As a marketer-cum-copywriter with a strong sense of “consumer advocacy” — it really irks me when other copywriters and marketers “stretch the truth” about what they’re trying to sell.

Claims need PROOF. And they also need a dose of truth!

To protect the innocent, I’m not going to name specific culprits in this example.

I listed to an MP3 audio “special report” just yesterday, flogging a new product to do with online marketing. Specifically, eBay.

Part of the interview highlighted that the product author, until several months ago, didn’t really understand the internet, or internet marketing. Sure, it mentioned this person had had a successful business career as an entrepreneur, and as a marketer, but not online. They’d even been to, and presented at, seminars — but not really about this.

So why then, after just 5 minutes of public research, did I find out the product’s author is an eBay accredited “Education Specialist” who has been teaching people about internet marketing for 2 years?

Clearly a case of message incongruency.

I’m sure the strategy in the interview was to create empathy with possible purchasers, along the lines of “I was just like you, I didn’t really understand the internet until this magic pill — my product — came along.”

In turn, that means to imply something along the lines of … “you too can achieve great results because you are just like I used to be.”

Interesting too that the figures being mentioned dealth with “they made $xxxxxx” rather than the amount of PROFIT. Turnover isn’t profit! There were also a couple of other claims which are not specifcally true, although a little more explaining would have been proof enough to warrant making the claim.

In all honesty, I can’t rate the actual product that was for sale — because I don’t own it. But I don’t intend to own it, especially now!

The funny thing is, as a copywriter, I don’t know why this eBay background wasn’t turned into an advantage, rather than being hidden. There are plenty of ways I could use this info to prevent the 20 percent of the population who have my type of personality (that can be quite rebellious, and need logic, proof and details!) from being turned off a sale.

One of the good online business lessons I’ve learned from publishing a blog is the increase in site traffic we get on a daily basis.

At DMK, our blog isn’t geared towards “hard selling” any products. In fact, if you look at our Rates page, you’ll find that with a pretty full schedule, we don’t generally take on too much new work at any time. As well, we’re really only running this blog in a one-way communication format, as we don’t currently open posts for comments. The anti-spam plugins are quite effective these days, but for this blog we’re still comment-free for now.

It’s been a bit over 2.5 years now since starting with blogs — nearly 12 months directly on this site, plus 30-odd posts from a previous blog now retired. Having the WordPress system well in-hand means we’ve got to the point where I can watch the blog stats quite closely on our daily visitors: we use a great (free, open source) plugin called Slim Stats to give us some great info on our site activity.

Blog posts definitely increase our site traffic. Sometimes, we start getting traffic to a blog post within an hour or two of publishing the post to the site. We can see the search terms of course that we rate highly for (we get lots of matches for “DMK” in various Google, Yahoo, Live.com and other search results from around the world, most often in the top handful of results).

In March, we had visitors from Australia, the US, Great Britain, China, Malaysia, France and 24 other countries to our site. That traffic was weighted slightly in favour of our blog posts and categories over our regular content pages, although not by much.

Case in point: last Friday-week, I posted the article “The Only Time To Bid Early on eBay” – today, on our stats, just over a week later, I can see that a US-visitor has typed in “why do people bid early on ebay” into the US Google, and we’re result number 4, after USA Today, Yahoo! Answers and eBay Forums. That’s a pretty good ranking and puts us in with some rather reputable publishers — and, here’s a lesson in itself — our blog post title is a big help in arousing curiosity for a web user to click on our link in the search results to read what we have to say.

Now, we’re not actually “monetizing” that post — it doesn’t link to an eBay information product, nor does it present a page with Adsense Google ads. For our purposes, we’ve kept away from that opportunity for now. But that post is definitely helping bring good traffic to our website.

I can nearly tell you every time when Ab King Pro run an infomercial ad on tv in Australia — because there are several times per day when people come to our site and read the post that refers to this exercise product — and their search terms indicate they’re online looking to buy the Ab King Pro machine. When I last looked, searching on “abkingpro.com.au” only resulted in 2 matches — one for our post and the other for the company selling the actual machine — and people visit our page after seeing that result list. (Marketing lesson there in testimonials, third-party reviews — although our post doesn’t actually talk about the machine, just one of the selling techniques in the infomercial).

