Monthly Archive for August, 2006

Stripped of its planetary status, the now “dwarf planet” Pluto was auctioned off this past week by the International Astronomical Union.

The winning bid of one gazillion samoleans was submitted by the estate of Scrooge McDuck. In a press release following the auction, the McDuck estate allowed that plans were in place to transform the erratic little orb into a memorial for” a good friend and former colleague of Mr. McDuck”.

6 years ago eBay purchased Half.com for $300 million…and there it sits…how much is too much for nothing at all? Will the IRS’s plans for new tax reporting guidelines nip on-line auction sellers where it hurts? UPS reports on the buying habits of “Chuppies” (China’s emerging middle class)…seems that all things US are hot: DVD’s,CD’s,jeans…and of course, moisturizer (in blue if you’ve got it). eBay announces larger gallery pics for, you guessed it, a slight fee increase…and it appears that they’ll be increasing fees for large fonts soon as well. First reports in on Google Check-out are mixed with problems being reported across the board with one major e-commerce player having pulled the service altogether.

We visited a social site for the over 50 crowd and found a watered down version of AARP…pretty to look at but about as insubstantial as grandma’s handshake. BidMyGilligan tries to parlay eBay traffic into web site traffic…a good idea in theory…but not so in practice. An eBay blog that is a step in the right direction but additional steps are needed. Scendix Software’s new application for Window’s XP Media Center demonstrates how the battle for the living room is taking shape, auction-wise that is.

Feedblndr combines all of your auction Read the rest …

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

That object in your rear view mirror is definitely not getting closer…Requiem for Google’s 4 year Beta.

A new Trojan Horse virus makes its debut on eBay. Froogle, after a beta gestation of only 4 short years, is consigned to the back of the Google house in favor of Video Search…was this the result of a Base Desire? eBay Trust and Safety comes down hard on Read the rest …

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Mysterious epidemic of fat chihuahua tagging sweeps the country.

Blogger details the tactics of eBay scammers as well as providing live links to current suspicious auctions. Disgruntled eBay sellers plead with Google to open an auction venue…the gods are laughing. Everyone is jumping on the MyScape marketing bandwagon..is it really a smart move? The 2 millionth car is sold on eBay…some parts of the site (and certainly some sellers) seem to be doing just fine.

How to take an original product with potential and market it as if you were hell-bent on failure…such a waste of a corpulent chihuahua. Making images a snap; up to 32 pics in one shot with ClicPic. Corn sells on eBay…a saavy Iowan, who apparently doesn’t read the news, cultivates a nice bit of business the old-fashioned way. MontRed.com has been a favorite web site for a long time…look & learn from their clever use of a blog to drive traffic. Gorage.com opens its doors for a flat $5 for 30 days and no FVF. Google Checkout’s blog answers what you need to know Read the rest …

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

“Scammers have turned to automated bots to create eBay accounts with positive feedback records”…this and the little buggers are still complaining about excessive shipping.

Scammers deploy bots to automatically create fraudulent buying and selling accounts. We illustrate just what one of these scammer’s auctions look like..over 1100 penny auctions (with feedback) in less than 30 days. A couple of eBay categories that simply should be abolished.

Along with all of the weeping and gnashing of teeth on the eBay boards, there appears to be several sellers who actually are thinking about what they can do to improve sales. Our apologies for a drop shipper recommendation we should have never made Read the rest …

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download