Once upon a time there was a village named Egoville hidden away in the mountains. Now, this village, like most villages, had their own idiot. His name was Hugh Millety.

Hugh, the village idiot, was the ridicule of Egoville. The towns folk would often set him up with silly choices in order to laugh mercilessly at him when he made the wrong choice.

“Hugh,” they’d say, “would you rather have this shiny new quarter or this dirty old torn dollar bill?”

“I’d like the shiny quarter,” Hugh would reply. His tormentor would give him the quarter and walk away laughing, declaring Hugh a true village idiot. Hugh would just shrug and go about his business.

Even though it was a poor village with little opportunity, this was repeated several times a day by many people. As the years went by, the ridicule became a ritual that dozens of townies took part in. The towns folk had little to their names, but at least they could feel better about themselves in comparison to the village idiot this way. It was their small comfort in the lap of poverty.

Not everyone would make fun of Hugh though. A few felt sorry for him and gave him hand-me-down clothes, leftover food, and even an old shack to live in at the edge of town. Hugh lived off of the handouts of the charitable few.

One day, Hugh showed up at the village square wearing a brand new suit. Everyone was amazed, for few people in the town could afford new clothing, let alone a nice suit. The small village didn’t even have a new clothing store, only a used clothing store.

One of townsfolk asked Hugh where he got his new suit, thinking he must have stolen it. He bought it, he told them. And furthermore he added, the fine new house being built on the mountainside that everyone was wondering about, that was his.

When questioned where he got the money, he told them it was the money they gave him. With people giving him food, clothing, and shelter, he simply saved and invested everything they gave him. “I may be your village idiot,” he smiled and said, “but I’m no fool.”

But why then, they asked, did he always take the lesser amount of money they offered him if he was so cunning?

Hugh replied that if he had taken the greater amount of money, they would have stopped offering it to him. He earned his money by letting them laugh at him, but he knew the first time he took the greater amount they’d stop offering him money and find something else to laugh at him about.

“Now,” said Hugh, “I’m the richest person in town and have all the money I need. I didn’t waste money amusing myself at the expense of someone I falsely perceived to be a lesser person. And you, all of you, have little more now than you had when you started ridiculing me. So tell me, who is the village idiot now?”

Hugh smiled again, then handed out hundred dollar bills to those who had been kind to him. The townsfolk were shocked. It was true though, they had frittered away their money a little at a time, trying to make themselves feel big by comparison to the village idiot.

It just goes to show you, if you live in Egoville, take care not to become the village idiot by your vain perceptions. On the other hand, if you follow the wisdom of Hugh Millety, you might just become the richest person in town.

With the state of the current economy, more and more consumers are turning to eBay to find deals on items they would normally purchase at retail outlets. As a seller, eBay can be a profitable way to test a new product, market an existing product or service or just clear out some of the clutter from your attic or garage. For a growing number of internet entrepreneurs eBay has become their sole place of business with their online storefront parked at eBay. The most appealing aspect of selling on eBay is that entrepreneurs can get their feet wet without having to set up a merchants account for credit card processing or setup a website of their own, both which can be time consuming and costly endeavors for inexperienced or first-time entrepreneurs. Hopefully these tips for selling on eBay will assist you in getting started down the path to being a successful seller on eBay.

1.) Pictures Sell Products - They say a picture IS worth 1000 words and it’s self evident that buyers will always like to see the goods before they place a bid on them. For successful eBay selling, make sure any itemss you list on eBay are accompanied by the best quality photographs you can muster. Poor quality pictures can cause as much of a negative impact as no picture at all. If you’re uncertain of your ability to take a convincing photograph, Nathan Huppatz has written an excellent tutorial Taking Great Product Photos which will help you through the process.

2.) Research is Golden - Always do some basic before you list a particular product. If you spend just a few minutes checking out history and price details of similar products on eBay, you will better know where you should set your reserve prices and starting points. eBay’s Advanced Search allows you to Show completed listings only which can be invaluable to making sure you don’t undercut yourself or over-value your item and end up without a sale.

