AuctionBytes-Update Number 5 - January 9, 2000

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) AUCTIONBYTES.COM LAUNCHES GENERAL FEEDBACK MESSAGE BOARD
3) FOUND IN THE ATTIC
4) FEATURE ARTICLE: AUCTIONBYTES-UPDATE REVIEWS DIGITAL CAMERAS
5) AUCTIONBYTES.COM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
6) ARTICLE: EBAY'S REVISED FEEDBACK POLICY
7) ALERT: BEWARE OF MAKING NON-EBAY TRANSACTIONS ON EBAY!!
8) TECHNICAL PROBLEMS WITH EBAY'S TRANSACTIONAL FEEDBACK?
9) ARTICLE: FEEDBACK ETIQUETTE
10) COLLECTOR'S CORNER
11) PACKAGING: BUBBLE-WRAP PRICING
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1) FROM THE EDITOR

Feedback is on our minds in this issue! A veteran eBayer summarizes eBay's recent changes to its feedback policy and gives us his thoughts. David gives tips on feedback etiquette. And our Question of the Week on 12/23/99 asked auction users how they feel about eBay's new transaction-only feedback policy - we report the results in this issue.

Do you have something to say about eBay's new policies, or anything else to do with online auctions? AuctionBytes.com has launched a new message board for general discussion of online auction matters, including feedback policies. Go to http://www.auctionbytes.com/bin/generalbbs/config.pl.

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SOME EBAY STATS

I thought you might be interested in what "Meg" had to say in an end-of-year letter to eBay users, in case you missed it:

"1999 was a phenomenal year of growth for eBay. Consider this. In the third quarter of 1998, we were at 1.3 million registered users, 9.2 million items listed and $195 million in gross merchandise sales. One year later, we climbed to 7.7 million registered users, 36.2 million items listed and gross merchandise sales topped $741 million."
--Excerpt from letter to eBay community written by Meg Whitman, eBay CEO,
December 30, 1999

Note: that means in 1998, there were 7.1 items listed per registered user versus 4.7 items listed per registered user in 1999.

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FUNDRAISING FADS
OUT: Bake sales, IN: Online Auctions

Contributing Editor Michele Alice tells us that there are some very interesting items up for auction to benefit the Williamstown (Massachusetts) Elementary School 6th Grade Class Field Trip - Classroom at the Cape. Items up for auction include a private tour of the Norman Rockwell Museum with the director, Laurie Norton Moffat, and 4 passes to MassMOCA, the new Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, Massachusetts! Or forgo the culture and indulge yourself - bid on the Canyon Ranch Spa Renewal Day.

Kudos to whomever thought this one up, where students are learning about the process of creating a Web site and hosting an online auction. Pass along this idea to the parents and teachers of your community. For more information, visit http://www.wpskids.org. The auction is being held online between 1/12/00 - 2/12/00.

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EBAY FOR DUMMIES AUTHOR ON THE AIR

Sources tell me that Marsha Collier, co-author of the "eBay for Dummies" book, will be on the "Central New York's Morning News" radio show on Tuesday at 10:30am EST on WSYR AM. She may also appear on the CBS Morning Show on January 19th. Check your listings.

-Ina Steiner, Editor
ina@auctionbytes.com

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2) AUCTIONBYTES.COM LAUNCES GENERAL FEEDBACK MESSAGE BOARD

AuctionBytes.com has launched a new message board for general discussion of online auction matters. Go to http://www.auctionbytes.com/bin/generalbbs/config.pl. (Or click on the big yellow box at the top of the home page!)

You can discuss the Question of the Week and any other topic related to online auctions. We're hoping to get a discussion going about eBay's new feedback policy - check it out, and tell us what you think!
Note: our message boards are a little different than eBay's chat forums. On our boards, you can follow "threads" (so you don't have to read ALL the messages), and the messages stay on for a lot longer!!

