• Karen was sitting in a workshop at the Amazon conference and asked if anyone knew of a research tool that would show you what goods were actually selling for on Amazon like the eBay completed search does.  Several people shouted out “Competitive Eye.”  Here is what Competitive Eye says about their service:

“We provide your competitor’s actual delivered pricing. The actual pricing that matters to you and your customers. The pricing that helps you make the most out of your marketing efforts as well as a host of online tools and reporting giving you the big picture. The big picture necessary to make the best, well informed business decisions. A complete set of tools, reporting and beneficial analysis in one easy to use package.”

• I was speaking with Stephanie Inge who is an eBay and Amazon seller and who runs the eBay Group in Dallas Tx. she turned me on to a great educational site called Wiz IQ.  Wiz IQ is a site where you can create online seminars or complete courses where people can listen in live or watch at a later time. and they have a set up where you can not only do this for free –they have a system where you can market and charge for the courses.  I plan to start using Wiz-IQ to create bonus seminars for my products.

+++++++++++++++++

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• Access code for my Confidential Master File of Wholesale Suppliers
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• Video on Niche Marketing
  
• Auction Timing Report – Beat the big guys. Learn how to come up Above your competitors every time.
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Anyway the conference has been going  on for several years now and is growing every year. Last year when I attended there were about 230 sellers. This year it had grown by almost a hundred additional sellers which overcrowded the venue at the Marriott Airport Hotel in Seattle. If the organizers want to do this again next year they will either have to limit attendance or move to a new venue as the Marriott has reached its limit.

The conference is organized by Rhonda Schnieder who is a great lady and my hat goes off to her for what she has accomplished over the years. But the size and scope of the event has outpaced Rhonda’s organizational ability and it’s time she sought some professional help with the event. One of the most common remarks I heard was considering the cost of the conference and the cost to attend, how the conference didn’t quite live up to people’s expectations. Many of the seminar rooms were so overcrowded people were leaning against walls and sitting on the floor.  The handout materials were pretty amateurish and sessions routinely started late and often ran over time.  I was in one session where the next presenter had to literally kick the previous presenter out so he could start his session.

The first day, Saturday, was composed of vendor presentations which weren’t that interesting. The sessionss were essentially sales pitches and I got as much just visiting the vendor booths in the hall.

There were some interesting vendors this year. This is not a complete list but they included Media Scouter, Bookstores.com,  FBA Power, Stamps.com, Spaceware,  DHL Global Mail, Abe Books, Endicia, Monsoon and others.  I was expecting Vendio but they didn’t show this year. Probably the most interesting new vendor was FBA Power a total solution for Amazon sellers that included inventory control, listing tools, and a really cool scanner for all types of products –not just media.

The coolest new tool, was a Android phone scanner from Media Scouter. If you have an Android phone, you can get the scanning software for just $4.99 a month.

As someone who has sold mostly on eBay for over ten years now and on Amazon for the past two years, I was impressed by the variety and sophistication of the tools and resources for Amazon sellers. The number and depth of third party solutions is right up there with eBay –and in fact may pass eBay pretty soon as more and more companies develop products for Amazon sellers.  I don’t have room in a blog post to review all of these but my next newsletter will cover some of the more important applications in depth.

The second day was taken over by Amazon. Amazon sent about 25 employees who conducted seminars on various aspects of the Amazon platform. They also hosted two sessions where sellers could make appointments with Amazon experts to discuss their business and their problems.  Last year the program included a visit to Amazon HQ in Seattle on the Monday after the event, but this year that didn’t happen as Amazon is in the middle of moving to their new headquarters in the South Lake Union area of Seattle.

I was a little disappointed in the Amazon sessions.  Last year the sessions were more educational, whereas this year Amazon spent most of their time promoting their services such as Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) and Amazon Webstores.  But I must say the Amazon people were extremely friendly and accessible to sellers.  In all of their talks they stressed how critical sellers were to their success and went out of their way to make us feel welcome and important. Whenever I attend an eBay event, the eBay folks always make the same noises but Amazon doesn’t just talk the talk –they walk the walk.

