Using eBay Listing Promotions to Test Market Your Products

You've listed and listed items on eBay before but some products don't sell all that well. You're afraid of listing over and over as eBay listing fees add up quickly. Likewise, you know you want to try different pricing levels but again fear wasting your money on more eBay listing fees only to have your product not sell.

There is a great answer for you to keep costs down and still be very flexible. Frequently eBay will have free listing promotions for sellers. Even though I will date this posting I will mention that eBay just began a free listing period from September 28, 2010 to January 7, 2011. This, and any other time eBay has these promotions, is the time to test market your products.

During these promotional periods for the first 100 items you list in an auction you are not charged an initial listing fee. You are only charged the final value fees if the item sells (and any upgrades you make before listing the item). Of course there are the typical catagory exceptions. If you care to read about that follow this link: http://pages.ebay.com/promo/ListFreeHoliday2010/. You can start your listing at any price for free.

Take advantage of this and try:

• New items you have never listed before.
• Adjusting the price of items you have already tried.
• Different quantity levels of items you have listed in the past.

While it is fairly obvious I can tell you from experience that I have used my eBay account (shameless plug for Sourcical: http://shop.ebay.com/sourcical/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25) to try those various things. For example, I initially started by listing 500 Tyvek wristbands in one auction but used the promotion to try different pricing levels and higher quantity levels. During the current period I also plan to try new items. It is an ongoing situation using trial and error but you can learn a lot and increase your eBay sales.

In fairness to you I will mention that there is at least a couple of disadvantages. There will be higher competition so it can be more difficult to sell your item. Also, higher competition may mean your item does sell but not for as much then it would have during a regular time period. Try to keep these things in mind when measuring results but since its free to list you should still creating some test listings.

What do you think? Have you successfully used these promotional periods that had positive effects afterwards? Are there more disadvantages?

One Practical Use for Tyvek Wristbands That You Didn't Know. Pipe Inspection and Construction!

The word "wrist" is right in the word "wristband" so it is no wonder that the idea of using a wristband for anything other than something to do with a wrist would seem a bit odd. Perhaps you may have thought of creating a chain of wristbands similar to what you did for art in 1st grade or there about. However, there is at least one other practical real world use for Tyvek wristbands that doesn't involve your wrists...

Use Tyvek wristbands for documenting pipes during construction, inspection, or similar ways.

A single standard 3/4" wide x 10" long Tyvek wristband can create an approximate 2-1/2" diameter circle. Obviously then, any pipe that is under that size can be fitted. But don't forget that 2, 3, or more can be stuck together (end to end) to fit larger pipes.

Likely the band will stay in place if either made tight enough or let it rest on a joint. In some situations part of the exposed adhesive on the underside of the wristband can be affixed to the pipe. Obviously it will depend on the maker and type of adhesive used but in general terms you should have no problem using Tyvek wristbands for this use.

But let's get to the real practical use here. Many wristbands now come with consecutive numbers printed on them. For construction and inspection a worker can write down that number or enter it in to a spreadsheet, laptop, iPad, etc. Any information about that pipe, the location, the inspector, the time and date, and so on can be recorded and linked to the exact number on that wristband. Some Tyvek wristbands can be even be written on so information can be placed directly on them. Perhaps the date, a worker's initials, etc.

Of course, wristbands can be used in a similar manner with other construction projects or just about anything where the band won't simply slide off. Wrapping a wristband around a wooden stud or perhaps around some wiring also comes to mind. Just record the number and whatever information you need connected to it.

I will plug the Tyvek wristbands available from Sourcical (http://www.sourcical.com/tyvek-wristbands) because I know that they come with an aggressive adhesive and standard consecutive numbering but know that this blog post is mostly to get you thinking about ideas for tagging your pipes and similar materials.

Comment on this post and let us know what you think. Is this a sensible idea? Can you think of other practical uses for wristbands that don't involve wrists?

Is the Laptop Doomed?

About 6 months ago I picked up a new laptop and decided to go to the higher end of my budget. This in spite of the fact that the iPad had just come out with much fan fare. I remember thinking at the time that (assuming no catastrophic errors or crashes by my new laptop) this might end being the last time I bought a laptop at least in the conventional form that most of us know it. With the popularity of the iPad I was thinking that more and more people would seek out more portable devices like the iPad. No doubt there would be more options from Apple's competitors which we have already seen and this will push prices down and make them more mainstream.

While I am hardly a predictor of the future I get the feeling that as iPads and similar devices are able to handle more advanced features, take on more memory, and so on they will become much more common place. Likewise, there is no reason to believe that these devices will not be able to handle everyday online business needs. For that matter, there is no reason they can't handle the set up and maintenance of websites.

In many ways smaller handheld devices already do. Smartphones can accept credit cards and handle most web duties. There may be some arguement as to how effeciently they can do certain web activities but no doubt tech companies will continue to improve the speed and physical ability for such devices to meet business needs.

Ok, we maybe a ways off from considering the conventional laptop dead but I think you get my point. There is no reason to believe that a handheld device won't soon do everything a laptop does with the same ease.

How long do you think conventional laptops will survive? Will iPad like devices overtake them? Do you see them as useful replacements to manage online businesses? What are your thoughts?