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TAGnotes Mon 29 Oct 2001 Vol 3 Number 108 Issue 369
 

The Auction Guild Notes for Mon 29 Oct 2001
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Detailed disaster contact information, disaster relief information and
links for contributions to the United Way, Red Cross, Salvation Army
etc. on the TAG website at
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=67
       * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
For quality, variety & great deals, shop the experienced auction
sellers of the EMPORIUM http://www.lynnet.com/~jmm/emporium.html
       * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Support the people who support TAGnotes. Click on their links, bid on
their auctions and buy their products. You too can participate in a Win
Win solution. Support TAG and promote your website or auctions. Seller
group ads also available. Subscribers Ads $5.00 - Commercial rates
available, email ta-@theauctionguild.com for details.
************************************************************
The TAGnotes archive is available in a searchable format at     
http://www.escribe.com/business/TAGnotes/
Interested in more information about TAG? Go to our website at
http://www.auctionguild.com You can find contact info for several sites
and services there, along with editorials and other information.
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On 25 Oct at 10:34:52 PT, ebaY posted that new user/ID registration was
down from 07:30 PT to 09:50 PT. As usual, many users posted problems
with cookies/sign in, relist and revise, all of which have been chronic
and ongoing for nearly two months.

On 26 Oct at 09:09:34 PT, users reported 4 plus minute loads and reloads
(with back button) on both the list item and revise pages. At 11:35:35
PT ebaY announced that once again that there were problems with the
Dutch auction bids. These auctions were displaying incorrect bid
amounts in the bid history section of the item page. This is related to
the earlier announced problem that some bid histories are displaying in
incorrect order. According to ebaY the problem appears to affect only
those Dutch listings submitted on or after Wed 24 Oct. If you are
running a Dutch Auction, consult the Winning Bidders section to
determine who the winning bidders are, rather than depending on the
"High Bidders" list for the auction. At 17:46:28 PT users reported
intermittent problems with search, showing incomplete results, or blank
pages. At 19:45:32 PT Web TV users posted that they could no longer
list or relist as they can't select sell to US only. Though they would
try to set U.S. only, when they scrolled down the page the select would
jump to sell internationally.

27 Oct brought a continuation of the constant user posts about problems
with cookies/sign in, relist and revise, all of which have been chronic
and ongoing for nearly two months. Several problems with Checkout
started to show up on the boards, with $0.00 amounts appearing in the
shipping block in cases where sellers had not opted to use Checkout.

On 28 Oct at 02:14:01 PT auctions in search were showing with an hour
remaining but when a prospective buyer would check the auction it was
closed. This appeared to be due to ebaY not managing the clock change
properly.   Users posted problems with cookies/sign in, relist and
revise, all of which have been chronic and ongoing for nearly two
months. At 03:20:58 PT sellers started to report that they were
receiving payments from buyers using Billpoint through Checkout though
the seller did not offer Billpoint as a payment option or opt in for
Checkout.

On 29 Oct the problems with Checkout, cookies sign in all continued. In
addition sellers reported problems with receiving a Billpoint limit
message when trying to list items. This was easily solved by
eliminating Billpoint from the sellers auctions completely, including
closing Billpoint accounts.

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.

Pink Quote of the Day 1 - in a conversation about the problems with
multiple sales in stores and the shortcomings of Checkout, Jerry@ebaY
at16:52 PT on 28 Oct said, "I can understand that new products can be
confusing -- especially during a transitional period. Unlike typical B&M
businesses, eBay sellers must be nimble to deal with an ever-changing
landscape. ... Regards, Jerry eBay Community Development Specialist"
TAG hopes sellers are nimble enough to close their Billpoint accounts
and move their auctions to other sites such as Yahoo Auctions.

