No "Swap Meet": Love to Auction Cobain's Belongings

Widow of late Nirvana leader plans Christie's sale

Courtney Love, the enigmatic, brash and controversial widow of Kurt Cobain has finally decided to move on. 13 years after the suicide of the man whose band came to define "grunge" rock, she has decided to put the bulk of his personal belongings up for auction.

"[My house] is like a mausoleum. My daughter [14-year-old Frances Bean] doesn't need to -- inherit a giant hefty bag full of flannel f***ing shirts," Love told Spinner.com. "A sweater, a guitar and the lyrics to 'Teen Spirit'-- that's what my daughter gets. And the rest of it we'll just f***ing sell."

Love, whose career in the band Hole was eclipsed by the critical acclaim and commercial success of her husband and his band (which came to define the "Seattle sound") has a new solo album, "Nobody's Daughter," set for imminent release. Yet, despite the passing of so many years, and subsequent relationships with rockers Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) and Billy Corgin (Smashing Pumpkins), and actor Edward Norton and what Spinner calls "an unnamed paramour," Love tells the site that Cobain's impact on her is still considerable.

"I still wear his pajamas to bed," she tells Spinner. "How am I ever going to go form another relationship in my lifetime wearing Kurt's pajamas?"

Among the many songs recorded by Nirvana was one from the album "Bleach" titled "Swap Meet," which we couldn't resist using in our headline. We felt that...oh well, whatever, nevermind.

(Love kisses husband Cobain while holding their 1-year-old daughter Frances Bean Cobain in 1993. Photo from Getty Images.)

Antitrust Action Alleges a PayPal Monopoly

eBay says profitable payment service faces California suit

Has eBay improperly monopolized payment services to the unfair advantage of its PayPal unit? That is a question the company addressed last week when it announced that it is facing a purported antitrust suit over the matter. According to MarketWatch, the plaintiff filed the suit this month and seeks treble damages and an injunction. Citing a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commision, the story reports that the auctioneer believes it has "meritorious defenses" and intends to defend itself "vigorously.

The company has come under criticism for PayPal. Last September, PayPal signed an agreement with 28 state attorneys general involving accusations of misleading business practices. It also reached a preliminary settlement agreement with a proposed class of PayPal customers. MarketWatch notes that PayPal has faced competition recently from Google, which rolled out a rival online payment service in June. eBay said at the time that it wouldn't allow its customers to use Google's Checkout on the eBay site.

Earlier this month, eBay announced impressive first-quarter earning gains, including in merchant services - the PayPal unit that supplies online payment services to Web sites beyond eBay's own properties. The unit saw payment volumes grow 51% to $4.38 billion.

NFL Star's Unsanctioned Hat Could Fetch Big Bucks for Contest Winner

Unendorsed hat from Super Bowl week on eBay

The hat that took $100,000 out of the pocket of Chicago Bears star Brian Urlacher could retrieve thousands for a Tennessee family. Crystal Stupar was visiting the Chicago area last week when she heard a local radio station giving away the hat Urlacher was wearing during Super Bowl week promoting Vitamin Water. Since the product is not endorsed by the National Football League, the defensive all-pro superstar was fined. Stupar says ended up with the hat by winning the contest put on by B96 (WBBM). She has now put the famous hat up for auction on eBay. As of late today the hat has recieved a total of 94 bids with the current high bid at $15,000 - with five days yet remaining in the auction.

The bidding for the hat might seem a bit excessive, but we hope it sells for plenty more. Stupar's husband is an Army Sergeant currently serving in Afghanistan, so indulge yourself, football collectors - it's the patriotic thing to do!

Correction & Clarification

In our new podcast episode, we make reference to a posting on the Auction Culture web site from the Knoxville News Sentinal. The paper had run a feature on the drop-off store business, which was part of our discussion. When we recorded this episode, we were unsure of the date the paper had published the article - February of this year or February of 2006. We used some of what was mentioned in that article to expound upon our ongoing dialogue about the troubles in the drop-off store industry, with the date the story was published a (we thought) poignant aspect to our discussion.

Well, upon further review we know that the article, "Knoxville franchises believe online auctions are wave of the future," was published in 2006. Please consider this when listening to our latest podcast. We stand corrected and hope you stand clarified.

Tuesday is Another 20-cent Listing Day on eBay

Insertion fee sale set for April 24th

The folks at eBay - no doubt smiling after posting the impressive Q1 numbers last week - are sharing the positive vibes with a 20-cent listing day tomorrow. All day Tuesday, the insertion fee for all auction-style listings will be just 20 cents. Listings created prior to April 24, 2007 and scheduled to start during the promotional period will also be eligible for the special promo rate. So if you have some auctions ready but haven't launched them yet, save 'em up and put 'em up tomorrow.

Some restrictions apply, so visit the company's general announcment board for all the fine print.

(Pictured are rare U.S. twenty-cent coins as seen on CoinBrokers.com)

Auction in Big Apple Aids Music in Big Easy

Star's guitars & presidential sax in play for music revival in Gulf Coast

An auction held yesterday in the Big Apple raised nearly two-and-a-half-million dollars to benefit musicians who lost virtually everything they had, including their most valuable possessions - their instruments - in Hurricane Katrina. Among the high-dollar memorabilia hitting the block at the "Icons of Music" event was a 1975 Gibson Les Paul guitar used by U2 guitarist The Edge on every tour since 1985. It sold for $240,000, while another guitar donated by The Edge sold for $150,000 to a fan who described the guitar as looking "like it's been through a war."

