The Insider's Secrets of an eBay Millionaire

Data Bytes: What's Hot on eBay Around the World
By Terapeak
AuctionBytes.com

March 30, 2007

In this week's Data Bytes column, we'll explore some of the hot categories in the U.S. and around the world, pulling from Terapeak's new International Research offering. Terapeak recently added data from the U.K. Canada, Australia, France and Germany to its eBay research suite, and this column offers a sneak peek into some of the fascinating trends we're seeing internationally.

Terapeak's unique Category Heat Map offers insights into the hottest categories around the world. This week we'll look at the U.S., Australia, France and the U.K. Let's get started,...

The hottest category in the U.S. this week is Stuffed Animals - Other. Almost all of the animals in this category are Webkinz brand dogs and cats. These little creatures are often unique and hard-to-find, so eBay is the perfect place to buy and sell them. Each comes with a special code allowing the owner to access the virtual world of Webkinz where he or she can interact with a virtual version of their pet. Demand and the ASP (Average Selling Price) for Webkinz creatures have been steadily increasing over the past two years, maxing out over the past month. Some of these guys are selling for more than $800!

Automotive GPS Devices is a hot category. The Tom Tom brand, specifically, is the most popular. Total number of bids and sales have increased steadily over the past six months, while ASPs have declined only slightly.

Single 2006 and later non-graded Major League Baseball cards are spicy hot. Total sales, total bids and ASPs have all climbed upwards over the past six months.

Black 4GB Ipod Nanos are still going strong. While demand (bids and sales) has increased over the past six months outside of the pre-holiday spike, the ASP on these tiny objects of desire has gradually declined.

As the weather starts to heat up around the country, outdoor sporting goods sales are coming to a boil. Triathalon bikes are the hottest sporting goods category at the moment. Total sales and bids have increased since January, while ASPs have seen spikes but have generally stayed pretty consistent over time.

On the other side of the world in Australia, Fishing is one of the hottest categories, within which Salt Water Fishing is the most popular. In order of rank, Reels, Rods and Lures, are hottest. Total sales for salt water reels have been growing over the past three months, while total bids and ASPs have remained consistently high.

The Porcelain and Pottery category is cooking "down under." Royal Albert, Royal Doulton, Wedgwood and Lladro/Nao are the hottest brands. Sales, bids and ASPs for Royal Albert tableware (hottest within the hot) have been gradually increasing over the past three months.

In Sports Memorabilia, trading cards for the Australian Football League (AFL/VFL) are sweltering - almost all teams are equal in terms of bidding and total sales. The West Coast Eagles are currently showing a slight lead in the race (this could be due to their 2006 Grand Final win).

Back over in France, Women's Clothing, 19th Century Furniture and Decor, Bordeaux Wines and Collectible Postcards are all popular categories. While the Wines and Sprits category is searing, Bordeaux is by far the item most in demand.

Motorcycles and Scooters are sizzling in France. Roadsters are the most requested type of vehicle, for which demand has spiked since January 2006. Electric Guitars and Bicycles are heating up - demand and sales are steadily increasing for both.

The automobile category is another scorcher. While there are several popular makes, Renault and Peugeot are the hottest, with Citroen and Volkswagen following close behind.

In the U.K., Silver is tearing it up. Cigarette Cases, Cutlery Sets, Spoons, and Other Solid Silver are strong in-demand categories.

Fishing is also popular in the U.K. - coarse fishing and carp fishing are specifically of interest. The Carp Fishing category has grown steadily in numbers of bids and successful sales over the past two years, with a pretty big spike in sales just since January.

Trains and Railway Models is a hot category in the U.K. Locomotives of all types are steaming hot. Total bids and sales for OO Gage Locomotives, for example, have increased steadily over the past two years, while ASPs have increased slightly.

Cardmaking and Scrapbooking continues to sizzle, keeping up with categories like MP3 Players, DVDs, Laptops and Mobile Phones, all of which generate a high number of bids.

Lastly, Power Tools is blistering in terms of number of bids. Drills, Grinders, Saws, Planers, Routers, Sanders and Nail Guns are all red hot, with demand steadily creeping upwards on all fronts.

That's it for this week. We'd love to hear your thoughts on the column. Please send questions, feedback or article suggestions to databytes@auctionbytes.com.

Thanks, and enjoy the heat!

Note: "Hot" data was derived from Terapeak's Category Heat Map the week of March 19, 2007, and where applicable, trends were identified by data going back further in time.
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Terapeak is an eBay Certified Service Provider that specializes exclusively in eBay Marketplace Research. Terapeak helps you use the experience of other sellers to know when to list, which items are hot, and value your items on eBay. The Terapeak services offers research for eBay US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany and eBay Motors Parts & Accessories. Terapeak accesses eBay Data directly from the eBay Market Data program. To learn more about the Terapeak please visit http://www.terapeak.com.

