A customer service tale.

It's nice when you get more than you paid for. It's even better if you find an "aha" moment, and connect with someone. I was poking around eBay in the eBook category, and found a listing for 9 recipes for 1 cent. I duly made my purchase, only to find that the "eBook" was actually a list of links to the seller's Guides for recipes. I was a bit taken aback, then intrigued. This seller had just monetized his Guides. See my post below, "2007 - I'm ready".

After a bit of messaging back and forth, the seller gave me a 99 cent refund! That's 98 more penny eBooks I can buy! I also contacted eBay about the listing, wondering if it's okay to auction off your own Guide. The thought never occurred to me. I hope he PUTS THOSE GUIDES BACK UP, PRONTO! The Guides weren't any kind of violation.

It turns out the seller is a young guy in the Netherlands, who is addicted to eBay, generally buys and has a Chinese eBay store. I don't think he's Chinese - offering an eBay store in Chinese is free for a year! Plus, he's a bit NUTS! I like him a lot. Anybody who has an animated .GIF of Einstein can't be all bad!

If it turns out that auctioning off your own Guides is legitimate, I may have found a self-funding income stream. I just won't call them eBooks. That's neither here nor there, really.

The real value of this whole experience is the connection. The world really is flat.

2007 - I'm ready.

When I jumped into eBay back in November, I really didn't know where it would lead me. Frankly, I never could have imagined it. The amount of information I have crammed into my head in such a short time amazes even myself. Despite a nagging feeling that I don't know what the hell I'm doing, there are outward and visible signs I'm doing SOMETHING right:

• I've gotten that Top 10,000 Reviewer logo already. In fact, I'm currently number 5,901 - I jumped twice today! My new guide on making your own glass/hard surface cleaner got two votes almost immediately. If it was "monetized", it'd be a breakout seller! I've got an idea for a guide that'll put me in the Top 5,000, irrespective of new votes on the other guides. I'm learning how to hit different markets with each guide.
• I'm getting some blogger.com attention outside of eBay - and I'm not just talking friends and family!
• Many of the concepts, strategies, tools and tips I've absorbed are becoming less opaque. I think I'm reaching what Stuart Kauffman referred to as spontaneous order arising from sufficient complexity (see Stuart Kaufmann's AT HOME IN THE UNIVERSE for much more on the ideas of "order for free", self organized complexity and co-evolution).
• Plus, I'm primed to exploit opportunities I had no idea even existed a month ago.

More soon,
Vince