How can I make money playing video games?

I play video games, and when Im done I sell them on Ebay. Newsletterscott, how can I make a living in the Gaming Industry?

This is another great question. Here is a few points of advice that I have for a person who wants to do this.

Right now, You buy a game brand new and pay a premium price for it.  You play it, You kick it and now your bored as hell of it.  You hop on Ebay and try and dump it for a quick sale and are a little disappointed that you only get about 25% of what it is worth.  

This is what I would do as the newsletter guy.  For those gamers who gaming is their life.  Im sure have many many games no matter what the price.  However there are multiple levels of video gaming.  There are some people who like it a little less, more that like it a little less.  So what I would do is. Create a database where you have all the video games that you have in your collection. 

 

Offer these less rabid fans of games an offer to "rent" your games.  Set up a newsletter where you give your input on each game. Give strategies, or perhaps offer a "gold" membership to give away secrets.

Where can I find the right customers?  To build your database you will still have to sell some of your video games.  I would sell it on Ebay's sister site. half.com. People who shop at this site are looking for games that are looking for steeply discounted video games.  Nothing is ever a get rich quick scheme. So continue to sell but build your database and offer your newsletter free to your clients but offer the upgrade to clients who are interested in moving through the game smoothly. Then as your newsletter grows to a number that works for you just offer the games specifically from your newsletter.

How Can I increase my Ebay sales?

Yesterday some one asked me,

How can I increase my Ebay Sales?

Now this is a great question  thanks for sending it to me.  I will offer 3

1. Make a special offer The best part about doing this is it does not cost you any extra.  Coach Purses is one of the top searches on Ebay.  You sell one of your Coach bags and package it to ship. Just before you seal your package put a flyer in it that says. "Get a wallet half off.  If you order from this special number by noon on Friday.

2. Promote an Increase in Purchases What I mean by this is get your customers to buy from you more often. The best way to do this is to set up your offers one year in advance.  Then what you can do is have a section in your newsletter that tells your customer what is coming up. There is nothing that builds a customers want of need to tell them about something you are offering in the future. However it is not available at this time. By doing this you are building demand in a new product offering.

3. Get Free Advertising through Craigslist Did you know that you can set up an ad on craigslist and it is picked up very easily by google.  The key to doing this is to have your heading on your ad be what people are searching for on google. 

Lets bring all of this together.  Lets say you are selling guitars.  You package the guitar and in it you say you will offer them a free online lesson of dvd. Make sure to specify that it is for a limited time. Then put an ad on Craigslist with the headline that says. Where can I get online guitar lessons? You can be selling your training video on craiglist or drive people to your ebay store.  Either way you are driving more customers to you.  If you have really enjoyed this blog and have implemented it. Please make sure to comment below.

How Can a Newsletter help me on Ebay?

How can a newsletter help me on Ebay?

John from California writes,

Hey newsletterscott,

I am an ebay seller and sell video games and consoles used. I have been checking out some of your stuff on your facebook page and on twitter. But I really dont see how it can help me with my business. 

Thanks John

____________________________________________________________________________________

First John that is a great question. There are a number of great ways to utilize newsletters as an ebay seller. 

I believe that anyone should have a newsletter that is selling on ebay.  Why?

Here is the biggest reason.

 Customer retention and TCV. or what is called Total Customer Value.  I know a quite a few people who have tried to make a business work doing exactly what John is doing however.  On ebay in many categories the competition is stiff. Which brings down the profit in everything you sell.  Im not sure how seasoned John is here but alot of people on Ebay are amateurs  who are trying to make it big but dont have the skills and secrets that the pros do.

Here is a tip from the pros.  Most pros do what they call a marketing funnel.  What they do is offer a product for very little money. What this does and Ebay combined with paypal does an amazing job at this is it collects an email and their shipping address.  This way you now have the option to start sending a newsletter to your previous customers telling them of the new stuff they have in.

This accomplishes a number of things.  

1. You have just eliminated the competiton. How many ebays sellers like you are sending follow up sales letters to their mailbox? I doubt very many.
2. It allows you to send a newsletter that can do exactly what I am doing here. Answering questions that your customers may have about your product.  With some stuff on Ebay returns can get hairy.  What if you could settle it all offline.  You could inform and educate your customers by doing this.
3. It allows you to sell at a premium and who would not want to see that or even open you up to upsell customers on other services.

Great you made it to the next step.

Now if you blog using blogger in the writing screen there is a HTML and Compose tab.  The beauty part is that you can work back and forth between both screens.  This is another trick that I learned from Angela Paige.  If you need to write HTML code all you have to do is be in the compose section and then click the HTML tab and it gives you the code.  Super Cool!

Anyway. Now lets say that you want to sell your product "Internet Marketing Training Course" that you are learning for free because I am the man.  Get it for free by joining my Facebook page here: facebook/IM4beginners

Or if you just want to buy the program it is available for purchase below.  Now I switch over to the HTML tab and paste my Buy Now Button for my course. Go ahead and click on it if you want and you can see how it sets up it is SWEET.  There you are in business. Please leave a comment on how you implemented this idea.

Why a newsletter?

I felt like I just hit the jackpot.

Isnt crazy what people are saying about the internet.  You can make Millions.  However you still have even scraped the bottom of the barrel have you?

You probably have bought a few courses or products.  The problem is most of these guys use the same model.  It is called a sales funnel.

First they may sell you a video or a dvd or something like that.  You have an ah ha moment and you start following the guy.  The book at BN was only $15. Next he will show you another step for $47.

Then a $97 product. Next you will have some dude calling you on the phone trying to POWER SELL you into the coaching program.

"But I dont have $2000.  They then  say can you put it on a credit card?"

Yeah That sounds like a great idea! The last guy who called and asked me this. I asked can you guarantee results? Nothing is guaranteed. he told me and so the guy didnt get my business.

This is a business that is the first thing you need to understand.

Marketing is business and it is the only Business

Over the next few days and weeks I am going to be posting some great stuff about my newsletters

I am also going to showing you different techniques to get you on the right to make a great newsletter.

For now make sure to add my newsletter twitter account to make sure you get all my updates at the right time. www.twitter.com/newsletterscott

Until then let me give you  a few stats.

1. You can get wealthy in a pretty relative amount of time.
2. Just 1000 subscribers at $30 a month makes you a $30,000 a year income.
3. Its a great way for exsisting customers to stay in contact
4. Its a great FAQ before moving to a purchase.
5. Its a way to introduce people to a new product you are offering
6. Its an exciting way to strengthen your relationships with your customers