Same for something like Microsoft’s Expression Web: on a search results page full of links positively reporting on the software was my lone post, that, in the brief text match on the results page, included the text:

“I see Microsoft have launched Expression Web, a web building tool stepped up from Frontpage (ugghh!) program. Here’s 2 reasons why I’ll never use it:”

That, of course, was relevant and interesting content for the person searching, so they clicked the link and came to my site to read my two reasons. Whether or not those reasons applied to them, I was able to get their click and their traffic. There are, of course, psychological marketing lessons in that activity to take note of!

I’m sure our ranking is rewarded by having blog entries and regularly updated content. That content starts to bring traffic from the day it is added.

I can see daily that our blog posts are definitely a traffic-building component of our website. There is plenty of opportunity to make sure you make the most of visitors arriving at your site this way, especially if you do have something to offer them (newsletter, product, consulting etc). We don’t yet capitalise on that kind of opportunity, but see how blogs are a powerful business tool in getting great search result rankings.

Yesterday (Thursday 29 March) I was browsing through eBay and came across an item of interest.

The auction doesn’t end for another 5 days — Wednesday 4th April.

So why would I bid so early? There is only ONE sensible reason to do this for a regular eBay auction listing.

Before I get to the reason, a little eBay buying background. This helps understand the reason, and may even help you guess the answer.

One of the main eBay features is the “fixed” auction format. This of course is what most listings on eBay are comprised of — auctions that start at a particular time and run for 1, 3, 7 or 10 days in duration.

That fixed time length of course is one of the attractions for buyers. Auctions end at an exact second in time, so long as the seller hasn’t ended it early or a buyer hasn’t used a feature like Buy It Now if it is available for that particular listing. Buyers know the end time, many buyers now use little utilities like an atomic clock to keep in exact time, for when they’re bidding in the last few seconds of an auction.

This type of “auction” is different to most in the real world. Take house auctions, for example. The home is open for inspection in the days/weeks leading up to the Auction Day, and then the house goes up for auction. There is NO fixed time for the auction to end, only a time for the auction to start. The realtor/real estate agent will happily accept any bid while the auction goes on. The agent doesn’t say “oh, this auction is ending at 12:35pm and 20 seconds — so bid by then or miss out — they keep accepting bids and will extend the “going going gone” period until all bids are exhausted.

They will, of course, use some psychological techniques, such as “going once, going twice” etc to entice extra bids, by highlighting the auction is about to be closed and there is a chance another bidder will miss out.

Would you bid early at a house auction? Would you turn up 8 days before the auction starts and offer a bid? Well, you might, if you could convince the seller/vendor to sell it to you without going to auction — that is a legitimate strategy. eBay does have this kind of feature anyway — “Buy It Now” — place a high enough bid to convince the seller to take your bid without letting the auction proceed.

But if you were participating in the auction of a house, you wouldn’t bid until the auction started, and many are over within just 10 or 15 minutes.

Bidding days early doesn’t make that much sense on eBay for a fixed time listing. You already know when the auction will end. Bidding early is great for sellers — lots of bids, up goes the price as each bid is made. But if the buyers waited until nearly closing time, they might keep the price down and get a better bargain. What’s the point starting a bidding war with 3 days to go?

