AuctionBytes-Update Number 13 - May 7, 2000 - ISSN 1528-6703

ABOUT AUCTIONBYTES-UPDATE
AuctionBytes-Update is a free newsletter for online auction buyers and sellers. AuctionBytes-Update will show you how to make money and is useful to anyone who uses online auctions -- business people, collectors and hobbyists. AuctionBytes-Update is published by email twice a month. (Print it out for easier reading.)

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IN THIS ISSUE:
1) From the Editor
2) ARTICLE: Going, Going, Gone: An Interview with Auctioneer Sharon Boccelli
3) Q&A: Tips from Sharon Boccelli, Auctioneer
4) ARTICLE: A Knack for Nicknames
5) ARTICLE: Pricing Items - A Look at AuctionRover's Pricing Trend Feature
6) ARTICLE: Found in the Attic - with help from PriceRadar.com!
7) COLLECTOR'S CORNER: Sports & SciFi
8) Article: Keen.com "Expert" Site
9) AUCTIONBYTES.COM READER QUESTION
10) ALERT: Fake Sports Memorabilia
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1) FROM THE EDITOR

How high should you go when bidding on an auction item? How much should you start the bidding on an item you are selling? Pricing is very tricky, but it is critical to the success of buying and selling at auction. In this issue, we cover some tools to help you make pricing decisions.

A special treat in this issue is an interview with Sharon Boccelli, a "real" auctioneer! David and I attended one of her auctions, and Sharon graciously agreed to let me interview her.

How Sharon Boccelli became an auctioneer was the question foremost in my mind. The answer was a complete surprise. Rather than coming from an affluent family and being raised surrounded by antiques, Sharon came from a working class family and jumped into the antiques business at the age of 26 with absolutely no background in the business! Her story is inspiring.

I have spoken with and heard presentations given by many women entrepreneurs like Sharon. Though they come from different backgrounds, different races and religions and different industries, they have some things in common.

They all define success on their own terms. Money is primary, as you would expect of those in the business world, but most have broader goals, including issues of lifestyle.

They feel a great responsibility towards those they employ.

They are extremely generous with their time. They share the most intimate aspects of their personal and professional lives in order to help those who follow in their footsteps.

On Saturday, I attended a women's leadership conference in Boston. Speakers included Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan; Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan now living in exile in England; Katie Couric of NBC's Today television show; Marlene McDaniel, Chair and CEO of Women.com; Ilene Lang, President and CEO of Individual.com and Christy Haubegger, Founder of Latina Magazine - just to name a few!

These extraordinary women leaders from politics, media and business came together to share their experiences and their stories. These women are successful, not because they were 'lucky', not because they went to the 'right' schools, not because they came from 'connected' families.

These women succeeded because they took risks and refused to give up when they failed. When we look at successful people, it seems to us that they achieved success overnight. But we did not know them during the years that they struggled. Hard work, persistence, risk-taking, and a big dose of determination are the keys to success.

So if you are considering a change in your life, but that little voice in your head says, "you can't do it - don't try, you might fail," think twice before giving in to that voice.

Sharon Boccelli said to me, "I succeeded in spite of myself."

-Ina Steiner, Editor
ina@auctionbytes.com

PS: We post all past issues of AuctionBytes-Update on the Web site. You can read them at http://www.auctionbytes.com/Email_Newsletter/email_newsletter.html (or just go to the home page, http://www.auctionbytes.com, and click on "Email Newsletter").

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2) ARTICLE: Going, Going, Gone: An Interview with Auctioneer Sharon Boccelli
by Ina Steiner

On April 13, 2000, I interviewed Sharon Boccelli, an auctioneer and owner of Sharon Boccelli & Company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Sharon got started in the antiques business over 20 years ago having no knowledge or experience in the field, no capital and not even a college degree. Her profile is inspirational and shows how hard work and determination pay off, something we 'online' auctioneers can take heart in knowing. Sharon shared her story with me, and she has some interesting things to say about the antiques business. Here is her profile, interspersed with excerpts from our interview.

