So, its been a year since I joined as a dubli Business Associate. I’m going to post about my thoughts about that; as I’ve said, but, I wanted to post some of my stats first. Here goes:

Number of Dubli Business Associates that I introduced to the business and signed up: 4

Number in my organization (my people + the people they signed up): 61

Number of customers that I attracted and are assigned to me: 110

Number of customers that purchased from me: 18

Number of credits I sold: 1,490

Dollar amount of shopping commissions: $1.44

Number of credits it took to attract the customers: 1,010 (This includes the number I used to purchase things at Dubli – I wanted success stories.)

The customer number dubli assigned to my first customer on 2/20/2009: 26439

The customer number dubli assigned to my last customer on 2/18/2010: 148301

(Customer numbers were assigned in a manner that made me believe that this number MIGHT be a good indication of the number of US customers.)

Number of websites I created over the past year for the dubli business: 5 (I learned Wordpress, Simple Machine Forums, Joomla and some – read very little – PHP programming)

Number of websites remaining today: 3 (Including this one, my first)

Initial Cost: $3,290.85 (Including the credit card service fee.)

Total Revenue: $3,425.44

Soon, I will be writing a post about why I intend to quit Dubli. But first, let me say something to potential dubli customers: You can get really, really good deals on dubli, even after factoring in the cost of the credits, shipping and the annoying foreign exchange fee. (My experience is within the US, I don’t know if my experience is the same for those that live in other countries.)

FOR CUSTOMERS THINKING OF USING DUBLI (info current as of post date)

I have personal experience buying from dubli. Here it is: They are often slow to ship, the credit card transaction must originate in a foreign country because I am always charged a small FX fee, the tracking of shipments is non-existent, and the customer service regarding orders is less than steller. But, I always received what I bought in good condition, packed well and, on average, after all costs included – credits valued at the retail amount of $.80, for 15% below what I could find anywhere else. My purchases included Apple products and Visa and American Express giftcards, which never go on sale anywhere.

A secret: I run (ran, I guess is a better term – haven’t done much lately) a website called biddingtracker.com. I posted all of the prices that I saw on dubli when I checked them. At one time, we had quite a few other participants and we shared the prices we saw. This helped in two ways (really only on the Xpress Auction, more about the Unique Bid, below): 1) If you were interested in an item that was on dubli AND was also posted on biddingtracker, you could know what the last price was; so you knew the highest you would pay. 2) You could (can still, actually) look back over the many items posted and see the rate that items decrease in value. (Visa giftcards drop in price and sell much more quickly than Bose music systems, for instance.)

BUT, you don’t need to run (or use) another website to get the good prices. Just check the price over a day or two on an item you want. (Less than a day, usually, on giftcards.) BE CAREFUL to check the price on the same item. Every item on sale has a unique number that you can see in the URL and only in the URL. For example, there is an American Express $200 giftcard on dubli as I write this. The URL is http://us.dubli.com/American-Express-200-Gift-Card__5_10378?BArefno=7967766 After the description, there is an underscore and then the number 5. The number 5 indicates that the card is in the Xpress Auction (3 for Unique Bid). Then there is another underscore and the number 10378. This is the item number for this item. After this Amex card is sold, another one exactly like it will be put up on the site. BUT, it will have a new item number. If you didn’t know this, you would check this Amex card in the morning, decide not to buy and take your chances that it might come down in price, and then come back in the afternoon, after it had been sold and check the new Amex card, with a new and different item number and wonder why it had gone UP in price. It didn’t, it’s just a new item. (BTW, the info after the ? in the URL, is the information dubli needs to know to assign you to me, as my customer, if you click and look at the Amex card and then decide to sign up for dubli.)

OK. Another secret. I’ve seen some talk on some forums about the fact that people can’t REALLY be getting the prices that dubli posts as sold. “Why would someone bid and then NOT buy an iPod for $15 and then allow someone else to buy it for $10, or for $0.00?” They think it must be a scam for this reason. It’s not. Here’s the thing: dubli will say the reason people are getting the prices that you see is because more and more people are coming to dubli and the prices are going down so quickly that the person who saw the iPod at $15 couldn’t act quickly enough or just took a chance that they could get it for cheaper in a second or two. This is incorrect (but possible in the future, I suppose). Here’s what is actually happening: Dubli Business Associates who still have a lot of credits and who do not plan to renew their licenses are clicking prices down to unbelieveable levels so that they can get SOME value out of their dubli investment. If a former business associate goes in late at night and starts clicking on a $200 giftcard and gets it for $0.00, those credits that she used were worth $200. If she does nothing with them, they are worth $0.00. It is counter intuitive to think that someone would use a credit that has a face value of $0.80 to reduce an item by $0.25, but if you have 5,000 credits that you’ve had a hard time selling, why not use them for that? It would take forever to click on single items once or twice and hope for the best when you have 5,000 unused credits. And, its always possible that there are current business associates that believe it is a good investment for them to lower prices on dubli items before buying them so that they can point to that item as why someone new to dubli should either join as a customer or an associate. In any case, someone really got the items for the prices shown. (They just may have used more credits than a normal customer would.)

As a potential customer without thousands of credits, what does this mean to you? It means that you might get lucky and click on an item that is in the middle of being clicked down by a frustrated business associate and actually be able to get the iPod for $15. (And, if not, with a little record keeping, you can get it for 15% off or so.)
So, potential customer, take a look at when those items that sell for ridiculous prices end. Often, they end in the middle of the night. Maybe you could use that info to your advantage…

Let’s talk about Unique Bid. On biddingtracker, we had a group of people that posted different strategies that could be used to increase the chances of getting an item there. There was some discussion on the public site, but most of the good stuff went on behind the scenes, via private messages among members. And, some of those members were very successful. But I never got a Unique Bid item. I tried for a couple of 24” iMacs and was once $0.25 away from getting one of them. And let me say that just like in the Xpress Auctions, I believe that there are a lot of former business associates trying to make use of their very numerous credits to try out the Unique Bid. The thing is that, unlike in Xpress, a lot of business associates trying for the same item in Unique Bid actually DECREASES the chance of a normal customer getting a good price.

That said, the best strategy for unique bid is to place a lot of single bids at different price points early in the auction and then keep track of when you get notice that someone else has bid that same price point. You can judge the level of interest in the item that way. Then, just before the 5 minute mark, when you can still make large ‘range’ bids – bids that cover a large amount of prices like $1.00 to $10.00 (which I think would use 36 credits) – you use the info you’ve gathered and make a large range bid, or two (or three). You can track the price that the same item went for the last time, or the last 10 times, to get more info that can be used to bid. If you use 200 credits at $0.80 each and get an iMac for $320, you’ve spent $400 for an iMac. Of course, if you use 100 credits and don’t get an iMac, you’ve spent $80 for nothing. You can use information that you get as you bid and as subsequent people bid to modify your next bid and increase your chances. No doubt that there is a lot of risk but try that with a slot machine.

Biddingtracker.com is still there. I won’t be doing much with it right now, but if other people wish to discuss things dubli, especially strategies and bids, it’s there to be used. (I will still be moderating and getting rid of spam.) If any current dubli business associate wishes to advertise there, send a PM to the admin there or comment here and I will get back to you with prices and such. (There are some creative ways you can advertise.) Long term, I am probably going to turn the forum into a discussion about all unusual web sites for purchasing goods – penny auctions, reverse auctions, etc.

As for this site, I will begin posting information about other opportunities and other ventures. I’ve found that I do like to blog, when I have the time.

Please post your comments and questions about dubli…

Stay tuned for my post about my experience as a dubli business associate and why I am quitting.

A week or two ago, the Dubli website changed. The most notable change was the removal of the Zer0 auction.

I’ve not been attending the Webcasts as often as I should, so I don’t know what the official word on why the Zer0 auction was removed is. But I have a guess.

I’ve long believed that the Zer0 auction was vulnerable to webscripts that could automatically check the price and then, when the price was below a certain threshhold, could check the price automatically very quickly until the price was driven to 0. For a good programmer, this would be a piece of cake to do.

I might be wrong, of course. And Zer0 might be coming back for all I know.

And, the new site layout is great, I think.

As those involved with Dubli know, there was a big meeting for Dubli Sales Directors and above in Miami this weekend. We didn’t attend but just received an e-mail with some information. Here it is:

You are all probably waiting with bated breather to hear the news from Miami.

1. New position created at Senior vice President- 5 VPs somewhere in 5 legs.

First one there will receive New Bentley Cabriolet, Breitling Bentley Watch and $ 1 MILLION CASH! – All new SVP subsequently will recieve $ 1 MILLION CASH!

2. Global Platform November 1, 2009  That is right, you can sponsor anywhere in the world and they will ship the product to the customers in any country in the world!!  The customers on the world-wide auctions will all contribute to the auction and the prices will drop like a rock.

3. DubLi Academy opens September 2009.  Real Associate training with testing and certification.

4. North American Customer Service Center opens in Miami September 2009 with English and Spanish speaking staff!

5. DubLi Land in Cayman Brack is beginning construction for luxury residences exclusively for all DubLi VPs and SVPs.  DubLi will finance.  All new VPs for 2009 will recieve a lot at DubLi Land for FREE.