When I’m bidding on a fixed price item, I most often only join in the bidding in the last minute. By that stage, I have done three essential things:

1. I’ve researched past listings for similar items. I try to get a good idea of the “going rate” for the item I’m interested in. I know what I’m prepared to pay, but research gives me a great idea of what others were prepared to pay. This gives me one of three answers — either my budget is too low (similar items sell for lots more than I am prepared to pay); my budget is okay (I’m somewhere in the range); or my budget is too high (hey, people aren’t paying that much on eBay, so don’t go crazy on bidding, save money!).
2. I’ve checked out the sellers feedback. Generally, if there are too many negatives for my liking, I’ll steer clear of the item. BUT, if the negatives are generally from eBay new users (the buyer’s own feedback rating is very low), I’ll tend to treat that feedback with less emphasis, as the buyer doesn’t really know the eBay system yet. I’ll also look for follow-ups to negative feedback, and see if the seller can defend the issue. If I can, I’ll also check what the item was in relation to the negative feedback. I remember once buying a camera tripod, but the seller also sold something like breathalyser testing devices — all their negative feedback related to that device, but not to the tripods they sold! So I was happy to bid on the tripod they were selling.
3. I’ll take time to check on the listing in detail, and usually have at least a day to “think about” my need for the item. Often, buyers bid impulsively (great for sellers), and I find waiting until I start bidding a good way to keep calm about bidding, and not get caught up in an item I don’t really need. It’s like the stuff in the supermarket at the cash registers — impulse buying products — you didn’t think you wanted that magazine or chocolate bar for the whole time you were shopping, so why suddenly buy it just before you check out? Waiting helps take away the impulsive temptation.

So, in most cases, it really does make sense to not bid early on an item.

So when is the time to do this? Well, I mentioned the feature above — Buy It Now.

With Buy It Now, the seller lists an item with two prices — an opening bid price for the regular auction, and a Buy It Now price — the actual price they’d be happy to accept to end the auction early. For example, the item might have an opening (starting) bid price of $0.99 (maximum value for the lowest listing fee), and a Buy It Now price of $30.

That means, if I use Buy It Now, I’d be happy to pay $30 now to have the item — no bidding war, no other bids, just my $30 to the seller. Actually, when I know the product, and know the selling history of similar eBay items, I often use this way to buy products that I know will sell for around that much money anyway. It makes eBay more convenient: I don’t have to wait until the end of the auction to see if I’ve won. Of course, that research listed above is very important when using Buy It Now!

Buy It Now is only available on the item until it is either used to make a purchase, or someone makes a bid (hint: this is key to my answer).

Sometimes sellers list an item at an opening (starting) bid of $29 and a Buy It Now price of $30. I guess they’re encouraging you to Buy It Now, as they don’t really want to make you go to auction — they’re not willing to risk low bids and not reach the price they want. On eBay Australia, only a couple of categories offer the “Reserve price” feature — so Reserve pricing doesn’t apply to every eBay listing.

(Also, I’d bid early on a “best offer” listing, although I hardly ever come across these in the categories that interest me – the seller may like my offer and accept it, so getting in early makes sense) .

Anyway, here’s the example of my item. This is what was needed for me to bid early:

1. The item has a Buy It Now price AND a starting bid price.
2. The starting bid price is much lower than the Buy It Now price
3. I’ve done my product and seller research

In this case, there’s a starting bid of $0.99 and a Buy It Now of $49. On doing my research, I’ve found out:

1. The seller has listed this same item recently 3 times (advanced search on completed listings for the sellers eBay ID)
2. That the same item sold through an auction last week for just $31; and another for $28
3. That the seller had a Buy It Now only auction (no regular auction option, just Buy It Now) for $59, and the item got no bids.

Obviously, the seller is testing the chances of Buy It Now at $49, as $59 got no bids. But I’ve found out from the research that the going price for the same item, in just the last couple of weeks, is $28 to $31. So I’m not keen to spend $49 on Buy It Now for this item.

Have you worked it out? Here’s the answer…

So I BID EARLY at $0.99. This turns OFF the Buy It Now feature for other potential buyers. This FORCES the item to be auctioned in a fixed length format, ending next Wednesday. That’s the only reason to bid early: to take away the Buy It Now option for other potential bidders, and force the item to normal eBay auction use a low-price starting bid.

Does it mean I’ll win the item? No, there’s now a risk someone else may out-bid me. But it also means I have a CHANCE of winning the item for much less than the Buy It Now price, and I also ensure I’m in the running, and don’t lose out to someone who’s happy to pay the $49 price (who probably hasn’t done their research!).

