Proudly wear your 2 1/4 inch round pinback button, don't let the government take away any more of your rights....

Even if you don't like Stern, his political views should not be cause for removal from any radio station.....

[b]Posted: Feb 14 2004, 03:56 PM [/b]

Froogle is a nice tool. I've never talked to anyone who's actually had a success story because of it though.

--Genia

[b]Posted: Feb 14 2004, 10:02 PM[/b]

The jury's still out whether Froogle will be a real success story or not but I think it could become a helpful tool. It would be great if the spiders that index the listings could actually pull the corrrect Buy-It-Now prices and the correct photos from the pages. Hopefully if they ever get out of the Beta stage these things will be corrected. I'm not sure what Tom did or didn't do that allows Froogle to index Romahawk so well but I've had several items listed at BidVille for months and none show up on Froogle. My Romahawk items seem to show up around three weeks to a month after I list them. It helps to make the best use possible out of your listings title. Of course if no one is actively searching for your particular item Froogle is not going to be much help.

--bluebolt7


[b]Posted: Feb 14 2004, 10:28 PM[/b]

I can help explain this. It is very difficult for auction sites to submit up to date data feeds to froogle, depending of course on the script used. The scripts I use make it almost impossible for me to supply Froogle with accurate data feeds, and in fact, I gave up on it.

Here is the problem: Data feeds depend on current information, at least as current as possible. Many online auction scripts issue a new auction number, and therefore, a new URL each time the item is relisted. That means that every 7 to 14 days, an entire new data feed must be compiled. I found it almost impossible to do this, so I can't imagine how large sites could cope with it, unless they get the script modified to use the same number each relist, and therefore, the same URL.

It could very well be that the script Romahawk uses does not issue a new number with each relist. That would make data feeds easier to compile, thats for sure.

FWIW, I found the Froogle Beta Team to be very co-operative, and interested in working with me, even though I had a site with only around 1,500 products. If they could have made it work, they would have.

Hope this sheds some light on the subject of Froogle Data Feeds.

--Jim

[b]Posted: Feb 14 2004, 11:45 PM [/b]

Hi Jim. Thanks for your insight. I have my Romahawk listings set for twenty relistings each. I am almost one hundred per cent certain that Romahawk keeps the same listing number when items relist. I'm sure it's easier on Romahawk to do it that way. Anyway I'm thankful it gets my listings indexed by Froogle. I had an eBay store for two months, uploaded to Froogle the url eBay supplied me with in order for Froogle to index my listings and still my eBay store listing never showed up on Froogle. I honestly think I get more page views on my Romahawk listings than I ever did on my eBay store items.

--bluebolt7


[b]Posted: Mar 23 2004, 06:15 PM[/b]

Just thought I'd stop in to say that things are coming along nicely at Romahawk Auctions. I've sold two items in the last day to two newly registered bidders. Romahawk items are continuing to be indexed in the Froogle search engine and I've noticed that Front Page Featured items seem to get indexed quicker than other items that are not featured. Of course new bidders are wonderful but we can always use new sellers as well. If you are looking for a well run, stable site then give Romahawk a chance and list a few items.

--bluebolt7

NEW YORK, March 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Showtime Networks is donating a couture
Roberto Cavalli dress worn by Britney Spears to eBay. The full-length black
gown will be auctioned off to the highest bidder and all proceeds will benefit
the Britney Spears Foundation. The dress was worn by Britney Spears on
January 10, 2004, during a promotional shoot for her upcoming SHOWTIME live
concert on March 28th at *9PM ET/PT.

9 Things to Know Before Selecting a Web Host for Your Business
By Chris Kivlehan

It may seem simple yet it is often times overlooked. When it comes to choosing the right Internet hosting provider for their websites, the majority of business owners or companies know very little about making the best Internet/web hosting decisions.

What makes a good Internet/web hoster for a business website?

What makes a bad one?

How can the wrong Internet/web hoster help/harm your business?

What are the different types of Internet/web hosting services?

Which ones are best for which industries?

3. Don't Confuse Size With Stability.
Just because a web hosting company is big, does not mean it is stable and secure. In fact, many of the biggest filed for bankruptcy protection or were saved by being sold to some other company, in some cases causing uncomfortable transitions in service for their clients. How do you protect yourself? Ask some key questions:


How long has the host been in business?
Is current ownership the same as always?
Are they profitable and cash flow positive from operation-generated revenue?
4. Don't Make Price Your Only Priority.
The old saying "you get what you pay for" applies to most things in life, and hosting is certainly one of those things. When you over-prioritize price, you run the risk of ending up with a host that will provide you with a connection to the Internet and little else in terms of support (and even that connection may be running at maximum capacity or have uptime issues).

I wonder why eBay let's it happen, doesn't that fall under their policy for "Embargoed Goods, Prohibited Countries" where that policy states:

"Various U.S. agencies have sanctions in place that substantially regulate or ban all trade with particular countries, including Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, and other countries"

Above policy found at: pages.ebay.com/help/policies/embargo .html

or how about eBay's policy on "Offensive Material"

"eBay has always exercised judgment in allowing or disallowing certain listings consistent with the spirit of a worldwide community. [b]Therefore, eBay will judiciously disallow listings or items that promote or glorify hatred, violence, or racial intolerance, or items that promote organizations (such as the KKK, Nazis, neo-Nazis, and Aryan Nation) with such views.[/b] For example, eBay will generally remove items that bear the marks of such organizations, such as relics from the KKK or Nazi helmets"

above policy found at:pages.ebay.com/help/policies/offensi ve.html (but then reading more on this second policy I can see how it would "slip through the loopholes") This whole thing is rotten to the core and all monies from these auctions should be going back to Iraq, afterall, it's all stolen items, did those thos men pay for those items (unless I missed it in the article, I think not).

EBay relies on so-called power users to drive its steadily impressive sales and profit growth, so tools that help those sellers run more auctions likely will boost the company's bottom line. Meanwhile, Microsoft has made the XML and Web-services features of Office 2003 one of the main selling points of its software.