The auction at New York's Hard Rock Cafe by Julien's Auctions featured nearly 200 other items, including a pair of John Lennon's sunglasses, Jimi Hendrix's 1966 Red Fender Mustang guitar and a saxophone belonging to former President Bill Clinton.

All proceeds will go toward assisting the rebirth of music in the Crescent City and the Gulf Coast via Music Rising, an organization founded by The Edge (aka David Evans) who said his goal was to stave off the decline of music culture in the region.

AP: Virginia Tech Shooter Bought Ammo on eBay

Auctioneer confirms Cho bought empty magazine clips

The tragedy that took a university hostage, left a community in mourning and shocked a nation has touched the auction world. The Associated Press is reporting this evening that two ammunition clips used by Seung-Hui Cho in his rampage at Virginia Tech this week were purchased on eBay.

Using the handle Blazers5505, Cho bought two 10-round magazines for the Walther P22 - one of two handguns used in the massacre of 32 people at the Blacksburg, Virginia campus. The empty clips were bought March 22 from a gun shop in Idaho.

"It's apparent that he purchased the empty magazine clips," eBay spokesman Hani Durzy told the AP. "They're similar to what could be purchased in any sporting goods store around the country."

The New PODCAST is Finally Here

For the latest in our ongoing discussion of the drama inside the drop-off store business, and a lot more, click to "Episode Blogs" title on the left, or click here. (Be forwarned, this 'cast runs nearly 40 minutes, so don't try to put us on right before "American Idol," since we'd hate for you to miss the chance to vote Sanjaya off the show!)

Keep Track of Your Things via MyThings

Online registry of personal possessions makes U.S. debut

Thanks to a new service launched in the U.S. today, keeping tabs on your stuff is now a literal virtual reality. MyThings, a service launched in the U.K. last year, made its official U.S. debut today. The company says its online registry is a one-stop shop for managing and protecting valuable belongings.

The service not only allows users to create a registry of their possessions, but it allows them access to vital statistics, pricing and appraisals pertaining to those items. Terapeak, CNET Channel, and GoAntiques and Shopping.com (eBay sites) are among the partners involved with MyThings.

MyThings Inc. also provides a service called Trace at Trace.com, an online database of lost and stolen valuables. Trace integrates information from over 50 sources, including local, national, and international law enforcement, plus members of MyThings.

'Still the Gorilla': eBay's Q1 Beats the Street

Shares jump on word of gains in revenue, profit and growth at PayPal; no fee hikes this year

The news was all good for eBay today. The company announced first quarter earnings that beat Wall Street expectations and assured analysts that its forecast for the rest of the year would be on the high end of their predictions, according to Reuters.

Shares of eBay jumped as much as 6% after the company posted a 52% jump in net profit on a 27% revenue increase, led by growth in its core auctions business and the rising prominence of international sales.

"I would say it was a very strong quarter across the board," eBay CEO Meg Whitman said in an interview. "We are actually accelerating our organic growth rate, excluding the impact of foreign exchange and acquisitions."

"Overall it was a good report card," Martin Pyykkonen, an analyst with Global Crown Capital, told the news agency. "The full year (revenue forecast) is up $150 million," he said. "That's a nice bump considering they still have three quarters to go in the year."

Merchant services, the PayPal unit that supplies online payment services to Web sites beyond eBay's own properties, reported payment volumes grew 51% to $4.38 billion.

Competition from rival merchant payment system Google Checkout appears to be continuing to help drive PayPal's own growth, Whitman said. "Amazingly enough, we had 51% growth. The interest in this category is helping (PayPal)."

This strong earnings report comes on the heels of fee increases last year, including a rise in fees for sellers of fixed price items, which eBay instituted late last year as a way to reduce clutter on the site.

"They're still the gorilla," Rachel Wakefield told Bloomberg. Wakefield is a portfolio manager for Portland, Oregon-based Coldstream Capital Management in Portland, Oregon, who helps oversee more than $1 billion including EBay shares. "I just don't see anywhere else the sellers can go in spite of the price hike."

Though the auctioneer might still be the primo primate, one upcoming legal battle may alter the company's domain. Ina Steiner details more on AuctionBytes.

Mastro of the Midway Plays Game of Horseshoe

Shoe from Derby winner Barbaro among the notable items under the gavel at Mastro

Mastro Auctions, the Chicago auction house perhaps best known to many for its stellar sports collectibles auctions, has several terrific auctions underway at the moment. Among them is the sale of the Lionel Carter baseball card collection. Also up for bids is the Americana Premier catalog (which includes some amazing and very rare comics) and a shoe from a very famous horse.

As we discuss in our new podcast, the baseball card collection of Lionel Carter (considered the pioneer of the hobby) consists of some 50,000 cards collected by the Evanston, Illinois man over 72 years. Included in this lot are such rarities as a 1911 T3 Turkey Red Cabinets SGC-graded complete set of 100 cards plus one variation. (Current bid as of this posting is $102,939.00.) See more at the Mastro Auctions web site.

