Home   |  TAGnotes   |   TAGblog   |   TAGchat   |   Services   |   Fraud   |  Contact Us   |   Site Map
 
 
Back
TAGnotes Mon 16 Sep 2002 Vol 4 Number 47 Issue 429
 

The Auction Guild Notes Mon 16 Sep 2002
************************************************************
Chocomagic - Gourmet cookies, cakes & desserts on demand!
http://chocomagic.net
     * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
LEGAL SERVICES for Pennies a Day! Unlimited Consultations,
Letters, Wills+More! Call 866-404-2002 pre-pai-@attbi.com
     * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Discover the Secrets of 25 Successful eBayPowerSellers in their
own words at http://powersellerinterviews.com/ebook/index.html
     * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
$2sday launched EVERY Tuesday. Bidding starts at
$2 NO RESERVE!! http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/$2sday
     * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
OVER 14,000 Postcards; 5,000+ starting at JUST $1.00!
http://www.passionforpostcards.com
     * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
$Buck98 Ends Today!!! Bidding starts at $1.98 with
No Reserve! http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/$buck98/
     * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Looking for a Clean Reliable Car? Check out our
: http://www.freshfloridacars.com
     * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Need a GOOD wholesaler? Want to save money yourself?
CLICK: http://www.shophenrietta.com/AGS.html
     * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This issue brought to you by the preceding subscriber ads,
supporting TAG through their advertising dollars. Please support
them, by clicking on or copy/pasting their links and buying their
products.
TAG does not endorse the companies or products advertised

************************************************************
Please excuse the infrequency of TAGnotes as our editor has
had increased army duty since the end of July. This will continue
through the end of October. In addition, the tag@theauctionguild
email address was down on 15 Sep. If you had a message
bounced back, please resend it. We apologize for the problems
these things might cause.

************************************************************
*** FREE LISTING DAY on Yahoo US Wed 18 Sep 2002 ***
* FREE LISTING DAY on ebaY Canada Wed 18 Sep 2002 *

Penny Gallery Day on ebaY DE Tue 17 Sep 2002
Penny Gallery Day on ebaY US Thu 19 Sep 2002
************************************************************

ebaY - On 7 Sep at 07:27:54 PT sellers continued to post that
sold items were showing in the unsold section of My ebaY. At
10:32:25 PT users reported receiving error messages when
trying to access the site. Though looking like the start of a crash,
this did not last long. At 12:18:45 PT sellers reported that, the
lack of the reserve price in My ebaY was a great inconvenience
and ebaY should return this function. Currently the only way to
check the reserve on a closed auction is to start a relist on it, if
the relist function is working.

On 8 Sep at 08:22:12 PT users reported that ebaY code changes
made their third party service provider programs fail. At 12:04:25
PT users once again posted pleas to ebaY to restore My ebaY
features including how many items reached reserve and the
reserve price. On 11:51:22 PT ebaY posted that Title search was
down from 11:13 PT until 11:47 PT.

On 9 Sep at 04:09:51 PT users posted that accessing the ebaY
site was causing their computer to crash. At 04:32:54 PT users
reported that changes in ebaY coding were once again causing
users problems with their third party service providers. At
07:35:04 PT users reported the ebaY email system was not
working. Users trying to send email received, "Warning: Unable
to email" messages. At 08:00:18 PT users reported that their
auction counters were not displaying and the manage counters
link was yielding 404 error messages.    At 11:19:42 PT sellers
reported problems posting listings. The listing page was not
accepting images. At 12:17:21 PT users noted they could not
access completeds, receiving messages that recently closed
items were "invalid".   Users also reported problems with the
feedback forum. At 12:19:22 PT ebaY reported that, the ability to
view completed items was down. At 12:25:44 PT users
continued to report completeds down. At 12:40:04 PT users
noted completed items continued non functional. At 13:25:32 PT
ebaY reported that, the ability to view completed items was down
from 12:04 PT to 12:20 PT. At 13:32:38 PT users reported that
completeds were once again accessible, an hour later than
ebaY reported their restoration. The feedback system was also
back up.   At 15:25:35 PT users reported that title indexing was 8
hours behind.   At 18:21:30 PT a seller trying to list items for the
first time in 6 weeks, and using Mister Lister, received a
message saying, "You have reached one or more weekly limits
on sales activity for your account. Please see the "Additional
Verification" link in the selling tab of My eBay for information on
increasing your limits. " This was a new one on TAG. At
19:22:08 PT users reported problems using Mister Lister,
receiving redundant errors. At 19:46:05 PT users reported
receiving 405 errors.