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3) FOUND IN THE ATTIC
Mention January, and some people think "The Super Bowl!" And Super Bowl and Coke. Super Bowl and Bud. Super Bowl and marching bands... (You get the idea.) So what's the theme of this segment of the Attic? Right!
Looking over the categories it would appear that either there are a lot more Coke tie-ins than Bud, or Coke is just more popular with collectors. And Tubas aren't just musical instruments. Included are everything from a "Tubby the Tuba" video to 1947 Welch's advertising to Hallmark ornaments. Kaleidoscopes I threw in for fun, though the category also included Danielle Steel's book.

PS: Hope your team wins!

(Results are from an eBay search conducted on 1/4/00.)

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Super Bowl +Coke
Items: 121
Highest Price: $41.00
Lowest Price: $0.99
Average Price: $6.63
Sell thru: 55%
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Super Bowl +Budweiser
Items: 16
Highest Price: $13.45
Lowest Price: $1.99
Average Price: $4.86
Sell thru: 25%
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Tuba
Items: 177
Highest Price $5,900.00
Lowest Price: $0.75
Average Price: $235.59
Sell thru: 80%
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Sousa
Items: 72
Highest Price: $685.00
Lowest Price: $1.50
Average Price: $43.51
Sell thru: 71%
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Kaleidoscope
Items: 393
Highest Price: $2,025.00
Lowest Price: $1.00
Average Price: $39.14
Sell thru: 51%
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4) FEATURE ARTICLE: AUCTIONBYTES-UPDATE REVIEWS DIGITAL CAMERAS
by David Steiner

A craftsman is only as good as the tools that he uses. (Conversely, it's a poor craftsman who BLAMES his tools.) In order to be successful at online auctions, you'll have to invest some money in a tool that will take good pictures of your product. This past holiday season was a record for sales of digital cameras, but if you managed to push through the crowd at the electronics counters and make it to the display case, you were faced with a wide array of features, prices & brand names. To try and sort this confusion out, AuctionBytes-Update will be taking a look at several of the best digital cameras for taking pictures of online auction items in this and future issues.

The criteria for our reviews differ slightly from those in mainstream computer magazines. While most of the cameras on the market today will take good, if not stunning images of landscapes and exteriors, AuctionBytes-Update judged these cameras on their ability to work in lower light, interior settings. AuctionBytes-Update used the following criteria:

1. Taking close-up pictures, which are vital in relaying the information a
potential buyer needs to feel comfortable bidding on your auction.
2. Transferring the images in the camera to your computer.
3. Battery life
4. Ease of use.

This review will cover two of the more popular models, The Kodak DC280 Zoom ($650 range street price) and the Olympus D-340R ($250 range street price). AuctionBytes-Update will add more reviews as we continue to test models.

KODAK DC280 ZOOM
There are some very nice on-board features to the Kodak DC280 Zoom digital camera, such as the impressive active matrix screen and very intuitive menus. It also comes with a nice software bundle, (ArcSoft PhotoPrinter, Adobe PhotoDeluxe, and PageMill) and, because it's compatible with USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports, it transfers images to your computer at a comfortable rate. It's quick and easy to delete unwanted pictures, or you can delete all stored images on the generous 20mb Compactflash card and start fresh by pressing a couple of buttons.

I started by taking some general outside shots, just to get the feel of the camera. I found the camera a little uncomfortable to hold, and continually pressed the wrong button when trying to shoot. I also kept smudging the active matrix screen with my nose (may just be my big nose), but as with most digital cameras, companies seem to want people to use the most expensive component as a nose rest. Picture clarity is amazing outdoors, especially in 1760x1168 mode.

Then I brought the camera inside and began to take some shots of auction items. The first thing I noticed was that I had a little trouble framing the item in the viewfinder. I like nice centered shots, and generally crop the item in my imaging software. Kodak could have been a little more generous with the eyepiece. The low light conditions inside didn't bring out the best in the camera. I continually played with settings, but my auction items looked either very dim, or completely overexposed (using the flash). I wasn't able to get an acceptable close-up shot of a marking on my item. I experimented with the zoom and moved back slightly, but close-ups are definitely not a strong point of this camera.

