My Monthly Round-Up: October 2013

October – what a month it’s been! Super busy on all fronts and I’m very happy that I have achieved my targets for this month 100%.

Business has been going great, as expected really with the Christmas shopping madness approaching and people in general spending more time online after the slow summer months.

I also attended two trade shows (in Berlin and Warsaw) earlier this month + saw a UFO! But more on that later!

As for my blog – it was a very productive month over here too and I really hope the newly published 5 part Product Photography Guide will help many eBay/eCommerce shop owners create better product pictures.

In total, there were 10 posts published this month:

1) Product Photography – Part 1: Cameras

I started with a post on which cameras are best for product photography. There are many options available these days but for product pictures, there’s still nothing that beats a DSLR! The good news is that nowadays you can pick up a decent DSLR camera for as little as 300 pounds and if you’re serious about your business, this one investment will definitely pay you back tenfold over time.

2) How to compete with Chinese sellers on eBay?

I received an email from Roshan asking how to do business on eBay when there are so many Chinese sellers under-cutting everyone else. Well, the answer may surprise you – don’t compete with them as you don’t have to! In this post I have covered several strategies you can use to completely separate your business from Chinese competitors on eBay.

3) Info Products – A GOLDMINE for eCommerce Shop Owners!

Many people think that info products can only be sold on a content-only website or on specific publishing platforms, such as Amazon’s Kindle marketplace – but that’s far from true! In fact, almost any eCommerce or eBay shop owner can use info products to increase their conversion rates or even directly sell such products to their customers.

4) Product Photography – Part 2: Lighting & Background

I believe that the lighting and background set-up is the most important aspect in your effort to get those perfect product pictures. Heck, if you get this part right, you can probably even take decent pictures with a smartphone’s built-in camera. Yet so many sellers get this part so wrong! In this post I teach you how to create a professional quality home studio, on a budget!

5) Wholesale Disney Character Items from China!

A long-running myth has been destroyed by this post and I’m very happy about that. I did receive several emails after posting this article from people asking whether they can use movie poster images and similar intellectual property on their products. The answer is no, no and NO! You can’t use them without written permission from the IP holder.

6) Product Photography, Part 3: Taking Pictures

The actual process of taking product pictures may sound too simple to even need to learn about it – put everything on Auto mode and you’re done… but not so fast! There are still a few important things you need to do before you start taking product pictures. And remember, the better pictures you take, the less time you’ll have to spend editing them later on.

7) Can You Make a FULL-TIME Income by Selling just on eBay?

Yes, you can! There are probably hundreds of thousands of businesses all over the world that make the majority of their income selling on eBay. And while it may not be the most reliable long-term business model, you can still do it.

8) Product Photography, Part 4: Picture Editing

This is one step in product photography you can’t miss! By following my simple guide it will take you just few a minutes to edit each picture but the final result will be so much better than what you would get directly from your camera.

9) Wholesale Insanity/P90X DVDs from China!

There’s one general rule in the online wholesale business world you should always follow – “if it looks too good to be true, it probably is”. So if something looks like a scam, in all likelihood it IS! There are hundreds of online shops offering cheap, wholesale fitness program DVDs like P90X, Insanity and many others, for unbelievably cheap prices. Just so you know – those are all fakes/bootlegs coming directly from underground factories in China!

10) Product Photography, Part 5: Outsourcing

The last post in the product photography series covers Outsourcing! In some cases you’ll actually be better off outsourcing your product pictures than doing them on your own. This is especially true if you have just a few products to sell or products that are super complicated and difficult to photograph without access to a professional studio.

These are the posts that I have written and published this month. I hope you enjoyed some of the tips I’ve shared! I would love to hear from you on what topics/questions you want me to cover in future publications so if you have an idea or two, please feel free to get in touch with me via this contact form.

Earlier this month I attended two trade shows in Berlin and Warsaw and here’s something I wanted to share with you:

Don’t believe everything you see! 

This picture was taken from the 22nd floor of The Westin hotel in Warsaw.

I’ll let you decide what’s in that picture but for me personally – now I know why the internet is full of so called “saw a UFO” images!

As for the next month – I’m planning to do some guides and maybe even a video on how to properly create a good looking listing using Turbo Lister as well as continue with some additional articles in the Product Photography series. But as I said, feel free to get in touch with me and suggest what topics you would like covered in future posts.

It’s unbelievable how fast the year has gone, yet again!!! It’s November tomorrow and basically that’s it – December for me is all about quality family time, nice food and long, dark evenings with friends and the people I love!

Enjoy your weekend & thanks for all the comments and questions I have now started to receive on a daily basis. It’s great that I can share my knowledge and experience in eCommerce with my blog readers.

Oh – and have a super spooky Halloween night!

Thanks,
Andrew