November News Today is:

Ouch that hurt!

This month our whole newsletter is dedicated to shopping for Christmas. Believe it or not I was just reprimanded for helping people shop. Let me explain.

So I did what any other good E-Bayer would do. I read the ad carefully and then decided to use the description and pictures on the auction as the seller was selling the exact same disk even the same part number. Apparently there are strict rules about using someone else's text and photos. How do I know? I got this email from EBAY today.

eBay members are not allowed to use another eBay user's pictures or descriptions in their listings or About Me pages without the owner's permission.

Violations of this policy may result in a range of actions, including:

• Listing cancellation
• Loss of eBay fees
• Limits placed on account privileges
• Loss of PowerSeller status
• Account suspension

Examples

• A seller doesn't know the best way to describe an item. The seller copies a substantial amount of another member's description and pastes it into a listing.
• A seller uses someone else's picture and includes it in a listing, since it looks very similar to the item the seller is offering.
• A seller likes the way a competitor's About Me page looks. The seller copies the look and feel and a substantial amount of the text and creates an About Me page.

Report a member who is using your text or images without your permission.

Respectfully,

EBAY

For those of you who only use EBAY occasionally as I do; 48 transactions in 5 years with 100% positive feedback please consider this your warning. In my own defense I have used photographs I haven't taken in the past and on the other hand pictures I have taken have been used by others without any incident. It is common to see the same manufacturer picture of an item with the disclaimer that this is a stock photo and the item you receive may not look like the one in the photo. However now I have been warned and I apologize for not knowing all the rules. Oh well, another lesson learned.

Happy Surfing and Shopping.

Timothy J. Kilkenny,
Founder & CEO
tim@fullnet.net

How To Be A Gifted Giver

Some people are gifted givers. And then there are the rest of us. What's their secret? Check out www.surprise.com and you too can become a gifted giver.

Surprise.com scours the web daily, looking for new and unusual gifts and providing links to online merchants who sell the products or services. The gift ideas are organized into creative categories like "Always Cold", "Talks Politics", and "Works Too Much". Even if you're not a serial shopper, you can be on the look out for great gifts all year round by subscribing to a daily or weekly email like Surprise.com's Cool Gift of the Day.

In the Spring of 2000 the Surprise.com website was officially launched. Users began visiting the site, finding great gift ideas and sharing their own. The unique categories grew as Surprise.com learned more about what users wanted and how people thought about gift giving. With the web offering access to nearly limitless options, Surprise.com became home to thousands of gift ideas submitted by a worldwide community of users. As the site grew it gained critical acclaim, making PC Magazine's Top 100 Websites, Time Magazine's Best 50 Websites, and becoming a Forbes Favorite in Forbes' Best of the Web.

"It all comes down to three things," says Darrell Benatar, founder of Surprise.com.

Pay Attention -- What do you know about the person you're giving the gift to? Have they provided clues for what they want? For example, you might have an aunt who is always turning up the thermostat and changing into a warmer sweater. Now you've got something to focus on. You're halfway done. Suddenly, it's clear a pair of battery-heated socks is a perfect fit.

Seek out the Unusual -- Once you've found something to focus on, seek out a fitting gift that's also unusual. You can buy almost anything on the Web including lots of things you didn't even know existed. For example, for a race car fan - a session driving a real race car around the track, or for music lovers, CDs that look like vinyl records.

Shop All Year Long -- Great gift givers are on the lookout for gifts all year long. They're always perusing catalogs and browsing the web, stumbling across unusual items and thinking, "that would be perfect for so-and-so."

Surprise.com can help you find that prefect and unique gift for all the people on your list this year.

Happy (And Safe) Surfing From Your Friends at FullNet!

Only 6 more shopping days 'till Christmas!

Alright so you have a few more days than that. But we got your attention! Christmas comes but once a year and there are at least thousands of people out there that begin every year with the resolution to get a jump on Christmas shopping only to be one of those scrambling around in the snow for a few more gifts on Christmas Eve.

While we cannot help your issues with procrastination perhaps we can save you a few shopping days. We spend all year passing on information about internet security and ways to remain safe on the web. Now allow us to wrap up the year on a safe and warm note. Shopping on line can be safe and a lot less burdensome. So go ahead and go surfing for Christmas!

There are tons of places to shop on line with reputable businesses who have taken great pains to ensure your security and privacy are safe and secure. Before you give in to your apprehensions we would like you to consider that most e-commerce sites are actually safer than shopping locally.

Most are set to allow you to enter credit card or payment method through a secure connection which prevents prying eyes from getting your information. That information is processed by an automated system which (in case you haven't noticed) masks the number like this: XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-1234. So, even if my number is seen by some imaginary unscrupulous person hired part time for the holidays... they still can't use it!

Compare this to shopping at your local mall or one of the many seasonal vendors that pop up in and out of the malls. Here your credit card is run over any type of connection available, was input by 'who knows' and can be duplicated or copied.

In any case... on line shopping is safe so long as a little common sense is used. While I might not want to purchase from 'Uncle Cletus's Interweb Store' that has existed for 10 days... there are lots of places which have been around for ages. Most national chains have an e-commerce presence and have mechanisms in place to keep you safe as well as to help you if you feel someone has used your information.

Aside from all the on line security in place for you, consider limiting your risk. You can get a Visa or MasterCard logo gift card that works just like a credit card to use while shopping on line. Obtain one at such places as http://www.simon.com/giftcard. And they are by no means the only source.

You may consider even visiting http://www.usa.visa.com and click their gift card section or Google it and pick your own favorite card option. Any of these allow you to obtain a credit/debit card with a preset amount. Now you have a credit card with only $X on it and you can go shopping on secure sites with the added security of knowing that your real credit card is still safely in your wallet. MMmmm... perhaps this is a budgeting tool as well. But that's another article.

Happy Holidays from your personal customer service reps!

FullNet Customer Support
support@fullnet.net