AuctionBytes-Update Number 4 - December 19, 1999

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.
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IN THIS ISSUE:
1) FROM THE EDITOR
2) QUESTION FROM A READER
3) FOUND IN THE ATTIC
4) AUCTIONBYTES.COM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
5) FEATURE ARTICLE: AUCTION TIMING - WHAT'S THE BEST DAY TO END YOUR AUCTION?
6) ARTICLE: GETTING THE MOST OUT OF AN ESTATE
7) COLLECTOR'S CORNER
8) ARTICLE: GETTING INVENTORY: AUCTION CALENDAR, MAINE ANTIQUE DIGEST
9) TWO UPDATES TO LAST ISSUE'S AUCTION SOFTWARE ARTICLE
10) ASK BILL THE POSTMAN
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1) FROM THE EDITOR

Auction Timing, Deadbeats, Estates & Puppies

When is the best time to end an auction? We know this is on your mind based on the response we got when this was the "Question of the Week" on our home page.

Read David's story about auction timing in this issue. He interviewed three auction houses - find out what they had to say! (It is different from what YOU had to say in our voting booth!)

This week's "Question of the Week" is "Should online auction sites post a list of recurrent deadbeat bidders and sellers?" Go to http://www.auctionbytes.com and tell us what you think. You can email me if you have any comments and I'll include them in the next issue. This is something that concerns all of us. If you have any tips on dealing with deadbeats, please share them.

Wayne Tuiskula writes about estates in this issue. What do you do when you have to settle an estate? Read on!

The message boards are up and running in each area of Collector's Corner. You can post pictures of your items to ask questions or to announce your auctions. Remember to tell your friends - the more people who participate the better.

On a personal note, I got an early Christmas present from David - a four-month old Beagle named Maggie. Just when I thought life couldn't get any busier,... We got her from the Buddy Dog Humane Society in Sudbury, Massachusetts. She has a case of kennel cough. Does anybody have any advice? The vet said to let it run its course unless it gets worse. Here's a picture of Maggie Steiner, Auction Hound: http://www.auctionbytes.com/maggie1.JPG

Happy Holidays and Merry Millenium to you. Thank you for reading
AuctionBytes-Update and for all the feedback - keep it coming.

-Ina Steiner, Editor
ina@auctionbytes.com

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2) QUESTION FROM A READER - GOING GOING GONE AUCTIONS
Last issue, Tony, one of our readers, asked, "Is there a way to see ALL the auctions ending on eBay, rather than category by category?"

Well, it turns out there IS, though, it's not all that easy to find.

1. Click on "Site Map" at the top of any eBay page.
2. Once you're delivered to that page, click on "Going, Going, Gone" in the left hand column.
3. In the middle of the page, there is a link that says, "Jump to a list of all items ending in 5 hours". Click on it and you'll get a list of THOUSANDS of pages of auctions that are ripe for the sniping!
You can jump directly to that page by going to
http://listings.ebay.com/aw/listings/going/index.html#eBayListings

Make a big pot of coffee and check out those auctions! Thanks for the question, Tony!

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3) FOUND IN THE ATTIC
Time for another eclectic selection of items found on eBay. These are treasures that may be collecting cobwebs in the dark recesses of your home. (Results are from an eBay search conducted on 12/13/99.)
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Tea Infuser
44 lots
Highest Price: $203.50
Lowest Price: $4.50
Average Price: $44.19
Sell through: 77%
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Dog Whistle
28 lots
Highest Price: $189.50
Lowest Price: $1.25
Average Price: $26.84
Sell through: 82%
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Seth Thomas Metronome
42 lots
Highest Price: $102.50
Lowest Price: $4.25
Average Price: $51.14
Sell through: 90%
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Donald Duck Watch
81 lots
Highest Price: $199.50
Lowest Price: $1.00
Average Price: $35.24
Sell through: 69%
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Glass Paper Weight
275 lots
Highest Price: $255.00
Lowest Price: $1.00
Average Price: $16.66
Sell through: 48%
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4) AUCTIONBYTES.COM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

>>>Should online auction sites post a list of recurrent deadbeat bidders and sellers?<<<

VOTE NOW!! http://www.auctionbytes.com

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RESULTS OF RECENT "QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK"

>>> Is it important to have a feature that allows you to set auction end times independently of when you post your auction?<<< (12/1/99)

The votes are in! A WHOPPING 73% of the people who voted felt that it was important to them to be able to set their auction end times independently of when they were posted. Only 19% felt that this feature was not important to them, and 8% were not sure. Seems as though some auction sites should
rethink the design of their listing forms!