All in all, despite a few issues the conference was a success and I would recommend anyone selling on Amazon to try and make next year’s conference.  You can get more information at the SCOE Home Page.

It all started with a forum post where the poster asked the question “Is it OK to sell a text book that was used to bludgeon loud library patrons over the head to get them to shut up?” This seemingly innocent question started a series of posts and replies that went into the hundreds and became hugely humorous. The forum went viral and well beyond the textbook buyback community. Posters were making up humorous mystery stories about people being bludgeoned by textbooks. Others were reviewing textbooks to determine which one would make the best bludgeoning tool.

People all over the country were following the posts and literally rolling on the floor laughing until this morning when the entire series of posts and replies were deleted.  My wife did have a few from here email file where Amazon emails posts to you.

Here is a small sample:

Martin S. –  I glared at the geek sitting across from me on the bus.
“You think you’re better than the rest of us?” I challenged him.
He looked up at me, startled. “What?”
I pointed at his iPad. “You think you’re better than the rest of us?” I repeated. Other passengers on the bus caught the spirit and began staring down the coward.
“Look, I don’t want any trouble,” he said.
“You already bought your way into trouble,” I jeered. I looked around the bus and asked in a loud voice, “Anyone else here think they’re being treated like bull’s pizzle by this Apple wonk baring his wares right in our face?” You could feel the heat in the bus go up a few degrees. I’d stirred the pot, but good.
The geek tried to put his iPad away, but I wasn’t done with him.
“Why are you riding buses?” I demanded. “You’ve got an iPad. Shouldn’t you be in a Maserati, or have a chauffeur? Why’re you brandishing that thing in this death-by-diesel bus?”
The other passengers could smell blood. This was too easy. I pulled out a textbook.
The geek’s eyes widened when he saw the textbook: he knew he was being shaken down for his iPad, and there was nothing he could do about it. I laid it out for him.
“You want to get out of here in one piece? Why don’t we remove the occasion of the problem?”
“You mean, give you my iPad?”
“Exactly.”
“I’ve got a better idea,” the geek replied. He flipped the iPad through the air to his left, and it was snatched up in mid-flight by this huge lug of a man I hadn’t noticed earlier.
“The iPad’s yours!” the geek cried out to Man Mountain Mike’s clone, “but this guy” he pointed at me “said you’re a drooling idiot!”
When I woke up in the hospital several days later, I asked the nurse what happened.
“You were in for a textbookectomy,” she said.
“Where’d they remove it from?”
“Where DIDN’T they remove it from,” she corrected. “I guess your attacker got carried away, though. We did an iPadectomy on you as well.”
“Then I was right,” I gloated with satisfaction. “That guy WAS a drooling idiot.”
A shadow crossed my countenance as a huge orderly walked past my bed. As the nurse departed, the orderly turned toward me: it was that huge guy from the bus, now wearing hospital scrubs. His security tag said “Lenny,” with no last name.
“Lights out,” he whispered as he approached, gripping a Physician’s Desktop Reference in one beefy hand.
Moral of the story: iPads are so cool!

