Ebay -- Raising Fees Yet Again

Okay, I read this several times, but the basic message seems to be that Ebay stores for nickel and dime items was a big mistake. What I get out of this is that Ebay is frustrated with the low priced and therefore, low profit to Ebay items that are posted in their stores. I would imagine that this effort is probably more about pushing these sellers out of the stores and into higher margin auctions.

It's probably not a bad idea the more that I think about it. If you're someone who posts auctions of cheaper items, the reality is that there are probably 1000 people ahead of you with Buy It Now items already out there. These items clog out the auction people and frustrate them as much or more as these higher fees will frustrate store owners.

Dear Seller,

Since its debut in 1995, the eBay marketplace has continually evolved to meet the needs of the eBay Community. For the most part, the behavior of buyers and sellers has naturally adapted to changing conditions -- over time, we've learned to allow the marketplace to direct itself as much as possible. On some occasions, though -- in the interest of the eBay marketplace's long-term vitality -- we've had to step in and implement new policies, introduce new formats, or make changes to our fee structure to create needed incentives for eBay members.

Put simply, we at eBay have two basic roles: to deliver the best overall value for buyers, and to maximize cash flow for sellers. As eBay has grown over the years, we've added various enhancements and tools to the site -- but in essence, our "products" are two types of listings:

Core listings (auction-style, auction-style with Buy It Now, and Fixed Price) deliver the signature eBay buying experience. For sellers, they're the fastest way to sell inventory on the Internet -- the only place where items typically sell within about two weeks.
Store Inventory listings were introduced in 2001 and intended as a low-risk way for sellers to display large amounts of product in their eBay Store. This format employs low insertion fees and higher final value fees to encourage an abundance of inventory on the site.
Amid all this change, one thing has remained constant: auction-style listings are the foundation of eBay. Auction-style and other core listings made eBay what it is today -- and they'll always be front and center on eBay.com. They account for about 91% of the gross merchandise value sold on eBay.com. But recently, we've been wrestling with some troubling facts:

Store Inventory listings now comprise about 83% of active eBay.com listings on average.
While eBay.com core listings typically sell in about two weeks, Store Inventory listings on average take 14 times longer to sell. In some media categories, Store Inventory listings take more than 40 times longer to sell than core listings.
And, when you compare our operations costs for an average Store Inventory listing and an average core listing - factoring in the duration of each - our cost to host a Store Inventory listing is more than 50% higher than for a core listing. In fact, current Store Inventory insertion fees don't cover eBay's costs for hosting them.
It's vitally important -- to your business and ours -- that we maintain a healthy balance between listing formats on the eBay marketplace, and ensure that inventory conversion across the site remains strong. So we're taking action.

Today, I want to inform you of changes we're making to eBay.com -- changes intended to rebalance the overall eBay marketplace by further distinguishing the roles of core listing formats and our Store Inventory format. In short, we're improving the advantages of selling in core listing formats -- and taking action to manage the proportion of Store Inventory listings -- to ensure that the buying experience on eBay stays true to shoppers' expectations.

Core Listings
Core listing fees will remain unchanged. So for the vast majority of eBay sellers who use only these formats, their fees are not increasing.


And we'll be providing greater exposure for core listings on eBay Express. In late August, we'll begin displaying auction-style listings with Buy It Now on eBay Express for qualifying sellers. Also in late August, core fixed price and auction-style Buy It Now listings that qualify for eBay Express will be advantaged over Store Inventory listings.

Also, in response to the requests of many large sellers, we're raising the 10-item multiple listings limit to 15, effective Aug. 22.

Store Inventory Listings
For those of you who operate an eBay Store, we're making changes to Store Inventory listing fees, as well as to the on-site exposure we provide for this listing format.


We'll begin charging variable insertion fees for Store Inventory listings, as we do for core listings. Beginning Aug. 22, eBay.com Store Inventory format insertion fees will be tiered with an item's starting price.

These Store Inventory format insertion fees take effect Aug. 22, 2006:
Starting Price New Insertion Fee Current Fee
$0.01 -- 24.99 5¢ 2¢
$25.00 and higher 10¢ 2¢

Some Store Inventory format final value fees also will also increase, effective Aug. 22, 2006:
Selling Price New Final Value Fee Current Fee
$0.01 -- 25.00 10% 8%
$25.01 -- 100.00 7% 5%
$100.01 -- 1,000.00 5% (no change) 5%
$1,000.01 and higher 3% (no change) 3%

Please note that for current listings, the new final value fees will apply only after these listings are renewed.

