After The Ebay Suspension

    I have read your comment a few times. I understand the situation that you find yourself in. Many former ebay sellers have gone through something similar.

    First I do not work at ebay. I am a former Powerseller. There are thousands of us out here. I am one of the few who decided to offer aid and comfort to those who  face the restrictions and suspensions that ebay seems to dole out for reasons that become harder and harder to understand.

    I am going to try to offer you both aid and comfort. First things first. You are not dead, you are just badly wounded. If your paypal had been suspended as well you would be facing a greater challenge.
    Here are the steps I recommend before contacting Ebay again. (At the end of this I will offer phone numbers for customer service at ebay. )

1. Just incase all fails and you are not allowed as a seller at Ebay you need to set up shop at as many other market places as possible. Start with Amazon. You need to start there first because once you become a seller there you will need two weeks from your first sell to request a payout.

    Next I would sign up with Etsy and Bonanza. Selling on Bonanza is largely about networking and getting to know others who conduct business there. Next you will need to sign up with Webstore, Craigslist, Ecrater and Yardsellr.  Also you should sign up with Ebids. They are a promising new auction site. The traffic at none of these sites except Amazon can match ebay, but the combined traffic can help a seller survive while he or she seeks to grow business at their own website.

    Most sellers do no realize that they left ebay with a list of possible customers in hand. This list is the emails addresses of all your past customers stored at Paypal. If they have done business with you before they are likely to do business with you again. If you have something similar to what they purchased before contact them and make them a offer. You do not even need a store front to do this. If or when you have a deal you can send them an invoice using paypal tools and or google checkout.

    It will not be easy to overcome an ebay suspension or restriction, but it can be done. Too many believe that they are married to ebay. That they are the only place to work. Getting past this is the beginning of the path to financial freedom.

    Okay for those of you who wish to plead with ebay here are two customer service numbers that have gotten some results. Call between 9 - 6 during week days for best results.

866-540-3229 press# then enter zipcode, then press 0.  This is a number where you may actually reach someone who may call you back. 
Second number is 866-643-1607.   You may get a real person to talk to.

    Understand when Ebay restricts you as a seller, but keeps you as a buyer, they are doing what amazon has done for years. They are willing to take your money, but not willing to help you earn a living. When I first got suspended by ebay I tried to get that suspension lifted. Nothing I tried worked. Then I tried to go back on the site under different names and addresses. That only held up for a while. In the end the thing that has gotten me through the last five years is to do it myself. Selling at other online marketplaces while building my own. It has worked for thousands of us. It can work for each and everyone of you. I make more money now selling at ten different sites than I ever did at Ebay and the fees are far less. Not to mention if a suspension ever comes your way at any of them so what you have over a half dozen to fall back on and you have your own website as well.

    I know that running your own website sounds like sci-fi but it is not that difficult I have designed a page that can show you how to build your own wordpress site in about an hour. You can click here to visit it.


    Okay that is it for today. It has been such a while since I was suspended by Ebay that I forgot how it felt at the time. I thought the world was ending. Now I realize that a whole new world of possibilities were being revealed to me. Freedom is a scary thing, but never a bad thing. Freedom is the morning and the bread and the risen son. Freedom in what ever form or shape it takes is gods gift to everyone. Freedom forces us to make hard choices, but in the end they are always our choices and that can not be underestimated.

    Good luck and please keep in mind that hard work is its own reward and what you face now has been faced and overcome by others who have come before you.

A Few Ebay Stories

            Ebay Stories

    Some have asked why am I doing this blog. What is the point of creating a blog based upon the idea that the biggest online marketplace is not a place that one should attempt to earn a living at.

   The answer is that if Ebay was what they once were I would say go right ahead and set up shop, but not at what they have become. You can not build your business and your future around a company that can kick you off of their site for any number of reasons. In America everyone is entitled to a trial unless you are a seller at ebay.

    I could tell you about my horror stories or I could allow some other former sellers to tell you about how their careers at ebay ended.


    Look it will never be easy to walk away from a place where you have become comfortable. What I am suggesting to those of you who still sell there is that you go out and get a back up plan.  If you have already been suspended by Ebay then I suggest that you move forward with setting up shop at other sites.


    If you are beyond the urge to work at sites belonging to others then I would suggest that you build your own website.   There are a lot of services that can help you do this for a small price. If you want an instructional on how to DIY your own wordpress website click here.

    Okay that is it for today. Tell a friend about this site, add us yo your google plus and have a nice day.

Ebay Suspended, Try Sell Digital

                Ebay Suspended, Try Digital Products

    You have lost your Ebay account or have been ebay suspended. You may be in the process of appealing this decision or only now you are coming to grips with the fact you may never be able to work there again.

    How will your business recover from this?   

    How will you make up for the loss in income?

    If making money was easy then everyone would be doing it.

    You have acquired a skill set while working at Ebay and you can turn that skill set to your advantage. You know how to market and sell things online. You did it for months if not years on Ebay and now it is time to move on.

    Allow me to help you with this process. Many of my earlier blog post list sites where you can sell instead of Ebay.  This post is about finding new ways to make money using your skills. One of the ways is to sell digital products. There are sites like Click Bank which you can join for free that will provide you with many such products. There is also a site like Payloadz which provides digital products as well as allowing you to offer your own for sale. Perhaps you should look into this now that you have been suspended by Ebay or restricted by Ebay.

    Here was a quick review of the Payloadz site. Visit it and perhaps you will find a new way to generate some income. I try to never say extra income. I have never had extra and outside of professional athletes I can not imagine many people who actually generate extra income. All income falls under the category of needed income.

    Okay that is it for now. Try to add us to your google plus and to stumble us on stumbleupon. Thank you and have a nice day.

Ebay and The MC999

                Ebay, The Document Dump

    You have received the MC999 suspension notice and it basically says that this has happened to protect the eBay community. You are shocked by this and you immediately contact them requesting information on how to get back into good standing.

    They will suggest that you send them information to help them verify you and if you provide all the information required you may be reinstated.

    That is the big lie.

    You can provide all of the documentation that they have asked for. You could provide DNA samples and this will not help. The ebay suspension notice that you received was just a way of telling you to get lost.

    What about the appeals process?

    It is a joke. Perhaps at one time it mattered, but during the last two years or so this is just another way of telling you to get lost. I have tried to be nice with this blog about what is going on at Ebay, but enough is enough.

    If you are still working at Ebay, why.  If you actually depend upon Ebay to pay the bills what are you thinking?

    Picture a company that can change the locks and move location at a moments notice and that is where you are working.

    I started this blog with the intend to help you to move on and it is not getting through to many of you. You believe that you are married to Ebay and perhaps you are, but she does not love you anymore and the bigger truth is that she never did.

    If you want love and respect from a company you are going to have to build it yourself.

    But, I don’t want to build my own site. I want to work for someone else the rest of my life. I want to be terminated at a moments notice. I want to give a massive unfeeling corporation control over my existence.

    Seriously?

    Really?

    Are you that damn needy?

    If you have to earn a living at online marketplaces fine, but at least have the common sense to open up shop at a half dozen such marketplaces so that if one goes down then at least you will wake up the next morning with four or five other locations still featuring your items. If you decide to go stealth and get back on Ebay, back yourself up by franchising yourself.

    Ebid, Ubid, Amazon,Ecrater, Sell.com, Ioffer, Etsy, Craigslist and many other sites are sitting out there waiting for you. Use them all and then if you have the time and are willing to put in the effort get your own website and push it. If you can’t afford a website they you can use your facebook to post some items.

    I would say good luck with getting back on Ebay, but that would be a lie. I do not believe that it is a good idea that any of us return to them.

    That is it for now, remember to stumble us on stumbleupon and to mention this site to a friend. If you want help with building your own site then

I have included a banner link below. Also a link to one of the sites that I mentioned. I believe that you can sign up at Ebid for free.

    Maybe the next post will be about those fees that Ebay charges. Man I really miss paying Ebay and Paypal a combined 10 plus percent on every sale.

Ebay Seller, Time to Move on.

            Ebay Suspended, How Long?

    The question is how long will it be before you decide to move on. It was a solid business a long time ago, but during the last few years they have become an unpredictable entity that discards any and all sellers who they deem unworthy of remaining in their presence.

    They suspended or restricted you for no reason and you thought they did this to hurt you. Perhaps it is time to look at this in a whole new light.

    Ebay did you the biggest favor of your life.

    Ebay set you free to become an independent business person.

