Back

TAGnotes Sat 19 May 2001 Vol 3 Number 60 Issue 321

The Auction Guild Notes for Sat 19 May 2001
************************************************************
SUPPORT THE SUBSCRIBERS WHO SUPPORT TAGNOTES
Visit their auctions and websites and make a purchase or two
                     ********************
A unique collection of gifts & collectibles ~ Dezine Fairies Enesco
Amberwood Fantasy Musicals Snow Globes www.carouselsnfairies.com
                     ********************
Love Kermit? All three feet of him? 99 Cent No Reserve ending Soon!
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=589144095
************************************************************
Do you find TAGnotes useful? Please share this knowledge, buy an ad,
get an associate or two to sign up today. http://www.theauctionguild.com
Using TAGnotes for research or as a source document? Please
respect our COPYRIGHT, and give credit where credit is due.
View the TAGnotes archives in a searchable format at
http://www.escribe.com/business/TAGnotes/
************************************************************
On 17 May, other than some intermittent problems with adding to an
auction description, and some other fleeting intermittent glitches,
ebaY ran well all day. They still had their ongoing problems, which
can be found at http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=32

On 18 May WebTV users had no access to ebaY from the time the
site came back up from maintenance. At 05:57:19 PT ebaY users
reported ebaY was down regionally. At 11:52:11 PT in response to
the posts about WebTV users inability to access ebaY, Sonny@ebaY
posted, "Hi folks :) Drive-by post here, as I have a meeting - we are
aware of the WebTV problem and have been trying to resolve it. Looks
like the line to WebTV is down, so we're opening tickets right and left
to get it fixed. Regards, Sonny" ebaY never posted acknowledgement of
the problem on the SAB. User reported all the functions were restored
at 12:32:45 PT. At 12:35:57 PT users reported that relisting was very
slow. This problem lasted for several hours. At 12:44 some users
reported problems with accessing Billpoint. The site ran well after the
aforementioned problems were resolved.

On 19 May at 03:17:08 PT users reported list and relist were not
working. At 12:11:32 PT users of Sellers Assistant Basic reported
problems with the categories disabling the program. At 12:45:07 PT,
cgi 5 was once again bringing up blank pages, a glitch that has been
noted and unfixed for several weeks. There were also a few reports
of some of the search functions not working intermittently, including
seller and bidder search. These were infrequent problems that appeared
and disappeared throughout the day. Excepting the aforementioned and
the ongoing and unrepaired ebaY site problems, the site ran adequately
throughout the day.
TO REQUEST REFUNDS from ebaY go to
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=33
Don't take no for an answer, keep requesting until you get them.

ebaY's listing policy prohibiting most historical items associated with
Nazi Germany, and with organizations that promote or glorify hatred,
racial intolerance or racial violence, in now in effect.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-offensive.html.

On 17 May ebaY posted a revision of their revised link policy, on the
MAB, see the post at 15:11:40 PT. The biggest underlying change is
ebaY's claim that the intent of the View Item page is to describe a
specific item listed for sale. It is not to advertise other products or
businesses.   This is a major user agreement and listing policy change,
in fact a complete philosophical change in the way ebaY and its users do
business. Some of these unwritten rule changes - *Sellers may link to
their email address from the View Item page.
*Sellers may link to their ebaY or Half.com listings grouped in a
picture gallery or similar format as long as there are no specific
non-eBay products listed for sale on the gallery page.
*Sellers may link from the View Item page to a site with additional
information that isn't item specific, such as a gemstone grading
system or clothing size guide. However, it will be considered the
one link that further describes the item listed and must not contain
any specific non-ebaY products listed for sale
*Sellers may link from the View Item page to organizations such
as the Better Business Bureau, Squaretrade or OAUA, provided the
seller is a member of the organization and it is relevant to their
business or the item being sold.
*Sellers may link to their About Me page from the View Item page,
however they may not include specific product promotional text in
describing their About Me page.
*All logo style links from the View Item page may be no greater
than 88x33 pixels. The only exception to this rule is the link
to ebaY or Half.com listings.
Text of the new policy -
http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-list.html
More info http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-adsfaq2.html