3.) Master Your Niche - Niche mastery is an essential element for your prolonged success strategy. Find your own niche, define your market and you will come to understand the type of consumers who you will be selling to and how to specifically target them in your future acutions. Rome wasn’t built in one day and to become a power seller on eBay requies niche mastery and expertise in your given niche. These skills take time to develop but if you start out with the intention of developing these skills, you will cut out a lot of the baptismo del fuego (baptisim by fire).

4.) Avoid the Obvious - Forget about trying to sell cellphones, computers, digital cameras, iPods or plasma TVs. I’ve provided links to the first two of those afformentioned niches for you to take a look and see how stiff the competition is within those areas. Unless you have deep pockets, there is no way you can compete with the big guys who have the resources to post thousands of auctions per day and litter the listings. Also, the majority of drop shipping sites and programs which claim to have those products are mostly scams and will more than likely garner you bad reputation when they fail to deliver or ship items late (I have listed one reliable program at the end of this article).

5.) Don’t Forget Shipping - One critical aspect many novice eBay sellers overlook is packing and shipping costs. I routinely see new sellers offering free shipping or ridiculously low shipping rates. This mistake will eat away at your profits more so than any other costs involved in selling on eBay. Take the time to learn the costs involved in shipping and set your pricing accordingly. Most buyers purchase items on impulse and they are not paying attention to shipping costs when they want a product. Don’t shortchange yourself and don’t be greedy and try to turn a heft profit on shipping and handling.

6.) Use a Spell Checker - Always make sure to pay as much attention possible to your spelling and overall grammer when you’re writing up an eBay listing. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve nailed a great item for a song because somebody mis-spelled the item in the title of an auction and didn’t realize their error until it was too late. Additionally, strong writing skills can be the difference between a few bids and a landslide of bids that rockets your auction into the profit zone. If you’re not the world’s greatest speller, by all means, use a word processor to spell check your copy.

7.) More Payment Options Equals More Bids - Offering as many payment options as possible can literally double or triple the number of bids on an auction. Don’t be scared to accept money orders or personal checks and don’t limit yourself to Paypal only auctions. Sometimes buyers who need to pay by check or money order will bid higher on an item than if they were using Paypal. Remember, not everybody trusts Paypal, so don’t limit yourself or your auction’s potential.

8.) Keywords, Keywords, Keywords - Always use keywords in your auction headline and description. It is a known fact that over 65% of eBay bidders find what they are looking for by using eBay’s search function. Be sure to use carefully chosen and accurate key words in your title and description. eBay gives you 55 characters in your headline. Be sure to use all of them. This will help you get more traffic to your auction. Important keywords include the brand, color, size, and model number.

9.) Feedback is King - While many people feel that feedback is a necessary evil of selling on eBay, getting positive feedback is one of themost important keys to success as an eBay seller. Merchants who have an overall positive feedback record will find an easier time finding perspective buyers who will not only bid more often but they will also be willing to pay higher prices for your offerings. It is highly recommended when starting out to first spend a few months buying items on eBay and establishing at least 10-20 positive feedback ratings before trying your hand at selling. If you do want to rush in, start with your most inexpensive items or items you’re willing to lose a few bucks on ot establish your feedback rating.

10.) Be Professional - Never forget that when you are selling on eBay, you have a responsibility to your customers to act professionally. Be courteous and provide the type of superior customer service that you would expect from any major corporation or business. This will not only build your reputation but it will bring you repeat buyers who follow your auctions to purchase time and again.

That’s my 10 best tips for selling on eBay, but I would like to add that you make sure that you’re following all the standard business rules that apply, such as registering your business and paying any applicable taxes associated with your online business. Selling on eBay is just like any other business in that success lies in customer satisfaction and fair business practices. eBay has an uncanny way of weeding out the bad eggs, so make sure you’re following the terms of service and striving for excellence and you’re success on eBay is guaranteed.