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>>> When is the best time of day to end an auction<<< (12/8/99)

The votes have been tallied! In a close race, you chose 9pm-12midnight to be the best time of day to end an auction! 6pm-9pm came in a close second with 42% of the vote. So wait until everyone's home from work and parked in front of their computers so you'll be sure to get the best audience you can!

You can vote on this week's Question of the Week by going to our Web site at http://www.auctionbytes.com - voting is right on the home page. Each week we'll offer a new question to vote on, and we'll share the results of the vote on the home page and in the next issue of AuctionBytes-Update.
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5) FEATURE ARTICLE: AUCTION TIMING - WHAT'S THE BEST DAY TO END YOUR AUCTION?
by David Steiner

Anyone who collects vintage French champagne knows that there is a perfect time for popping the cork and enjoying the sparkling wine to its fullest. Can an analogy be made about the perfect timing of an online auction? Do certain days of the week and times of the day make a difference between having an auction that is bubbling over with bids, or one that just lays there flat?

The objective, obviously, is to have as many interested parties view your item as you can AND have them be online during the critical point of your auction when the competitive bidding starts heating up. This is usually the last 24 hours of an auction.

When are you most likely to have the largest audience for your auction? Well, finding the busiest times is a good starting place. When asked, none of the major auction sites that we spoke to found a significant difference in the amount of traffic through their sites on a day-to-day basis (although eBay said peak times on Monday through Friday were better than on weekends). EBay and Yahoo! Auctions gave strikingly similar answer when asked what the busiest time of day was.

According to Tom Churchill, Senior Producer at Yahoo! Auctions, the bulk of the bidding activity on Yahoo! occurs between 3:00pm and 9:00pm PST (see chart at http://www.auctionbytes.com/yahoo_chart.html). Kevin Pursglove of eBay cited late afternoon and early evening (PST), Monday through Friday, as eBay's busiest time, between approximately 4:30pm and 8:30pm PST.

Pursglove cited anecdotal evidence that preference for ending an auction varied widely among it users. "A customer support person told me last week that she knows of someone who will only end their auctions in the early morning hours. It really seems to be personal preference."

Amazon.com Auctions, when asked about heaviest traffic times for their auction site, would not release any figures.

AuctionBytes.com decided to put the question to the sellers themselves. In a recent AuctionBytes.com poll, Sunday was chosen far and away as the most popular day to end an auction, with 41% of the votes cast. Saturday was a distant second with 18% and Monday came in third with 15%. In a follow-up poll, the favored time of day to end an auction was between 9pm and midnight (54% of the votes). 6pm to 9pm came in a very respectable second place with 42%. You can see all the voting results at http://www.auctionbytes.com.

Many people peruse the auctions that are closing (on eBay, the Going, going, gone category) and may get involved in an auction that they hadn't followed at all during its early stages. Yahoo! Auctions tracks their auctions closely, and finds that 50% of all bids are placed within the last 1-1/2 days of an auction's life. Often, the price of an item can double, triple or more in the final hours of a hot auction!

What are your feelings about the best time to end an auction? AuctionBytes.com wants to know. Email ina@auctionbytes.com and tell us why you feel one day is better than another to obtain the best results for your auction.

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6) ARTICLE: GETTING THE MOST OUT OF AN ESTATE
by Wayne Tuiskula

Someday, you may be faced with having to settle a friend or family's estate, or perhaps you are downsizing and wondering what to do with all your "stuff."

It is always best to get advice on anything that you think may have value. This is especially important with older items (60's and older). If you have a lot of older items in the house, don't throw anything out before you have someone look at your items or research them thoroughly yourself. I've had to jump in a Dumpster to pull out old postcards and linens that people threw out when cleaning an estate. On the other hand, though, don't be disappointed when items just don't have the value they used to. Your grandmother or uncle may have paid a lot of money for the crushed velvet couch in the 60's or the console hi-fi stereo, but they're just not desirable anymore.

You can check ads in the newspaper and the yellow pages to find the names of people who can help you with your estate sale. Ask friends and family members for referrals.

