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The Auction Guild Notes SPECIAL EDITION WED 19 JUL 2006

THIS ISSUE -
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GENERAL COMMENTS ABOUT EBAY
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20 CENT LISTING DAYS EBAY US ON THU 20 & FRI 21 JUL 2006
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20 CENT LISTING DAY EBAY CA ON THU 20 & FRI 21 JUL 2006
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EBAY US FEE INCREASE
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EBAY AUSTRALIA FEE INCREASE
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GENERAL COMMENTS ABOUT EBAY
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TAG predicted that ebaY would announce an increase US store fees in July, well, our prediction was a month too early. Effective 22 Aug, ebaY is increasing store listings insertion fees drastically, and jumping final value fees. In light of the increase in ebaY store fees in Australia, including doubling the final value fee, adding a fee schedule more like the auction insertion schedule (10 to 50 cents) and adding other fees, sellers should note that ebaY frequently uses the AU and other non US sites as a testing ground for what ebaY is planning to next implement in the US, so this US fee increase might just be the first taste.

ebaY stock has taken a heavy hit since their last stock split. An undiluted (taking out all the splits) share of ebaY stock (if you bought one share at IPO or before the first split, you would now have 24 shares of ebaY stock) is worth $622.32, heading back down to where it was in 2003. Needless to say, ebaY needs to do something to convince potential stock buyers that their stock still has the potential to increase in price (ebaY has never paid a dividend, so buying low and selling high is the only way stockholders can make money on their stock) . They also need to keep institutional sellers from dumping their stock, which could send ebaY's stock into a tailspin. Other than selling stock, ebaY only has one way to generate revenue, and that is out of the seller's pockets, particularly in the US and Germany. ebaY's listings have been flat for several years, so raising prices on auction and fixed price listings would probably be self defeating. Stores fee increases are the only option at this time.

It appears that ebaY's attempts in Asia have been a failure. Yahoo defeated ebaY in Japan, and Alibaba's Taobao auction site (partnered with Yahoo), has the edge in China, and between them they have probably put the final nail in ebaY's very expensive Asian expansion moves. Things must not be going well in ebaY UK, evidenced by the almost constant promotions to attract listings, with ebaY Canada showing a similar pattern. ebaY India appears to be the biggest online auction site in India, but it is still a small site, with about 2% of the listings as compared to the US. Add an overpriced purchase of Skype, ebaY's near perfect record of losing all the value out of almost every company they have purchased or partnered with, and where ebaY is heading, becomes very questionable.

Fraud remains a big issue, real or perceived, limiting the numbers of buyers ebaY can attract. Buyers receive second chance offers on items for which they did not have the winning bid, that turn out to be scams, with ebaY's non existent security allowing the scammers access to bidders email addresses.   ebaY and PayPal's so called insurance programs take forever to provide restitution to buyers, when the fine print does not catch the buyer, preventing them from receiving anything. The information on the site that would help users to avoid fraud remains so well hidden, only a pro can find it.

Sellers are endlessly disillusioned by ebaY's lack of customer support, unfair unjust and unequal policies regarding policing their site for ebaY illegal items, and ebaY's failure to remove scam listings.   After all these years, ebaY still has no procedure for dealing with suspended sellers, just slams the door in the seller's face, informs all the seller's buyers and bidders that deals should not be completed, and makes the seller look like a scammer. In cases where ebaY has made a mistake, and restores the seller, nothing is done as restitution to the seller, nor to restore their listings or inform their bidders that ebaY had made a mistake. Now ebaY wants sellers to provide phone contact support through Skype, to potential buyers, but ebaY wont do the same for their customers, the seller.

Rumors of ebaY looking for a buyer are appearing more frequently, and Meg Whitman has stated that she feels she has fulfilled all her commitments to ebaY, so we will soon hear of her moving on. Some of the rats have already abandoned the ship, Jeff Jordan comes to mind, and Rajiv Dutta (remember Rajiv? He is the one who thinks sellers are trash who "clutter up" the site) has been assigned to replace him. None of this adds up to anything good.