Feel free to discuss this at our forum: Buying and Selling on eBay

If you’re not already an eBay member, please click the banner below to join !!!

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eBay for Dummies - eBay for Dummies Auction Success Kit is the easiest way to get your share of the fast-growing $10.6 Billion eBay pie. The wide range of topics covered include : How you can start selling in under 10 minutes, How to get the highest bids and maximize profits, How over 25 successful Powersellers have generated easy profits from eBay and much more.

SaleHoo - SaleHoo is where over 50,000 other online sellers, retailers and bargain hunters have discovered the best place to find legitimate, pre-screened wholesalers, dropshippers, liquidators and manufacturers for every type of product imaginable. A great service for anybody contemplating serious selling on ebay.

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For the average person and/or family, the three biggest financial pitfalls to avoid are new vehicles, credit car interest, and short-term loans. Any and all of these can drain a person’s or family’s coffers of much needed funds. At best, they create opportunity costs, i.e., money spent on them could be better spent on sound investments like a home or stocks (both of which appreciate in value over the long term) or on college or retirement savings. At worst, they can eventually create financial hardship and even lead to bankruptcy.

Buying brand new cars, trucks, SUVs, etc. can be a real money-eater. They all depreciate in value, some much faster than others, of course. Most vehicles depreciate the most in their first year or two of life, so the person buying a vehicle when it is new will have to absorb the bulk of its depreciation costs. With the price of new vehicles as they are today, that amount can be quite excessive. On top of that, many people have the financially disastrous habit of trading them in about every two to three years for another new one. That habit will result in the piling on of depreciation and debt.

Instead of buying new, I suggest buying a low-mileage vehicle that’s about one to two years old. There are services available now like CarFax which allow you to trace a vehicle’s history. If you look around, you can find previously-owned, former-rental, or former-lease vehicles of every type, make, and model which are in like-new shape and have less than 20,000 miles on them. You can even find them on Ebay now! Once you have found one, I suggest keeping it for least three years after paying off the loan. Ideally, I would suggest paying cash for it to avoid those used car interest rates and then keeping it for at least seven years, but I know paying cash is not an option for most people.

If you absolutely feel the need to give yourself or a family member the gift of a new car some day, I wouldn’t fault you for that. However, I suggest planning this out over several years, similar to how one would save for a college education for a child. Estimate the amount that you are saving by buying used cars instead of new ones and pay yourself that money by putting it in the bank on a regular basis. Over time that money will add up. Once you have saved enough, wait until a dealer that sells the kind of vehicle you want offers one of those deals in which you can get zero percent interest or a rebate. Pay cash for the vehicle and take the rebate. That way, you get the zero percent interest and the rebate!

Credit card interest is another item that will erode a person’s or family’s financial assets very quickly. The interest rates you pay are about 534,457,469 percent! Just kidding, but it does seem that way sometimes. Seriously though, they often run as high as 18 to 21 percent. A $20 meal will end up costing $36 when paid for over a five year period at an 18 percent interest rate! Paying only the minimum payment can result in an endless cycle of debt that will eventually be practically impossible to escape, outside of bankruptcy.

If you find yourself already in this situation, I suggest you see a professional credit counselor as soon as possible. If you are already paying more than the minimum payment, try to gradually increase this payment and suspend all new credit card charges, if possible, until you’ve paid off the balance. Obviously, the only sensible way to handle a credit card is to pay off all charges each month as they are accrued and not maintain a balance, thus avoiding all interest. A credit card is a nice convenience tool. However, if you don’t have one and you feel that you could not pay off the charges each month, then you are far better off not having one. If have one or more cards and have run up balances that you have had to struggle to pay off, you would be better off getting rid of it/them.