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Sharon Boccelli & Company is located at 358 Broadway in Cambridge, Massachusetts, home to Harvard University and MIT. The exterior of the building reminds one of 19th century London: the quaint lettering on the shop window, the antiques and curios on display. Inside, the shop is crowded but not cluttered, full of antiques to be sold at an upcoming auction. The building has been carefully and tastefully restored. The shop is sunny, clean and refined.

We conducted the interview in Sharon's large office upstairs. With a fire crackling in the fireplace, Sharon told me her story in a broad Boston accent as she sipped a cup of tea.

Sharon was 26 years old when she started in the antiques business.

"I had a corporate job at General Motors. I started working on a line building cars, and then I mistakenly went into management, which was a nightmare. So I wanted something else to do. One day I walked up to Harvard Square, went into Wordsworth in the business section and there was a book there. I was looking at all the books, and the smallest book for the cheapest amount of money was 'How to Get Started in the Antiques Business.'"

Sharon read that book cover-to-cover and promptly sold her car and bought a pick-up truck. "I got the trash schedule from all the surrounding communities. I would get up at 2 o'clock in the morning and I would go pick trash and throw it in the back of my truck. And I would refinish the pieces. And I didn't know anything about antiques or anything else. If it was attractive and looked good, I would take it."

After filling a room in her apartment from floor to ceiling, front to back, she went looking for a storefront. She found one a few doors down from the business' current home. She kept her job at General Motors while her lover at the time ran the business. After about a year and half, Sharon decided to jump into the antiques business full time. "I decided, all right, I'm leaving this job, this secure job, to go and do this. And my income level dropped tremendously." It was the first of many major risks Sharon has taken in the course of her career.

Four years into the business, she purchased the house at 358 Broadway. "All of the reasons not to start a business is my story, because even when I bought this house, I bought it blind. I never saw the inside of this property."

A big antique dealer owned the property, which had been up for sale for several years. Sharon says it was "substandard" - one step above condemned. There were "tenants from hell" living in the rent-controlled apartments, and a shop on the first floor.

Sharon called the owner one day and told him she'd like to buy the building, but that she had no money, no down payment, and she couldn't get a loan, but that if he financed the deal, she would buy it from him. After another interested party backed out, the owner called Sharon back.

"I told him, 'You have your lawyers draw up the plans and I'll sign them.' He said, 'well, do you want to know how much it is?' And I said, 'oh yeah, I guess I should know how much it is.'"

She paid $65,000 for the building, with balloon payments of $5,000 due each April 15th. She closed the deal on April 11, 1982. "I walked in and I started crying because it was such a dump, I was like, 'Oh my God, how am I going to do this?'

"Everybody was saying to me, you're nuts, he's [the seller] going to screw you, he's going to screw you, but nobody else was giving me any opportunity, and I figured this was really something that I could do.

"It didn't matter, because I just busted my ass and went to work, and I paid off the loan and got an equity line and finished paying him off. And I finished renovating the building, and, amazingly, I did it. I don't know how I did it - I couldn't do it now. I'm too old now."

Sharon needed to move her inventory a lot faster with bills and overhead and repairs. So, while continuing to pick trash for inventory, she started attending auctions, and tried to supplement her income any way she could. "I did everything, I used to cater peoples' auctions. I used to move furniture. I did house moves. I bought a cube van and moved people that needed stuff moved. We cleaned basements and yards - it was amazing, the stuff we did, when I look back.

"One day in 1983 I was working for some auctioneer. I used to make a thousand dollars catering his auctions because he had so many people there. It was summer and they were thirsty and hot and hungry. I looked at the auctioneer and I said, you know, I want to do that, because you're moving the stuff and making money." It was that day that Sharon Boccelli decided to become an auctioneer.

She attended the International Auctioneer School in South Deerfield, Massachusetts. "I came home and I had my first auction, which grossed probably all of $12,000 or so. I was selling marble-topped commodes for $50. God bless the people that gave me an opportunity when I first started, because they really, they sort of paid my dues for me, the
consignors. We did everything that we could to make sure that we ran a fair auction and advertised properly and all of that, but when you're new, you sort of have to pay your dues one way or the other."

