www.auctioneertech.com is home to the Auction Podcast

Yesterday, the news was released that Proxibid has appointed former eBay and PayPal executive Ryan Downs a new President of the company. An interview with Downs has already been posted by Ina Steiner from auctionbytes.com. The press release is below.

Proxibid, the world’s largest provider of live auction webcasting services, today announced that Ryan Downs has been appointed as the Company’s president. Bruce Hoberman will maintain his role as CEO of the Omaha-based firm that brings auction companies and bidders together via its sophisticated online bidding solution.

Mr. Downs brings to Proxibid a rich understanding of ecommerce, auctions and payments. He joins Proxibid from eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY), where he served in a number of roles, most recently as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations for PayPal, eBay’s payments division. In that role, Mr. Downs was responsible for customer service, risk operations, merchant operations and various other functions. As one of the top executives at PayPal, Mr. Downs was instrumental in PayPal’s integration with eBay, expansion to Europe and Asia, and the launch of the merchant business. Mr. Downs also spearheaded efforts to improve the end to end user experience for PayPal and eBay customers.

“We are thrilled to have an executive with Ryan’s knowledge of the auction industry join the Proxibid family,” said Bruce Hoberman, CEO of Proxibid. “Ryan’s experience enables us to continue to strategically grow our business while continuing to provide auction companies with access to the world’s largest online auction marketplace. He brings to Proxibid a mix of Silicon Valley experience with Midwestern values that is sure to drive our Company into its next growth phase.”

“Proxibid is an amazing company that combines disruptive web technology, a relentless focus on customer experience, and the desire to build a great culture for its employees,” said Downs. “I am extremely excited to join a fast-growing and dynamic company located right here in my home town of Omaha.”

Mr. Downs holds a bachelor’s degree in Agribusiness and Agricultural Honors from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, and a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School.

Last month was so busy that I missed getting this release posted. It sounds like a pretty simple and much-needed payment solution for auctioneers weary of attempting PCI compliance themselves.

Omaha, NE – July 5, 2010 – Auction Payment Network (APN), a Proxibid company, today announced the industry’s first payment processing solution developed specifically for auction companies. APN will provide auction companies with a PCI-compliant solution that ensures secure, one-click processing for on-site and online purchases at the lowest rates in the industry.

APN was created with the assistance of auctioneers and places the business needs of auction companies at the forefront of its solution. With remote deposit capture, single and recurring ACH transactions, card payments and ID validation services on a single platform, APN can meet the needs of auction companies of all sizes. Additionally, APN is compatible with most merchant processors, making it easier than ever for auctioneers from across the globe to take advantage of this powerful payment processing solution.

“APN will transform the way I reconcile and invoice auctions moving forward,” said auctioneer Darron Meares of Meares Auction Group. “With one-click processing, closing auctions will be easier than ever, and because the solution is PCI compliant, my bidders can feel even more secure with their online transactions.”

All of APN’s products and services meet the payment card industry’s stringent security requirements. APN was built on a secure network which protects cardholder data and encrypts this data when being transmitted across the network. The Company maintains a vulnerability management program, implements strong access control measures, regularly monitors and tests networks and maintains an information security policy to ensure a secure environment for all cardholder data.

“We are delighted to provide APN as a payment processing solution for our auction company clients,” said Bruce Hoberman, CEO of Proxibid. “Proxibid consistently offers our clients the best products and services in the industry, and we believe that adding APN will greatly enhance productivity and decrease costs for our auction company clients, while providing the most secure transactions possible for our bidders. It’s truly a win-win for everyone.”

“APN was designed with the auctioneer in mind,” said Joe Petsick, Executive Vice President of Operations for Auction Payment Network. “Understanding how auction companies process transactions was paramount for our development team, and we’ve been able to pinpoint the areas we believe auction companies find most useful when reconciling and invoicing their events, such as ensuring a secure transfer of funds directly from the bidder’s account to that of the auction company.”

Auction Payment Network is currently boarding clients to take advantage of its suite of payment processing solutions. Product downloads will be available in mid-August.

About Auction Payment Network

Founded in 2010, Auction Payment Network (APN) is the first online payment processing solution designed specifically for auction companies. Created with auctioneers in mind, APN’s sophisticated and user-friendly solution is designed to make payment processing easier and more efficient than ever before.

Never again will an auctioneer have to spend countless hours following an event inputting credit card numbers because our PCI-compliant solution offers secure, one-click processing for on-site and online purchases. Additionally, APN is compatible with most merchant processors, making it easier than ever for auctioneers from across the globe to take advantage of this powerful payment processing solution.

Auction Payment Network is a wholly owned subsidiary of Proxibid, Inc., the world’s largest provider of live auction webcasting services. Visit Auction Payment Network online at www.auctionpaymentnetwork.com.

Do you plan to use the Auction Payment Network for your auction transactions? Why or why not? Hit the comments.

I woke up this morning to find a ton of randomly-named files in the root directory of several of my WordPress installations. The files are named similarly to 0303c831c9c6203ba966dbf523d119ab.dat. The data of these files looks like a serialized PHP value.