    All of us have started off working for someone else and many of you believe that this is the only way to live. Going from one job to another searching for a company or organization that will value you enough not to let you go without warning.

   We plan our lives around that job. We plan our future and that of our family around a job that can and most likely did go away. The world’s economy is in crisis; this means that so is the economic well being of what ever business that you work for is at risk as well. Ebay is so big that they do not see this and will not until it is far to late. They believe that they do not need you and all that you bring to the table. They believe that they are too big too fail. But they are not and when they do fail you will be one of the ones who feel lucky that you got out before they did.

    The time has come to expand your business knowledge. To grow and to diversify. Below is some advice from one of the most popular voices in business.



    Here you will begin. You will learn about new site to conduct business while you are doing the most important thing. While you are constructing your own website.

    Think about that. My own website. My own brand. My own company that someday will become big enough so that I will need to hire employees someday.  At this blog you will find a solid list of other blogs where you can run your online business. Also I would like you to look at and visit the resources that I suggest for you.

    Today I offer to you one such resource. They can help you to build a website if you feel that you are not ready to do it all by yourself. There is nothing wrong will seeking help in an area where you do not yet possess the technical skills to do it yourself. So here is the a banner for a site that you can visit to aid you in building your own site.





    If you are the do it yourself kind of person, they I have constructed a page with basic tutorials on how to do it yourself, you can  CLICK HERE to visit it.

    Good luck and remember to stumble us on Stumbleupon and add us to your google plus.

Ebay's idea of help.

                Ebay is Insane

    For those of you who are powersellers or have been with the company for a long time I would like to ask you a few questions.


    Why?

    Why are you staying?

    Why do you trust this company?

    They have for the last year been restricting sellers in the most insane ways possible.

    The new policy of restricting sellers for having the nerve to sell too many items.

    I am talking about the new account limitations they have invented.

    In other words they decide on how much you can sell and how much money that you are allowed to make. Didn’t they tear down that wall? Didn’t we get rid of the Soviet Union?

    Below is a video discussing what is going on at Ebay.



    Sounds sane to you? If it does you must work for the head of the company. If it does not why not move your business to other sites and then start your own website. The worst thing that can happen with your own site is that it can act as a good back up plan. You can send your regular customers there and you do not have to pay yourself sellers fees. You can take checks and money orders and you do not have to pay paypal fees. “But running my own site cost money,”You say. Yeah a few dollars a month, but less than what Ebay and Paypal peels you for on an average sale. Less than ten bucks a month at Hostgator and GoDaddy.

    “I don’t know how to build a website of my own.”

    Really, I can help. Click Here  and visit a page I have constructed to show you how. The tutorial is free. If you decide to go ahead with building your own back up plan I have included discounted links so that you can do it all for less than ten dollars.

    That sounded like a sales pitch? Not really. I am giving you tutorials for free. Why? Because I want Ebay to go away. If everyone who work there or use to work there finds a new home then the mission will be accomplished.

    Good luck with your journey to freedom, add us to your google plus, mention us to a friend and stumble us on Stumbleupon.

Why Do You miss Ebay?

Think long and hard about that question. Why do you miss working there? I mean sure you made money there, but have you ever been treated worst by a company in your entire life?

     The place gives mad houses a bad name and you miss working there. There was a time that I missed the company and found a way to get back on the site. After a few months I quickly realized that being suspended from there the first time around was a the best thing that had ever happened to me as an online seller.

     This post is not my usual suggestion of a new site to work at, but a look backwards at why leaving ebay was not a bad thing. I could tell you about the pros and mostly cons of the site, but I have found a short film that does it better than I ever could.  Here is a look at the film.

Atomic Mall

                      Atomic Mall

    This will be the next stop on our quest to find a home after Ebay. I have waited to write about this site because it is the one that I like the most. If there is a site that will someday grow to compete with Ebay and Amazon may it be this one.

    There are many reasons to recommend it and so far the only thing that keeps it from being mentioned more often is traffic. The traffic and the number of members has grown steadily during the last year and it will be just a matter of time before it becomes one of the major players.


    It cost 5 dollars to sign up and at first that held me back, but I bit the bullet and it has been the best investment that I have made online. I have done solid and steady business there. It gets better every month.

