I can tell you that Pierre was surprised, see for yourself:

There is a short news video clip (scroll down) and I found the most amusing part of it to be Meg’s face.

Personally I have always believed Keith Ferrazzi who said that to be credible “the first prerequisite is deep familiarity and facility with your subject matter.” On the other hand maybe Ferrazzi Greenlights mission and values aren’t a good fit in this case.

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The economy is still revolting but people can only live at the peak of terror for just so long before they become numbed to it. Our job is to be ready when they want to buy themselves a little treat.

If you enjoy BritLit I have a little treat for you! Alexander McCall Smith is perhaps best known in the USA for his beguiling series The #1 Ladies Detective Agency, set in Botswana. He is currently writing a daily serial book called Corduroy Mansions for the Telegraph.co,uk You can choose to read on line, to receive it by RSS or email, or download it in audio format read by Andrew Sachs, best known as Manuel in Fawlty Towers. Chapter 1

Here is a dose of reality from UK author, consultant and former eBay employee Dan Wilson for you to read, it does have a lot of truth in it and I hope you will share your thoughts in the comments.

A Seeking Alpha article by ‘eBay investor’ on PayPal and the value the author attributes to PayPal in eBay Inc share price, this is the second article and there is a link to the first. The comments in both pieces are interesting. One wonders why he or she feels a need for anonymity.

A Business Week story about Big Lots move online

The Brews News response to an article on eBayINK. Brews News always writes interesting articles and I highly recommend you add her to your daily reading.

Cliff Alliperti, eBay PowerSeller and Classic Movie expert writes about the Bonanzle experience on his blog Movie Profiles and Premiums and so does fitzcharming on her blog CharmChatter

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An October 22nd 2008 press release from the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition has some astounding numbers.

“According to FBI, Interpol, World Customs Organization and International Chamber of Commerce estimates, roughly 7-8 percent of world trade every year is in counterfeit goods. United States “businesses and industries lose about $200 billion a year in revenue and 750,000 jobs due to the counterfeiting of merchandise”; worldwide, counterfeiting accounts for more than half a trillion dollars in global trade each year.”

In a brief filed with the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in support of Tiffany’s appeal in its lawsuit against eBay the IACC references eBay’s “persistent failure to meet its obligations to prevent illegal sales of counterfeit and infringing goods on its site.”

• In 2003 Tiffany sent eBay 20,915 notices about the “deluge of counterfeit merchandise”
• In 2004 – 45,242 notices were sent
• In 2005 – 59,012
• By 2006 – the number had risen to 134,779

Robert Barchiesi, President of the IACC said,

“Counterfeiting is a criminal activity carried out on global scale and, with eBay turning a blind eye, broadly on the Internet. In fact, eBay is estimated to provide the forum for 29 percent of the entire online counterfeit market …It is not acceptable that today eBay still tolerates blatant counterfeits being sold on its website…The brief asks the Court to hold eBay responsible for the open and notorious counterfeiting that occurs, with its knowledge and to its economic benefit on its sites.”

A quick titles only search of eBay this morning found close to 2000 “Tiffany Style” items. I haven’t visited eBay much recently, preferring to use the Google Shopping search. I was shocked to see so many blatant listing violations. eBay has some good rules to protect buyers but enforcement seems lacking.

I wonder if the exodus of volunteers who routinely reported violations coupled with mass layoffs among support staff has sent a message to less than scrupulous sellers that the cat is away. Not only the mice are playing, sadly I saw some rat sized listing violations in the few minutes I was on eBay.

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Thank you Brandon for posting. Here is the question I asked the (very nice) ProPay CSR

I am a silver powerseller (I am not but it was a rhetorical question) and in January due to failure to maintain volume I loose my PS status. What happens?

The answer I got was that on review I would be offered a different plan tailored to my seller status at the time.

From this I wrote in my blog “Are you comfortable with the possibility of losing your payment processor if your PS status drops and/or paying increased fees?”

I am curious to know in what way I “had it wrong”, if Debbie and Brews are “right” your implication is, I had it wrong.

If I loose my PS status my rate does not change?

Image courtesy of www.hedweb.com

As an ex-eBay seller I am very familiar with the carrot and stick concept. As a low GMV seller I would be the recipient of the stick, you would recognize me by my shaggy gray coat and very large ears, which hear very well by the way.

What I hear is not something I like. It is not in any way wrong or abnormal in business. It is a fact of life that the more you consume or purchase, the better deal or discount you get. That doesn’t mean I have to like it!

