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TAGnotes Special Edition ebaY US CA 5 cent promo on 14 Feb 05

The Auction Guild Notes Special Edition ebaY US CA
5 cent promo 13 Feb 04
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THIS ISSUE -
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EBAY US 5 CENT LISTING DAY 14 FEB 2005
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EBAY CA 5 CENT LISTING DAY 14 FEB 2005
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EBAY BOYCOTT
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OVERSTOCK REDUCED FEE PROMOTION AND $10 CREDIT
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EBAY US 5 CENT LISTING DAY 14 FEB 2005
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ebaY US is holding a one day 5 cent listing fee cap promotion on Mon
14 Feb 05 from 00:00:01 PT (12:00 AM plus one second on Mon
14 Feb 05) until 23:59:59 PT(11:59 PM plus 59 seconds Mon
14 Feb 05).

ebaY will charge 5 cents for the insertion fees for auction style and
fixed price listings on ebaY US and ebaY Motors (non-vehicle
listings only). This includes listings created prior to the
promotion and scheduled to start during the promotional period
on 14 Feb 05. Listings must start during the promotional period
to qualify for the discount.

ebaY will charge all optional listing upgrade fees: bold, border, buy
it now, featured plus, highlight, gallery, gallery featured, gift
services, home page featured, listing designer, picture services,
picture show, reserve listing fee , subtitle, supersize picture
and extended duration surcharges.

Excluded from the promotion are, ebaY Motors vehicles, international,
live auction, professional services, real estate, ad format and
store inventory listings.

http://pages.ebay.com/promo/promo13579/
(This info was not posted to the US announcement board when
this mailing was sent, check the ebaY US announcement board
to confirm)

This appears to be an effort on ebaY’s part to break the Boycott
scheduled to start on 18 Feb 05 before it gets going.

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EBAY CA 5 CENT LISTING DAY 14 FEB 2005
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ebaY Canada is holding a one day C 5 cent listing fee cap promotion
on Mon 14 Feb 05 from 00:00:01 EST (12:00 AM plus one second on
Mon 14 Feb 05) and runs through 23:59:59 EST (11:59 PM plus 59
seconds Mon 14 Feb 05).

Rules and restriction will apply as per those in the US, as posted
above.    http://pages.ebay.ca/promo/promo13579/

(This info was not posted to the CA announcement board when
this mailing was sent, check the ebaY CA announcement board
to confirm)

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THE EBAY BOYCOTT AND OTHER MORE DIRECT ACTS OF AGGRESSION
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Ethical Consumerism Meets Economic Civil Disobedience
(see complete editorial at – http://auctionguild.blogspot.com/)

Since ebaY announced the fee increase that goes into effect 18 Feb
05, TAG has observed an ongoing outpouring of anger and frustration
against ebaY. This was further fueled by ebaY North American
President Bill Cobb posting on the Marketing Announcement Board,
and sending an email to ebaY users, trying to calm the furor, and
tossing a few crumbs to the multitude, while he (figuratively)
feasted on cake (the cake being the approx 9.5 Million in ebaY
stock in 2003 and 22.5 Million in 2004 he cashed out).

So what are ebaY users saying they are planning on doing to show ebaY
they are serious about their objection to this latest slap in the
face, on top of all the other breaks, bangs and bruises dealt out
by ebaY? To start, they have a petition objecting to the increase at
http://www.petitiononline.com/ebayfee/
They are also calling for a Boycott of ebaY from 18 to 25 Feb 2005
http://www.nolistingday.com/

In the past, Boycotts have been less than useless, but with ebaY
investors on edge, and the press panting for any movement they
think they can pounce on, a good showing might gain some real
attention and possibly even help move ebaY stock to the downside,
something to which ebaY WILL react.

There is an idea that sellers put information in their current
auctions that would normally cause ebaY to close down the
auction, with the hope that ebaY will have to end a few
hundred thousand, or even millions of listings. Suggestions for
information to add are links to the sellers website, links to other
auction and trading sites, messages telling buyers where else the
seller has merchandise listed, information about the Boycott, and
information about the fee increase and how it will cost the buyer
more as a result. Unless a significant number of sellers do this,
ebaY will target the sellers that do, and punish them.

One other idea was actually suggested by comments made by Bill Cobb,
when he talked about all the ebaY sponsor link advertising ebaY does
on search sites such as Google and Yahoo. Mr Cobb said that ebaY
is the largest consumer of such advertising, and Mr Dutta
(the ebaY CFO) said that 33% of ebaY ad money goes into this type of
advertising. The idea is that in an aggressive movement of protest,
hit ebaY in their pocket book. Go to Google or Yahoo search
engine, search for a term such as ebaY, auction, or any item, and
click on ebaY’s paid sponsor links at the top or side of the
page. Every time someone clicks, it costs ebaY money. If
thousands and thousands of links are clicked again and again, it
will use up ebaY’s advertising budget and remove their ads from these
search engines until the funds are replenished. An act of aggressive
economic civil disobedience, but one that has the advantage of an
inability on ebaY’s part to target perpetrators.   

The action that we condone and that TAG still holds is the most
effective and permanent action sellers can take, is for seller to
take back control of the OAI/OTI. To move listings in 3 million
item chunks to other sites, build their own websites
to act as a hub for all the seller’s marketing, and merely
USE ebaY as one tool to build a seller’s customer base, rather
than letting ebaY use the seller as a cow that ebaY milks until it is
dry and then sends to slaughter. This is really the action ebaY
fears most.

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OVERSTOCK REDUCED FEE PROMOTION AND $10 CREDIT
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Overstock.com Auctions will cut its listing fees by 52 percent from
18 Feb through 18 Mar, to appeal to sellers affected by ebaY’s
fee increase.

Each person who visits or registers with Overstock.com Auctions on 18
Feb will receive a $10 credit toward their future listing fees.
Overstock will put a link on the home page allowing users to claim
the credit by logging into an existing account or registering
as a new user.
http://auctions.overstock.com

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IOFFER.COM
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This is a site TAG has written about many times in the past. We
mention it here because we have had more email from our
subscribers asking us to mention this site as an alternative,
than all the other email put together that we have received
about other sites.

This is not an auction site, but a fixed price/best offer type of
negotiation site with approx 377,000 listing and an extensive
wanted item section. This site has a good search engine.
It also has a feedback and auction import tool called Mr Grabber to
import your listings from sites such as ebaY with little difficulty.
There is no completed item information so no way to determine
sell through rate, and sellers have not talked about this, so TAG
has no indication of what the sell through rate might be. Listing
is free, stores are free, and the final value fees are reasonable -
http://www.ioffer.com/help/feesNCreditPolicy.jsp?showTopBottom=false
Customer service is believed to be responsive, and has the site has
good community boards. It also is searched by Froogle, so listings
appear on Froogle and Google.     
http://www.ioffer.com

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THE AUCTION GUILD
and eTRADERS GUILD
www.auctionguild.com
Not just a venue
877-SAFETAG
http://www.auctionguild.com
email us - ta-@theauctionguild.com

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