    The staff that runs it are top of the line. They do the one thing that most of use who sold at Ebay wished that they had done and that is to leave the sellers alone. Allow the seller to set up his or her ads, set a price, decide on any extras and conduct business. They do not have a player in the payment market the way that Ebay has. You can use Paypal here or a half a dozen other payment systems including checks and or money orders.

    The fees here are reasonable. After you make a few sells you will be sent a bill and you can pay it in full or even overpay a little so that you have some extra in your account to buy banner or side bar ads for your inventory if you wish.

    Did I mention that when you put an item up for sale it stays up for sale forever. You can go back in at any time, touch up your listing a little and you are right back on the first page.

    Outside of my own website this is my favorite Ebay alternative. If you are going to set up shop somewhere new I would suggest that you make this one of the places that you do it and tell as many people about it as possible. Atomic Mall could be the best of the ebay alternative sites.

    If you are reading this you have been either restricted by Ebay or suspended by Ebay and you do not want to go crawling back to them. I am telling you that you do not have to. Pick 3 or 4 sites to start over at. Use these sites. Sell some of your inventory at each site. Pick the ones that best suits those items and you may find that after a few months you are making more money than you were by just using Ebay.

    Freedom is not as simple as it sounds. We are each born free and that birth was a painful thing. We got asked to walk away from something that we liked and something that we were good at and that was a painful thing.

    Failure is a painful thing, but do not be afraid to fail. We learn from it. We grow from the experience. I have tried dozen’s of sites that did not work out at all. Here I have listed the ones that show promise.

    The truth about all of these alternatives to Ebay is that you are still going to have to work at it. Ebay made it seem so easy and during the best of times it was too easy to earn a living there.

    You are free to pick and choose now where you will work.

    Allow me to leave you with a quote from one of my favorite plays, “Freedom is not just a big word, it is the morning and the bread and the risen son.”

    You are not just looking for a place to work. You are looking for a place to be free to work. Good Luck.

Yardsellr

                    Try Yardsellr

    Next stop on our replace Ebay at any cost tour takes us to the site known as Yardsellr. This site has been around for a while. They are easy to sign up with. I do not believe that they will ever be a rival to Ebay and the main reason is that there is not evidence that they wish to be.

    Yardsellr is a nice little site and seems that they are comfortable being what they are. The layout is pretty simple and easy to navigate. Yardsellr seems to be a site that depends upon social media and interaction. This may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but face it social media will be an important part of the future of this kind of business. (Speaking of which, if you could find the time to add us to your Google plus and or stumble us on Stumbleupon that would help us out a lot.) So if you have a presence on facebook the social part of this site will be easy. Yardsellr may not be your last stop on your road to freedom from Ebay suspension, but it is a good place to set up shop.

    Here now is a basic video review of the site.


Final note for today if you are looking for places to wholesale supplies for your online business, I have built a website to help in that area. Whether you sell book, clothing or electronics I have found a few sources and if you are interested then  click here.

Why not Your Own Site?

            Best Ebay Alternative, Your Own Site

    Face it, the best alternative long term to Ebay is your own website. The number one reason is that it is yours and it belongs to you. You run it, you promote it and you collect all of the profits.

    And isn’t that what we are really talking about here. Profit.

    We are in this to turn a profit and earn a living.

    Some of us did that at Ebay for a time and then we either moved on or were forced to move on. At the end of the day it will always come down to the first rule of nature. To survive you must adapt. The dinosaurs could not and that is why they are not here anymore. Leaving Ebay has forced you to adapt.

    Right now you are probably adapting to working at new sites and getting use to the routine where ever you are working at the moment. Wouldn’t it be great to have your own website? Filled with your own content. Selling or marketing anything and everything that you wish?

    You would be your own boss and I can help you to do this.

    You could either pay someone or a service to do this for you. Or you could do it yourself. Why do it yourself? You will learn a skill that may come in handy down the road. You will save a great deal of money. Face it people want hundreds for website building. Why pay them or me? Do it yourself. I got a free tutorial set up for you. It will walk you through getting a domain. Signing up for hosting and constructing website. The tutorial is less than an hour. The time from start to finish will be about two hours total and you will have a site of your own. You can come back to this post and click here when you are ready, if you are not ready to do this today. The site you will be sent to will also have pages listing wholesale suppliers for your business.