As I stated in my response,

ProPay have worked very hard to come up with a plan for eBay sellers which should be mutually advantageous and is infinitely superior to what they were offering earlier this year.

The ProPay eAuction plan is a special deal directly tied to seller status on eBay. If on evaluation you no longer qualify, either because of DSRs, (losing PS because of one below permitted level) or volume you will have to move to a different plan.

I stand by my post. That is something every well brought up donkey knows how to do.

Onward.

My business is about 30% export, or cross border. ProPay does not, at this time, offer an international payment processing facility. I have been told that ProPay has excellent customer service. From my very minimal experience with them this is true. I am pleased and delighted that ProPay were able to come up with a viable alternative to the PayPal stranglehold on eBay sellers. I sincerely hope that ProPay will continue to work on producing an even more comprehensive service for ALL established eBay sellers..

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Y’all come back tomorrow! OK? See you then.

Everybody has a special someone, someone who deserves a special card, something that you don’t see in the supermarket card aisle. I sell very special cards (what a surprise!) for very special people.

This is Sinterklaas riding his white Arabian looking horse laden with old fashioned toys.. That is the Dutch name for Saint Nicholas. It is a complex die cut card (with cut outs on the inside, not just around the edges) & embossing adds dimension to the card. A piece of thick cardboard is attached to the back, allowing the card to be displayed free standing. Comes with an envelope and is approximately 6-1/4″ tall and 4-3/4″ wide overall.

These three versions of Father Christmas, Pere Noel, Santa Claus, are reproduced from antique European scrap art of the Victorian and Edwardian eras & make a huge freestanding card, approximately 8″ tall and almost 10″ wide. This card comes with its own cream colored envelope. A little poem is printed on the back.

May all that’s jolly,
Bright and gay
Delight your heart
This Christmas Day.

Serious brownie points on this one men! Mothers flip.

Darling reproduction Victorian Christmas ornament Church with snow covered steeple, printed both sides, die cut and embossed. Comes with its own gold cord for hanging.
Brand new; approximately 3-1/2″ by 2-3/4″

Three Angels Dancing a blonde, brunette and a redhead, each has a golden star on her brow. Beautiful complex diecut with many interior cuts, printed both sides, die cut and embossed. Comes with its own gold cord for hanging. Size: 3-1/2″ by 2-3/4″

I offer wonderful combined shipping, you pay one shipping fee, the heaviest item, all the rest of your additional items come free.

Many more wonderful cards, gift tags ornaments etc at Felicitations at 200 West Main and be sure to check out the other shops at 200 West Main while you are in the neighborhood.

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Currently, the ProPay eAuction account is exclusively for US-based eBay Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Titanium PowerSellers.

Smaller sellers or sellers who have higher volume with low Average Sales Price (ASP) items are used to only seeing the stick from eBay. All the carrots this year have gone to PowerSellers. Now lower level PowerSellers are losing the carrot. Once again while all are equal, some are more equal than others.

A second press release dated October 19th states ProPay’s transaction rates are scaled to PS status:

• Silver — 2.7% and $0.30 USD per transaction
• Gold and Platinum — 2.4% and $0.30 USD per transaction

Titanium level sellers are encouraged to contact ProPay direct to set up custom transaction fees.

I have one major question for the seller who plans on using ProPay.

Are you comfortable with the possibility of losing your payment processor if your PS status drops and/or paying increased fees?

Quietly, with very little fanfare from PayPal labs comes an interesting new offering designed for processing micro-payments. The formula is the familiar decrease on front end with an adjustment in the percentage rate. Also familiar is the confusing language and charts to explain terms. The transaction fee drops to 5c from 30c and correspondingly the percentage rises from 2.9% to 5%.

The tipping point, or transaction size at which the micro-payment plan costs more than the regular PayPal plan is $12. Payments under $12 will save on the micro plan. See the chart here.

The drawback is that you have to choose between the micro-payment program and a regular account. This program might be of value to sellers who are

• (a) willing to go through the hassle of opening a second PayPal account which requires a ‘fresh’ credit card that does not appear on your main PayPal account, and
• (b) are able to split their business into total transaction under $12 and the over $12 transaction groups with separate payment processing.

Remember that for PayPal it is the total transaction being processed that pays fees, including shipping, not just the sale price.

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Not only is the percentage I pay to eBay and Paypal higher than my Amazon fee percentage (total 15% which includes payment processing fees) but my Average Selling Price (ASP) on eBay is significantly lower than other venues. In addition, eBay continues to provide less service for the increased fees I pay.