Other intriguing items under the Mastro gavel:

- Barbaro horse shoe, worn when he won Derby and later when the late equine favorite injured himself

- Elvis Presley pendent, he designed, estimated between $10,000 to $15,000

- Gold Marilyn Monroe dress from the Elaine Barrymore estate, estimated between $3,000 to $5,000.

(Barbaro photo from CBC.ca)

"A Closer Look" Programming Note

Our "A Closer Look" segment below, which outlines in some broad strokes what some see is trouble brewing in the online consignment store industry, is the first installment in a planned series on this topic. We'll talk more about this in our new podcast (which ought to be posted by Tuesday) and in a number of reports and interviews on our pages.

Coming up: Richard and Helene Chemel, two veteran eBayers who were among the first i-SoldIt franchisees, speak with us exclusively. The couple will share thoughts on what they've learned about eBay (and with over 25,000 transcations you can bet it's a lot) and gives us their perspective on the troubles inside the consignment store biz.

On eBay: Lunch with Harrison Ford or Name that Small Green Thing

Pre-approved bidders can vie for chance to dine with superstar actor or name a new microbial species

It's all for a good cause, even if the premise sounds like the kind of thing only a guy like Indy Jones would appreciate. If you've got the scratch ($2,500 minimum bid and have been pre-approved), you could win lunch with mega-movie star Harrison Ford. Or, if you like, you can opt out of repast at The Ivy (or whatever swanky eatery is going to host this thing) in favor of the honor of naming a new microbial organism.

Call it "Indiana Jones and the Table of Ooze."

The auction benefits the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, which champions solutions to the challenges of global warming, poverty and biodiversity. Check out more on eBay.

'Reserve Not Met' Means No Sale Yet for Mellow Rocker's Board

Bidding for Jack Johnson's Patagonia surf board misses the mark

The Patagonia surf board mellow rocker (and surfer) Jack Johnson had for sale on eBay has not been sold. The board, autographed by the musician, was up for auction to benefit the T.J. Martell Foundation. Used by Johnson in the movie "A Brokedown Melody," the board, which was designed exclusively for the singer, attracted 45 bids and reached a total of $2025.00. Not bad money, but not enough to satisfy the reserve.

We sincerely wish we could have advised the folks at the Universal Music Group (Johnson's label) on this auction. An item this cool would probably have done better without a reserve. We'd have said put it up with a starting bid of something like $500.00 and let the marketplace have at it. We'll nose around and see what the UMG peeps have to say about the future of this "rad" auction.

'Frozen O.J.': Bankruptcy Stops Simpson Book Auction

Proceeding thwarts auction for rights to controversial book; drama keeps going and going and going...

The epilogue to the O.J. Simpson saga is like the Energizer Bunny - it just keeps going and going and going, seemingly without end. Just when it appeared likely that the latest chapter in the ever-unfolding narrative might reach some resolution, fickle fate's fingers interceded yet again, with more drama and judges and lawyers and high emotions the likely result. On Friday, the planned auction for the rights to a controversial book by Simpson was stalled when the corporation that cut the book deal with publisher HarperCollins filed for bankruptcy protection in Florida, according to Newsweek.

Once again, Simpson is faced off against Fred Goldman, who continues his quest to collect any of the $33.5 million awarded to him in a 1997 civil suit against the former football great, who was acquitted of the murders his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend (Goldman's son) Ron in 1995.

When publication of "If I Did It" first came to light this winter, Goldman expressed outrage. The firestorm of criticism that ensued cost HarperCollins chief Judith Regan her job. But when the Goldmans won a court battle to strip Simpson of his rights to the book, a judge ruled that the rights had to be sold at auction. The Goldmans adopted the new view that publication was acceptable because, as Fred Goldman said weeks ago, the book amounted to a confession and proceeds from the rights sale would help pay down the judgment Simpson owed his family. Simpson vowed to contest that ruling.

The maneuver on Friday by lawyers for Lorraine Brooke Associates Inc. (LBA), a company set up to provide Simpson's four children with income from the book, delayed the court-ordered auction in Sacramento, Calif., scheduled for Tuesday - at least until a federal bankruptcy judge can hold a hearing on the case.

"Everything is frozen now," said David J. Cook, a lawyer for the Goldman family. "They filed bankruptcy to stop the auction. It's now frozen O.J."

(Image from TheBunnyMuseum.com)

Clouds Growing Over Online Consigment Store Biz

A CLOSER LOOK: Former Franchisees Tell Story of 'Fatally Flawed' Concept

Is trouble brewing in the online auction consignment store sector? A growing number of franchisees are experiencing problems, including bankruptcies (business and personal) due to a business model that one pair says is "fatally flawed." Are these problems merely the growing pains of a new industry, or are the woes of these heavily-invested owner/operators the result of fraud from unscrupulous franchisors?

