Matt Halprin

Hello...This is Matt Halprin, eBay's Vice President in charge of Global Trust & Safety.

As eBay continues to grow into a global online marketplace we are a natural target for online criminals. As you may know, fraud related to fake Second Chance Offers has been a significant challenge to the safety of our marketplace. Fraudsters send these authentic-looking, malicious emails to bidders on auction-style listings in an effort to convince them to send them funds. Unsuspecting bidders get fooled into thinking they are dealing with a legitimate seller, and agree to send funds (often by an unapproved method like Western Union, a major red flag that fraud is involved) in exchange for receiving an item like the one they had recently hoped to win.

Combating fraud by protecting our Community's identities
In January 2007, the Safeguarding Member IDs project was launched on eBay.com for auction-style listings of $200 or greater to reduce the negative impact that these fraudsters have on the marketplace. Last August we also made enhancements to bring back more of the transparency to the bidding process, which our Community told us was important. These changes did not reduce bidding on auction listings above $200 and virtually eliminated fraudsters' attempts at this price level.

How Safeguarding Member IDs works
Bidder User IDs are "masked," so that scammers can't tell who is bidding on a listing and therefore cannot target them with official-looking spoof email. The masked User ID's consist of two random characters from the member's User ID - for example, a***b. This method of identifying a bidder (whose feedback score is also visible) gives legitimate members a sense of who is bidding, while protecting the bidders' identities. (Please note that sellers who are logged in can see all the actual User IDs for the bidders on their listings.)

I'd like to address a common question we hear - How do scammers get a bidder's email address? Unfortunately, a high percentage of eBay members have registered an email address that is very close or identical to their User ID. Fraudsters attempt to send emails to the bidders they are targeting by using the User ID, plus several of the most common domain names - i.e. userid@yahoo.com , userid@gmail.com, userid@hotmail.com, userid@aol.com. This combination yields a very high success rate for them. Subsequently, too many eBay bidders get fooled - and lose their money - as an unfortunate result.

The state of fake Second Chance Offers (or attempts by criminals to tempt you into a false transaction) today
For over a year, these masked User IDs have proven to be very successful on these higher-end listings. In fact, we saw the volume of fake Second Chance Offers for $200 or more drop significantly. We've also worked to educate members about the importance of unique email addresses, and we have aggressively targeted members who have risky User ID/email combinations to encourage them to change. Please note - If your User ID matches your email address, please protect yourself by changing your User ID so your user ID doesn't match your email address. Please also review our Password Tips.

While these efforts are important, we must do more to stop this type of fraud. Despite all our previous efforts, criminals have adjusted their methods and the overall problem persists. By increasing the volume of fake Offers that they send now to buyers of lower priced items, they hope they can make the same returns they'd been making on higher-end items.

Protecting buyer's identities as they bid on all auction-style listings
To protect the Community from this growing safety threat, we have made the decision to mask User IDs for bidders on all auction-style listings on eBay.com and Motors. This change will go into effect later this week. Even with all this history and need, we understand that masking User IDs on all auction-style listings is a significant change, and it this is not a step we are taking lightly. However, in light of today's environment - and the damage fake email offers pose to our members and to overall buyer trust in the marketplace - it's imperative we act now to make this change.

I appreciate your support - working together, our efforts are helping keep the marketplace a safe place to buy and sell.

Sincerely,

Matt Halprin
Vice President, Global Trust & Safety

A new mentoring program with a difference

Many new online marketers are joining programs and sites that claim to 'mentor' people to success, So is 'Planetsms Digital Monthly Mentorship' any different to so many that don't provide value, Or is is one of the few that do?

I may be slightly biased in favour of this program - because I have bought products from John Thornhill in the past and he always over delivers and offers great support.

I will endeavour to be objective in discussing his new Internet marketing digital mentorship membership product and just look at the facts.

http://infoexch.smsdigital.hop.clickbank.net

The first thing I noted from reading his site is that John Thornhill, known on eBay as planetsms, isn't just promoting it as another 'make money from eBay' type of product.
He does use his eBay id as part of his credentials as a person qualified to teach others, as well as the fact that he has authored some best selling ebooks, and is an eBay powerseller.

What he says about 'the secret to success' being to follow someone who is successsful at internet marketing can't be argued with, (provided they are teaching what they know and do to make money on the internet)

This monthly membership goes a lot further than just the mention of selling on eBay though.
It claims to teach exactly what John does to generate multiple streams of income from the internet marketing arena in general.

The claims made on the sales page include:

A Digital Newsletter Delivered to Your Inbox Each Month.
In which he claims to reveal methods he actually uses to make money, and admits many of them are not just from eBay.

Audio/Video Training
Whch will show and 'walk us through' what he does and the strategies he employs.

The Tools Required to Help You Succeed.
He includes in the package the tools and private label/ brandable material he says will be needed for some one to start their own online income.

The Opportunity to Get Personal Help.
Offering to have direct contact with subscribers/members to help them where needed (but only on a limited number basis) - so I would assume this may be removed at some point?

A Monthly Question and Answer session.
Promising to answer any marketing related questions

Further 'undefined' help
Offering to be flexible and help as needed with other avenues of making money online such as list building, product creation, sales page building and help with eBay listings.

And Also -
Almost Guaranteed Income.
Where he is offering to promote members products to his subscriber base, in order to help generate them some sale. (I note he does have some small print in there - only promising to promote appropriate products)
This presumably covers him against any obligation to promote poor quality or non related products?

