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AUCTION.COM Things are going once, going twice on the web From Staff and wire reports Medford sports card shop owner Curtis Gilgan knew auctioning cards on the Internet would boost his business. Using newsgroups and such, he ran several auctions himself to complement sales at his Cedar Mall store, Two-Minute Warning. But it was a lot of work, so he couldn't generate the volume he wanted. Then he found eBay, the nation's largest online auction service. He did a few trial auctions around the first of the year before hitting the service hard in mid-January. Since then, the results have been staggering. Gilgan says he did $10,000 in sales through eBay auctions in February and about the same volume in March. Now, he runs about 200 online auctions a week. "My wife doesn't work anymore because of it," he says, adding that she was able to quit her job and help him run the auctions. Online auctions transport folks such as Gilgan to a huge international marketplace at the click of a mouse. "I've probably shipped cards to every state in the country," he says. He's also shipped them to Korea, Japan, Australia, Canada and Germany. There are dozens of online sites that cater to the traditional habitues of auction houses -- individual buyers and sellers -- and a handful run by businesses who use the auction format to hawk new merchandise. They're all easy to use. After registering and receiving a password, potential buyers can scan a list of objects by category (say, post-1980 comic books) and see what tickles their fancies. Or they can use a search tool to look for a specific word (diamond, for example) and see what's being offered. Buyers are generally admitted free of charge -- if they win, they deal directly with the seller. Auction sites make their money by charging a listing fee to the seller, usually based on the opening bid, and by collecting a percentage of the final price. "It's hard to beat the deals," says Richard Parker, who has used online auction sites to build his laser disc collection. "When I need something, I can usually find it." Sellers benefit as much as buyers. Auction sites have not only democratized the collectibles market -- making everyone with a computer a potential dealer -- they've also increased the scope of the marketplace, unearthing items that would normally languish in basements and attics. The results can be surprising: One seller found what looked like a miniature sewing machine in his grandmother-in-law's basement and figured he'd gamble a quarter to list it on the Internet. It fetched more than $700. "You can reach people everywhere," says Jennifer Mudd, who sells sports collectibles from her desk in Ocean City, Md. "If you've got a St. Louis Cardinals program, people around here may not be interested, but (Internet auctions) make it so you can reach people in Missouri." The auctions also help businesses find buyers for merchandise that can be tough to sell locally. Take Orange Torpedo Trips, a Grants Pass-based company that offers boat rentals and guided trips down the Rogue River. Since January, the company's been able to sell about 150 used inflatable kayaks -- boats from last year's trips that they like to replace with new ones each season. "We would never sell as many locally as we have," says co-owner Becky Smith, who says the company sells about 10 boats on eBay each week and always have more bidders than boats. "We've just been shocked." The granddaddy of Internet auction sites is eBay ( www.ebay.com ), a San Jose, Calif.-based company that has listed more than 75 million items for sale since its birth in September 1995. Today eBay claims 1.3 million registered users, offers more than 1,000 categories of merchandise and sees 250,000 new items listed for sale each day. If you're looking for an Ideal Haunted House game from the early 1960s, a vintage photograph of silent film star Mabel Normand, a New Mexico road map from 1957 or an unused concert ticket from the Rolling Stones' 1981 American tour, eBay is the place you're most likely to find it. "Five or six years ago, a lot of these people were limited in their ability to buy collectibles or sell them," says eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove. "They could go to shows at their local fairgrounds, garage sales, flea markets. But now, with the aid of a computer and a modem, you can essentially talk to anybody in the world about an item you want to buy or sell." The company has been a financial success as well -- at least for its principals and investors. When eBay went public in August, shares sold for around $18 on the NASDAQ exchange. The stock was trading for about $145 a share this week. Predictably, success has brought its share of problems and griping from buyers and sellers alike. While eBay may be a great source of esoteric items, critics say, it's not always the place for bargains. Hordes of inexperienced and overzealous bidders often drive prices above market value. During peak periods, eBay is also hard to get onto and slow to respond. Bulletin boards devoted to the site are filled with buyers complaining that they couldn't call up an item for a last-second bid (auctions last three, five or seven days). Sellers complain that they lose money because potential buyers are frozen out. While none of the other auction sites can match eBay in quantity or variety, plenty are trying. Among the up-and-comers are Auction Universe ( www.auctionuniverse.com ), a subsidiary of Classified Ventures LLC, which is owned in part by The Baltimore Sun's parent Times Mirror Co.; City Auction ( www.cityauction.com ); Yahoo! Auctions (auctions.yahoo.com), which is probably second to eBay in number of items for sale; Bid Away ( www.bidaway.com ); Sky Bid ( www.skybid.com ) and Absolutely Everything's Up for Auction ( www.up4auction.com ). Like many destinations on the World Wide Web, auction sites require a warning label: caveat emptor. Because buyers rarely know much about the people they're buying from, it pays to be careful. If someone offers an Abraham Lincoln autograph at an opening bid of $9.99, it might be a good idea to question its authenticity; in fact, with items such as autographs -- which can be easily forged -- skepticism is downright healthy. While the majority of online sellers are honest, there are a few bad apples. Many active buyers have a tale or two of items they paid for but never received, and nearly every seller has experience with high bidders who never get around to sending their money, or who pay with a bad check. When bad things happen, you're often on your own. Auction sites generally don't do much self-policing, although eBay and others have formal feedback systems that give buyers and sellers a chance to compliment or complain about each other. Sometimes this can get nasty. Last year, a Canadian bidder sued a Maryland seller in federal court in Baltimore in a dispute that started when an $1,800 Barbie doll that was advertised in good condition arrived, according to the buyer, falling apart. The seller claimed the doll was damaged by either the buyer or an "act of God," and after a bitter exchange in eBay's feedback forum, the buyer demanded $200,000 in damages because her reputation had been besmirched. The suit is still pending. Although outright fraud on eBay and other sites is relatively rare -- less than 1 percent of all transactions, according to eBay -- it certainly occurs. In fact, more than 70 percent of all fraud complaints registered by the National Consumers League involve Internet auction sites, according to league spokesman Cleo Manuel. The average loss is more than $200. Manuel suggests using an escrow service, a company that acts as a third party and holds the money until the item is delivered. A credit card also is a good option if the seller accepts one, because you can dispute a charge if the seller doesn't deliver or an item isn't as advertised. Sometimes, however, the best course is to pursue a charge of mail fraud if the merchandise is delivered through the U.S. mail, which is often the case. Complaint forms are available in post offices. The Postal Inspection Service is working with eBay on cases of suspected auction fraud, according to spokeswoman Lisa Holman. Postal inspectors also are active in Project Safe Bid, a federal task force that includes the Federal Trade Commission, FBI, state attorneys general and local law enforcement agencies. A new series of safeguards were recently announced by eBay, including an optional, more detailed registration process, free insurance on transactions under $200 and a more refined feedback process. Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA