| Auction sites bite back on touts
Internet auction sites have been criticised by concert promoters, who view them as enemy number one in the fight against ticket touts. Here two such sites - eBay and viagogo - defend their position. The scene is familiar to music lovers up and down the land. You hammer the telephone, open numerous windows on the internet, but you still fail to get your hands on a ticket for your favourite band. .
Go Shopping Via Reverse Auctions
I've found myself in an interesting and illuminating loop lately. In February, I wrote an article offering some money-saving shopping tips. Good enough, right? Well, I quickly heard from some folks who offered me additional advice, especially about where to find great discounts and coupons online. So I then wrote about how to be a smart online shopper. And then -- you guessed it -- I heard from more folks. So here's my next installment, this time focused on ... (drumroll) reverse auctions. With traditional auctions, such as you'll find at eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY), buyers bid on items, driving up the price until no one wants to bid anymore or the time runs out. With reverse auctions, an item's price starts out high, and then drops -- until someone buys it, ideally. This is similar to the "Dutch auction" concept, which Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) used for its IPO.
Kinsmen auction raises $12500
Judy Hawthorne isn't shy about using the Kinsmen Auction to expose career opportunities for her 11-year-old son. Hawthorne's $50 bid won the chance to be Brockville fire chief for a day that she'll give to her son Adam. "We were looking for it specifically," said Hawthorne, near the close of the annual event, which raised a total of about $12,500. "We got the police chief of the day last year (for Adam) and we got the fire chief this year." Hawthorne is the type of bidder the Kinsmen love to see at the annual event, which has operated in different formats for 44 years. She comes back every year looking for bargains at the same time supporting the programs of a local service club. "The Kinsmen is a great organization to support.
'Action Auction' Retro
Where else could you see your neighbors on TV - some looking good; others, well, maybe acting a little foolish. There were sports and broadcast celebrities outside their natural habitats. They, too, ranged from looking slick to silly. It has never been especially great TV. But no one seems to mind. It is quaint and homey. And there were always bargains to be found. WCET-TV (Channel 48), the first public TV station in America, granted a license in 1954, celebrates the 40th anniversary of its "Action Auction" this week when the watch-bid-and-buy fest airs Wednesday-Saturday. "I think it might have been the first reality show," says Grace Hill, CET program director, who has been there for all of the auctions having started at the station as a receptionist in 1962. "The thing I remember most is that everyone in the community supported it.
Names of ex-factory property investors made public—
We now know the names of the investors who purchased the former Martin Aircraft factory property in Middle River in an online auction last fall. That's because a Baltimore developer and broker sued the investors, claiming they didn't pay him a more than half (m) million dollar commission. Attorneys say the suit was settled amicably out of court last week. The lawsuit filed by broker Mark Shapiro named as plaintiffs Mexican businessman Aberto Saba and New York developers Joe Aini and Jack Avital. The suit identified them as the anonymous men who used an Internet screen name to bid in the auction held by the U-S General Services Administration. The are described by their attorney as the primary investors in Middle River Station Development, which includes other investors.--- Information from: The (Baltimore) Daily Record, http://www.mddailyrecord.com .
|
