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TAGnotes Sun 26 Aug 2001 Vol 3 Number 92 Issue 353 |
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The
Auction Guild Notes for Sun 26 Aug 2001
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On 24 Aug ebaY was slow recovering from maintenance and posted at
04:00:02 PT that some users may have had intermittent access to some
features following scheduled maintenance.
ebaY has been running fairly well for several days, with the ongoing
problems still negatively affecting the site, but more stability than
normal.
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 partner SquareTrade (ST) has a new pricing structure. ST offers a
form of counseling to assist buyers and sellers to resolve problems the
users can't settle on their own. They have a free online system that
buyers and sellers can use themselves at
http://www.squaretrade.com/spl/jsp/eby/eb.jsp?marketplace_name=ebay&campaign=EBY_OD_1
and a for fee service subsidized by ebaY costing $15.00 to use when a
counselor is needed to try to advise users on how to solve a problem
(whether the seller is a seal holder or not). There is no real mediation
that goes on, as is commonly defined and understood in the analog world,
just a form of counseling. Feedback removal, where the buyer and seller
agree to the removal always incurs a $15.00 fee.
The special offer is a 20% reduction in the price of a ST seal from
$7.50 per month to $6.00 per month available through 29 Aug. There is a
30 day free trial period.
https://www.squaretrade.com/sap/jsp/lnm/overview_seal.jsp?mp=ebay&campaign=eby_ns_SL2
The ST seal has the User ID and the current date on the seal. The seal
covers buyers up to $250. (after $25. deduction) in fraud insurance, a
service already offered by ebaY at no extra charge, and in TAG's opinion
woefully inadequate. ST verifies a seal holder's address and has a
limited "approval" process. The seal acts like a counter with graphs
showing the days of the week and times of day the seal is being viewed.
For more info go to
https://www.squaretrade.com/sap/jsp/lnm/learn_seal.jsp;jsessionid=icx5pnt3j1?vhostid=tomcat3&stmp=ebay&sapid=icx5pnt3j1#seal_benefits
https://www.squaretrade.com/sap/jsp/lnm/learn_seal.jsp;jsessionid=icx5pnt3j1?vhostid=tomcat3&stmp=ebay&sapid=icx5pnt3j1#seal_award
Square Trade is also offering a $5.00 rebate to buyers who buy from
sellers who use the ST seal. There is a special search that brings up
all auctions with the ST seal. ST is holding a workshop on ebaY on Mon
27 Aug from 15:00 - 19:00 PT. ST will try to convince users to use ST
and buy their seal. There are currently 17339 auctions with ST seals on
them, and the feedback ratios appear to demonstrate ethical practices by
the sellers carrying the seal.
In TAG's view, this service is in the nature of an elephant charm, is
overpriced and sellers would be much better off joining the OAUA and
getting their seal, which goes along with signing a code of ethics.
OAUA is a non-profit member run professional organization, much more
suited to this type of activity than a for profit corporation. TAG
finds the lack of fiduciary disclosure between ebaY and Square Trade
troubling. The language that states that mediation and arbitration take
place is not true and builds false expectations, when all that occurs is
advice and counseling. Square Trade has recently laid off 20% of their
workforce. They say it was in areas other than their Online Auction and
Trading Industry (OAI/OTI) business. In discussions with the OAUA, ST
wanted $50. per member annually to provide their services to OAUA
members - similar services are currently provided for free by the OAUA.
ebaY has changed the main sub-categories in Consumer Electronics. The
new pages are
*Home Audio & Video http://pages.ebay.com/catindex/cathomeav.html
*Car Audio & Electronics http://pages.ebay.com/catindex/catcaraudio.html
*Video Games http://pages.ebay.com/catindex/catvideogames.html
*PDAs & Handheld PCs http://pages.ebay.com/catindex/catpda.html
*Portable Audio & Video
http://pages.ebay.com/catindex/catportableav.html
*Radio Equipment http://pages.ebay.com/catindex/catradio.html
*Phones & Wireless Devices http://pages.ebay.com/catindex/catphones.html
*Gadgets http://pages.ebay.com/catindex/catgadgets.html
Email feedback to electr-@ebay.com.