For sellers who feel they have not had adequate refunds, that ebaY is
restraining trade, defrauding sellers by not providing the services
paid for, or other situations not dealt with to your satisfaction,
you can file reports with The Attorney General of California and
also in your home state
http://caag.state.ca.us/piu/mailform.htm
The Better Business Bureau
http://www.bbbonline.com
The Federal Trade Commission
http://www.ftc.gov
The Office of Consumer Affair, US Department of Commerce
http://www.consumer.gov/sentinel/index.html
File Complaint
https://rn.ftc.gov/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01
The FBI's Internet Fraud Units
http://www.nipc.gov/contact.htm#arrow,
National Fraud Information Center
http://www.fraud.org
eComplaints http://www.ecomplaints.com/

eBay press release about Sponsorship of Antiques Roadshow
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010515/sftu064_3.html

ebaY is changing the current clothing categories again. These changes
include splitting the infant’s categories into gender as well as further
defining Men’s and Women’s clothing, footwear and accessories
categories under distinct headings. Subcategories will be added in
several areas, and Personal Grooming has been added to the category.
Details are at http://pages.ebay.com/preview/chg-clothing.html
Send comments or suggestions to clot-@ebay.com by 1 Jun.

To provide comment on other category changes go to
http://cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=
SendSupportEmailShow&subject=Suggestion+--+Category+Suggestions

Further category changes were made in BOOKS; COLLECTIBLES
Hartland is in Animals and Dr. Seuss in Animation Characters under
Art, Animation & Photo Images. Photographic Images are divided
into Antique (pre-1940) and Contemporary (1940-Present). Antique
Photographic Images includes new Magic Lantern Glass Slides and
Other Antique Images categories. Celebrity Photos and Other
Contemporary Images are under Contemporary (1940-Present)
Autographs joins Paper & Writing Instruments, and includes Historical,
Political, Science, Sci-Fi, Space and Other Autographs breakouts. Slots
gets a new Machines sub-category divided among Antique Coin Slot
Machines, Non-Functional Slot Machines, Skill Slot
Machines and Token Slot Machines. Pottery has sub-categories
in Cultures & Religions - Cultures: Latin American: Mexican today.
Halloween has Vintage (Pre-1960) and Contemporary (1960-Now)
in Holiday, Seasonal under Decorative & Holiday. There are now
Napkin Rings in Tableware under Housewares & Kitchenware.
COMPUTERS has Pentium breakouts (Pentium II, III and IV) under
Desktop Components: CPUs and the Intel: Pentium IV sub-category
under Desktop PCs. Now, Laptops have Batteries. Compaq, Dell, IBM
and Toshiba have sub-categories. Under Printers, there are Ink Jet:
Color with Canon, Compaq, Epson, HP and Lexmark breakouts. And there is
Clip Art in Software: PC. HOME & GARDEN now has Food & Beverage.
JEWELRY, GEMSTONES & WATCHES has Beads, Amulets with new
sub-categories: Crystal, Lampwork & Glass; Shell, Bone; and Stone.
Pocket Watches gets a new Tools, Parts sub-category and Rolex divides
into Ladies', Men's and Other Rolex. REAL ESTATE now covers
Nevada and Washington. TOYS & HOBBIES GI Joe 12-inch gets
a sub-categories of Pre-1980 and 1980-Now. All Hobbies & Crafts
are in one area. To change the category of your item go to
http://cgi5.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ChangeCategoryShow

On 18 May ebaY announced they were re-instating the "Autographs"
category in Collectibles. The "Paper & Writing Instruments" category
is now re-named "Autographs, Paper & Writing".
To find Autographs click http://pages.ebay.com/catindex/catpaper.html

Electronics changes has Electronic Parts, Test Equipment, and
Commercial Radios categories went from Business, Office, &
Industrial into the Electronics category. Calculators is in the
Gadgets & Other Electronics category. New categories have been
added to the Gadgets & Other Electronics category. Phones,
Communication Devices has been renamed to Phones, Radios, &
Comm Devices. Ham Radio has moved into the Phones, Radios,
& Comm Devices category under the Radio Equipment sub-category.
The Speakers category under Car Audio has new sub-categories.
Home Audio, Wire, Cables and Amplifiers categories have new
sub-categories. Changes are scheduled to take effect June 2001.
Review the changes at
http://pages.ebay.com/preview/chg-electronics.html.
Ideas or comments email to electr-@ebay.com.

