New era at eBay?

I just got back from going up north to Malaysia to catch up with some personal friends, colleagues at MasteryAsia (working hard to get their training programs released on the Net. You’ll be the first to know), and basically rejuvenate myself by doing a bit of quick sightseeing. That’s why you haven’t heard from me in the past 2 weeks. Then again, if you have just joined in especially through Brad Smith’s Easter Giveaway, may I extend my warmest welcome to you by saying, “Thanks for visiting.”

Speaking of sightseeing, I’ll be going to Shantou (Swatow), Guangdong, China in the last week of May. I’ve never been to China so I’m pretty excited to immerse myself in a new environment and perhaps get a feel for what market and commercialism is there…

Well, coming back to my laptop sure forces me to clear all that news and e-mails and marketers all around are raising the alarm that eBay is making it much more difficult to sell digital products on its platform. If you’re an active eBay user, you wouldn’t have not learned of this piece of news.

Personally, I think this bodes well for the future of eBay marketing. I almost wanted to go into eBay using the infamous “1-cent tactic” to do lead generation, but somehow never got around doing it. Now looking back in the context of eBay rewriting the rules, it seems like that 1 cent can become very expensive as an opportunity cost imposed on all that time and effort spent.

Socrates Socratous and John Thornhill have been updating regularly through their blog posts or e-mails how they are reworking their business around eBay and honestly, it’s heartbreaking to read John’s latest subject title that goes, “I’ve closed my eBay store.” No matter how successful you can be, you’re still at the mercy of someone/thing else. Sounds familiar? Like AdW___/AdS___.

I look forward to present their information to you in coming days if you’re not their subscribers, and hopefully this signals a fresh new start for some of us wanting to put their best foot forward into eBay. Please feel free to comment on the steps you are taking to cope with the new eBay rules or how infopreneurs can better profit ethically from now on.