I’m not sure if these files are due to the upgrade I performed to WordPress 3.0.1 last night, though they seemed to begin appearing shortly after I applied that upgrade. I’m speculating that they’re due to the way one of my plugins – perhaps Hyper Cache – is interacting with 3.0.1. It’s either that or some malicious infection. Either way, I’ll update here when I find out what’s causing it.

Have you noticed extra, random files in your WordPress installation after upgrading to 3.0.1? If so, hit the comments.

UPDATE: It looks like I can confirm that the problem was due to the Hyper Cache plugin. Upon automatically upgrading to the latest version of the plugin, 2.7.3, WordPress complained that it couldn’t find a cache directory and instructed me to create that directory. Even though I did, it seems it was still storing the cache files – these mysterious .dat files – in the WordPres root directory. After deactivating and reactivating the plugin, it seems to be storing the cache files in the correct location now.

I had a fantastic time in Greensboro this last week. I flew out on Sunday and met up with my good friend Robert Mayo, CAI, AARE, ATS, GPPA-D, to instruct the Auction Technology Specialist class prior to conference and show.

Opening night on Tuesday featured Carolina beach music, a fascinating and welcome change from last year’s Auction Idol project. I’d never heard this style of music before, and the relaxed atmosphere provided a relaxing and enjoyable opening night.

While I was disappointed that the we were provided a keynote motivational speaker after last year’s lovely break,  I can say that Devin Henderson wasn’t toxic like most motivational speakers and his magic tricks in his “Schmooze ‘em or Lose ‘em” presentation were actually entertaining.

Thursday morning’s business meeting went quite smoothly. The newly elected directors are Bryan Knox, CAI, and John Nicholls. The National Auctioneers Foundation presented Distinguished Leadership Award to Rob Doyle, CAI, CES; the Distinguished Service Award to Kip Toner, BAS; and the Outstanding Service Award to Don Shearer, CAI, CES, GPPA. The newly elected NAF trustees are Jack Hines, CAI, AARE, GPPA; Mike Jones, CAI, GPPA; and Randy Ruhter.

This was the first year that the President’s Gala was moved to Thursday evening. It didn’t feel right. When I think of Conference and Show, it’s the gala that stands out in my mind as the highlight. Holding the gala early, and moving much of the content from it to other events, makes it seem less important. The lesser quality gala notwithstanding, the NAA Hall of Fame finds itself with three fantastic new additions. Inducted into the NAA Hall of Fame are Barry Gordon, CAI, AARE, CES; R. Bracky Rogers, CAI, CES; and William Yonce, CAI.

Friday night’s International Auctioneer Championship (IAC) was spectacular as always. Winning the International Junior Auctioneer Championship, or IJAC, was Nolan Bell. Kristine Fladeboe-Duininck, BAS, won the women’s IAC and Eli Detweiler Jr., CAI, won the men’s division.

It was a fantastic week. Mechanical troubles with United gave us an extra day in North Carolina, so it’s wonderful to be home, but I already find myself looking forward to the 62nd International Auctioneers Conference and Show to be held in Orlando in July, 2011.

The MaxaNet users meeting held last Thursday was very successful. One of the outcomes is the creation of a new, semi-official community discussion forum for MaxaNet users. This new forum is now up and running and is located at maxanetusers.com. Registration is free to anyone who uses or is interested in the MaxaNet content management system and Internet bidding platform for auctioneers.

The audio recording from Thursday’s meeting has been posted on maxanetusers.com as a free download.

Dwayne Leslie from Global Auction Guide Media Group visits with Aaron from AuctioneerTech about the upcoming launch of the new Global Auction Guide website and the new features it will offer auctioneers. Video recorded in July, 2009, at the 60th International Auctioneers Conference and Show in Overland Park, Kansas.

Steve from AuctionZip visits with Aaron from AuctioneerTech about the current and upcoming features provided by AuctionZip to auctioneers. Video recorded in July, 2009, at the 60th International Auctioneers Conference and Show in Overland Park, Kansas.

I started this weblog in September, 2008. For nearly three years, now, it’s been a labor of love. In 2009, I started using the more editorial third person and have been doing so ever since.

As it becomes apparent that I’m unable to devote as much time as I would like to writing about auctions and technology, I’m making some changes. First, I’m dropping the third person. It’s not as genuine or honest as first person. Second, I’m going to extend the offer to anyone who is interested to submit an application to write for AuctioneerTech. These are the requirements.

1. You must have a passion for the auction industry
2. You must contribute at least one article each month
3. Your submitted articles will be exclusive to AuctioneerTech for seven days, after which time you may post the article to your blog or other venues
4. Your posts must relate to the auction industry or to technology or to both; they may not advertise your company
5. Your posts may be subject to slight editing (grammar and style, not content) and approval (for relevance) if necessary

I’m not able to offer any financial reward, but if you are interested in joining a small team of writers who publish on a site that receives thousands of visits each month, please send your information and at least two samples of your writing to aaron@auctioneertech.com.

Julie and Billie Jo from Satellite Prolink visit with Aaron from AuctioneerTech about the marketing products and services that they provide to auctioneers. Video recorded in July, 2009, at the 60th International Auctioneers Conference and Show in Overland Park, Kansas.

Scott from NextLot visits with Aaron from AuctioneerTech about the NextLot Internet bidding system. Video recorded in July, 2009, at the 60th International Auctioneers Conference and Show in Overland Park, Kansas.