Julia Wilkinson, Editor of the forthcoming MyEZsale Ecommerce Guide newsletter, found some time to write an article in today's issue about Liquidation.com, a resource for finding inventory to resell. Julia is busy ramping up for the June launch of MyEZsale; you can reach her at julia@myezsale if you have story suggestions. And you can sign up for a free subscription to this twice-monthly email newsletter at http://www.myezsale.com.
Online auction fraud made headlines again this week, with the FTC and state Attorneys General announcing an anti-fraud initiative. eBay announced it had hired Howard Schmidt, a cyber-security guru, as Vice President of Security. And Virginia enacted the nation's harshest anti-spam law, which prohibits tools that automate spam and the forging of email headers http://tinyurl.com/ax21. Spammers often forge the headers to hide their identity, cover their tracks, or impersonate a legitimate service.
As it so happens, I had already written an article for today's issue on the latest forms of fraud targeting sellers. It's important to be aware of the latest scams in order to avoid them, because they keep getting more sophisticated.
Also in this issue, David begins part 1 of a series on trouble-shooting Internet access problems. We have a high-speed Internet connection, and David has spent many hours over the years talking to customer service reps at ISPs and Web hosting companies. He shares some of the things he's learned along the way so that when the finger pointing starts, you can try to get the right party to take responsibility for the problem.
eBay Live is only 8 weeks away. This is the only event of its kind in the online auction industry where online buyers and sellers can get together, take classes and meet with service providers. We will be bringing you frequent reports from the show. We expect vendors to make some major announcements at the show, and I'll be spending some time in the Exhibit Hall talking to them to see what's new, and report back on new tools to help save you time and money buying. We're also going to be sending pictures from the floor of the convention center to let you see what's going on if you're unable to attend.
With the help of our eBay Live sponsors, we'll also have a "tres cool" feature where people at the event can say "Hi" to their loved ones at home. More on that next time.
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.
