Just curious if any of you guys are investing in today’s Visa IPO? The stock is up 35% from the opening IPO price as of writing this. I just bought $3,000 worth of shares at $59.75…I think the stock has a lot of potential.

I’m curious to know your thoughts on whether it’s a good buy or not…regardless if you invested or not. I’m pretty new to the stock market, so any advice is more than helpful.

Surprisingly I searched in Google last night and found that two of my sites (including this blog) now have the coveted sitelinks:

I think Google could have done a better job with the links, but I’ll take what I can get I wonder how they decide what goes in there. I could have sworn reading somewhere that you can adjust or suggest the links in Webmaster Tools, but I only see the option to block a link:

I also surprisingly realized that my page rank for this blog went away completely. I’m assuming Google penalized me for selling Text Link Ads on the sidebar. With my new design, I’ll be removing TLA, and will only be running text links that have a rel=nofollow. Hopefully Google will unpenalize (sp?) me then. Even though I have no page rank, it hasn’t really affected my traffic from Google. Here’s a chart of the past 30 days of Google (excluding Google Images) traffic:

I’ve recently been doing a lot of stuff to try and make money using the eBay affiliate program through Commission Junction. While I’m glad I’m really just in the beginning of using the program, it’s still going to be a huge pain. Since eBay is moving off of CJ, all of the affiliate links need to be updated. Imagine those with thousands of blog posts…starting May 1st, 2008, those old links won’t make money anymore unless they are updated.

There will be a couple of big benefits from all this though:

• Easy global registration to multiple countries simultaneously
• New, targeted banners and rich media creatives
• New landing page optimization and geo-targeting capabilities
• More detailed reporting capabilities for eBay??s programs
• eBay will be offering a 5% bonus for all traffic (through the new network) in April. For those that can migrate quickly, they will see the benefits

The last three could potentially be really good if eBay does it right. I’m always up for new, targeted banners if it can be tied into content better and can be more effective. I’m interested in seeing what they mean by new landing page optimization. Geo-targeting capabilities may be something really big that I’ll be able to use for an upcoming project I’m working on. One of the biggest things is more detailed reporting. I’ve always said that the reporting was too limited by Commission Junction, and hopefully eBay can make this right. Reporting can do a ton for a publisher to better optimize how they promote the affiliate network, which makes more money for eBay and the publisher.

Overall it seems like it will be a good thing, but a huge pain in the ass. If there is any way they can make old CJ links still work, they should do that. I don’t see how that wouldn’t be possible since the old links use the rover.ebay.com domain…it’s not like it’s a commission junction domain, it’s on their own domain! Just make the new ones a different non-rover.ebay.com and if there are some sort of less reporting or features from the old links, they’ll be able to separate them.

My other concern is auditing. Currently, Commission Junction is the middle-man…the third party to verify reporting and data is correct. I hope there is something in place to ensure everything is accurate.

You’ll be able to start migrating April 1st, 2008, and should be done by May 1st, 2008. Here’s the full e-mail I got:

Dear David Pitlyuk:

We are excited to announce eBay??s new global affiliate platform: the eBay Partner Network.

The new platform will go live on April 1st, 2008 PST, at which point eBay will no longer be running its affiliate program through Commission Junction. Beginning April 1st, affiliates should register with eBay Partner Network and migrate their links from CJ to the new platform.

While CJ and ValueClick have been valuable partners to eBay throughout the years, we??ve decided to give our affiliate community a customized experience for eBay affiliates.

All the great tools and benefits of working with the eBay program will remain the same ?? access to the Editor Kit and affiliate API, the flexible destination tool, the great payout structure. In addition, the eBay partner network will provide several new features:

• Easy global registration to multiple countries simultaneously
• New, targeted banners and rich media creatives
• New landing page optimization and geo-targeting capabilities
• More detailed reporting capabilities for eBay??s programs

The eBay Partner Network and Commission Junction will run in parallel for one month through this process, so please plan to complete your migration by May 1st, 2008.

You can receive an additional 5% bonus for all traffic tracked through eBay Partner Network in April 2008 (bonus applicable to traffic sent to Half.com and US, UK, Australia, Canada, Italy, India and Spain eBay sites). The sooner you migrate, the more you??ll earn! Just:

• Register with eBay Partner Network on April 1, 2008
• Confirm your registration, and obtain your new identifiers
• Update your links with your new identifiers.
• Reminder: Please plan to complete migration by May 1, 2008.

You will receive more information and step by step directions for the transition on April 1st. A special help desk to answer your questions about migration will also be available starting April 1st. You can find more details, including a list of programs that will be affected, at http://affiliates.ebay.com.

Thanks for being a valued partner. We??re excited for a successful transition, and the opportunity to grow your business through even more innovations, information and communication moving forward!

