New Automated System

There is a brand new system available that helps you promote your home business beyond recognition.

I have just joined and the whole thing is very clever.

CNN and Discovery channel on TV have both featured this business/tool and it looks like it's going to be very big.

Take a look at the video to see what you think, it's incredible and just what home business, or any business come to that, needed.

You'll need to leave your name and email address to access the main site, but you'll be glad you did.

Automate YOUR business

Working Hours Magazine off to dream start online

The new online version of Working Hours Magazine will be off to a dream launch after I have teamed up with both a UK Internet guru and, also, a US business entrepreneur to help promote on both sides of the Atlantic.

Each businessman has a different approach to marketing but that can only help with our articles, advertisements and general promotions.

If you've not yet placed your free ad into issue 40, do send it into me as soon as possible, it's gonna get a lot of exposure!

I am currently working on the content of September's Issue 40 which will be online and available for free download early in that month.

eBay Update by Dave Bromley

Well it may not have been the busiest of months in respect of sales but the backroom

staff at eBay have certainly been busy. I don’t think I can remember a month when they have pushed out so many announcements.

Possibly the most important was issued on 20th July and this was a statement from Doug Macallum, the Managing Director of eBay.co.uk He started off by stating that after the test of including eBay store listings in the search results the company had come to the following conclusion:

“Over the past few months it has emerged that the change had two unintended consequences. Firstly, buyers found the greater abundance of items a bit bewildering.

Buyers find it difficult to hone in on the item they want when presented with lots of choices (on average, search results doubled!). Secondly, because Shop Listings last
longer than other formats, it has become apparent that the sales velocity for which eBay is rightly famous is under threat: your products have been selling, but not as quickly.

This has obviously affected the vibrancy of the marketplace.

To rebalance the marketplace eBay is going to reduce the visibility of Shop Listings in Search and Browse. Shop items won’t disappear entirely from Search and Browse results:

Whenever a Search returns a small number of listings, we’ll present Shop Listings to the buyer. But when that does happen Shops Listings will have their Gallery image showing to help buyers – the poor experience offered by lack of images was another key piece of buyer feedback.” He then went on to say that ebay would continue to monitor the situation.

He also went on to announce that plans for introducing eBay Express into the UK were
going ahead well. As I understand it eBay Express is a form of classified advertising intended for business sellers of new products. EBay Express should be up and running in time for the Christmas rush.

Other items addressed in the statement included excessive shipping charges which he
promised was being actively addressed which I am sure will please the majority of
readers. EBay motors are also introducing a classified ad format for vehicle sales.

Finally he announced that over the last year eBay had trained over 1000 members of the UK police forces on how eBay works and is building a good relationship to counteract

fraud. To read the full statement visit http://www2.ebay.com/aw/uk/200607.shtml
At the same time eBay announced changes in the fees for store items. Gon eis the 5p
across the board charge and the following will apply from 21 st August.

Shops Listings Insertion Fees Insertion
price tranche 30 day listings 90 day listings Good 'Till Cancelled listings
£0.01 - £4.99 £0.03 £0.09 £0.03/ 30 days
£5.00 - £9.99 £0.05 £0.15 £0.05/ 30 days
£10.00 - £49.99 £0.07 £0.21 £0.07/ 30 days
£50.00 - £499.99 £0.09 £0.27 £0.09/30 days
Over £500 £0.11 £0.33 £0.11/30 days

Final Valuation fees have also been increased to:

First £4.99 10%
£5 to £9.99 10% for 1 st £4.99 then 8% for remainder
£10 to £49.99 10% for 1 st £4.99 then 8% for initial £5 to £9.99 + 6% for remainder
£50 to £499.99 as above plus 4% for balance between £50 and £499.99
Anything above £499.99 is as above +2% for £500+

There are also some other minor changes to Gallery prices and feature plus. Full details can be found at http://www2.ebay.com/aw/uk/200607.shtml

There are similar changes announced for eBay.ie. (The Irish eBay site)
I am sure that these changes are going to make some sellers question whether it is still going to be viable to continue with their eBay stores.

I think for many it is going to be time to get the calculators out and start doing your sums.

http://www.ezeeweb.co.uk

U.S. suffers the worst for Spam

The US has failed to make inroads into its spam-relaying problem, according to figures from security vendor Sophos.

Spam messages received in the company's global network of spam traps, have revealed that for the first time in more than two years, the US has not reduced spam in the last quarter.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said: 'Since the introduction of the CAN-SPAM legislation in 2004, we've seen a regular quarter-on-quarter drop in the proportion of spam coming from the US - until now, that is.

'Given the number of arrests, and the huge fines dished out to guilty spammers, it's hard to criticise the US for failing to take action. Perhaps the reality is that the statistics can't be reduced any further unless US home users take action to secure their computers and put a halt to the zombie PC problem.'

The US remains stuck at the top of the chart and is the source of 23.2 per cent of the world's spam. Its closest rivals are China and South Korea, although both of these nations have managed to reduce their statistics since the first quarter of 2006.

The vast majority of this spam is relayed by botnets.

Asia accounts for more spam than any other continent, however spam relaying in Europe continues to become more prevalent. Europe has now overtaken North America as the second largest spreader of spam.

Sophos estimates that 15 per cent of all spam emails are now pump-and-dump scams, compared to just 0.8 per cent in January 2005. These are email campaigns designed to boost the value of a company's stock in order for spammers to make a quick profit. Many of these spam messages contain images rather than traditional text.

'The people that act upon these emails aren't skilled investors, and don't r ealise that purchasing the shares is likely to reap no reward, benefiting only the spammers, while creating a financial rollercoaster for the organisation in question,' said Cluley.

Spam containing embedded images has risen sharply from 18.2 per cent in January to 35.9 per cent in June. By using images instead of text, messages are able to avoid detection by some anti-spam filters that rely on the analysis of textual spam content.

This message from Dave Bromley:

Dear Martyn,
I am sending this e-mail out to you to warn of a new scam that I came across today. When I checked my e-mails this morning there was one supposedly from Paypal confirming a subscription payment for $39.

I pay for several services, web hosting and site memberships through Paypal but this was supposedly a payment to some kind of spyware company in Germany. There was a button below which you needed to click on if you felt this payment was an error.
When you click on the button another very genuine Paypal type of page appears and asks you to sign in with your e-mail address and password.

This was when the alarm bells began to ring and I went back to my Paypal account and checked if such a payment had in fact been made. There was no mention of any such payment so this was obviously another attempt to collect my Paypal password.

I know there are a lot of various spoof e-mails about and I like to think that I am pretty sharp in spotting them but this one was so clever it almost got under my guard. Be on the look out for anything similar in your e-mail and if you get one forward it straight away to spoof@paypal.co.uk

Regards
Dave

Ezeeweb Solutions Limited