I've got two amazing New York Yankees items up for bid.  Its pretty exciting the attention they have been receiving. I must admit, I was thinking about keeping the Mickey Mantle Signed Photo.  It sure looks nice!!  The frame accents it wonderfully.  I bet it would look great in an executive office.

I'm currently watching The Lost Tomb of Jesus on the Discovery Channel.  What do you guys think?

If you don't know what I'm talking about here is a snippet from YTV:

The Lost Tomb of Jesus (Documentary, Religion, 2006 - present)
Documentary explores the archaeological discoveries within a 2,000-year old tomb in Jerusalem that once might have contained the remains of Jesus and Mary Magdalene and presents the notion that they may have had a son named Judah.

A couple of trucks carrying Xbox 360s in Great Britian were hit by the thieves.  I wonder if these thieves will post any of these on eBay?  Would the thieves be that dumb?

The value was over £1 million worth of consoles
2 truckloads of Xboxes were hijacked as thieves the get ready for the holiday Christmas Season.

The first occurred after a lorry (what is a lorry?) was flagged down travelling south on the A38 at Hillards Cross. The driver, who believed he was being waved down to inform him of a problem with his vehicle, pulled over.  Sounds like a movie?  The men then threatened him and dragged him out of the cab, they then made off with the lorry (I wikied lorry it means truck) and £750,000 (approx $1.5 million) worth of consoles. The driver suffered minor injuries, and the lorry was later found--empty--further down the A38.

The 2nd theft occurred in the Hellmann Worldwide Logistics depot Nov. 23 during morning hours, when a trailer containing £250,000 ($483,000) worth of Microsoft's next-gen consoles were taken.

Staffordshire police spokesman Peter Stevens said, "We are appealing for information from anyone offered [the consoles] in suspicious circumstances, such as in a pub, at a car boot sale, or off the back of a lorry, to help us track down those responsible."

I could sure use a X Box 360.  If any you thieves read blogs, I'll trade some Team USA Softball or Soccer Cards for an Xbox.  Just Kidding...................well maybe not.....

P.S.  What do you think a PS3 (Playstation 3) truck would be worth at this time!!!

What if eBay took a suggestion from T-Mobile's My Favs Plan.  I know you have all seen the commercial.

"Why is my girlfriend in your 5?  You don't give another man's girlfriend a foot massage and you don't put here in your 5!!!"

What if eBay had a My Favs Seller plan.

How about you get half price final value fees to anyone that has you as a favorite seller?

I'm sure you all can think of something better!! 

Lets hear them!!

A little innuendo for ya in that title.  I have reached my goal of 1000 feedbacks at 100% positive.  I was getting nervous there for a while.  I received my first neg in the 980-990 range.  I was so bummed.  It was a new user that had a shipping delay with the post office.  I fixed it immediately and they were kind enough to withdrawal the negative.  And all is well.

I know there is a lot of debate whether the eBay feedback system works or not.  My opinion borrows a phrase from politics.  Is Democracy the perfect government?  No, but it's better than all the alternatives.  Is there problems with the eBay Feedback system?  Of course, but I think it works fairly well.  One problem I see is negatives or neutrals from new eBayers.  I know that eBay has made some effort in trying to educate its users in giving negatives.  I believe they are on the right track.  Now stay on it eBay.

I have heard someone mentioning a 1-5 rating system.  I think that is a terrible idea.  It'll get more confusing, and how will newbies know the protocol?  Subjectivity would destroy the rating system.  I'll use an item my eBay store, Olympic Trading Cards, as an example.  Customer A buys a Women's Olympic Soccer Card Set.  Customer B buys the exact same set. 

• Both are fairly new to eBay.
• Both paid the same price and received the item in the same amount of time.  

Now they go to rate me... 

Customer A rates me at a 3.  He/She feels that 4s are for something super special.  And a 5 is unheard of.  Like a BGS 10 rating from Beckett.  (My fellow sports cards fans will know what I'm talking about). 

Customer B rates me at a 5.  He feels that the transaction was as good as it could be and he believes that deserves a 5. 

See my point.  Wait I have more points!!

Currently, eBay helps level the playing field with their Binary Feedback System (I call it binary because the neutrals aren't utilized.  (Unfortunately the playing field is  As long as those Fees stay in check!!)  The feedback system helps this:

A small business eBay seller like myself can compete with a larger recognized seller if I can find a way to sell it at the same price or lower.  Now if the feedback system was different, like the more complicated 1 to 5 system, the customer might opt for the larger retailer.

Example:

A Customer wants to by a Mia Hamm Soccer Poster for her daughter.  She searches and finds the poster she likes.  I offer the poster and so does "Super Retailmart" at the same price. The customer looks at both of our listings and they both look professional.  With a quick glance she sees that I have sold plenty of things and she can understand that my customers are happy.  If I didn't have the 100% positive rating that I do, I might have a 98% plus rating, good enough to sway most people.  If they aren't satisfied, they could read my few negatives to find out why I received them.  They decided the negatives were few and unwarranted.  It's a toss up between me and the giant.  I get chosen  for the random fact that my auction ends first. 

Now lets take that same situation and use the 1 to 5 system:

The experience is the same up to the feedback.  The Customer reads my feedback and they think that I might be a good seller, but they're not 100% certain.  They decide to wait and bid on the "Super Retailmarts" soccer poster that ends 7 hours after mine.

See?

Now I know there is a lot of other factors involved.  My point is that I believe it does help level the playing field.

Another Point.

In the end the customer should end up happy.  The current feedback system helps in this regard.  You have to follow through to maintain your high rating.  Actually the feedback system makes sure I stay on top of things and take care of my customers.  I would anyway, but eBay makes me feel the burn immediately if I didn't.  It helps control the fraudsters.


Now I know there are drawbacks to eBay's feedback system. 

Just off the top of my head I can think of a couple:

• Buyers not wanting to give a negative, due to the fear that the seller would do the same.  (Simple solution: GET SEPARATE ACCOUNT FOR BUYING!!)
• A negative early in selling can sting.  (If your a good seller, it will smooth out over time)
• To get reparable you it helps to have at least 100+ feedbacks.  (Well if your selling here for a living, is one hundred really that hard.  Better than the "Super Retailmart.  It spend hundreds of millions for it's rep.)
  

I know I'm missing some drawbacks.  I just can't think of them right now.  I'm sure the comment section will be full of them.

My main point of this is that overall this feedback system isn't without its flaws, but I think it's one of the things that eBay should hang their hat on.

Holy long winded Batman!!  I saw that someone congratulated me on my 1000th feedback, and I had the intention to write a short post about feedback.  Then I got fired up and when on a writing spree. Sorry about that.

Until next time...(I'll have to think of a cool sign off.)

-Adam



P.S.  Use firefox 2.x as a browser and you'll be able to spell check this text box with the red underline like in Word.  Very, Very Handy!!

I have ran into many business roadblocks over the years.  I haven't always had the smooth sailing in other business ventures as I have had in selling my World Cup Women's Soccer Cards and Soccer Posters.  (The quality of the cards pretty much sell themselves.)  I ran across a list of rules of success from Bob Parsons, the CEO and Founder of GoDaddy.  It's good reading from someone who has had his ups and downs and is now on the top.  I definitely can agree with a lot of his rules.  I figured it would be an appropriate post with the amount of business owners here on eBay.

Bob Parson's 16 Rules for Success, in business and life in general.

1. Get and stay out of your comfort zone. I believe that not much happens of any significance when we're in our comfort zone. I hear people say, "But I'm concerned about security." My response to that is simple: "Security is for cadavers."

2. Never give up. Almost nothing works the first time it's attempted. Just because what you're doing does not seem to be working, doesn't mean it won't work. It just means that it might not work the way you're doing it. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and you wouldn't have an opportunity.

3. When you're ready to quit, you're closer than you think. There's an old Chinese saying that I just love, and I believe it is so true. It goes like this: "The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed."

4. With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be. Very seldom will the worst consequence be anywhere near as bad as a cloud of "undefined consequences." My father would tell me early on, when I was struggling and losing my shirt trying to get Parsons Technology going, "Well, Robert, if it doesn't work, they can't eat you."

5. Focus on what you want to have happen. Remember that old saying, "As you think, so shall you be."

6. Take things a day at a time. No matter how difficult your situation is, you can get through it if you don't look too far into the future, and focus on the present moment. You can get through anything one day at a time.

7. Always be moving forward. Never stop investing. Never stop improving. Never stop doing something new. The moment you stop improving your organization, it starts to die. Make it your goal to be better each and every day, in some small way. Remember the Japanese concept of Kaizen. Small daily improvements eventually result in huge advantages.

8. Be quick to decide. Remember what the Union Civil War general, Tecumseh Sherman said: "A good plan violently executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow."

9. Measure everything of significance. I swear this is true. Anything that is measured and watched, improves.

10. Anything that is not managed will deteriorate. If you want to uncover problems you don't know about, take a few moments and look closely at the areas you haven't examined for a while. I guarantee you problems will be there.

11. Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you're doing. When you look at your competitors, remember that everything looks perfect at a distance. Even the planet Earth, if you get far enough into space, looks like a peaceful place.

12. Never let anybody push you around. In our society, with our laws and even playing field, you have just as much right to what you're doing as anyone else, provided that what you're doing is legal.

13. Never expect life to be fair. Life isn't fair. You make your own breaks. You'll be doing good if the only meaning fair has to you, is something that you pay when you get on a bus (i.e., fare).

14. Solve your own problems. You'll find that by coming up with your own solutions, you'll develop a competitive edge. Masura Ibuka, the co-founder of SONY, said it best: "You never succeed in technology, business, or anything by following the others." There's also an old Asian saying that I remind myself of frequently. It goes like this: "A wise man keeps his own counsel."

15. Don't take yourself too seriously. Lighten up. Often, at least half of what we accomplish is due to luck. None of us are in control as much as we like to think we are.

16. There's always a reason to smile. Find it. After all, you're really lucky just to be alive. Life is short. More and more, I agree with my little brother. He always reminds me: "We're not here for a long time; we're here for a good time."

This post is kind of out of nowhere, but I'm sitting here watching the show Jericho (CBS show about a small town and a nuclear war).  Do you think it would have been a good investment to invest in companies that make geiger counters?  While watching this show, I must admit I searched for geiger counters.

Oh yeah I almost forgot!!  Bid On My Stuff!!!  lol...jk...........

wait no I'm not kidding, bid on my stuff please I could use the money.

I'm watching the Iowa - Ohio State game.  Go Hawks!!  It's not looking good right now. 

Anyway, last night I posted a bunch of equipment from my video production business that I'm closing.  I'm not totally closing it down, but I'm getting rid of most of everything.  I'm probably going to hang on to one camera, tripod, and I couple other basics.  If anyone is looking to add to their video production business or to make an independent movie check out my stuff up for auction.  I studied and researched a lot of these items before I purchased them.  I love the Canon XL1 Camera.  I have two XL1s and one XL1S.  They all have been great!!  I have Sennheiser Microphones. (used at the Oscars)  There is a great portable DAT machine by TASCAM.  It's great for on location shoots.  I had a borrowed one for a long time.  I decided to buy my own.  That is the one I have up for auction.  Yes, it's been barely used.  My tripods are made are Bogen with great Fluid Heads.  Most of my lighting is from Lowel.  I have a nice Lowel Light Kit that comes in a quality hard carrying case.  I used a Varizoom 5.6" inch LCD Screen that I used on top of the XL1s.  (Check out the auction to see pictures of how its perfectly mounted on the top.  I used a 14 foot Microphone Boom Pole which came in super handy!!  That's all I can think of from the top of my head.  More Later, back to the game.

P.S.  Today, I posted one of those Autographed New York Yankees Team World Series Bats I was talking about.

Yes, I am a huge Chicago Cubs fan, and I got in some cool New York Yankees items just to mock me.  I posted them right away, so I wouldn't have to torture myself for very long.  They're great items for a NY Yankees fan.  One of them is a David Wells perfect game auto ball with a Team Signed picture.  Tomorrow, I'm going to post a couple of autographed team bats from 1998 and 1999.  Also, I posted a Phil Rizzuto autographed jersey from Steiner and it's #1 of #150 jersey's signed!!   And by the way if I hear anymore about T.O....... And are the St. Louis Cardinals really going to blow this lead on the Houston Astros?

Yes, I do have a Cher Concert T-Shirt in my eBay Store.  Please, someone buy it so my friends stop making fun of me!!