This approach won’t work if the seller only accepts pre-approved bidders, as you need time for that process to take place. But that of course makes the potential pool of buyers much smaller, so most sellers don’t do this.

Now in my example, I will just wait until next Wednesday for the last 2 minutes until my next bid, knowing my budget, and taking my chance on being outbid. I “want” the item — but I don’t need it — so I’m happy to risk my chance of winning. I also know — from research — that the seller will probably list this item again soon. So if I miss out this time, I’m sure to have another chance (there’s a big buyer-psychology lesson for sellers in that!).

The only real exception for early bids is if the auction ending time is not a time I’ll be online. For example, it may be at 2am Melbourne time, when I’m in bed. That way — I do my research, and decide on my budget. I’ll then place a bid early — but still as late as possible (last few hours if I can, not a week early!) — and use the maximum bid feature — letting eBay place automatic bids, if needed, up to the maximum I’m prepared to pay. That maximises my chance of winning within my budget, although makes it easier for a last-minute bidder to outbid me (late bid amounts and tactics is a whole other post!).

The exception of course ignores any of the “sniping” programs that might be used to place bids in the closing seconds of the auction.

As a marketer, it still astonishes me to see lots of eBay users — especially new users, get into a bidding war 5 days before the auction ends. Or bidding early when there’s no Buy It Now opportunity. Or even paying well over retail for an item in a buying frenzy, making crazy bids just to be the winner, knowing there is a fixed deadline and wanting to win at all costs. Not to worry though — that eBay buying attitude may not be mine, but it’s a fantastic reason to be an eBay seller!

UPDATE Tues 1:30pm — three eBay users are already in a minor bidding war for this item, yet there’s still 27 hours until the end of the auction. Scary buying habits! And, the seller has already re-listed two copies of this item — so that removes any psychological “urgency” to bid high for this copy — I know there are already more available. NOT necessarily a good selling strategy!

UPDATE Wed 5:20pm — Well, by 5:15pm we had about 10 bids. The auction finish was 5:18:20. I put in a bid with 6 seconds to go — but was one of three snipers to do so! Interestingly (learn this, eBay bidders), the other two snipers had not bid at all on this item, until the last 5 or 6 seconds of the auction. I came second, so I missed out. One bidder was prepared to pay more than me for this product. None of us would have seen the other bids — by the time the page re-loads, you either know if you won or not, and then click on the list of bidders to see what actually happened. Mind you, the seller earned $27 in the last 6 seconds — not a bad rate of return!

So… of the 3 “snipers” only I bid early, and that was to force the auction process and turn off Buy It Now. All of the other intermediate bidders simply forced up the price, bidding way too early, and then not within 3 hours of the close. Silly. The other 2 snipers only came on the scene, like me, with under 6 seconds left to do.

One of the early bidders has already bid on the same product in a similar listing, 4 days early. He was winning until 6 seconds to go. He obviously learnt nothing (other than to probably increase his maximum bid, as it was revealed during the sniping process once our bids exceeded his maximum)… and he also is “fodder” for sniper research — I can see he has bid on the same product, from the same seller, and lost — it tells me how much he bid and how early he bid. As a sniper, my username won’t be in the bid list until it’s too late to know more about me (unless I bid very early, and then most bidders see me as the early low-price bidder that hasn’t participated in the bidding since day 1 of a 10 day auction, so they don’t find out more about me. Also, there’s nothing to say I can’t make that early bid using a — completely legitimate — different eBay username).

UPDATE Mon 5:00pm — As I mentioned in the Tuesday update, the seller had re-listed similar items. I purchased what I wanted in the end for only 1/3 the cost of my bid on the first copy! With the right research, I knew my market even better as each listing ended… it was just a matter of time (and extra money kept in my pocket!).

Definitely lessons for buyers in this post if you read through it carefully!

Out shopping this morning, we noticed a brand new Smart car plonked in the aisle at Moonee Ponds Central shopping centre (a small mall, if you like the American way!). Adorning the four pillars surrounding the car were entry forms for a free competition — presumably to win the car from this visual setup of the entry forms.