Sharon advertised her auctions in the Boston Herald newspaper ("back then it was the Herald, not the Globe"), the Newtown Bee, and mailed flyers to people. "We had a guest book in the shop, and we would have everybody sign. I mean, we tormented people into signing the guest book. So we developed a small mailing list, probably a few hundred names. Now our mailing list is 3,000, and every auction, we delete people who have not been to the sale in a year and a half."

Sharon learned much of the business side of auctions at auction school. "They covered so much territory, like legal documents and that kind of thing. I see and I learn, and that's always been what I do. My knowledge of antiques comes from my library and research, and I'm constantly reading and researching and trying to take in as much information as possible. And I used to, before we were so very busy, try to take courses in specific types of antiques."

I asked Sharon whether there is an "elite" feeling to the Boston antiques business, and how the community received her arrival.

"The way our storefront is, you can hear every single thing that happens on the sidewalk, and to this day, we'll be in here laughing because there'll be dealers outside, talking about how stupid we are and we're never going to make it in this business. I've been in this business for 21 years now, and I'm still here and I still exist.

"There is a lot of elitist - not quality - but types in this business that think that they know everything. You can't know everything in this business. Nobody ever does. There are those people that do think they know everything about everything."

"Dealers?" I asked.

"Dealers, collectors, everybody. It is a very aesthetic business. When I go out on calls I'm in a suit and I have a briefcase. There may be nothing in there, but I have a briefcase.

"We often joke too within the business. All of my employees have college degrees and most of them have masters' degrees. And Ingrid has a PhD. And I'm a high school kid from Lynn, so they often joke about my accent and we make fun. I always say to them, but the bottom line is, you all work for
me."

Well, in this day and age, when people work their hearts out and struggle to find time to spend with their families, Sharon has the last laugh. Every July and August, she closes the shop and heads to her cabin in Vermont. It's clear that if Sharon had something to prove 21 years ago when she set out on her new career, she has made her point.

"I always tell people to follow their dreams."

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3) Q&A: Tips from Sharon Boccelli, Auctioneer
by Ina Steiner

AuctionBytes: If a regular person, who isn't an antiques expert, goes to one of your auctions, can you give me some tips on what they should be looking for?

Boccelli: We always try to tell people that when you want something, buy it because you like it and you want to live with it. Never buy anything for an investment purpose, because inevitably, you're going to lose your shirt. If you like the piece and want to live with the piece, then buy it. Buy it for the aesthetic quality of it.

Always go to the previews. Always preview the items. There are 300 plus lots in every sale, we don't even know the condition of every single piece, because it's just impossible to know it.

On furniture, make sure that the piece that you're looking at, if you're not able to restore something yourself, that it's in good shape to begin with, because restoration is extremely expensive now.

With porcelain and glass, condition is very important for resale value, which is why you'll tend to see that even the best porcelain, if it's damaged-the prices realized on it are much lower than it would be if it were in mint shape. And that's pretty standard across the board.

AuctionBytes: We've actually discovered that with eBay. If it's chipped, they don't want it.

Boccelli: They don't want it, yes. There are people that will buy it and then restore and & sell it as perfect. That's another thing you have to watch for. So it's very important to view the item, and feel it, handle it and look for any kind of problem that it might have.

AuctionBytes: So how would you recognize a bargain at an auction?

Boccelli: A bargain? There are always bargains at every auction. From a resale point of view, from a customer's, or mine?

AuctionBytes: From a customer's point of view.

Boccelli: I think that a bargain is,... To me, a bargain is always something that you want, that you're willing to spend x amount of dollars for, but you get it for less. Because really, as a lay person going to an auction, what is the value of something? It's all so intrinsic, it's like, what you're willing to pay is really what the value is. I don't think that that's a question that anybody can answer but the person that's buying the item.

I've had retail customers that will come up to me say, 'what do you think this is going to bring at auction?' And I'll say, 'well, it should bring $600 to $800,' and it brings $1,200 because they and somebody else in the audience wanted it. So then that is what that piece is worth, because two people wanted it and they were willing to pay that amount for it.

From a resale point of view, it probably wasn't a good purchase. But you know, I do it myself. If I want something I buy it, and I don't care what I have to pay for it, up to a point.