Short-term loans are also debts to be avoided like the plague. These include those “quick refunds” offered by many tax preparers, those “pay day” loans offered by predatory lenders popping up like cancers on seemingly every street corner, and many kinds of unsecured loans. The worst thing about short-term loans is their deceptiveness. Most people don’t realize what kind of wild interest rates they are paying. For example, $10 in interest paid to keep $200 for one week results in an annualized interest rate of 260 percent! Allowing a tax preparer to deduct $100 from your $1500 refund so you can get it instantly instead of waiting six weeks for the I.R.S. to send it to you will result in an annualized interest rate of 58 percent! I bet someone advertising those kinds of interest rates would have difficulty finding any takers, yet people take on these kinds of loans all the time as long as the interest rates are disguised.

People who are wise financially avoid most, if not all, of these biggest wastes of money. Most people who are financially independent right now got that way in whole or in part by avoiding wasteful spending.

About Today’s Guest Author
Terry Mitchell is a software engineer, freelance writer, and trivia buff from Hopewell, VA. He also serves as a political columnist for American Daily and operates his own website - http://www.commenterry.com - on which he posts commentaries on various subjects such as politics, technology, religion, health and well-being, personal finance, and sports. His commentaries offer a unique point of view that is not often found in mainstream media.

In my previous article about finding the best deal on insurance, I touched on the idea that insurance, for the most part, is a necessary evil that plays an important part in our financial liabilities. The vast majority of consumers know why it is important to carry serveral insurance policies for their home and family. What most are unaware of is the important role adjustors can play in a settlement.

When an insurance policyholder files a claim, an adjuster will be brought in to verify that the coverage applies to the insurance policy, investigate liability for any damages and make restitution to the policyholder. In most cases, an insurance company will appoint a staff adjuster to the case and the policyholder will be offered a settlement based on the staff adjuster’s findings and recommendations. All too often, a policyholder will accept the settlement without dispute and feel they have been given the best deal possible. To understand why this is type of thinking can possibly cost a policyholder significant amounts of money owed to them, you must understand a few basic principles about insurance adjusters.

To begin with, there are three type of insurance adjusters:

• Staff Adjusters - Hired by the insurance company to investigate claims for the company.
• Independent Adjusters - Independent contractors hired to investigate claims for the insurance company
• Public Adjusters - Employed by the policyholder to negotiate with the insurance company

Both staff and independent adjustors have the insurance company to think of first when they are evaluating a claim. Independent adjusters often are retained with a commission based incentive which means they will get paid more if they are successful in getting the policyholder to agree to a lesser amount. Staff adjusters are working a different angle for the insurance company because a salaried adjuster will be subject to routine performance evaluations that can impact their salary and benefits.

A public adjuster is an an advocate for the policyholder in appraising and negotiating an insurance claim. Public Adjusters exist because of the a conflict of interest that arises when one person attempts to represent both sides of a settlement. Public adjusters are the only type of claims adjuster that can legally represent the rights of a policyholder during the claim process.

It is always a wise idea to let public adjuster review your claim even after you have settled with your insurer because most of the time a public adjuster can request that the claim be reopened to negotiation for more money if discrepancy is found.

The majority of policyholders are unaware that public adjusters even exist as an option to dealing directly with the insurance company representatives. A professional, conscientious public adjuster can make a tremendous difference in the amount of a policyholder’s settlement.

If you’re a policyholder and have filed a claim, don’t let your insurance company walk away with money they owe you. Make sure to consult a public adjuster before taking any offer.

While European countries such as Italy, Spain, France, and Germany has seen property values skyrocket (especially anything near water) there are still very many lucrative places to purchase investment property for unheard of prices. While the United States is undergoing a fickle Real Estate market at the moment, those who purchase property as an investment may want to shift focus to the emerging countries in the European Union. Although the US Dollar doesn not buy as much as it once did compared to the Euro, there are still incredible deals in exotic locations for those bold enough to take a step out of their backyard. Today I’ll introduce you to three relatively unknown countries in Europe that are rapidly becoming the “In Thing” in investment property or even for an alternative to the fatigued lifestlye currently plaguing the United States.