Probably the most annoying aspect of the DC280 is battery consumption. If you don't mind spending all your online auction profits on AA batteries, buy this camera. It runs through them like Ms. Pacman. Kodak supplies 4 AA Alkaline and 4 AA NiMH batteries, and you'll probably need ALL of them in the first few hours of shooting.

Conclusion: Kodak's DC280 digital camera is a nice choice if you're taking shots of the kids or exteriors. It's not the best choice for the online auction user. $650 street price puts it right in the middle of the pack in terms of price, but there are other cameras on the market that do a better job for the online auction user at a much lower price.

OLYMPUS D-340R
If you're buying a camera to take pictures of auction items, you want a good, functional model that takes nice close-ups and is easy to use. The Olympus D-340R is darn close. Olympus foregoes a lot of the fancy features, such as a zoom lens (there is a 2x digital zoom), which saves on battery life. Throw in a VERY attractive price tag ($250 range street price) and you've got a BARGAIN!

I was very surprised that an inexpensive camera like this took such nice close-up shots. You can get as close as 4 inches away and still get a focused image. Great for taking shots of markings and manufacturer's stamps.

There are several resolution settings, up to 1280x960, but I was happy in 640x480 mode, which will allow 120 pictures to be stored on the 8mb SmartMedia card included. For people who are photography novices, the D-340R has auto-focus, and auto white balance, which makes for clear, true-color images. There are also 4 flash modes, including a fill mode that brightens the picture without blowing away details. The software bundle is very good, with Olympus' Camedia software interface for transferring pictures, and Adobe PhotoDeluxe 3.0 for Windows and 2.0 for Mac.

There are some shortcomings to the D-340R, however. The documentation leaves much to be desired and, because the camera transfers images through a serial connection rather than USB, transfer times can be EXCRUCIATINGLY slow.

The camera is kind to batteries, but you don't want to have your camera shut down during transfer, so I would suggest an AC adapter ($60 if you buy the Olympus adapter, I've seen knockoffs on eBay for $29, although I haven't had direct experience with them). Olympus also offers a FlashPath floppy disk adapter ($99) which eliminates the need to keep the camera turned on during transfer.

Conclusion: All in all, this is a very nice offering from Olympus. The attractive combination of price and picture quality makes it a great entry-level camera for the online auction user!

Go to
http://www.auctionbytes.com/Email_Newsletter/Email_Graphics/camchart /camchart.html for a comparison chart.

David Steiner is president of Steiner Associates, publisher of AuctionBytes-Update. He will be reviewing more digital cameras in future issues. Email your opinions to dsteiner@auctionbytes.com.

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5) AUCTIONBYTES.COM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

>>> What do you consider the single most important aspect of a successful auction? (Choose among Auction Title, Description, Picture, Starting Bid, and Other.)<<<

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

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RESULTS OF OTHER RECENT "QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK"

>>> Several U.S. states are proposing legislation that would require licenses for people who trade on internet auction sites. Would you support this legislation? <<< (12/30/99)

Well, if this were a real ballot question, then it would have been soundly defeated! Of the 182 respondents, 87% would not support legislation requiring a license to trade on online auction sites. 6% stated that they would support such legislation. This question also elicited some very interesting feedback.

"Can you imagine what a confusing thing this would be, 7 million licenses to issue? Not to mention, all the licenses issued to professional auctioneers!! And...how will the professionals take to this...could be they would object. As far as I am concerned, this is another way for government to work it's way into our lives regardless of how we feel about the legislation."

(Visit the Web site to read additional comments regarding this question.)

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>>>Do you agree with eBay's new feedback policy that only allows transactional feedback? (feedback associated with a successfully completed auction)<<< (12/23/99)

Seems as though eBay has taken a step in the right direction! By a ratio of better than 2:1, our respondents agree with eBay's new feedback policy that only allows transactional feedback. (feedback associated with a successfully completed auction) 63% voted Yes, and 30% voted No.

