http://www.auctionculture.com/blog Life and Business in the Post-eBay Economy Mon, 08 Oct 2007 15:08:25 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en In today’s Wall Street Journal, the lead front page article entitled “Invisible Hand - How Top Watchmakers Intervene in Auctions” confirms the importance of the relationship between the prices fetched at auction for high-end second hand watches and the impact those prices have on the brands in the primary (new) ... http://www.auctionculture.com/blog/2007/10/08/luxury-watch-auctions-used-as-a-brand-marketing-tool/ Today Futureshop was released in a nifty new paperback edition. The hardcover version of the book received significant consumer attention and as such, Penguin opted to go with a more consumer oriented cover and subtitle seen here. The paperback edition has been updated to include more current data related to ... http://www.auctionculture.com/blog/2007/06/27/futureshop-released-in-paperback/ Futureshop has just gone international. Germany is the first of many countries that will be publishing Futureshop in a foreign language. Here is the link to the German version which has an updated cover and is available in bookstores this month. http://www.auctionculture.com/blog/2006/12/06/can-you-say-futureshop-in-german/ It appears that Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior are following the path that Tiffany took a while back, and are suing eBay for facilitating the sale of counterfeit products. For more detail, see this Financial Times article. Rather than comment on the merits of their objectives, I prefer ... http://www.auctionculture.com/blog/2006/09/21/heads-you-lose-tails-i-win-the-paradox-of-suing-ebay/ Consumer electronics is a hot topic when it comes to a discussion about efficient ownership. At one extreme, most electronics are commodities - distinguishable (or comparable) by their unique model numbers or SKUs. This makes them relatively fungible and easy to trade online. Computers are the exception ... http://www.auctionculture.com/blog/2006/04/27/trading-technology/ This past Saturday marked the 36th anniversary of Earth Day, a day dedicated to environmental awareness and education. This article in the Seattle Times mentioned FutureShop and its thesis as one of the “top five actions you can take to help both the planet and your pocketbook.” ... http://www.auctionculture.com/blog/2006/04/24/the-color-green/ On a recent business trip, I noticed that Paradies book shops introduced a new program for travelers. Passengers can now buy a book at one of their designated airport shops, read it in transit and return it (with the original receipt) to a Paradies bookstore at their destination airport ... http://www.auctionculture.com/blog/2006/03/06/cheaper-books-on-the-fly/ Our Vice President mistakenly shot his friend while quail hunting and has received a lot of attention for it. A colleague of mine from Texas tells me that hunting is a big social event there – “it’s like playing golf where I come from,” she said. Last month ... http://www.auctionculture.com/blog/2006/02/15/on-guns-golf-and-contraception/ Globalization is a big word that offers a big promise. eBay is building marketplaces around the world or acquiring them where they already exist - companies with names like Bazee.com, Alando and MercadoLibre. These businesses operate independently, serving their local markets. Presumably, the endgame is to interconnect ... http://www.auctionculture.com/blog/2006/02/03/ebay-and-the-path-to-globalization/ 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 ... http://www.auctionculture.com/blog/2006/01/30/the-future-of-the-personal-touch/