For more detailed information on these fee changes, please see our fee changes overview.

For some time, we've been working to identify the best way to display Store Inventory listings on the site. In the spring, we pledged to sellers that we would test a variety of ways to mingle their Store Inventory listings with core listings on eBay.com. We've tested several alternatives and these tests showed the ideal approach is how we're doing it today - that is, when a buyer's search returns 30 or less core listings, we display up to 30 Store Inventory listings. This is what we'll stick with going forward.

However, starting in about a month, we'll also include an unlimited number of Store Inventory listings after all matching core listings, when the buyer clicks the Buy It Now listings tab at the top of every search results page. When the buyer hasn't selected this option, eBay.com will display Store Inventory listings along with core listings as described above.

Half.com Listings Added to eBay.com Search Results
I recognize that sellers in the Books, Movies, Music and Video Games categories will have unique challenges with the changes we're making. As many of our media sellers have requested, starting in late August we'll again provide visibility for Half.com listings in core search results, by bringing back the Half.com listings merchandising feature we used previously (click here for an example). We're also exploring additional ways to promote Half.com listings in search results on both eBay.com and eBay Express.

How These Changes Affect You
I'm confident the actions we're taking are the right thing to do for the overall eBay Community. We'll more effectively deliver on our buyers' needs and expectations. And for sellers, these changes will ensure that eBay remains a differentiated and distinct e-commerce channel with fast inventory turnover.

I know there's a lot to digest here, and that you're probably most interested in quickly determining if and how these changes will impact your business.

A typical eBay Stores seller who uses Store Inventory format -- making no adjustments to his or her selling strategy following these changes -- will experience an overall fee increase of less than six percent, based on our analysis of all June selling activity. Of course, you need to clearly understand the impact on your business -- which could be greater or less than six percent. To get started, please visit the seller resources page or consult the Frequently Asked Questions we've prepared. Also, use your seller support resources in Customer Support. Our CS teams are fully prepared to help you understand the effect on your business, and discuss your options for adjusting your eBay selling strategy to minimize impact to your bottom line.

In addition -- to help eBay Stores sellers make informed decisions about any changes to their selling strategies -- we're making eBay Marketplace Research Basic available to them at no cost for eight weeks, starting today. Through September 19, eBay Stores sellers can use this data to compare selling formats or determine how best to price inventory on eBay. You can access eBay Marketplace Research here.

I'll be hosting a Community Town Hall discussion on Thursday, July 20th at 4:00 p.m. Pacific time, where I'll answer your questions. Please click here for more details on the Town Hall, or to submit a question in advance.

Sincerely,

Bill Cobb
President
eBay North America

Meet the Beatles

One of the most puzzling aspects of the Beatles legacy is the lack of product in the past 20 years. It's been 20 years (20 years!!!!) since the Beatles CDs were released on CD, and with the exception of an uninspired Let It Be remaster, Beatles 1, Live at the BBC issue, and the 3 Anthology sets, some expensive boxed set reissues of the american versions and a new soundtrack to Yellow Submarine, I don't think anything else has come out. In that time, I've counted at least 3 versions of Tommy, and 2 or more versions of most Who albums. Rolling Stones CDs have been reissued 2 or three times. Led Zepplin's had 1 upgrade.

Considered the original CDs. The booklets, with the exception of Sgt. Pepper, were horrible. The sound was just okay. Neither benefited from the time and attention that even some one hit wonders from the 80s have received in their reissues.

Why? Surely Apple, Capitol, EMI and everyone involved could get together and create new remasters of these albums. Each could be a two or three CD set, including the original mono masters (which, according to Geoff Emerick, had much more care put into them), the original stereo masters, and the cuts from the US versions. Detailed booklets with recording history of each song could be added as well, with historical essays. Even with slumping CD sales, I would guarantee that these new CDs would be a hit, and wouldn't cost that much to produce.

Of course, every Beatle fan has been waiting for the very same thing for years. One has to wonder why the Fab Two are more willing to approve a Las Vegas show than reissuing their classics in a manner befitting their status.

New York Post on Ken Lay -- Tell Me You Weren't Thinking the Same Thing

Soda Thoughts

$2.19. $2 freakin' 19. For a fountain coke!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! That's what I paid at O' Charley's yesterday. I have to wonder where restaurants have their head these days as they raise the prices on high profit items through the roof. For those of us who love a coke with our meals, we'll pay it. But for a large portion of people (at least in good ole' Kentucky), the more you charge, the more likely we are to order the dreaded water with lemon.