On the way out of the centre, I helped myself to an entry form to bring home to read further. This DL size (one-third A4) entry form actually had the headline “Enter for a chance to win… $1 Million” — so it wasn’t a free entry for the car afterall.

And, after reading the full page of fine print (33 lines of it) — the winner doesn’t win $1,000,000 — they win $10,000 (just one percent of that amount splashed across the entry form).

They then get a 1 in 200 chance to pick a bag that may contain a cheque for $1 million. Or, in other words, there’s a 99.5 percent chance of them NOT picking the bag with the million dollar cheque in it.

But — here’s the best part: they must answer all of the questions on the entry form to be included as a valid entry. The information that the entrant MUST disclose to Trendwest is as follows:

1. Age group
2. Combined household income
3. Number of children under 18 years
4. Name and Address
5. Day and month of date of birth (not year)
6. Phone — home and mobile/cell
7. Email address

For that, there’s just one $10,000 winner (plus 91 minor prizes, from 2 32″ LCD televisions down to small-value vouchers. 40 of these are single entries to Dreamworld — with Dreamworld undoubtedly expecting you won’t visit on your own, so you’ll spend well beyond the value of a single entry ticket anyway).

But here’s the best part: the entrant consents to “being contacted by Trendwest for an indefinite period regarding promotional offers, products and services.” (the bolding is my own, funnily enough).

And, reading lines 20 through 25 of the 33 lines of fine print, that also includes having that supplied information disclosed to “Trend Alliance partners and media companies for future promotional, marketing and publicity purposes.” If that wasn’t enough, try this line: “Entrants may be contacted by phone, mail or email for the purpose of promoting out/partner’s/supporting merchant’s various products and services.”

Would you hand over all of that private info for the chance to be bombarded by these companies INDEFINITELY?

Nowhere was there mention of a Daimler Chrysler smart car — so I’m curious as to why it was sitting in the aisle — each corner of the car had a “free entry” pillar — so from any direction, it appeared the entry was related to the car. Maybe I’ll ask the “Jnr Sales Consultant” whose card was sitting on the entry pillar next to the pad of entry forms.

According to the privacy policy on the Trendwest website, you may even have to pay a small charge to find out what information on you is stored in their database. Of course, you can only ask in writing — but you can also request, in writing, to have your personal information removed from Trendwest’s database. Thankfully!

Is it illegal. No, it’s not. You’re not compelled to enter. Of course, you’re not compelled to gamble at all — that’s why the government relies as much as it does on gaming revenue, because people do gamble.

Collecting names and personal information in this way is perfectly legal — afterall, you’re voluntarily consenting to both give that information and go into the draw.

But I wonder how many entrants realise all of that fine print, standing in the middle of a busy shopping centre walk way at an entry pillar (let alone that they’re entering a competition to win $10,000 — not $1 million — that’s only a 1 in 200 chance for just the one entrant).

Would this (fictional) conversation with an entrant be possible just after they enter the draw?

Me: Hi, I noticed you just entered that draw over there.

Entrant: Hi, Yes.

Me: What is the prize?

Entrant: That lovely car.

Me: Actually, it’s not the car, although there’s an entry pillar in each corner. On the entry form, it’s actually a chance to win a million dollars.

Entrant: Oh wow.

Me: But, actually, the grand prize winner only wins $10,000 — or just one percent of a millions dollars.

Entrant (confused): Huh?

Me: Yes, if you win, you get $10,000. Then you get a 0.5 percent chance of winning $1 million, if you’re the winner — or, in other words, a 99.5 percent chance of not winning.

Entrant (frowning): Hmmm.

Me: Best of all, are you aware that you just consented to being contacted by mail, phone or email indefintely?

Entrant (shocked): What!?

Me: And not only by the promoter, but by their Alliance partners and media company. It’s all in that fine print on the back of the entry form. Are you still happy you entered that draw?

Caveat emptor (let the buyer beware), indefinitely!