    Okay my DIY sales pitch is done. If you are not ready to branch out on your own I understand. Next stop will be a site named Yardsellr.

A site called Etsy

                Heard Of Etsy?

    A great many former Ebay sellers have moved over to this wonderful site. It is not for everyone. It a site to buy and sell vintage and or home made items. The best way to look at this site is to see it as a cross between Ebay and Amazon when both sites were worth being a part of.

For a flat rate of about 20 cents you can list your items. They charge about 3.5 percent for each transaction.

    If this place fits within your sales niche this is a great place to conduct business. The traffic is great and if your items are quality you can make a steady income here.

    There are some very successful sellers here. Many of them have been there for a while and have developed a solid following. I have been told by someone who does well there that the key to growth is having  high visibility, being very active on the forums and getting to know people. Also you should have your own website if possible so that you can steer traffic from there to your site. Face it you will still have to pay a final value fee no matter where you sell unless it is your own site and for those of us who worked at Ebay for years you never know when those fees will jump. So if you want to build your own website click here  and you will be shown a do it yourself tutorial for free.

    Lastly about selling there. Do not try to get into price wars. Sell your items for what they are worth. The buyers there understand better than at Ebay that quality items cost money.

    Look it, getting over having been suspended by Ebay or restricted by Ebay and or Amazon is not going to be easy, but once you have moved on to bigger and better things you will wonder why you were so concerned in the first place.

    Coming up soon we will talk about Paypal and its restrictions and suspensions. All of you should keep in mind that paypal and Ebay are part of the same company. If you are leaving Ebay behind there will come a moment when you will have to leave Paypal as well.

    Okay, good luck at Etsy and please feel free to post comments and if you wish to mention where you are selling now. There are a lot of Ebay alternatives and if you know of a good one let me know or if you have created one yourself let me know about it and I may invite you to write a guess post about it.

Plunderhere and Epier?

    Why Not Plunderhere?

    It is a small and still relatively unheard of site, but it is growing and I would put it in the same category of a site like Blujay. It is small, but a nice place to plant your flag. They allow you to import your listing from other sites so if you have the time why not do it. You could pick up a few sales here and if you have a website you can use it to promote it.

    Like Ecrater you can set up your own store front.  The 5 percent fee is charged only if or when you sell and item. The basic store allows you 1000 listing and who really need more than that.This is a solid little site with a lot of growth potential and another good reason to leave Ebay behind.




Epier?

       Epier is another alternative site where you can buy and sell almost anything from a baseball card all the way up to a new car. Here you can get a free store front. Just sign up and start listing  your items

     You do not pay here if you do not sell. Secondly there are no listing fees. No insert fees and no final value fees.

     There is a premium service where you will get 200 Megabytes of Image Storage Space. Your Own Integrated e-Commerce Storefront,  Not just a list like other Storefronts- Customize Your Store (ie-Your logo, your background, etc.)

        For an optional 5.00 fee you can be featured on the home page and category featured for 1.00 dollar.

       Neither one of these sites will be the answer to overcoming your ebay suspension, or restriction, but they can become part of the solution. At the end of the day the only lasting solution will be to build and grow your own website. When or if you are ready to take that step click here and visit my free tutorial on creating your own website. 

Ebay Suspended, Try Sell.com or Blujay

            Heard about Sell.com Or Blujay.com

    Sell.com has been around a long time and for those who first fleed from the borders of Ebay this is usually one of the first stops. I believe that it was the second stop for me. There are a great many good things about this site and some that I would change.

    First the traffic is okay. You will get views here and depending upon your price point you will get sales. Next the design, it looks as if it has not changed  since they started it. The look could use an updating. Don’t get me wrong it is not bad, but there are better.

    When you first sign up here your first listing is free that is a good thing. After your first sale you are gonna have to start paying for listing your products. This good or bad depending on how many items you sell and how long they take to sell. I would prefer the percentage based way of paying for your presence that most of the sites use. Now don’t get me wrong, I do not prefer the massive bite that Ebay and Ioffer take once an item is sold, but it some how feels more fair if both the seller and the site get paid only when there is a sale. If you want to pay up front you might as well buy a domain, some hosting and put up your own website. Check the link at the end of this post if that is something you wish to investigate.

    Overall I would say that Sell.com is worth the effort. Put some of your best selling items up for sale here and see what happens.