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eBay Canada Launches Search for 2007 Entrepreneurs of The Year

Third annual competition adds new Young Entrepreneur of the Year
category; offers more than $10,000 in prizes to top performing eBay
entrepreneurs

TORONTO, March 29 /CNW/ - On April 1, 2007, eBay Canada launches its
third annual eBay Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, a yearly awards
program to identify and reward Canada's most successful and established eBay
entrepreneurs. This year, the program also includes the newly created Young
Entrepreneur of the Year category for 18-24 year olds.

"Canadian entrepreneurs are fulfilling their dreams, and becoming
successful small business owners by tapping into eBay's global online
community," says Elmer Sotto, director, marketplace development, eBay Canada.
"Our third annual awards program marks our ongoing commitment to recognize and
encourage these Canadians in their efforts to grow their eBay-based businesses
in Canada and around the world."

More than 32,000 Canadian entrepreneurs are running successful small
businesses selling full-time and part-time on eBay. eBay users around the
globe are buying and selling goods in more than 50,000 categories, 24 hours a
day. There are more than 222 million registered eBay users worldwide and more
than five million in Canada alone.

Last year's top eBay Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year, Marilyn Bild
(eBay ID: totallytextiles), came up with the idea to start selling Indian
saris online when she visited a local market. "Now my storage unit is packed
with mountains of Indian fabrics that I'm constantly shipping to customers all
over the world," says Bild. "Winning last year's competition has increased
traffic to my eBay store, and helped raise awareness in my local community
about the benefits of eBay. I've seen a surge in registrations for the
'Selling on eBay' course I teach in Vancouver."

For the complete article please click HERE

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By: Eve Kelliher, The-kIngdom.ie

A KERRY man has helped ensure the tills have been ringing out for one of Ireland’s most important marketplaces for traders.

Trading website eBay has enjoyed an extraordinarily rapid expansion in this country, with Tralee man, John McElligott, managing director of eBay Ireland, at the helm. eBay.ie, the dedicated Irish eBay website, now has over 500,000 confirmed registered users in Ireland, he revealed during the week.

This figure, which represents 58 per cent of all Irish Internet users and 16 per cent of the over 18 population of Ireland, marks a 150 percent increase in users since the site launched in June 2005.

Mr McElligott, managing director of eBay Ireland said the figure represents a significant landmark for eBay.ie.

"We are grateful for the loyalty of our users in helping us pass this milestone," he stated.

The potential for Irish entrepreneurs to realise success through eBay.ie is significant and thousands of small and medium-sized businesses are using eBay.ie as an additional sales channel and turning their excess stock into cash, he added.

"With four items bought and one item sold every minute by Irish eBayers, it is clear that eBay.ie is striking a chord with this new generation of Irish traders," said Mr McElligott.

The site together with PayPal, eBay’s online payment system, currently employs more than 1,200 Irish staff at its Blanchard-stown offices.

Many people in Ireland use the site as a business tool and can take advantage of the eBay.ie business centre, http://pages.ebay.ie/ebaybusinesscentre/index.html - a highly successful online facility, launched in April 2006, to help small and medium-sized businesses get started on the website. eBay.ie is also running a Seller of the Year competition to encourage budding Irish entrepreneurs to start selling. The competition has three categories - New eBay Seller, New eBay Business and Existing eBay Seller - and six lucky finalists will receive ¤1,000 paid into their PayPal account.

The overall winner will receive ¤4,000 paid into their PayPal account, an eBay.ie home office package plus a trip for two to the eBay Live! event in Boston, including flights and accommodation.

The two remaining category winners will each receive ¤1,500 paid into their PayPal account plus an eBay.ie home office package.

Founded in 1995, eBay pioneers communities built on commerce, sustained by trust, and inspired by opportunity. eBay enables ecommerce on a local, national and international basis with an array of websites - including the eBay Marketplace, PayPal, Skype, Kijiji, Rent.com, Shopping.com - that bring together millions of buyers and sellers every day.

An item in the computing category is sold by an Irish seller every five minutes, while an item is listed in the collectable category every

3.5 minutes.

An item of clothing is bought by an Irish buyer every two minutes and a DVD is bought by an Irish buyer every four minutes.

An item is bought from the collectable category by an Irish buyer every two minutes, while auto parts are purchased by an Irish buyer every five minutes. eBay.ie allows buyers and sellers based in Ireland to meet and trade conveniently in their local currency. As the world’s online marketplace with more than 222 million registered users, more than 50,000 categories and approximately 100 million items available at any given time globally, eBay.ie is a place where practically anyone in Ireland can trade practically anything.