We got a lot of comments about this question too, including:

"I actually have mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, I have had some very pleasant experiences with people who have not actually bid on an item but we wound up doing other business - not auction related. On the other hand, it is too easy to have friends and acquaintances write feedback - making it hard to know if any of it is true."

"I feel it is important to leave only transactional feedback as that is how the majority of people, both bidders & sellers, decide who to do business with. The feedback tells you how someone treats bidders or follows through on their bid. There are those out there who place "phantom" bids for fun and either do not respond to e-mail or leave insulting e-mail. It is important to let others know this so that these people can be avoided.

Auctions can be fun but are not a game for the bored or oversized juvenile with way too much time on their hands. The transactional feedback makes everyone aware of where a person stands. It also keeps people from falsely increasing their feedback to unearned levels with a small group of friends who constantly send each other "best person on the planet" feedback attached to no auction number."

"Sometimes a deal is worked out when a minimum reserve was not reached, yet eBay was integral to the deal; and if the transaction went smoothly, why not post positive? Also, (I have not had this experience) There may be a time when
a deal/committment is not carried out by one party, which would seem to call for possible negative or neutral feedback."

See story #7 below: "ALERT: BEWARE OF MAKING NON-EBAY TRANSACTIONS ON EBAY!!"

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>>>Should online auction sites post a list of recurrent deadbeat bidders and sellers?<<< (12/16/99)

AuctionBytes.com has never seen such a strong response to a question (or such an uneven outcome!) The votes we received over the past week overwhelmingly reflected that people were interested in a method of identifying chronic deadbeat bidders and sellers! 93% of the respondents wanted to see a list of recurrent deadbeat bidders.

We got a lot of feedback on this question. I'm reprinting one of the replies we received that raises valid question about the idea of listing chronic deadbeat bidders & sellers. We should remember that an individual is innocent until proven guilty.

>>>All this is simplistic and dangerous. Such polls are inevitably self-selecting and unrepresentative. Even if this survey could pretend even to a modicum of accuracy it would still not legitimate action on the topic surveyed.

Majority support does not of itself justify action which would be contrary to the civil rights of the minority. There can be no justification for publicising the name of any dealer or collector unless the individual has been duly investigated and found guilty of unprofessional behaviour by the appropriate recognised body - or court.

Naming someone on any global communications medium on the basis of one, or even a number of, aggrieved individuals' unproven complaint, even if wholly justified, can be disastrous for that person's reputation when there may be a number of reasons for the action complained of other than corruption. Anyone involved in the legal, or even the political world, knows full well that in very many cases of prima facie misdealing, for every claim on one side there is a counter claim from the other - quite apart from the prevalence of incompetence, misunderstanding, ill health or other reasons for the action complained of.

There are a number of courses of action within the philatelic world open to an individual with a grievance and these should be utilised rather than resorting to publicity without corroborated proof. The moment for publicity is when the legitimate body has come to its decision.

The philatelic world in general is remarkably honest. Valuable stamps are regularly despatched to and from dealers and collectors, often purely on the word of one or the other. In many years of collecting - including buying and selling at a reasonable level - I have only had one bad financial experience, and this was eventually sorted out within the philatelic sphere. Of course there is the occasional rogue, but that is no reason to rush to judgement and to risk damaging innocent individuals.

Don't bother to indulge in such futility. It may make you feel better but it won't do any good. No wonder our political and democratic processes are in such a state if there is such a lack of intellectual rigour even over a topic on which those participating feel passionate. There is no easy solution to complex problems, no matter what the pollsters might suggest!<<

Michael Meadowcroft

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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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6) ARTICLE: EBAY'S REVISED FEEDBACK POLICY
By Mike Marino

When deciding to place a bid on an item, how do you know if a seller is reputable? Feedback. Feedback points are the single most important factor when determining whether or not to bid on an item. Ebay recently reviewed its feedback policy and approved the following changes for the first quarter of 2000:

1) All feedback will be transactional -- in other words, related to a successfully completed auction. Non-transactional feedback will no longer be allowed. It will also be easier to leave transactional feedback by automatically matching sellers, buyers, and transaction numbers.

