up to 20 products.

It is a complete food, has a great taste, has optimum fibre, satisfies hunger, has Kosher ingredients, is potent in anti-oxidants and essential fatty acids, and replenishes glycogen.

It is ABSOLUTELY FREE FROM: GMO, soy, whey, nuts, yeast, salt, matadextrin, dairy, egg, cholesterol, wheat, gluten, sugar, and fructose.


As the names suggest, THE ULTIMATE MEAL is the finest, most potent and complete sources of nourishment available anywhere at any price.
WHY ?
We believe that the optimum source of nourishment for the human body does NOT come in the form of synthetic vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, tablets, powders, pills, or for that matter, cooked or processed foods or any animal products. It DOES, however, come in the form of raw, properly sprouted, freeze-dried, cold-milled and preferably organic plant foods that have their enzymes and nutrients intact as nature intended, as well as natural, potent anti-oxidants in optimum, not trace amounts.
THE ULTIMATE MEAL® is the only products to fill this need. No gimmicks, just the ingredients which are the ultimate FOOD sources of each and every nutrient essential for optimum health, vitality and energy. In most cases this eliminates the need to take any supplements (vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, etc.) which normally pays for itself.
THE ULTIMATE MEAL® is totally free of yeast-based vitamins and minerals, soy protein, MSG, salt, wheat, corn, yeast, eggs, dairy products, sugar, honey, fructose, caffeine, ginseng, etc. as well as artificial preservatives, flavors, coloring, fillers and animal products.

WHEN?
At least TWO servings daily. THE ULTIMATE MEAL® is the most efficient and nutritious meal you can have. Ideal for BREAKFAST, LUNCH and/or DINNER. It also does wonders AFTER EXERCISING, as it revitalizes the whole body. And yes, most people tell us that it keeps their hunger satisfied and their body energized far longer than conventional meals (about 3-6 hrs).

DIRECTIONS
Prepared in a blender, usually with a whole fruit smoothie.

Monday 16 July 2007

MrLinky

A new way of creating linkbacks and recipiricol links I'm experimenting with - just a test to begin with!
This is the blog fodder one!


This is a meme I think called tackle it Tuesday!

Sunday 15 July 2007

Ashton Court Festival Rained Off!

The 2nd day of the festival which would of been headlined by Damon Alburn's Good The Bad & The Queen, has been cancelled by organisers after Heavy Rain Began to fall on Saturday night and is forecast to remain Heavy for most of the Saturday.

Organiser Steve Hunt, has stated that Tickets will be refunded, which is a small compensation for the thousands that were planning to attend today, though their are no details on the official website as yet.

Financial implications for the organisers could mean that the future of the festival is in doubt. Last year the Festival Sponsor Orange, pulled out, meaning this years budget was to be covered buy donations and revenue from tickets. So it will be interesting to see any announcements over the festival future.

Over 80 bands were set to play today including Enter Shikari, The Nova Saints, Bad:Science & Blackout toname but a few of the artists that were set to rock the festival goers.

So another casualty of the wash-out of a summer that seems to be drowning the UK. Global Warming? More like Global Drowning from the UK's point of View this summer!

Amazon aStore Earnings Update

I did originally intend to only update once a month on my amazon earnings from their affiliate scheme but traffic to my website has been up considerably this month and many more purchases have been from Amazon using the aStore as a result. The reason for this appears to be due to our stall at Glastonbury Festival and the website we set up to post reviews and pictures of the festival on.

In this post I'm going to be utilising a tool for amazon associates provided by www.freeaffiliatetools.com which is a very easy method of allowing me to show images of the products as well!
This is just a sample of some of the things ordered in no particular order.



Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows
Not sold as many of these as I'd like, though amazon are claiming pre-orders in the region of 1.6million!
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No Image available

Speak Right for a Call Centre Job: A Complete Training Guide for International Telephonic Interface
Wonder who it was that wanted a book on working in a call centre?
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The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter and Miracles -
The book takes the reader on an exciting journey of discovery and revelation, challenging long-held beliefs on certain aspects of Biology and Physics, to arrive at a radically new and different explanations for how our DNA - and ultimately our very being - happen to be.

