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TAGnotes Thu 23 May 2002 Vol 4 Number 30 Issue 412

The Auction Guild Notes Thu 23 May 2002
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Quality, variety & great deals, shop the experienced EMPORIUM
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What $ells on eBay? Don't waste $$$ on items that don't sell.
Get 100+pages of eBay info only $4.95 Email julia-@aol.com
     * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Finished jewelry, jewelry making supplies, metaphysical, and
more. ebaY Id: rgmall, URL: http://www.rgshop.com Enjoy!!!
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This issue brought to you by the preceding subscriber ads,
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TAG does not endorse the companies or products advertised
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When will ebaY's next Free Listing Day be??? TAG is guessing the week
of June 17th, most likely on Tues 18 June or Thu 22 June. We feel they
will do a FLD at this time to improve their 2nd quarter numbers, in the
face of possible adoption problems with the forced implementation of
sell your item 2.0.
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The ebaY site was relatively stable for the five days covered by this
report for the second week running. All the ongoing problems continue,
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=32
including a new one caused by problems with Microsoft Passport (a
program we HIGHLY recommend our subscribers stay away from). On 19 May
at 21:08:27 PT users reported problems with bidding, as they were being
blocked by ebaY due to the malfunction of the Passport sign in. This
problem is ongoing.

On 20 May at 17:45:04 PT users reported My ebaY not working. To get it
to load users would have to refresh/reload several times.   At 18:14:54
PT users reported pages were loading slowly or timing out before
downloading.   At 19:06:23 PT users reported blank pages when trying to
access My ebaY.   The My ebaY problem continued through 21:10:37 PT.
Since My ebaY is now a critical function for bidders to access the
auctions they are watching/bidding on, TAG recommends all sellers who
feel their auctions were affected by the over three hour intermittent
malfunction of My ebaY, request refunds.

On 21 May 07:00:29 PT users reported the Seller's page on cgi 6 was
bringing up blank pages. At 09:22:47 PT users continued to complain
about Passport not working. Users reported site slowness at 17:50:19
PT.

On 22 May users reported at 20:35:15 PT that the accounts button on My
ebaY was not working.

ebaY is taking the system down for maintenance on Fri 24 May from 01:00
PT until 03:00 PT.

TAG STRONGLY recommends that, if a seller feels that any of the ebaY
outages and glitches appears to have negatively impacted the sale of any
of their auctions or listings of any type, request refunds. Don't pay
for service if you don't receive it.

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.
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=17
If you don't get your refunds complain to the BBB Online at
http://www.bbbsilicon.org/index.htm
And also file a complaint with the FTC
https://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.htm

Passport login workaround
1.) First, on any eBay web page, in the top right corner, click on the
link that will say either "Sign In" or "Sign Out".
2.) Without taking any action on that page, go immediately to this web
address:
http://cgi1.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ModifySignInPreferences
3.) On this page, you will be asked for your eBay ID and Password.
4.) You will then be taken to the page where you may choose that your
eBay User ID and Password be used.
5.) Make sure the box for 'use eBay sign in' is checked.
6.) Submit changes.

Passport users should also check their preferences as it appears that
Microsoft has opted all passport members into giving away their
marketing info and accepting SPAM.
http://forums.ebay.com/dwc?50@28.B5nodpFh4RV^-@.ef29bc4

