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EcommerceBytes-Update, Number 193 - June 24, 2007 - ISSN 1528-6703
This & That: Online Auction Roundup
1) The State of the Antiques and Collectibles Market
By Ina Steiner
Reminder: AuctionBytes-Update does not endorse the products and services featured in the "This & That" column, which often features new Web sites. (Anyone can set up a Web site.) Fraud has become widespread in the online auction world, and you should think twice before giving private information or User IDs and passwords to any third party.
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The two June issues of "The Collectors Newsletter" from TIAS.com are of particular interest to antiques and collectibles dealers. The column called "Stories From our Readers" in issues #533 and #534 contain letters from people describing a depressed market for antiques and collectibles - offline and online - and why they think this is so. (If this link doesn't take you directly to the newsletter page, click on "Collector's Newsletter" in the left-hand column of the page that does appear.)
http://www.tias.com/newsletter/cn
2) eBay News from eBay Live Keynote
By Ina Steiner
There were a lot of specific announcements made in the eBay Live Keynote address, you can read them in this eBay post and in this AuctionBytes article.
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200706151318452.html
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m06/i15/s01
3) UPS Small Business Contest
By Ina Steiner
UPS is running its Best "Out-of-the-Box" Small Business Contest, a program designed for companies with annual 2006 revenues of at least $250,000 but not more than $10 million. UPS rewards small businesses that use creative, innovative ideas and concepts. Prizes for the winners range from $5,000 to $25,000 in cash, plus an IBM small business package. This is the first year that small businesses from certain countries outside the United States are eligible to participate - see website for details and restrictions.
http://www.ups.com/outofthebox
4) Shout out to DOUA!
By Ina Steiner
Thanks to Marjie Smith of DOUA (Disabled Online Users Association) for directing her newsletter readers to AuctionBytes eBay Live coverage! Marjie is a force in the industry, you can learn more in the latest issue of the DOUA newsletter, LifeBytes. (And thanks to Monica for always taking the time to say hello during eBay Live.)
http://www.doua.org/newsletter
5) Self-financing Drives Entrepreneurial Startups
By Ina Steiner
A new report shows that fewer than one in 10,000 start-ups have venture capital (VC) in hand when they open their doors for business. The 2006 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Finance report was directed by Babson College and London Business School. Among 42 nations participating in the 2006 GEM study, 208 million informal investors - family, friends, neighbors - provided $600 billion to entrepreneurs' businesses, and entrepreneurs themselves fueled 62% of start-up capital for their new ventures. And that money goes almost immediately into the GDP as entrepreneurs spend it to pay wages and buy goods and services for their businesses. For all GEM nations combined, the average amount needed to start a business is $65,000.
"Educators should place much more emphasis on financing from entrepreneurs and informal investors...and much less on the role played by venture capitalists," said Babson Professor William D. Bygrave, who authored the GEM Finance report, "And entrepreneurs must figure on funding about two-thirds of the initial capital needed to launch their ventures."
http://www.gemconsortium.org
6) Appraising Personal Property: Principles and Methodology
By Ina Steiner
David Maloney has a new book out called "Appraising Personal Property: Principles and Methodology." I found this through Judith Katz-Schwartz' excellent and entertaining newsletter, "Antiques and Collectibles Newsletter."
http://www.msjudith.net/news/index.htm
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