Considering that they probably pay about 10 cents a glass at most, I'm having a hard time understanding why restaurants would want to raise the price to the point where people switch to something you charge nothing.

And while we're at it, why aren't there more diet flavored soda offerings and more caffeine free soda offerings at restaurants?

UPN & WB = CW?????

UPN and WB are merging into one network called CW. CW sounds like the name of a cable network devoted to Country and Western Music. Not sure why you'd build up whatever name these two have established and then kill it for two letters that sound like nothing together.

CBS Makes Mistake -- NBC Poised to Make One?

If CBS thinks that its news will magically recover because Katie Couric joins it, I think they're sadly mistaken. The move will cost them far more money than it will cost the Today Show viewers. Katie tends to polarize people, isn't exactly at her best doing hard news, and has little to add to the dying 6:30 newscasts.

As for NBC, if they go with Meredith Viera, I will be scratching my head. Meredith is a person that people either love or hate on a show that people love or hate (the View). It seems much wiser to go with Campbell Brown, Natalie Morales or even the not so bright Ann Curry. Let Matt Lauer shine a little more, bring in someone less known (and who will stay younger longer) to do the show and make a name for herself for the Today show.

CBS admits it doesn't listen to its own programming by suing Stern

CBS Radio has to be nuts. I've heard Les Moonves is an egotistical jerk, but does he really think he'll win suing Howard Stern for plugging Sirius while he was on CBS?

The problem here is that essentially CBS could and did control his content. With all of the FCC garbage, surely there were at least a few CBS execs listening to the show. Is any judge, jury, or other interested party truly going to believe that CBS didn't realize what Stern was doing? Even a visit to his own fan sites would have made them aware that Stern was playing up his move to Sirius.

The solution was simple, fire him, restrict him harshly, or take him off the air for the duration of his contract. CBS did NONE of these. Why? They wanted to milk Howard for as long as possible, and even if he was doing everything he's accused of, CBS knew their ratings were going to tank as soon as he left.

My advice, drop the lawsuit and focus on bringing in some talent for the shows. Sue the guy who thought David Lee Roth would be a good DJ.

Ah, the joys of monthly service

AOL is apparently starting to bill for the end of my six month free trial. Everytime I log in to cancel, the billing page does an endless loop of reloading, never taking me to where I want to go, which is to see when my trial expires. SO now I have to call them to cancel, because God knows the greatest internet service in the world can't let you cancel by actually logging into the service itself.

And, my good buddys at Stamps.com decided to change my plan, $4.99 plus 10% of postage to a $16 a month plan. I'm sorry, but at $16 a month, I'll drive my butt to the post office and wait in line.

So can I cancel online? Hell no. Gotta call them too.

Moral of the story..... cancellation is your last chance to leave a good impression. If you don't it's rare anyone will come back.

Wal-Mart -- Always Low Prices -- Sometimes

It's not tough to see inflation is creeping in if you keep tabs on your local Wal-Mart. I've noticed a few food items moving up in price, and yesterday, their own brand of trash bags (which are quite good), moved up about 30 cents in price.

I've heard many people comment recently that they're finding items cheaper at stores other than Wal-Mart. While Wal Mart has always tried to stay ahead of the competition through "ALWAYS Low Prices", evidence is mounting that Wal Mart's lead might be ever so slightly eroding. (Of course, we're talking about the erosion of Mt. Everest.)

XBOX 360 -- Back where Microsoft started, Crash Central

A Microsoft product crashing is almost a cliche these days. My wife asked me a few days ago if I had any interest in the Xbox 360, and I said, "Yes, but I'll wait a few months to a year for the bugs to be worked out and the price to get more reasonable."

Boom.... XBox 360 is crashing, based on information found in several fan sites.

Word to the wise kids.....

Any new gaming system is going to have problems these days. The technology is unproven, the chipsets and everything else inside have not been mass produced in the millions yet, and there is new technology and software running the whole shebang. If you want to be a first adopter, you're taking the risk that things will go bad. Playstation 1 & 2 had defects in their first batch, and had problems with overheating and other issues. I've heard the original Xbox had its own share of glitches. Do yourself a favor and wait until the companies work the kinks out, THEN buy them.

Still, you have to think that this gives MS a black eye, and have to wonder if they couldn't have done a little more real world testing. Even the USA Today reviewer encountered some crashes.