AuctionBytes: What happens to the things that don't sell at auction?

Boccelli: Sometimes it's just that nobody wanted the item that night, and we will put it into another upcoming sale if we think that it will sell in an auction. If we don't feel like it will sell in an auction, we just tend to put it in the garage and bring it to venues like Brimfield. And then, if it doesn't sell there, we'll send it to a secondary auction company and just cut our losses.

AuctionBytes: have you ever purchased anything on an online auction site or sold anything?

Boccelli: No. We're starting to consider it. Out of one house, we got this grouping of Byers Carolers. Do you know what those are? They're these little things that are made out of papier mache or something. They're very collectible. But they're not something that we sell or would do well in auction. So we've been considering, 'all right, is it time to hook up to eBay or one of the services, and sell these little things over the Net?'

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And the winner of $50 - with 13 of the 14 people she referred actually signing up to receive AuctionBytes-Update (drumroll, please) - is Marcie T. from Nashville, TN! Marcie has been a subscriber since December 1999. Thanks, Marcie, and to all those who participated.

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4) ARTICLE: A Knack for Nicknames
By Susanne Jones

Sometimes I wonder what people think when they see nikitababy bidding on their auction item. Do they imagine a raunchy stripper? Or maybe an exotic spy trained in the martial arts? Ahh, if only they could see the real nikitababy right now, the one that inspired the intriguing eBay handle ... she's got sleek brown fur, golden eyes and tuna breath and is curled up in her little kitty basket. Beside her is nikitababy's rather unexotic mistress, the one with her glasses falling down to the end of her nose and her paws on the computer.

That, my friends, is the amazing and wonderful thing about online selling and bidding. Nobody notices the bunny slippers on your feet. Nobody has to know you. But they do see your auction name, which can leave an indelible impression. I remember when I was new to the game and easily influenced by User IDs: The first time I saw riptheskull bidding against me on a Halloween item, I almost backed off. Just what would riptheskull do if I outbid him? Luckily, we were both losers and I didn't have to find out. A year and half later, I see that riptheskull is actually a real sweetie (324 positives and counting... not one negative feedback!).

These days, I'm always more happy to deal with someone who has thought up a nifty identity. Sorry, but those run-of-the-mill email addresses bore me. So do those dealers with variations of "sell" in their names .... often they have automated feedback and invoicing along with those thousands of feedbacks. Lately, I've come across a slew of intriguing names. Like crimeandpunishment, who I recently encountered during a late-night Ebay ramble. Was this he or she a lawyer, a judge, an ex-con? Nope, simply a lover of Russian literature who arrived in Los Angeles from his native Bulgaria nine years ago. A great admirer of Dostoevsky, he spent five long years learning how to read the classic prose in its original form. Then there's the newly christened romeobob. Cool name, I thought . . . until I noticed he bought a Vintage Chastity Belt Padlock (with the key, thank goodness)!

I used to get intimidated when a bidder's ID indicated he'd go to the moon to land an item. You know what I mean (ibuyallwidgetssodon'tevenbothertrying). But I quickly found out that serious collectors have already cornered their universe; often they're only toying with that atomic ray gun to make sure their investment stays strong. You can emerge victorious! That said, I still wouldn't want to go head to head with elvisrules@elvispresley.com for what appears to be a rare "Love Me Tender" Emenee guitar.

Susanne Jones is a Canadian writer and editor who has spent the past 20 years as a newspaper journalist and a passionate collector of antique toys. In 1998 she discovered Ebay. Her life (not to mention her bank account) has never been the same.

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5) ARTICLE: Pricing Items - A Look at AuctionRover's Pricing Trend Feature
By Ina Steiner

David and I tend to go straight to eBay if we want to 'guesstimate' the value of an item we're considering buying or selling at online auction. The volume of transactions on eBay makes it a good pricing indicator. (Be sure and search "completed items," and pay attention to whether the item actually sold!)

I decided to take a look at Auction Rover's Pricing Trend feature. (You must register to use the service.) I decided to find the value of Life Magazines from the 1950's, since I had some copies in my basement that I picked up at a 'real-life' auction.

