Horizon Road

Endorsed by PGA Tour Professional, Chip Beck, the ‘O’ Beam trains golfers to minimize head movement, especially during the putting stroke.

eBay power seller, NextDoor WebStore announces it has been named the exclusive eBay outlet to sell the new and innovative golf training tool – The ‘O’ Beam The ‘O’ Beam’s laser allows the golfer to correct any head movement, which is essential for a solid golf swing, especially in developing a solid putting stroke. Less head movement leads to better putts and lower scores.

The ‘O’ Beam was designed by golf instructor, Katie O’Keefe to train her students to keep their head still when putting. Katie O’Keefe has been a golf instructor for 10 years, helping players of all ages and abilities. Katie says, “ The setup and head movement are the most important part of the golf swing.” The ‘O’ Beam was featured on the Golf Channel and is endorsed by PGA Tour Professional Chip Beck who states, “ ‘O’ Beam is the best putting aid I have ever used.”

The only place to buy the ‘O’ Beam on eBay is at NextDoor WebStore http://www.ndwebstore.com). To purchase the ‘O’ Beam training tool and to get more complete information on this new golf training product, go to http://www.golfobeam.com, ndwebstore’s direct link to the ‘O’ Beam.

NextDoor WebStore has reached status!

Actually, I’m still not real sure what the requirements are to achieve PowerSeller status, but eBay said they had been met and slapped the powerful little icon next to my name on their site. There’s a long list of supposed benefits that come with the icon, but the biggest advantage is that given the choice, buyers will buy from a seller sporting the icon before buying from one that is not. And often times, they will even willingly pay a little more because of the icon.

They do claim that a certain level of sales must be maintained in order to keep the icon next to your name, and again, I do not know what these requirements are, but at least for now, I am in the club.

Okay, sometimes I feel too stupid to live, but luckily I have a good brother watching my back.

As you may or may not know, whoever you may be, I have recently opened up an eBay storefront, NextDoor WebStore. As the hundreds of thousands before me have also done, I went into the business with high hopes thinking all I had to do was work real hard at it and I couldn’t help but succeed. With millions of people visiting eBay every single day, all I would have to do is find a few things that sell and then sell the shit out of them. Even if all I make is a buck or two per sale, you can’t go wrong if you work hard enough to put out a couple hundred auctions a day and half or even a third of them produce sales. The numbers very quickly add up to no more delivering newspapers.

Well it’s only been a month now, but I can already see that it just doesn’t work that way. After hundreds of hours of searching for the right drop shipping wholesaler, and even finding a couple that are actually legitimate, I find myself in the same boat as the other hundreds of thousands that put pen to paper and produced the same optimistic figures that I did; unable to move my products because there’s a hundred thousand others out there trying to move the same stuff from the same drop shippers. It comes down to who’s willing to take a loss.

I sold a briefcase and after eBay listing fees and sales fees, and after PayPal took their cut and the wholesaler added $2.00 for processing and shipping for me, I made a grand total of 25 cents. So I raised my price by a dollar and the next order I made $1.25. Okay, so now if I can figure out how to sell 10 of those a day and find 10 more products I can sell 10 a day of, presto, I’m making $100 per day.

Well, not only had I only sold 8 briefcases after the first three weeks, the last one went to some remote town in northern Maine and cost $3.00 more to ship. I lost a couple bucks on that sale. So to try to cover myself from that happening again, I raised the price two more dollars. Of course by now, there are plenty of others selling the same briefcase for the amount that I had run from and I haven’t sold another since.

So, maybe buying a little in bulk, getting combined shipping on said bulk, would translate into lower selling prices and enable me to sell for less, shipping myself for less than those doing the drop shipping, as well.

Again, on paper, it looks great. Reality is another story altogether.

So now I have about 8 different kinds of chess boards (several of each), and several exotic looking dragon thingies (several of each), and (a bunch of) super cool Reapers vs Skeletons Tic-Tac-Toe games. Like I said, sometimes I am so stupid I even amaze myself.

Yes, you guessed it, haven’t sold a one.

So, what am I doing wrong? That was the million dollar question. I see there are indeed people on eBay selling 50-100 items a day, they’re called PowerSellers. All I wanted to do was figure out how to become a PowerSeller.

Now please don’t misunderstand my motivation here. Many, if not most, go into this venture thinking they’ll only have to work a couple hours a day and eBay will do all the work and they will just sit back and reap the rewards. 100% of those folks fail.

I went into this KNOWING I would have to work very hard, PLANNING on working very hard, and so far I have been putting in about 15 hours a day for the past month trying to figure out how to get this to work, how to become a PowerSeller. But, so far, I’m still clueless.

I have generated over $1100 in sales over the past month, however, mostly from books and DVDs and CDs from my own collection. Now if that had been ALL I had been selling, I’d probably have most of that money in my pocket, but of course, I’m trying to build a business. I have bought bulk shipping supplies, a scale to weigh shipments for postage, a digital camera for images in my listings, business cards, and let’s not forget $1300 of inventory hanging around in my basement. I’ve listed close to 100 auctions for drop shipping products and have sold the 8 briefcases and one Global GPS unit (made $21.00 on that sale, but one a month ain’t gonna bring home the bacon). So eBay is making a killing on thousands of us wannabes trying to figure out the secret to being a PowerSeller and ultimately giving up but only after listing a couple hundred dollars worth of crap that won’t sell because everyone and their mother is already trying to sell the same damn thing from the same damn place!

But still, I log in to eBay every single day and see them sitting there, laughing at me, shaking their heads in dismay, those PowerSellers that are raking in all the sales, even selling stuff that I can’t, like they belong to some secret exclusive club of know-how. They know and I don’t and like the magician on stage, they aren’t giving away any secrets.

So, along comes Simplx.com. (You were beginning to wonder if I had titled this article wrong, weren’t you.) Simplx.com, the answer to your dreams, the inspiration of hope, the holder of the secret of the PowerSeller. For only $700, you can get yourself a coach that will advise you on what to sell, how to sell it, how to design your store, where to find the products to sell, and basically hold your hand until they make you a PowerSeller! Exactly what I had been looking for. Exactly what I needed to get my business off and running. They claim, and my numbers backed it up, that I would make that $700 back the first month and if I don’t, they have failed me and would return the investment.

Where do I sign?!

I signed, I paid, I planned, I was on my way.

Thank God I mentioned all this to my brother that same day. Within minutes he had emailed me numerous links to stories and articles about this company (and others run by the same criminal) where people had been left high and dry. One hour of coaching and then a good luck pat on the back was what most had received. There were a few successes out there, but no where near enough for any sane person to get involved with them. And for all I know, those few could have been planted by Mr. Joshua Lee himself!

Like I said, sometimes I think I am just too stupid to live.

So, heeding my wise brother’s advice, I stopped payment on the check I had mailed them, a convenience check from my credit card. Then suddenly remembering that I had also given them my credit card number for a monthly membership fee to the largest selection of name brand drop ship goods in the world that would start after my coaching was complete, I decided I had better not take any chances and I canceled the card altogether and requested a new one, leaving no room for doubt.

Okay, saved by the brother. Thanks, Tim. I owe you plenty. But here’s the funny part and the final proof that my wise (younger!) brother was quite on the mark. Simplx.com didn’t know that I had stopped payment on the check. Today they gave me a call to set up the coaching. Here’s exactly how that conversation went…

Simplx Guy: David! How are you?! Are you ready to set up your coaching and start your new career?

Me: You know, I told my brother about this and he sent me about 50 links…

The phone went dead.

Like I said, I owe you, Tim.

I’m still working at my store. And I even still think I can make it a success, though I may never become a PowerSeller. But it’s not going to happen with drop shipping and I’m done looking for any coaches or paid professional advice. I’m not buying anymore memberships to any wholesaler’s warehouse and I’m not buying anymore bulk goods to sell. I do have a business card and I believe a consignment storefront in eBay will do much better than trying to drop ship everything with thousands of others trying to move the same product.