So what should sellers do? What we have been suggesting they do for years. Develop your own website. Use that website as the hub for all your online selling. Remember that search engines are the name of the game, and if you just think of ebaY as another search engine, another way of advertising your site, you can use it to expand your customer base. You have to remain within the lines of ebaY's written and unwritten rules, but a smart seller can do that and still use ebaY to grow their own site. List on other sites. Most are free or only charge a final value fee when something sells. Get indexed on Froogle. The more you appear on the net, the more frequently you will turn up in search engines. Do not use ebaY as your primary method of selling. They are an unreliable and capricious partner, who does not care if someone sells on their site or not, and if they destroy a seller's business, care even less.

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20 CENT LISTING DAY EBAY US ON THU & FRI 20 & 21 JULY 2006
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ebaY US is holding 20 cent listing days on Thursday & Friday 20&21 July 2006 between 00:00:01 PT (12:00 AM plus one second on Thu 20 July 2006 and ending Fri 21 July 2006 at 23:59:59 PT (11:59 PM plus 59 seconds).

The listing fee for all regular auction style and fixed price listings is 20 cents on the U.S.
site (www.ebay.com) and ebaY Motors vehicle and parts and accessories (www.ebaymotors.com). This includes listings created before 20&21 July 2006 but that are scheduled to start on 20&21 July 2006.

ebaY will still charge all other fees including final value fees, listing upgrade fees, such as
Buy It Now, featured plus, subtitle, highlight, bold, gallery, gift services, scheduled
listings, gallery featured, homepage featured, reserve fees, ebaY Picture Services, duration
fees, etc.

ebaY is excluding ebaY Motors vehicle listings, international, live auction, professional services, and store inventory listings, real estate, ad format, and business and industrial categories from the 20¢ sale: tractors & farm machinery (91952), heavy equipment (25249), concession trailers, carts (67145), imaging and aesthetics equipment (92035), forklifts and other lifts (97185), manufacturing equipment (92080), metalworking equipment (92082) and commercial printing presses (26247). The promotional rate does not apply to listings with a start date prior to 20&21 July 2006- including those listings revised during the promotional period. The promotional rate also does not apply to listings created on 20&21 July 2006 and scheduled to start after the promotion ends.

List auction style and fixed price items through the Sell Your Item Form, ebaY Seller Tools, and most third-party tools.

In order to use a fixed price listing with a quantity of one, you must either have 20 or
more feedback or be ID verified. If you have a PayPal account you need to have 5 or more feedback and accept PayPal as a payment method in the listing.

For more info go to -
http://pages.ebay.com/promo/paythesame/?ssPageName=CMDV:AB

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20 CENT LISTING DAY EBAY CA ON THU & FRI 20 & 21 JULY 2006
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Starting Thursday 20 July 2006 at 00:00:01 EST (12:00 AM plus one second on 20 JUL
2005) and ending Fri 21 July 2006 23:59:59 EST (11:59 PM plus 59
seconds).

The rules, exclusions etc are the same as those for ebaY US (see
above)

For more info go to -
http://pages.ebay.ca/promo/20cAF072006/

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EBAY US FEE INCREASE
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ebaY is drastically increasing fees for listings in stores, and also increasing final value fees for items sold through a store.
http://snipurl.com/tic3

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EBAY AUSTRALIA FEE INCREASE
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ebaY is increasing fees for their basic store subscription and fees for listings in stores, in addition to doubling the final value fees for items sold through a store. In addition ebaY is removing store listings from regular search and is once again restricting search to auctions and fixed price only - with store items only appearing if there are few regular listings.

In addition ebaY is increasing the fee on featured plus listings in categories 293, 625,9800,and 160

These increases are effective 23:59:59 AEST on Monday 21st August, 2006

For more info -
http://pages.ebay.com.au/pricingupdate.html
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