Complete Computer Services, Inc.
2412 Oceancrest Blvd
Far Rockaway, N.Y. 11691
(718) 868 - 3000
hardware & software * sales & service since 1983
This is the February 20001 edition of the CCS newsletter. For the new folks let me explain my purpose. You got on this list by emailing me, purchasing from my web site or auction. In doing so, you also entered my contest for prizes including a color printer. Dozens of prize winners and five lucky printer winners so far. Drawings on the last day of March, June, September and December. This is not a spam list. I send out this newsletter about once a month. I don't sell, trade or in any way make your information available to anyone else. I don't accept paid advertising. The web sites I tell you about (other than mine) are sites I have personally tried. No one paid me to disseminate this information. Yes, some of these sites will give me something if you sign up through my link (so far I have received $22 in commissions over the past year), but that is not why I present them. There are thousands of sites offering incentives for referring people. I only present those that I have tried myself and feel you would benefit from visiting. I present information that will help you make the most of your Internet experience. Should you wish to be removed from this list, just send a polite email to ccs@ygoodman.com and I will do so promptly.
As a member of this list, you are also entitled to free tech support. Have a computer-related question or Internet-commerce question? Looking for the best place to buy something, particularly digital cameras? Just email.
I also have another email that goes out about 3 times a week consisting of inspiring stories and the best humor collected from several other jokelists and sites, including Dave Barry and Scott Adams (Dilbert creator). If you would like to get that email, just let me know. Jokes are screened for "family" acceptability.
Win $10,000! Why don't you tell your friends about my site? Each referral gets you another entry in a contest for $10,000. Just click this link and fill in your friends' email IDs. They will get an email stating that you recommended my site. When they click the link in the email, you will get even more entries into the contest.
Visit my Lycos auctions for digital cameras, smartmedia cards, cdrw drives and media.
Digital camera bargain I have a number of liquidators and surplus merchants that I contact for closeouts. It is difficult to update my web site because these items come and go. I currently have several digital cameras at prices well below any Internet site. These include a Toshiba PDR-M5 (refurbished with 90 day warranty) for $375, a new Ricoh RDC5300 for $450 and I expect in a new Fuji MX-2900 for $450. I have also tracked down the manufacturer of the hard to find Fuji NP-80 and NP-100 and Toshiba BT-2 rechargeable batteries for the PDR and MX series of cameras and have some in stock. The same manufacturer also makes the recharger and I am working on getting in an order of those, as well.
- Hotmail Hell
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Every week, some readers descend into HotMail Hell, where they can get text emails, but cannot follow embedded text links. In fact, I get so many complaints from HotMail users who can't click on the links in this newsletter that I developed a boilerplate reply letter that I send back, assuring them that the links are fine: In reality, it's a HotMail problem that prevents text links from working properly.
We've discussed several workarounds in past issues:
It seems that lots of folks have taken notice that there are actually people making money on the Net. Because these folks are either lazy, greedy or stupid, they decided that they should expect a share (or a bigger share) of this money without any effort. In the first weeks of 2001, the Post Office announced steep raises in the cost of shipping packages and UPS is soon to follow, Yahoo announced auction listing fees, some of the biggest web distributors raised their prices and added handling fees. The days of the $1 auctions and free shipping is fast ending. Perhaps online auctions themselves will come to a crawl.
I am not against fees for services provided. Auction closing fees based on a percentage of the selling price are fair. But listing fees, charged in advance on the advertised price, whether the item sells or not, only makes sense on an auction site where most items sell. Yahoo has a dismal track record of no customer service, thousands of deadbeat bidders using multiple IDs, hundreds of scam sellers and spam auctions. Only about 1 in 6 items gets a bid and at least 1 in 3 of those is from a deadbeat bidder. At an average of about 50 cents a listing, should I pay Yahoo $9 to list 18 items, 2 of which might sell? With a profit of $5 an item, Yahoo would get $9 of the $10 I make. So after well over a year, it's goodbye Yahoo, hello Lycos.
One of my biggest distributors used to include shipping in his pricing and allowed me to ship directly to the customer. One Sunday night I checked his latest pricing and posted a number of auctions. The very next morning I discovered that he had raised prices across the board by about 20%. On top of that, he added a minimum $7.95 shipping fee. The smartmedia card readers that I bought for $30 and sold for $33-$35 were now $40.95. This brought my cost very close to retail price. I had to work fast to close my auctions and took a loss on the few that I sold during this period. I have since stopped doing business with this distributor and I was doing about $100,000 a year with him.
The Post Office reported a banner year last year with record profits. How much of this came from online auctions? So to share their good fortune, they announced record hikes in the cost of shipping. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. Personally, I would rather sell 10 items at a $5 profit each than 1 item at a $10 profit and that's it. I suspect that many sellers will switch to UPS or the even cheaper Fedex ground, both of which do a better job of delivery confirmation and include $100 insurance as part of the deal. But if the Post Office doesn't make as much money this year as they did last year, they'll just raise rates again.
EP has closed its doors. Some accounts were first restricted and then unrestricted and the funds that were there are now gone. Many are worried that they will never receive the balances in their accounts. Considering that upper management may have received bonuses in the millions of dollars for their stupendous (or is that stupidious?) job of destroying the company within a few short months, is there any money left to repay the actual account holders?
