AMERICA ONLINE Internet Connection Topic: Internet Classifieds and Online Auctions Host: Kevin Savetz, "Netanswers" ------------------------------------------------------------------- OnlineHost: Copyright 1996 America Online, Inc. CJ Purple: Tonight's topic: Internet Classifieds and Online Auctions. Are you looking for a rare old record, or trying to sell your obsolete computer? Maybe you want to trade an old truck for a faster modem? The Internet AnswerMan can help! Learn about classified ads on the Internet. He'll show you how you can use Newsgroups, the Web, and e-mail to find the perfect item, or sell your old stuff, using the Net. He'll show you how to find the right venue, and also give advice on making deals with strangers and avoiding scams. CJ Purple: Good evening everyone and welcome to tonight's AnswerMan Conference. I'm CJ Purple of the Internet Connection and with me is our very own AnswerMan, Kevin Savetz. Netanswers: Greetings! Tonights topic is Internet Classifieds and online auctions. You can use the Internet to buy and sell stuff--from antiques to computers to pickup trucks. There are a whole slew of forums where you can buy, sell and trade, you can post traditional for sale ads on Usenet... or auction off your stuff (or buy stuff via auction) using the Web. Netanswers: Using the Internet as a forum for classified ads is rather different than using your local newspaper. First of all, ads are cheaper online, and can be of whatever length is appropriate. Most notably, however, Internet ads can be seen nationwide...or worldwide. So if you want to sell an old computer part, or buy a used copy of Myst (whatever!) you have the whole Internet community at your disposal...not just the few people in your local area. Netanswers: Of course, that doesn't matter much if you want to buy or sell a car...but you can also post messages to regional forums with Usenet, to target people in a specific geographic area. The two best ways to use the Internet for classified ads are Usenet and the World Wide Web. *USENET* Netanswers: On Usenet newsgroups (Keyword: Newsgroups; or go to Keyword: AnswerMan for an intro to Usenet), you can post and read messages. Usenet topics are organized neatly, so it's easy to find the right newsgroup to buy or sell whatever. For instance, there is alt.auto.parts.wanted, comp.sys.mac.wanted, misc.forsale.computers.mac.cards.video,alt.aquaria.marketplace and others... These newsgroup names pretty much speak for themselves. They're arranged by subject matter. If you want to sell an old aquarium or a video card, you know where to go. Netanswers: Other newsgroups are arranged not by topic but by region. So if you, for instance, want to sell your car to someone in your local area, you might post an ad to houston.forsale (for the Houston TX area) or la.forsale (for the Los Angeles area). There are lots of regional newsgroups covering many areas in the U.S. and world. Netanswers: Newsgroups for buying and selling stuff generally fall into three main categories: .wanted -- where people post when they are looking for something to buy, .forsale -- where people post when they're trying to sell stuff, and .marketplace -- for buying and selling. Netanswers: How do you find the newsgroup that's right for what you're trying to sell or buy? Go to Keyword: Newsgroups and press the SEARCH BUTTON. Try entering a keyword that describes what you're after or your region (like "cars" or "las vegas"). You'll see a list of newsgroups--you will be able to find an appropriate one. Netanswers: One more thing about Usenet newsgroups--there are a whole lot of newsgroups for buying and selling computer equipment, and relativly few dedicated to buying/selling non-computer related stuff. This sort of makes sense, since the one thing all Internet users share is computers, but it can take a little extra time to find the right forum if you're in the market for a non-computer item. For instance, there is misc.forsale.non-computer, and (my favorite newsgroup name): alt.marketplace.funky-stuff.forsale -- where you can find lots of different, well, funky stuff. Other examples are rec.arts.comics.marketplace, rec.audio.marketplace, rec.bicycles.marketplace and rec.arts.books.marketplace. There are many niches -- you just have to find them. *PLAYING IT SAFE* Netanswers: There is a great set of documents online detailing lots of good info about buying and selling on the Net...It's the Usenet Marketplace FAQ -- it is on the Web at http://www.phoenix.net/~lildan/FAQ/. There you'll find a complete list of newsgroups for buying and selling, and handy tips on how to make sure you don't get swindled. Netanswers: I have bought and sold many items over the Net, for years. I'm happy to report that in my personal experience, it's safe and enjoyable. I have heard horror stories from time to time, but they're the exception to the rule. The old axiom about "if it sounds too good to be tru, it probably is" really does apply here. Whenever I sell something over the Net, I make sure that any prospective buyer knows whether or not shipping is included in my asking price. If it's a cheap item (say a $20 book that I no longer need), I usually ship it via USPS and expect a check within a week. If it's much more expensive than that, I send the parcel C.O.D.