On 10 Sep at 02:08:11 PT sellers reported problems with SYI2.0.
When trying to check descriptions, users received an internet
explore scrip error page, and all data in the listing was lost. At
07:43:22 PT buyers reported keyword search was down,
preventing them from finding and buying items. This did not
appear to be affecting all users. At 18:40:11 PT sellers again
reported sold items showing in the unsold section of My ebaY.
At 19:13:19 PT sellers tried to download and use the new Turbo
Lister, the Mister Lister replacement. Turbo Lister (TL) would not
import Mister Lister postings, causing TL to crash. At 19:14:49
PT one seller reported being able to list items using TL and
importing from Mister Lister.   At 22:32:14 PT search results with
multiple pages only opened 5 of the 9 pages returned.   

On 11 Sep ebaY posted a very tasteful 11 Sep tribute on their
home page, following the advice of their users to not exploit the
anniversary of 11 Sep, as they did the original event. They also
posted a board where ebaY users could share comments about
11 Sep, as suggested by a user on the DNF board. TAG thinks it
was good for ebaY to show restraint and to listen to users. TAG
hopes they extend this rare flash of good sense to other areas,
such as the complete revamping of SYI2.0 to a fully customizable
one page listing form, and to making search useable again. At
04:22:53 PT buyers were having difficulty with logging in. The
site would not hold their password whilst bidding, causing
sniping failures.   At 09:49:57 PT users posted about how cost
ineffective Turbo Lister (TL) was providing a comparison that to
schedule 50 items per day using TL for the next 40 days would
cost $200.00 but to schedule 50 items per day using Mister
Lister and the Vrane.Com scheduler for the next 40 days would
cost $19.44. At 18:07:49 PT buyers reported that the ability to
view items was down. At 18:11:08 PT the ability to view items
was still down. At 18:16:56 PT sellers reported not being able to
view their own items, and bidders reported they could not view
items and bid. Some users could not access seller's lists.
These problems appeared intermittent and did not affect all
users. At 18:21:12 PT users reported the problem was resolved,
and access was once again available. At 18:51:28 PT users
continued to report having to sign in multiple times as they
received "invalid password" messages on the first attempts. At
19:21:50 PT established sellers could not sign in to sell,
receiving login errors, though they had access to all other areas,
even those requiring sign in. At 23:49:50 PT users posted
thanks for the tasteful ebaY home page and the 911 memorial
board. Users also expressed appreciation for the revised
registration form, finding it simple and easy to use.

On 12 Sep at 07:24:30 PT sellers reported they were unable to
revise items receiving messages that the item has "received
bids while you were revising and/or has less than 12 hours left"
neither situation being true. This has been happening
intermittently for several weeks. At 11:58:15 PT users reported
problems downloading Turbo Lister (TL).   At 14:27:11 PT users
reported the TL download problems persisted.   At 14:44:14 PT
sellers reported TL was "incredibly slow", that you can't step from
one item to the next as you can in Mister Lister, and that the user
interface is ugly. At 17:09:58 PT sellers reported they could not
make a one time payment to pay their ebaY bill, as it would not
accept the amount. Some users reported that they were once
again receiving ebaY status emails, missing since 5 Sep.