This will stop the soliciting of feedback to build up user profiles artificially. Also, being able to match sellers, buyers and transaction numbers will make it easier to identify retaliatory feedback incidents.

2) There will be no time gap requirement when leaving multiple comments to the same users - as long as there is a valid transaction number associated with each comment.

3) Feedback from permanently suspended users (NARU) will NOT be converted to neutral, but rather kept unchanged as part of your Feedback Profile. They will be identified as NARU.

This is a good change. Just because someone has been suspended, doesn't mean prior transactions are now invalid. Unfortunately, this policy will not be applied to past feedback. Any positives changed to neutral as a result of non-registered users will remain neutral.

4) A 6-month bid retraction history will be displayed in each user's Feedback Profile. It will be linked to a new page that will explain whether the retraction was acceptable or not.

This should help identify users that make a habit of retracting bids.

5) Users who elect to make their Feedback Profile private will have their Feedback Rating replaced by the word "private," and the star icon will not be displayed. You can click to see a tally of their feedback.

This is the best change made yet! Previously, the only way identifying users with "private" feedback was to actually click on their Feedback Rating number. From the listing, it looked no different

6) Clear guidelines for exceptional situations where eBay will remove comments from a user's Feedback Profile will be established and posted on the site.


eBay Will Not Change Access to Negative Feedback
eBay will not allow users to readily access all negative or neutral comments in a Feedback Profile. I think this is too bad. It's safe to assume most of us are interested in the cases of what went wrong with a transaction.

A Suggested Change -- Ability to View Feedback in Summary Form by Category
It would be helpful to see feedback ratings by category. By looking at the following chart, you can see that the travel category seems to be a problem area! I'm sure this is not a new request to eBay.

Category Positives Neutrals Negatives

Travel 200 40 20
Antiques 55 0 0
Computer 25 0 0

As buyer 250 0 0

Being involved in the computer/database field myself, I'm sure there's concern over site performance, but it should not become more important than giving users the tools they need to buy and sell online.

Mike Marino can be contacted at orioles35@aol.com. He is registered at eBay under the same name, where he specializes in sports memorabilia, namely baseball and football trading cards.

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SIDEBAR: LINKS TO EBAY FEEDBACK INFORMATION

Feedback FAQs: http://pages.ebay.com/help/basics/f-feedback.html

Using Feedback: http://pages.ebay.com/services/forum/feedback.html

Policy Changes -1st Quarter 2000:
http://pages.ebay.com/community/suggestion/feedbackresults.html

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7) ALERT: BEWARE OF MAKING NON-EBAY TRANSACTIONS ON EBAY!!

If you are tempted to make a deal with a buyer or seller that won't be recorded on eBay's records, think twice! Now that eBay permits transaction-based feedback only, you have no recourse if the deal goes awry!

We "trust" other online auction participants because we know we can always leave negative feedback if they screw us. Now, you can't leave feedback for anyone unless it is linked to a valid eBay transaction.

So, if a seller contacts you because you bid on her reserve item, the reserve was not met, and she's willing to sell it to you anyway, watch out. If she gets your check and doesn't send you the item, you can't leave negative feedback since the transaction was never recorded on eBay!

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8) TECHNICAL PROBLEMS WITH EBAY'S TRANSACTIONAL FEEDBACK?

Some eBay users told us about a problem they were having with leaving transactional feedback:

"Approx 1 in 20 Auction give you notations 'This is not a legal lot number between these two parties,' even when clicked right off Auction Page. You have to drop Lot number to give feedback. when I brought this to ebay attention-was told problem was on my PC not ebay, perhaps?"

" hi I have just read your note on posting feedback and I would say you are right I experience the problem of unrecognised transaction nos fairly often cheers"

"I have had that problem w/ transactional feedback. It sometimes says its not a valid transaction."