More to come…

Pretty exciting news. This will really get things moving! I want a lot in Dubli Land. (And $1 million!)

There are a lot of ways to make money on the internet. (Beiing a dubli associate is a good way, for instance.) There are also many ways to save money. (Being a dubli customer is a good way, for instance.)

One other way some people are making money is by writing articles for Squidoo. If you write well and develop an audience, and drive traffic to the site, you share in the profits. It takes awhile to get established, and its not guaranteed, but its fun, and there really are people making money at it.

So, I gave it a shot. Check out my ‘Lens’:

How to Find Great Deals on the Internet

I got so excited a few weeks ago I when I was checking things out on the dubli auction site. With school starting up at the end of August I decided to start looking for some deals on the gift cards that have been on the auction site. I found a footlocker gift card on the express auction. I clicked on it and saw that it’s start price was 100.00 and it was down to 70.00 thats a great saving for me when I knew I was already going to be shopping there for my son who loves basketball so I loved having an extra 30.00 bucks in my pocket.

Then I checked to see if dubli had footlocker in the shopping portal. And it was! So why not use it? I clicked on it to see if there were any coupons available, There was one that said if I spent $99.00 I would save 15% so this was actually even better for me because that was really off the $70.00 I payed on the auction site. We ended up getting about $130.00 of merchandise for $80.50 plus standard shipping. And this is before I get my 5% back for using the shopping mall. (So, another $6.50 off.) We received our package about 4 days later. I was very excited and called several people to tell them about it.

I really feel like if we tell everyone we know about this, we will begin to accumulate many customers and we’ll be so happy we got into this when we did. (Just ask yourself is this a value to you?) If your answer is yes . You just need to get the word out and help make dubli a household name.

We already have 69 customers 19 have purchased credits and of those several have been repeat customers, We woke up on the 4th of july to see 50 less credits and checked our back office to see $40.00 in our earnings area in our back office. Later that day and another 50 credits gone then another 20. All of this from only one customer. Imagine when you have hundreds and even thousands of customers . If you spend a little time to build a team and customer base things could get pretty interesting.

We are so excited to see how things go in the future, and look forward to getting the cinch program.

Exciting News! The Cinch program has launched to beta testers and should be released to all Dubli Business Associates in 7 to 10 days. It will be great to get a look at Cinch and see how it works, but the most important point of the Cinch launch is this: Its a clear message to all Business Associates to begin sending out their credits to attract customers. I know many associates have been waiting and ‘banking’ their credits in anticipation of the Cinch launch.

Well, its happening! Cinch beta testing associates have begun to send out credits and its having an effect already. Take a look at the Dubli Xpress Auction. In months past, there have only been about 4 or 5 pages of items on the auction. Today there are 7 pages. And if you tak a look at completed auctions, you’ll find that yesterday (the day of the beta Cinch launch) 10 different items sold. On the 28th, only 5 items sold.

Also, you’ll notice that there are many, many more gift cards available than in the past on the Xpress Auction. Where else can you get a $100 Mastercard Giftcard for less than $100? Where else can you get a $100 Mastercard Giftcard for $52.50 (plus shipping and a dulbi credit)?

If you haven’t tried out Dubli and want to, fill out the contact form and ask for some free credits. If you want to get in to the business side of Dubli (which is really fun and exciting), fill out the contact form and say that you are interested. Believe me , you want to get in as close to the Cinch launch as you can.

My last post talked about an important conference call. I never updated my blog to reflect what it was all about. We’ve just been so busy getting info out to new prospects and getting new customers that I have neglected my blog.

The conference call was about the new bonus program. Its really exciting. The leadership bonus announced last month has been expanded to include Team Leader. Here’s how you qualify:

1. Purchase a Gold Product Package within 30 days of joining as a Dubli BA.
2. Attain title of Team Leader (which you will do if you meet the other requirements).
3. Personally sponsor a minimum of 3 new frontline BAs in the quarter (quarteres are calander: we are currently in the April, May, June quarter).
4. The new frontline BAs must purchase a total of $6,500 in Product Packages. This means two Gold packages and one Bronze, for example.

If you meet these qualifications in any quarter, you will receive a 50% bonus on all earnings during that quarter! This is really huge!

BTW, this bonus program is in addition to the other monthly bonus program: Sponsor at least 5 frontline BAs who purchase either a Bronze, Silver or Gold Product package and you will receive an $800 bonus.  (If you do this, and are a Gold member, then you automatically qualify for the first bonus and your $800 bonus is actually $800 + $400 = $1,200. (This in addition to all of the commission you made – and 50% extra on top of that!)

