eBay announced on Thursday it would keep Half.com open indefinitely http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y04/m09/i23/s00. eBay originally planned to close the site in July, then October. eBay tried to put a positive spin on the announcement, but considering how determined they were to close Half, it seems impossible to believe Half sellers were keen on switching to eBay as a venue. If you are interested in background, we did a 3-part series in August called, "A Look at Half." Here's a link to Part 1: "Some Half Booksellers Not Embracing eBay?" http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y04/m08/i11/s03.
If you would like to link to AuctionBytes from your Web site, we have a revised links page thanks to a very thoughtful vendor. Rich from ImageWiz.net sent us a new design for the page that we liked so much we decided to change it. Using the code provided, you can add AuctionBytes banners, or you can add our newsfeed so the latest AuctionBytes headlines are featured on your site. Thanks Rich! View the new links page at http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/pages/link.
Drop-off stores continue to dominate eBay-related news. If you sell online on a consignment basis, whether you have a storefront or not, you will be interested in today's article on consignment-selling software for online-auction sellers. I expect more vendors to add consignment-selling features to their selling tools, so stay tuned.
In today's issue, columnist Mark O'Neill introduces us to eBay Groups, a place where you can create your own community and similar to Yahoo Groups, which is extremely popular. And David reviews a new tell-all book written by a former executive at PayPal about the company's history.
Perhaps you've come across auctions with animated cartoon-like characters who speak to you about the items for sale? Nancy Hix interviewed the president of Oddcast to find out more about the "SitePal for eBay" tool that allows sellers to create these talking eBay mascots.
Also in today's issue are the "This & That" column, Collector's Corner column, and AuctionBytes Soundoff: Letters from Readers.
Thanks for reading,
About the author:
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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