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The Ultimate Psychometric Test Book, this sale inspired me to write a squidoo lens on the subject of Psychometric testing as I didn't know a lot about it! You can view the Lens Here

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This Business of Music Marketing & Promotion by Tad Lathrop - Bought by an upcoming star?

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The Piano - classic film, starring Holly Hunter & Harvey Keitel!

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Curtains - until this, I didn't realise you could buy these on Amazon, quite a few sizes and styles available too at reasonable prices!

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A raised Airbed - caused a bit of a scuffle on the amazon sellers discussion board did this!

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Belkin Universal UPS 1200VA with USB & Serial Interface Got one of these myself, and I'd highly recommend having one to protect your computer and data from power outages!

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Bose Sound dock, the ultimate portable speaker system for your iPod, you can't buy better than this!

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Nutrition Solution: A Personalized Metabolic Approach to Optimal Health

The Nutrition Solution: A Personalized Metabolic Approach to Optimal Health Essential reading for those interested in metabolic typing

So, as you can see, quite a varied selection of items in the first 2 weeks of the month.

Saturday 14 July 2007

Technorati is broken or just useless?

Well, technorati seems to not like my blog, it claims I haven't published any new content in 176days! That's dispite me pinging them when I made new posts for the first few weeks of blogging. After that I gave up and moved on to other pinging services that seem to actually work! My favorites being Blog flux and ping-goat, I do alternate between each of these, but they ping all the major search engines and give a report over each ping and whether it was successful. Funny thing is, both respond saying that the ping to technorati was successful, yet they don't seem to update!

Thursday 12 July 2007

Play.com problem with sellers account

Gibraltar is within the UK according to Play.com. So sellers who are taking part in play.com's 3rd party seller program will only receive the standard price set for UK customers if orders are placed by Customers in Gibraltar, or any other UK dependency, such as the Falkland Islands for example. This even applies to playtraders who specify they will only dispatch to the UK.

The Playtrade system of inviting 3rd party sellers to market their goods and products on play.com is still pretty much in it's infancy. Play invited me to sell on their platform in March 2007, when they opened up the playtrader system to all. Previous to this they had only been allowing a very selected number of retailers to use their program, these sellers were the heavyweights of internet selling of media and dispatch thousands of items a month.

This problem reared it's ugly head after receiving an order from Play for dispatch to Gibraltar even though I had not offered international delivery as available for the item in question. The advice I at first received was very poor and indicated I would have to ship and bear the additional cost myself. After objecting to this and demanding to speak to a supervisor it was then looked into and admitted that this definitely needs the policy and technical team to look at, as a seller who had made available a heavier item for UK delivery had an order from a country which Play class as in the UK but Royal Mail class as international, the seller could make quite a loss by doing so, even if they had stated they were not dispatching items outside of the UK.

I will update this when I hear more back from Play.com in relation to this, meanwhile I am being left to discuss the matter with the customer and hope that they accept that play are to blame here and not myself. If the customer decides to leave me negative feedback as a result play have stated that they will not be able to intervene. As play customers are not used to leaving feedback in regard to transactions the level of feedback on play is very low, about 1 in 20 have left feedback so far, so negative feedback could have a very bad effect on my selling there.


I have had a limited success selling on Play up until now, and their system is fairly simple, though it is not easy to see who you are competing against from your listings page, only if there are sellers that have cheaper prices. To compare your listings you have to actually go to the play.com site and search for the item to find out who the other sellers are, their feedback and conditions/comments. Not ideal really, but it is hoped that they will develop this system to be more user friendly in time.

Tuesday 3 July 2007

Selling Your Art Online using Amazon


Artists often have problems when it comes to marketing their work, but it appears that one artist has realised they could use Amazon as their shop window - gallery. It is a very cheap way of getting a massive amount of exposure, without the repeat fees of trying to do similar on ebay.

Have a look at this example of a sculptor, Julian P. Warren, selling their work on amazon with quite a sizeable, though realistic price tag! metalgnu
this peice has a nice price tag and would cost a few quid every 10day listing it was on sale on ebay. Yet this artist has several works for sale, priced upto £1500, and the only fee they would have paid is a one off monthly fee of £25 +VAT to be able to create as many listings as they can in that month, they then cancel the monthly subscription and await a sale. Ingenious or what?

