In the wake of the recent eBay slap at ebook sellers, it’s become apparent that us internet business owners now need to either use the eBay suggested classified ad format, or sell our ebooks on CDs and DVDs.
It would also appear from some reports that you need to make sure you don’t mention ebooks when selling your CDs and DVDs, or the eBay darlings will give you a more personal slap. It seems that “ebook” is a bit of a taboo word on eBay at the moment until the staff get more understanding of what the new rule actually means.
More on that in another post.
Going with the idea of creating “multimedia” CDs and DVDs I think appeals to most people (from what I’ve seen), only time will tell if this format is the one that is most popular.
So I’ve created a short report called “The POD Report” which you can find below as a PDF.
It’s a freebie, so please feel free to share the report with any other internet business owners you think might benefit from it.
Inside the report, you’ll find mention that SmartDD has Kunaki support built in. This is true of V3 which you can get a free version of from http://www.SmartDD.com/. If you’re a V2 full version owner, you can upgrade to V3 for just $27 in the members area.
Back to The POD Report.
Either left click to view it in your browser, or right click and choose “Save as…” or “Save link as…” to download it to your hard drive.
Enjoy.
-Frank Haywood
Thanks for that PDF Frank, I learnt something. Good advice as usual.
As to Ebay, I have been hearing stories that the real reason that they have banned ebooks is that the FBI are warning Americans that many exe file based ebooks, especially bulk buys, now carry viruses that will turn their computers into “Zombies”. Law enforcement agencies are lobbying for legislation that will make the websites delivering these ebooks, legally responsible. Ebay’s response, ban ebooks from the auctions but let people sell them from classified ads, as long as the sellers distribute from their own websites. They still get the fees but are no longer responsible for distributing the viruses. Nicely played but morally dubious move, huh?
I’ve noticed that there are still a few of the 1 centers on ebay.com – and that’s with a physical cd being shipped. I guess if you’re list building and have a good conversion rate on a decent priced item it might still be worth doing that way.
The problem is that ebay’s move doesn’t seem to have got rid of all the sellers who were spoiling things for everyone else. Some of them may prove very hard to shift!
I’m looking forward to trying the new features in SmartDD and I applaud you for taking your time to get it ‘just right’ before releasing it.
Gareth:
Aha! Now *that* makes much more sense. The whole “feedback manipulation” thing didn’t sound right to me as there are so many ways of manipulating feedback, ebooks are just one of them.
If you have the source of that, that would be really cool to know. Even just where the rumour was repeated (other than here) would be good enough. 😉
As for legislation to make the web sites legally responsible, well good luck to them with that. I *swear* some people just don’t get the nature of the internet.
Quite how they’re going to impose that law on sites hosted on servers outside US jurisdiction is anyones guess. Especially if they’re in China for instance. Or Singapore.
Amin:
I wonder if the CDs actually do get shipped? It would be easy enough to give a choice to provide the goods as an instant download which I think most people would go for.
And if not, just refund them with the promise of a like for like feedback. I can’t imagine many people risking their feedback score unnecessarily. Certainly not for 1 cent…
-Frank
Aha! Frank, you have a more devious mind than I have. I bet you’re right. Most people would like the instant gratification so if offered a wait of a week for the cd, or the download now, I’m sure a large percentage would go for it.
Nobody likes to wait, do they?
I hadn’t thought of that little wrinkle.
Ah well, I’d sooner sleep well at night than be devious and make a few extra dollars. 🙂
Hi Frank,
The person to contact is James Finch, assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division. He can tell you all about the problems with ebooks, (and at length apparently!)
As to “outside the US Jurisdiction”
there is now nowhere outside of US Jurisdiction. Since 9/11 the FBI have been given a mandate by the US government to protect US citizens from crime where-ever they live in the world. Take a look at:http://www.fbi.gov/contact/legat/legat.htm
I like your POD report Frank very much BUT !!! as a newbe I found a little problem that I hope you can help me with ??? in your report the LINK —– http://www.perfectebook.com/ is not working and this site I REALY wanted to look at — can you help me by sending me a correct link ?? I am in the start of setting up an online biz and need all the help I can get
Regards
Richard