1) A very special yacht…with a crap name…

In 2006, a luxury 405-foot yacht (sold by a company called 4Yacht) closed on eBay for, wait for it, $85 million.
And that was just the deposit, its full cost was $168 million.
I guess it was water off a duck’s back for the Russian billionaire who (apparently) bought it.

The yacht was dubbed the ‘GigaYacht’. How the hell is it meant to float with a corny name like that? Sounds like a name Robocop would give it. And Robocop was cool….back then (‘back then’ being the operative word here).

(img credit: giirayachts.blogspot.com)

2) You know that car in ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’?

In May 2007, the 1969 ‘General Lee’ Dodge Charger used in ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’ series sold on eBay for $9,900,500.

Yes. Almost $10 million.

The Charger was owned by John Schneider, who played Bo Duke in the series. He decided to put the car up for auction to fund a ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ sequel. (don’t do it, Johnny Boy – the last sequel wasn’t that great, dude – really).

(img credit: autoblog.com)

3) Shakespeare’s got it going on…

In 2003, a 340-year-old copy of one of Shakespeare’s manuscripts “Pericles, Prince of Tyre’ was snapped up on eBay for £5 million. The copy made it through 1666’s Great Fire of London in one piece (only a few other copies survived the fire).

The thing is, erm, how can they be 100% sure it’s one of his books? Or are they just buying into the ideal that it’s one of his books?

I would want a whole heap of proof. Above and beyond. Do a séance perhaps and ask the man himself if the copy’s kosher.

(img credit: wikipedia)

4) Hannibal Lecter says, ‘Mmmmm…human kidneeeey’…

Yep, in 1999, someone offered one of their kidneys up for sale, giving bidders a choice of either kidney. (Aww, how thoughtful).

The sale of human kidneys is, of course, illegal in the US, so this bid got taken down by eBay when they found out…

…but if it had sold, it would have gone for at least $5.7 million – that’s around the level the bids were at when it was taken off.

(img credit: ross.adnetsol.com)

5) Nice jet….but does it work?

On August 16th 2001, the hammer went down on a twin-engined Grumman Gulfstream II business jet for $4.9 million.

The fact it was being sold in the first place…well, doesn’t it kinda mean that the jet’s seen better days …has degenerated to …well…a big hunk of …crap?

I mean, does it work? Huh? Or does it have to be pushed by the butler to get it started?

(img credit: myshoppinggenieinfo.com)

6) Love baseball – that much?

A rare 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card, initially bought in 1996 for $640,500, was put up on eBay in 2000 and sold for $1.1million.

That’s close to half a million dollars’ profit.

All in all, when you add eBay’s cut, the new buyer bought the ‘Flying Dutchman’s’ card for $1.265 million.

Amazing.

(img credit: worldcollectorsnet.com)

7) Diamond Lake Resort …

The 145-acre western Kentucky resort was bought for $1.2million by California-based accountant, Craig Schwab, who was growing weary of the rat race – wanting a better life for his family and a more relaxing career.

Considering the resort sold for that much, the website looks pretty awful. What happened? Did the buyer ask for a refund or something? No site deserves to look like that.

(img credit: diamondlakeresort.net)

Round of golf, anyone?

This March ’02 auction was organised for ‘charidee’ in an effort to raise money for disadvantaged young people.

The highest bidder would get the chance to play golf with Tiger Woods and 3 other golfers.

The thing is, how would anyone be able to concentrate knowing they’re playing golf with a living legend?

The bid closed at a cool $425,000.

(img credit: clasesdeingles1234.blogspot.com)

9) These jeans are older than Liza Minnelli, y’all…

In 2005, a pair of Levis – over 115 years old – was bought by an anonymous buyer in Japan for $60,000.

Dear Anonymous Buyer in Japan,

Please do not wear these jeans - for I fear the last person who wore them back in 1897 might not have bothered washing them. The ancient germs (‘specially those trapped round the crotch area) might have origami’ed into a funky disease with a serious chip on its shoulder.

Yours sincerely…

Jeanie.

(img credit: forbes.com)

Like most things in life, writing good sales copy takes practice and a little bit of talent. Good sales copy is important because it can convince visitors to make a purchase, which is your main goal when you write sales copy in the first place. So, you need to convince customers that your product is something they need. There are several ways to do this and the following steps will guide you through the process of writing good sales copy.

Knowledgeable Information
First of all you need to be passionate about the product you are trying to sell because this will come through in your writing. Next, you need to believe in your product and believe what you are writing. This will make your product easier to sell and you will feel better about selling it, too.

Benefits
Compelling sales copy answers customers’ questions about the product. Things like what the product can do for them and why they need it. What makes your product the best should be the first thing you promote on your website or in any sales copy. You want to draw visitors in immediately and the only way to do that is show them what they are missing without your product or service. You only have a few seconds to grab their attention before they click off your page. You should make sure the benefits are in bold and big so they stand out. People aren’t going to read all of your copy; they are going to scan it. Make the important aspects stick out.