Your options vary depending on what is in the estate. If family members have taken all of the better items from the house, your options will be limited. When there are a lot of better items remaining, you have many options.

-- Some antique dealers or auctioneers will only want to buy the better items outright and not want the bother of selling the items of lesser value. You can choose to do that and find another method to sell or give away the items of lesser value.

-- You can sell the entire contents of a house to someone who will remove everything. They may also clean the house to prepare it for the realtor to sell.

-- An auctioneer may want to run an auction onsite if the house is full of antiques.

-- You can have people run an estate sale for a percentage of sales or run the sale yourself.

Usually, people who run estate sales will price all of the items and sell everything at the sale. When we run a sale, though, we walk through an estate to decide if there are some items that may be better suited for sale by other means. If you have something exceptional like a Tiffany lamp, you're not going to get fair market value at an estate sale. Some of the items we've found at previous sales include a Civil War diary, a complete original Hopalong Cassidy paint set and 2 German potato masher hand
grenades (defused, fortunately).

These items were very desirable only to a select group of people and would not have brought much money at an estate sale. Items such as these are better sold through other means. In some cases, eBay and other online auctions are the best option. In many cases, online auctions aren't the answer. A nice 1940's mahogany bedroom set will do very well in an estate sale. An antique dealer may not want it because it isn't old enough. It would be cost prohibitive to ship it to someone who purchased it online, so eBay isn't an option. Also, if a house is filled with hundreds of lesser-valued items, it isn't worth the time to describe, photograph and ship all those items.

Lastly, don't forget that you can help needy people by donating some of your items to a charitable organization. You'll be able to help someone in need, and you may also be eligible for a tax write-off.

Wayne and Amy started going to yard sales about 10 years ago and buying things they liked. They eventually started trading and reselling things with others. The Tuiskulas now run estate sales in addition to their other careers. If anyone has any questions or needs help with their estate, they can email Wayne or Amy Tuiskula at tuiskula@tiac.net.

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7) COLLECTOR'S CORNER

Visit the Collector's Corner section of the Web site for current and past articles along with reference sources, links and message boards! We will have more contributions from our other Collector's Corner Editors in the next issue!

COLLECTOR'S CORNER - SCI-FI BOOKS
Michele Alice, Sci-Fi Editor

Mention Science Fiction and many people think of Star Wars or Star Trek, but SciFi actually has a history stretching back over one hundred years to Jules Verne (1828-1950) and H.G. Wells (1866-1946). It does not matter, however, whether you're buying or selling first editions of Verne's or
Well's books, Buck Rogers ray guns, or Spock ears, the laws of the market are the same: scarcity and condition are the two most important factors in the price of any object.

When dealing with scifi books, keep the following in mind:

1. First editions of popular titles by any one author are generally worth more than those that are obscure. Thus, all other things being equal, a first edition of Well's The Time Machine can command a higher price than his Men Like Gods.

2. Alterations result in scarcity. A somewhat recent example is Killing Time (a Star Trek paperback) by Della Van Hise. A number of paragraphs in the 1985 first printing were excised from subsequent printings. The first edition, with raised lettering on the cover, is now worth at least twice as much as first editions of other Star Trek titles.

3. A dust jacket in good condition adds value, especially if the artwork is particularly striking or by a well-known scifi artist.

4. Autographed copies are always worth more than unsigned books. (The owner's signature in a book will usually detract from the price, unless the owner is someone famous, like Marilyn Monroe or Elvis Presley.)

5. Condition, condition, condition. Everyone wants as close to mint condition as possible--just like every other collectible. Coffee stains, ink marks, tears, and creases all decrease a books value.

If you're curious as to the values of out-of-print books, you can check the completed auctions on eBay, or sites like http://www.bibliofind.com, which lists thousands of used books by various dealers.

Collector's Corner Editor Michele Alice is a writer in the Berkshire mountains of Massachusetts. She collects Star Trek and Beatles memorabilia and books, among other things.

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COLLECTOR'S CORNER - POTTERY: HULL POTTERY
by Pam Fowler

The Hull Pottery legacy began in 1905 in Crooksville, Ohio. Hull started by producing common stoneware, semi-porcelain dinnerware and decorative tile. By the 40's and 50's, their high quality pastel matte lines, art and novelty designs surpassed all others with their style and glaze treatments.
During the 60's, 70's and 80's, Hull focused on casual dinnerware and the immense floristware line.

