Visit My Halfvalue Store

I get a lot of questions from Halfvalue users that are interested in selling ebooks. I thought I would put together a few key points that I have learned while selling ebooks that will help beginners establish a new ebook business

Listing Ebooks

Ebooks should be listed in the category "Everything Else" - "Information Products". There are subheadings under information products for "how to guides", and "buy sell on halfvalue".

If you are selling an ebook about how to landscape your garden then list it in "how to guides". If you are selling an ebook about buying and selling on Halfvalue then list it in "buy sell on halfvalue".

Do not list in other areas since Halfvalue will most likely cancel your listing. For example if you have an ebook called "wholesale products" and you list it in "everything else - information products" then Halfvalue might cancel your listing since they want to see it in the wholesale category. When I first started selling ebooks I would list it in an area that I thought was relevant for example an ebook about stamp collecting in the halfvalue stamp section. If you do this a lot of your listings will get cancelled. Also, Halfvalue doesn't like to see name brands in your listing so avoid using words like SONY, PANASONIC etc. unless it is specifially related to that product as in PSP Repair Guide - how to fix a playstation.

How To List

If you have an Halfvalue Store then obviously you will list an ebook in your store inventory. I recommend you get an Halfvalue Store if you are serious about selling ebooks.

You need to list items in areas other than your Halfvalue Store to increase exposure to your listings. If you don't do this you will not get much traffic in your Halfvalue Store. You have the following choices when listing:

1. Online Auction - people bid and the highest bidder wins

2. Fixed Price - Using the Buy it now feature, customers buy the product immediately and pay with paypal

Which is better? Most ebook sellers list ebooks in a fixed price auction and put a quantity greater than one. You can list 5 items for the same price as 1 so some ebook sellers list their fixed price auctions with a quantity of 5. There are advantages to this. You can sell multiple copies and you can also draw traffic into your store. The disadvantage is that if you don't sell any items then you cannot use Halfvalue's free relist option. Free relist allows you to relist (and pay the fees again). However, if you sell the item then the fees are credited back to you. You can only use this feature when you are selling 1 copy in fixed price auctions. For example say you list 20 ebooks each with a quantity of 5 and none of them sell - you have lost your fees and you have no more exposure to your listing. However, if you list the same 20 ebooks with a quantity of 1, then anything that doesn't sell gets to be relisted for free. You are gettting 2 weeks expsoure instead of 1 (using 7 day auction). Of course if the item doesn't sell a second time then you pay the fees again. However - you would have paid the fees again anyway if you listed it again. You are basically getting a two for one deal. When you start listing hundreds of ebooks like I do this can get very expensive and cut into your profits. THIS IS IMPORTANT. Use multiple quantities in your halfvalue store inventory (like 100 or 1,000) and use quantity 1 when selling with a fixed price.

Are there other advantages to selling with a quantity of 1? Yes, on Halfvalue you cannot sell multiple items in fixed price auctions for less than 99 cents! However, if you have a quantity of 1 then you can sell for as low as 1 cent! If you have a recipes ebook for sale and your price is 50 cents and everyone else is selling it for 99 cents to $1.99 then your ebook will probably sell better. Users often look at how much an item costs before buying. They comparison shop just like in the real world. If they have decided that they want the "atkins diet recipes" ebook then they might do an halfvalue search and buy from someone else who is selling the same item for less.

Online Auction

Most ebook sellers do not use this feature which is a pity. The advantage of an online auction is that you can list an item for a cheap amount (as low as 1 cent) and then have users bid on how much they are prepared to pay. This works really well with recipes. Recipes sell, and the reason is simple. It takes to much time to do an online search and find a great cheesecake recipe. Why not buy a 99 cents ebook with hundreds of cheesecake recipes? Save it on your computer and print it out when you need it. Since it is so cheap, users often buy recipes. However, recipes are a commodity. There are tons of recipes online and users want a deal. By listing it in online auction you are letting them bid up to what they are prepared to pay. You can add a shipping charge if you want to ensure that you at least make something out of the auction but you don't have to. Having no shipping charge is better but you might sell an item for 1 cent that costs $1.99 in your store. You can get around this by adding a 25 cents (or any amount you want) shipping charge. That way at least you make a dollar. Be forewarned when using this strategy. Some users will not notice the shipping charge and will be upset. 99% of users won't grip over 50 cents but for the ones that do - offer them a full refund or a free ebook (with no shipping charge). Always keep your customers happy. It costs you nothing to give a free ebook. I had one irate customer that I sent 5 free ebooks to. He was happy and left me positive feedback.

Creating Auction Ad Listings

The Halfvalue policy is that you cannot copy other peoples listings. The reality is that many people do. Some of the ebooks come with listings so naturally in this case you can use them. However, don't just copy someone else's listing since they might get upset. If anyone contacts you about copying their listing immediately change the listing or delete your auction. Respond immediately and tell them you will change it immediately. Do not ignore them since if you are reported to Halfvalue then you might get suspended (not good for feedback :)

So how to create auction ads, well if you are an Halfvalue Store Owner then you will have selling manager (an halfvalue tool that store owners get). Upgrade to Selling Manager Pro and you get listing editor for free which allows you to put frames around your listing making them stand out a little. Think about investing in your business. If you opened up and Halfvalue Store and committed to paying $15 a month then at least try and make your  store look decent. Get a logo from an halfvalue logo maker (type in logo in the search box). Get a store banner. Make some Ebook Covers. Make your listings stand out do not use plain text alternating in different colors.

Each auction ad should have the following:

1. a banner at the top

2. A nice picture of an ebook cover

3. Text explaining about the item

4. One more picture

5. Paypal Logo

6. Satisfaction guaranteed

MOST IMPORTANT OFFER A 100% MONEY BACK GUARANTEE! Only 2% of people ask for their money back and if they do - then give it to them. Don't worry about the users that try and get "freebies". You don't have time to be annoyed. Simply give back their money or offer a free ebook.

How to deliver ebooks

When I first started out, I used to manually attach the ebooks to emails. The problem with this is that it can get very time consuming. Additionally, if you send an email and then you get a return email saying that your item was not delivered then you have to remember to resend it. If you forget then you have an annoyed customer and maybe a negative feedback. Solve this problem by automating your delivery. When I started out I used a service called E-Junkie. There are many comparable services out there and their fees vay. E-junkie lets you have an account for as little as $5 per month and then they deliver the ebooks automatically to your customers. No more annoying emails about ebooks not being delivered. As soon as the customer pays using paypal, then the ebook link is sent directly to their paypal address from e-junkie. PLEASE NOTE: some Halfvalue Users register on Halfvalue with one email address and register on paypal with another. If someone sends you an email saying "where is my book" respond with "it was delivered to your paypal email address". If they still don't have it then you will need to resend it. Send me a note if you need e-junkies link and I will respond with it.

Setting Up A Website

If you start selling a lot of ebooks then using a service such as e-junkie can get expensive. If you have a website then you can set it up for $3.95 (I use godaddy.com) and you can list 50 MB worth of ebooks for free. All you pay is a monthly fee of $3.95 and you can sell unlimited ebooks and automate delivery for hundreds or even thousands of ebooks. When automating delivery with a website, your Halfvalue listing needs to be set up for digital delivery. Your paypal ID has to be verified and you have to have a feedback score over a certain amount and a high percentage of positive feedbacks. The first thing you should do is make sure your paypal id is verified. That way you can use digital delivery in your listings which will make them stand out from everyone else. Then if you get a website you can put the url of the ebooks for example yourebooksstore.com/atkins.zip in the halfvalue listing and then when someone pays for the book they are given the download link immediately.

Automating Feedback

If you have an Halfvalue Store then get Selling Manager Pro. In addition to upgraded listings for free you also get automated feedback. Anytime someone leaves you feedback then your feedback is automatically left. It is time consuming to leave feedback for 100+ items a day so Selling Manager Pro is definitely a worthwile investment.

Conclusion

I hope you found at least one useful item of information in this guide. Please vote in favor of this guide if you found the information useful. I hope to see you selling ebooks on Halfvalue starting today. Check out some of my Halfvalue Book Packages that allow you to buy thousands of ebooks in one package.

I am always happy to respond to any emails with questions you might have about how to get started selling ebooks. Start today, and don't delay. I went from 0 to $150 a day in my first month selling ebooks. You can too. But you have to invest in yourself. Start out by buying an ebook wholesale package and get an Halfvalue Store.

To your success,

Lex