ebaY took their site down for maintenance from approx 01:00 PT
until approx 03:00 PT on Fri 13 Sep. At 04:47:49 PT users
reported problems with search.   At 10:11:05 PT users reported
problems with the feedback on My ebaY pages only downloading
half way. At 10:59:43 PT users reported page loads very slow. At
11:43:59 PT users were once again reporting the My ebaY page
had corrupted computer internet setting, forcing users to
readjust their browser preferences in order to view My ebaY. At
16:23:54 PT ebaY reported that the ability to leave and view
feedback was down from 15:48 PT to 16:15 PT. At 16:30:21 PT
ebaY posted that listing was down on their site on the old listing
form and SYI2.0 from 15:48 PT to 16:15 PT. At 15:26:08 PT
users reported that the ebaY site was not functioning with
Internet Explorer. At 20:14:07 PT sellers reported problems with
Turbo Lister and noted how much more complex and inefficient
TL is as compared to Mister Lister.

On 14 Sep at 12:49:23 PT users received "Page not found"
messages whilst trying to access ebaY. At 18:49:51 PT users
continued to report that they were getting zero search results on
commonly listed items, taking two or three resubmission of the
same search to eventually return results. This problem has
been going on intermittently for many months. At 18:57:59 PT
users reported that, attempts to access My ebaY returned "server
cannot be located" messages. At 19:02:03 PT the Opera
browser was reported by users as totally non-functional, the
Mozilla and MSIE browsers appeared unaffected.   At 21:08:41
PT sellers reported input errors whilst trying to list. Items were
listing without descriptions or images.   WebTV users reported
having problems with using search to find items.

On 15 Sep at 18:15:55 PT sellers could not use the "Insurance
included in S&H" option on their listings.   Even after selecting
this option the auction showed "Not offered". At 19:25:28 PT
users reported problems with search. Search was again
retuning zero items on searches habitually returning hundreds of
items. Seller search was returning Error 400 messages "Bad
Request Due to malformed syntax."

On 16 Sep Sep at 05:02:04 PT users reported the search engine
was requiring two to three submissions of the same search to
actually get a result.   At 12:42:22 PT users reported My ebaY
was down, yielding "page cannot be displayed" messages. At
12:46:36 PT attempts to post on the chat boards returned "page cannot be
displayed" messages. At 12:58:53 PT attempts to post returned "Input
Error There was an error in your input. Please go back and ensure that
all fields are properly filled in" messages. At 13:04:05 PT completed
search went down, "ArchivedItemsHost items are currently unavailable".
At 13:07:56 PT users reported seller search down, and at 13:08:09 PT the
feedback system was not working with all users shown as "no longer
registered". At 13:08:30 PT more users reported My ebaY down giving
page not found and input error messages. At 13:08:55 PT users reported
widespread errors across the site. At 13:09:24 PT sellers reported they
could not list or relist. At 13:12:08 PT all functions crashed. At
13:12:59 PT site wide, users received "function currently unavailable"
with problems unabated through 13:17:30 PT. ebaY posted at 13:17:41 PT
that gallery images were down from 12:53 PT to 13:05 PT.   At 13:18:05
PT users continued to have site access problems, and reported search
would come up but very slowly. At 13:18:44 PT a user trying to access a
recently closed auction reported all the closed auctions were gone from
My ebaY. At 13:19:05 PT buyers posted they could not bid. At 13:26:09
PT users continued to post about widespread outages. At 13:35:49 PT
ebaY posted that the ability to register a new account, pay an ebaY
account with a credit card, view or change an account was down from
12:40 PT to 13:30 PT. At 13:41:01 PT users reported code 500 (Internal
Server Error) Connection reset by peer messages as the site continued to
be non functional.   At 13:41:02 PT ebaY
acknowledged that the ability to view ended items more than two
days old was down from 12:49 PT to 13:25 PT. At 13:58:27 PT
users reported trying to download Turbo Lister and failing. The
ebaY site was back at 14:34:08 after a 1 hour 51 minute outage,
unacknowledged and unreported by ebaY. At 16:16:56 PT ebaY
posted that users could not sign in from 16:00 PT to 16:13 PT. At
16:45:02 PDT a seller reported clicking on the sell my item link
from My ebaY caused the whole ebaY page to disappear and
kick the seller out. At 19:38:08 PT users reported the ebaY CA
image server was down, and ebaY hosted images were not
showing on auctions.