We talked to Kevin Pursglove of eBay, who said he is not aware of any technical problems. I've sent him these comments, and he will look into it. He said it could be a problem with the user's computer or ISP.

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9) ARTICLE: FEEDBACK ETIQUETTE

Buyer: Leave feedback for a buyer as soon as they have fulfilled their obligation, i.e., as soon as payment has been received. If it's a Money Order, leave feedback immediately. If it's a personal check, then it's okay to wait a few days to make sure the check clears. You SHOULD leave feedback for a buyer before you send out their item. It also encourages the buyer to leave feedback for you, once they have received their purchase.

Seller: Feedback should be left for a seller immediately after you have received the item and you have determined that it's in the shape that was stated in the auction description. Leave feedback immediately.

Don't be hasty with negative feedback. Use it as a last resort.

-D.S.

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10) 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 - COMICS: "WHEN WAS THIS COMIC PUBLISHED?"
Win Bent, Comics Editor

I love it when comics have the date of publication on the cover - it makes life so simple! "Green Lantern #14 - Jul 91" Couldn't be easier! Unfortunately, many comics (particularly older ones) do not have this information, so a bit of hunting is required.

Look inside, at the bottom of the first page or the front cover. There you'll find the fine print containing information on the publisher, the copyright, and the official title of the comic. This block of fine print is called the "indicia." Some recent comics may have this at the bottom of the 2nd or 3rd page - it's always there, but you might have to search for it! If you're lucky, it'll come right out and say the number and date of issue, e.g., "Superman No. 123, May 1997"

You may have to hunt for a date, or piece together the information from the copyright and whatever appears on the cover. For example, the cover might say "#48 Feb" and the indicia say "Copyright 1957." It gets tricky, though! Because publishers post-date their comics, this is probably the Feb 1958 issue, on the newsstands in late 1957!

You should also beware of reprints; some are obvious, but others are not. If the indicia has two copyright years listed, it's a reprint published in the newer year. There have also been some reprints which are deceptively close to the original comic: In 1974, DC reprinted Action Comics #1 (1938), making it an exact replica except slightly larger (13.5 by 10 inches). Many have been fooled by this reprint - both buyers and sellers! Another thing to watch for is coverless and/or otherwise incomplete comics, since these could be reprints with the identifying pages removed.

Any comic of more than trivial value is worth investigating closely!

Collector's Corner Editor Win Bent (ebay:whbjr) learned to read from Superman comics and has been collecting off and on ever since. Raised in Ohio, he lived in Boston, New Jersey and California before settling in Austin, Texas. Email Win at collector@haus.org.

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AUCTIONBYTES.COM 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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11) PACKAGING: BUBBLE-WRAP PRICING

We all need it and can't seem to get enough of it. Bubble-wrap, that is! Here's another look at the prices of bubble-wrap. (Prices collected on 1/6/00)

Prices of Bubble Wrap:
(3/16" bubble size; 12" x 175' rolls; shipping & handling not factored in)

Staples Catalog 800-333-3330
468264-41 $18.32 - phone price varies according to geographic location

WB Mason 888-926-2766
SEL-88655 $19.98

ULINE 800-295-5510
S-1012 $22

Chiswick 800-225-8708
81-12175 $25

Viking 800-421-1222
A01-96003 $39.46

Online Auction Sites: Log onto online auction sites and search for bubble wrap! (Be aware that if you search the entire item description, not just the title, unrelated items will show up in your results.) Remember to use the same caution that you use in buying other items on online auction sites.

Bubble sizes vary as do sizes of the rolls. Be sure to compare similar items when you are shopping for the best prices.

These prices do not include shipping. WB Mason says it delivers for FREE. Staples will deliver free if order is over $50.

Email ina@auctionbytes.com if you have a cheaper source for bubble wrap! If
you have ideas on FREE sources of mailing supplies, let us know and we'll
write an article.

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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
Michele Alice, Contributing Editor
AuctionBytes
c/o Steiner Associates
PO Box 668
Natick, MA 01760
508-655-5697
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