Are eBooks really worth it?
July 1, 2007
I always enjoy learning something new. It seems that as you get older (at least in my case) you enjoy learning more. I definitely didn’t have that outlook in high school or college. I now find myself reading more and watching things on TV that 5 years ago I would have never sat through. All for the sake of learning something new.
Now that I’m trying to really dive into selling on eBay and making some money online I’m going into information overload. Everyone thinks that eBay can turn dirt into gold overnight. That’s definitely not the case. From what I’ve seen, you need to educate yourself on all facets of eBay selling. So, I immersed myself in everything eBay including books, websites, blogs and eBooks.
If you search on eBay for eBooks you’ll get thousands of listings, most for the exact same content. So the question is,
“How do you determine which eBook has valid info and which is a waste of money?”
That’s not an easy question to answer without putting some time and effort into research. Fortunately, I’ve done enough of that over the last several months for everyone. Most new eBay sellers are searching for the Holy Grail of eBooks that has all of the “Secrets” to becoming a successful PowerSeller. I have yet to find one. However, I have found a few that are worth reading and investing the money in.
When looking for an eBook, I look at the seller. Most eBooks are being sold on eBay by people with “Resell rights”. This means that they purchased an eBook or several eBooks from eBay or someplace else with the hope to find that Holy Grail. What they found was the eBook told them to sell eBooks. Hardly a new idea, after all, they bought an eBook, why wouldn’t someone else? So they try and recover their money by selling the same eBook they just bought. And yes, I did the same thing, several times. I was hoping each eBook had better and more valuable information than the last. In some cases that’s true. If the seller is the author or closely affiliated with the author I give them more credit. If they are a PowerSeller and the eBook is a secondary product to what they sell I give them even more.
So far, I’ve found a few that I think are worth passing on to others. PlatinumPowerSeller.com has a few eBooks that really good and in my opinion, come from a good source. They have a good eBook on drop shipping as well a an excellent starter kit, newsletter and seller tools. Mike Enos is a PowerSeller.
Skip McGrath’s website, newsletter and eBooks are excellent. He has a great free eBook, “99 Tips for eBay Buyer and Sellers” not to mention several other articles that have provided me some great information.
Finally, I came across another eBook, that while not specifically about eBay, did have some good ideas. “Free Google Ads” provides some decent ideas on how to generate some income outside of eBay. Granted, there is A LOT of fluff and junk that could be removed to slim this eBook down to about 1/4 of it’s size. If your site gets some decent traffic, has a good niche or speciality items I’d recommend picking up that eBook as well.
As I finish reading some of the others I have come across I’ll pass on the info here. In the meantime, I strongly recommend taking the time to do the research on the eBooks for sale. Much like my lack of desire to learn something new in high school and college, I hated homework just as much. It now pays more than ever to spend the time doing your eBay homework.
Here are a couple of things I do when I research an eBook.
- Check the seller’s feedback. Is it positive? How many negatives have they received and what are they?
- Research the buyers that left feedback. Are they now a PowerSeller? What are they selling? They may or may not have gotten anything from the eBook.
- Contact some buyers. In many cases, buyers will respond and let you know whether the product was really worth it.
Good Luck in your eBook endeavors. Please post comments on your experiences as well.
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