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By Ina Steiner
AuctionBytes.com
March 29, 2007

Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom revealed at a conference last week that the eBay-owned company would introduce payment functionality to the VoIP service. The company announced on Wednesday the availability of Skype 3.2 Beta for Windows that has that capability, called Send Money. It allows users to send money to other Skype users via PayPal, which is also owned by eBay.

The new version of Skype also allows users to import their contacts from web-based email applications, such as MSN Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo Mail. In addition, Skype said its video-calling feature recently emerged from Beta, and is further enhanced by allowing users to instantly capture photos of themselves.

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m03/i29/s04

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27 Months for Selling $700,000 Worth of Counterfeit Software on eBay
by SOPnewswire

"WASHINGTON – An Indiana man has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for selling more than $700,000 worth of counterfeit computer software on the eBay Internet auction site, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the U.S. Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Susan W. Brooks, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, announced today.

Courtney Smith, 36, of Anderson, Ind., was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Sarah Barker of the Southern District of Indiana for selling counterfeit computer software over the Internet in violation of criminal copyright infringement laws. At today’s guilty plea and sentencing, Smith admitted that he purchased counterfeit Rockwell Automation computer software through the eBay Internet auction site and then duplicated and resold the copyright protected software to other eBay users. Between March 6 and May 26, 2004, Smith sold counterfeit copies of Rockwell Automation software in 32 or more separate eBay auctions, receiving $4,149.97. The actual retail value of this software was in excess of $700,000."

For the complete article please click HERE

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By JESSICA SU - The Associated Press

Even if it's baked, canned or cured, chances are you can still buy it on eBay.

With an increasing number of home cooks throwing their oven doors open to the global marketplace, more than 400 items labeled "homemade" appeared in eBay's Food and Wine category one day this month - from chow chow to chokecherry jelly.

"People are getting incredibly resourceful, and you can buy anything on eBay," says company spokesperson Nichola Sharpe.

One of the site's strangest and most famous items was itself edible - sort of - in the form of a grilled cheese sandwich bearing the image of the Virgin Mary, which sold for $28,000 in November 2004.

But unlike Diane Duyser's divine sandwich, you may actually want to eat the food you can buy online these days.

Although eBay allows cooks to dabble in business, the company lists guidelines on its Web site. Non-pasteurized dairy items and fruit juice are prohibited. Perishable items must be well-sealed and are recommended for overnight delivery.

Sharpe also advises sellers to check with federal and state laws on cooking in certified kitchens.

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LEAVENING THE PLAYING FIELD

Sharpe says home cooks are opening Internet shops because of the global reach and low financial risk.

"We know of a lot of retail stores in small towns that find eBay as a great channel, so they can compete with the bigger brands, the Wal-Marts of the world," she says.

For more than three years, Melba Ann Williams of Clinton, Miss., carved a niche on eBay through her heirloom caramel cake.

"We have a lot of tourists from up North and they've never heard of homemade caramel cake," Williams, 67, says. "It's a very unique cake. We burn the sugar in an old iron skillet. It's how my grandmother's grandmother did it."

The entire process, from making the cake to heating the sugar to 500 degrees and hand beating the icing, takes three hours. Williams, known by the online moniker hudsonsdumplin, says she sells about six cakes, priced from $12.50 to $34.50 plus shipping, every week on eBay.

Her cake is so popular that she had to turn away more than 100 cakes during the holiday season, and customers started placing Christmas orders in August.

(A sampling from Williams' "feedback" section: "Mmmmm....Mrs. Melba! Delish! Thanks for the beautiful candy!" ... "YUMMY!!!! Lots of TLC!! Ships quickly..thank-you!" ... "Excellent product...YUM! One class act for eBay!!!")

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BAKING YOUR BLISS

Crystal Williams in New York diverges from tradition by infusing shortbread with fruit. Her best selling item is a lemon cranberry butter cookie, but she also does riffs on classic drop cookies. For example, her ultimate oatmeal cookie has chocolate-covered raisins, molasses and maple glaze.

Her business started when she became pregnant and had extra time. When her family complained that her goods were making them fat, she moved the baking to eBay. She sold 70 dozen cookies online during the holidays but only made a couple hundred dollars in profit because she experimented with ingredients and packaging.

Williams, who goes by the screen name thumbelinaspantry, has also used eBay to test out a new career. One year after starting out online, the 31-year-old bartender enrolled in the French Culinary Institute's pastry arts program.

"I thought I would sell a few dozen, and now I was selling like crazy," Williams says. "I'm baking till 2:00 in the morning. Who am I kidding? I want to be a baker."

