CLICK & DOUBLE CLICK: GROWING NUMBER OF INTERNET SURFERS SOLD ON ONLINE AUCTION SITES (COLUMN 69)

Going, going, gone. Online auctions have become a growing sport on the Internet. It's a lot easier than dragging your family out in the early morning and you don't have to worry if you sneeze.

Sold.

A lot of sites on the Internet offer ways to buy and sell things, but horror stories have been told when one of the parties fails to deliver.

Online anonymity can work for or against you. Maybe this is the secret to the success of online auctions. When you register, you must provide information about yourself.

Every time you make a successful sale or buy, you gain online references. On some sites, you can read the references online. That makes future buyers more comfortable about making purchases.

Joni: The site I'm familiar with is eBay, which bills itself as the leading person-to-person auction community on the web.

www.ebay.com

Peggy: They get over 50 million hits per week. Right now, there are over 158,000 items for sale in more than 130 categories. Looks like a lot of people like auctions.

Joni: This site has been around for two years. One of the reasons eBay thinks auctions have been successful is because it is dynamic with immediate give and take. It's true interactivity.

Peggy: Auctions usually last three to seven days and everything happens through e-mail. You even get notification when you have been outbid. After the sale is made, it's up to the buyer and seller to contact each other.

Joni: You can bid yourself or by proxy, telling the site the maximum you would be willing to pay. If you are selling, there is, of course, a cost. But I have no experience with that.

Peggy: What should we bid on Joni? Or do I really need to ask.

Joni: A 100-year space pin used by NASA along with a JFK, "If I were 21, I'd Vote for Kennedy" pin are featured items today.

Peggy: But I know what you really want to look for -- Beanie Babies.

Joni: I admit it. That's where I tried my hand at this. There were more than 7,700 Beanie Baby auctions going on at one time. But I was outbid.

Peggy: There's a lot of Beanie Baby trading going on. But the site has thousands of other items for sale. You can find more things to bid on at another of the large Internet auction houses,

www.auctionuniverse.com

Joni: They warn you that participation in online auctions is highly addictive. Interesting that their lead story is about the Princess Di Beanie Baby.

Peggy: Their Beanie expert says not to pay high prices for the Princess. She predicts that the price will settle at $5 to $8 in the long-run and that supplies will be plentiful and the style won't change.

Joni: Good news. But at Auction Universe, the big category is memorabilia, with well over 1,000 auctions going on right now.

Peggy: The great thing about these online auctions is that buying and selling goes on 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

Joni: It says here that while items sell from 50 cents to $10,000, the average sale is $30. Most of these sites seem to be free for buyers, with sellers paying the fees.

Peggy: These sites seem to be working very slow on our Macintoshes at work. Perhaps they work better on an IBM, but you may have to be prepared for a wait.

Joni: On this site, you can be notified by e-mail or a paging service. The site will notify you, through your pager, if you have been outbid.

Peggy: Another of the big auction houses is On Sale. They recently welcomed their 3 millionth bidder.

www.onsale.com

Joni: They have more than 400,000 customers. On Sale is a live, 24-hour auction house that describes itself as offering a new type of interactive retail shopping with the thrill of an auction.

Peggy: They specialize in computer products, consumer electronics, sporting goods and collectibles.

Joni: A bunch of CD games and an art deco bronze dancer are featured today. Items are arranged in categories like other auction sites, including one for food and beverages.

Peggy: Again, it seems most of these items go for relatively reasonable prices.

Joni: You can review the bids, the minimum bid and other particulars on each item for sale. Some items must meet a minimum price to sell, and some include photographs.

Peggy: Here's a different site, launched in September 1996 as an alternative to buying and selling in Usenet groups.

www.haggle.com

Joni: This site says it offers an advantage over Usenet groups because release times and distribution can be controlled. In addition, selling technical items over the Internet makes sense because people in the net are technically astute.

Peggy: Buyers and sellers are kept honest through peer review on the post transaction "Bliss and Trauma" page.

Joni: Haggle doesn't call itself an auction house. It's a public listing service. Bids are collected and forwarded to the seller.

Peggy: Whenever using the Internet to buy and trade, remember to be cautious. If something sounds too good to be true, be skeptical. Be wary of prepaying with cash or check without online references. Send items with signature receipt required so you will have a record of who received the item.

Joni: You might also be cautious of people with e-mail addresses provided by free e-mail providers. Haggle provides a list of these free e-mail accounts, and points out it is easy for crooks to get a new e-mail account.

Peggy: When it comes to auction sites, have fun but be careful. What's your favorite auction site on the Internet? E-mail us at click@semissourian.com

See you in Cyberspace.

Joni Adams and Peggy Scott are members of the Southeast Missourian online staff.