Four years ago, after David and I began selling on eBay, we saw the need for a publication like AuctionBytes geared to the unique needs of entrepreneurial sellers like ourselves. There are so many business issues involved in setting up an online auction business, even for part-time sellers: customer service; packaging, shipping and fulfillment; inventory acquisition; accounting and more.
Today, we are publishing our 100th issue of this newsletter.
Before AuctionBytes, David was an independent television producer in real life, and I was Operations Manager for a small publishing company. We decided to publish AuctionBytes in our spare time, along with running our online auction business (selling yard sale finds).
You probably don't know that we originally envisioned AuctionBytes as a print newsletter! The price for a 1-year subscription (10 issues/year) was set at $29.99, and we printed a special preview issue dated October 1999. Before launch, we decided that an email newsletter was a better way to reach auction users, and AuctionBytes-Update Issue #1 was published on November 6, 1999. (One month later, David surprised me with an early Christmas present, Maggie the Auction Hound, a beagle puppy!)
In 2001, we added a newsletter, AuctionBytes-Newsflash, (588 issues and counting) a daily newsletter covering the latest-breaking news in the online auction industry. This has been a rewarding challenge for me. It requires discipline to seek out news, verify stories, and write it in a way that will be objective, relevant and interesting - 3 or 4 times a week. It's a great way for me to keep up on what's happening in this market (and has also greatly improved my writing skills).
By the end of 2002, David and I left our former occupations to concentrate on doing AuctionBytes full-time. AuctionBytes has struck a nerve with readers and provides a place for open discussion about industry issues. Our discussion forums and "Letters from Readers" section allows people to say what's on their minds. The positive support we get from subscribers and forum participants, freelance writers, and sponsors is overwhelming and keeps us excited about what we do. Who knows, some day we may be announcing our 500th issue of AuctionBytes-Update!
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.
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