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ONLINE JAM-BOREE

Others have used eBay to expand their existing business. Esther Fruth of Pequot Lakes, Minn., has been making jams for 30 years and sold more than 10,000 jars last year through the farmers' market, a retail store with products available online through http://www.localharvest.org.

She ventured on eBay less than a month ago, focusing on regional specialties such as jalapeno and chokecherry jam. (Chokecherries are pea-sized, dark purple fruit whose tartness inspired their name.)

She says that her jams, which contain homegrown fruit, hit a nostalgic note with residents who left the area.

"There's a lot of people who grew up in the Midwest familiar with them. It's nice for them to come across and buy them," says Fruth, 55.

Her eBay store, Brambleberry-jam-jelly-syrups-herbs, sold nine jars of jam in the first week and has not turned a profit yet.

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KEEP IT FUN

There are specialty items on eBay, such as Fruth's jams, but there are also one-time only novelties, such as handmade peanut butter fudge from U.S. Rep. Todd Platts' mother.

"My mom's made it not just for the president, Speaker of the House and Senator (John) McCain, but she makes it regularly for friends in global nursing homes and new neighbors. It's loved," Platts said by telephone on Tuesday in between voting on legislation. "The first question people ask me at events is, 'Glad you made it, but where's your mom's fudge?'"

Since the congressman is regularly asked to donate items for charity auctions, he let Bell Socialization Services sell "Babs' Peanut Butter Homemade Presidential Fudge" on eBay for $15.43 plus shipping on March 9.

He does not plan to go commercial with the fudge, though. "(My mom) says, 'When I start making it for money, it won't be fun anymore.'"

Posted by ebay news guy at 09:28 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Wave3.com / Associated Press

(FARMINGTON, Ky.) -- Kiss rock band memorabilia collector Barry Carr realized he could turn his longtime hobby into a thriving business when he saw the demand for the stuff on eBay.

Carr's growing worldwide business selling Kiss boots, costumes, lifelike homemade mannequins and even customized Kiss dolls and Pez dispensers is a significant factor in tiny Farmington, about 35 miles south of Paducah, ranking seventh nationally among all towns in per capita eBay use.

Farmington, population 987, had more than 3,000 eBay listings during a three-week survey by the company in November. The town boasted 56 users of the world's leading e-commerce Web who peddled items with an average sale price of $22.

Top-selling goods included textbooks, agricultural and forestry products, cell phones, decorative collectibles and women's shoes. Cars and tractor parts brought the most lucrative sales.

During the same test period, 99 Farmington residents bought items averaging $744 each on eBay. Top categories were information products, software, cell phones, sewing items, desktop and laptop components. Computers, laptops and radio-controlled planes were the most expensive items purchased.

Four towns that made eBay's Community Counts Top 10 have fewer than 1,000 residents and three others have fewer than 12,000 people. Farmington is the fourth-smallest town on the list.

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Sony PS3 Sales Fly But Sales On eBay Flop
By David Richards and Wire Services | Monday | 26/03/2007

"More than 20,000 Sony PS3 consoles and accessories worth more than $25 million have been sold in Australia during the past few days. This falls significantly short of both the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii first week sales.
However the big advantage to Sony Computer Entertainment is that it is selling a console that has a big margin in it for both the retailer and itself.

The Microsoft Xbox 360 sold 30,421 units valued at $30 and $40 million in its first week and the Nintendo Wii over 32,901 units at an average price of $399.

According to Games Spot "At more than 20,000 units in the first three days, the PS3 looks unlikely to challenge the Nintendo Wii for the title of fastest seller in Australia." The previous record holder was the Xbox 360, which sold 30,421 units in its first four days of availability. Before the 360, Sony's PSP was king with 27,055 units sold in the first four days."

For the complete article please click HERE

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Combined Shipping Discounts lets sellers offer discounted shipping rates when a buyer purchases multiple items from them – a great way to encourage repeat sales. In the next week or so, you'll see the following improvements to this feature:

Extended Merchandising. Buyers looking at your items will now see new messaging that encourages them to make multiple purchases from you to take advantage of your combined shipping discounts. We're also making it easy for them to "window shop" during the buying process and view your items where your discounts apply.

Different Discounts for Different Items. Now sellers have the flexibility to set different discount shipping rules for different items. For example, you can set discount rules for your bowling ball sales that are different from your discount rules for your bowling glove sales. Since the shipping costs can vary greatly from item to item, this gives sellers much more flexibility.

Promotional Shipping. In contrast to offering shipping discounts per item, Promotional Shipping allows you to set a special shipping rate on all of your sales that meet some criteria. For example, you could choose to offer "Free Shipping When You Spend $25!" or "Buy 3 items and shipping is only $5!" This is a great new marketing tool for sellers to consider as part of their strategy.
To learn more about Combined Shipping Discounts, visit our information page.

