DECIDING WHAT TO SELL
Collectables are the most popular items on eBay by category. They represent 17% of all eBay sales. Coming in second is Clothing/Shoe/Accessories at 11% and Entertainment at 11%. Find out the details at popular.ebay.com and pulse.ebay.com.

Still not sure about what to sell? Search amazon.com for product research. Amazon.com includes a Sales Ranking in the Product Details section. This incorporates current and historical sales data to indicate a product’s popularity. In the Amazon rating system, the lower the number the higher the sales.

PRICING YOUR ITEM

Press the “Sell an Item” link at the top right menu on eBay.com to get started. The What’s it Worth section helps you determine the average price for your item.

Need more detailed information? Use the advanced search to find all listings that have completed. (Under the Search Including section, check the Completed Listings box. Results include both sold and unsold listings including their prices.

I’ve sold textbooks, and DVD’s. Textbooks in their most recent addition are popular. Pick a time around the beginning of the quarter. I listed 3 textbooks a week before the University of California schools were about to start and sold the books with out any problem.

LISTING AN ITEM ON EBAY

How do you make your used product sound good and still be honest about the items condition? Here are a few descriptive terms that are useful:

• Good condition with some wear.
• Shows signs of wear.
• The edges of the cover are slightly curling.
• No highlighting. No markings.
• Book comes without a book jacket.
• DVD has been watched only once.

SHIPPING YOUR ITEM
One key to success on eBay – Keep your shipping costs down. USPS media mail provides an economical option for sending DVDs, CDs and books. Just buy your packing material in bulk.
Ebay and PayPal prints online shipping labels for USPS priority mail flat rate packages. There is a slight discount for online transaction. Payment comes out of the PayPal account automatically. It’s easy and fast. USPS include tracking with their online orders through PayPal.

Be careful though. Sometimes the flat rate can be more expensive than using Priority Mail by weight.

[Here's how to create a Picasa Photo Gallery on your website.]

VIEW DEMO

1. Generate a Picasa photo gallery. Add the gallery to your web site.
   Check that the photo gallery displays properly. VIEW GALLERY WITHOUT HEADERS.
   
2. Create a web page that contains all of your headers and menus. Make sure this page displays properly and has plenty of space for the photo gallery. Save it anywhere you like on your server. (It doesn’t need to reside in the same directory with your Picasa gallery.)
3. Edit your webpage from step 2. Add this line to the html:
   

   <iframe width="850" height="750" frameborder="1" 
   src="http://www.yourwebsite.com/youralbum"></iframe>

   Change the width and height attributes to match Your photo gallery.

4. Save changes and run the web page. The photo gallery should appear in the iframe.

VIEW DEMO

1. Generate a JAlbum photo gallery. Add the gallery to your web site.
   Check that the JAlbum displays properly. VIEW GALLERY WITHOUT HEADERS.
   
2. Create a web page that contains all of your headers and menus. Make sure this page displays properly and has plenty of space for the photo gallery. Save it anywhere you like on your server. (It doesn’t need to reside in the same directory with your JAlbum gallery.)
3. Edit your webpage from step 2. Add this line to the html:

   <iframe width="650" height="600" frameborder="1" 
   src="http://www.yourwebsite.com/youralbum"></iframe>

   Change the width and height attributes to match Your photo gallery.

4. Save changes and run the web page. The photo gallery should appear in the iframe.

[The quiz and survey solutions requires knowledge of php programming for scoring. After being submitted, the form is scored in a php function.]

View the Questionnaire Demo

View the Quiz Demo (Scoring: one correct answer)

View the Health Survey Demo (Scoring: answers weighted from 0 to 3)

Questionnaire Instructions

1. Create a Form in CformsII. Add the form to a WordPress page or post. Click for more information on creating a CFormsII form.
   
   Here’s what the demo Questionnaire looks like in the CForms Designer:
2. The survey results will be sent to the admin’s email account and the user’s email with the CC option.

Quiz Instructions

1. Create a Form in CformsII. Add the form to a WordPress page or post. Click for more information.
   
   Remember the form number and field numbers.

   This form below is form #8 and the quiz includes fields 4 through 8.

