Re: NOW I will comment on your post...

> In the case of IMC's course, most definitely. 

> Anybody familiar with Corey Rudl's company knows that their expertise is
> in "internet marketing" -- not eBaying -- but this course was
> written in conjunction with one Brandon Dupsky, who has built an eBay
> empire (oh, and he makes a bundle too).

True, IMC's field of expertise is "internet marketing" and "Insider Secrets To Marketing Your Business On The Internet" is an excellent product. In fact, I own it. However, eBay isn't their forte and I'd want to know a bit more about Mr. Dupsky (or anyone else for that matter) before forking out $100 to $200 dollars.

> Would you be terribly offended if I rewrote that to read: 
> "...unfortunately, most of the bad information is AMONG the more
> expensive information" ??

LOL, not at all. Go right ahead.

> And like you said earlier, eBay gives GREAT "getting started"
> information, and it's free.

That's why my recommendation to anyone thinking about doing eBay is to use that free information to get started. Once they have some experience under their belts, there's plenty of time to buy some type of course if they think they need it to move on to the next level. The added bonus to this approach is that their eBay experience, while it may be limited, will allow them to better evaluate what a sales letter is telling them and determine if they want to spend their money on that course or not.

> IMHO, this is where the IMC course shines:

> Not only does it go into great depth on the basics (making some points
> clear to me when I didn't quite "get it" even after reading less
> memorable how-to books and all the free information I could find) --

> but it goes WAY BEYOND the basics -- and, as I've said ad pukium, it never
> leaves you hanging, wondering what to do next, but I digress. 
> Getting back to "Beyond the Basics"...

> An example would be the comprehensive chapter on Creating a Community of
> Loyal Bidders and Selling To Them for Life Why keeping your customers
> happy (and coming back for more) is the ONLY way to survive on eBay How to
> lay the foundation for long-lasting relationships with your customers and
> bidders Learn the insider secrets to selling more items to your best
> bidders, and Keep in touch for free using tried and tested e-mail
> marketing techniques.

> There's also a comprehensive section on Increasing Your eBay Income
> Exponentially by Testing New Strategies and Tracking Your Results If
> you're not testing, you're throwing away big profits! What you should be
> testing How to test these elements Critical statistics you should be
> tracking Analyze your testing over the long term I guess that's pretty
> basic to anyone with even a little marketing know-how, but eBay has great
> appeal for just about *everyone* -- no marketing experience required.

> And while I know this is covered in many other how-to products, I have yet
> to see it covered to this extent, or this clearly, and that is, how to
> research products and your potential market before you jump in.

Because I don't own the course, and have never seen it, I can't make any specific comments regarding how deeply it goes into any segment of doing business on eBay.

I will say that, from reading the sales letter, most of the "secrets" it talks about are available other places for free. But, as you say, it's a question of whether someone wants to take the time to find them.

I do question how valuable some of that "in depth" information may be if they devote fourteen pages to quickly establishing a good feedback rating.

Building a good feedback rating really involves only two things. Buying or selling something on eBay and conducting yourself in an honorable, business-like manner when doing so. Anything beyond that (for example, bidding on, or selling, one cent or twenty-five cent auctions) and you are either crossing the line, or treading dangerously close to it, regarding eBay's feedback solicitation policies.

> As is this one... it's "By Brandon Dupsky and The Internet Marketing
> Center," not the other way around.

> If I had to guess, I would say Brandon contributed the knowledge and IMC
> turned it into the great product it is.

My original comment was "I know of a couple in the $100+ range that are excellent. But they've both been written by people who I know have actually sold full-time on eBay for several years."

Unfortunately I don't know Mr. Dupsky. That's not to say he hasn't actually been selling full-time on eBay for several years, I just don't know.

Over the last few years I've talked to, and corresponded with, a lot of people who want to establish either a steady full-time or part-time income on eBay. It's sad, but the truth is most will never accomplish that because of one or both of two reasons.

1. Most don't want to put in the time or do the work needed to succeed.
2. Most don't want to risk a few dollars for product.

That's why there's such a proliferation of "drop shipping" and "wholesale list" products being sold to beginners. There's very little work and no investment involved. Unfortunately, in my opinion anyway, those two concepts are probably the two surest routes a beginner can take to almost guarantee they will fail.

With all that I've said in this thread, I don't mean to say that IMC's eBay course isn't any good or not worth the money. I just believe there's excellent free information out there and people should avail themselves of that and then get some hand's-on experience before making what, to many, is a large investment in any eBay course.

One parting thought - before writing this response I spent some time carefully reading the sales letter once again. While I still stand behind the fire station comment from my first post, there's a two or three line mention of blogs in the sales letter.

I've been using several blogs in conjunction with my eBay business very successfully for several years. In that time, I've only seen one or two other mentions of them related to selling on eBay. To use them successfully requires some time and some work on a weekly basis.

But, from my experience, if Mr. Dupsky is using them anyway similar to what I'm doing, then in my opinion, that information alone is probably worth the price of the course if someone is willing to spend some time each week and a little money for hosting fees (I don't recommend blogger for this).

If you buy it for that reason just make sure you do so through Maa Maw's (apologies for mis-spelling this before) affiliate link.