-----------
Pink Quote of the Day 1 - From the Mercury article mentioned below, in a
revealing quote about the price increase that should get him fired,
"ebaY Chief Financial Officer Rajiv Dutta said the price increase was
intended partly to ``reduce clutter'' from what he termed ``marginal
sellers.''" Pierre allegedly had a vision that ebaY was the great
equalizer. Meg is constantly spouting off about how ebaY is user
focused and an open marketplace where all can sell their wares on an
equal footing, but the truth at ebaY HQ appears to be that the marginal
sellers with the clutter that BUILT ebaY in the first place are no
longer welcome and are being forced out with the rest of what ebaY sees
as garbage.   Meg can have her corporate sellers and deny she is turning
ebaY into a retail merchandising site all she likes, but ACTIONS speak
louder than words, and now we get to see the truth behind the action of
a fee increase made in the face of record breaking profits.
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/3292564.htm
-----------
Pink Quote of the Day 2 - As an answer? to speculation about the fate of
Mister Lister, Gianni@ebaY said on 22 May at 15:15:30 PT, "Hello..... To
clear up some confusion regarding Mister Lister...... eBay is always
contemplating ways to improve the site and the experience for sellers
and buyers..... making enhancements to the Mister Lister feature are
such ideas, but nothing is definitive as of yet..... As we learned with
Checkout, new features should be optional and like we have implemented
with SYI 2.0, features that proceed will have durations of periods where
old features are available as well as the new enhancements..... I have
no information to provide about any Mister Lister updates, but as
always, if we change something, it can be found on the Announcement
Board. Thanks *poof*" TAG was a bit startled that a post like this came
from Gianni, as he tends to be a relatively more straightforward pink.
Usually if he does not have an answer, or can't answer a question
honestly, he says so. Gianni said, " As we learned with Checkout", but
ebaY does not appear to have learned anything from Checkout. If they
had, use of SYI 2.0 would be completely optional, now and for the
foreseeable future. We are not sure WHAT all of his tap dance
obfuscation post means, but words such as "making enhancements" and
"nothing is definitive" usually means something that will be unpalatable
to sellers in increased fees or reduced functions. With SYI 2.0 being
forced on sellers, no matter how many of them express their dislike of
it, Mister Lister has remained the light in the tunnel. Is ebaY going
to turn that light off? No response yet from ebaY on a translation.

-----------
Board Posts of the Day - ebaY in a nutshell, posted by theomatic 23 May
at 06:20:11 PT, "I've been observing a pair of Sparrows and Starlings
for the last 6 or 7 weeks as they start their families for the season in
the back of a 5 meter dish outside the side door at work. They *love* to
nest in the framework on the backside of the dish in the framework out
of the weather. 2 weeks of tirelessly carrying straw, twigs, and trash
to carefully prepare their nest, 2 weeks of relative silence while the
eggs are laid and kept warm, taking turns on the nest. Then, the last 3
weeks bustin their wings bringing food back to the chicks, trip after
trip, taking turns, 16 hours a day... life is good. About an hour ago I
stepped outside in time to see a Crow raiding the nests and flying away
with a chick in it's mouth while Mommy and Daddy Starling and Sparrow
watched helplessly perched on a microwave tower about 15 feet away. Now
they're gone and have abandoned the nests just minutes later, everything
they worked for destroyed, and it made me think.... If eBay was a bird,
it would be a Crow." Posted by redbird107 at 06:26:05 PT
... Theo...sad story, but I'll betcha those sparrows and starlings
headed right out to find a new spot to build a nest and get started all
over again............eBay is sending lots of little birdies to TOP
[sellyouritem.com-ed] to start a new nest all over again. This birdie is
one of them......"   Posted by rj-@airmail.net at 06:32:08 PT, "Normal
people believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Ebay believes that
if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet." Watch out the
crow is coming back.....again & again!"

-----------
A San Jose Mercury article, gave an interesting view of ebaY. Meg
Whitman was quoted as saying that "She insists Amazon is a merchandiser,
eBay is a marketplace." But TAG sees all her moves as trying to turn
what WAS a marketplace into a merchandiser and Amazon turning more TO a
marketplace as they see more of their income being generated from person
to person sales through the Amazon Marketplace - slated for expansion
this year. Info from the article shows that 60% of ebaY sales are from
collectibles, and everyday items and 81% of sales are auction not fixed
price.
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/3292564.htm
-----------

Mister Lister has a new version ready for download as of 19 May, Version
2.8.19.48 Attributes 1.1.1    The version will change to 2.8.19.48
Attributes 1.1.1 when you force a categories update after the initial
install. Mister Lister is now compatible with the new IPIX ActiveX
Control (pwactiveximgctl.dll), and should resolve the "runtime error
372" issue. http://pages.ebay.com/services/buyandsell/composer-info.html

-----------
ebaY has added new home auctions. Article on subject at -
http://news.com.com/2100-1017-918161.html

-----------
Half.Com is discontinuing its SellPhone service as of 24 May. Once
SellPhone has been discontinued, users will no longer be able to list
products or get product detail through the SellPhone service. Any items
have listed via SellPhone prior to that date will continue to be
displayed at Half.com and it will not affect any of those listings.