Talk to the Shipping team – Attend an Online Workshop!
We will be hosting an online workshop on Friday, April 13th at 1:00 p.m. Pacific time. Stop by to learn more about how to use these shipping discounts, and how they can help your business

the officiial eBay announcement

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SAN JOSE, California (Reuters) - PayPal, the online payments unit of auction website eBay , said on Tuesday it has nearly 35 million customer accounts in Europe, about a quarter of all its accounts.

In 2006, PayPal processed $8.4 billion (4.3 billion pounds) of payments in Europe, representing around 22 percent of its worldwide total of $37.8 billion.

PayPal previously only disclosed the number of registered users and payment volumes in the United States and for all international customers. It reported 86 million U.S. PayPal users and 47 million international users at the end of 2006.

According to Forrester Research, 23 percent of European online shoppers prefer PayPal to paying with credit cards or other payment methods.

PayPal is the preferred payment method among European users of eBay auctions and Web telephone calling company Skype, another eBay company which was founded in Europe. PayPal also is accepted by thousands of European merchants.

(c) Reuters 2007.
http://business.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=437712007

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March 19, 2007 | 05:22PM PST/PT eBay Announcement

Hi everyone…I'm Raj Reddy from the Half.com team here with Chung Cheong from the eBay Express team, and we've got some good news for Half.com sellers. A few months ago Bill Cobb announced that we were exploring ways to increase exposure for Half.com listings. Chung and I are pleased to let you know that one important new channel for your Half.com listings is about to launch. Starting in April, your listings on Half.com can also be included on eBay Express.
Sellers – How to get your Half.com items included on eBay Express
We've made the process for getting your Half.com listings on eBay Express as simple as possible. If you and your listings qualify under the eBay Express criteria, all you have to do is opt-in here.

By opting in, you'll get these benefits:

Instant exposure for your Half.com listings to a whole new marketplace with millions of shoppers
All your new qualifying Half.com listings will appear automatically, so there's no need to change your current listing process
Payments for your items will happen automatically at the time of sale, and be available to you immediately in your PayPal account. (Normal PayPal transaction fees apply.)
Get 50% Off your Final Value Fees
As an added bonus, if you opt-in before April 15th, you'll get 50% off your Final Value Fees for any of your Half.com listings that sell on eBay Express through the end of June. As usual there are no insertion fees for your Half.com listings. And, for a limited time, now you can save on the Final Value Fees, too!

To answer any questions about this new Opt In for Half.com listings on eBay Express – or about any other Half.com or eBay Express-related topic – we'll be holding a Community Workshop on March 26th from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Pacific time. We hope you will join us here.

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By: Ina Steiner Friday March 16th and Sunday March 18th 2007 - Auction Bytes

When an eBay seller opened an email received through eBay's message system this week, it read, "If you need additional income, we have an open position as a mediator for selling items on ebay. To learn more, open www.tradeportal1.org and enter (Code removed by editor) on prompt." The purported shopper who sent the email to the seller using eBay's "Ask Seller a Question" feature had zero feedback and had registered on eBay the same day the email message was sent.

The recipient, a concerned eBay seller, reported the suspicious email to eBay when she received the email on March 14. A search for tradeportal1.org on a search engine came up with a post on an anti-scam forum from someone who said they had reported a similar email - also linking to the site TradePortal1.org - to eBay on March 9. A WhoIs search on the domain "tradeportal1.org" reveals it was registered on February 13, 2007, using a domain registration company that lets resellers register a .ORG domain for just 99 cents.

What concerned the recipient most was that her name appeared in the message, and that the message showed up in her "My Messages" section of eBay, proving the sender used eBay's mail system. She felt this gave the email an air of legitimacy, and she said she was sure she was not the only one to receive the email. "You KNOW that newbies may (will) click that link and who knows what will happen."

The technique described above uses eBay's message system. Another technique seen this week on eBay uses an "Ask Seller a Question" form inside listings that are not actually going through eBay's message system at all, and harvests users' email addresses.

A reader complained on March 15 that someone was listing Plasma TVs in the Antiques category for $10, a ploy frequently used by fraudsters. While the seller had a high positive feedback rating with over 500 feedback points accumulated, fraudsters sometimes hijack seller accounts, commonly through phishing email scams.

In addition to using incorrect categories and listing expensive items for ludicrously low prices, there were other red flags with the Plasma TV listings. Fraudsters often include an email address at the top of the listing in a large font, hoping shoppers will send them emails directly. And in this instance, including the Ask Seller a Question form that requested shoppers fill it out and include their email addresses was another warning sign.