    Next is a nice little site named Blujay.com. It is free to set up your store here and they take a very tiny bite of your final sale. I like it for what it is. It is bare bones basic in its design and your account set up. This site is not ranked in the top ten of alternative sites, but I have done surprisingly good business here. I have kept a footprint of ten to twenty items here and some months I have racked up double digit sales. It is not for everyone, but if your price point is low you could do well here.

    The cons about this site are: first the traffic. It does not get a great deal of traffic. It is not well known. The look is about as appealing as a plate of mash potatoes. There is not much that you can do to separate your items from the rest of the crowd. Even if you spend the money to become featured you are still not going to gain much in the visibility department.

    Since Blujay.com is free to join you might as well set up shop there.

    With each store that you put up you are occupying more online space. Your products will be seen by more people. Maybe never as many as saw them on Ebay, but you will no longer have to depend upon Ebay for your lively hood. You will be creating many sources of income. All of these sources in the end can lead you to the day when you have your own website and become the boss of your own business.

If you wish to explore setting up your own website I would like you to click here and watch
a 50 minute tutorial video that will explain step, by step how to get a domain, buy hosting and then set up your own website.

    Doesn’t that sound cool? My own website. The day will come when you will no longer say I work for Ebay or Amazon, instead you get to say that I work for myself at my own website.

    If you need more time that is okay. We have other places to visit and other options to explore. Down this road there are more sites and beyond them is the valley of online classified ads.

How About Bananza?

                Selling On Bonanza(formerly Bananzle)

    The first thing that you will notice is that this is a great looking site. It stands
out from the rest of the crowd.  You will have your own booth where you set up and
edit your sale items. They have a monthly site feature called a Rush, where if you
choose to join your items will become part of a massive full site sale.  You will discount
your items from 10 to 50 percent and this sale does generate a lot of extra attention.
    That is the good thing.  The bad is that though the site does have traffic, sales
have been slow there for almost everyone I have come into contact with.  Visually and
customer service wise it could easily be the best of all the Ebay alternative sites. I like
everything about it better than Ebay with the exception of profit. This site needs a
massive marketing push. It could be so much more than it is.
    So as a place to work I would say yes.  Go ahead and open a booth.  Now if my
plans for you have not become clear yet allow me to help you see the whole picture. Your
road to Ebay independents is one of opening a number of stores at a number of locations
with the end goal of opening up your own site where all the traffic and sales will
belong to you. This will not happen over night and you are going to have to take
baby steps to get there, but once there you will never have to deal with Ebay or being
Ebay suspended.
    If you feel as if you are ready to try to open your own business and build your own site
I would like you to click here. You will be sent to a site where you will learn for free to build
your own site. The video tutorial will take about an hour, but it is either learn it in an hour
or spend hundreds of dollars to have someone else do it for you.
    Of course if you are not ready yet I think that we will visit Sell.com and Blujay next.

A Place Called Ecrater

                Ebay suspended,
 Ecrater.



    The page layout is not great.  It is pretty standard.  You can not do many ad ons
or anything in the way of banners.  You do not have the option of setting your items
apart from the rest.  That said, there is not much to complain about here at Ecrater.
    You can list for Free there.  You have sort of your own mini webstore and you
can list as many items as you wish.  In as many categories as you want.
    Ecrater uses Adsense and they are willing to share revenue with you.
    Did you get that one?
    Share revenue with you.
    Depending upon how many items you have up and how much traffic you
generate this can be a good thing.
    On the other hand because of the ease of signing up and posting the market place
is a bit flooded in some key categories.  The competition is stiff.  You are going to
have to go lower margins on your price points to get some separation from the competition.
Because of the limited traffic you are going to go through dry sales periods, but if you
have a hot item or two you can generate a lot of sales quickly.  Ecrater has become a
place where the bargain shopper goes for items with a set price rather than having to
deal with the auction set up at Ebay.
    One more con about the site, customer service is not great.  If you manage to get
someone it will feel as if you are talking to someone, but not an actual human being.  Not
saying a robot responder.  It will feel more like an alien who has not completely grasped
the concepts of logic or reason.  Do not get me wrong they are ten times better than Ebay
because they will actually respond rather than sending a form letter that tells you absolutely
nothing.
    Many former Ebay sellers look to Ecrater as the first and best alternative.  I will not
go that far, but on this move that we have undertaken this site is one worth planting a
flag upon.  I am suggesting that you set up shop here.
    What?
    Is this it?
    Is the journey finally over?
    Are we moving in?
    Yes and no.
    Say what?
    Rent a room here.  Or as I look at it, a display case.  Let’s put up some product
here.  You can list everything that you have.  After all why not, it is free to do so.  I do
not believe any of us can earn a living here, but we can make some money here.
    The answer to your question is that we are not moving in.  This is not our final
stop, but if a friend will let you stick around without paying any rent and will actually
give you a few buck (Adsense) to sleep on the sofa then why not.
    If you have not figured it out yet.  The moving on from Ebay plan involves multiple
stops along the way.  We are not going to be able to do it all at once, but it will get done.
We will not stop and we will not fail in our mission to achieve freedom.
    Summing up, Ecrater is a solid place to hang a open for business sign.
    We are not done yet.
    So let’s go get some items from the trunk of the vehicle, leave them here for sale
and then we can hit the road again.
    Our next stop is a place called Bonanza.
    No, no, no, cut that out.  There is no massive ranch run by a old man and his
sons.  Paw and little Joe will not be there.  Although it is located on the  west coast and
does have a west coastal laid back kind of feel about it.
    Will you please stop humming the Theme music.
    If you would like to bypass this journey and create your own website please visit me by
clicking here
     I can offer you free help with building your own website and the full video tutorial will
take about an hour.  If not then fine, let's go visit Bonanza next. 

Ebay Suspended, How About Your Own Website?

Ebay Suspended,

    If you are visiting for the first time I thought that I would give you a little pep talk.
    You are not alone. Each and every day of the week and almost every hour of every
single day Ebay is issuing restrictions and suspensions. You are not the first person
and you will not be the last. Someday there will be a kinder and gentler replacement
for this monster, but until that day comes we will have to engage in work arounds.
You are going to have to learn to live without Ebay.
    Try to get back on.
    Go stealth if you have to. This works for many, but not for all.  I am here to
offer you ideas for some alternatives and what to do when or if stealth fails or
you are suspended again.  The good news is that there will be a day when you
are totally independent.  You will have you own websitevisit here and be your own boss.
If you are not ready these post will help you take steps toward that day.
     If you are ready then why not  visit here  and learn how to build your own
site in an hour or so.
    Good luck and do not worry this road is not as long as you would believe. 

Ebay Suspended, Let's Talk Ebid

    Ebay Suspended

Ebid.
    Not much traffic driving in here.
    No worries, the sellers parking lot looks pretty full.
    Come on, let’s go inside.
    I have been kind of looking forward to this, another auction site.
    Page design is solid.  Easy to set up an ad.
    You can do this for free here or you can sign up for the all
purpose lifetime membership.  At the moment it will cost you 49.49
for this membership.  I do not honestly know whether or not this membership will help you will sales here.  I am not at this moment willing to risk the money until I have more evidence that it is worth it.
If Ebid could promise a quarter of the sales traffic that Ebay offers
then I would be willing to pay twice that much to join.

      Let’s look at the pros and cons of working here.

    Ebid is a Google marketplace partner, but lately who isn’t?

    Registration here is Free.

           Minimum listing fee is Free.  The maximum fee is 0.05.
    Minimum final value fee is Free and the max is just 3 percent.
    That is the good.  The bad is there does not seem to be enough
traffic to promise steady sales and by steady sales I mean at least one
sale per week.

    They use Google Adsense and unlike some sites they offer you
no control over the ads and no share in the revenue.  It also seems
that this site has attracted a great deal of over priced and out dated
stock.  I am not saying that many of the sellers here are lazy, but the
free listing seems to equated in some eyes that it is okay to flood the
place with junk that only a drunken lunatic during a lunar eclipse would
be interested in.

      Ebid could become a strong rival of Ebay if it believed
in itself.  Do not get me completely wrong here, I understand that Ebid
does much better business in his home base the UK than it does here
in America. You could do worst than setting up shop here. Here is a link
if you wish to visit and sign up and try it.



    We are looking for a new place to do business and despite the
look and feel of this place Ebid at the moment is not going to be it.

    Back to the vehicle.  We have a promising place to visit.

    Have any of your ever heard of Ecrater?