-----------
ebaY posted what appears to TAG to be a pure propaganda notice about
Sell Your Item 2.0. ebaY claims that SYI 2.0 has great acceptance by
users and is favored by 9 out of 10 users. Board postings show a much
different picture, with the multipaged listing form even more despised
that the megabyte overweight, code kludged current sell your item form.


Even ebaY admits that sellers have used SYI 2.0 for only 1.5 million
auctions, despite ebaY's constant barrage of advertising, and promotion
of the form since Feb. So despite protests to the contrary ebaY will
impose SYI 2.0 in late June, if sellers want it or not. The old listing
form will still be available for a brief time. Sellers who want to
continue using the older form until it is discontinued completely must
bookmark it now. the old Sell Your Item form during this transitional
period. SYI 2.0 has already replaced the old form on the ebaY
international sites, and is the default form on ebaY Motors and in
several categories on the U.S. site. Users post never ending complaints
about it, but that never stopped ebaY.

Jerry@ebaY has been running a thread asking about the SYI2.0 form.
Record your opinion at -
http://forums.ebay.com/dwc?50@194.KC1EdlpL6a4^-@.ef298fe

-----------
ebaY has a page with hints on protecting your account, and ALL users
should check it. TAG often hears from users that they can't remember
these complicated passwords and recommends an easy to remember but
nearly impossible to crack method. Combine two or more parts of the
names of your children, pets, siblings, parents, spouses or etc. So if
your first husbands name was Marshall, and your second husbands name was
Jeffrey, use marjef. You will remember it but no one else will be able
to figure it out. Confuse it more by adding mar1jef2. For ebaY's
suggestions go to -
http://www.pages.ebay.com/help/account_protection.html

-----------
ebaY has moved the "last updated" info down to the center bottom of the
pages in category search

-----------
Ongoing Issues and Information
--------------------------------------
See the TAG website for miscellaneous ebaY info at -
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic91.html

Is Checkout interfering with your online business? Is the new
search slowing down your sales? You pay ebaY for services, so file a
complaint against ebaY with the Better Business Bureau, the FTC and or
The Consumer Trouble Shooter.
http://www.troubleshooter.com/data/access.html
BBB Online - http://www.bbbsilicon.org
FTC - https://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.htm
FBI's Internet Fraud Complaint Center at: http://www.ifccfbi.gov/

ebaY CONTACT for ebaY, ebaY UK, Billpoint, Half.Com, information
including analog mail and email addresses, phone numbers, regular and
toll free, refund info, close account info, and insider trading info etc
can be found at
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=17

* * * * *
Yahoo Auction/Warehouse/Classifieds (YA) - Yahoo! Inc sent out a press
release on a major change in Yahoo Auctions European sites. Yahoo! Inc
has sold out their Yahoo Auction European properties in the UK, Ireland,
France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Yahoo! Inc will suspend auctions on
these sites in the next few weeks and close them down. Yahoo! Inc is
selling ebaY a marketing package that will include banner
advertisements, text links and other online advertising tools in
addition to making ebaY the preferred online auction service on Yahoo!
in these countries. Yahoo Auctions remain in Denmark, Sweden, Norway,
Japan and the US and Canada.

TAG speculates that Yahoo! Inc might find it more profitable to sell
ebaY it's very successful YA Japan, as a package with the balance of its
auction sites, then get ebaY to pay Yahoo! Inc for advertising, whilst
Yahoo! Inc continues to build it's shopping and other more financially
successful ventures.

For current Yahoo Auction users in the soon to be abandoned countries,
be sure to take a look at QXL.Com auctions for a possible alternative to
ebaY.
http://www.qxl.com/cgi-bin/qxlhome.cgi/EN/GBP--QXL/
QXL/Ricardo has sites in the UK, France, Italy, Belgium, Denmark,
Germany, Spain, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and
Switzerland.

