In much of the United States, this weekend is Daylight Savings - if it applies to you, did you remember to set your clocks ahead 1 hour last night?
We've done more AuctionBytes.TV programming. You can see the latest News in Review and an interview with the president of auction-management firm Zoovy online at http://auctionbytes.tv.
Last week, eBay rolled back an important Stores search feature, to the dismay of many Store owners (http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m03/i29/s01). I've gotten several emails about the rollback that you can read in today's "Letters from Readers" section.
I went to Washington, DC, last week to hear the Supreme Court oral arguments in the eBay-MercExchange patent injunction case. I had the opportunity to meet Tom Woolston of MercExchange and Nathan Myhrvold of Intellectual Ventures to get different perspectives. Before I left, I published a guide and timeline about the eBay-MercExchange patent case (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/pages/patent).
It was a privilege to watch the Supreme Court proceedings, which were fascinating. I would like to thank Mr. Turner of the Supreme Court Public Information Office for making press passes available to AuctionBytes. Colleagues have told me it's very difficult for reporters to get passes, and many seats are obstructed, but I had a clear view of all that went on. You can read my article about the proceedings here http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m03/i29/s00. I also wanted to share my personal views on the case, so I'm including an editorial about the case as the first article in today's issue. I will try to blog some of the details too.
Washington, DC is a wonderful place to visit and holds a special place in my heart. In 1968, my mother packed up her four children and took us on a plane from Boston to DC to spend the day and see the sights. It couldn't have been easy for my parents - who came to this country from Ireland in the 50's - to put the money together to make this trip. But my mother always drummed into us an appreciation for democracy and a sense of civic responsibility, and a visit to DC always makes me grateful that she did.
If you like a good eBay story, be sure and read the last feature in this newsletter before the Letters from Readers. Barbara Nelson, who runs Grandpa's Trading Company with her husband Jim, relates her very experience selling on eBay in 1997. I thank everyone who responded to the "First Item Sold Online" feature, I received some great stories that I'll be publishing in future issues.
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.
