It's time for another tip of the week.

I keep wondering where this summer has slipped off to? September is just about here.

Which means -- the last eBay On Location Event. It's in San Jose September 1 & 2nd -- that's next week! And, speaking of time flying... this will be eBay's 15 year birthday party!

If you're coming, please don't miss the Top Rated Seller Panel. Lynn Dralle, Jordan Ensley, Elizabeth Bennett and I are on stage with Jim 'Griff' Griffth taking your questions about how to stay ahead of the eBay changes.

After the panel -- please come by and introduce yourself and pickup a copy of the eBay Marketing Bible -- I'll be selling & signing copies right after the presentation.

Now, onto my tip of the week....

Have you looked at your cell phone as a tool that can help you source product? If not, you may want to take a closer look at some of the applications available.

This weekend I had a chance to run out to the local Goodwill and check out the books. I haven't done that in ages. I had a great time. I found a couple of books for $3.00 that sold within hours for $20.00 each.

One thing that motivated me was the chance to test out my Droid smart phone to see if I could find resalable books quickly. There are several apps available for smart phones -- too many to try all in one day. So, I narrowed it down to just one. The free app called Pocket Profit by MediaScouter. It's an application that will tell you the selling price and sales rank on Amazon.com based on the barcode of the item. You use your smart phone to scan in the barcode.

Here's my general impression of the Pocket Profit app. First, I'm not surprised, but a little disappointed, that the free version is limited to only 50 free scans -- as soon as I got the hang of how it the app functioned -- I'd used up most of my free scans. I would have rather it be a scaled down version that allowed me to get a taste of the application and choose to upgrade later. Subscriptions start at $40.00 a month.

I suggest that before you head out to use Pocket Profit that you set your minimum reselling prices. That's the really great thing about the application -- you can set different minimums for the different Amazon sales ranks. If a book is a fast seller you might be willing to take a little less for it knowing it will sit on the shelf for a shorter period -- or require a higher selling price for those slow selling books.

Pocket Profit does more than books, it will do hardgoods, CD's, DVD's, etc... if it has a bar code you'll be able to capture selling information.

The one thing that I found annoying about Pocket Profit was the sound effects -- it's designed to work with an ear piece. I turned my phone to mute and looked all over for settings, but couldn't find out how to turn that darn sound off. I didn't have my Bluetooth headset with me and it was very hard to be discreet with my Droid making buy and reject sounds at the top of its little lungs -- LOL. I'm sure the sounds are great though, if you have your headset on.

If you spend any time at garage sales or second hand stores many of the new iPhone and Droid apps are going to save you time and money.

Once I got the hang of it, Pocket Profit did help me find a few sellable books before I was out of free scans. If I did book picking regularly I'd consider subscribing it. It not only saves time (once you get used to it) it will save you from guessing which books to purchase.

If you have an older cell phone I recommend you consider upgrading your phone when your contract expires. IPhone or Droid -- it's hard to say (I'm a Droid person, but there are just as many iPhone lovers) -- but choose one of these smart phones. Their mobile nature makes them a great tool for your business.

Business Plug:

On a side note -- one of the first things I wanted after my Droid purchase was a case for my new phone. I didn't want to be one of those people who walk around with their phone in hand as if it is leading them down the path -- LOL > I finally found a case I liked. In fact, I thought the design was so useful I decided to buy them to resell. They're called Golla bags. They have a place for your smart phone, a carabineer to clip the bag onto your belt or purse strap, plus an extra zipper pocket for coins or earphones, etc.

If you haven't found the perfect case for your iPhone or Droid please check out my new line of cases (and new online website) http://www.vendio.com/stores/photobagstogo- ( This is my new Vendio store -- please take a look and give me some feedback, before I have my official grand opening).

Here's a 10% off coupon for you!
Coupon code: KEMMM1283120

That's it for this week.
Cindy Shebley
www.websellerscircle.com