   Each of the radio button answers are set up with a value = 1 for the correct answer and a value = 0 for the incorrect answer.

   

2. Edit my-functions.php .
   • Use the editor of your choice to edit wp-content/plugins/cforms/my-functions.php.
     OR
     Go into Plugins->Editor. Select plugin to edit: cforms. Click the cforms/my-functions.php file near the bottom of the long list of files.
   • The my-functions.php file has sample code for numerous actions. For example setting the redirection link, or changing an email address. By default, these functions are commented out.
   • Define my_cforms_logic to change the success message. In this example, the values for fields 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 are totaled. Correct answers have a value of 1 and incorrect answers have a value of 0 so the total represents the score.
   • Within the my_cforms_logic function, there are several ways to access the field data. In this example, the field value is referenced using it’s field number when combined with $$$.
   • To see the variables that hold field data use the @email function. The results will be sent to email.
3. Save Changes to the server
4. Run the form.

Here’s the code:

 
function my_cforms_logic($cformsdata,$oldvalue,$setting) {
    ### it's only changed though for form #8
    ### example: changes redirection address based on user input field
    if (( $cformsdata['id']==8 ) && ( $setting == "successMessage" )) {
	### note: '$$$mypick' references the ID of the HTML element and has been assigned
             ### to the drop down field in the form configuration, with [id:mypick] !
	$form   = $cformsdata['data'];	
	$totalCorrect = 0;
	$total = 0;
 	for ($i = 4; $i <= 8; $i++) {
                   $curField = '$$$' . $i;
                   $totalCorrect += $form[$form[$curField]];
                   $total++;
 	}
 
            $percent = ($totalCorrect / $total) * 100;
            $yourScore = "<p>You scored " . $totalCorrect . " out of " . $total . ".  That's " . $percent . "%!</p>";
	if ( $total >= 2 )
	       return $yourScore . ' <p>Good Work!</p> ' . $oldvalue ;
	else
                    return $yourScore . ' <p>Better Luck Next Time!</p>';
 
	//@mail('thomasja1@earthlink.net', 'cforms my_filter_nonAjax test', 'Form data array (nonAjax):'.print_r($cformsdata,1), 'From: jan@janbthomas.com');
	}
	return $oldvalue;
}

SimplePhotoBox includes a gallery with a page of scrollable thumbnails and a slide show. Switch between small thumbnails, large thumbnails and detail photo slide show. Click here for installation instructions.

VIEW DEMO

DARKGALLERY

DarkGallery is a simple photo album that includes a gallery with scrollable thumbnails and a slide show. The slide show starts automatically on load. Stop the slideshow by clicking the pause button. Click here for installation instructions.

VIEW DEMO

WHITEGALLERY

WhiteGallery is a simple photo album that includes a gallery with scrollable thumbnails and a slide show. The slide show starts automatically on load. Stop the slideshow by clicking the pause button. Click here for installation instructions.

VIEW DEMO

WHITEGALLERY WITH LEFT DOCKING

WhiteGallery with left docking thumbnails. Click here for installation instructions.

VIEW DEMO

RELATED POSTS

• Create a Photo Gallery From Your Picasa Album
• Embed a Picasa Slide Show Into Your Website

View a Photo Gallery Demo

1. CREATE A WEB ALBUM IN PICASA
   Use the Picasa application to create an album, or choose an existing album. Make sure the album is selected before you start the export. You can select individual photos or the entire album for export.
2. INSTALL THE TEMPLATES
   • Search the internet for Picasa Templates.
   • Download and unzip the template onto your computer in the folder:
     ProgramFiles/Google/Picasa3/web/templates

     [Mac Users: Use the Finder window to locate Picasa in the applications folder. Right Mouse Click on Picasa Application. Select Show Package Contents Copy the template folder into Contents->Resources->web->templates].

     (I used the DarkGallery template. Click here for template download.)

3. EXPORT THE ALBUM
   • Bring up the Picasa Application.
   • Make sure you have an album selected.
   • Select menu: Album -> Export as HTML page
     Mac Users: Folder-> Export as HTML page
   • The new window “Export as HTML Page” will appear. Once the desired export options are selected, choose a location for your photo gallery and press the Next button.
   • The window “Select a Web Page Template” will appear. Choose your template. Now press the finish button. Picasa exports files into the location above. Transfer these files to the sever and your slideshow is ready to view!