Headlines
This goes along with the bolding of benefits. You want to have big, bold headlines that jump out at the reader. This will allow them to read the important aspects of your product if they choose not to read every word on the site. This is really important for killer sales copy.

Trust
You must build trust with your customers. It’s easy to build trust when you are face to face with someone. However, when you are trying to build trust from a webpage when there is a lot of fraud going on all over the web it is considerably more difficult. Fortunately, there are ways to help build trust that are effective and work. If you are not willing to incorporate these trust building techniques then your product is probably not worth selling. These include a free trial as well as a money back guarantee. Both of these show customers you are serious about your product and that you stand behind it. This will help build trust. Customer testimonials also help build trust, too.

Final Thoughts
There really are limitless ways to write good sales copy, but these suggestions are universal and will work with whatever product you are trying to sell. Give them a shot and you will see that your website really does have a chance at being successful. You simply need to incorporate these suggestions into your writing and edit your writing until you have the perfect sales copy. Good luck!

Product shots are really important when it comes to selling an item over the Internet. This is especially so because many online retailers sell the same products. However, the problem is that many of them choose to use stock photos. But, when stock photos are used it does not give the consumer a good idea of the detail of the item for sale. As a result, product shots are really important and they may very well be the difference of selling an item and losing a customer.

Product shots are not that difficult to achieve, even if you have never taken any. You just need to understand the basics of a great product shot and you will be able to take them.

Quality
Using a digital camera to take product shots is important. However, you will need to use the highest resolution settings the camera has. You want to use a camera with high megapixels but with a minimum of three megapixels to ensure quality. So, you don’t need a top of the line digital camera. An average camera will do.

Lighting
You want to ensure your original photo is as good as possible so editing will make it better. If the photo has poor lighting or is overexposed then there is no saving it. A plain background with front lighting that is natural is usually the best way to get a good product shot. Choose a contrasting background to the product you are selling. The contrasting color will make the product sot pop.

Backgrounds
Use a plain background. The reason why plain backgrounds are important is because they are not distracting. You want the product shots to focus entirely on the product, not something in the background. When only the product is in the photo then buyers will only see that and focus on it, rather than something else. This is exactly what you want.

Details
Many times individuals choose to purchase an item in a brick and mortar store, even if it is more expensive, simply because they can see the product in detail. So, when it comes to product shots you will want to show as many details as possible. Close up bubbles are very helpful in this situation and will allow customers to check out the details without having to load multiple photos.

Coloration
Use Photoshop after you have your photo so you can enhance colors and make the photo pop. Focus on using real colors and just making them more vibrant rather than completely changing colors simply because you can.

Finishing Touches
You can really enhance your photos, especially if you are an amateur, with toolbars like brightness and contrast and auto levels. This makes the photos look better, which is what you are going for.

These are just some suggestions to help you take better product shots with a digital camera. If you use detailed product shots then you will see that you will have more customers and make more sales. Go ahead and give it a shot and you will see that it is not that difficult

We wanted to make sure you had a chance to see this article discussing a recent study by statisticians at the University of Maryland in which they estimate that eBay sellers missed out on $19 billion in potential revenues by simply undervaluing products or underestimating what buyers were willing to pay for the product.

Imagine that!… 19 billion missed opportunities but on the other hand smart online business people recognize news like this as a golden opportunity. What if you could tap into some of this lost revenue? What if you could improve your chances of creating uplift in your own auction listings?

Well, we’re not saying we’ll make you billionaires but we are saying professional online product shots generate higher click through rates (from gallery listings to your online store), 20% increased sales and shifts dead stock.

In fact we’re not even claiming this! YOU are telling us of these success stories; a scan of our testimonials will soon tell you that.

Claim some of that $19 billion missed opportunity, download Bling! It today and see if we can help you shift your stock for more.

To read the full article go to www.news.com

Greetz,
Steve0

Breaking News!

It is with great pleasure and excitement that we have the opportunity to announce our coverage of Bling! It which appeared on the New York Times website (circ. 14.5 million). In a piece entitled, “Better Photos, Better Sales,” contributed by Jason DelRey of Inc.com, an outlet dedicated to new business entrepreneurs and start-ups, Bling! It is the lead feature in a wrap up of new technology products for businesses.

In discussing the availability of Bling! It for Mac operating systems, Jason highlights the need for high quality product images to enhance click-through from a thumbnail and presents Bling! It as a tool for just such a job. He further describes Bling! It as a tool for users with little or no proficiency in image editing and describes some of the features which users can easily add to the product shot. Additionally, he includes a quote from our CEO discussing the reported increase in achieved sales.

The full article can be found through the following address:
http://www.nytimes.com/inc_com/inc1200316006923.html?ref=smallbusiness.

Hopefully this gets you all as excited as it does us!

Happy days!
Steve0