I have not mentioned OSI RockStars for some time now. But if you have just started to read this blog, or have as yet not looked at the OSI RockStars site then please pop on over and take advantage of the 10 minute backstage pass.

Janelle Elms the brains behind OSI Rockstars is adding content to it the whole time, and with the forums you have a great resource on learning all about selling on eBay and other online selling platforms.

Go on and take a look, you have nothing to lose but a load to gain.

Andrew Milburn

Well over here in the UK most schools have broken up for the summer holidays, and for those of us who sell online it can mean we need to be prepared. What do I mean, well if we owned a normal business within reason if the weather looked good for the week ahead we could say well lets shut up shop.

But as we own an online business we need to plan ahead.

@ We need to make sure we have no auctions or listings ending while we are away

@ We need to make sure that all the items we have shipped out have reached our customers

@ We need to have all our feedback up to date.

@ If you run an Amazon Shop we can put this on holiday setting

Hope this gets you started about being prepared for your holidays, and if you are going away have a great and blessed time.

Andrew Milburn / AndyUk

This weeks Product Source , takes into the world of fishing and all the accessories that go along with this great  hobby and sport.

The Product Source I have chosen sells items such as clothing, accessories, rods, lines lures and the list goes on and on.

A word of warning when you go to the site you will see that this is their own retail site but if you go half way down on the right hand sideyou will see a link to sign up for a Trade / Wholesale account.

But a very big plus with this Supplier is that they take PayPal as a payment.

http://www.crazyFishWorld.com
01646 690518

On the web site you will find a contact us page where you can ask any questions. Also there is a phone Number to contact the company and ask questions before you sign up for a Trade Account.

Happy Online Trading
Andrew Milburn / AndyUk

This weeks Trade Show takes us down to Exeter for the Surf Shop 2008. The event covers around 300 brand names in this growing industry.

The show runs from :

For further details you can go to :http://www.surfshopexpo.com

Happy eBaying

Andrew Milburn

Just a quick post to say sorry for not getting Sundays Trade Show details up.

But have  had are still having major computer hardware problems.

Will be back as soon as possible

Happy eBaying

Andrew Miburn

To keep you all up to date. From now on when I mention ebay as a site I will be including links to the USA site first as this is where I am getting most visits, and then the UK site second.

As other sites become popular I shall add this to the list as well. How I see this working is that 9 times out of 10 the hyperlink will go to the USA site unless it is just for a certain country, and then at the end of the post will include links to the other eBay sites.

Hope this works, if you have any other ideas on making it more user friendly, then please leave me a comment.

Thanks and Happy eBaying

Andrew Milburn

Todays Product Source takes us into another new area. My whole idea for these Product Sources, is that you will be able to pick and choose which products you want to sell.

Also I hope it will save you time looking for wholesalers and suppliers as some do not have phone numbers in the normal phone books.

So we will be talking about Fashion Jewellery (This Link Takes You To The USA eBay site. While This One Takes You To the UK Site )

And my chosen supplier is Talbot Fashions based down south, but please do not let that worry you as they do have a mail order service and very low minimum order levels.

The address for them is :

Talbot Import Company
7 – 8 Howard Terrace
Brighton
East Sussex
BN1 3TR

01273 776415

http://www.talbotfashions.com

Another resource from Andrew Milburn

For the last few weeks I have been talking about Trade Shows and Trade Fairs and am in the process of listing some of the more famous ones.

Now a few people have asked me what is the process of attending a Trade Show, is it as easy as going to the show and just looking, or do you need to do some planning.

Well to be honest you can do both, But if you want to attend a Trade Show and get the most out of it there are a few steps you do need to follow.

If you do this then your time at the show will be more profitable and more relaxed.

1) The first step is to get yourself some business cards. You can get these done locally, but the best company I have so far is VistaPrint. VistaPrint offer excellent products and very good prices and at times you can get business cards free of charge and all you have to pay for is the postage and handling.

2) Once you have decided on the Trade Show you want to attend go to their website and sign-up and register for your passes. Now in most cases these passes are free of charge here in the UK. There are show Trade Shows that include a conference and these do make a charge, but this will be explained on their site.

The only other time you will be charged is if you have not registered, and attend the show, and book in on the day and do not have a business card, if this is the case you will be charged as a visitor, or not allowed in.

3) Once you have registered for the show, take a look around the website and see who has a Trade Stand, and start to make your list of stands to visit. A useful hint also is to note down which hall the stand is in and the stand numbers.

4) A few weeks before the Trade Show you will receive your pass along normally with a mini guide listing all the Trade Stands, The Stand Numbers and a layout of the Trade Show.

5) Put these in a folder along with your plans of who to visit and your Business Cards.

6) A lot of people ask what type of clothes do you wear, and again that depends on the type of show and the person attending, but normally it is smart casual or what ever you feel at ease in. (But please check your paper work and see what the Trade Show says)

7) Take with you a small case on wheels so you can put all the catalogues and samples in, as you do not want to be carrying these around with you.
Check the opening times of the show.

9) On the day of the show arrive early. Book yourself in and have a drink, it’s going to be a long day or few days depending how long you are staying.

10) Take a general walk around the show and get a feel for it.

11) Now start going down your list of Stands you want to visit, and approach each one and have talks with them.

12) Finally do not be tempted to buy on your first visit. Remember these are companies with sales people, and what might seem a good buy, and a good price, once you have looked at it and done some research it might not be so good.
Quite often they will have show specials, again do not be tempted.
This is why it’s good to spend a few days at a show so day one can be looking, evenings research and then next day buying.

But above all go, have fun, be careful what you buy, and oh yes take comfy shoes, for you will walk along way.

Andrew Milburn

The 10 Best Words For Headlines

I Hope Most people in business have heard of the great John Caples. John Caples. John Caples was in charge of the 3rd largest advertising agency in the USA for almost 40 years.

In his job John Caples looked  and tested everything and one thing he was very hot on was the Headline the headline will make or break your advert, your letter, eBay listing in fact anything you do.

He took 100 of the best and most successful adverts of the time. These were headlines that made clients money, bought them in new clients and sold the most items.

And he (John Caples) came up with a list of 10 words. These 10 words were the most frequent words in the top 100 adverts of the time.

1)     You This appeared         31 times.

2)     Your This appeared      14 times.

3)     How This appeared       12 times.

4)     New This appeared       10 times.

5)     Who This appeared         8 times.

6)     Money This appeared         6 times.

7)     Now This appeared        4 times.

8)     People This appeared       4 times.

9)    Want This appeared      4 times

10)  Why This appeared      4 times.

From this very simple list of words we can see that You and Your are the, most common.  They appear more often in the worlds most successful adverts and marketing pieces.

This is because the successful people in sales and marketing have learned a very simple secret. This is………………………. That all the adverts and letters we write should be aimed at one goal. And that goal is they should be aimed at the person reading the advert.

Please do not write as if you are writing to thousands of people, write as if you were talking or writing to your best friend sitting next to you.

And when you have mastered this tip, then you will really be on the way to making money from words.

Hope This Helps.

Andrew Milburn

More Watches

From July 3rd 2008 eBay.co.uk are allowing eBay members to be able to watch upto 200 items at a time. This is great news for people who need to keep their eye items they are wishing to buy.

Take Care and Happy eBaying

Andrew Milburn /  AndyUk