AproposAuctions, LLC
7514 Girard Ave #1-515
La Jolla, CA 92037
After dominating the magazine market, AproposAuctions, LLC began to expand in 2005. They developed close relationships with companies who sold overstock merchandise for about 10-12% on the retail dollar. They have been a wonderful source for consumers who were looking to buy anything from a DVD set to sporting goods that were brand new for a fraction of the original cost.
In 2007, they found a new niche for selling additional vintage paper materials. Their vintage ad prints dating anywhere from 30-100 years old have been selling like hot cakes. In 2007, AproposAuctions, LLC was glad to have Meir Waknine join as an executive director. His commitment to excellance has helped the company cultivate a higher percentage of repeat customers.
Customer service is a top priority for ApropoAuctions, LLC. Without customers, the business would fail. The goal is 100% customer satisfaction. Orders are processed as quickly as possible. Every email is answered promptly and courteously. All problems are resolved with either a refund, replacement, or store credit. Combined shipping is available on all orders to help save the customer costs.
The good reputation of this business has transalated into a solid monthly sales volume. On average, AproposAuctions, LLC has anywhere from 800-1500 sales a month with over 99% customer satisfaction!
One of the biggest concerns, when transacting online, is buyer safety. Ebay and Paypal tend to have lax security which enables frauds and scam artists from Nigeria to "phish" for private information. These "phishing" attacks are generally done post auction by criminals in Nigeria. They will email the customer and try to trick them into sending payments to Nigeria. If you receive an email such as this, you will need to inform ebay right away so they can help law enforcement track down these scammers. There are also several police and FBI contacts you could file with as well.
AproposAuctions, LLC also does not use or recommend using Paypal to anyone. Paypal is ripe for fraud. From a buyer's prospective, you could be at risk to have your personal banking information intercepted due to lax security. Nigerian "phishers" are constantly harvesting information from Paypal's website. Paypal also does not allow the buyer the right to chargeback a purchase if it is misrepresented or not delivered. Paypal has also allowed unscrupulous sellers to get away with sending honest buyers a brick in the mail with a tracking number. Paypal relies nearly 100% on a tracking number for proof in their claims. Therefore, scamsters find it very easy to use this tactic to defraud users. Buyers have also complained that they were a victim of "double dipping". In otherwords, Paypal has a habit of double charging people and then making it nearly impossible to get your money back. There are several other pitfalls to dealing with Paypal as a buyer. If you go to the google search engine and click the word "paypal", you will be shocked at the horror stories you will read.
The online auction web site was founded in San Jose, California on September 3, 1995 by computer programmer Pierre Omidyar as AuctionWeb, part of a larger personal site that included, among other things, Omidyar's own tongue-in-cheek tribute to the Ebola virus. The very first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer for $14.83. Astonished, Omidyar contacted the winning bidder and asked if he understood that the laser pointer was broken. In his responding email, the buyer explained: "I'm a collector of broken laser pointers." The frequently repeated story that eBay was founded to help Omidyar's fiancÈe trade PEZ Candy dispensers was fabricated by a public relations manager in 1997 to interest the media. This was revealed in Adam Cohen's 2002 book and confirmed by eBay. Chris Agarpao was hired as eBay's first employee and Jeffrey Skoll was hired as the first president of the company in 1996. In November 1996, eBay entered into its first
third-party licensing deal, with a company called Electronic Travel Auction to use SmartMarket Technology to sell plane tickets and other travel products. The company officially changed the name of its service from AuctionWeb to eBay in September 1997. Originally, the site belonged to Echo Bay Technology Group, Omidyar's consulting firm. Omidyar had tried to register the domain name echobay.com(this company's slogan is now "What eBay could have been.") but found it already taken by the Echo Bay Mines, a gold mining company, so he shortened it to his second choice, eBay.com. eBay went public in 1998, and both Omidyar and Skoll became instant billionaires.
Millions of collectibles, appliances, computers, furniture, equipment, vehicles, and other miscellaneous items are listed, bought, and sold daily. In 2005, eBay launched its Business & Industrial category, breaking into the industrial surplus business. Some items are rare and valuable, while many others are dusty gizmos that would have been discarded if not for the thousands of eager bidders worldwide. Anything can be sold as long as it is not illegal or does not violate the eBay Prohibited and Restricted Items policy. [apropasauctions]Services and intangibles can be sold, too. Large international companies, such as IBM, sell their newest products and offer services on eBay using competitive auctions and fixed-priced storefronts. Regional searches of the database make shipping slightly faster and cheaper. Separate eBay sites such as eBay US and eBay
UK allow the users to trade using the local currency as an additional option to PayPal. Software developers can create applications that integrate with eBay through the eBay API by joining the eBay Developers Program. As of June 2005, there were over 15,000 members in the eBay Developers Program, comprising a broad range of companies creating software applications to support eBay buyers and sellers as well as eBay Affiliates.