Pink Quote of the Day 2 - On 29 Oct at 12:04:01 PT ebaY posted on their
MAB that, "Listings where the seller is only offering information on how
to buy a specific item outside of eBay compete against sellers who are
trying to sell that item directly on eBay. For example, a listing that
offers a URL on which a user can buy a particular digital camera for
$449 makes it hard for eBay sellers to get more than $449 when selling
that camera on eBay. Additionally, these types of listings can be
confusing for buyers who sometimes believe that they are purchasing the
actual item rather than just a URL for information. For these reasons,
we are now prohibiting the sale of URLs that provide buyers with
information on where to purchase items outside of eBay. This policy
change is effective on November 5th for all new listings.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-catcurrent.html
TAG found this incredible funny as it appears to be precipitated by an
auction placed by a seller on ebaY for a URL to ebaY's contact
information - that URL being the one on the TAG website. The auction
was ended by ebaY though no violation existed on the auction, and no
reason for ending the auction was provided to the seller. The listing
was at
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1655643827
The text of the auction can be found here
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=70

Despite ebaY's knowing they were going to implement their Checkout, ebaY
caught itself unaware, and failed to have versions of Mister Lister and
Seller's Assistant that are compatible with the new Checkout feature.
ebaY is still developing these and claims they are scheduled for release
shortly. Existing versions of Mister Lister should still work, but will
not support Checkout. New versions of Seller's Assistant Basic and Pro
with Checkout support will launch within a few weeks. Existing versions
of these tools will continue to work, but will not support Checkout.

ebaY has yet again revised their Travel policy to take into account the
distinction between the sale of air and sea travel versus the sale of
other travel related services. Under the revised policy, individuals or
companies not in the business of selling travel may sell an unused air
or sea related travel voucher or gift certificate of no more than one
trip per month. Individuals selling travel services other than air or
sea travel may offer gift certificates or coupons issued by a specific
provider of travel provided they are not travel club memberships or
"choice travel" coupons.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-travelvouchers.html

In May, ebaY disabled certain types of JavaScript on all ebaY pages
where text can be entered, including the Sell Your Item form and the
About Me pages. All JavaScript was disabled on the general chat boards.
The types of JavaScript that are not permitted:
** Scripts used to drop or read a cookie on any ebaY page
** Scripts that redirect the user from ebaY to another page (such as the
"replace" script);
** JavaScript Include and iframe.
Use of the disabled scripts will return an error message that begins:
"Disallowed Javascript/HTML Syntax". Any other JavaScript error
indicates a separate issue, and is not related to the disabling of these
scripts. ebaY only allows ebaY or their partners to put these kinds of
harmful scripts on their pages.

ebaY is allowing wine sales on ebaY core again. They are testing the
sale of wine for a trial period in a controlled environment with several
licensed, vetted sellers with the hope of opening the category to a
wider community of licensed sellers over the long term.   Each of the
selected companies have been properly vetted and are licensed in
accordance with all the applicable state and local rules, regulations
and laws. They have demonstrated an ability to comply with all the
shipping and fulfillment rules and regulations of each state.   ebaY is
creating a Wine sub-category in Food & Beverage in Home & Garden. For
the trial period, the licensed sellers will be the only User IDs able to
sell wine on ebaY. http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-alcohol.html
http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/wine.html

Unhappy with Checkout? Show your buyers you will have no part of it.
TAG has some logos for your auctions - Go to Gifs you can use on the TAG
site at
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=58
Also add you voice to that of hundreds of other ebaY sellers -
http://forums.ebay.com/dws?14@228.mbN5cF6Tl6M^-@.eed7f8f/0

If sellers do not want buyers using checkout to get their home addresses
and phone numbers, they must go to My ebaY, Edit Payment Address - and
delete the Phone number. Sellers must insure they save the changes and
double check to make sure the phone number is gone. Some users have
reported that they could not just delete the number, but has to provide
SOME number. You can either put zeros in for numbers, or go to the
ebaY contact page on TAG and substitute an ebaY contact number.   Buyers
must remove their phone number and modify their address as needed from
the Checkout form sent to the seller. If the buyer does not do this the
seller will receive the phone number the buyer used to register on ebaY
with. Threads on these problems
http://forums.ebay.com/dws?50@42.yRnAczQ0k73^-@.eedcde7