I’m also not going to limit myself to eBay, especially where this excess inventory I have laying around is concerned. Today I put ads up on craigslist.com and oodles.com for some of my inventory items. And guess what, the ads were free. I’ve already gotten one email, a couple hours after posting the listing, for a pair of dragon-head book ends (they haven’t bought a set yet, but that one question about my product was more than I had gotten on eBay for the same product after a week). They really are nice. I bought a pair for myself, too. On eBay, there are several others selling them for the pretty much the same price I am. On criagslist, no one else is selling them.

So this is what I am going to try to do, expand my playground. Sure, I will continue selling on eBay because you can’t find a bigger audience anywhere in the world. But I am also going to try to find other places to sell.

And I am keeping my paper routes. They pay the bills. Maybe my store will be a good supplemental income sometime down the road. I will continue to work hard at it, but with a new goal in mind. It may not become the full-time business I was hoping for, but it could even be a little fun (which is how it started a month ago…but it really hasn’t been very fun lately) assuming I don’t fall for anymore ruthless traps laid out by assholes like Joshua Lee who feed off the hopes and dreams of people like me who are still trying to figure things out.

Thanks again, Tim. You’re a good brother.

NextDoor WebStore has landed the Shooter’s Billiards account! A large selection of quality new and used Billiards and Pool equipment and accessories will soon be available.

Coming Next Month to NextDoor WebStore — A wide selection of Unique & Classic Chess Sets, ranging in styles for the serious players and collectors to beginner sets.

Also coming in April, be sure to watch for Dragons Galore!

NextDoor WebStore will also be selling AND buying professional sound and lighting equipment for Xtreme Sound Systems.

And coming this summer, NextDoor WebStore will be the exclusive home of ‘Creations by Nannette’!

Also on the horizon, I have almost closed a deal on some excellent used professional photography equipment!

NextDoor WebStore — New items being added EVERY DAY so visit often! –

And once again, a new venture is off and running. It’s been a while since I have had a truly successful one, not since Neighborhood Delivery Service which had an eight year run of prosperity, enough to know that I wanted to try to find my way back again, and I am hoping that this one will eventually get me there.

Since then I’ve tried my hand at many things; motor home delivery, cable installation, casinos, writing novels, and web programming, to name a few. Nothing has really taken hold but I am still writing novels and building web sites, just not enough to make a living. I deliver papers for that.

Last week I began a new venture. I am planning on moving towards the east coast in two to three years, after my son gets out of college and started on his own life, and I didn’t want to start over (yet again) looking for work when I do. And since I doubt I will have been discovered as a writer by then, pumping out best sellers every six months, I decided I needed to create an income that won’t be disrupted when I move. That’s where NextDoor WebStore comes in.

To start building a little capital to play with for the store, I began selling DVD, books, CDs, and albums…stuff I have around the house. In only the first week I’ve managed 135 sales. I have also added (and sold) briefcases. Soon I will have a whole line of chess sets and a friend of mine is going to be creating purses and artsy stuff to sell through my store. My Dad and I are going to weed through hundreds of old jazz albums. And my roommate will be selling tie-dyed t-shirts using NextDoor WebStore.

Then there is the fun stuff, the item that prompted me to come and write this post. I found a diamond in the rough surfing around in eBay. It seemed innocent enough. Someone was selling an outdated VHS recording of “The Little Mermaid”. It was paired up with “The Little Mermaid II” for $4.99. I bought it…just in case.

It arrived in the mail today. It was what I was hoping for. I got lucky. It was one of the rare original covers.

For those of you not familiar with the story (and to remind all those that have forgotten) the original cover design that Disney first released for “The Little Mermaid” had a little extra art work added into it by a disgruntled Disney employee. As soon as Disney discovered what the artist had done, they stopped the printing, fired the employee, and re-designed the cover. As a result, the pornographic version of the children’s video tape cover has become rare (making it valuable).

If you have one of these dinosaur versions of the movie, look at the castle in the background on the cover. If there is an erect penis up against the tallest tower, you have the rare one.

If you don’t have it and would like to add it to your collection of collectibles, or if you just want to see what I am talking about here, you can find it at NextDoor WebStore. The bidding starts at $124.99 and 25% of the final selling price will be donated to The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.