Upon filling out the non-eBay "Ask Seller a Question" form, users were directed to a website that appears to belong a legitimate company that offers "Web Form Handling Services." The service allows clients to place a form on their site, and when someone fills it out, the service forwards the information to the client - in this case, a suspected scammer.

Harvesting Email Addresses
What good are email addresses to scammers? In the first instance described above, they may be looking to "hire" sellers who think they are representatives of a legitimate company, but are actually participating in money laundering for the scammer, as described in this article from 2003 (http://www.auctionbytes.com/pages/abn/y03/m01/i29/s01).

In the second case, scammers may pose as legitimate eBay sellers of Plasma TVs (or other expensive items) and request the buyer send money to them via wire transfer (such as Wester Union), which is as good as sending cash.

eBay has been trying to limit scammers' ability to contact its buyers and sellers since as early as 2001, which is one of the reasons eBay instituted a message system that masks users' email addresses. Much eBay-related fraud takes place outside of the eBay system, and users who fall for off-eBay scams end up with no protection at all.

Part 2

I wrote on Friday about scammers using eBay's "Ask Seller a Question" feature to help them harvest email addresses in order to perpetrate fraud. The "Ask Seller a Question" feature is designed to allow potential buyers to ask sellers questions without either party having access to the other's email address, but is now being exploited.

I'm hearing from users that the scammers are stepping up their attacks in an extremely devious way. The technique involves asking the seller a question about an "identical item" they saw listed on eBay, and includes a link to the supposed listing. Unwary sellers who go to view the item by clicking or pasting in the link are taken to a spoof site, where they are asked to sign in again (it is not unusual to have to log-in to eBay for different tasks). They then may unwittingly enter their eBay User name and password into the spoof site, which is designed to harvest the information for fraudulent activities such as account hijackings.

Not only is the seller vulnerable, but for auctions where Questions and Answers are displayed on the original auction description page, potential buyers may fall for the scam.

By: Ina Steiner Friday March 16th and Sunday March 18th 2007 - Auction Bytes Blog

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m03/i16/s01

http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/comments/2007/3/1174274285.html

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Utah man wants to sell everything he owns on eBay
Last Update: Mar 18, 2007 10:48 PM

"Do you want to buy a life for $100,000? Cris Fox said he's selling his life.

Fox said, "Take it all. Just give me my phone, that's all I need." Fox is cleaning out his Salt Lake City apartment. He's selling everything he has on eBay.

Fox said, "It's everything in my house. I have lots of bike parts, lots of bikes, just everyday household items, just get rid of it." For $100 grand you also get Fox's mini van, and his collection of ribbons and medals from years of competitive mountain biking.

Fox claims he wants take half of the money and donate it. Fox said, "I want to take $100 bills and walk around towns and just give them to people walking down the street.""

For the complete article please click HERE

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GARY -- The U.S. Postal Service, which has lost many customers to cyber communication, is increasing online appeal by strengthening its eBay association.
More than 75 area eBayers attended seminars Friday at the Gary main post office on Martin Luther King Drive, learning

how they could use the post office to ship CDs, books, antiques and other wares.

"We have a partnership with eBay so that when the client makes a purchase our shipping option is shown online," said Cynthia Norfolk, USPS customer relations head for Gary.

"We want customers to see how easy it is to use the United States post office. We are fast, quick and

|convenient."

Norfolk said three seminars drew occasional sellers as well as online business runners: "Our attendees were seniors, young people, first-time buyers and sellers ... some with some experience. We're really pleased. This is the first one here in Gary."

Norfolk said catering to the eBay segment has become a national trend for the company, which has actual eBay teams.

"An eBay team from the Indianapolis (post office) led our seminars," she said.

The three workshops were filled to overflow.

"People were asking a ton of questions and networking, saying I'll call you," Norfolk said.

While people can relay messages via texting or e-mail, Norfolk said the U.S. Postal Service intends to remain a leader of delivering goods bartered online.

They, of course, contend with FedEx and UPS competition, but "We're easier. We have delivery stops everyday. We have carrier pickup and free shipping materials," she said.

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March 13, 2007 | 12:31PM PST/PT

Eric Shoup
Hi everyone, I'm Eric Shoup. I've been part of eBay's Product Management team for over 3.5 years, and I'm excited to now lead our ProStores team. ProStores was created to take the hassle out of the often-complex task of creating a full ecommerce online store. It's a great option for eBay sellers who want to expand their presence on the web.
I’m pleased to introduce the new ProStores (formally known as Release 8.0). This version features a revamped user interface and a completely redesigned Store Design module to make building a store even easier. You can view a complete rundown of all the changes on our New Features page, but here are a few highlights:

New centralized location for all of your store design settings and options.
Design recommendations to help you get the most out of your store.
Easier editing of your store templates.
Customizable Store Settings view.
A redesigned Help module with a new search feature to make it easier to find relevant topics quickly.
For more details, and to learn how ProStores can help you complement your business on eBay with your own web store at your own web address, check out ProStores.com.

