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TAGnotes Fri 22 Oct 1999 Vol 1 Number 38

Date: 23 Oct 1999 08:25:28 -0000
From: tagn-@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject: TAGnotes Fri 22 Oct 1999 Vol 1 Number 38

The Auction Guild Notes for Friday 22 Oct 1999
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Resources. Go to the site and sign in, and click on Links on
the left side of the page.
http://www.onelist.com/files/TheAuctionGuildnotes/
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eBay US- Daily status emails are not being sent out due to a
glitch on eBay. My eBay has all the latest information on your
account. Due to the two six hour outages this week, Search and
Category listings pages updates are not current. eBay has
temporarily turned off less time-sensitive functions, to allocate
more system resources to Search and Listings updates. The End of
Auction email was one of the functions temporarily stopped, but
should be back in the next few days.

As of 00:01 a.m. PDT on October 22, 1999, all new sellers will
need to place a credit card or a debit card (ATM bankcards if
they have a Visa or MasterCard logo) on file with eBay before
listing their first item. Sellers who created an eBay seller’s
account prior to 22 Oct 1999 will not be affected by this
requirement. Ebay is working on an alternative for those who can't
or don't want to provide a credit or debit card number. This
alternative will be available within 60-90 days (and will not
require a Social Security Number). eBay made this sudden change
after discussing this issue with a number of eBay community
members(?). eBay felt pre-announcing the change would have
created an incentive for potential misbehavior before the
change was put in place(??- trust in the community, but tie your
camel first!!!). eBay will have discussions, among other things,
on changes to the feedback system . They would like input on
potential features such as providing sellers with the option to
select groups of buyers from whom they will accept bids. In another
classic eBay quote, they said – quote- We believe that such changes
will reinforce the trust between eBay members, and will help the
eBay community thrive. –end quote
http://pages.ebay.com/help/basics/f-ccupdate.html
For comments and suggestions about the new credit or debit card
requirement send email to selle-@e...

eBay and shill bidder rings – A very troubling situation has come to
light recently. On 8 Oct, a long time eBay user reported a shill ring to
eBay. The shilling going on was very obvious, several registered eBay
members all using the same AOL account, and bidding repeatedly on each
others auctions to both get the bidding started and insure no item went
at too low a price, avoiding the need to use reserves and pay the extra
reserve auction fee. Despite this easily attainable evidence, eBays
Safe Harbor investigated, and found nothing wrong. The eBay user
persisted, sending more information, and got the eBay ignore treatment.
Finally after much investigation by many eBay users, post on several of
the auction chat boards, and many emails to safe harbor with evidence
piled on evidence – eBay finally suspended the entire shill ring – 14
days later (that is two full auction weeks!).

This is not the first time eBay has acted in this manner, as they will
often suspend shill accounts, but not the account whose auctions are
being shilled. Alternatively,they will not do sufficient investigation,
even though they have ALL the information and resources to do a real and
thorough investigation. and will allow shillers to continue their
activity. Ebay, in the short term, has nothing to lose, and much to
gain from shillers, in the long term it hurts us all, so we strongly
encourage all auction users to report your shill suspicions to eBay, or
any other auction site you use.

We are still waiting for a response from legal on section 7 of the user
agreement. First message sent 2 Oct, last message sent 17 Oct – 5 days
remaining for User Agreement to go into effect, and questions and
request submitted on 2 Oct have still not been answered or met.

http://www.ebay.com.au/
http://www.ebay.co.uk
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/announce.shtml
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Gold's- Nothing new since Vol 1 Number 36
Free listings until 31 Oct, list a thon event with chances at
free auction listing features, and member credits.
http://www.goldsauction.com/apps/viewAnnouncements.html
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Amazon - Nothing new since Vol 1 Number 35
10 cent listings until 31Dec99, free crosslinks to books or retail
items, Pro merchant discounts, bulk lister tool, zShops.
http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/subst/home/happenings.html/
ref%3Da%5Fh%5Fcc%5Fc%5F3/002-2432003-9821847
24/7 customer service with any questions - Toll-free in U.S.
and Canada: (800) 201-7575
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Boxlot – Current free digital camera selectees by user ID must
respond by midnight Left Coast time (PDT) of day next to name-
JHOLL497 22 Oct    BEV01102 23 Oct   CANMEISTER 24 Oct
Contest has been extended to 31 Oct 99.
http://www.boxlot.com/
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Cyrbid Auction - is instituting a new bidding logic for reserve
auctions. The change effects the amount of a bid that is applied
when a Reserve price is not yet met. The portion of any bid that
is less than a Reserve amount (or the entire bid if that amount
does not meet the Reserve amount) will be applied in full against
the Reserve amount. Once the Reserve amount has been met by any
bid, proxy bidding works as outlined below, applying only the
smallest portion of a bid necessary to keep the bidder winning
the auction.
http://www.cyrbid.com/infocenter/helpdocs/bidchanges.htm
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Honesty.Com – Glitches and bugs are still emerging, but the staff
appears to have things under control. Continue to report problems.
http://www.honesty.com/services/
http://www.honesty.com/
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If you would like an Auction House or Service Provider added to this
list, please email us at ta-@f... or TheAuction-@onelist.com.
If you have any info you would like to have added to this list,
email us at ta-@f... or TheAuction-@onelist.com.
Read past issues at
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