A number of companies have risen to some prominence in the auction consignment store game in the past five years, with names like Quick Drop, Auction Drop, ePowerSellers, Snappy Auctions and i-SoldIt, which emerged as the industry leader. The Monrovia, California-based company bills itself as the #1 franchisor in the drop-off store segment and claims to be the number-one seller on eBay. The company and its founder, Elise Wetzel, have been lauded in a variety of media, including a recent feature in Entrepreneur Magazine. This press, inspired in part by i-Soldit's rapid growth from start-up to industry leader, has made it a popular investment for would-be franchisees.

Karen McGinn and Gene Bowen are just such investors. As we detailed in our most recent podcast, they claim to have been among the very first i-SoldIt franchisees. Yet in the fall of 2005 the couple closed their store in Atlanta "rather than continue to lose money."

On their website, www.amitheonlyone.org, the pair claim that as they further investigated what they call "the drop-off store trend," they found something far different than what they say they were promised. At the root of it all is a business model they claim is "fatally flawed."

That model "is complicated," according to i-SoldIt CEO Ken Sully. Speaking to Ina Steiner at AuctionBytes for a piece published today, he said "everyone is trying to figure out what works best."

Sully details his views on some of the challenges his company and franchisees have experienced on the website FranchisePick.com. He admits that 60 stores have closed due, at least in part, to the fact that this company had "a significant number of stores operating below break-even."

As a result, Sully says i-SoldIt has stopped accepting applications for new franchises (and recently sold its owned-and-operated store located not far from its company HQ) and is focusing on helping current franchisees.

To the uninitiated, the drop-off store model (referred to by one purveyor, NextWorth Solutions of Boston, as "eBay Consignment Brokerage" or ECB) might seem fairly straight-forward. The ECB premise is that buying on eBay is easy, but selling can be difficult. Though a great many people enjoy all that is required to successfully sell on eBay - including such mundane chores as packing and shipping, to the more fun aspects such as photographing one's items, to the downright problematic such as handling payment - a far greater number of folks might like to sell things on the auction site but simply lack the time, energy or inclination to do it themselves. Drop-off stores are intended to be the vehicles by which such people can participate as sellers in the great eBay marketplace.

For a percentage of the final sale price - commissions run around 35% or so - drop-off stores will do all the work to move a seller's stuff on eBay. From researching items (including recent eBay sales activity for similar items), taking photos, writing descriptions and posting auctions to packing, shipping and payment processing, stores such as those in the i-SoldIt network have promised to take the hassle out of selling on eBay.

It is the apparent popularity of this idea that has made the drop-off store model an attractive business opportunity to many, including die-hard eBayers looking to turn their hobbies into full-time jobs.

For a look at just how booming the ECB marketplace seems to be, the AuctionBytes site contains a page devoted to drop-off (or consignment) stores that is instructive as to just how many companies wanted into this sector.

Back in September, the E-Commerce Guide website re-visited the matter of drop-off stores it first addressed in June of 2005. The 2006 follow-up, titled "The State of eBay Drop-off Stores," detailed some of the flaws in the business model cited by McGinn and Bowen.

"With an average consignment fee ranging between 25-40 percent, the time consuming process of receiving, researching, photographing, writing up, posting, packing, shipping and paying the consignor, makes for a labor intensive business with little profit, whether dealing in $50 items or autos and boats," the site found.

Compounding these problems are issues pertaining to software and what Bowen says were hidden fees. All of this has made for a growing discontent with iSoldIt, though Bowen and McGinn say these problems exist, in differing degrees, within the other ECB chains.

"None of them knew how to make this thing work"

"Greedy liars" is how one store owner characterized his franchisor. Speaking on condition of anonymity, this owner, whose store is affiliated with another ECB company, tells ATR that the companies that sold online consignment stores got in the business of selling stores and not the business of developing successful business models for their owner/operators.

"I've spoken to many of my commrades who own stores with the other companies, and it's all the same crap. The companies are more than happy to take our money, but what did they do for us? None of these companies did any real marketing and none of them knew how to make this thing work," he says.

"So what did we all buy?"

Sully tells Steiner that his company moved too fast during the frenzy of 2004 when he says no one was content to buy a single store. (That admission, that his company put undue emphasis on selling stores, is one of the charges leveled against it.) But, he said, iSold It has the best brand awareness out there today.

From all that has been reported so far, as well as what McGinn, Bowen and other franchisees are claiming, the ECB model contains challenges that were not obvious to investors when they signed on with their respective franchisors. But where these impediments merely unforeseen by franchisors or were they actively hidden by them to make the ECB model appear more attractive?

So it comes down to this: Has a group of unscrupulous franchise companies preyed on the dreams and aspirations of small business entrepreneurs, or are the allegations of McGinn, Bowen and others merely a case of sour grapes?

ATR addressed this at some length in our most-recent podcast. You can expect to see, hear and read more about this in the days ahead, here and elsewhere. However, if you are considering this or any other franchise opportunity, the final paragraph of the E-Commerce Guide story is instructive:

"There are formidable speed bumps, some would say tire spikes, on the entry road to the present eBay drop-off store market. They are not insurmountable, but the best strategy appears to be go slow - examine every aspect of the business before deciding whether this model will work for you."