I went to www.auctionrover.com and clicked on "Bid" then "Price Trending." Then I clicked on "See what Items We Trend." I found Life Magazine under "Entertainment > Magazines > General"

Here are the results for Life Magazine Back Issues (1950s):

Manufacturer: Unknown
Item/Model: Life Magazine Back issues (1950s)
Average Price: $9.50 (All sites)
Average Number of Bids: 3.6 (All sites)

So what does "all sites" mean? Auction Rover searches 100+ sites (see the list at http://www.auctionrover.com/community/about/siteswesearch.asp). Though eBay is listed, a representative from AuctionRover told me that they do not search eBay auctions.

The Price History chart shows the average price from the last 30 days on all sites. The price ran along the $3.50 price range from April 4 through April 20th, shooting up to $6 by April 28th, and then falling to the $3 range around May 1st. (Since it never went higher than $6, I'm not sure how the average price is $9.50.) A second chart plots "volume" on all sites for the last 30 days.

In this case, I have an idea of the average price of Life Magazines from the 1950s - sort of. If the auctions included some particularly rare issues of Life Magazine, that might have skewed the results; what if my copies are not as collectible? Conversely, what if I have a particularly collectible issue that is worth more money?

I decided to go to eBay and do a search of completed auctions for Life Magazine. I entered "Life Magazine 195*" into the search box to limit it to copies from the 1950s. There were 546 items. Many had 0 bids. It was very useful scrolling down the issues to see how much the copies went for - clearly one important factor was the person on the cover. In this case, it seemed much more useful to use the eBay method of pricing.

A better use for the Auction Rover Price Trending feature is for specific products. Looking up "Ty Groovy the Bear Beanie Baby," I discovered that the average price for the past 30 days was $15.57. I could even compare "Ty Groovy the Bear Beanie Baby" with "Ty Halo II the Bear Beanie Baby," and could immediately see from the chart that Halo II the Bear got a better price at auction than Groovy the Bear. I know which one I would sell if I had both bears and was looking for bigger bucks from bidders. On the other hand, if it had simply listed Ty Beanie Babies, I don't think that would really tell me much.

AuctionRover.com has a limited selection of items that it tracks, but their public relations person told me they would add any item that a user requests.

Keep an eye on this feature from Auction Rover. And let me know how YOU "guesstimate" values on items you are considering buying or selling.

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6) ARTICLE: Found in the Attic - with help from PriceRadar.com!
By David Steiner

I'm going to do a little something different with Found in the Attic this week. Ina wrote about pricing tools on AuctionRover.com in this issue, and she asked me to write an article about PriceRadar.com. I was fairly impressed with some of their online tools, but quite honestly, they duplicated efforts that I had seen on AuctionWatch and other auction service sites. Then I got to PriceRadar's Price Guide tool.

I recall mentioning to a friend some months ago how helpful I though it would be to have a database of completed auctions. So, if I were considering selling something, I could go to the database, type in my item, and get back useful information including Number of Items that had been listed, Sell-Through Rate, and Average Selling Price. That's essentially how I came up with the idea for our Found in the Attic column. Well, this is exactly what Price Radar's Price Guide tool does.

In each issue of AuctionBytes-Update, Michele Alice or I manually sort through hundreds of items on eBay, calculate the average price, the high selling price, etc. This is no easy task, let me tell you! To research 5 items, it generally takes 2-3 hours. With The Price Guide tool from PriceRadar.com, I searched LOTS of auction sites for my data in MINUTES!

So what I thought I would do this time (just to get out of writing an article) was to use PriceRadar's Pinpoint tool to search for the Found in the Attic items, save myself a few hours of time, and use that time to mow our lawn! Believe me, it needs it!

The one feature that PriceRadar does not handle that I would like to see is Sell-Through Rate - what percentage of the items have actually sold. If you're interested in checking out this tool for yourself, go to http://www.priceradar.com, register, and do your own custom searches. It's FUN!