Since several articles have recently reported that Paypal was rated unsatisfactory by the Better Business Bureau, PP has been scrambling to improve their image. Though I have yet to see an apology from PP to the account holders they wronged or an acknowledgement that they share any of the blame, they do claim that they are taking steps to reduce the complaints. The accept/reject method is the first of such steps, but in typical PP fashion, they came up with a convoluted method full of holes rather than a simple method that would solve all problems. Why couldn't they simply allow recipients to accept each individual payment? This would ensure that duplicate payments, suspicious payments, overpayments and underpayments were rejected. This would prevent a buyer from paying into a restricted account and having those funds frozen for up to 6 months. Some day Paypal may get it right and I will again recommend them, but I don't see that day coming in the near future.
A new plague is spreading on auction sites - scamming sellers who deliberately mislead bidders with deceptive auctions. Recently a seller offered "new PS/2 Playstation sealed box receipt and warranty" along with a photo of the box, showing what appears to be the original sealed box. The bidding ended at over $400. The buyer received a sealed, empty box. The seller responded with, "I sent exactly what I described." Nowhere in the auction does it specifically state that the box contains the playstation. However, the auction was listed under "electronics" and not under "packing materials." The auction stated that the box was sealed. This is the accepted description for a brand new, unopened item. If all someone wanted to buy was an empty box, the fact that it is sealed adds nothing to the value. Since that auction received public notoriety, several copycats have sprug up. Ebay has been shutting them down but new ones pop up to take their place.
All of this leads me to reiterate advice that I have been giving for a long time. SELLERS - LEARN TO WRITE. BIDDERS - LEARN TO READ. I try to make my auctions very clear. No matter what pains I take to give the bidders an clear understanding of what I am selling, someone comes along with a question that makes it very obvious they didn't even begin to read the description. Cases in point:
I offered a 19 inch monitor. The first line of the description in bold stated: This auction is for U.S. bidders only. This monitor will be shipped via UPS ground anywhere in the U.S. serviced by UPS ground for $25. The winning bidder asked me to ship it to Romania for $25 ad advertised. I explained that the first sentence of the auction makes it clear that I am not shipping outside of the U.S. I re-listed the auction and the same bidder "won" again.
I offered a 17 inch monitor. The title of the auction was "brand new 17 inch Viewsonic E771 .27 monitor with 3 year warranty." I received emails asking, "Is this monitor new or refurbished? How long is the warranty? Is it a 15 inch or 17 inch? What model is it? What is the dot pitch?"
The FBI fraud site states that they received over 40,000 fraud complaints a year. It goes on to explain that less than 1% are real fraud. The vast majority of these complaints come from bidders who just didn't bother to read the description.
Now I am not justifying the actions of sellers who DELIBERATELY mislead bidders with poor descriptions. But it is equally difficult to sympathize with bidders who want to penalize sellers for their own laziness. Those who bid on clearly worded auctions and get exactly what is described have no right to feel misled. One of the most effective methods for combatting Internet fraud is simply to be careful.
Offers
I do not accept paid advertisements. However, I will (at no charge) mention offers from other subscribers. Feel free to let me know what you have.
BestRate Communications offers Long Distance rates starting @ 4.5¢/min Out-of-State as low as 3.9¢/min In-State for HOME & BUSINESS. New & Existing TOLL FREE LINES too just $2 per month not per line! Small $2 fee if bill is under $20 otherwise NO FEES! EVERY DAY - ALL DAY! Calling Cards start @ 2.9¢/min or 8.9¢/min with no surcharges! * CELLULAR * PAGERS * DISH TV * DIAL AROUND * CALL BACK * COMPUTERS * VOICEMAIL * INTERNET SERVICE * INTERNET TELEPHONY * INVESTOR RELATIONS * Make $$$ At Home With Your Computer With Our AFFILLIATE PROGRAM! Phone/FAX: Local 616-468-3455 Toll Free: 1-877-431-6219 Email: BestRateCom@NetZero.net Website: http://BestRateCom.net
Useful sites
www.bigfoot.com - What if you have more than one email address, such as one at home and another at work? How can you make sure that emails reach you at whichever ID you choose to use? What if you want to change providers? Do you have to email all your friends and tell them to start using a different ID? With Bigfoot, the answer is NO. When you sign up for a Bigfoot ID, you get powerful email tools. Forwarding will send your emails to any other ID you choose. Distribution will send them to as many as five other IDs. Now all you have to do is get your friends to use your Bigfoot ID. You can change offices, email systems, Internet providers and Bigfoot will just keep forwarding and distributing your email without you having to notify your friends. I've had my ID for years. The service is FREE. Once you set up your account, you don't have to log in to Bigfoot again (unless you change providers). Now that I have my own domain, I don't need my bigfoot ID. But it will still work and it served me well for many years.
http://www.bfree.on.ca/HTML/index.htm - detailed, well explained HTML lessons online
www.megapixel.net - in-depth reviews of digital cameras.
www.epinions.com - product reviews written by regular folks who have bought and used them.
www.ureach.com - get a free toll-free number that accepts voice calls or faxes. It will notify you of new messages via email or pager. You can get your voice messages by phone or by logging on the website and faxes off the website. This number will also forward to up to three other phones lines. You can now give folks a toll free number to call you in an emergency. Use it to call home when you're out on the road.
I hope this letter contained useful information. Please email ccs@ygoodman.com with any comments.
Visit my site www.ygoodman.com to see some cute Javascript effects. If you want to know how they work or a source for more free scripts, just email.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
- Killing the golden goose
- Latest ebay virus
- useful sites
Hotmail Hell
I got this article from the Langa List newsletter. This is a very informative newsletter with detailed tips on how to keep your system in top shape. Subscribe for free to get this newsletter emailed to you. Just go to our site and find the link at the bottom of the home page.
Killing the golden goose
Latest Exchangepath news
Latest Paypal news
Latest eBay virus - empty box syndrome