Sony Says No To Spyware! Sort of!

In response to criticism from bloggers, security experts, and Homeland Security (!), Sony has decided to remove its controversial XCP technology from CDs. The technology, which apparently prevents more than a few copies being made, eliminates the ability to transfer the music to your IPOD, and enables Sony to tell what you're listening to, has been attacked as spyware, not only because it installs without you knowing it, but because it can be used to hide attacks on its computer.

Have these idiots learned NOTHING? Lets see.... People aren't buying our CDs. What can we do about it? I know, we'll put malicious software on them that ensures they'll never trust another CD from us again and will be more likely to get a pirated copy from a friend. The record industry needs to realize that things have changed. While some people (myself included) continue to buy CDs, others will either copy (which is illegal) or pay only for songs they want from a legitimate service. If your business model is broken by technology, you need to adapt in a consumer friendly way, not one that alienates them further.

Too bad, because I'd heard great things about the new Neil Diamond album. I might have bought it, but not if it's going to attack my computer. The idea a Neil Diamond album worth buying attacks my sensibilities enough.

Those who do not remember the RIAA's past are condemned to repeat it.

In the news story below, the MPAA is suing a grandfather for the illegal downloading of his 12 year-old grandson. While I'm certainly not condoning the acts of the 12 year old, I think the MPAA needs to be very careful in its pursuit of these cases. With the industry reeling from a supposed downturn in box-office business (none of which can be blamed on downloads), they need to keep their public image in mind. The more grandfathers they go after, the more people will feel no qualms about trying to screw them anyway they can.

Plus, the movie download scourge is nothing like the music download problem. Music is easily compressed and quickly downloaded. Movies are huge, complicated to download, and the end result is (from what I understand), far inferior to purchased product. I think that the downloading is mostly segregated to people who want to build up huge movie collections to impress friends or people who do it for the thrill. I've never seen that $3 or $4 is a barrier to someone renting something they want to see.

The movie industry has been wise about how it entered the home market. After years of high prices for most movies on VHS that were intended for the rental market, they saw that people were willing to buy a movie at a sell through price, especially when the cost of the DVD was often the same or less than the price of two adult tickets. Rather than continue inflated pricing (see the RIAA) for their product, they continue to reduce it, realizing that they're going to see a return in increased purchases.

As a footnote, I love the "estimated 5.4 billion". This number has more margin of error than a Florida election, and assumes that every film downloaded would have been replaced with a legitimate purchase or rental, both of which are most likely false.
Grandpa Is Sued Over Grandson's Downloads Wed Nov 2, 8:42 AM ET



A 67-year-old man who says he doesn't even like watching movies has been sued by the film industry for copyright infringement after a grandson of his downloaded four movies on their home computer.

The Motion Picture Association of America filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against Fred Lawrence of Racine, seeking as much as $600,000 in damages for downloading four movies over the Internet file-sharing service iMesh.

The suit was filed after Lawrence refused a March offer to settle the matter by paying $4,000.

"First of all, like I say, I guess I'd have to plead being naive about the whole thing," he said.

"I personally didn't do it, and I wouldn't do it. But I don't think it was anything but an innocent mistake my grandson made."

Lawrence said his grandson, who was then 12, downloaded "The Incredibles," "I, Robot," "The Grudge," and "The Forgotten" in December, without knowing it was illegal to do so.

The Racine man said his grandson downloaded the movies out of curiosity, and deleted the computer files immediately. The family already owned three of the four titles on DVD, he said.

"I can see where they wouldn't want this to happen, but when you get up around $4,000 ... I don't have that kind of money," Lawrence said. "I never was and never will be a wealthy person."

Kori Bernards, vice president of corporate communications for MPAA, said the movie industry wants people to understand the consequences of Internet piracy. She said the problem is the movies that were downloaded were then available to thousands of other users on the iMesh network.

"Basically what you are doing when you use peer-to-peer software is you are offering someone else's product that they own to thousands of other people for free, and it's not fair," Bernards said.

Illegal downloading costs the movie industry an estimated $5.4 billion a year, she said.

Video Ipod -- Bombs Away?

Apple's Video Ipod was greeted with much fanfare after its introduction this week, including the "shocking" revelation that Disney would allow ABC and Disney channel content to be downloaded off of I-Tunes.

Methinks once the initial "gotta have it" crowd buys the thing, there won't be huge sales for this, nor will there be much demand for downloads of Desperate Housewives.

