Many of you have been receiving AuctionBytes newsletters for the better part of our 10-year existence. We're thrilled that you take the time to read us, and have been with us for such a long time! We wanted to say "Thank You" to our newsletter readers, so David worked jointly with TechLiquidators.com to give away something you might enjoy from Best Buy:

Starting this week and through the rest of this year, we will be giving away one $100 Best Buy gift card each week to a lucky AuctionBytes NewsFlash subscriber!

The rules are simple:

1) You must be a subscriber to AuctionBytes Newsflash (Link to sample issues and sign-up box).

2) Each week we will provide a code in one of our NewsFlash newsletters. This is the ONLY place that this code will be available.

3) You must click through to a special page on our site (again, the link will only be posted in the NewsFlash newsletter) and enter that week's code. That's it!

We will start fresh each week, and you can re-enter each week - unless of course, you win.

Intrigued? Wondering how you would spend that $100? More details will be published in Monday's AuctionBytes newsletter. Subscribe now - if you snooze, you lose! It's a great way for us to say thank you to our readers, encourage you to receive our other newsletter (it is emailed to subscribers three times a week with all the news for online sellers), and it's a way for TechLiquidators.com to encourage you to learn more about their website.

You can read more about the AuctionBytes $100 Best Buy Gift Card Giveaway here, and please feel free to post the link to Twitter, Facebook, etc.:

AuctionBytes $100 Best Buy gift card giveaway http://bit.ly/aZ7Dl

David does a great job of reaching out to companies in this industry to sponsor AuctionBytes so that you can receive our newsletters at no cost. Thanks to ALL of our sponsors, and if this promotion goes well, we may do more next year.

I'm also happy to announce a brand new feature: industry press releases published on a portal on our website, with the most recent press release headlines displayed right on the AuctionBytes.com home page. (This feature is geared to companies who have something to offer to online sellers and merchants, not to advertise your ecommerce offerings.)

We're always trying to find ways to bring you news and information you can use in the best way possible. Last week, I conducted a podcast interview with eBay's Vice President of North America Marketing Greg Fant so you could hear about the eBay holiday marketing campaign right from the source.

And while I'm shamelessly plugging AuctionBytes, we may as well pat ourselves on the back about a prediction we made one year ago regarding Google Ads. David saw the potential for Google to bypass ecommerce sites and bring product listings directly to users in its search engine and across the web, and we wrote a thought piece about it here - Is Google Poised to Rule the Ecommerce Universe. This article from Friday's newsletter Google Expands Product Listing Ads in Time for Holiday Shopping shows we were spot on with our analysis of where Google was headed.

There's a lot happening in the ecommerce space, and while it may seem small merchants are more challenged than they were 10 years ago, I predict next year will see some balance being restored to the industry. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading.