We went to Brimfield, the large outdoor antiques/flea market in Massachusetts, on Thursday. Dealers we spoke with reported that business was the best they had seen in a few years! It was good to hear that things are picking up for antique dealers, at least in the offline world. In
today's issue, we release our 3rd Annual Collectibles Price Index revealing average selling price and sell-through rate on eBay; things have not been getting easier for collectibles dealers online.
Also in today's issue, we review the "hidden postage" features that Internet postage services offer, and David continues his series on trouble-shooting Internet access problems. In today's Ask Nick column, Nick talks about the logistics of setting up a mobile office. One of the
benefits is being able to work from any place - a rented office, on the road, even a coffee shop. Another benefit is having a backup system in place. If you are working on your desktop computer at home, and your computer or Internet connection goes kaput, you can fire up your laptop with wireless connection, or go to your office and work.
For those of you who don't subscribe to AuctionBytes-Newflash, you may have missed the news about a dramatic (and tragic) case of a husband and wife, Michael and Nancy Dreksler, who are accused of committing large-scale eBay
fraud. We began covering this story in early March, never guessing the twists and turns this case would take. Here's the story, in case you missed it:
http://www.auctionbytes.com/pages/abn/y03/m05/i13/s01
Just this past Monday, I received a hoax email purporting to be from Bank of America. I've also gotten emails from readers alerting me to continued hoax emails that look like they come from eBay. Never click on a link in an
email to sign in to a service! (Here's a story we wrote last year, the problem is only getting worse:
http://www.auctionbytes.com/pages/abn/y02/m11/i07/s01.)
There is a proposed law to require unsolicited email marketing messages have a valid return address
(http://dc.internet.com/news/article.php/2184741). And there is a bill under consideration that would use the civil Federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to crack down on email sent by people seeking money illegally or engaged in other illegal acts
http://dc.internet.com/news/article.php/2206651.
Due to the level of sophistication of these fraudsters, I've become extremely wary of writing about new companies in the online-auction industry. Usually in the "This & That" column I like to let readers know about new products and services. I will be adding a reminder to the column
that I do not necessarily endorse a company simply because I write about it. (Some readers think our "This & That" column is advertising - it's not. When new companies send me information, I post it for our readers' perusal.)
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.