The problem is that there is no clear target for this thing that isn't already being serviced elsewhere (including the Nano). The tiny screen and lack of compatibility with existing video content (namely DVDs), means that business people and adults over 25 probably won't be falling overthemselves to have one. The expensive price, complexity of use, and lack of compatibility with existing video content will probably keep people from buying one for their kids. Besides, there are already small video players for kids these days.

Some might argue it would be great for people with long commutes. Possibly, but having a pricey gadget like this in your possession makes you a target in many public transportation settings.

The problem for Apple is that many people already have a portable player, and those who want it just for music probably don't have the collection to warrant the more expensive Ipod, and will opt instead for the cheaper (and cooler) Nano.

Motorola ROKR -- Should be BOMBR

Motorola's ROKR phone, the first to combine an I-Tunes player with a phone is apparently a stinker, both in sales and with critics. The system is said to not be much of a phone or player, with slow load speeds for songs and a VERY limited capacity.

But an article I read on Salon.com I believe hit the nail on the head. A guy said words to the effect of "I use my I-pod to get away from my cell phone. Why would I want to get calls on it?"

But looking at that very statement shows where Motorola went wrong. Most people want to separate business from pleasure, and with alleged partner Apple introducing a tiny, cooler Ipod, carrying a phone you really like and a music player you really like truly isn't a burden.

I still think a phone based MP3 player isn't a bad idea, but it makes more sense on a phone that couples lots of features already, and it shouldn't overwhelm the capabilities of the phone, which is still why people buy a mobile phone in the first place.

The Oracle at Delphi

So Delphi is in Chapter 11, and predictions are that GM will go with it.

The bankruptcy of GM would be a terrible blow to the economy, but I think GM needs to do something drastic to survive. While I'm a big supporter of workers and worker rights, the fact is that GM has allowed themselves to enter into contracts that they can't possibly support and stay a viable company. Having cut costs in all the wrong ways (cheaper materials in the cars, cannibalized designs among several product lines, lackluster designs), they now have to get rid of the albatross around their neck, the ridiculous amount they pay the people who make the cars and the people who used to make the cars.

Yes, these people worked hard, and yes they should have something to retire on, but the fact is, they helped dig this hole, and trying to play hardball with GM won't fill the hole back in. GM cannot compete. Their only profitable vehicles are ones that nobody buys when energy prices are high and the economy is in the tank.

If I were GM, I'd start talking to the union now, and advise them that the situation is dire. I'd start looking at Chapter 11 sooner rather than later. Then I'd start some drastic cost cutting. Kill off a few of your brand lines. Get rid of cars that nobody is buying. Start looking for niche markets you can fill. Start designing cars that are reasonably priced without incentives AND get good mileage. Look to the Japanese (or even Hyundai, who pulled themselves out of a huge hole) and see what they do well and why. Plan for the next 20 years with thoughts that gas will be expensive.

Bizspeak article -- Amen!

This one speaks for itself.

Seattle Times


Job Market
Commentary: Bizspeak is an important foreign language today

By Larry Ballard
The Des Moines Register

There's a lot of talk in the business world, most of it in English, that the next generation of workers should be required to know a foreign language.

Educators, using government grants, have studied this issue for years. They've hired consultants, written "papers," conducted hearings, organized seminars, scheduled a few snow days and dined at fancy restaurants until they forgot about the whole thing.

That is, until the next report came out that showed U.S. schoolchildren score behind the Chinese on standardized tests.

Business leaders, in turn, complain constantly about young workers whose language skills are limited to: "So, like, how much, like, vacation time do I get after, like, the first week?"

That's why, every few years, there's another "call for reform," after which someone like former California Congressman Leon Panetta sums up the problem:

"I believe it is in the highest national interest to guarantee to the maximum extent feasible that the people of our country have been exposed to other peoples and languages, that they comprehend the limits of unilateral action and the growing necessity of international cooperation on this small, measurable, finite planet.

"Now, where are we going to eat?"

That speech was from 1979, the same year a presidential commission concluded that "Americans' incompetence in foreign languages is nothing short of scandalous, and getting worse."

I feel the time for lip service is over.

Every American should be forced to study a foreign language so he or she will be better equipped to compete in the global economy.

As Des Moines Register political columnist David Yepsen put it: Americans can buy in English, but we must sell in the customer's language.

First, some ground rules: Pig Latin does not count as a foreign language. Neither does attaching "izzle" to every other word, my frizzle.

And you can forget about that "special" language shared by you and your twin sister, which is as weird as it is creepy.

No, we mean a completely foreign tongue.

Trouble is, the language most foreign to Americans these days, at least those in the workplace, is English.

You know what I'm talking about. Or maybe I should say: "You're cognizant of what I'm referencing."

They call it bizspeak, the weird words and funky phrases that spread among offices and cubicles like a bad head cold.

Most of us speak it. Few of us know what we're talking about.

I got an e-mail with some great examples, courtesy of America Online (screen name: bigpimpdaddy1).

The list was stolen from Forbes, which is a big magazine in New York where my boss says they eat guys like me for breakfast:

• "Paradigms." I always thought it meant you were a nickel short of having change for a quarter. I have since learned the true definition: More than one paradigm.

• "Synergy." A great name for a stripper, but meaningless otherwise.

• "Out of the box." Everyone wants to be "out of the box." Bet they'd change their tune if the box had a minibar and satellite dish.

• "Effort." As in: "We really need to effort this idea." The next person who says it should be "fisted" in the nose. The same goes for anyone who wants to "grow" their business.

• "Hey, were you just rummaging through my desk drawer, freak?" (Actually, I heard this phrase for the first time only recently, but I'm sure it will catch on.)

The point is, bizspeak is just as important as any other foreign language when it comes to success in the workplace.

Without a firm command of bizspeak, our best and brightest will be outpaced in the global arena.

On the bright side: "Welcome to Burger King" is pretty much the same in any language.

Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company

Skype Hunting

I wonder if I'm the only one who questions why Ebay is agreeing to by Skype in a close to 4 Billion Dollar Deal. Has the fact that their revenues are starting to slow to normal levels turned them into your average run of the mill idiot publicly traded company buying anything within the ballpark of their business hoping to drive the stock price up?

What benefit is there really in a VOIP service for Internet auctions. Ebay envisions people talking to each other about their trading, asking questions, completing transactions, etc. Do they really think that I'm going to spend time either answering or asking whether that Boba Fett in the blister pack is really in mint condition?

In terms of purchases, PayPal it ain't.

The Wonder Why Years

Now here's a business I'd love to invest in, especially given the fact that Jason Hervey, formerly of the Wonder Years and most recently of that reputable firm Healthsouth, is a main investor.


RTVStar.com Brings Reality TV Casting Online and into the Future
Monday August 22, 9:09 am ET
Casting Website Turns TV Dreams into Reality


HOLLYWOOD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 22, 2005--RTVStar.com, the website that makes reality TV dreams come true, today unveiled its advanced reality TV casting service. RTVStar.com streamlines the application process for would-be cast members, and simplifies the casting search process for reality TV producers. The simple yet powerful website is located online at www.RTVStar.com.
"RTVStar.com does for reality TV what the `common application' did for college applications," said Brian Ostrovsky, CEO of RTVStar.com. "Our service dramatically improves the application experience for potential cast members, and eliminates significant chunks of time and expense for producers. RTVStar.com is a classic business example of how the intelligent application of technology can benefit an inefficient market."

RTVStar.com charges a $24.99 annual membership fee, which entitles a user to complete a comprehensive casting application and upload a digital video and three photographs. Access to the RTVStar.com database is provided free of charge to established reality TV casting executives, who can search for potential contestants by virtually any parameter, including age, sex, location, relationship status, hobbies, interests and other attributes. RTVStar.com is a supplement to the traditional reality TV casting process, rather than a replacement for it.

Several television producers, reality TV stars and casting executives were involved in the design and implementation of the service. Producers Eric Bischoff and Jason Hervey of Bischoff/Hervey Entertainment ("I Want to Be a Hilton") are co-chairmen of the RTVStar.com advisory board. Chip and Kim McAllister, winners of "The Amazing Race," have joined the online reality service RTVStar.com as spokespeople, and will give expert advice to RTVStar members.

At the core of RTVStar.com is the RTV-profile, which is an amalgamation of the types of questions featured on applications for all genres of reality programming, including adventure, personal makeover, home makeover, lifestyle/documentary, dating, sports, intellectual pursuits and others. Reality TV casting applications tend to be 75% identical to each other and 25% genre or show specific. The RTVStar.com application rolls all of the genres together, while giving applicants the choice to select specific genres or pursue all of them. Because it is completed online, the application is more user friendly to the applicant and the casting executive who screens it. RTVStar.com also features an advanced video hosting and streaming system, and Verisign's industry-leading SSL encryption technology.