Notable & Newsworthy: Briefly

Man to sell 50K-card baseball card collection; pill popping; enforcing online sales tax

The news waits for no one, and our crack staff of two just can't get to it all. So we present here links to a few stories we haven't had time to really jump on yet, but about which you might like to know:

Chicago's CBS2 is reporting on a local man who is about to sell his collection of rare baseball cards - all 50,000 of them! The story estimates that the value may be as high as $2 million.

Why would a cabinet of pills by a British artist have the redoubtable folks at Christie's all breathless? Bloomberg has some details - but maybe the auction house execs need to take a pill (use only as directed).

With the tax deadline approaching, you might want to keep this little nugget in mind as you conduct business this year: "Senate tax writers are examining whether to apply new reporting requirements to processors of online transactions, a change that could affect companies such as PayPal," according to a The Wall Street Journal report we found at Seacoastonline.

Jack Johnson Surfboard on eBay for Charity

Mellow rocker and surfer confers signed Patagonia board for Martell Foundation

Acoustic rocker Jack Johnson has donated the surfboard he used in his surf film "A Brokedown Melody" to be auctioned off on eBay by Universal Music, according to the SoulShine web site.

So far 44 bids have been posted for the coveted Patagonia surfboard, signed by Johnson, whose mellow hits include "Upside Down" and "Talk of the Town." The highest bid for the board as it stands now is $2025.00 USD. There's just under 12 hours left in the auction and 80% of the proceeds will go to the T.J. Martell Foundation, which aims to raise money for research into cures for leukemia, cancer, and AIDS.

(Patagonia board for auction as seen on eBay listing)

Gambling to be Master of Your Own Domain (Name)

Poker.com is up for grabs at casino-oriented domain name auction

A silent auction could make you the master of a great domain - name, that is, thanks to the folks at Moniker.com. The company, which specializes in what it terms "domain asset management," announced today that it will host what it claims will be the first online silent auction of domain names for the casino and gaming industries.

Up for grabs at the event, which will take place during the Casino Affiliate Convention 2007 in Amsterdam May 3 - 5 are such seemingly ideal gambling domain names as poker.com, winner.com, slots.com and BlackJackOdds.com. (Hard to believe that those names are somehow available, huh?).

(Since we're not, you know, high rollers and all, the gambling-related domain name we'd like to get is www.whichwaytothenickelslots.com)

Pair of Live Auction Companies Announce Latest Deals

AuctionFloor and Proxibid hit milestones

A pair of companies staking their claims to the burgeoning live auction broadcasting sector announced their latest news over the past several days.

Indianapolis-based AuctionFloor announced this morning that 46% of the available lots in its March auction were sold online, a performance the company claims is "significantly above the industry average of 15%." Furthermore, ten percent of all online bids were placed using the Auction Floor platform, according to an official release.

It was a similarly good March for Proxibid. The Omaha, Nebraska-based auctioneer announced that it broadcast more than 350 "live" auctions last month. A company release touts this performance as yet another milestone in the steady growth it has seen since it started back in 2003.

"Live" auction broadcasting connects real people to live auctions via the Internet. Bidders can view auction catalogs, post pre-bids and participate in real-time Internet bidding. Some believe this may well be the next leap in evolution and popularity of auctions.

Podcast Follow-Up(date): SoCal TV "hosts" Guilty of Fraud

Infomercial art auction hosts facing serious prison time for fraud, tax evasion

A satellite TV show host pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges stemming from an investigation into bogus artwork sold through televised auctions that defrauded customers of more than $20 million, according to The Associated Press.

Prosecutors say Kristine Eubanks, 49, of La Canada Flintridge in Southern California pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy and tax evasion. She will face up to 10 years in prison when she is sentenced Sept. 24, according to the AP.

Eubanks' husband, Gerald Sullivan, 51, pleaded guilty April 2 to one count each of conspiracy and failing to file tax returns. He will face up to six years in prison when he, too, is sentenced in September.

Eubanks' attorney Donald Randolph said outside court that his client "acknowledged her guilt in these actions today."

Authorities said the couple, whom we reported about in our March 7th podcast, acknowledged in their plea agreements duping more than 10,000 customers through their "Fine Art Treasures Gallery" show, which aired Friday and Saturday nights on DirecTV and The Dish Network. The couple also said they rigged auctions by creating false and inflated bids for art and jewelry sold during the live auctions, prosecutors said.

Authorities believe buyers lost more than $20 million in the scam. Nearly $4 million and various pieces of artwork were seized when Eubanks and Sullivan were arrested during a raid last year.

Founder of Coca-Cola Museum Passes

Bill Schmidt amassed 'absolutely priceless' collection

A man who amassed the largest privately-owned Coca-Cola memorabilia collection in the world has died. The News Enterprise, the paper that serves Elizabethtown, Kentucky, reported last Wednesday on the death of Bill Schmidt, who passed away at his summer home in Florida at the age of 79. Schmidt served as president of his family's Coca-Cola bottling plant in Elizabethtown and helped develop the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Memorabilia there.

After dedicating almost all of his time and effort during the past few years to develop the museum, Schmidt saw it become a reality last spring when it opened to the public, the paper reported. It moved into the large building after being housed in a small space inside the tourist bureau in Elizabethtown, which sits 50 miles south of Louisville. Schmidt's son Larry said that after the museum opened its doors last year it has played host to Coke enthusiasts from around the world and it will continue to operate.

The senior Schmidt didn't want the collection's monetary value to be made public, curator Roy Minagawa told the paper. He said some of the 80,000 items are "absolutely priceless." These pieces include the only complete collection of Coca-Cola serving trays and a rare 1896 poster.

The museum boasts over 8,000 square feet of exhibit space and, if the web site is to be believed, houses an amazing collection of Coca-Coliana. You'll even get some fabulous trivia on the site, such as:

--The type used in the Coca-Cola script is called "Spencerian Script."

So with an old-fashioned "hobble skirt" Coke bottle raised high, we pay our respects to a man whose passion for "The Real Thing" apparently never lost its fizz.

Pictured: 1939 Coca-Cola Serving Tray in "Good" condition with an estimated value of $300.00 as seen on the Schmidt Museum buy & sell page)

eBay Announces New Proactive Fraud Reduction Measures

New listings of items 'most favored with fraudsters' impacted

In its ongoing efforts to secure the safety of its marketplace, eBay announced today a new policy that will effect the viewing of certain new listings. At the same time, Rob Chestnut, Senior VP in charge of eBay Global Trust & Safety, announced progress with a number of recent security initiatives.

"We're seeing a significant reduction in fake Second Chance offers, for instance, and fewer reports of potential counterfeit listings in the categories most favored by scammers," Chestnut notes on the company General Announcement Board.

Chestnut says that as eBay's security policies evolve, so will the methods of the scammers. "While I'm pleased with our direction and progress, I also want to help the Community understand this is an ongoing effort that requires an aggressive long-term approach."

Part of that new approach is a new plan for viewing auctions of items Chestnut said are popular with crooks.

"Items reportedly most favored by fraudsters may not be viewable for several hours before the listings are indexed into Search results. These new listings are still viewable on the site through My eBay or if you search for the specific item number; however, they are not immediately visible through a keyword search or Browse," he said.

For safety reasons, Chestnut does not detail what items will be impacted by this new policy but notes it will effect "only a fraction of listings."

New Owner to 'Flip' Anna Nicole Diaries

Bought just weeks ago, memoirs may sell for a loss

The German businessman who bought the diaries of Anna Nicole Smith last month must have the heart of a Southern California real estate speculator. Just weeks after purchasing the journals at auction, the anonymous new owner is looking to sell them. If they were prime Westside property (or even a bungalow in Van Nuys), such a flip would have meant a handsome profit a year or two ago. Not so today - with real estate and, it seems, with the late model's diaries.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting this weekend that the journals are going on the auction block again, with the new owner likely to lose money on the deal. The paper reports that the new owner has just consigned them to Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries, with their auction scheduled for April 14-15. Heritage spokesman Doug Nortime told The Times and The Associated Press that the pre-auction value of the diaries is between $50,000 and $100,000, but could sell for more.

Considering the current owner paid over $500,000 for the journals on eBay just weeks ago, he's likely going to lose a bundle on his parlay.

Why? Turns out the private life of Vickie Lynn Hogan was filled with hearthache, stress, anxiety and all the other difficult emotions regular folks experience, and the life of a "regular person" is not what the current owners wanted when they purchased the memoirs of Hogan's alter ego, Anna Nicole Smith.

When the anonymous buyer - Norwine tells The Times he was a member of a "German conglomerate" - bought the diaries, his stated intent was to parcel out the hoped-for juicy, salacious excerpts to news organizations, publishers, movie studios and others with an interest in the life of the celebrity, who died Feb. 8 in Florida. Yet once the contents had been reviewed, the owners decided to sell them off to collectors or fans.

The AP got an exclusive look inside the memoirs on Thursday. It seems that the public perception that Smith led a sexed-up private life full of the kind of sordid debauchery that made her public persona a tabloid fixture was about as fake as her comic book cleavage. One diary entry reads: "I hate for men to want sex all the time. I hate sexy anyway..."

Another entry reads: "I've been really stressed out lately and depressed and I can't quit eating. I feel like a pig."

Though such private declarations would seem to add a human dimension to the tabloid life of the former model, they're not the kind of stuff for which Rupert Murdoch's going to shell out large.

So at least one speculator is going to lose big in his attempt to profiteer off Anna Nicole Smith. Somewhere, the late Vickie Lynn Hogan has got to be smiling.

(Pictured: An AP phot of a diary entry in which Smith laments the ill health of her wealthy octageneriam husband, J. Howard Marshal.)

As a post-script, please note that it is now our understanding that the current owners of the Anna Nicole memoirs will retain the rights to them. This means that whomever buys them at auction next week will not be able to use the contents for any purpose without permission from the current owners. Therefore, their loss in apparent face value may well be recouped by royalties earned by those using the information contained in the diaries.

WE'VE GOT MAIL!

The great thing about the blogoshere is that it knows no borders. There is, after all, a reason the Internet is known as the "world-wide" web. So we get just all tickled pink when we get mail and blog comments from people in places not here in the lower forty-eight. And when we get compliments from people who speak a tongue very different from ours who somehow find something amusing or informative in the babbling banter of our podcasts, we get to feeling so good that me might even vote for Sanjaya on next week's A.I.