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 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=17
Don't take NO for an answer, keep requesting until you get them.
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

-----------
Pink Quote of the Day - In a blatant violation of the ebaY board
posting policy and what turned out to be another ebaY PR
nightmare, Moira@ebaY posted on 12 Sep at 16:29 PT, "Buy
Your eBay Gear A partner of eBay is now selling official eBay
gear. If you are curious, please have a look at the announcement
board.   Moira eBay International". Within a few hours it was
shown that this ebaY partner had shilled their auctions and had
feedback padded the account, was in violation of all ebaY's
choice rules and had lied and cheated. By 16 Sep, vociferous
protest by users closed this ebaY Partner in Scam down,
another ebaY partner following ebaY's 'lead by example'
methodology. Brings to mind the Kruse CarsOnline Scam. ebaY
never learns.
http://forums.ebay.ca/dws?14@94.UMOdf788FVO^-@.ef788a2/0

-----------
Board Post of the Day - We laughed at this - in a conversation
about auction TOS, this was posted by manuals2go.com on 28
Aug at 06:54:37 PT, "Please read my terms of sale carefully or
negative feedback will result..... BIDDING..... You are bidding in
Lithuanian Ruples and their value fluctuates every 45 seconds
so please bid carefully. I reserve the right to cancel bids from
anyone with less than 3000 positive feedback. PAYMENT... I do not accept
Paypal, Billpoint, Bidpay, Credit cards, Checks, Money Orders or Cash.
If payment is not received within 11 hours, 32 minutes and 12 seconds;
the item will be relisted. SHIPPING....... Shipping costs will be the
cube root of the final bid amount multiplied by the current Dow Jones
index. I do not ship to foreign countries or states that have the death
penalty. I only ship on the first of the month in those months that do
not end in Y. Please feel free to contact me with any questions...
however; I have 3217 filters on my email so it's unlikely you'll hear
back from me ......Happy Bidding."

BPOD II posted by marginally*marginal on 9 Sep at 16:27:53 PT
in a conversation about how bad SYI2.0 is, "... Let me guess: SYI
2.0 sucks so much because it takes you twice as long to list half
as much? Haven't you heard? eBay claims it's easier and (get
this!) *faster* and 9 out of 10 people they surveyed say they like it
better. Of course, those 9 people are now in the eBay Survey
Focus Group Witless Protection Program, and are unavailable
for comment."

-----------
ebaY CA is holding a Free Listing Day on Wednesday 18 Sep for
both Auctions and Store items listed on ebaY CA. Items listed in
Canadian Dollars between 12:00:01AM EDT and 11:59:59PM
EDT on Wednesday 18 Sep will be free to list. ebaY CA will still
charge Reserve and Final Value fees.

There is no specific mention of Fixed Price or Buy it Now auction
items mentioned - but they are not excluded in the info page
either - the bottom of the page says "Remember, on
September 18th, every listing is FREE."
*Listings are free for all categories including eBay.ca Motors and
eBay.ca Stores - Excluding Real Estate.
*ebaY will charge regular fees for final value fees, optional home
page featured, featured plus, highlight, bold, gallery etc. Double
categories are not mentioned.
* You MUST list in Canadian Dollars (though you may express a
preference for US dollars). You must be willing to ship to the CA,
list on the CA site (just use your regular ebaY registration info for
whatever country you list in - you do NOT need to register again
on ebaY CA). You must check off the option to list the items in
the US also if you want your US buyers to see them, or you can list them
internationally so they show on all sites. For more info go to -
http://www.ebay.ca/promos/freelist.html