Amanda W — The driver looked in the back seat. The duffle bag was unzipped. She quickly pulled the sides together covering the hard bound edition of Shakespeare’s Complete Works and the sawed off OED.
“Stay quiet back there. There’s a police check point ahead,” she said to the passenger in the back of the SUV.
It was a hot summer night, the driver was sure the WriterGal was hot under that blanket, but what could be done. She had to get out of the city before Martin Selbrede’s people caught up with her. That incident in the back of the restaurant had to be cleaned up and quickly.
The driver thumbed the small hardbacks in the map pocket. She hoped she didn’t have to use them, but she was prepared nonetheless.
The driver inched the car forward again. One car in front of her now. She was glad the windows were tinted, but she was starting to rethink that. The level was just past legal and she really didn’t want any problems. She touched the books again, reassuring herself that all would be fine.
Now it was her turn. She pulled up to the officer and rolled down the window.
“Have you been drinking this evening?” the officer asked routinely, though that flashlight was really bright.
“No, Officer. Just headed to a friend’s home,” the driver said.
“License and registration, please.”
The driver reached into the glove box, cursing when she saw the copy of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Tale Tell Heart. She grabbed the registration quickly and closed the box hoping he didn’t see. Then grabbed her license from her purse.
As the driver handed everything to the officer, she noticed the flashlight was now pointed at the glove box. She grabbed The Blue Day Book from the map pocket and threw it. She missed purposefully, distracting him. He had gone for his copy of Fahrenheit 451 Collector’s Edition. She punched the gas. The police weren’t able to get into their cars quickly enough without hurting someone else. She dodged the lumber truck crossing the road just in front of her, slammed on the brakes, and opened the passenger side door. The truck finished completely blocking the road. Jennifer threw the keys into the woods, jumped into the SUV, and they were gone.
WriterGal would be safe for another night.

WriterG. Amanda Thanks!  Does that make us (or rather you and Jennifer) like Thelma and Louise? If so, perhaps you should have driven that car off a cliff.

I love being the villain. I feel like Butch Cassidy! But instead of running out with guns blazing, I’m rolling out of a vehicle (hopefully with at least a couple of Signet Classics strapped to my belt).

WriterG. <Grumbling> I’ve got some old Houghton-Mifflin Literature Works Teacher’s Guides (parts 1 and 2) with that barista’s name on it and two hands itching to help them make their acquaintance. And Martin, if ya know what’s good for ya, you’ll quit askin’ questions or you’ll get the same. Ya get me?

Martin S. Groggy. Can’t open my eyes. What hit me? I could hear the beep of EKG machines and doctors ordering nurses around. My tongue was stuck in my throat, feeling like a big dry Biscotti that hadn’t been properly chewed.
“What happened?” I asked weakly.
“You ask too many questions,” a stern male voice said. “Shut up. We’re trying to stitch you back together. 40 ccs of Kahlua, stat.”
“Was it WriterGal?” I asked.
“I told you to shut up.”
“Where am I?” I tried to force one mucus-glued eye back open.
“Special Municipal Trauma Unit VOWG3,” a concerned female nurse said, bending over me, talking through her mask.
“VOWG3?”
“Victims Of WriterGal Three,” she explained. “It’s a massacre out there. We’ve set up medical depots around the city. You were lucky you were within a half-mile of this place or you wouldn’t have made it.”
“He’s finally stable,” the presiding doctor announced. “Let’s move on. Dump those pieces of Houghton-Mifflin textbooks we extracted outta him, they sicken me.” The room became quiet. But I still heard breathing — and it wasn’t mine. I turned my head painfully to the side to look.
There was that huge orderly from last week, from that iPad incident on the bus, coming toward me.
I blacked out before he reached me.

Martin S.  – “What do you mean, you can’t take that SUV out?!” I shouted over the tracer fire. “You’ve got 48mm antitank artillery out on the line!”
“Tried that,” Sergeant Koller yelled back. “The inside of that SUV is lined with textbooks. The shells bounce right off ‘em. Nothing can stop WriterGal’s Happy Bookmobile.”
The sky was an angry red, filled with smoke from a city aflame. Every time the SUV broke clear of a roadblock, a tanker trailer would jack-knife in its wake, blocking the road while going up in a scorching ball of fire.
“Sergeant,” I shouted, “what about that Chinese proverb: kill the chicken to scare the monkey!”
“I’ll try anything!” he yelled back. He quickly assembled a ten-man detail and barked out his orders.
“We need you men to go out and find a chicken. Don’t come back here without one. Move it!” The soldiers hurtled out of there in Jeeps on steroids.
The sergeant turned toward me.
“Okay, what was that second instruction? Scare the monkey?”
I shook my head. No wonder WriterGal had brought the city to its knees.
“While you’re at it, why don’t you rub bulkhead softener on the shells so they’ll penetrate the textbooks?” I asked sarcastically.
He sent another dozen men scrambling to find bulkhead softener.