Take this little communique posted after our most recent podcast:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for such a show, it's fun to listen to and I always check to see what's new.

Jin

China

Jin, you are quite welcome. And thank you! Please stay in touch. We would very much like to reply back to you in your native language but, unlike you, we have a hard enough time with our own. Warmest regards, Chris & Frank.

P.S.: Forget what we said about Sanjaya. No way are we voting for him!

"Superman" and "Oz" Get "Ahs" at PIH Event

Latest Profiles in History bidder is real costume party

Some rare movie memorabilia has gone to lucky bidders during an auction Friday by Profiles in History. The late actor Christopher Reeve's "Superman" costume worn in the first film of the same name brought in 115-thousand-dollars. That was well past its $50,000 to $70,000 price estimate. A "winkie" costume from the beloved classic "The Wizard of Oz" also earned 115-thousand-dollars at auction, but that was well within its estimated price. The costume was worn by one of the actors portraying a guard who protected the Wicked Witch of the West.

Other items that were sold by the Southern California-based auctioneer included a Batsuit from the film "Batman Forever" and an alien creature costume from the 1979 movie "Alien."

King Family at Odds with Auctioneer Over Sale of MLK Papers

"You can't auction off what's not yours," family says of cache not yet authenticated

Just who has the rightful ownership of a cache of documents believed to have been written by Martin Luther King Jr. is the bone of contention between an Atlanta auctioneer and the King family, who wants the planned sale of the collection stopped.

Writing for The New York Times in a story that was picked up widely, Brenda Goodman wrote this week that this story centers around Paul Brown, the owner of auction house Gallery 63, who says he was given the papers by an elderly Maryland woman who asked to remain anonymous.

"Brown said the woman told him she accepted a large file folder of King's letters, speeches and other writings to settle a debt she was owed by a radio station in Atlanta,where she once lived," Goodman reported.

"Contained in the find are first typed drafts of important speeches; letters to and from Dr. King; ephemera from the era; and other papers and documents, all having to do with a man who became synonymous with the Civil Rights Movement in America and who is arguably the most important and recognizable man of the 20th century. All the documents are from the early-to-mid 1960s," the auctioneer states on its site.

Brown estimates the value of the collection, which has not been authenticated or appraised, at $300,000. But King's heirs say the papers belong to his estate, and they want the auction, slated for April 15th, stopped.

"You can't auction off what's not yours," Isaac Newton Farris, King's nephew and the chief executive of the King Center in Atlanta, told Goodman on Tuesday. "There could potentially be something improper or illegal about to happen."

Farris told The Associated Press said he only became aware Monday of the new documents, contained in a faded green folder containing letters, notes and speeches that were likely written by Dr. King.

"Unless the woman has documentation that the papers were given to her, they are owned by the King estate," Farris said told the AP Tuesday. "We're moving forward to get as much information as we can about that."

Experts familiar with intellectual property law told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that depending on how the woman got the papers, she might have the right to sell them, although the Kings could still control how the content may be used.

Goodman notes that this controversy comes "less than a year after a dramatic 11th-hour deal by a coalition of civic leaders saved a large trove of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s papers and personal items from the auction block."

Adding a bittersweet underscore to all of this is that it comes on the 39th anniversary of King's assassination. He was killed on April 4, 1968 at the age of 39 by a sniper, James Earl Ray, as he stood on a balcony at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn.

Jackson to Auction Organizers: BEAT IT!

Former "King of Pop" wants to stop planned memorabilia auction

Ah, where do we start here? Since we used up our allotment of artist-related puns and the like in the Kool & the Gang story (below), we'll play it is straight as we can. We wouldn't "Wanna Be Startin' Something" that might jeopardize our journalistic cred.

Michael Jackson wants to stop a planned auction of memorabilia from his career. The Associated Press reported today that the onetime self-proclaimed "King of Pop" is "extremely upset" about the Guernsey's auction house sale and is considering legal remedies. This despite the fact that none of the items belong to him.

Billed as "The Fabulous Jackson Collection," Guernsey's said the 1,100-item auction, scheduled for the end of May in Las Vegas, includes Jackson's gold record for his "Thriller" album, handwritten lyrics for The Jackson Five hit "ABC" and a "Victory Tour" program signed by Jackson family members.

Everything that will go under the gavel May 30-31 at the Hard Rock hotel and resort comes from luggage transportation company Universal Express Inc., of Boca Raton, Fla., which bought them as a lot last year from a New Jersey construction company owner.

The former owner, Henry Vaccaro, claimed a warehouse full of Jackson memorabilia after a failed business venture wound up in bankruptcy court. Michael Jackson and his sister, Janet Jackson, sued to stop Vaccaro from taking ownership, but a Los Angeles judge threw out Michael Jackson's claim in 2006.

Arlan Ettinger, founder and president of Guernsey's, compared the sale to an auction of Elvis Presley/Graceland memorabilia he conducted in Las Vegas in 1999.

"It certainly is in that sphere of landmark, high-profile, extraordinary auctions," he told the AP on Wednesday.

Jackson and his people were not amused, appearing to claim that some of the auction items actually belong to the singer.