In ebaY's normal poor implementation of changes, there is a major
problem for ebaY with checkout and multiple item purchases in ebaY
stores. If a buyer uses checkout in stores, the initial contact will
not complete the sale and the item doesn't show as sold until the check
out feature is completed both seller and buyer. The seller receives the
buyer's email address and home address on the first email, so the seller
could simply complete the sale with the buyer directly rather that
having to go through several more steps to use the very confusing
Checkout. The seller can then go remove the sold items form the store,
and since Checkout will not show a completed transaction, they will not
collect commissions. ebaY will receive no fees on these transactions
until they fix this problem. It should also be noted that if a seller
accepts Billpoint, they will be charged a transaction fee on every
individual item, in addition to the percentages for the total, as ebaY
has no way to reflect multiple items being paid for in one transaction.
Another good reason to dump Billpoint
ebaY Checkout threaded boards -
http://forums.ebay.com/dws?14@1003360727392@.eed08f5

Businesswire.com at 3:09 29 Oct 01 ebaY Inc. Outlines Global Business
Strategy article outlines ebaY's company executives outlined plans for
growing the U.S. business across all of its categories and trading
formats. Plans are for rapidly expanding areas such as computers and
ebaY Motors. ebaY also described its next generation of fixed price
trading, called ebaY Express Buys, which will result from the upcoming
integration of Half.com into the ebaY platform along with the Buy It Now
feature and ebaY Stores. http://www.businesswire.com

TAG received a tip today that ebaY is dropping its much vaunted and
publicized sponsorship of The Antiques Roadshow after only 6 months.
Though this came from a really good source, TAG could not find any
information on this and has emailed the Antiques Roadshow for
confirmation.

ebaY posted about the limits for buyers and sellers when making a
purchase with ebaY's Billpoint.
**A seller is prevented from listing an item with Billpoint electronic
check and/or credit card if the minimum bid or reserve price is over the
seller's limits. For example, if a seller with an echeck limit of $200
and a credit card limit of $500 tries to list an item for $300, that
seller would not be able to list with electronic check. The seller would
receive an error message saying that electronic check is not available
over his Billpoint limit. The seller would not receive an error message
about listing with the credit card option, however.
**On the Item Listing page, ebaY is putting the Billpoint transaction
limits on the bottom of the page. This lets bidders know if Billpoint
will be available before the buyer tries to make the purchase.
***If the item price goes over the seller's transaction limit, the item
page will show that Billpoint (electronic check and/or credit card
options) is not available. All of the seller's other options will still
be available.
Billpoint limits for sellers are determined by how much business the
seller does, and not whether or not the buyer can afford the item. If a
buyer does a chargeback on a seller, ebaY's Billpoint wants to be sure
they can get their money back. Yet another reason not to offer
Billpoint.

Sellers can now buy a US flag icon for their auctions on ebaY Motors.
Though ebaY is tying this with Auction of America, TAG can not discern
how it will benefit any charities, as there is no contribution on either
ebaY's part nor one required by the seller in relation to this flag.   
ebaY suggests that any vehicle seller who adds a US Flag listing icon
also make a $100 donation to the Auction of America charitable
organization of their choice. The donation is not required and is only
suggested by ebaY. 100% of a $100 donation, if made, will go to the
charitable organization. This is only available for ebaY Motors
passenger vehicle listings. The icon will be removed when Auction for
America ends.

Netscape 4.78 is a version of Netscape that is said to work well with
ebaY and to provide a successful platform on which to relist and revise
auctions on ebaY.
http://home.netscape.com/download/0730101/10000-----_qual.html?cp=dowcomm


And for those of you who can use a chuckle -
http://forums.ebay.com/dws?50@13.rtg3c88Nopr^-@.eeddc40

Checkout logos on the TAG site Gifs You Can Use. TAG recommends you add
the HTML link to your auction at the location entry block - that way it
will be seen on the ended auction so buyers may see it before they press
the checkout button.
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=58

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
An off ebaY category number locator page
http://www.kinem.com/files/cat.htm