Photo category changes are new sub-categories in the Film Cameras
category including 35mm Compact/Zoom, 35mm Rangefinder, and,
APS. Large Format Cameras have also been further divided.
Camera Body Accessories are separated by camera manufacturer
and sub-categories have been added under Movie Projectors.
These changes are scheduled to take effect June 2001. Review the
changes at http://pages.ebay.com/preview/chg-photo.html.
Ideas or comments email to pho-@ebay.com.

ebaY U will be in Cincinnati, OH 2-3 Jun; San Diego, CA 9-10 Jun;
and New Orleans, LA 23-24 Jun. Register at
http://pages.ebaY.com/university/

From Billpoint - The FREE Electronic Check processing will END
on 1 JUNE 2001. http://www.billpoint.com/
BillPoint Fee structures:
No fee to buyers using Billpoint Online Payments.
For sellers, Billpoint assesses seller fees according to the program for
which they qualify after completing the Billpoint application. There are
currently two seller programs. There are no set-up fees, no monthly
fees, and no minimum charge requirements.
Program 1 - High-Volume Sellers applies to sellers with ebaY sales of
$1,000 per month or more, a minimum of six months as an ebaY seller
and good ebaY account status. For credit card transactions $15 and less,
the Billpoint fee is $.35. For credit card transactions greater than
$15, the Billpoint fee is $.35 plus 1.75%; and an dditional .50% is
assessed on your daily Billpoint deposit total. In addition, credit card
transactions for non-U.S. buyers carry an additional 1% fee.

Program 2 - Standard Program for credit card transactions $15 and less,
the Billpoint fee is $.35. For credit card transactions greater than
$15, the Billpoint fee is $.35 plus 2.50%; and an additional .50% is
assessed on your daily Billpoint deposit total. In addition, credit card
transactions for non-U.S. buyers carry an additional 1% fee.

Billpoint fees are automatically deducted from your upcoming deposits
and are non-refundable.

Announcement Board Marketing - (MAB)
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/marketing.shtml
Announcement Board Status (SAB)
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/announce.shtml

ebaY Contact Information, analog mail and email addresses and
phone numbers, regular and toll free, refund info and insider
trading info go to http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=17

ebaY auction count approx 5.23 mil inflated by at least 6%double
category list yielding an actual listing count of approx 4.92 mil
auctions. On 19 May 2000 ebaY had approx 4.78 mil auctions
* * * * *
Amazon Auctions, zShops and Marketplace
Announcement Board - http://amazon.remarq.com/list/16791839

Amazon live telephone customer service 16 hours a day Toll-free
in U.S. and Canada: (800)201-7575
http://auctions.amazon.com
* * * * *
Yahoo Auctions
http://auctions.yahoo.com/
* * * * *
Infopia online sales, marketing and management tools, has one of the
most innovative and comprehensive systems in the OAI/OTI we have
seen. They combine listing management tools with automated
marketing tools, and send merchandise to the largest variety of online
marketing forums available in the OAI/OTI, in the most automated manner
of any site. Though complex to grasp the concept of what they are doing
with this management system, this is one site that is worth taking the
time to fully understand. Once you grasp what they are trying to do,
the actual implementation of sending your items to market is user
friendly.

We do not think this system is suited to all sellers, but for those who
can make it work, it could be a very valuable and time saving system.
Pricing is based on the number of unique products, not the number of
items listed, so at the lowest level of $29.99 per month, you can sell
10 different products which with unique items like antiques would be 10
items, but if you had something like car manuals, and had 500 of each
manual, could be 5,000 items. For a good idea of what they are doing
and how it works, go to the Q&A at
http://www.infopia.com/sitefaq.html take the tour at
http://www.infopia.com/tour.html and review the live demo at
http://www.infopia.com/demoaccount.html

