Welcome to the August 2004 edition of the Auction Orbit newsletter. Within each newsletter you will find a variety of auction-related content including site updates, online auctions in the news, selling and buying tips, and more! If you would like to suggest a new topic for future newsletters or wish to make a comment about anything found within this particular issue, do not hesitate to contact me.

Although I mentioned last month that I would be spending the duration of August adding new tutorials and such to the Auction Orbit website, I decided instead to go through and fix all reported and discovered issues with the site's layout and its functionality. There were quite a few pages that had broken and invalid links, and certain forms would not send data correctly after being submitted. In addition, I have changed the appearance of certain pages and some navigational properties to create a more appealing structure. For the month of September, I will be focusing my attention on enhancing the back-end workings of the site and search engine optimization. In addition, I will be updating and adding more free auction resources. Expect a lot of new tutorials to be published on my site starting in October.

If you are reading this newsletter via e-mail you will notice that it is once again in text-only format. The July issue was sent out as HTML on an 'experimental' basis, and although it looked and operated perfectly for some - I feel that sending the newsletter in text-only format and providing a link to view the HTML version online is the most appropriate and error-free manner of delivering this newsletter to its subscribers. One major problem with sending HTML-formatted newsletters is that some e-mail clients are set as text-only, while others have a SPAM-filter which may automatically consider any HTML document to be junk.

All-in-all, eBay hasn't introduced any major enhancements or changes during the month of August.

One new feature is that if you start to list an ad using eBay's Sell-Your-Item form, then something comes up and you can't complete the listing at that point-in-time, eBay will save your incomplete listing and allow you to continue submitting the ad for up to thirty days. However, you must complete the title and description before the auction will be saved, and if you start a new listing the previously saved ad will be deleted.

Also, during the month of September eBay will be giving all Featured Store owners a half-off discount. Usually the monthly fee for having an eBay Featured Store is $49.95, but the fee for the month of September will instead be $24.97. If you are already signed up for the Featured Store option or subscribe before September 1st, you will receive the entire discount. Otherwise if you subscribe during the month of September, you will receive a 50% discount for the remaining days of the month.

Before sharing this month's news article with you, I would like to clear up an issue that has arose pertaining to the 'Auction News' portion of Auction Orbit. This section currently links directly to a section of the Auction Orbit forum, and is where I previously was posting the latest online auction news and happenings. Unfortunately, anyone who has checked will discover that there hasn't been any new articles posted since July 22nd. This is due to a variety of reasons, primarily the fact that I have been considering a different format all-together for the news to be presented in. However, I would also like others to be able to post and comment on news articles themselves, which makes me believe that using a forum as the media is the easiest solution. I will have an official answer by the time you receive October's newsletter. In the mean time, I won't guarantee that any current auction news will be updated on the website.

This month's article -unlike many in the past- doesn't involve online fraud or phisher e-mails! Instead, this is a light-hearted article about how one man stumbled upon a lost prototype of the world's first portable typewriter through the eBay auction site. The machine in question is said to be the one that lead to the founding of the famous Smith-Corona typewriter company. This isn't the first rare gem that has been rediscovered through an auction site... In an earlier newsletter, I wrote about an article in which a man is said to have found his long-lost brother through a cookie jar auction on eBay!

http://www.webwire.com/TopTenView.asp?id=3986

http://www.otwa.com/community/showthread.php?t=8448 (Old Cookie Jar Article)

From the time eBay was founded up until several years ago, there was an all-in-one search page available upon clicking the 'Search' link located at the top of all eBay pages. This was an extremely useful and time-saving feature as it allowed anyone to perform all types of eBay searches (by seller, completed items, etc.) directly from the same general page. Unfortunately, eBay has since changed the layout of their pages and the way searches are performed. Now, when someone clicks on the 'Search' link, they are taken to a page which only displays the main 'advanced search' function. If a person wants to perform a different search function such as searching by seller, they have to click on an additional link to be taken to that particular search page. This results in the user needing to wait for additional pages to load to perform the same functions as the original all-in-one form achieved.

EBay has recently taken down the old search form completely, which seems to have angered many folks that always used it. I have had a fully functional all-in-one eBay search page on my own website for months now, but just recently revised the entire page so now even the most recent search functions are available. Some of the features of my All-in-One Search Page include:

• Advanced, Standard Search
• Item Number Search
• Completed Items Search
• Seller Search
• Buyer Search
• Side-links to browse all major eBay categories

http://www.auctionorbit.com/ebaysearch.htm

Each month I will provide one helpful auction tip or trick that will help sellers and/or buyers out while using online auction sites. An archive of previous tips and tricks can be found here. If you have a tip that you would like to display in the next newsletter, please send me a message and I will try my best to include it.

Being Descriptive In Your Descriptions

There is currently no limit on the length of an ad you can post on eBay. Since eBay includes the ability for users to search through both titles and descriptions, it is important for you to describe your items as thoroughly as possible so more people can locate your listings. Try to avoid using symbols and abbreviations as much as possible. Spell out commonly abbreviated words such as 'Approximately' and 'Quantity' at least once in each listing before using their abbreviated formats. Also, if your item is one that has several different names it goes by, try to include them all within your listing. Now when people search for an item using both title and description, the odds of them locating your listings increases over those that only include a couple sentences within each ad.

Another reason why you should try to be as thorough as possible when creating the descriptions for your ads is to ensure that no troubles arise after the item gets sold. Be sure to include all relevant details about the item and also mention all terms you have set forth for the transaction (how the item will be shipped, how you handle shipping charges, etc.). Be sure to include a note stating something along the lines of, 'If you have any questions prior to bidding, feel free to contact me'.

Before I end this tip, I should point out that there is a big difference between a comprehensive description, and a description created with the sole intention of luring surfers to your listings. If you include keywords in your description that have no relation to the item you are selling, you are practicing a form of 'keyword spamming' which is against eBay's policies and will result in your auctions being pulled - or your ID being suspended. Also be careful not to use name-brands or other famous trademarks in your listings unless the item for sale is indeed from the company you mention.