#1- Croatia - Croatia is one of the most undervalued areas in Europe for Real Estate speculation. Although the Ex-Yu and the fighting between the Serbians, Croatians, Bosnians and Slovenians divided the country formerly known as Yugoslavia and has worried many Real Estate speculators there is still much beautiful Adriatic Real Estate for sale at good prices in Croatia. The culture is mainly Roman Catholic, Middle-European and Mediterranean people and the scenery is amongst the most beautiful in the world. From a brochure I gathered on one of my trips to the country of my families origin, Croatia, there is a passage, “Much has been said about the beauty of Croatia. “Heaven on Earth” has been described in many books by artists, in paintings and countless photographs. “God wanted to crown his creation, so on the last day he created the Croatian Adriatic from his tears, the stars and sea breeze”. This prose was writen by an author long ago about the splendour of this most beautiful and preserved ecological corner of the modern world.” According to the 2006 survey of the USTOA, the hottest new tourist destination for United States citizens is Croatia and many are choosing to purchase investment property after admiring the breathtaking beauty of the country and intermingling with it’s intelligent, friendly and accepting citizens.

Here is a beautiful view of Split, the economic and administrative center of Dalmatia on the Adriatic Coast of Croatia.

#2 - Cyrpus - The Republic of Cyprus is an island country in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, south of Turkey. Many British citizens have been choosing Cyprus as a destination for retirement because of the beautiful scenery, the temperate climate and the undeniable value. As with Croatia, much of Cyprus’ image has been tarnished because there had been decades of in-fghting between the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots for control of the island. It is this constant strugle that has made many outsiders weary of making any major property purchases for investment purposes because ownership of property on the island could be held in jeopardy pending the outcome of civil turmoil. Any time there is an ongoing confilct in an area, the value of property decreases, however the Greeks and Turks have settled down over the last decade and have begun realizing that their tiny island nation has a value that is beneficial to both parties. Cyprus has been recently sought as a basis for many offshore businesses. This is due to its highly developed infrastructure. While Greek and Turkish are the official languages of Cyprus, however, the vast majority of the inhabitants speak English.

A view of Nicosia, the capital and largest city of Cyprus and the only divided capital city in the world

#3 - Latvia - The Republic of Latvia is located on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, shares land borders with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south, both Russia and Belarus to the east. The attraction packed little nation has the fastest growing economy in Europe. It has had high GDP growth since 2000. In 2003, Latvia’s GDP growth was 7.5% compared to inflation at 2.9%. Unemployment was 8.8% in 2003, almost unchanged compared to the previous two years. Privatization is mostly complete, except for some of the large state-owned utilities. On May 1, 2004, Latvia joined the European Union. The capital, Riga,is a vibrant coastal capital and the countryside has many photogenic castles, music festivals and scenic river valleys. Latvians are as intent on revitalizing and nation-building as any newly independent nation. Visitors can witness first-hand the rapid transformation of this country that has only recently crept from under the doormat of history. Latvia is one of those ‘check it out before it’s too late’ places. This is true for property investors as well as tourists. In Riga, property in some areas rose by around 40%. This has been fueled by strong economic growth and EU entry. Most properties in the historic capital are renovations and there is a limited stock of such buildings. All this suggests that the rises seen in Latvia’s property market over recent years are set to continue.

Historic Old Riga, Latvia Skyline view from Vansu Bridge

In my next blog post I will be exploring more hot, sleeper Real Estate investments in South and Central America.

I received a message from some spammer yesterday asking me if I wanted to buy some E-Gold hacking tools. I reported this to E-Gold and they responded with a very informative email on protecting your e-gold account from hackers. I thought I’d share it with all you Hyip and autosurf enthusiasts.