Runner-Up:

Radical and revolutionary common sense from As Was

Between eBay and PayPal/credit card processing fees, someone can easily be losing 12%, 15%, even 18% of their sale price. We even had a client recently tell us her eBay fees were 20-25% of her sale price. This fee is probably most or even all of your entire markup. You can’t have money in your pocket when the costs of doing business leave you with little or no profit (or even a loss).

From eBay and Beyond, this is an older article but the author should be praised for his exceptional clarity of vision.

related article from eCommerce Marketing Radio Network: Bank of eBay

Retro Current
Michael Malone wrote ‘This Week, eBay Took the First Step to Becoming an Auction Company No More’

Just for fun: Way to go Ferdinandgingercat!

Finally, are there really people that dumb out there? Uh Huh!

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In the days when eBay was a community, experienced sellers, many of them very high volume volunteered in the Answer Center and helped beginning sellers become good sellers. I know this because I was once one of those beginning sellers who was trained to do it right. I have always believed “What goes around comes around” that thought can also be found in the beautiful language of the King James Testament, Galatians 6:7 “..whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”. Years later when I actually knew what I was doing most of the time I too volunteered in the Answer Center.

That ended when eBay ‘fixed a system that wasn’t broke’ with what, with 20/20 hindsight was a precursor of the Detailed Seller Rating system. The search function was ‘weighted’ to return threads that had been voted on as being helpful or not helpful. How do you think a slightly crooked seller would vote after being roundly told that his listing was in violation and business practices unacceptable?

Soon responders were registering ‘posting IDs’ to protect their eBay business from malicious buying just to give negative feedback. Both the good guys and the bad guys gamed the votes and eventually ‘finding’ was corrupted beyond redemption. If you are volunteering and the job is no longer rewarding the incentive is soon gone. Many of the good guys went away and eBay’s customer service suffered.

Fast forward to October, six months after PowerSellers started eligibility for discounted Final Value Fees. Many smaller sellers left in May, they were the ‘disgruntled noise’. Since then a trickle of sellers, business people who analyzed eBay and found it an increasingly unsustainable venue have quietly (for the most part) formulated an exit strategy, implemented it and gone.

The Brews News wrote twice this week on the subject, Thursday about the effects of lowered fees on their business and today about eBay’s seller shrinkage and what the prognosis is for Q1-09. Insightful commentary and I recommend reading it.

What lessons can we learn from this experience? Please add your comments so we may all have food for thought.

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Introducing Featured First, a New Listing Upgrade
We’re also introducing a new listing upgrade called Featured First. Add Featured First to your listings for an opportunity to appear in the featured area at the top of the first page of search results. A limited number of Featured First listings are randomly selected to be rotated into the featured area, so there’s no guarantee yours will appear. But this upgrade is still a great way to significantly boost your chances of being displayed on the first page for increased visibility and increased likelihood of a sale. It’s also a great way to jump start “recent sales” for a new Fixed Price listing.

Featured First takes the place of Gallery Featured and is offered for the same price: $24.95 for up to 10 days, and $74.95 for up to 30 days. (italicization is mine!)

WOW! What a Seller Experience enhancing deal, eBay sellers should be grateful, probably surprised and delighted too. Drop $75 for a chance. Is that gambling? Looks like it to me and you get to pay for it with PayPal. Wow!

It was a big day for announcements. Bill Harding Founder of Bonanzle made one too.

Bonanzle’s deal is a great deal more open and transparent. Dare I say honest? Yup honest.

Membership Upgrades of Pro Features

Bonanzle is now offering completely optional additional features for a fee. Like just about anywhere else if you pay a lump sum up front you can get a discount, (my website hosting is $50 a year or $72 if I choose to pay monthly for example).

Here is a link to the features page. Hillary over at The Whine Seller wrote a very good post on it and I am not going to repeat it. There was a very minor kerfuffle on the boards with the announcement but I honestly feel the majority see it as a business decision. If you don’t need or use the analytics why pay for it if you don’t have to? As Bill said

“Upgrading does not change your positioning in the search results. We do not adjust the main body of search results for Premier Members. That would make search less relevant. . . . choosing not to be a Plus or Premier member will in no way affect your ability to do business on Bonanzle. You can continue to setup your booth for free, list your items for free, and do everything else you could already do on Bonanzle for free. We’re taking nothing away, but for those who can help our business stay funded, we are adding some perks to them to show our appreciation.”

Bonanzle now has 5334 registered users, although registration is not required to purchase on the site, and 203762 items listed. There are 1216 booths or active sellers on the site.

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The Whine Seller – Bonanzle offers new Plus and Premier Paid Membership Tiers