Selling Unique Public Domain Items on Ebay

WASHINGTON - FEBRUARY 25: This compact disc w...
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I create unique items from Public Domain stuff , put the items on CD and sell them on Ebay – but I do it a bit differently then most.  The ideas I share with you here will be helpful no matter what you sell on Ebay – public domain or not! 

Here is what I do to create the CDs I sell:

  • First, I find Public Domain books that virtually no one else is selling using the methods I teach in “Public Domain Made Easy“
  • I scan the PD items I want to use and OCR them.
  • I then use MicroSoft Word or OpenOffice to create my own, new, unique product from them.
    • I might be updating the text, adding in my own introduction, pictures…etc.
    • I might be taking 1 PD item and breaking it up into several individual products (separate files/PDFs)
    • I could also combine 2 or more PD items into one item.

What I include in my eBay listings:

  • Pictures
    • A picture of the completed product on CD like this:

public domain ebay

  • pictures/screen shots of pages from the item.
  • I make sure to tell people (several times) that they are purchasing items on CDs (like seen above highlighted in yellow).
  • A list of everything that is included
    • the table of contents from the items, further descriptions if it will help describe the item.
  • A video showing pages from the PD item.
    • This part is not necessary – but I think it does help sell the product and get more people to look at it.
    • I create a quick video showing the item with me talking about the item or even just screen-shots of the item set to music.
    • I upload the video to YouTube and “embed” the video in my Ebay listing.
    • When using YouTube you can put a URL/link at the beginning of the video description – you can put a link directly to your eBay listing so anyone viewing your video on YouTube can get to your eBay listing and buy your product.
    • You can use free software like CamStudio to create your video. It will record whatever you show on your computer screen. Open up your PDF file and start flipping through the pages of your item.
    • You can then use “Windows Live Movie Maker” to finish your video. This comes free with computers running Windows.

How I Increase the “Perceived Value” of my Items:

There are some things I do to increase the “Perceived Value” of the items I’m selling (meaning – people will pay more for it because my presentation of the product warrants it).

  • I print out a nice CD label (I’ve been using “exPressit” from Memorex for the labels and covers. You can download it for free HERE.)
    • note: the exPressit software is made to use labels sold by Memorex, I buy my labels at a local “Staples” office supply store. You can also find them online.
  • I put the CD into a full-size DVD case.
  • I print out a nice cover for the DVD case (again, using “exPressit”)
  • If there are several PD books in the same niche/set that I’m selling at once, I’ll break them up over 2 CDs instead of just putting everything on one.

I must tell you that many of the different profit increasing things I do in my Ebay auctions I learned from reading “The Silent Sales Machine“.  When you are ready to squeeze every dollar you can out of your Ebay auctions, check the book out here.

About using “as-is” PD items from Google Books…etc…

I am in favor of creating my own, unique, copyrightable products from PD items. I like that these are my own – no one else can sell them. And usually, since I’ve created unique products – I can sell them for more money!

There are many folks who are not interested in creating unique items – much less scanning items.  Many, many people take PD books “as-is” and sell them on CDs.  If you are interested in going this route – then you’ll want to check out what this guy is doing here.

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