Let me explain:
Members of my other site (FBAFinds) pay up to $29.99/month (FBAFinds is the site that tells you 'What to Sell on Amazon and Where To Find it').
So FBAFinds is an 'exclusive' resource and forum: a capped pool of Amazon sellers with access to our mined information. (Remember, it costs me money and time to cull and analyze said information, so that's why I charge a fee. This is a business, after all).
But a handful of online sellers have thrown some pot shots, stating they are appalled that I'm not 'giving the information away (for free!)' (That's actually counter-productive, isn't it? If I gave away FBAFinds' daily list of 'what to sell on Amazon and where to find it' for free, EVERY seller would have access to the list - and thus the marketplace would become truly flooded with those 'finds', driving down the price. BTW, I also keep a cap on the # of FBAFinds subscribers.)
So I charge a modest price (less than a cup of coffee per day)' for my "friendliest online forum", as Debra Conrad puts it, and that does a MIRACULOUS thing:
It (somehow) keeps out the destructive, hurtful Amazon and eBay 'experts'.
I'll explain further.
If you're a member of any of these three free online help forums, you've probably bumped into some profoundly destructive and antagonistic Amazon sellers:
> ToySellersFBA : ToySellers FBA - Yahoo!
> Yahoo Group's FBAForum
and yes, even
Amazon.com's official seller help forum.
I've had several sellers write to me, aghast that they ask a simple question about how to sell online (on those forums), and they get immediately cast off, degraded, or subjected to a bombadment smart-aleck answers.
Participants in those free forums have been repeatedly subject to overwhelming negativity from folks who spend more energy and time bashing each other than actually helping sellers (or spending the same energy to...gasp...actually manage their selling business).
I'm not saying those forums can't help you. Yes, they're free. But free forums tend to (not always, but many times) attract the worst of the bunch. I proved that here and here.
On the other hand, paid forums - in my experience - have nary a negative tirade. There's likely some psychology/sociology-based correlation between a paid forum and the level of professional hospitaltiy, no?
Witness (and I don't get paid for referring you to these):
> MySilentTeam.com (forums with expert advice and content for selling just about anything online (Amazon, eBay, Craigslist, etc.) (I'm a member)
and
> Treasure Hunters' Cove (eBay and now Amazon selling experts) (I'm also member)
An 'investment' in either of those forums costs far less than a cup of coffee per day, but the level of help and positive encouragement is priceless. Negativity is almost non-existent.
Do you have a similar or opposite experience with any online help forum (paid or free)? Sound off by clicking 'Comments' below.
3 comments:
It is amazing how many want something for free. If they don't want to pay the freight let them go down the street.If they could do a better job then so be it. I'll bet they will not be doing it for free when they see all the work you put into it.
Jordan, you are the best there is! I am so glad you are a member of my forum and I sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart for your post here. I agree with everything you have said and more. You are a real up standing guy. People should be grateful for your knowledge; it is a shame that so many people are think that good information should be free. Nothing is free in life, we read, learn, strive to give the best information possible to the members we have. Keep up the great work and Bravo to you for separating the good from the not so good. Remember, we get what we pay for.
Jordan, you are the best there is! I am so glad you are a member of my forum and I sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart for your post here. I agree with everything you have said and more. You are a real up standing guy. People should be grateful for your knowledge; it is a shame that so many people are think that good information should be free. Nothing is free in life, we read, learn, strive to give the best information possible to the members we have. Keep up the great work and Bravo to you for separating the good from the not so good. Remember, we get what we pay for.
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