GI JOE
Number of Items Sold 1496
Highest Priced Item $1,900.00
Lowest Priced Item $1.00
Average Price $26.93
Median Price $950.50
Listing Frequency (per month) 291
First Listing Date* 11/18/99
Most Recent Listing Date 4/20/00

TALKING ELMO
Number of Items Sold 56
Highest Priced Item $200.00
Lowest Priced Item $2.99
Average Price $24.64
Median Price $101.50
Listing Frequency (per month) 11
First Listing Date* 11/24/1999
Most Recent Listing Date 5/2/2000

SWAROVSKI CRYSTAL
Number of Items Sold 1314
Highest Priced Item $5,850.00
Lowest Priced Item $1.00
Average Price $51.61
Median Price $2,925.50
Listing Frequency (per month) 237
First Listing Date* 11/20/99
Most Recent Listing Date 5/4/00

SETH THOMAS CLOCK
Number of Items Sold 81
Highest Priced Item $2,100.00
Lowest Priced Item $1.00
Average Price $121.59
Median Price $1,050.50
Listing Frequency (per month) 15
First Listing Date* 11/26/99
Most Recent Listing Date 5/3/00

CHRISTINA AGUILERA
Number of Items Sold 1497
Highest Priced Item $525.00
Lowest Priced Item $1.00
Average Price $13.05
Median Price $263.00
Listing Frequency (per month) 271
First Listing Date* 11/20/1999
Most Recent Listing Date 5/3/00

Results are taken from a search on PriceRadar.com on 5/6/00.

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7) COLLECTOR'S CORNER: Sports & SciFi

COLLECTOR'S CORNER: Baseball Cards Part 2: Gum Cards
by Wayne Tuiskula, Sports Editor

My last column focused on early tobacco baseball cards. (See Issue #8 http://www.auctionbytes.com/Email_Newsletter/Email_Archives/22000e.h tml#CC)

Baseball cards continued to be produced by tobacco companies through the 1920's. There were other cards produced as well. Cracker Jack produced a set of cards in 1914-1915. Postcard-sized cards called Exhibit Cards pictured baseball players along with other sports personalities, cowboys, actors, etc. Strips of cards (strip cards) were sold in sheets that pictured baseball players. Candy companies also produced cards.

It was in the 1930's when bubble gum manufacturers began including baseball cards in a package with gum. These cards depicted colorful drawings or paintings of this era's players. Cards continued to be produced through the 30's and early 40's. Production halted during World War II. After the war, companies like Bowman and Leaf began to produce cards. In 1951, Topps (also the maker's of Bazooka Bubble Gum) entered the market. Later in the 1950's, player's color photographs were first produced on baseball cards.

Topps eventually become the industry leader in baseball cards and produced cards for many years with little competition. Topps continues to produce cards today, but baseball cards have now become big business, and the competition is intense.

Wayne Tuiskula (ebay handle: tuiskula) has a long-time interest in sports collectibles. He and his wife Amy run estate sales in addition to their other careers. Email Wayne at tuiskula@tiac.net.

Visit the Collector's Corner section of the Web site for current and past articles along with reference sources and links!

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COLLECTOR'S CORNER: SciFi - Star Trek/Star Wars Part 2
by Michele Alice, AuctionBytes-Update Contributing Editor

Continuing my mission to seek out new links and more info concerning Star Trek and other sci-fi collectibles, I logged on to another site that had been suggested by the customer-service people at Playmatestoys.com (see Part I in AuctionBytes-Update #11). This site, http://www.toymania.com , is GREAT! Its primary focus is on action figures of every sort from Star Trek to Star Wars to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and it offers a wealth of nformation for the serious collector.

When I visited Toy Mania, their "News" section had articles ranging from coverage of Toy Fair 2000 to unlicensed figures turning up from Asia to another story detailing the Hallmark releases for the year (check out http://www.hallmark.com to view the complete list).

Go to "Resources" and you'll find definitions and a grading guide for carded action figures and helpful hints for buying and maintaining your collection in mint condition. For example, they suggest using Goo Gone (carefully!) to remove those pesky price labels, and Future Acrylic Floor Wax to brighten up those dull, scratched plastic "bubbles" on carded figures (though they warned that they were unsure of long-term effects).