The inspiration for RTVStar.com came when Ostrovsky's wife spent the better part of a month and over $100 applying to just three reality TV series. After following her through the repetitive process, handwritten applications, video production and scurrying to meet submission deadlines, he knew there had to be a better way.

There are more than 100 reality TV series airing this season or coming soon, and more than one million reality TV casting applications were submitted industry-wide in the last year, according to trade media reports and RTVStar.com research.

About RTVStar.com

RTVStar.com makes reality TV dreams come true. RTVStar.com is a website that gives aspiring reality TV stars an inside track on the reality TV casting process by streamlining the application process for would-be cast members and accelerating the process for casting professionals. RTVStar.com was founded in 2005 by Brian Ostrovsky and is headquartered in the Sacramento, Calif., technology corridor. On the Web: www.RTVStar.com.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact:
Beck Media & Marketing
Todd Beck, 310-689-7363
todd@beckmedia.com
or
Chris Talbott, 310-689-7227
chris@beckmedia.com

We can't lock up the criminals, so let's lock up what they steal

The article below details how stores are becoming victims of more widespread theft with the intent to resell. As someone who visits flea markets occasionally, I always wondered how the people there got such a huge selection of drug store items. I always assumed they were either out of date or from places that closed their doors. Maybe I was wrong.

At any rate, I have a couple of suggestions for retailers. Some of them may have already been done, but maybe not.

1) Open less stores and/or hire more people. It seems as though every retailer wants to be located on every available corner these days. A recent trip to Home Depot on a weekend (which should be prime time for them)had one person working the register and 15 people in line. You could have walked out with a busload of stuff if you wanted to.

2) Secondary barcodes on all products with serial numbers (or a new barcoding system with it built in). This wouldn't stop theft, but would make it much easier to track. You would not only know what brand and model were taken, but what individual piece was taken. If you tied it in to a national database of retail theft (which could be built by the retailers), you could track the movements of items stolen and help build cases against the people that supply the items.


Retail Gangs: A New Breed of Thieves By Margaret Webb Pressler, Washington Post Staff Writer
Sun Jul 31, 1:00 AM ET



At CVS, the diabetic test strips and the perfume are now behind locked glass cabinets, with a bell to ring for service. Nearly all over-the-counter medicines are behind plexiglass panels that customers must reach over to get their Advil or Pepcid. And most razors and refills are in clunky, noise-making dispensers that won't let you put back what you take out.


The new displays are part of a larger effort by chain stores to combat what has become a significant problem for the retail industry: organized theft. Retailers say rings of habitual shoplifters are proliferating nationwide, but particularly in urban areas such as Washington, where retailers and malls are packed close together and there is easy access to highways.


"We're seeing an incredible amount of activity from organized retail theft gangs from the New York area all the way down into Richmond," said Robert Wade, vice president of loss prevention for Hecht's.


Losses from organized retail theft have topped $30 billion annually, triple what they were a decade ago, according to the National Retail Federation, leading to higher prices, frequent out-of-stock problems and a more cumbersome shopping experience for consumers.


Companies are spending millions of dollars on security systems to tackle the shoplifting rings, from software that tracks patterns of theft regionally, to complicated fixtures that prevent the removal of multiple packages at one time. Retailers are increasingly using racks that lock for a period of time after one unit is taken, cabinets that beep if they're open too long, and hangers that lock to a jacket or suit. Some of the nation's biggest retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp., Lowe's Cos. and Limited Brands Inc., have formed organized crime divisions to focus on the issue.


"A store could lose its entire inventory of a popular item by one professional shoplifting ring, making it now unavailable when there should be a week's supply on hand," said Joseph LaRocca, vice president of loss prevention for the National Retail Federation. "Stores are being forced to do something about it now because they're not only losing the items, now they're also losing sales."


Increasingly, retail theft cases are being prosecuted by federal law enforcement, such as the Secret Service, because the crimes are large-scale, cross multiple jurisdictions and often involve the online selling of stolen merchandise.


"We have a lot of shopping malls and outlet malls in this area, and they're all vulnerable," said Ron Perea, assistant special agent in charge for the Washington field office of the Secret Service.


In June, for example, an alleged fencing operation in Landover was raided. Prince George's County had its officers on the scene "just to provide a uniformed presence," said Lt. Terence Sheppard, but the operation was handled by the Secret Service.