Pricing can be found at http://www.infopia.com/pricing.html, and
sellers pay a flat fee to Infopia, plus any fees incurred at the sites
the seller selects for the listings to go to. Sellers can pay month by
month or get a discount for 6 month or 12 month contracts.
http://www.infopia.com
* * * * *
MyBiz.Com the email management service, closed its doors on 18 May.
http://www.mybiz.com
* * * * *
Andale/Honesty Fees Andale Store and Gallery - $5.95 per month
plus final value fees as follows: From $0.00 to $25.00 2.95%;
From $25.01 to $1,000.00 1.95% on the amount over $25.00 + $0.74;
Over $1,000.00 0.95% on the amount over $1,000.00 + $19.75.
Other fees and rules apply
http://www.andale.com/corp/pricing_corp.jsp
http://www.andale.com
* * * * *
Free Image Hosting
http://www.boomspeed.com
http://www.auctiontalk.com/imagehosting.asp
http://www.baypal.com/
http://www.freepichosting.com/
http://www.photopoint.com/
http://www.tupics.com
http://www.zing.com

Free Sites for WebSite/Storefront and Customer List
http://www.signup.auctioninsights.com/cgi-bin/signup
http://www.bigstep.com
http://www.hypermart.net/index.gsp
http://www.spree.com
* * * * *
PayPal has a press release out about their nomination for two Webby
Awards http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010515/sftu016_3.html

On 16 May PayPal caused a glitch when they offered their users
the ability to switch from Standard Logos to Smart Logos for ebaY.
This caused users selections to default to 'automatically email all
winning bidders' even if they had not selected that option. In an
excellent customer service move, rather than waiting for sellers to
discover the problem the hard way, PayPal proactively emailed
sellers to let them know about the glitch and how to correct it.

" Unfortunately, due to a bug that has since been corrected, our
Winning Bidder Notification feature was also activated for anyone
who switched to Smart Logos using this page." and "We noticed
that Winning Bidder Notification is currently turned on for your
account. If you intended to activate this feature, you do not need
to take any action. However, if you did not mean to turn on
Winning Bidder Notification, it is easy to disable it. Simply login
to PayPal, go to the Profile subtab, and select the "Bidder
Notification" page. Then click on the link marked "details" and
you'll be taken to a page where you can check a box to disable
future notifications. You can still use Smart Logos or any of PayPal's
other automated auction services whether or not you choose to use
Winning Bidder Notification."
http://www.paypal.com
* * * * *
Online Auction Users Association
Interested in volunteering and serving the Online Auction Community?
Check out http://www.auctionusers.org/volunteerop.shtml
http://www.auctionusers.org
* * * * *
Online Auction & Trading Site Co-op
Interested in an OAT Site Co-op?
Interested in getting involved?
Information on co-ops -
http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/pub/cir55/cir55rpt.htm
http://www.wisc.edu/uwcc/

Ideas for co-ops continue to develop
Go to http://www.auctionpie.com
They host live chats every Sunday night at 8:00PM EST

Vintage Items Co-Op info can be found at
http://www.ali-baba.org./ and
http://pages.zdnet.com/juststuff/vintmarket/
*********************************************************
***PLEASE NOTE: Many long links we post in TAGnotes must be
copy/pasted into your browsers URL/Address box in pieces, with no
extra spaces, to get them to work due to HTML limitations****
*********************************************************
If you would like an Auction House or Service Provider added to
this list, please email us at ta-@theauctionguild.com
Have any information for us? email us at ta-@theauctionguild.com
TAG Subscribers have often contributed to information reported on in
TAGnotes. Visit their auctions.
         TAGassist Contributors -
http://showcase.auctiva.com/chev1959

http://www.auctionworks.com/awstore/maestrommm

http://cgi6.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=
ViewListedItems&userid=bllamb&include=0&since=-1&sort=3&rows=200
***********************************************************
THE AUCTION GUILD
and eTRADERS GUILD
www.auctionguild.com
Not just a venue
877-SAFETAG
READ TAGnotes
Have the most current information at your fingertips through
our almost daily email synopsis of announcements and changes from
the Online Auction Industry. Subscribe today at-
http://www.auctionguild.com
or email us - tag-@theauctionguild.com
***********************************************************
All trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners
Copyright 1999 - 2001 The Auction Guild Inc All rights reserved