Finally his price for membership is set at $10 per month. (this is where I believe he differentiates himself from many mentoring programs I have seen - most go for the higher end price ticket - this does seem exceptional value if he lives up to his claims)

For which he also offers a money back guarantee. (presumably with it being a clickbank product - he will have had to offer such a guarantee) Never the less it is comforting that one can 'Try' him out without risk or fear of loss, knowing that if he doesn't provide quality and value he would soon be out of pocket.

See the site at:

http://infoexch.smsdigital.hop.clickbank.net

So that's the sales page and claims outlined, with a few comments from myself where appropriate.

As a brand new service - time will tell if he continues to provide value...

But I can say this much -

I have had access to his first Video Newsletter and can confirm that he does go into great detail of a strategy he is currently using.
He gives details of exactly how to set it up for maximum profit, with a step by step follow along video that any new marketer could easily follow. Clear and simple and with a full explanation of where he did what he did, how to do the same etc.

He then went further than expected and showed exactly how much income and sales this strategy provided from his own business and also for comparison, a new marketer with a smaller list and less experience and no product of his own.

I do believe this will help many and was sufficient to justify the first months subscription without any of the other benefits quoted.

So my conclusion so far is that I genuinely believe this could be a valuable resource and it certainly looks as though PlanetSMS Digital Monthly Mentorship will be a keeper for me.

My recommendation would be to join and try it out. with the money back guarantee the small $10 risk is removed.

I believe new and intermediate marketers will find value and benefit in the first issue.

And surprisingly - even many of the more experienced marketers are not using this particular strategy!

So I wouldn't rule it out assuming the low price would mean there was nothing a successful marketer couldn't learn.

See the sales page here:

http://infoexch.smsdigital.hop.clickbank.net

Do come back and post your comments if you found this review useful.

Julie Sheppard

Some e-books are produced simultaneously with the production of a printed format, as described in electronic publishing, though in many instances they may not be put on sale until later. Often, e-books are produced from pre-existing hard-copy books, generally by document scanning, sometimes with the use of Robotic Scanners, having the technology to quickly scan books without damaging the original print edition. Scanning a book produces an image file, which must then be converted into text format by an OCR program. Occasionally, as in some e-text projects, a book may be produced by re-entering the text from a keyboard.

As a newer development, sometimes only the electronic version of a book is produced by the publisher. Usually, it is possible to convert electronic book to a printed book by short-run printing

Text can be searched, except when represented in the form of images.
Take up little space.
Hundreds (or thousands) may be carried together on one device.
Approximately 500 average e-books can be stored on one CD (equivalent to several shelves' worth of print books)
Because they take up little space, e-books can be offered indefinitely, with no 'out of print' date, allowing authors to continue to earn royalties indefinitely (copyright law permitting), and allowing readers to find older works by favorite authors.
E-books may be read in low light or even total darkness, with a back-lit device.
Type size and type face may be adjusted. However, enlarging e.g. a PDF document magnifies the text but preserves the original layout and spacing; a practical limit on zooming follows from the requirement to keep a text column within the width of the screen (otherwise horizontal scrolling would be needed during and after reading each line, which would be very cumbersome). However, tagged PDFs can be reflowed in Acrobat 6 and 7, eliminating the horizontal-scrolling problem in zoomed PDFs. For more on zooming in, see Electronic maps.
Can be used with text-to-speech software.
Readily reformatted for independent platforms.
Instantly copied
When a backup is kept in a remote place, cannot be lost by fire, etc.
Once distributed, elimination is difficult and sometimes impossible.
Distributed at low cost.
Distributed instantly, allowing readers to begin reading at once, without the need to visit a bookstore
Simultaneously share book (if networked).
Errors may be easily corrected with downloadable lists of errata or simply with corrected text. (This can also be an advantage for printed books, in different circumstances.)
At the moment, e-books are commonly published by independent publishing houses, which can mean greater editorial and authorial freedom and more room for experimentation.
An inexpensive format for works that require color.
An excellent choice of format for works that benefit from search and cross-reference capabilities, such as dictionaries, reference works, certain kinds of textbooks.
Economically and environmentally viable by cutting down on paper and lumber production
Economically viable by cutting down on ink production
Does not wear over time
No risk of damage, vandalism, etc on the pages.

From the publisher/author's point of view:

Higher sales of the printed version

From the user's point of view:

Can be incompatible with new or replacement hardware or software.
Require care in handling and storage of the files, to avoid damage or loss
Some can phone home to track readers and reading habits
Can restrict printing
Devices are for most prohibitively expensive and can be lost, stolen, and damaged like any electronic device
Batteries run out.
Their average E-book file price is considered by many to be too expensive when compared to the print edition.
Many readers prefer paper and print to a computer screen.
Sometimes unavailable to international users due to legal issues.
Protected e-books cannot be transferred between different people.
Screen resolution and contrast is much lower than paper
Screen is usually made of glass thereby making it somehow dangerous in the case of it getting broken.

From the publisher/author's point of view:

Can in some cases be hacked, or disseminated without approval from the author or publisher (some formats are more susceptible to this than others)
Not normally a good format choice for works that have extensive and/or large illustrations, such as works in art history, photography, large maps, etc.
Ebook files can be easily copied, violating copyrights. Vending them in Read Only Memory cartridges tends to suppress this, and one can still sell or give away your copy-by selling the cartridge, just as one could sell or give away a paperback or hardbound book. Software for computers has been successfully sold in this manner, with that for the obsolete TI-99/4A as a case in point. This is however more expensive to create and distribute than electronic files.