Though MANY users are having problems listing, relisting and revising on
ebaY, the one group most negatively impacted is WebTV users. We
regularly hear from subscribers about the ongoing reoccurring
impossibility of listing, relisting and revising on ebaY. Try emailing
me-@ebay.com and pie-@ebay.com with your comments. Some things to
try, are to use third party service providers such as
http://www.vrane.com, or http://www.baypal.com
- both WebTV friendly, so
you don't have to list directly on ebaY.
Community overview board –
http://pages.ebay.com/community/index.html
ebaY news board - http://pages.ebay.com/community/news/index.html
ebaY categories with the category number
http://listings.ebay.com/aw/plistings/list/categories.html
ebaY contact information including analog mail and email addresses and
phone numbers, regular and toll free, refund info and insider trading
info etc can be found at
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=17
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BidVille has a special feature focused on sports. Sportmania will
officially start 25 Aug and will have a direct link on Bidville's front
page for one week. There are currently over 1,200 earlybird listings.
Although the event is scheduled for one week only, many auctions may run
through Labor Day, so check each auction for closing time.
http://www.bidville.com
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Amazon Auctions, zShops and Marketplace posted on 23 Aug that they were
doing planned maintenance, so that Amazon.com Auctions and zShops was
not available and Marketplace items were not purchasable from approx
10:00 PM PT Thurs, 23 Aug through approximately 3:00 AM PT Fri, 24 Aug.
Pro Merchant inventory and report tools were available but load files
and report requests were not processed. Amazon will extend Auction
listings per the standard outage policy.
On 24 Aug Amazon announced that they were doing planned maintenance, so
that Amazon.com Auctions and zShops will not be available and
Marketplace items will not be purchasable from approx 11:00pm PT on Sun
26 Aug to approx 4:00am PT Mon 27 Aug. Pro Merchant inventory
and
report tools will also be unavailable during this time. Auction listings
will be extended per the standard outage policy.
Announcement Board
http://prospero.amazon.com/n/mb/listsf.asp?webtag=am-sellannounce&nav=start&ctx=0
User to User boards
http://forums.prospero.com/am-sellconnect/messages/?msg
Amazon live telephone customer service 16 hours a day
Toll-free in U.S. and Canada: (800)201-7575
http://auctions.amazon.com
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Carnaby.Com - another new auction site to look at. We found
it slow to
navigate through - pages took a long time to download. Approx 3,000
items up for auction, but most appear to be multiple items by a very
limited number of sellers. There is little sign of any bidding or
buying. In a random search 3 items had bids out of 100 listed from May
through the 26th of August
http://pages.carnaby.com/home/welcome.html
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Western Union, large ticket items and Fraud editorial on the TAG website
at
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=65
* * * * *
Online Auction Users Association elections are HERE - ALL MEMBERS need
to take a few minutes of their time and VOTE!!!
There are 6 candidates running for 4 seats. You can vote for up to 4
candidates. Read about the candidates here:
http://www.auctionusers.org/announce/2001-BOD-nominees.shtml
And then vote here: http://www.auctionusers.org/vote/
There are many interesting conversations, board candidate interviews and
other information regarding the election, and OAUA issues, on the OAUA
boards.
http://www.auctionusers.org/forums/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&forum=Annual+Member+Meeting+|AMP|+Board+Election&number=4
VOTE * VOTE * VOTE * VOTE * VOTE * VOTE * VOTE * VOTE
OAUA has put together discount packages for their members for auction
management services. http://www.auctionusers.org/discounts-am.shtml
OAUA has posted a forum for their upcoming Annual Meeting and Board
Elections. Make a difference in the OAI/OTI, join, and participate
http://www.auctionusers.org/forums/Forum4/HTML/000012.html
Interested in volunteering and serving the Online Auction Community?
Check out http://www.auctionusers.org/volunteerop.shtml
Live Chat
Thur 30 Aug 7 - 8 p.m. EST - OAUA Board Meeting
Thur 30 Aug - 9 p.m. EST - OAUA Chat - Topic - Chat with Ruby Lane -
Host Karen
Thur 6 Sep - OAUA Annual General Meeting, more information to follow
http://www.auctionusers.org
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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
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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 or websites.
TAGassist Contributors –
http://www.pantheus.com/
http://stores.andale.com/maestrommm
http://www.sacoriver.net/~archimedes/au01000.html
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