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Idea for eBay service

  • avatar

    by: station180
    New SaleHoo Member
    4 posts

    Idea for eBay service

    Posted 27 Jul 07 3:56 pm.

    I have an idea for something to do on ebay. I have seen people for years selling useless ebooks for outrageous prices. So that is what gave me this idea to sell information. I have been a repairman for a large retail chain working on a wide variety of products for 15 years. What I have in mind is to charge the customer something like 9.95 and have them email me the model # of the item along with the problem they are having. Then i help them troubleshoot the problem. Give them an idea of how much a repair shop would charge if it is worth fixing. If it is a simple repair i could give them instructions on how to do it themselves and even where to buy parts and the price.My employer charges at least 30.00 just to give an estimate
    Is this leagal to do on ebay? I did a search and no one is doing anything close to this.Do yo think this would sell? opinions please
    Thanks in advance
    Brad
  • avatar

    by: planes
    Forum Moderator
    843 posts

    Re: Idea for eBay service

    Posted 27 Jul 07 9:04 pm.

    The problem I see with this is people knowing you are good at what you do and having faith in that.

    Also, in knowing they will get something for their money.

    I would have in your listings a link to your about me page detailing your expertise. How many years in the business. Your qualifications etc.. etc... . Degrees and or certs. Maybe even a copy of your cert. with your picture. You are really going to have sell yourself. Add some of this into your listing too so people can get a good look and if they want more to go to your about me page. Spend a lot of time and maybe some money on the listing and about me page as your just going to list the same thing. What I mean is once you have a great template you just list the same thing over and over but it looks great to the eye and catches peoples attention.

    Also, let people know how fast you will respond. You can't let them wait to long. I know when I have something broken I want it fixed now! So have an email sent to them immediately after they purchase your service saying to send you a description of the problem. Have a special e-mail account set-up just for this. Separate from everything else. Decide how fast you will respond. 1,2,3,4,5,6, hours and respond in that time. You could even hook up your email to alert your phone and read the emails on the run so you could respond instantly. As a matter of fact you should do that and put it in your listing that you respond within 1 hour with a solution.

    Then some kind of a ironclad guarantee. 100% money back.

    I would in the beginning offer your service at .99 with a 9.99 or whatever your price is delivery fee for the relay of information. That way you can skirt the eBay fees.

    It might take you awhile to build up trust and some feedback. but you could list the hell out of it as its only .20 a listing at .99. You could also spruce up the listing with border to stand out some. I wouldnt do it on all of them just every other 3rd one as it costs xtra. Add into the title 100% money back guarantee.

    Make sure you accept Paypal as that is the only way you would be able to give instant advice. And only do 'buy it now' as you would know when you got the first email that they have already paid.
  • avatar

    by: jimmy_huber
    SaleHoo Master Member
    2868 posts

    Re: Idea for eBay service

    Posted 27 Jul 07 9:15 pm.

    I would also start much lower then 9.99 offer a special at $3.99 so you can help them out and build some feedback on your idea. When others see the feedback for those transactions they are more then likely to pay more for help.

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  • avatar

    by: gulfy13
    SaleHoo Master Member
    472 posts

    Re: Idea for eBay service

    Posted 27 Jul 07 11:30 pm.

    I don't know if what you are talking about doing is actually legal on ebay. Trying to decipher some of their regulations and guidelines is quite confusing sometimes..

    I do know that you have to list a 'set' product for an 'auction' listing. For instant, 'men's green sport shirt, size large'..

    You cannot list a 'men's shirt', and then say in the auction description to 'email for the size and color you want after the auction'. That is illegal and they will pull that auction...

    Now with the knowledge that you do have, you could offer a ebook on how to make certain repairs for certain common problems on different types of appliances that you know about.

    People often would like to be able to make simple repairs, but don't really know how to go about it or what types of indicators to look for and things like that, so they just call a repairman...

    You however know about all of those things. That being the case, you could easily put together some ebooks, 5, 10, 20, however many that you think you would need to cover different types of common problems that they could fix using your guide..

    You would only have to create these ebooks once, yet you would be able to sell them over and over again..'Create it once--Sell it forever'.

    Just look at that guy on ebay who is selling the ebook on how to adjust your carborator to get better gas mileage. He has about 5 different ebooks covering different popular car models and sells a ton of them...Also the guy who is selling the guide to make you car run on propane by just changing a few parts,, he's doing extremely well..

    I would check with 'ebay live', and find out if you can in fact do the type of listing that you are talking about before do your listing. If they say no, then you can still do some ebooks, or just do an ebay classified ad. It's legal to offer services in that format. Plus in the classified ad you can link to your site for direct sales if you have one..
  • avatar

    by: jimmy_huber
    SaleHoo Master Member
    2868 posts

    Re: Idea for eBay service

    Posted 28 Jul 07 6:25 am.

    I have actually seen auction for services on ebay. I used one once trying to find information on ebay about a specific monitor lcd screen I needed to find a manufacturer for. I payed $27.99 for a service. But I did recieve an ebook from the seller as well. It was a list of manufacturers for various tv components. But the seller did find the info I was looking for. Even though the price was more then I wanted to pay for a replacement screen.

    Wholesale Directory by SaleHoo

  • avatar

    by: station180
    New SaleHoo Member
    4 posts

    Re: Idea for eBay service

    Posted 28 Jul 07 5:50 pm.

    Well guys I went ahead and I am doing a trail run. I know Ive got more work to do but im really interested to see if ebay will let me do it. This one is for vacuun cleaners but I do several other products as well. Mostly lawn and garden equiptment. Take a look and tell me what you think so far.thanks
    link hidden
  • avatar

    by: planes
    Forum Moderator
    843 posts

    Re: Idea for eBay service

    Posted 30 Jul 07 1:56 am.

    Nice Start. I still think you should charge just .99 with a 9.99 or like the Salehoo admin said 3.99 delivery fee. That way you can skirt some eBay fees and just expend .20 instead of .40 per listing but its up to you.

    Look forward to seeing what else you do..
  • avatar

    by: RHorne
    New SaleHoo Member
    1 posts

    Re: Idea for eBay service

    Posted 30 Jul 07 8:39 am.

    I like the idea of you putting this in eBook format as well. I have several resell rights ebooks that I sell on eBay and something I do is upsell to my customer. If you put a book together on say, 'How to Change the Belt on a Hoover Vacuum' you could put together more ebooks to do with Hoover vacuums and sell them other ones after they buy the first.

    For example, you list your book 'How to Change the Belt on a Hoover Vacuum' and sell a copy for $3.99. When you provide the link for the download, give them a link to a sales page promoting other books on different areas of repair for the Hoover vacuum. You could put several different books in a package deal or just have one BIG eBook covering everything Hoover and sell these additional products on top of the first with NO ADVERTISING.

    If you did this you want to make sure you give them the link to there original download on that page or atleast a link to the actual download page in case they don't want your upsell package.
    Here is an example of a sales page I put together for upselling to my eBay customers. link hidden

    This upsell is offered after the purchase of an eBook I sell on eBay called Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. The upsell package I put together is just other books in the self development and wealth generation category, which is what the Napoleon Hill book is.

    I am by no means an expert marketer, but I usually sell one of these upsells every 4-5 sales I make. It's not get rich type money, but it is nice to get some extra pocket change every couple days, and this is only from one ebook I sell. I have many others that I list with similar upsells based in the category of what I sell.

    Well that's what I would do. Good luck to you and anyone reading this, feel free to download the Napoleon Hill ebook at the bottom of that sales page.
  • avatar

    by: JD35648
    SaleHoo Senior Member
    96 posts

    Re: Idea for eBay service

    Posted 30 Jul 07 9:31 am.

    I think maybe 1.99 would be a good start for reviewing the problem and an estimated cause of the problem.Then you can offer instructions and parts location at an elevated price of say 5.99 to 15.99
    depending on the severity of the repair.An offer of a paid subscription to a monthy newsletter where you
    give tips and info of proper maintence and spotlight a few repairs to different items could produce you
    some extra income

    SuperDiscountDeals.ecrater.com

  • avatar

    by: leepnow
    New SaleHoo Member
    1 posts

    Re: Idea for eBay service

    Posted 30 Jul 07 2:22 pm.

    There is a site where you can put your automotive question--and I believe others, but I have only used automotive--and a representative will contact you with information. Sorry I cant remember the site since it was a year ago I used it. When they respond you receive a copy of their background and all certifications and then there are levels you can get their answers. For example, instant within one hour is $9.99 and then progresses down to $3.99. You are allowed to ask one question free about their response. Then if they info they give you is particularly valuable you may add a 'tip' when you pay. I should tell you these guys are very highly credentialled, very specific in their responses often quoting industry standards and auto mfg. tech departments in their responses. As for me, well it was sooo worth the money as I saved about $1500 based on what they told me. Needless to say, he got a tip, lol. Try ask.com and I think it was something like ask a pro or something like that. I got the site as a link from one of my others so I honestly cant help more than that.
  • avatar

    by: haus1028
    SaleHoo Master Member
    352 posts

    Re: Idea for eBay service

    Posted 1 Aug 07 12:26 am.

    Great job, way to be creative. My vote is $4.99-$6.99.

    I wouldn't charge too little because someone could end up bugging you for a month because they can't figure out how to do what you are telling them. Make sure you cover yourself. Make sure to put in the auctions tat once you send instructions that that's it and no more info. I install and service swimming pools and I know first hand that people will try to get all the info they can for nothing.

    WEB STORE: link hidden
    EBAY STORE: link hidden

  • avatar

    by: jimmy_huber
    SaleHoo Master Member
    2868 posts

    Re: Idea for eBay service

    Posted 1 Aug 07 12:56 am.

    Great job, way to be creative. My vote is $4.99-$6.99.

    I wouldn't charge too little because someone could end up bugging you for a month because they can't figure out how to do what you are telling them. Make sure you cover yourself. Make sure to put in the auctions tat once you send instructions that that's it and no more info. I install and service swimming pools and I know first hand that people will try to get all the info they can for nothing.
    Haus1028 You just quoted a possible money maker. Why dont you write a booklet with the answers to all those common questions and sell them to the people you install pools for. And maybe on ebay too :D

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  • avatar

    by: station180
    New SaleHoo Member
    4 posts

    Re: Idea for eBay service

    Posted 1 Aug 07 2:30 am.

    I like the idea of an ebook too but i really dont know how to do one. What type software you use ect.
    Thanks for all the replies
    Brad
  • avatar

    by: gulfy13
    SaleHoo Master Member
    472 posts

    Re: Idea for eBay service

    Posted 1 Aug 07 3:31 am.

    There are several out there. My favorite is 'Instant Article Wizard'. I think I paid about 29 dollars for it back awhile..There are some free ones though, so look at all of them before you spend any money..

    I like IAW because it's user friendly and very fast. It also arranges the info it gathers in to catagories such as subject, topic, sub topic, index and all that kind of stuff. It pretty much does the whole ebook for you. All you really have to do is choose the subject, such as let's say, cell phones, or kitchen remodeling,,. you put that into search and it goes out on the web and gathers info on that subject. All you have to do is select which of the info that it gathers and click it into paragraphs or sentences and so on...

    IAW is not the only article wizard out there, it's just one that I personallly like..I've seen some that do a very good job as free bonuses on ebay and other sites....
  • avatar

    by: gulfy13
    SaleHoo Master Member
    472 posts

    Re: Idea for eBay service

    Posted 1 Aug 07 3:34 am.

    Opps, Sorry Brad, I forgot to mention, that if you know your subject, all you really need is a simple word processor, such as microsoft word..

    You can do your book with any processor and then just put it into a reader format, such as adobe reader or something so that it can easily be delivered....