Did you ever wonder how the worlds largest online marketplace got it’s start? Well. wonder no more.
eBay was created in September 1995, by a man called Pierre Omidyar, who was living in San Jose. He wanted his site - then called ‘AuctionWeb’ - to be an online marketplace, and wrote the first code for it in one weekend. It was one of the first websites of its kind in the world. The name ‘eBay’ comes from the domain Omidyar used for his site. His company’s name was Echo Bay, and the ‘eBay AuctionWeb’ was originally just one part of Echo Bay’s website at ebay.com. The first thing ever sold on the site was Omidyar’s broken laser pointer, which he got $14 for.
The site quickly became massively popular, as sellers came to list all sorts of odd things and buyers actually bought them. Relying on trust seemed to work remarkably well, and meant that the site could almost be left alone to run itself. The site had been designed from the start to collect a small fee on each sale, and it was this money that Omidyar used to pay for AuctionWeb’s expansion. The fees quickly added up to more than his current salary, and so he decided to quit his job and work on the site full-time. It was at this point, in 1996, that he added the feedback facilities, to let buyers and sellers rate each other and make buying and selling safer.
In 1997, Omidyar changed AuctionWeb’s - and his company’s - name to ‘eBay’, which is what people had been calling the site for a long time. He began to spend a lot of money on advertising, and had the eBay logo designed. It was in this year that the one-millionth item was sold (it was a toy version of Big Bird from Sesame Street).
Then, in 1998 - the peak of the dotcom boom - eBay became big business, and the investment in Internet businesses at the time allowed it to bring in senior managers and business strategists, who took in public on the stock market. It started to encourage people to sell more than just collectibles, and quickly became a massive site where you could sell anything, large or small. Unlike other sites, though, eBay survived the end of the boom, and is still going strong today.
1999 saw eBay go worldwide, launching sites in the UK, Australia and Germany. eBay bought half.com, an Amazon-like online retailer, in the year 2000 - the same year it introduced Buy it Now - and bought PayPal, an online payment service, in 2002.
Pierre Omidyar has now earned an estimated $3 billion from eBay, and still serves as Chairman of the Board. Oddly enough, he keeps a personal weblog at http://pierre.typepad.com. There are now literally millions of items bought and sold every day on eBay, all over the world. For every $100 spent online worldwide, it is estimated that $14 is spent on eBay - that’s a lot of laser pointers.
Now that you know the history of eBay, perhaps you’d like to know how it could work for you? Stay tuned. I’ve got a lot more to share on that subject.
Another area that’s very easy to overlook is advertising collectibles. certain ones can bring some pretty good cash. check out this john deere mirror.
Often if you can find an old magizine with , say, a vintage car advertisement in it, the ad is worth more than the whole magizine. what I’m saying is, don’t list the 1957 issue of Life, cut out and list the 1957 chevy bel air ad that’s in it. In fact, there might be several ads that would sell well in it. Agriculture , oil companies, trains, cars, trucks, all kinds of areas have collectors looking for vintage advertising memorabilia. Old signs can sometimes be worth a pile of cash. I could kick myself because I used to have a collection of old oil company signs from the 50’s and 60’s that would now be worth a small fortune, if I would have moved them. but I didn’t know, and left them behind. i often wonder what happened to them. i hope they didn’t get destroyed. preserving our history is important, and collectors do that very well. Not only that, but they are willing to pay you to do so. Now get out there and find a piece of the past. Flea markets, yard sales, estate sales…. your atic. You never know where a tresure is hiding, waiting to be discovered. what a fun Business!
If you have any gold coins, you might want to consider checking out ebay to see what they might bring. I have a gold coin page you can visit for some quick examples of what I’m talking about.
I know a lot of people are beating the $1500 per ounce drum right now. Please take note that most of them wish to sell you gold. I’m not saying gold is at the top price right now. I’m saying nobody knows for sure, and that although it might go higher, now is not a bad time to consider selling at least some if you have any. The gold price is very high, historically speaking.
Learning to make videos and edit them is the first step of DVD product creation. It is easier than you think to create and edit videos. You can use simple software to make television commercials and video product creation.
Just how much can you earn from videos? Look at this case study to find out. Case Study: One Internet business owner sold a 9 DVD home study course about making videos. How much money did he make? He sold over $250,000 worth of sales in 8 days.
How did he achieve this goal? He let people sample the product and view video testimonials. The use of good video, marketing techniques, and copywriting made the DVD product fly off the shelves.
Did you know that you can put video on eBay? You can take a camcorder and take a picture of your item from every angle. For example, let’s say that you are selling a camera. You can show how the product works through a video. A video is a much more effective selling tool than just writing a print ad.
Let’s say that you only referenced a video in your eBay description. Your eBay listing didn’t contain any text. It only contained the link to the video. Do you think this will work? Yes, it can work. Video allows you to utilize the 5 modalities of video.
Wait, what are the 5 modalities of video? The 5 modalities of video that you can use to affect people include: 1.) Tell a story with pictures and angles. 2.) Read verbal sales copy. 3.) You can superimpose text. This will support what you are saying with text. 4.) Use music to create suspense and/or whatever emotion you want them to feel. You can change their mood quickly through music. 5.) You can use sound effects to affect emotions as well.
If you do your research on eBay and sell products that people want and at a price they will pay then a video can speed up the selling process into just a couple days or even minutes.
Video is an excellent way to connect with customers. Plus, videos are easier and faster to create than to write the eBay listing copy. Your video doesn’t have to be perfect; it just has to convey what you want to your potential customers. Your videos can be short at 1 to 2 minutes in length. Try this tactic on eBay today.
There are many strategies out there to make money on the internet but nothing makes sense unless you have a big list. Email Marketing is a the most profitable way to make money on the net. When you build a list of hot and hungry prospects you control your future. Discover how to use the internet and turn your computer into a cash gushing machine. Go here: PromotingTips.com
If you come across a Marantz FM Tuner Model 10 B , you have found something that will bring some real money at eBay. In fact, there are many makes and models of old stereo equipment attracting a lot of attention at ebay. this item got well over 800 page views, 14 bids, and a final price of $1775.00. Tghis is not a misprint. go look for yourself.
Check out the new vintage stereo page I put up today. Some real eye openers there. I can’t help but wonder how many times I’ve been to Arc or a flea market and walked right by one of these. I’m sure I have, and perhaps you, too. You’ve heard a million times knowledge is power. well, knowledge can also mean profit. If you know what to look for, you can really clean up on ebay. I’m sharing research that some charge for. it’s always free here so please bookmark this site. Thanks!
Hello and happy new year! I decided to spend a little time behing the computer Today. I have created a page that moniters the vintage electronics “other” category at the ebay auction site. check it out when you get a chance.
Check out what some cast iron items are bringing. I have put an cast iron page. You just might run across some items like this at a local shop so keep your eyes open.
This auction still has several days to go, and of this writing is has 10 bids, and is up to 149.00. Let’s watch this one and see how much it winds up going for. As early in the going it is, it could wind up much higher.
How about this one. I know I walked right by one of these at the Colorado Springs flea market this summer. I think the guy was asking $20 and I thought to myself
“What would I want with that?”
Next time, I’ll know. I’m sure I could have talked the guy down to $15, and I only would have made about 375 bucks for an hour or so of work.
The history of eBay.
