Have you ever asked, or has anyone asked you, "What should I sell on eBay?" I get the question occasionally, and the answer is always, "It depends." It certainly helps if you like what you sell. For an article to get you thinking, read Skip McGrath's article, "What Should I Sell on eBay?" at http://tinyurl.com/72x2.
Believe none of what you hear, and half of what you see. In the case of online email, this is especially true. We've reported on hoax emails and spoof Web sites in the AuctionBytes Newsflash newsletter many times. While users are becoming more educated (and skeptical) about emails purporting to be from eBay or PayPal, they may be unaware of a disturbing new trend that has hoax perpetrators targeting smaller sites. Spa'mmers are sending emails that look like they come from small, established sites. We know, because one of them sent out a mailing that looked like it came from AuctionBytes, and we know of one auction-management company that was similarly victimized.
I have noticed some improvements at eBay in how they warn users of potential hoaxes and fraudulent activities. The new Seller Information Box is one example (See Newsflash article:
http://www.auctionbytes.com/pages/abn/y03/m01/i28/s03), though it has not rolled out yet. However, there was an interesting case of alert users who uncovered what appeared to be a fraudulent seller, long before eBay NARU'ed him http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y03/m03/i07/s03. And lest you think crime pays, one Alabama man was sentenced to serve 3 years in jail for eBay fraud http://tinyurl.com/74dc.
The best day to end an auction is one of the most desired pieces of information for online sellers. Each year around this time, we ask sellers their opinion on the subject. Please take our survey (only 3 questions), and we'll tell you the results in the next issue, and compare them to the results we've gotten over the past three years:
http://websurveyor.net/wsb.dll/10226/AuctionBytes.htm
I am in the process of writing an article about my trip to Arizona. I went to Tucson 2 weeks ago to explore the antiques scene. It was great to soak up the sun between shopping sprees. I took lots of pictures and will share them in a future issue. (Thanks to everyone who wrote in with advice to help me plan my trip.)
We have some great ways to save time and money in today's issue, including articles about Window Book, which offers postage solutions, and wireless Palm PDAs, which can help you make better purchasing decisions when searching for inventory.
Ina Steiner is Editor of AuctionBytes.com and author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). She has a background in marketing and research in the high-tech and publishing fields. If you have story ideas, comments or questions, send them to ina@auctionbytes.com.