Bruce M. –  I lay awake angry and in pain in the recovery room after having my grandpa Groucho’s shnoz rearranged into a less noticeable form, my upper lip still stinging from the laser hair removal.I was waiting for nurse Amber to bring me some Morphine. I grinned wickedly thinking about how I wouldn’t get caught as I watched my old face splashed across the news report looking for the fugitives known as Groucho and Blankethead. I hope WriterGal got away after clobbering Martin. Man was her aim good! Thankfully the laser eye surgery worked and I wasn’t seeing two of everything. Just then my old friend Lenny wheeled another patient into the recovery room. I stared for a minute ,trying to focus on the face. Wait…it couldn’t be! It is!
As I stared at Martin’s unconscious form, my mind began to race. What if he wakes up and recognizes me? Just then I noticed a shelf with a large copy of an OSHA guide on the shelf. I had a score to settle with Martin and I needed to buy myself time to get discharged and escape before being found out….
Jennifer

WriterG.  – As I sank behind the Starbucks, I heaved a ragged breath and slowly pulled off my gloves. Even with the thin gloves, my knuckles were still a mass of angry bruises. That Martin would have a skull like a cement block. But he had it coming to him. I warned him, didn’t I?

I glanced at the few pages left of Literature Works. Still smoking, their edges a dull red like the sunset warning of a coming storm.

I checked my backpack. Only one chem textbook left. I needed to reload. I needed to get to my arsenal of the far north side. But there were at least 300 cops between me and my armory.

I sighed, wondering if Jennifer was all right. I needed to find her and fast. I checked the alley. Only a wino lay by an overturned garbage can, a Venti cup in hand. The coast was clear.

Martin S. — The news spread fast. The Marines had captured the SUV, and I needed to be there when they peeled it open. I broke every traffic law in the book, even using my cell phone in a school zone, to get to the scene of the capture.
I hopped out of the jeep in time to see the Marines cracking open the door. They backed away, confused. I looked inside the SUV.

It was empty. Just a blanket in the backseat.

“Who was driving this thing?” the Marine next to me asked. And without warning, a monkey flew out of the SUV and bounded out over the heads of the Marines, hightailing it for the nearest building.

Sergeant Koller walked up behind me and clapped his hands together. “Okay, we scared the monkey. Should we skip the chicken?”

I shook my heads, wondering where those two fugitives had slipped away to. By now they’d had plenty of time for plastic surgery, tanning booths, tattoo parlors, piercings, hair extensions, bunion cream, and God knows what. I reached into my pocket to pull out the bad check WriterGal had written me.
“It’s not over yet,” I whispered in determination, staring at the scrawled “X” on the signature line. “It’s ‘homo indomitus’ time.”

I contacted Amazon for a comment but they didn’ t respond. I suspect some lawyer read these at Amazon and became worried over liability is someone was suddenly bludgeoned to death by a text book and they could be sued.

This great little book makes a great companion to my book, How To Make Money Selling Used Books on eBay, Amazon and the Internet. In this book Steve lays out his recipe that shows step by step how he went from $0 to $2000 per month selling used books part-time on Amazon.

Making money selling used books on Amazon

Some of the things he includes are:

• Where you can find LOTS of profitable books, CDs, and DVDs consistently
• How to find thrift stores wherever you go
• How to choose what to buy and what to leave on the shelf
• How to use Amazon’s Sales Rank to determine the likelihood of a sale
• What to do if you find products with no barcodes or ISBNs
• How to improve your chances of a sale
• Why you should charge a little more than your competition – and still beat them to the sale
• How to clean and repair books, CDs, and DVDs to pull higher prices

There’s a lot more. Steve calls it “quick and dirty” because he didn’t spend a bunch of time on a website or fancy graphics. It’s pretty much just “meaty” stuff that can help you make money in a short time. This is all new stuff. There is little if any overlap between Steve’s book, Selling on The River or my book, How To Make Money Selling Used Books on eBay, Amazon and the Internet.

Here is the link to read about Amazon – The Quick and Dirty Guide

If you wonder if Steve’s methods work, I was speaking with him on the phone today and he told me about a book he found in the trash pile outside of a thrift shop that sold on Amazon within 2 days for $120 and another old Golf book, he bought for $4.00 and sold for right around $100 within 2 or 3 days.

The used book market on both eBay and Amazon is a great way to get started on the internet. It is low cost, low risk and has high profit potential.  If you want go learn the basics, get my book: Make Money Selling Used Books on eBay, Amazon and The Internet.

Then get Steve’s book  Amazon – The Quick and Dirty Guide and you will be fully armed to make money in this profitable and fun marketplace.

Colin Sebastian, Digital Media & Internet analyst at Wall Street firm Lazard Capital Markets, estimates that Amazon.com’s third-party sellers will generate nearly $9 billion in gross merchandise sales in 2009. This is up from roughly $7 billion in 2008.This may be why more and more eBay sellers are expanding their business to Amazon. Why sell on just one channel?

If you want to learn more about selling on Amazon, a great jumping off point is the SCOE – Sellers Conference for Online Entrepreneurs: The Independent Conference for entrepreneurs who utilize Amazon as a sales channel

The dates are July 10-13 2009 and the event will be held at the Seattle Airport Marriott and Amazon Headquarters (transportation will be available from the hotel to Amazon).

This conference is presented to allow sellers to network, learn, and grow their online businesses. Executives from Amazon.com will be on hand to lead sessions, answer questions and receive feedback and there will be a visit to Amazon headquarters.

I will be speaking on a panel led by Cindy Shebley about expanding your eBay business to sell on Amazon. Here’s the line-up:

Monsoon’s CEO, Kanth Gopalpur http://www.monsoonworks.com/

Alice Rudolph – eBay PowerSeller and Amazon Pro Merchant, from aliceinstitches http://www.aliceinstitches.com/

Michael Levit, EVP of Marketing and Business Development from Vendio http://www.vendio.com/

Cindy Shebley – eBay PowerSeller and Amazon Pro Merchant/FBA seller  http://www.websellerscircle.com

Here is the website for more information and where you can register: http://www.scoe.biz

If you can’t attend but would still like to learn how to sell on Amazon, grab a copy of Selling on The River by Steve Lindhorst.

See Also

• Learn How To Sell Information Products on eBay, Amazon and The Internet
  Complete course on selling real information products for profit and long-term income

It is no secret that state budgets are under pressure.  States get their revenue form many sources but income tax, property tax and sales tax are the big three. As people lose their jobs there is less income tax. As proper values fall and homes are foreclosed on, then the property tax falls and of course as people buy less the income from sales tax falls.

When our income falls like it has this year, we spend less. But governments can’t seem to do that. So rather than tighten their belts they just look for new sources of revenue.

Some brilliant bureaucrat in North Carolina discovered that several of their citizens were earning affiliate commissions from Amazon. So they decided to change the law so NC could collect sales tax on those affiliate commissions.

Here is the text of the email that Amazon sent

We regret to inform you that the North Carolina state legislature (the General Assembly) appears ready to enact an unconstitutional tax collection scheme that would leave Amazon.com little choice but to end its relationships with North Carolina-based Associates. You are receiving this e-mail because our records indicate that you are an Amazon Associate and resident of North Carolina.

Please note that this is not an immediate termination notice and you are still a valued participant in the Associates Program. All referral fees earned on qualified traffic will continue to be paid as planned.

But because the new law is drafted to go into effect once enacted – which could happen in the next two weeks – we will have to terminate the participation of all North Carolina residents in the Amazon Associates program on or before that same day. After the termination day, we will no longer pay any referral fees for customers referred to Amazon.com or Endless.com nor will we accept new applications for the Associates program from North Carolina residents.

The unfortunate consequences of this legislation on North Carolina residents like you were explained in detail to key senators and representatives in Raleigh, including the leadership of the Senate, House, and both chambers’ finance committees. Other states, including Maryland, Minnesota, and Tennessee, considered nearly identical schemes, but rejected these proposals largely because of the adverse impact on their states’ residents.