Since the closing of the plant in 1985, Hull Pottery has joined the top ranks of collectability with its legendary style and grace. The demand for and value of Hull Pottery is ever changing. The beautiful floral matte artware will forever be longed for, but the popularity of the novelty and Corky Pig banks has added a new aspect for Hull collectors.

For outstanding information about Hull Pottery see The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Hull Pottery by Brenda Roberts. For club information, write to: The Hull Pottery Association, 13199 Rambo Rd., Crooksville, Ohio 43731.

Also, be sure and check out Potterynut's Web site dedicated to Hull: http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Promenade/1523/index.html. It is a wonderful site with history and tons of information!

Pam Fowler's obsession with Hull began innocently when she inherited a few pieces from her Mom. Pam enjoys hunting for Hull with her husband Marc and 3-year-old daughter Jessica. She can be found on eBay lurking in the eBay pottery chat room as "hullhog."

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FEEDBACK: What topics would YOU like to see covered? What questions do you have about online auctions, small-business issues, collectibles, etc.? Write to ina@auctionbytes.com

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8) GETTING INVENTORY: AUCTION CALENDAR, MAINE ANTIQUE DIGEST

Looking for items you can buy cheaply and sell on "virtual" online auction sites for lots of money? "Real" auctions can be the answer if you are prepared and have good instincts.

Some Auction Tips
Get the auction catalog ahead of time and mark the items you are interested in. Make sure you examine the items very carefully during the preview session before the auction begins. The preview session is a good time to mark in your catalog the most you'd be willing to spend on items. You don't
want to get caught up in the excitement and overbid! Remember that you'll have to take the items home with you after the auction - make sure you have room in your car. (You might not want to go through the bother of shipping large items anyway.)

How to Find Auctions
IAL Auction Calendar claims to be the largest and most active listing of auction events, with 2,500+ auctioneers submitting to the calendar. Go to http://www.internetauctionlist.com/CalThumb-Search.asp and do a search by month or by state.

You can also sign up for their free email alerts and they will send you a list of auctions via email. Go to the Web site at http://www.internetauctionlist.com and click on "Free Newsletter Subscription."

Maine Antique Digest is a monthly newspaper for the antique community. The November 1999 issue was 420 pages long and included an index to shows & auctions organized by date. They also have a list of shows & auctions (from their advertisers) on their Web site at http://www.maineantiquedigest.com .

If you are an experienced auction buyer, you can share your auction tips with us! Email ina@auctionbytes.com . We'd love to hear from you.

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9) TWO UPDATES TO LAST ISSUE'S AUCTION SOFTWARE ARTICLE

1) Ebay has acquired auction software developer Blackthorne Software. http://www2.ebay.com/aw/announce.shtml

2) Clarification to "Auction Software - Get Help Posting Your Auctions," as reported by the publisher of AuctionAssistant software:

The AuctionAssistant Classic Program is $59.95. In the evaluation mode, it allows you to do 2 complete auctions (this will soon be changing to an unlimited number of auctions for 30-days). The Pro allows for unlimited auctions for 90-days and is $199.95 for un-registered owners of AA Classic
and $149.95 for registered owners of AA Classic.

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10) ASK BILL THE POSTMAN

Dear Bill,
I mailed a package to Ireland quite some time ago via surface mail. The package has not yet arrived. I have the green customs form that I had to fill out when I mailed the package. Can customs track my package for me?
--Worried Joan

Dear Joan,
You might have a chance finding your package by filing a lost mail form at the P.O. The customs forms are not traceable! You should insure your packages when allowed. Express mail is the only service for tracking overseas.
--Bill the Postman

Dear Bill,
Thanks for the advice. I just wanted you to know that my package finally arrived last week.
--Not Worried Anymore Joan

DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION FOR BILL THE POSTMAN? Email
askbillthepostman@auctionbytes.com .

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CONTACT INFORMATION
Editorial: ina@auctionbytes.com
Advertising: advert@auctionbytes.com or 508-655-5697
Letters, Comments, Suggestions: feedback@auctionbytes.com
Want to Write for AuctionBytes-Update or AuctionBytes.com? 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
David Steiner, Webmaster, Technical Editor, President and Co-founder:
dsteiner@auctionbytes.com
AuctionBytes
c/o Steiner Associates
PO Box 668
Natick, MA 01760
508-655-5697
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