-----------
ebaY is holding a Penny Gallery Day on the ebaY U.S. on Thu 19
Sep from 00:00:01 PT (12:00 AM plus one second) until 23:59:59
PT (11:59 PM plus 59 seconds). Gallery fees (only) for regular
auction listings, ebaY Motors non-vehicles listings, Real Estate
listings and 30-day Store Inventory listings will be $0.01 on the
U.S. site. The Gallery fee will also be reduced in Picture Pack.
Picture Pack, regularly priced at $1.00, will be $0.76 on Penny
Gallery Day for 60, 90 and 120 day Store Inventory listings.   

ebaY Motors vehicle listings, Sothebys.com, Live Auction,
International, and Professional Services listings are excluded.
ebaY will charge full gallery featured fees. and all other fees (all
insertion fees, all Final Value Fees and all other optional listing
fees, such as Buy It Now, Featured Plus!, Highlight, Bold,
extended duration insertion fees, etc…). Sellers can not revise a
current listing to add the gallery option on Penny Gallery Day
either.

During the Penny Gallery Day, you may list using the Sell Your
Item form, Mister Lister, Turbo Lister, Seller's Assistant Basic
and Pro, and the ebaY API. If you use third party software or
online services, check and make sure your credits show as you
list.

-----------
On 14 Sep ebaY users discovered that ebaY partner
Sotheby's.com was illegally charging a 3% fee for buyers using
PayPal to purchase items. This information was posted on the
ebaY chat boards and was reported to ebaY. As of 16 Sep
Sotheby's has removed this illegal charge from their auctions.
Sotheby charges a 15% buyers premium. Another ebaY partner
without a clue. Who is training these folks? ebaY?

-----------
On 1 Oct 02 Half.com will charge sellers a fee of $1.50 to sellers
who elect to be paid by check. Each check sent from Half.com
will have the fee already deducted. For example, if you were to
receive a check in the amount of $44.55, you would now be paid
$43.05. To avoid this fee you can sign up for direct deposit. TAG
recommends you set up a separate account, apart from all your
normal banking, if you are going to do this. ebaY has been
known to cause problems with bank accounts, withdrawing
money when they shouldn't, and putting accounts into default.

-----------
Is ebaY SCAMMING PowerSellers on Direct Pay Rebates?
When ebaY tried to promote its Direct Pay option to
PowerSellers, ebaY offered to pay a 1% per month rebate on
their bills. As of Sep, TAG has heard that no PowerSellers have
received their rebate. Is ebaY stealing this money? Lying to
PowerSellers? Holding on to this money and collecting interest
on it themselves instead of giving it to the Power Sellers as
promised? All of the above?

TAG does not recommend Direct Pay under any circumstances
because ebaY is not to be trusted with seller's checking
accounts, as they have shown in several instances. This fee
rebate does appear very attractive, but not if it is just another
ebaY SCAM. If sellers do sign up for Direct Pay, they should do
so with a checking account completely separate from all their
normal banking.

-----------
If you have an old bookmark for the completed page, you will
need to set your bookmark to -
http://listings.ebay.com/aw/listings/list/all/category353/completed
.html

ebaY is changing the URLs of My ebaY pages, so users will
have to re-bookmark these pages to retain direct access.

-----------
ebaY has again posted warnings against email scammers.
These are rampant on ebaY and PayPal, but can come from
anywhere.

*ebaY will never ask you for your private information, such as
credit card information or your account password, in an email.
*ebaY will never send you any request or solicitation from a
non-ebaY email account or provide a link outside of ebaY for
entering credit card or other private information.
*ebaY will never ask you to download a file in an email.

Check the headers for authenticity and copy the link in the email
to your clipboard and then into notepad. Check the link to see if it
is legitimate. If it does look real, DO NOT use the email link, but
go directly to the website and log in to review/change any
information. NEVER use the email link. If it is not legit, or you
are not sure, forward the email to sp-@ebay.com so they can
investigate it.