Monday 2 July 2007

My Amazon aStore earnings for June 07

July Earnings from my Amazon Associates account has been pretty consistent for most of the month and I'll share here some of the weird and wacky items order that allowed me to earn some commission.
Most of these have been through either product links I have left in various forums and from people directly accessing the aStore through my web page and also through a review of Glastonbury 2007 which is actually still being constructed and I'll hopefully have a chance to finish once I have finished cleaning mud off all that I took!

Books order -
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) [Children's Edition]
I've had a few people pre-order the childrens edition, though have not yet had any orders for the adult edition yet. In fact word has got out that all physical bookshops have already pre-sold all their first consignment so the only way to ensure getting a copy on the day of publication is through pre-ordering and paying a premium for delivery on publication date via amazon. Even with the delivery premium the book will be cheaper than store prices due to amazon offering it at 50% of the RRP

The Ultimate Psychometric Test Book
A best selling well reviewed book on getting the most from psychometric tests.

The Cambridge Diet
There's usually one diet book sold a month, showing that Dieting is a big seller.

Human Motivation: Metaphors, Theories and Research
Quite a high-brow study book, showing that all sorts are buying through my website and links

The Cleaning Bible: Kim and Aggie's Complete Guide to Modern Household Management
I was a bit disturbed to see someone had bought this and just hope that no one was thinking of giving me it as a gift!

The Cookery Year
New cook books also tend to sell well, even though I do not provide any links or reviews of them
so am assuming a customer just used my website to search amazon for this one.

Monstrous Regiment (Discworld)
Strangely enough I sold this the day after finishing reading it! A great book tackling equality and the madness of war from the very prolific Terry Pratchett

Night Watch (Discworld)
2 Discworld novels, both sold the same day so fair to assume it was the same customer. Night watch is arguably one of the best Discworld novels introducing the City Watch and the great Characters of Sam Vime, Captain Carrot and all!

The Call of the Weird: Travels in American Subcultures
A travel book or an analysis of american subculture?

Round Ireland with a Fridge
Definetly a travel book, and a very humorous one at that!

There was also quite a few other books sold for varying prices that I don't know enough about to comment on.

Games
Guilty Gear Isuka (PC)
Guilty Gear X2 Reload (PC)
Don't know much about the games field and have never reviewed any, so nice to get a bit of income from their sales! Same date of sale, so assuming they went to the same customer, especially as they seem to be related titles.

DVD's
Midsomer Murders - Vixen's Run
My Neighbour Totoro
A couple of DVD's that I don't know much about, different sale dates so assuming different customers.

Pre-orders that shipped this month
The Traveling Wilburys: Deluxe Collector's Edition/+DVD
Very hot selling CD, in the amazon top ten currently

Def Con 4 [2007]
4 of these were pre-ordered and shipped

Items that were viewed but had no orders made
Sharp LC42XD1E - 42" Widescreen Full HD 1080P LCD TV - With Freeview
Nice TV, lots of clicks but no orders

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (Penguin Modern Classics)
A book II would highly recommend people to read, though doesn't look like my reccomendations have been taken up this month!

Bose Sounddock Black
Bose Sounddock White
Bose Sounddock black Digital Music System
Probably the best sounddock for your ipod! Though I imagine people must be saving up for it as it costs about as much as an Ipod, though the sound they give is absolutely unrivalled!

Luxury Ludo
Nice to see old fashioned board games are getting hits, if not actual purchases!

MiEssence Organics Sunflower Body Wash
This is a product I have actually got listed on amazon at the moment, it seems to be getting traffic but so far no sales!

This is not a complete list, but just to give an idea of what is popular and/or selling through my Amazon Associate account.

Anyway, I hope you find this list of items useful and it gives you an idea of the earning potential of being an Amazon Associate.

I must also add that I have been increasing my placement of adsense ads on a few of my webpages and the income from this is now starting to make me think about adding an adsense ad to each page I create!