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
10/29/2001

Want to PERMANENTLY close an account on ebaY? go to
http://pages.ebay.com/help/basics/closedAccount.html

ebaY announcement board http://www2.ebay.com/aw/announce.shtml
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
g-module art gallery presents
Katia Santibanez : Jardins Artificiels
Mark Dean Veca : Toile de Brooklyn
October 5 - November 17, 2001
visit: http://www.g-module.com for documentation
g-module, 15, rue Debelleyme, 75003 Paris, France
Telephone 01 42 71 14 75       Fax 01 42 71 14 67 inf-@g-module.com
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Amazon Auctions, zShops and Marketplace
http://www.amazon.com

Announcement Board
http://prospero.amazon.com/n/mb/listsf.asp?webtag=am-sellannounce&nav=start&ctx=0


Amazon live telephone customer service 16 hours a day
Toll-free in U.S. and Canada: (800)201-7575
Auction Pro phone number 1-877-251-0696
http://auctions.amazon.com
* * * * *
Yahoo has added the previously announced Yahoo Warehouse.
http://warehouse.shopping.yahoo.com/
The fee schedule can be found at
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/warehouse/fees/fees-01.html
and ranges from a high of 10% for items closing at 1 cent to $50. to a
low of 5% for items over $500. Books, Music, Movies, and Video Games are
charged a FVF only based on the items selling price, no listing fee.
Computers and Electronics categories are calculated as a percentage of
the item's listed selling price plus the seller-defined shipping costs
Shipping fee credits are
Hardcover books Media Mail $2.23 Priority Mail $4.35
All other items Media Mail $1.78 Priority Mail $4.35
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/warehouse/sell/ship/ship-01.html

Yahoo will soon announce their new auction pricing
http://auctions.yahoo.com/
* * * * *
Carnaby.Com is having a Holiday Extravaganza. To participate, email
Carnaby at webma-@carnaby.com to let them know you are interested in
participating.
- The Event will start on 1 Nov
- Sellers can join the event through10 Nov
- Items for the event need to be listed with the "graduation" icon
selected
- No fees will be charged for event listings
- Include the text "Extravaganza" in your description **SPELLING
COUNTS**
- It is NOT necessary to mention the event in your item title
Carnaby will
- Make a public press release about the event
- Identify event listings in their browse pages with a special icon
- Rotate banners on the site's front page advertising the event
- Automatically add an html header to auctions listed for the event
- Provide a special search page for the event similar to their gift
center
- Default "gift center" searches to holiday event items
- Items will be searched by major category and price range from the
event
search page. The price breakdowns are:
Under 25.00; 25.01 - 50.00; 50.01 - 75.00; 75.01 - 100; 100.01 and up
-Sellers are limited to 50 event items at any given time
- Participants are encouraged to offer gift wrapping or other
incentives,
but it is not required
- Participants are asked not to use the buy now feature for event
listings
http://www.carnaby.com
* * * * *
Antique-Photography.com is a small niche auction site for all things
photographic. There are no listing fees, final value fees run $1-$500 =
4% (of the sale total); $500-$5000 = 3%; $5000 up = 2% Site has approx
700 auctions primarily stereographs, by one seller. There are very few
bids and even fewer sales, not unexpected in such a small site. The
site works well, pages came up quickly, site is nicely laid out and has
both a reading list and a reference list that should interest any
antique photo buff.
http://www.antique-photography.com/auctions/XcAuctionPro.asp
* * * * *
Artbusiness.com has lots of tips on how to buy art online, along with
lots of other art and artist information
http://www.artbusiness.com/index.html
* * * * *
Online Auction Users Association is holding a special election for a
Board of Directors Information on this special election can be found
here -
http://www.auctionusers.org/announce/special-election.shtml
http://www.auctionusers.org/forums/Forum22/HTML/000002.html
http://www.auctionusers.org/forums/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&forum=Special+Board+of+Directors+Election&number=22


The election begins at 12:01 AM PT on 3 Nov 2001 and ends at midnight
PT on 7 Nov 2001.    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
*************************************************************
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.antique-central.com

http://www.esnipe.com

http://www.longlocks.com
***********************************************************
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