Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 04:38:53 +0000
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Sender: The Internet TourBus - A virtual tour of cyberspace
From: Bob Rankin
Subject: TOURBUS - 15 Aug 00 - Auction Insider
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TOURBUS Volume 6, Number 08 -- 15 Aug 2000
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_________ ____________ ________ __________ _____________ ___ _
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| POETRY CONTEST - WIN $58,000 IN PRIZES / | \
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| The International Library of Poetry will award 250 prizes |////|
| totaling $58,000 to amateur poets. Anyone can enter the |////|
| competition simply by submitting ONLY ONE original poem, 20 |////|
| lines or less, any subject, any style. All poets who enter |////|
| will receive a response concerning their work. |////|
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| CLICK HERE |////|
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/ \ / \ / \
\___/ \___/ T h e I n t e r n e t T o u r B u s \___/
TODAY'S TOURBUS TOPIC: The e*Auction Insider
Hi! I'm Dave Taylor, long-time Bus rider and author of the new book
'The e*Auction Insider' -- all about how to buy and sell smart at eBay
and other auction sites. Bob asked me to grab the wheel and drive
the bus around to the auction site neighborhood today, so with your
indulgence for my rusty gear shifting and forgiveness in advance for
hitting a few potholes, let's see what we can find!
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-------------------------
THE PRICE CLUB SYNDROME
-------------------------
I'm just going to guess, but when you think about online auctions, you
probably think about flea markets, antique stores and similar venues,
all hooked together with some fancy software. What you don't think
about is being led into bad deals through your own (faulty) instincts.
That's right: while there are a lot of bargains available through the
online auction world, there are plenty of non-bargains, things where
you'd end up paying more for them through bidding frenzy and ownership
lust than you would *brand new* at your local store.
I like to call this the Price Club syndrome (but you might call it the
CostCo and Sam's Club syndrome), and I first saw it years ago when I
was in college. It's like this: because you're shopping at a warehouse
store, you automatically assume that everything they sell is a
bargain. It just ain't so, and we slowly learned that sometimes
Safeway had the very same thing considerably cheaper.
And so it goes in the auction world too. In `The e*Auction Insider'
I have examples of refurbished computer equipment that's bid up to
*more* than the very same item, brand new, at an online retail outlet.
I see this myself a lot too, as an auction seller: I've sold used
audio books, for example, for more than they cost brand new at
Amazon.com.
Why does this happen? I think it's because many auction aficionados
get into a bidding frenzy, and that they just *have* to win the
auction regardless of whether it's still a bargain or not. Which leads
to rule #1 of the true e*Auction Insider:
----------------------------
RESEARCH, M'LAD, RESEARCH!
----------------------------
I can imagine some old professor with chalk dust on his stomach
gesticulating and waving to a shelf of dusty books, but in the 21st
Century, research is about visiting other Web sites, not visiting a
dusty corner of the campus archives.
That's good news! In fact, for most potential purchases online, it's
quite easy to ascertain the going, competitive rate for retail. Let's
take an example: on eBay right now there are a lot of different Harry
Potter books up for auction.
http://www.ebay.com
Since Rowling, the author, is English, it's unsurprising that there's
a perception that the UK edition of the book is more valuable as a
collector's item than the US edition. Hence auction #400038099, which,
for a current bid of $119 + $15 shipping, offers, well, let's let the
auction description state it:
DELUXE UK SET PUBLISHED BY BLOOMSBURY, HARD COVER CLOTH BOUND, GILDED
GOLD EDGES, MINT, NEVER READ. SHIPPING $15.00 INCLUDES ALL THREE IN
THE SET, HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE , HARRY POTTER AND
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS, AND HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN,
EACH HAS IT'S OWN RIBBON BOOKMARK. SHRINK WRAPPED BY THE PUBLISHER!
Seems like a reasonable deal, except when I decide to do some
research...
The most well known UK bookstore on the net is Amazon.Com's UK outlet.
A quick visit there and a search for "Harry Potter" reveals that they
too offer the very same hard cover cloth-bound books brand new for
only 14.40 UK (which is roughly $22 USD). Add these up and it's only
$66 for all three books brand new! Even if you figure that shipping is
going to be painful, you're unquestionably going to not only save
yourself at least $50 on this transaction, but you're also going to
cut out the potential risk associated with any person-to-person
transaction!
http://Amazon.co.uk
Not bad for two minutes of poking around on the net, eh? I can see
that I haven't convinced all of you (particularly the skeptics jeering
from the back seat) so let's look at another example, this time with
computer gear.
It's time to upgrade to a new scanner, since you're thinking, hey,
this auction stuff is pretty cool! Talking with friends and reading
magazines has convinced you that Canon scanners are good, and that
their 620P low-end scanner is probably the one for you: at about $50
it's hard to go wrong!
A quick search on eBay reveals a bunch of auctions going on for this
very hardware, ranging from $10 to $45. Read through the listings and
it appears most are factory refurbs or used gear, and, well, you'd
rather try to get a new one. The only one that's not a refurb is $45,
inevitably.
So is that a good deal?
Well, for computer hardware I always pop over to Buy.Com to have a
quick look for comparative pricing information. A search for Canon
620P and a bit of digging (they could do with a better search system!)
reveals the fact that Buy.com only wants $39.95 for the unit, which
sounds good until I notice that it's also refurbished. Still, the
auctions aren't such a fabulous deal when a retail outlet is only a
few dollars more, so it's worth knowing the comparative retail even in
this case.
http://www.buy.com
One more example! The Agfa ePhoto Smile digital camera is another el
cheapo piece of hardware: it's a low-end digital camera for under $75.
eBay has a busy auction offering a "like new" unit, auction
#398442998, with the current bid up to $59.03. But over at
Egghead.com, it turns out that they have 280 of these units, brand
new, for only $10 more - so you decide what's best.
http://www.egghead.com
-----------------------------------------
WHERE SHOULD I DO RESEARCH, GREAT GURU?
-----------------------------------------
So how do I know about Egghead, Buy.com, Amazon.co.uk, etc? Whenever I
see a Web site that offers special bargains, unusual items of interest
to me (like UK edition books) or is known for cut-rate prices, I
bookmark it. Further, though the results are often poor, mysimon.com
and jango.com are both worth checking out as comparative shopping
engines.
Finally, I'll also recommend PriceRadar.com and Honesty.com as two
places where you can do research on going rates for auctions both
current and closed. That's great data, too: rare and trendy
collectibles can fluctuate wildly in price for no apparent reason,
selling for $20 last week, but $500 this week.
http://www.PriceRader.com
http://www.Honesty.com
Never underestimate the value of typing in a search phrase to
Google.com either: A search for "squirrel nut bowl" might offer you
not only comparative information next time you are checking prices,
but can also lead you down an exciting path of exploration.
http://www.google.com
--------------------------------------
GROOVY, SO WHAT'S IN THE BOOK, DAVE?
--------------------------------------
Well, gosh, thanks for asking. In these last few sentences, let me
indulge by saying that the book has more examples and discussion of
research (of course) and tons of information and insider tips about
how to be a savvy auction buyer and power seller! I invite you to
visit the official book home page and poke around:
http://www.insideauctions.com
[ A large hooked pole comes from offstage and drags Dave off as he
says "Thanks for letting me drive! Hope we didn't miss your
stoooppppppppp" ]
Dave Taylor is a raconteur and long-time Internet guy. Founder of The
Internet Mall and auction tracking service iTrack.com, he works with
startups to get them started up faster. Check him out at
http://www.intuitive.com/taylor
That's all for now, see you next time! --Bob Rankin
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