Monday, October 15

I'll be Teaching eBay University Classes

For all those who have emailed me and would like to take my classes, I'll be teaching the advanced sellers course in Atlanta on October 27 and in Kansas City on November 3. I'd love to see you there. To register go to the eBay University home page.

Saturday, October 6

Yahoo!, eBay and PayPal Join Forces to Protect Consumers Against E-mail Fraud and Phishing Scams

Yahoo! Mail First to Protect Consumers by Blocking Fraudulent eBay and PayPal E-mail

Yahoo!, eBay and PayPal today announced a collaborative effort to better protect consumers against fraudulent e-mails and the dangerous scams known as phishing attacks. Starting today, eBay and PayPal customers worldwide using Yahoo! Mail will have a safer e-mail experience - they will begin receiving fewer fake e-mails claiming to be sent by eBay and PayPal. Yahoo! Mail is the first Web mail service to block these types of malicious messages for eBay and PayPal through the use of DomainKeys e-mail authentication technology.

The technology upgrade will be rolled out globally over the next several weeks to all users of Yahoo! Mail.

"eBay and PayPal's adoption of e-mail authentication technology and this aggressive move on the part of Yahoo! Mail are significant steps forward in the fight to protect consumers against e-mail-based crimes," said Michael Barrett, chief information security officer at PayPal. "While there is clearly no silver bullet for solving the problems of phishing and identity theft, today's announcement is great news for our customers who rely on Yahoo! Mail."

DomainKeys technology provides a unique way to verify the authenticity of e-mail messages, allowing Internet service providers to determine if messages are real and should be delivered to a customer's inbox. The collaborative effort between Yahoo!, eBay and PayPal will result in the blocking of unauthenticated e-mail, reducing the volume of fraudulent e-mail received by consumers and lowering their risk of falling for phishing attacks.

"By reducing the risk of phishing scams, Yahoo! Mail now offers a much safer Web mail service for eBay and PayPal users, and this protection will benefit the larger Yahoo! Mail community as well," said John Kremer, vice president of Yahoo! Mail. "We look forward to helping to facilitate continued industry adoption of DomainKeys and the proposed standard DomainKeys Identified Mail, as we continue to increase our efforts to safeguard the inbox."

"Today is a significant milestone for the added protection of millions of eBay and PayPal customers," said Dave Cullinane, chief information security officer at eBay. "Through industry cooperation, we can collectively try to stamp out phishing and other e-mail scams. We welcome Yahoo!'s commitment to this endeavor, applaud its leadership role within the Internet service provider community, and encourage others join in the fight to keep consumers safe from phishing attacks."

Yahoo!, eBay and PayPal are in the process of transitioning their systems from DomainKeys to the proposed standard DomainKeys Identified Mail. The implementation is expected to be complete in the coming months.

Friday, September 28

A $5 Investment Against Phishing

This new device can help protect you against online scams and theft.

How safe do you feel with all your online accounts? I know when I really think about all the financial data I have on the web--technically accessible to anyone--I get a little queasy. I try to never click the links in e-mails to secure sites. But just when you think you're being careful--and lulled into complacency--an e-mail comes along containing a link that you click on. You realize you've just logged onto a financial site and the panic sets in.

I've done it myself--caught by a phishing e-mail. Should this happen to you, the best thing to do is immediately log out and close your browser window. As fast as you can, open a new window, type in the website URL--whether it be PayPal, your bank or your investment advisor--and log in again. Change your password and your heart will stop feeling like it's about to jump out of your chest.

Always make sure your wireless network at home is as secure as possible. I recommend using WPA over WEP, since WEP can be hacked by a junior high school student. Someone can pull up to the curb in front of your house and pick up your signal, log your keystrokes, get your passwords and drive away.

These are all pretty scary scenarios. But, VeriSign, previously known as the worldwide clearinghouse for credit cards and cash, has developed a new technology. VeriSign Unified Authentication provides two-factor authentication credentials through a one-time password token.

PayPal has embraced this technology through a new device, aptly named the PayPal Security Key, which looks like a small pager. PayPal generates a new--and different--security code every time you log in to your PayPal account. Just enter the security code displayed on the device's small screen after you enter your user name and password, and you're in.

Can anyone else pick this number up from your wireless network? Possibly. But the key code changes every 30 seconds, so even if someone does get the code, it will be invalid within 30 seconds.

If you're like me, the first question you have is: What if I lose it? You can still log in to your PayPal account if you can't find or break your Security Key. Before you can log in, though, PayPal will ask you questions to confirm your account ownership.

The device is available for $5 from PayPal. If you'd like your own Security Key, visit the security key area of PayPal. This technology will surely catch on with other financial sites, and technically, the device could handle codes from other companies. But only time will tell how this technology will progress.

Friday, August 31

eBay News FLASH!

If you’ve ever wanted to sell on eBay, here’s your chance! All during the month of September (until September 30, 2007) you can list any item with a starting price of $9.99 or under for FREE – as long as you purchase a 35 cent gallery picture. (I always recommend that you use this feature when selling an item on eBay). For thirty five cents you can throw caution to the wind and put up all the things you've been thinking of selling and empty out that closet! For items with a higher staring price, you can get 25 percent of your listing fees when buying a Gallery picture. This is a great promotion and will surely get more sellers (and more buyers – due to increased selection of merchandise) active on the site. It’s a win-win for everyone.

Thursday, August 16

eBay Live 2007 - Great Fun!

My favorite event of the year is eBay live. This year it was in Boston, MA. I taught my Starting an eBay Business class for those who are just branching out into their own eBay enterprise and signed books and met many wonderful old and new friends. Check out my quick video below and see Meg Whitman (eBay's CEO) bowling on a Wii. The two gentlemen with me in the photo are Brian Burke (eBay Director of Global Feedback Policy), and John Donahoe (President, eBay Marketplace). We also celebrated my 1,000,000th book sold!