As of 24Mar02 Yahoo Auctions had 369,748 listings on their site
As of 19Apr02 Yahoo Auctions had 329,060 (-40,688)
As of 7May02 Yahoo Auctions had 316,720 (-12,340)
Yahoo Auction counts brought to you by
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/copper-maven/
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Ongoing Issues -
------------------
YA allows links to your website in your auctions. Their policy for
links in auctions is at -
http://auctions.yahoo.com/phtml/auc/us/legal/linking_policy.html

How to get help on Yahoo and Yahoo Auctions
Yahoo Help Central - http://help.yahoo.com/
Yahoo Auction Online Help Pages -
http://help.yahoo.com/help/auctions/
Contact YA for help -
http://add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/auct/cgi_feedback
Auction Abuse help -
http://add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/auct/cgi_abuse
Copyright infringement Help -
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/copyright/copyright.html

Yahoo contact Information
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=38
http://auctions.yahoo.com/

* * * * *
Amazon Auctions, zShops and Marketplace -
Users reported that during the recent outages and maintenance periods,
Amazon rescheduled auctions per their outage policy, but it appears that
they set the clock back rather than forward on some or all auctions.
Auctions were set to end an hour earlier than they should have after
extensions were put in place. Users report that Amazon support has
alternately confirmed and denied resetting the times.

On 21May 18:31 PT Amazon posted that sellers were receiving an error
when attempting to create refunds for Amazon Payments transactions. If
the seller received an error when trying to give a refund the refund did
not take place.

On 22 May at 14:27 PT Amazon announced they had fixed the problem with
sellers being unable to select expedited or international shipping when
editing listings. At 15:21 PT Amazon announced they had fixed the
refund problem. At 18:27 PT Amazon announced that they had fixed the
problem with sellers not being able to post comments to their own
feedback display. At 21:49 Amazon posted that they took the site down
for maintenance, so that Marketplace items were not purchasable. Seller
payments were also down.

---------
Two issues of concern for sellers are emerging on Amazon. The first
concern, is that Amazon has intermittent ongoing rolling blackouts, were
not all the sellers listings are visible on the Amazon site at all
times. A thread on the subject can be found at -
http://forums.prosperotechnologies.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag
=am-sellconnect&msg=5171.298

The second issue is that when a seller lists a book that sells at a high
profit margin, when the seller sells two or three copies of such a
title, Amazon would jump in and stock and sell the same item. This uses
the seller as a test marketing tool for Amazon, where the seller
identifies a need and Amazon exploits it at the expense of the seller.
http://forums.prosperotechnologies.com/am-sellconnect/messages?msg=5171.296

---------
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

* * * * *
Sellyouritem.com (SYI) on 21 May at 17:11 ET posted they have added to,
revised and revamped the site categories. To view the changes go to -
http://www.sellyouritem.com/ViewAnnouncements.html

The SYI Sports and Trading card Lounge holds a weekly Sports Trivia
Contest Prizes awarded to the who correctly answer the Sports Trivia
Prize question first. To find out when the quiz will take place and
what the prizes will be, watch for postings on -
http://www.sellyouritem.com/Lounge.html?RoomID=10&Button=View

SellYourItem has a live support board at -
http://www.sellyouritem.com/Lounge.html?RoomID=3&Button=View

SellYourItem also has a Wanted Board at -
http://www.sellyouritem.com/Lounge.html?RoomID=2&Button=View

Sugges-@SellYourItem.com - for site improvements or features.
Categ-@SellYourItem.com - for Category Additions.
Supp-@SellYourItem.com - for questions about using the site

http://www.sellyouritem.com
* * * * *
Internet Traffic report - view if there are roadblocks to accessing
sites and where they are.
http://www.internettrafficreport.com/cgi-bin/tr_chartpage.pl?NorthAmerica

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TAG Subscribers often contribute information reported on in
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TAGassist Contributors

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