On the way to my book launch party last week, a friend mentioned that her friend decided not to monogram her new Goyard bag, as is the normal practice for this particular designer handbag. Why? Because it would be more difficult to sell it on eBay down the line. It makes sense. Depending on the style, Goyard bags can retail for over $3,000. Which means that even in the secondary marketplace, my friend’s friend should be able to easily get back four figures when she decides it is time to upgrade to a new style. A monogrammed handbag will sell for as much as 30% less than an unmarked one in the secondary market. Unless, of course, you are lucky enough to find a buyer for your Goyard with the same initials as yours.

The personalization of our possessions seems to be slowly becoming a thing of the past. Sentimentality is drifting away as consumers choose value over the novelty of an inscription. The retailers have realized this too and are using the knowledge in creative ways. I recently asked a contact at Tourneau for a watch that was in great demand. His response – “sure I can get it for you. I only sell that watch to good customers. But I won’t sell that watch to anyone unless they have it engraved.” Why? The watch was so hot that it could be flipped on eBay for 30% over the retail price. Will top brands use personalization as a way to diminish the flow of their goods into the secondary market?

At my book launch party this week, I personalized almost every book I signed. Why? Because I hope people keep their books after reading them – the personal note helps insure that. It also dilutes the value of a signed copy which should discourage people from hawking it for a quick profit on eBay.

Will monogrammed shirts and inscribed watches exist in the near future? Perhaps, if the demand for sentiment and the value placed on it is high - or if a shrewd brand gatekeeper uses personalization as a strategic weapon.

One of the hot tech stories this week is the Research in Motion (RIMM) patent infringement case which threatens to shut down the use of all Blackberries in the US.

What is the probability that will happen? Apparently, not very high – at least if we use investor and consumer behavior as a barometer. The stock price of RIMM is off its highs, but it hasn’t crashed yet, indicating investors don’t believe there will be a blackout. That’s probably because investors assume that both parties will act economically rationally if forced to negotiate a settlement.

More interesting is the fact that BlackBerry users are not rushing to eBay to immediately unload their devices in the face of this risk. This week, Blackberry’s top model, the 8700 series, which retails for $499, is selling briskly at an average and healthy price of $322. The secondary market holds hidden nuggets of powerful information that aren’t always obvious. In this case, eBay discloses the real-time level of consumer confidence that blackberries are here to stay.

Perhaps the strength of the stock influenced the solid prices on eBay this week. Is the tail waging the dog? Look for a future when the opposite occurs and real-time consumer behavior on sites like eBay lead the stock market.

Every January, I make a resolution to lose weight. The yearly recurrence of this resolution is a testament to my lack of success at acheiving my goal. I’m not terribly overweight - I just need to shed 10 or 15 pounds. But I hate dieting and get terribly bored working out! Along with the resolution, I concoct a new scheme each year to help make the process easier. The scheme usually involves buying something - an online subscription to Weight Watchers last year, a Polar heart monitor watch that downloads and tracks your workout stats to a computer the year before, my very own spin cycle the year before that. The Weight Watchers subscription expired with barely any use. I sold the spin cycle on eBay last year. I still use the Polar watch, though its novelty wore off and it doesn’t get me into the gym frequently enough.

This year, I used the same logic to buy a Sony TX690 computer - a subnotebook that easily rests on an elliptical machine or treadmill. It comes with a built-in DVD player, a wireless card, and access to Cingular’s EDGE network (a new technology that lets you connect at broadband speed from anywhere, including an unwired gym). My new computer should help numb my brain while I run so I don’t get bored.

So how will I use it? To surf the Internet and watch movies while I’m working out, of course!

At my brother’s recommendation, I just purchased the first season of a television show called ‘24‘. This show, which is now in its fifth year, uses an entire season (24 episodes) to track a single 24 hour period (hence the title). Because the episodes are tied in so closely together, the show is extremely addicting and makes for perfect workout material. I keep the DVD locked in the computer so that I can’t watch it unless I am working out. I’m on the seventh episode and it’s working. I can’t wait for my next session on the elliptical!

I have never purchased a television series on DVD before this. In fact, I never really understood why people buy DVDs in the first place, since most movies are only viewed once. And with the advent of the digital video recorder (DVR), extended cable channels and Video on Demand (VOD), it puzzled me even more.

Well, I now understand. The convenience of being able to watch what you want, where you want, when you want is extremely valuable - so much so, that people are willing to pay around $45 for the package when they could have otherwise watched it for free. Of course, “free” assumes that you don’t assign a cost to the time you lose watching commercials. Each one hour episode clocks in at around 40 minutes, which means that over the course of a season, you are spending 480 minutes or eight hours watching commercials. How much do you value your free time? At $20 per hour, it would have cost you $160 to watch the first season of ‘24′on TV, making the $45, or around $2 an episode, a bargain.

The bargain gets even better if you resell the DVD box-set when you have finished watching it. The first season of ‘24′ is trading online for around $27 used. After reselling the DVD, your net cost of watching the series is $18.

But since there are transaction costs in selling online, I recommend that you wait until you have accumulated all four seasons and sell them as a package.

One of the more common New Year’s resolutions of 2006 will be to unclutter your life - this will especially be true once FutureShop goes on sale (January 23) and finds its ways into the hands of people that want to improve their lives. Getting rid of the things you no longer use will allow you to enjoy more fully the things you really love. Martha Stewart is pushing the same message as she advises her readers to “clear out the clutter” in this New Year’s Day article she wrote.

Prudent auction companies and dropshops will drum up business by echoing the same timely message to their communities.