--cash on delivery. The post office charges an extra fee for this, but the seller is protected from anyone who would try to take the goodies and run. *QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS* CJ Purple: AnswerMan, Radishh asks: What advice would you have for someone looking for an apartment in another city over the Internet? Netanswers: Hmmm. Well, you should start by seeing if there is a regional Usenet hierarchy focused on the area you want to move to -- there are hundreds of regional hierarchies, for instance seattle.* for Seattle and ucb.* for UC Berkeley, la.* for Los Angeles... Even de.* for Germany. Search for regional groups, and then look to see if there is a subgroup for housing. If not, there probably IS a "wanted" newsgroup where you can ask about housing. You might also search the World Wide Web (with WebCrawler or Excite, for example...) for the name of the city you're headed for. CJ Purple: The next question comes from N Scaler1: What protection is there if a person sends a money order for a specific item and the item never arrives? Netanswers: You don't have a lot of legal protection--your best bet is to pay COD: this way you don't pay until you get a package in hand. If you're dealing with a business, always pay by credit card--credit cards offer you special legal protection. If you've already sent a Money Order and haven't gotten the goods, you should send e-mail to the person and politely remind him. If that doesn't work, you may be out of luck. I always get the real name and phone number of anyone I do business with on the Net--if you have this, you can call him/her up and demand to know where your goods are. Netanswers: Speaking of businesses.... if you run a business, you can post ads for your products and services on Usenet, if you use an appropriate forum. The "biz" newsgroups are dedicated to this--businesses that want to sell their stuff. Examples are biz.marketplace.computers.mac and biz.marketplace.services. Again, "biz" groups are meant for commercial ads, unlike the "misc.forsale" groups--if you post a business (rather than a personal) ad there in the misc.forsale newsgroup, you'll probably get loads of nasty email. For more information about doung business on the net, go to keyword: IN BUSINESS. CJ Purple: Kevin, what was the best deal or the most interesting item you ever bought over the Internet? Netanswers: A couple things come to mind. The best deal I got was a couple of years ago when I posted an ad saying that I wanted a cheap hard disk drive. I got an e-mail message from someone who worked at a hard drive company. Seems he was a hard drive tester, and he had dozens of drives just sitting around. He traded me a 500-meg drive for my copy of Myst. That made me happy. CJ Purple: LOL! Sounds like a good deal to me! Netanswers: Also, I once wanted to buy an old Atari 800 computer... Now, these are pretty hard to find in the real world, but on the Net I found a dozen Atari fanatics with extra gear. I got an old Atari for $20 plus shipping. :-) More recently, I got several ZIP disks for a little less than mail order price, and got a new full phow to use e-mail to sell something without violating AOL policy. Netanswers: The AOL Terms of Service policy has limits on COMMERICAL use of AOL. They may take issue if you plaster ads for your business on the Net. I don't suggest using e-mail to find customers, because that would probably involve "spamming", or sending people a lot of messages that they don't want. You'll irk a lot of folks and lose your account. So, use e-mail to follow up to people interested in your low-key, non-commercial Usenet or Web ads. CJ Purple: Kevin, a member of our audience asked earlier about where to go to find a 30 gallon fish tank. :-) Netanswers: Try the newsgroup "alt.aquaria.marketplace". *THE WEB* CJ Purple: Kevin, another member is interested in buying and selling collectables. Netanswers: This is a good time to mention one of my favorite sites for buying and selling stuff. At AuctionWeb --http://www.ebay.com/aw/ -- you can auction off stuff, and bid in other auctions. It's great fun, a real interesting way for people to buy and sell their used stuff. It has many categories, including collectables, computer hardware and software, trading cards, consumer electronics and lots of others. Netanswers: AuctionWeb is just for USED stuff people are selling. I got the monitor (and other good stuff) from OnSale -- http://www.onsale.com -- where they auction off new computer stuff. CJ Purple: Kevin, our next question comes from Regetsky, who asks: Question: Is there a site for stamp collectors? and baseball cards? Netanswers: Try rec.collecting.stamps -- and there's a stamp area on AuctionWeb, too. Re cards, try rec.collecting.cards. CJ Purple: Well Kevin, it looks like we're out of time for tonight. Thanks so much for this very informative chat. Netanswers: Sure thing. Glad to help. CJ Purple: Thank you again Kevin! Goodnight folks and thanks for coming! :-) Netanswers: Thanks for coming, everyone. OnlineHost: Copyright 1996 America Online, Inc.