The North Carolina General Assembly’s website is http://www.ncleg.net/, and additional information may be obtained from the Performance Marketing Alliance at http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/.

We thank you for being part of the Amazon Associates program, and we will apprise you of the General Assembly’s action on this matter.
Sincerely,

Amazon.com

Well, Amazon is of course fighting this but if they lose they have already told associates (affiliates) that they will have to stop paying affiliates in North Carolina. So the action by the legislature will not raise any money but will kill a viable income stream for their residents.  Since that income could be used to purchase products that would generate sales tax for the state, passing this law will actually hurt revenues.  But governments generally don’t care about unintended consequences.

If laws like this pass, it will not only affect Amazon. You can be sure that major affiliate companies like eBay, Wal-Mart and even affiliate management firms such as ClickBank, Commission Junction and Sharasale will also be affected.

See Also

• Ten Highly Profitable eBay Niche Businesses Anyone Can Do
  Make quick extra money with one, two or all ten of these great little eBay niche business. Local products, easy to source and sell for high markups.

According to comScore, Amazon had 60 million visitors to its site compared with 50 million a year ago. By comparison, eBay had 70 million visitors, down from 80.1 million a year ago. Amazon clearly has the potential to overtake eBay unless eBay can rebuild its visitor count.

eBay also announced today that it would be closing its customer service center in Vancouver, BC cutting 700 jobs.

There is a strange dichotomy going on with eBay. One one hand eBay is cutting costs as most companies do when their profitability falls. eBay has virtually eliminated its advertising. On the other hand eBay is sitting on billions of dollars of cash that is being underutilized and they will be raising more cash with the sale of Stumbleupon and Skype. Meanwhile their market share is eroding. It looks like eBay is more worried about Wall Street’s reaction to a bad quarter than doing what is right for the long-term health and success of the core business.

Amazon, who has growing sales but far less cash, is still investing in their growth. There are rumors that they will soon acquire the Seattle based online jewelry seller, Blue Nile –and some have even speculated that Amazon could buy Netflix.

Meanwhile Amazon continues to court eBay and other online sellers. An independent group, the Seller’s Conference for Online Entrepreneurs will hold an event in Seattle. The event which will feature speakers from Amazon is called The  Independent Conference for Entrepreneurs who utilize amazon.com
as a sales platform.

Dates = July 10-13 2009
Place – Seattle Airport Marriott and Amazon HQ

This conference is presented to allow sellers to network, learn and grow their online businesses. Executives from amazon.com will be on hand to lead sessions, answer questions and receive feedback. 

The Website for information is: http://www.scoe.biz

The cost is $250 per person, but that is not so much is you really want to be a serious seller.

See Also

• Selling on the River – The handbook for eBay sellers who want to sell on Amazon
  This is a great book by Steve Lindhorst, a former eBay University Instructor who now sells on Amazon
• How to Make Good Money Selling Used Books on eBay, Amazon and The Internet
  Learn my complete methods for making money selling used non-fiction books on major online venues. Complete instructions.

Are these the "series of events" eBay promised when they cancelled eBay  Live?

Last month eBay held a meeting in Long Beach, CA for selected sellers (mostly large sellers) and last week they held another one in Miami.  All sellers who attended the meeting were required to sign a non-disclosure agreement.  eBay told one seller this was so everyone could talk freely and not worry about misinformation leaking out.

Actually i get that. But what I don’t understand is why the meetings are limited to very large sellers.  When eBay cancelled eBay Live this year, they promised to replace it with a series of events around the country.  Is this the "series of events?" If it is, I am not impressed.

eBay continues to suffer bad PR from the larger community of smaller sellers (Bronze, Silver and Gold). The Platinum and Titanium Power Sellers see eBay as just another venue along with their own websites, Amazon, Overstock and the major shopping engines. But smaller sellers are mostly eBay-only.  It is these thousands of small sellers who bring the product diversity, uniqueness and consumer interest to eBay. And, it is these same small to medium-sized sellers eBay keeps ignoring.  The recent annual meeting was another example of this. eBay dealt solely with plans and issues for mega sellers –ignoring small sellers altogether.

I happen to know that eBay knows how important the thousands of small and medium sellers are to their success –they just seem to be incapable of letting them know and of introducing programs, policies and promotions targeted at them.

I have objected to some of eBay’s policies and supported others –but I have consistently supported the long-term success of the eBay platform.  The large sellers have a voice with groups like PESA, IMA and ECMTA, but the only voice for small sellers has blogs like this.  About all small sellers can do is vote with their feet as many have.  So far its a trickle but unless eBay starts paying some attention, it could become a river (pun intended).

Come on eBay –Reach out!  We are eager and willing to help you grow the platform and bring some of the fun back to eBay.

See Also

• Learn How To Make Extra Money Selling Used Books on eBay, Amazon and The Internet
  Low risk, low startup costs. This is a very easy and profitable eBay business to start.

Earlier this week, two bills were introduced in the House of Representatives and one in the Senate that were written by lobbyists of the Big Retail Chains.  All three bills target small eBay, Amazon and Website sellers.  Supporters of the bills claim that shoplifters steal merchandise and then sell it on eBay and other venues. So the legislation would force eBay to force you to prove you purchased your merchandise legitimately.

Here is an example. Late last year Karen and I were at Costco and we saw Nautica track suits selling for $49. They still had the $119 original price tag on them.  So we bought a few and tried them out on eBay. They all sold quickly at an average price of $90. So we went back and bought a few dozen more and continued to sell them.  Now under this new legislation, a retailer (any retailer) could see my listing and direct eBay to investigate me to determine where I got my merchandise. And of course, eBay would have to terminate my listings until the investigation was complete.

So under the guise of preventing “shoplifting” the big retailers make life miserable for small sellers who compete with them. The bill is mostly supported by Democrats but some Republicans have signed on too.

eBay is leading the charge against this.  If you go to eBay Main Street you can register and send a letter to your Senators and Congressperson.  Here is a copy of the email eBay will send under your name if you agree:

eBay and the Internet connect hard-working, small business sellers with savvy consumers across America and around the world. Unfortunately, the biggest retailers in America don’t like competition from small online retailers. The big retail industry is lobbying now to pass discriminatory, anti-Internet, anti-small business legislation. As your constituent, I am asking you to oppose any effort to discriminate against online sellers.

Organized retail theft has been a problem for many decades – long before the advent of the Internet – but now big retailers claim that Internet marketplaces are to blame for shoplifting. Of course, stolen goods are a problem. In fact, no Internet company is more committed to fighting online fraud and crime than eBay. But big retailers are pushing for legislation that targets small online competition, not criminals.

H.R. 1173, H.R. 1166 and S. 470 are all examples of legislation that would create new barriers to selling online. They place onerous new burdens on Internet marketplaces, reduce competition from small Internet sellers, and hurt consumers who benefit from lower prices.

Do not allow the big retail industry to threaten small competitors in the name of fighting retail theft. Instead, please support balanced efforts to fight retail thieves without discriminating against online competition.

Sincerely, (Your name)

You can also print this letter out and mail it, or you can send your own email. If you don’t know your congressperson’s name or contact info you can find it at this link.

The other thing you can do is let the big retailers like Macy’s, Target, The Gap and others know they are trying to hurt you and you will refuse to shop there if this bill passes. Just go to their websites and use the customer service contact forms to express your feelings.

See Also

• IMC Releases new 2009 Interenet Marketing Course with a $90 discount for my readers
  The oldest and largest internet marketing training course (and the best in my opinion) has just been released and you can save $90 if you act quickly

See Also

• Ten Little-Known Highly Profitable Niche Markets on eBay – by eBay PowerSeller, Skip McGrath
  Here are ten great little niche markets that require little investment or risk and can make some very nice extra income