( Table Of Contents )

1. Introduction
2. Volcanic Software News
3. eBay changes and additions
4. Online auctions in the news
5. Cool Auction Site of the month
6. Auction tip of the month
7 . Closure
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Introduction

Hello, and welcome to the fifth issue of Volcanic Software's auction newsletter. Happy Halloween as well! I once again apologize if this newsletter seems a little thin, but there is not an incredible amount of auction or Volcanic Software related news to report this month. If you ever have any ideas, stories, or contributions for this newsletter, please submit them to me via e-mail and I'll see about getting them in the next issue. I'm always open to suggestions and would love to have some community involvement!
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Volcanic Software News

No real content has been added to the site since the last newsletter. However, I am fixing to start a new section on the site which will archive some of the most 'talked about' auctions found on eBay and other online auction places. EBay only keeps ended auctions in their database for roughly 90 days, and unless you know the auction's item number or were involved in the transaction, you can't find any auction over a few weeks old *unless you use the auction tip at the bottom of this newsletter*. Thus, by creating an archived directory of some rather infamous auctions, I will be able to preserve them for others to see forever! It should be completed in full by the next issue.
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eBay changes and additions

One of the largest enhancements to eBay since the last newsletter is that users now have the ability to add a sub-title to their auctions . Now, for an additional $0.50 per listing, you can include a second phrase that is displayed in the search results when a user searches for your items. Unfortunately, you are still limited to 80 searchable characters when users do a standard search (only the title words are searchable). So, why would you pay extra for a sub-title if it isn't searchable using the standard search you ask? Well, I can't give a great example. However, say that you are selling a 'XYZ shirt'. When someone searches for the phrase, 'XYZ Shirt' through eBay's standard search, a listing of all matching results will show up. If you have a sub-title implemented into your listing, under the title for your listing the user will see a sub-title and thus will gain more understanding of what you have up for sale before clicking on it, which could cause them to click on yours instead of others. Below is the official eBay announcement.

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Many members of the Community have let us know that they would like to be able to add more information about their item in search results. As such, we are pleased to announce that our new listing upgrade, called Subtitle, is now available. The Subtitle upgrade allows sellers to add extra information that will appear below the item title on the search and listings pages.

By adding a Subtitle to a listing:
- Buyers will be able to view more information as they browse through categories and search results to help them decide whether to view the Item Page.
- Sellers will be able to differentiate items by calling out key selling points to buyers and offer more information to entice the buyer to view the item.

The information included in a Subtitle will not be searchable through Title Search, but will be included in Description Search. It will be shown in all lists, including Search results, Browse by category, Seller's Other Items, and eBay Stores. Subtitle upgrades will be available at the introductory price of $0.50 per listing.
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An example of this feature can be found at: http://pages.ebay.com/sell/subtitle/?ssPageName=CMDV:AB1000

Aside from the sub-title feature, one other enhancement of the eBay website is a revamped Sell-Your-Item page. Previously when you went to sell an item, you could sign-in once and then check an option to always keep you logged in. Although personally this never seemed to work for me and I always ended up re-entering my login information anyways, eBay has now removed this option from the login page. eBay no longer uses cookies to keep you signed in which they say will reduce the possibilities of account hijacking.
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Online auctions in the news

Before moving on to the actual article for this month, let me first make note of the wide-spread forest fires that have been popping up throughout California. Due to the size of this destruction, not only will quite a few people on the west coast be affected, but also certain web servers and such may go down in which case certain websites on the internet may become slow or even impossible to browse. EBay made note of this on their website:

"Severe wildfires over the weekend have prompted evacuations, caused power outages, and delayed transportation in many areas of Southern California. Our thoughts go out to our eBay members in these areas. If you have trading partners in the affected regions, we encourage you to be patient over the next few days, as you may encounter delays in communication, shipments, and other auction-related activities. "

Moving on with the news, eBay is now classified as the 11th largest US retailer and the largest online commerce site around. Even though they are doing real well right now, their outlook continues to grow meaning that they may very well climb higher on the ladder of success in the distant future. To see all of the statistics and read about eBay's growth, follow the link
below.

http://www.fool.com/News/mft/2003/mft03103008.htm
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Cool Auction Site of the month

Feedback is an important aspect to the eBay community. Although it is not required, most sellers and buyers exchange feedback for each other regarding the transaction(s) they have just completed. By receiving and leaving feedback for others, you help future buyers/sellers determine if the other party is worthy of doing business with. Before giving you the link of the month, I want to first put out a disclaimer based on my own opinion:

Each feedback that you leave or receive should be unique and reflect the actual transaction that you had with the other party. More and more sellers are now using the same phrase over and over for all users, even if the transaction was not exactly as they state in the feedback. By using the same statement for all users simply because it saves time, you are in the long run weakening the other party's honest feedback responses. Feedback does not take but a minute to fill out and submit, so if you want to do the other party a favor, please make each statement original. Also, eBay allows users to view feedback that a particular person LEFT for others, and some potential buyers are turned down when they see the same phrase repeated for all of the seller's responses. The only thing worse than posting the same response to all parties, is not leaving feedback at all.

With that said, I will now show you the cool auction site of the month. If you had a good, or bad experience with another user during a transaction, but can't quite figure out the best words to say, please check out this site. It is an automatic eBay feedback generator, and can generate random statements for either positive OR negative feedback. Simply generate a phrase, and then you can copy and paste it into the feedback forms and submit it!

http://www.islandseven.com/ebay/feedback.html
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Auction tip of the month

This tip is mainly for the sellers who sell multiple categories of products at the same time and want to filter out each particular category. For example, someone might be auctioning off thirty shirts, ten hats, and five pairs of shoes. If you want to be able to view only a particular category of items at one time such as shoes, and they aren't all in the same exact category, there is another easy method by which you can do so. The key is to create unique 'IDs' for each type of item your selling. For your SHOE category, you could create a unique ID as: 'SHOE254AK'. The idea behind these completely unique IDs is that you can search for items using the description search and only your auctions with that particular key in them will appear. So, you could put that unique code at the bottom of each of your shoe ads and then when you search for that key (using titles and descriptions) only the shoe ads will appear. Repeat the same procedure but use a different key for all different types of items you want to be able to filter out.

After your items are listed and each one has the unique key in them, you can search for each key using the 'Titles and Description' search, and then add that particular search to your favorites for easy access later!
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Closure

Yet another conclusion to a little auction newsletter. As always, let me know if you have any comments or submissions for the next newsletter (I'd love to know that people actually read these newsletters). Stay tuned for next months!

Sincerely,

Matt
http://www.volcanicsoft.com