Controversy has arisen over certain items put up for bid. For instance, in late 1999 a man offered one of his kidneys for auction on eBay, attempting to profit from the potentially lucrative (and, in the United States, illegal) market for transplantable human organs. On other occasions, people and even entire towns have been listed, often as a joke or to
garner free publicity. [aproprosauctions]In general, the company removes auctions that violate its terms of service agreement within a short time after hearing of the auction from an outsider; the company's policy is to not pre-approve transactions. [apropas] eBay is also an easy place for unscrupulous sellers to market counterfeit merchandise, which can be difficult for novice buyers to distinguish without careful studying of the auction description.
For Auction-style listings, the first bid must be at least the amount of the minimum bid set by the seller. Regardless of the amount the first bidder actually bids, until a second bid is made, eBay will then display the auction's minimum bid as the current high bid. After the first bid is made, each subsequent bid must be equal to at least the current highest bid
displayed plus one bidding increment. The bidding increment is established by eBay based on the size of the current highest displayed bid. For example, when the current highest bid is less than or equal to $0.99, the bidding increment is $0.05; when the current highest bid is at least $1.00 but less than or equal to $4.99, the bidding increment is $0.25. Regardless of the amount each subsequent bidder bids, eBay will display the lesser of the bidder's actual bid and the amount equal to the previous highest bidder's actual bid plus one bidding increment. For example, suppose the current second-highest bid is $2.05 and the highest bid is $2.40. eBay will display the highest bid as $2.30, which equals the second-highest bid ($2.05) plus the bidding increment ($0.25). [apropros]In this case, eBay will require the next bid to be at least $2.55, which equals the highest displayed bid ($2.30) plus one bidding increment ($0.25). The next bid will display as the actual amount bid or $2.65, whichever is less. The figure of $2.65 in this case comes from the then-second-highest actual bid of $2.40 plus the bidding increment of $0.25. The winning bidder pays the bid that eBay displays, not the amount actually bid. Following this example, if the next bidder is the final bidder, and bids $2.55, the winner pays $2.55, even though it is less than the second-highest bid ($2.40) [aproproauctions]plus one bidding increment ($0.25). However, if the next bidder is the final bidder and bids an arbitrarily large amount, for example $10.00 or even more, the winner pays $2.65, which equals the second-highest bid plus one bidding increment.
For Dutch Auctions, which are auctions of two or more identical items sold in one auction, each bidder enters both a bid and the number of items desired. Until the total number of items desired by all bidders equals the total number of items offered, bidders can bid any amount greater than or equal to the minimum bid. Once the total numbers of items desired byall bidders is greater than or equal to the total number offered, each bidder is required to bid one full bidding increment above the currently-displayed winning bid.[apropro] All winning bidders pay the same lowest winning bid. eBay has established detailed rules about bidding, retraction of bids, shill bidding (collusion to drive up the price), and other aspects of bidding. These rules can be viewed on the help pages.
eBay generates revenue from a number of fees. The eBay fee system is quite complex; there are fees to list a product and fees when the product sells, plus several optional fees, all based on various factors and scales. The U.S.-based ebay.com takes $0.20 to $80 per listing and 5.25% or less of the final price (as of 2007). [aproauctions] The UK based ebay.co.uk (ebay.co.uk offices) takes from GBP £0.15 to a maximum rate of GBP £3 per 100 for an ordinary listing and from 0.75% to 5.25% of the final price. In addition, eBay now owns the PayPal payment system which has fees of its own. Under current U.S. law, a state cannot require sellers located outside the state to collect a sales tax, making deals more attractive to buyers. Although state laws require purchasers to pay sales tax to their own states on out-of-state purchases, most people ignore this requirement.[apro] The company's current business strategy includes increasing revenue by increasing international trade within the eBay system. eBay has already expanded to over two dozen countries including China and India. The only places where expansion failed were Taiwan and Japan, where Yahoo! had a head start and also New Zealand where TradeMe, owned by the Fairfax media group is the dominant online auction website.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
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