Going to "Links" took me to Toy Mania's "Internet Off-White Toy Pages" featuring what may be one of the largest collections of toy-related sites on the Internet. Using a color-coded system, it lists over 500 fan, industry, and sales pages. For example, go to the S's and you'll find that Star Trek and Star Wars. Each has its own sub-page.

I decided to try a few of Toy Mania's links to see what I could come up with. Clicking on http://starwars.hasbro.com took me to the official Star Wars action figure site where I found, under "Questions", that Hasbro was not able "to respond to questions regarding information on dates of manufacture, developers, where to find older items, etc." They DID recommend, though, checking such monthly publications as Hot Toys, Lee's Action Figure News & Toy Review, Tomart's Action Figure Digest, ToyFare: The Toy Magazine, and White's Guide to Collecting for product profiles and in-depth information.

I next tried a site called Seventies SciFi Toys ( http://pages.map.com/starwars/70stoys) which was actually mostly about Star Wars. In fact, their Star Wars Toy Resource Page comprises a universe of information for Star Wars collectors. They covered everything from terms and abbreviations to an explanation of the C-1 to C-10 scale. They listed numerous sources of information, such as Tomart's Price Guide to Worldwide Star Wars Collectibles (S. Sansweet and T.N.Tumbusch), which they called THE guide for the serious collector. They even detailed a scam perpetrated on the rec.arts.sf.starwars.collecting and rec.toys.misc newsgroups!

Now, I am not a big fan of Star Wars, but it was the SW Toy Resource Page nk to another site, The Star War's Collector's Archive (http://toysrgus.com) that really impressed me. The Collector's Archive not only showcased the most comprehensive collection of Star Wars memorabilia--including prototypes, non-produced toys, bootlegs toys, and fakes-that I have ever seen, but they also listed patents, toy fair and dealer catalogs, cereal box and store display checklists, weapons charts, etc. They even provided an address list for autographs and pics!!! In addition, there was information of a more general nature, such as an article on methods of storing carded action figures to prevent the deterioration of their plastic bubbles (try comic-book bags!).

Next time: Battlestar Gallactica!

Michele Alice is AuctionBytes.com Contributing Editor. She is a freelance writer in the Berkshire mountains of Massachusetts. Michele collects books, science fiction memorabilia and more!

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8) Article: Keen.com "Expert" Site
by Ina Steiner

There was a heated discussion on auction chat boards/forums this week about eBay's announced relationship with Keen.com. Keen.com describes itself as "the Live Answer Community, where people with questions talk to people with answers over the telephone." People "with answers" charge money for those answers.

Most people wondered why eBay would send people away from its site, when the eBay forums are full of experts who will share their expertise for free! Troy Wolverton, who reports on online auction news for CNET, wrote an interesting piece found at http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-1813162.html.

PS: there are many "expert" sites: Abuzz.com, Arzoo.com, Ask.com, Deja.com, Epinions.com, Exp.com, Infomarkets.com, Inforockets.com, Keen.com - and some are free. But I still believe the best place to start researching an item is on the forums on eBay!

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9) AUCTIONBYTES.COM READER QUESTION

How do you feel about eBay's affiliation with Keen.com, a live-answer site where users can ask about auction-related topics? VOTE NOW!! http://www.auctionbytes.com

Visit the General Message Board and tell us what you think (and read what others have to say): http://www.auctionbytes.com/bin/generalbbs/config.pl

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10) ALERT: Fake Sports Memorabilia
Six auction users who purchased fake sports memorabilia are suing eBay and seeking class-action status. (Industry Standard, May 8, 2000 p.73) I know that in the past, eBay has compared itself to the hall in which the auction takes place as opposed to being the auctioneer, so it will be interesting to see what the courts say.

-->>Bottom line: beware all autographed items. Don't buy it unless you are sure it's authentic.

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AuctionBytes-Update ISSN 1528-6703
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Want to Write for AuctionBytes-Update? Go to http://www.auctionbytes.com and click on "write for us" to view author guidelines. If you are interested, send email to ina@bibliodata.com.

Ina Steiner, Editor, Publisher and Co-founder: ina@auctionbytes.com
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dsteiner@auctionbytes.com
Michele Alice, Contributing Editor
AuctionBytes.com
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