Ebay Suspended, Life in the Amazon Jungle

    EBAY SUSPENDED, Life in the Amazon Jungle


    Let us visit the legendary Amazon.  No not the jungle, but the mega site.
    We have left Ebay. We need some place to visit until we find
a home or at least a cool apartment with ultra low rent to set up shop.  How about
a quick stop at Amazon?  It is Ebay’s number one competitor. It is gigantic
and depending on what you sell it is a good place to visit.
    Amazon sellers are subject to sales metrics.  This would not be bad if
they gave out automatic feedbacks after a month or two from buyers who just
do not feel like it matters and to them it does not, but to someone who needs to
maintain a high metric it means a great deal.  You can have your
money frozen and booted from the site for not maintaining that 97 plus rating.
Which means you can sell 80 items, get 48 feedbacks that are thumbs up 2 that
are thumbs down and 30 non feedbacks and you have fallen below the metric
and you can get hammered by a buyer for any reason.  That is the one thing that
Ebay and Amazon have in common. 
    This answers why so many people sell books for 1 cent.  Just trying to
maintain that metric so that they can sell the big stuff.  It is a place to visit.  You
can earn some money there and you can use it as a platform to market yourself.
We will get into the marketing of ourselves later. 
    Back to the subject. The best item to sell on this site is books.  Be it
actual books or Ebooks that you write.  Which Amazon will be more than happy to
help you sell if they are good and become popular. Ebooks, writing them and
marketing them are another subject and you can find a ton of information about
that on Youtube.  What ever is your niche market you will find a place for it
there. 
    What I am saying is that Amazon is a place to visit.  Look at it as a
gas station.  Refill your tanks.  Check the tires.  Buy some over priced chips
and get back on the road.  There are a few towns down the road and we are
going to find a home for you in one of them. 
    Good.  I see a sign post.
    It says Ebay? 
    No, god no.  That can not be right.
    It says Ebid.
    Ebid?
    Let’s pay a visit.

Ebay Suspended Or Restricted, Move on to Bigger and Better

            Ebay Suspended or Restricted, Moving On
           

Introduction:

    You just got suspended or restricted by Ebay and you have no clue why.
You are shocked and confused.
    They sent you a violation message with a series of letter and number that really seem to amount to nothing. You have investigated both on the site’s forum and on google what this EE or MC suspension and or restriction amounts to and you can find no real information. 
    Your first impulse after this is to go to Ebay and beg for forgiveness and to
plead please take me back.I promised not to do what ever you said that I did.
Of course they have not really said a thing and the sad truth is that they may
never say a thing. 
    Why should they?
     Ebay does not have to.
    Your feedback is perfect and your customers love you.  So what?  The do not care about Sellers on Ebay. You need to understand that there is a thousand people waiting in line to take your place. 
    Allow me to introduce your choices. 
    You could beg Ebay to take you back.  Just tell me what I did baby and I
promise not to do it again.  If you are one of the few people that the do manage
to offer a reason to it will sound insane.  You will be given a bunch of hops that
you can not jump through.  A mountain too high to climb and a promise to
welcome you home if you can prove the existence of God and provide his mother’s
maiden name. 
    In other words begging does not work.  
    So this leave you with choices.
    First I mentioned begging; go ahead if you have to and come back in
two or three weeks and continue reading from here.  Secondly you could just
quit.  Don’t get mad at me.  Think about it.  There was life before Ebay and you can go back to that life now. 
    You could try to go the Ebay Stealth route.  Many have tried.  It works for
a little while.  Some have made it work for years, but is this any life to live.  Acting
like the criminal that Ebay has accused you of being.  Changing your name and
paypal and address to get back on Ebay?
    How about moving on and up.  Ebay is where you started, not where you
should have planned to work forever.  Like your first job in a fast food place you
did it, you learned something and you moved on to bigger and better.  It is okay
to walk away.  I admit that it is scary, but many of us have done it. 
    Over the next few post I will try to aid you in mapping out your life free
of Ebay.  We will look at newer site.  Discuss the pros and cons and maybe when it
is over you will have a website of your own.
    The next few Blog post will be about other marketplaces such as Amazon, Ebid and Ecrater.  There are more, but that is a sample list.  We talk about most of them and of those I do not mention I am sure that someone out there will tell me about it.