"Locals have their hands full with a lot of street crime. If the feds can come in with our resources and take this off their hands, that's helpful," Perea said. "We are working with a number of jurisdictions in D.C., Virginia and Maryland on very similar crimes like this."


Organized retail theft has been around for years, especially in some high-profile products such as infant formula. But it's always been a difficult concept for retailers to accurately measure, because when a product disappears, it's hard to know exactly where it went: Did an employee steal it? A delivery driver? A shoplifter? As a result, retailers have largely treated all shoplifters much the same, with the occasional prosecution leading to little or no penalty.


But theft has been growing so fast that retailers are only now recognizing the role that organized crime is playing in the industry's growing losses. Wade of Hecht's said sometimes a major theft will go unnoticed until the store does inventory and finds, for example, 400 missing ties and 200 missing shirts.


"The problem with external theft is it's a ghost," said Jerry Biggs, organized retail crime section coordinator for the drugstore chain Walgreens Co. "It's been a ghost for so long that it is now like having something that's been dormant and all of a sudden it's grown under the carpet and it's big ."


Retailers and theft experts say criminals have discovered that large profits can be made relatively easily, and without much risk, by stealing merchandise from crowded, understaffed stores. They say the most stolen items tend to be high-priced, widely used products that are routinely sold in chain stores: over-the-counter medicines, razors, film, CDs and DVDs, baby formula, diapers, batteries, hair-growth and smoking-cessation products, hardware, tools, designer clothes and electronics.


Shoplifters might spend all day going from store to store, then sell the goods they've stolen to the fence for 10 or 20 percent of their retail value, said Chuck Miller, a retail security consultant in Great Falls and author of "Organized Retail Theft," a handbook published this month for industry professionals. Fences then aggregate the products from multiple shoplifters and sell them at flea markets, online or to bodegas and convenience stores, he said.


In department stores, thieves will work together, with one distracting a sales clerk and another stealing clothes. Some schemes involve creating high-quality fake receipts in order to return stolen goods for cash. At home improvement stores, a shoplifter might take an inexpensive item out of its box, fill the box with higher-priced goods from all over the store, then seal it up and pay only for the cheaper item that was originally in that box.


"The common criminal would rather have a situation occur at the register where they plead ignorance, so to speak, rather than do straight shoplifting and risk being apprehended by a loss prevention detective," said Claude Verville, vice president of loss prevention for Lowe's. Shoppers found with phony bar codes or stuffed boxes, he said, usually say they don't know anything about it.


Lowe's has responded by beefing up its in-store camera systems and installing more-sensitive electronic sensors at the exits, while also requiring that employees respond within 12 seconds if an alarm sounds.

Yet catching the sometimes loosely organized rings of individual shoplifters remains notoriously hard because gangs tend to hit numerous jurisdictions. When a chain store is robbed, managers may not realize another store was hit by the same group earlier in the day.

"It's very hard to connect the dots," said Thomas S. Saquella, president of the Maryland Retailers Association. "They may hit a store in Frederick, a store in Prince George's and a store in Montgomery in one day."

Retailers are beginning to work together, establishing a joint database of crimes so that companies can prove the scope of theft by a particular group, and thereby lead to more forceful prosecution by law enforcement. Individually, loss prevention executives focus on gathering enough evidence to elevate organized theft cases to the federal level.

"I'm going after a guy right now that's been arrested 56 times," Walgreen's Biggs said. "I've got to put together a case that can show this isn't your typical little shoplifter."

The day after making that statement, Biggs called back to say he had just arrested the same shoplifter for the 57th time.

Box Office Blues

The Box Office is now in a "slump." Here's my recipe for fixing it.

1) All Hollywood executives should have to go to one movie where they pay the same percentage of their income for a ticket as the average movie goer does. The popcorn, candy, and everything else should be priced the same way. For fun, have 100 different cell phones ring during the showing, show 20 ads, and have a crying baby or two.

2) Let exhibitors see a higher percentage of ticket sales in exchange for lowering their prices.

3) WAIT for the DVD. At the very least, don't announce the date it will ship while the movie is still in a few thousand theatres. If I know that I can buy the movie for the same or LESS than two tickets (and rent it for far less than that) in only a few weeks, then why would I go to the theater?

4) Make good movies. Very few movies I see trailers for these days say "you must see this", at least not enough to make me WANT to see them in the theater.

5) Make movies for adults. Not 2 hour snoozefests, but good thrillers and/or action movies that work better on the big screen than at home.