Sincerely,

Eric Shoup
Director, ProStores

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200703.shtml#2007-03-13122540

Posted by eBay Guru at 11:55 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Ebay and FACT crack down on DVD pirates
Hundreds of counterfeit DVDs found ready for shipping to Ebay buyers
Andrea-Marie Vassou
15 Mar 2007

"People found selling counterfeit DVD’s on online auction sites will be prosecuted warned the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT).

The anti-piracy organisation issued the warning after its Internet Investigations Team recently helped the Metropolitan Police (Newham Borough) and Newham Council Trading Standards raid a house in Canning Town, London.

A 22-year-old man was arrested and questioned after several hundred counterfeit DVDs including copies of TV and film titles, such as The Sopranos and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and 24, were found ready to be shipped to potential Ebay buyers.

Kieron Sharp, FACT's director general, said this raid showed it would actively pursue illegal traders."

For the complete article please click HERE

Posted by eBay Trainer Education Specialist at 09:32 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

eBay has re-introduced the 30 day free trial for eBay Stores

eBay Stores are the best way to get a permanent presence on eBay.

Showcase all of your items. Save listings fees. Help the search engines find your items.

If you are serious about growing your business you need an eBay Store.

Posted by eBay Guru at 01:06 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

March 14, eBay will have auction-style listings for 20 cents. For full details, see eBay information page.

Posted by eBay Guru at 01:04 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/173251/jk_rowling_fans_asked_to_help_in_war.html

A Petition that Supports J.K. Rowling

A couple weeks ago it was reported that J.K. Rowling had won an injunction against the auction giant eBay. This injunction requires eBay to remove all illegal J.K. Rowling works that eBay sellers have up for auction. EBay will have to do this until they go back to court in May. This means eBay will have to remove any Harry Potter e-books from their site because these are illegal copies of J.K. Rowling's work.

Fans are being misled into thinking these e-books are authentic when in reality, J.K. Rowling has made it very clear that there will not be e-book versions of her Harry Potter books. Sellers who auction off such items are no different than people who are selling illegal copies of DVDs, which is probably why eBay chooses to ignore such auctions. EBay has become notorious for their illegal auctions with sellers having everything from illegal copies of CDs to the e-books that are now causing eBay so much trouble. If eBay loses, more companies will be expecting the same treatment. This means eBay will once and for all have to do what is right. They will have to remove not only copies of DVDs but fake clothing from popular designers and everything in between.

J.K. Rowling's lawyer took things one step further by asking Harry Potter fans to sign a petition that will be going to eBay. The petition states the person signing the petition supports J.K. Rowling and her actions. The petition goes on to state why they support her decisions. This is an excerpt from the petition:

"Furthermore, we suggest that eBay has acted in an irresponsible manner by not addressing this fraud and recommend that they remedy the situation by implementing the following changes at a minimum:

• refusing to list illegal merchandise such as materials which infringe on copyrights held by J.K. Rowling and any of her business partners;
• removing listings immediately when they are identified by J.K. Rowling, her legal representatives, or her business partners as infringing on copyrights or containing forged signatures;
• providing COA and authentication guidance whenever a signed book or piece of memorabilia is purchased (similar to what eBay already provides for purchasers of sports memorabilia); and
• providing authentication services free of charge when a buyer is seeking a refund from a seller due to alleged fraudulent behavior."

Everything that J.K. Rowling has requested is more than reasonable. If these were your books and you knew that children were being mislead into asking their parents for fake items, wouldn't you want eBay to do the same thing?

Posted by eBay Guru at 12:59 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Romanian Hacker Vladuz Makes Another eBay Housecall
By Ina & David Steiner
AuctionBytes.com
March 14, 2007

"Call it the equivalent of neighborhood teens strewing toilet paper on your trees on Halloween, but the nuisance stunts of a Romanian hacker who calls himself Vladuz has quite clearly confounded eBay's attempts to stop him from making his presence known on the online auction site. Confident of his ability to breach eBay's security, Vladuz posted early this morning in eBay Germany's forums, displaying Pinkliner status.

In a year that eBay has dedicated to creating a safer buying experience, Vladuz has gained attention by flagrantly posting on the boards as an eBay forum moderator, or "Pink." How deep Vladuz' access to the site runs is open to speculation."

