The Top Sellers On eBay & What We Can Learn From Them

A fascinating eBay case study is the number one seller on eBay' a little outfit called Marie's CDs' but is better known under its old name "1 Cent CD." Jay and Marie' current ID "jayandmarie"' are an institution on eBay and are a big part of what makes eBay such an amazingly popular phenomenon.

This little company is literally an eBay dream come true. They started small out of their home in California in 1999 and began growing quickly. To date they have completed over 1 million auctions on eBay and have a feedback rating of 177'018 with 99% satisfaction from their customers!

When I say grow' I mean it in a Jack and the Beanstalk kind of way. Their business started out as a little fly-by-night outfit and has now sold over 1 million dollars (yep' that's $1'000'000) annually for the past three years? Let me repeat that: over a million dollars in sales each year for three years running! Now THAT is growth!

They employ several people' have three small buildings in southern California' and ship items all over the world (mainly CDs). They got their fame from their auctions for CDs that start at only a penny?

What can we learn from this fascinating case study? What do Jay and Marie actually do?

Well' for one thing' they have huge numbers of auctions. Today' they have 83 pages of auctions listed. eBay lists 50 auctions to a page' so that is over 4'000 auctions.

Secondly' they offer great value' because their CDs begin at one cent. Yes' all of them.

None of their auctions has a reserve. Does it pay off? You betchum! Today' looking through 4 pages of eBay auctions' only 3 of them had no bids - so far.

And' naturally' their great feedback and reputation work heavily in their favor. After all' how many eBay sellers have 177'000+ feedback points with over half a million transactions completed.

This case study shows all of us how smart marketing and a great business model can pay off on eBay - and ecommerce' in general.

Sydney Johnston' the AUCTION QUEEN' was one of the original sellers on eBay and has been selling on eBay since the winter of 1996. She is the originator and teacher of the famous Auction Genius Course' a powerful 16 hour multi media seminar on the Internet that teaches her students how to sell on ebay.

What Ebay Can Teach Us About Success

I flew back to New York from Atlanta a few weeks ago and picked up 'Business 2.0' magazine for the flight.

It was an excellent issue' but something so grabbed my attention that I ripped out the page because I wanted to share it with you.

As many of you know' I used to be the 'King of Procrastination and being scattered'. That was me for about 7-8 years.

Those were tough times.

You see' because of those years where I was 'all over the place'' I'm so commited right now to being focused and helping others become more focused.

To me' 'Whoever has the strongest focus wins.'

Focus is everything.

So' I'm reading the magazine and there's an interview with Meg Whitman' the CEO of EBay' about growing a business.

Because I admire successful businesses and people' I digged in and started to read.

Here's what really caught my attention and I wanted you to read this also:

Question to Meg Whitman:

"eBay is an amazing growth machine. What were the key decisions you made that set up the company for this kind of hyperthyroidism?"

CEO of eBay' Meg Whitman:

"The key decisions can all be characterized by focus' focus' focus. Back in March 1998' we were faced with a decision on what categories we wanted to focus on.

We decided to really be a collectibles company The heaviest users were collectors' the heaviest sellers were collectors. It was a very explicit strategic decision' because part of the group wanted to go into consumer electronics and all of these categories we are in today."

And we answered' "We have only a limited number of resources. What is the best focus that we can have?"

End.

Wow.

Focus' focus' focus.

My whole financial life changed when I started to FOCUS.

Read the last sentence that Meg Whitman said above.

Ask yourself it this way:

"I only have a limited number of resources. What is the best focus I can have?"

Meg Whitman is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. What do Meg' Tiger' Oprah' and Stephen Spielberg all know?

You need to FIND YOUR FOCUS and TAKE ACTION.

eBay's now one of the most successful companies in the world.

Let's ignite your success today.

You in?

Talk to you soon.

Mike Litman www.mikelitman.com
www.greatnessheldhostage.com

Mike Litman is the co-author of the #1 Best-selling book Conversations with Millionaires. Over the last 3 years' Mike has unleashed the greatness of tens of thousands of people worldwide. Networking Times Magazine called Mike Litman 'a modern day Napoleon Hill' and at the age of 30 he's already shared the stage with well-known speakers such as Mark Victor Hansen and Bob Proctor.