"Mr. Jackson was not aware and he is extremely upset that his memorabilia was included amongst the memorabilia that is being auctioned off," spokeswoman Raymone K. Bain said.

(Pictured: the album cover to "Off the Wall," the LP that launched Michael Jackson's solo career in 1979 - back when we thought it would be cool to be like Mike.)

Initial Public Offering: VW & NBA Join eBay to Feed I.P.

Sale of celebrity-autographed hoods from VW SUVs benefits "Feed the Children"

VW has partnered with the NBA for a very unique charity auction offering. It's a chance to own a two-of-a-kind item that will be both a sports collectible and a piece of automobiliana.

Volkswagen of America is auctioning off the hoods from two of their Touareg SUVs that were each autographed by 40 celebrities during the VW I.P. ("Volkswagen Important People") promotion held in February during the NBA's All-Star weekend. Each hood was signed by over 50 celebrities - most from the NBA but others from TV, movies and music.

The auction runs through April 11 on eBay, with proceeds to benefit non-profit "Feed the Children." So far, the bidding has been light, but we suspect that, as is so typical on eBay, all the action will happen in the last few minutes (just like an NBA game).

The parties say each Touareg hood will be professionally mounted and framed in cherry wood, creating what they say will be a beautiful wall display.

Notable & Newsworthy: In Brief

A few stories have broken in the past few days that our vast team of writers, reporters and editors (which is to say the two of us) just haven't been able to get to for in-depth analysis. But they're worth a note, so we present them here in brief.

-- The Masters is underway this very weekend, so we just had to lead with a golf auction. British auctioneer Bonhams & Butterfields will hold its second stateside golf auction April 19th and 20th, with 600 lots up for bid at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, Mass. Golfweek says the event will feature a J. Jackson long-nose putter (circa 1840) which is expected to fetch over $5,000.

-- As promised, Yale Galanter, attorney for Orenthal James Simpson, filed papers on Tuesday seeking to block the pending auction of the rights to "If I Did It," the hypothetical tell-all in which "Juice" describes how he might have committed double-homicide. As we reported here last week, April 17th is the date the rights to the book are to be auctioned. The Eat the Press section on the Huffington Post blog cites an ABC News report on the latest twist ion this tragic tale that just won't end. Apparently Simpson would like to block the auction so that, if published, the book's profits won't end up in the hands of the family of Ron Goldman.

-- The website AfterDawn.com reported a story of an Indiana who man has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for selling more than $700,000 worth of counterfeit computer software on eBay. 36-year-old Courtney Smith admitted to purchasing counterfeit copies of Rockwell Automation software on eBay and the mass duplicating the copyrighted programs for later sale on the site.

-- eBay has extended its maintenance period in order to make necessary adjustments to the site. The new maintenance period will be 4 hours (instead of 2 hours), and will start at 22:00 PT on Thursdays and end at 02:00 PT on Fridays. They say that they realize their scheduled maintenance periods can impact your ability to use the site, so be aware that while you will likely see little disruption when using the site during their maintenance period, certain eBay features may be slow or unavailable during those times.

Also eBay:

-- The company announced a pending categories update. A complete overview of the new categories can be found on eBay Seller Central.

Kool & the Gang to Funk-Up eBay Live!

Legendary group to 'Celebrate' Closing Gala

More was announced today about the upcoming eBay Live! confab, which is slated for June 14 - 16 in Boston. The company announced that a number of suit-and-tie folks are going to make the event educational and profitable, personal finance guru Suze Orman is on the guest list and eBay chief Meg Whitman will host the weekend. Heck, you might even have some big fun and squeeze in a game at Fenway (the Sawks host the Rockies and Giants that weekend). Yet with all this on tap, what caught our eye was the announcement that Kool & the Gang are gonna bring their funky stuff to the event. Notwithstanding a peremptory wince at the thought of a room of eBayers making like Karl Rove last week, we just think its cool (make that Kool) that the legendary group is gonna be "Hollywood Swinging" at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.

Sadly, it won't exactly be the soulful swingers who taught us how to "Jungle Boogie." Last summer, founding member Claydes "Charles" Smith passed away, adding a tragic underscore to the career of a group whose celebration of good times has been dampened over the past two decades by the defections of many key members, including vocalist James "J.T." Taylor, whose spirited baritone was the centerpiece of many of the band's biggest hits, such as "Ladies Night" and "Fresh."

Okay, we're like really big fans. So we went to the group's web site and couldn't really recognize the key players. We cherish the fact that Dennis Thomas and Clifford Adams are still in the line up, but we don't know the rest of the Gang. Like a Franklin Mint repro, the group is still Kool & the Gang but not really like the original. Yet, in the tradition of some great R&B groups The Temptations and the O'Jays, the group founded 43 years ago in Jersey City, New Jersey lives on. And no matter what group shows up on stage, anything is bound to be better than some netrepreneur dolling out advice on small business branding strategies while you chew on some over-done chicken.

We present this story so that you won't be mislead by eBay's official P.R. (So how many K&TG songs did we really mention in this story? Blog us with your guess.)

(Pictured: a copy of Kool & the Gang's eponymously-titled 1969 debut on DeLite, as it is currently up for auction.)