Related Stories:

"He's Baaack - Vladuz "Hacker" Taunts eBay"
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m02/i23/s01

"eBay Auction Listing Swings Remain a Mystery"
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m03/i12/s01

Posted by eBay Trainer Education Specialist at 09:17 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

eBay Motors Holds Seller Promotions in US, Canada
By Ina Steiner
AuctionBytes.com
March 13, 2007

"eBay Motors is holding a sale for Parts & Accessories on eBay Motors US, and is holding a free listing week for Canadian residents on eBay Motors Canada.

eBay Motors Parts and Accessories is holding a 1-day 50-cent Insertion Fee sale on March 13. During the promotion, insertion fees for regular auction-style and fixed-price Parts and Accessories listings will be capped at 50 cents. All other fees apply, see website for details and restrictions.
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200703121618312.html

eBay Motors Canada is holding a free-listing week promotion for Canadian residents only. All Canadian resident users who list their vehicles on eBay.ca Motors will be eligible for the promotion. All other fees apply, see website for details and restrictions."
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/ca/200703111333142.html

Click HERE to see the complete article

Posted by eBay Trainer Education Specialist at 08:43 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Advanced Bayrob trojan targets eBay usersEricka Chickowski Mar 8 2007 01:41

Symantec has warned eBay users that a sophisticated trojan is seeking to scam them with a man-in-the-middle attack.

Named Trojan.Bayrob, the malware changes user hosts files to redirect traffic destined to numerous eBay sites, including eBay Motors, to a local proxy server and listens on localhost port 80. From there, Bayrob downloads configuration data from the eBay servers, including a number of php scripts.

“The most interesting of these scripts is var.php. This script returns many different variables, which will be used in the attack,” Liam O’Murchu wrote on the Symantec Security Response blog. “The downloaded variables include tokenized versions of legitimate eBay pages.”

O’Murchu said that the exact motive behind Bayrob is still a mystery, since proxy servers are not yet using the right variables to start showing fake pages to users.

A spokesperson from eBay confirmed today that the auction company is aware of the problem.

“We have been working with Symantec to ensure that they share the details of this with other anti-virus software vendors,” the spokesperson said. “We strongly encourage eBay buyers and sellers to never click on or download a link or file that is unfamiliar to them and always ensure your anti-virus software is up-to-date.”

For the complete article please click HERE

Posted by eBay Trainer Education Specialist at 09:22 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

By RTE.ie

Ebay.ie announced today it has over 500,000 registered users in Ireland - this represents 58%of all Irish internet users, and 16% of the over 18 population of Ireland.

Four items are bought and one item is sold every minute by Irish Ebay users.

An item in the computing category is sold by an Irish seller every 5 minutes, and an item of clothing is bought by an Irish buyer every 2 minutes.

Ebay and its payments system Paypal employ more than 1,200 staff at their Blanchardstown offices.

Posted by ebay news guy at 08:51 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Feedback 2.0 pilot on global eBay sites

As of early March, eBay will be launching a Feedback 2.0 pilot on nine global eBay sites. Feedback 2.0 adds a new dimension to eBay’s feedback system, allowing buyers to leave optional, more granular ratings in four areas known as Detailed Seller Ratings: item as described, communication, shipping time, and charges for shipping and handling. Detailed seller ratings do not affect the overall feedback score.

Developer Impact: If a seller has been rated in these areas, they will be displayed in the seller's Feedback Profile and can be retrieved using the API. LeaveFeedback input can include a SellerItemRatingDetailArray container with detailed seller ratings. A GetFeedback call can return FeedbackSummary.SellerAverageRatingDetailArray, which contains averages of the detailed ratings left by buyers.

Developers can read the API documentation Release Notes and Detailed Seller Ratings for more information about API impact. Sandbox testing for Feedback 2.0 will be available as of Friday, March 9th - subscribe to the Sandbox System Announcement for any changes to this timing.

Detailed Seller Ratings will be available on the following eBay sites as part of the pilot:

United Kingdom (site ID 3)
Australia (site ID 15)
Belgium French (site ID 23)
Belgium Dutch (site ID 123)
France (site ID 71)
Ireland (site ID 205)
India (site ID 203)
Italy (site ID 101)
Poland (site ID 212)

Based on the outcome of this pilot, the Detailed Seller Ratings feature will be available on the other API-enabled country sites as of May 2007, including eBay.com and eBay.de. Read the UK Announcement Board post and our interview with Brian Burke of the Trust & Safety team on eBay's Chatter blog to learn more about Feedback 2.0. In the clip below, Brian shares some of the research we've done in buyer adoption of Detailed Seller Ratings.

Posted by eBay Trainer Education Specialist at 08:23 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)