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TAGnotes Mon 1 May 2000 Vol 2 Number 66 Issue 148

From: The Auction Guild <tagn-@theauctionguild.com>
Date: Tue May 2, 2000 5:45am
Subject: TAGnotes Mon 1 May 2000 Vol 2 Number 66 Issue 148

The Auction Guild Notes for Monday 1 May 2000
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STAMPS.COM has increased the commissions we can receive during
the month of May. If you have been considering signing up with an
online postage provider, please go to The Auction Guild website and
use our link to Stamps.Com. They are offering special incentives to
people who sign up through us, offering $30 in FREE postage with the
Simple Plan package and $60 FREE postage plus a FREE 10-lb Scale
with the Power Plan package. Use this link and click on the
Stamps.Com banner (Please copy paste the whole link into your
browser address window if click does not work)
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html;$sessionid
$2FO3A0YAAAYWLWGIHUWETIWYZA4S1PX0?pid=0
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eBay announced a charity auction sponsored by Valvoline with all
proceeds to benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA).
There will be new items weekly through 23 May.
Find the auctions at http://members.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?
MfcISAPICommand=ViewUserPage&userid=valvoline-racing-auction

We received the following from eBay about the Virtual Antiques Mall
QUOTE Thank you for your interest in the NEW Antique Mall
Program! At this time, we are receiving a lot of inquiries to the
program at an unexpected rate. It's very exciting for Antique Mall
owners and eBay, and we hope to have you in the program as well!
ENDQUOTE. We will let you know as soon as eBay figures out
what the criteria to join is, and lets us know.
http://www.ebay.com/antiquemalls/

eBay continues to work on their new homepage as more users give
them input. To view the latest changes go to
http://www.ebay.com/index-new.html
If you have any additional specific comments send email with
Home Page in the subject line to online-@e...

eBay took the discussion boards down today 1 May at 18:00 to do
maintenance on them.

Today 1 May at 20:05 eBay started to experience problems with the
eBay Motors pages so that users could not view listings. This spread
to the rest of eBay with intermittent availability and slowness when
viewing items preventing access to listing pages and preventing
bidding. eBay reported all problems corrected as of 21:02. If you
feel your items were negatively impacted by these outages/slowdowns
email a refund request to bill-@e...
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/announce.shtml
Listings, currently approx 4.2mil
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Yahoo Auctions continues to have user problems they appear to be
ignoring. The latest issue of contention is the Neighborhood Watch
program. http://help.yahoo.com/help/auctions/abid/abid-19.html
This program allows auctions to be shut down due to user complaints.
From what we have seen posted, after three complaints the seller gets
a warning, and if a fourth complaint is received by Yahoo, they will
shut the auction down. Though Yahoo claims that QUOTE
Auctions are NOT deleted automatically. They will be reviewed
by our Customer Care department prior to any deletion. ENDQUOTE
Reports on the boards say no investigation is done, and though TAG
has always felt Yahoo was the best OAH site, we freely note that they
don't HAVE a Customer Care department, so who are they referring to?
TAG is concerned about the potential for abuse of this system, as a
competitor, disgruntled customer, or just about anyone can easily
register with several different Ids, get one feedback on each, and
wreak havoc with any seller/sellers they choose to target.

Yahoos response to our inquiry about the change from 5 to 2 auto
relists was to say in essence, So What? It would behoove these
auction houses to consult with their users before making these
changes, or at least pay closer attention when such changes are
objected to. Post your views about these changes at
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/thesellerzone
It appears that Tom Churchill, the head of Yahoo Auctions
logs on to the site regularly, and reads the comments even
though he rarely responds to them.

To see the base information and latest offers use
this link – http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html;
$sessionid$JNIBZCYAAAAGJWGIHUVUTIWYZA4S1PX0?pid=5
Approx 2.0 million auctions currently running
http://auctions.yahoo.com/
* * * * *
Amazon Auctions has not modified their position on the HotItems
default. They continue to send out canned answers to queries, and
appear to be ignoring the distress of loyal sellers who are watching
their sales plummet.

They have added some accounting features to Amazon Payments,
that should aid in money management, for those sellers still making
sales. They have also added capability to bill for further services,
and also to make refunds through the payment system. For more
info go to http://payments.amazon.com/sellerpreview/auctions.htm
There have been some reports on the boards about delays in bank
transfers made to sellers using Amazon Payments. It might be a
good idea to go back through your sales and insure all transfers are
completed. Amazon indicated these delays were caused by the
transfer banks system update, so the possibility for errors is
present.

To see the base information and latest offers
use this link – http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html;
$sessionid$JNIBZCYAAAAGJWGIHUVUTIWYZA4S1PX0?pid=5
* * * * *
Andale is hoping to get payments for their $5.00 promotion out to
sellers by 10 May. Sellers who expect a payment of over $600. MUST
provide Andale a W-9 or W-8 no later than 8May to avoid 31% in
federal taxes withheld and remitted to the IRS. You can FAX the
signed form to 650-230-3096 to meet the deadline date, with a copy of
the form with your original signature to follow by US postal mail.
Mail your tax form to Andale Inc., Attn: $5 Listing Promo, 300
Ferguson Drive, Mountain View, CA 94043
http://www.andale.com
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BidBay.Com is paying 12.5 cents for every auction pic or counter
hosted on their site and listed on eBay, Yahoo or Amazon. You
need to register for this program. You must use BidBay.com image
and or counter hosting. You must run your auctions for a duration of
no less than seven days.

All listings on BidBay auction site are free through June 2000.
They are in the process of creating accounts for each user. These
accounts will have a $20 credit. Starting in June, when BidBay
starts charging sellers, the fees will be debited from this credit
balance to pay for the listings.
Approx 16710 listings. A sampling of several categories shows
approx 3 percent of listings have bids. http://bb3.bidbay.com/
* * * * *
Golds Auction is offering free basic listings for the month of May.
Member Accounts will be charged for any enhancements and Final
Auction Value Fees. They have also increased every member's credit
limit. Any charges appearing on member accounts for basic listing
fees will be credited. Member referral credits continue, and they
are adding new categories this week.
Approx 8652 current auctions. Looking at the first 250 auctions
ending soonest, 16 have bids.
http://www.goldsauction.com/apps/index.html
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Auction Watch has added a beta version of a downloadable
bulk listing program called Auction Manager Pro. This can be
used with eBay, Yahoo and Amazon auction sites.
http://wsacp.auctionwatch.com/my/client/
* * * * *
If you would like an Auction House or Service Provider added to
this list, please email us at tagn-@t...
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