This is a great time to join Dubli if you’ve been thinking about it. Join our team and you will receive ongoing training and proven methods on how to attract both customers and new Business Associates. We will instruct you on how to set up a blog like this one and how to attract people to it. (One free tip – post regularily, unlike us.) Give us your information (in the post at the top of the page) and we will contact you with more information.

I’ve been getting a lot of questions from my team as well as prospects on how the dubli commissions (earnings) work. Here’s the nitty gritty:

You earn money as a business associate in a number of ways. I’ll go through the list of all of the income generation possiblilites so far below. Each falls into one of two categories:

• Income dependant on the level of package (Gold, Silver or Bronze) that you buy when you become an associate.
• Income dependant on the organization (Team Member, Team Leader, Team Coordinator, Sales Director, and Vice President) level you are.

Commission based on the package you buy as a Business Associate (bronze, silver, gold):

After you buy your license to become a dubli Business Associate($175), you need to buy a credit package to market your business and to resell. You can buy a bronze package for $575 (800 credits), a silver package for $1,350 (2,00 credits) or a gold package for $2,995 (5,000 credits). If you purchase a bronze or silver to begin with, you can upgrade for the difference in price to a gold package within the first 30 days after joining.

The level that you purchase into determines your earning power on the following dubli earning opportunities:

• The resale of credits. When you buy a gold package, you have purchased the credits at a 25% discount from retail price. That means that when you resell them, you earn the margin between what you paid ($0.60) and what you sell them for ($0.80). Technically, this is a 33% margin – pretty good ($0.80 – $0.60 = $0.20 | $0.20 / $0.60 = 33%) . But remember, you bought them for a 25% discount. If you bought a bronze package, you bought in at a 10% discount. All of the income from the sales of your credits is, therefore, entirely tied to the package you purchase.
• The shopping portal revenue. Now that the shopping portal is up and running, customers will begin to purchase items through the merchants featured there. When one of your customers does this, you will get a percentage of the revenue that dubli gets. This percenage is based on the credit package that you bought. For example, if one of your customers buys a new computer through a merchant on the shopping portal for $1,000 and dubli get 5% of the revenue generated (these are totally made up numbers – I have NO idea how much dubli will make when someone buys through the shopping portal. I do know that it is a revenue sharing model, however, so the commission that they get is based on the purchase price of the items sold.) So, $1,000 X  5% = $50. Dubli gets $50 in this case. If you are a gold package business associate, you get 25% of $50 = $12.50. If you are a bronze package member, you get 10% X $50 = $5.00.

One more thing. As a gold member, you meet one of the criteria to earn a really generous bonus. This bonus cannot be earned if you are not a gold member within the first 30 days of joining.

Commission based on the ORGANIZATION level you are:

As you introduce people to your business and sponsor them on as business associates, your level in the dubli organization changes. When you first join, you are a Team Member. After you attract and sponsor 3 people, you become a Team Leader. If three people that you have sponsored each sponsor three people, you become a Team Coordinator. You can move from there to Sales Director and then to Vice President. Each of these indicates your organization level. And, you earn money base on this. Here’s how:

• As you sponsor people into the business and they buy credit packages from dubli, you earn a commission. The higher your organization level, the more you earn. A Team Member earns 5% of the amount of the credit package purchased. A Team Coordinator earns 15% of the amount of the credit package purchased. This isn’t just when they start out. If one of the associates that you sponsored in sells all of his/her credits and buys another package to resell, you get that commission as well. Also, you earn a % of credit package purchases from sponsors of your sponsors, depending, again, on your organization level.
• Partner Program:  Business Associates can sell a partner program license. This would be sold to an organization with a large list of loyal people with e-mail addresses. If you don’t know about this program, I believe that I talked about it in an earlier post. I’ll reference it in a comment. In any case, the amount you earn from this program is determined by your organization level.

The actual amount of commission you earn from associates brought into the business by those already in your organization is determined by not only your level in the organization, but by the level of organization of your people. It get’s pretty wordy to explain, although its a simple concept. But the point is that this commission you earn is base on organization level and not package level.

New ways to make money with dubli are on the way according to the leaders of the company. And each will be dependant on either your package level or your organization level.

Now go out and make some money!

Take a look: Dubli is guaranteeing that they will always have the lowest price anywhere. It appears to guarantee their prices not only against other online retailers, but local brick and mortar stores, as well. It says that if you find an advertised price lower than the purchase price on dubli of the same item within two weeks of your purchase, Dubli will refund you the difference plus another 10%.

Pretty good; and worth checking out before you buy somewhere else, don’t you think?