To be sure that you are signing into a genuine ebaY Web site,
look at the Address/Location area of your browser. At a genuine
ebaY.com sign-in or log-in page, the URL that appears in the
Address/Location area of your browser will begin with
"http://cgi.ebay.com/". Pay close attention to all characters in the
address, including the forward slash (/) that follows "ebaY.com".
Even if the Address/Location includes the word "ebaY", it may not
be a genuine ebaY website. For more info on the URLs used on
ebaY web pages go to -
http://pages.ebay.com/help/account_protection.html

-----------
For users who have suffered various ebaY breach of contract
violations there is recourse. If you have tried to get satisfaction
from ebaY on your complaint without success, you can file a
"Demand for Arbitration" complaint. You can download the form
at this link - http://snipurl.com/24t

TAG has heard, you can file this complaint with any American
Arbitration Association (AAA) office across the country but ebaY
requires the complaint be heard in San Jose.

Recent court rulings against PayPal's arbitration requirements
should also apply to ebaY, who has an arbitration policy at least
as restrictive as PayPal's. Courts are turning down corporation
restrictions on customer recourse, as they are too one sided.
(see articles referenced in PayPal section)

-----------
ebaY has changed their policy on listing catalogs and added a
new compilation and informational media policy.   In a violation
of their 30 day notice rules, both policies became effective on 9
Sep, though currently listed items will be able to complete.

The catalog policy prohibits sellers of collectible catalogs from
listing the subjects the catalog covers in the title or description,
so sellers are prevented from fully describing their item.   For the
changed policy go to -
http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-catcurrent.html

The compilation and informational media policy also limits the
sellers ability to describe their item. In this case, ebaY appears
to be going after the sale of CDs that are listed in inappropriate
categories and are keyword spammed all over the site. Sellers
are now prohibited from using a long lists of key words in the
description.   If applied properly, and not abused by ebaY, this
change might in TAG's view, be a positive one.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-compilation.html

-----------
ebaY has launched its bulk loader, Turbo Lister (TL), to mixed
reviews. TAG is unsure if the complaints are completely due to
ebaY making something that was simple and worked well, into
something too complex, multi paged and time consuming, or if
the issues are learning curve related. It is probably a combination of
both

ebaY TL is free to download and use but if a seller wants to
schedule auctions it costs a very overpriced 10 cents per listing.

The first version of TL will not support uploading to ebaY Motors,
ebaY Real Estate, ebaY Live , or Sothebys.com. Nor does it work
with Macintosh or Linux systems.

ebaY TL will eventually replace Mister Lister (ML). ebaY
promises at least 90 days notice before support for ML is
discontinued. ML will continue to be fully supported until at least
early 2003.

For more info about TL, download the program or give feedback
about it go to    http://pages.ebay.com/turbo_lister

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

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
************************************************************
************************************************************
vernissage à 3:    
Angie Drakopolous   Open Now - 12 October

g-module 15 rue debelleyme 75003 Paris
http://www.g-module.com
t - 01 42 71 14 75      f - 01 42 71 14 67
************************************************************
************************************************************
Amazon , zShops and Marketplace - On 11 Sep posted at 17:51
PT that payment transactions were taking longer than usual to complete
processing. Amazon warns sellers not to ship until the
completed status appears in Seller Account information, or until
"Sold--Ship Now!" e-mail is received. Amazon did not post an
update to say if this problem had been fixed.

---------
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
NEW! Amazon Contact Info Page on TAG website -
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic97.html
http://.amazon.com

* * * * *
Yahoo Auction/Warehouse/Classifieds (YA) - is holding a Free
Listing Day Wed 18 Sep. Items listed between 00:01 PT (12:01am) and
23:59 PT (11:59pm) on 18 Sep will not be subject to listing fees. All
other fees apply.
http://auctions.yahoo.com/phtml/auc/us/promo/announcements.
html

---------
As of 6Aug02 Yahoo had 261,084 (-30337)
As of 23Aug02 Yahoo had 269,875 (+8791)
As of 15Sep02 Yahoo had 265,155 (-4720)
Yahoo Auction counts brought to you by
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/copper-maven/
-----------------
Ongoing Issues -
------------------