RELATED POSTS

• What’s Next: Add Headers and Menus to a Picasa Gallery
• Picasa Template Downloads
• Embed a Picasa Slide Show Into Your Website

View a Slide Show Demo

View a Slide Show Demo in a WordPress Post

1. CREATE A WEB ALBUM IN PICASA
   Use the Picasa application to create an album, or choose an existing Picasa album. Make sure your album is synced to the web. I set the Visibility to Public so anyone can view the photos.
2. RETRIEVE THE SLIDESHOW LINK FROM PICASA
   • Open the Web Album in your favorite browser. (You can use the link “view online… ” from within the Picasa application.)
   • Select “Link to this album “. (Found on the right column of the Web Album page.)
   • Select: “Embed Slideshow “.

   

   • The new window “Create a portable slideshow for your website…” will appear. Once the desired slideshow options are selected, copy the HTML text at the bottom of the window.
   • Paste the HTML code into your webpage. [I use Dreamweaver to edit my web pages but something as simple as NotePad will do.]

     For Dreamweaver users: Bring up your web page in the Design tab. Click to mark the insertion point. Change to the Code tab. Paste the HTML code (Ctrl V). Save File.
     Now save these changes to the sever and your slideshow is ready to view!

     For WordPress: Log into WordPress administration. Create a new post or edit an existing post. Paste the HTML code from Picasa into the editor and save the changes.
     [If you created your website through a web hosting service like GoDaddy, you may need to use their web site editting services. Make sure you go into HTML mode before pasting.]

RELATED POSTS:

• Create a Photo Gallery From Your Picasa Album
• Picasa Template Downloads

Here’s the error page for this site: www.janbthomas.com/oops

1. Create a custom error page in HTML. Add links, a google search box and an identifying logo. Google has some web master tools to help.
I created a page called 404.html

2. Use FTP to copy 404.html to the server. The file 404.html will be displayed whenever the HTTP error code indicates the file is not found.

3. Identify this file to the web server by adding a reference line in the .htaccess file. (This may vary depending on your web hosting company.)

Here’s the line to add:
ErrorDocument 404 http://www.your_domain.com/404.html

4. Upload these changes to the server.

Here are some of the more common HTTP error codes:
Client Errors
400 Bad syntax
403 Forbidden
404 Not Found – Most common

Server Error
500 Internal Error

5. As an alternative, capture all errors with the same file by adding a few lines into the .htaccess file.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule (.*) /errors.html

In this example, the HTML error page is called errors.html

The JAlbum website (www.jalbum.net) promotes its web hosting feature – JAlbum will provide users with web space for their photo gallery. I really prefer to let JAlbum publish photos on my own site. The JAlbum application installs and runs from a local drive, similar to Picasa. There are versions for Windows and Mac based operating systems.

VIEW A JALBUM GALLERY RUNNING ON MY WEBSITE

Here’s how to get started with JAlbum:
1. Install JAlbum onto your computer.
2. Open JAlbum and Create a New Album.
3. Add Photographs and Images to the Album.
4. Select a Skin (I choose FotoPlayer); or find skin from the internet: click on the “more skins” link to look on the jalbum site. Once you’ve selected a skin, the download and installation is done for you.
5. ADD WEB HOST INFORMATION FOR PHOTO ALBUM
Select Tools -> Publish/Manage from the menubar

• Step 1: FTP ACCOUNT LOGIN (These FTP settings can be obtained through your web host provider.)
  Server Name: (host / URL) eg. www.janbthomas.com
  User Name: (FTP account name)
  Password: (FTP password)
• Step 2: Navigate to Host Subdirectory
• Select the Close Button

6. Make the Album.
7. Click on the “Publish/Manage” Button to send your new album to your web server using JAlbum’s FTP utility.

This application is free and developers provide some really nice skins that can include both slide show and gallery features in one nice Flash package.

Next Step: Adding Headers and Menus to a JAlbum Gallery

RELATED POSTS:

Create a Photo Gallery From Your Picasa Album
Embed a Picasa Slideshow into Your Website