Yahoo Contact Information
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=38

Yahoo Customer Support form
http://add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/auct/cgi_feedback
http://.yahoo.com/

* * * * *
SellYourItem.Com - During the month of August, SYI.Com
announced it will run a series of monthly promotions to bring
attention to popular categories. The site began with a promotion
of the ArtistShowcase for original artists. Sellers who participate
in the promotions are eligible for various enhancements,
depending on the promotion. For details go to
http://sellyouritem.com/ViewAnnouncements.html. The site also
ran an Elvis festival in honor of the 25th anniversary of Elvis'
death.

The site reached its 500,000 listing milestone during the month
of August. The seller who placed this listing received several
auction enhancements as a part of SYI's ongoing program to
award sellers who list on the site.    

In the last 30 days 759 items were sold for prices ranging from
$.10 to $500.00, with an average price of $4.94 for all items sold
in that period. This represents a 2.5 percent sell through rate
based on total listings for that period of time. Of that number, 6
percent had more than one bid. As of this report, the site stats
show 1 percent of items have bids, with 4.4 percent of those
multiple bids. BuyNow! bids are not reflected in active totals
since they end immediately; but are included in the percent sold
figures indicated above.

Report brought to you by - Karen Morgan
Find her - Musiclessons: http://snipurl.com/358     Eclectic Stuff
Kithaven: http://snipurl.com/359    Handmade Crafts, including
Quilted Items, Visit her website at http://www.hrtc.net/~mkmorgan/

http://www.sellyouritem.com

* * * * *
Popula, founded in 1997, hosts of vintage and collectible
merchandise, including vintage clothing and out-of-print books.
Popula recently opened PopShops, a fixed-price venue for
similar merchandise. For more info contact Maria (213) 445
7691 and/or go to http://www.popula.com

* * * * *
Auction Submit - has a new update to cover ebaY's latest
changes. Version 1.097 is now available for download via
update modules and users say it works.
http://www.auctionsubmit.com/

* * * * *
PayPal - is being sued over patent infringement by First USA
Bank   
Bloomberg - http://snurl.com/42t     http://snurl.com/42u

---------
The PayPal stockholder vote on the ebaY buyout is on 3 Oct 02.
Since insiders hold the majority of the stock, the buyout is
expected to pass, allowing insiders a quick cash out of the stock
they will receive from ebaY.

---------
In what TAG sees as a critical ruling to the Online Auction and
Trading Industry, a federal judge says PayPal, has a mandatory
arbitration policy that is unfair to customers who complain that
their accounts are being mishandled. This case may set wide
ranging precedent, particularly for sites such as ebaY.
http://snurl.com/42v
http://www.paypal.com

* * * * *
TurboBid bidding software has been obsoleted by ebaY's latest
site changes, and TurboBid site owner, Chuck Eglinton, said in
an email to users, that he is not sure when or if it will be
updated. Mr Eglinton offered a rebate to TurboBid program
owners if they sign up with his online BidRobot.
http://www.bidrobot.com/

*************************************************************
Have any information for us? email us at
ta-@theauctionguild.com
TAG Subscribers often contribute invaluable information reported
on in TAGnotes. Visit their auctions or websites.

TAGassist Contributors

http://www.ButtermilkHillAntiques.com

http://www.ertl-family.com/ebay.html

aacsautographs http://snurl.com/402

http://www.longlocks.com

http://www.paradisewebservices.com

http://www.esnipe.com/

http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/copper-maven/

jyedvobnick    http://snurl.com/3z8
***********************************************************
THE AUCTION GUILD and eTRADERS GUILD
www.auctionguild.com
Not just a venue
877-SAFETAG
READ TAGnotes Subscribe today at-
http://www.auctionguild.com
or email us - tag@theauctionguild.com
***********************************************************
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners
Copyright 1999 - 2002 The Auction Guild