Sincerely,
eBay??s Affiliates Managers

A friend of mine told me about a demo day at Coleman Powersports to try out the 3-wheeled BRP Can-Am Spyder. For those that don’t know what it is, a picture tells all:

The Can-Am Spyder is like a mixture of a motorcycle, quad, and car…all in one. There is really nothing like it out there. The two wheels are in the front, allowing you to turn it without having to lean your body like a motorcycle. With a variety of stabilizers and traction controls and then some, it keeps the vehicle planted on the ground and giving it a surprising amount of traction. You could even consider it an all-weather motorcycle, as there are no traction issues with a wet road.

For the demo day, BRP brought over a bunch of the Spyders:

After taking a short survey and watching a video, they took us out onto a small course setup with cones. They showed us the basics of using the Spyder, and we took it out for a couple laps to get the hang of it. There is only a brake on the right foot, and the clutch works the same way as a regular motorcycle. There is an optional automatic option which is about $1,500. There is also a reverse functionality that you obviously won’t find on a motorcycle. If you can ride a motorcycle, you’ll get the hang of this right away…it’s very easy to ride. Here’s a shot of me going through the course:

After going through the coned course, we took it out on the open road, driving it around for a few miles. It was a real blast, and I actually enjoyed riding it a lot more than I thought I would. Taking corners were fun as you could really feel it compensating the weight differential. It’s fairly quick as well…faster than I thought it would be. There is a 110mph limiter, so you can definitely get it up there if you wanted to.

The company who makes the Spyder is the same company behind Sea-Doo, the popular maker of jet skis. The Spyder MSRP’s for $15,499, but they may actually be going for higher as the ones I see on eBay are mostly going for closer to $20,000. Prior to the test drive I would have never thought that I would actually want one. While I wouldn’t personally spend $15,000 on one…if I had a bunch of expendable income, I wouldn’t mind having a few of these to have some fun with friends. If you’re just interested in getting into motorcycles, but may not be ready or comfortable getting on two wheels…check this out at your local dealer, it just may be for you.

I’ve been looking for a 97 Blue/White Dodge Viper as my next toy/garage queen car, and I finally found the one I want. The car is completely stock, and only has 6,300 miles on it! It has been sitting in a heated garage for it’s entire life, pampered. Exactly what I want The price is right too. I’m located in VA, and the car is located halfway across the country.

So I’ve been talking to the owner over the phone (an older gentleman), and part of my offer to him was that I would pay for the car in cash. What I meant by that was something like a wire transfer. So when he finally accepted my offer, it was based on it being a cash one. When I brought up a wire transfer, he said that would be impossible because he does not have a bank account. Who doesn’t have a bank account?? The possible scam alerts went off, but everything else seemed right. I posted in the Viper forums to get their thoughts, and many said to be very careful, others said they didn’t see a big deal…he may actually have an account, but wants cash to protect himself against a scam. I know for a fact that my roommate who buys/sells cars requests cash as well (although he would still figure something out with alternative methods).

I obtained a few vital pieces of information from the seller:

• His full name
• His address
• He stated that he purchased the car brand new (also a good thing to look for when buying a car), so I found out the dealership he purchased it from
• The dealership he does the cars maintenance at
• The VIN # for the Viper

So I spent a good part of yesterday and today doing some follow up research to see if everything else checks out:

• I called Bernie over at BJ Motors in Richmond, VA for his advice. Bernie owns a higher end used car dealership, that also specializes in Vipers.
• I checked the VIN with Carfax. Everything checked out just fine.
• I called Chuck Tator over at Tator’s Dodge in NY. Chuck Tator owns the dealership, and he is known as the Viper Wizard. He has been extremely friendly and helpful with me in the past with my other Viper, even with questions that do not benefit himself in any way. He ran the VIN # for me and gave me a full history of the car. The VIN checked out as the correct car, and was purchased by the same seller’s name in the same city that the seller is located. It had a number of maintenance done to it at certain times through the 11 years it has been in existence. These were then verified by calling the seller and asking about them. He also verified it was purchased at the same dealership in which the seller said he purchased it from.
• I called the dealership in which the seller said he purchased it from, and I verified with them that that was in fact the case.

This was half the battle. The other half the battle was trying to figure out a way to get him cash without putting myself in potential danger, giving some sort of paper trail, and not getting on a plane with a bag full of money. My first big idea was to find a bank located in the sellers state, as well as my state…open an account, transfer money there, and then pull it out at the bank when picking the car up. The only potential was Bank of America, but after making some phone calls, I found out that the bank that was considered BOA, was actually purchased by them but not migrated over yet. Damn.

Luckily, I have a good friend that goes to law school about 20 minutes away from where the car is located! I gave her a call, and we worked everything out so that I will do a wire transfer of the cash into her account. We will then go to the bank with the seller, the car, and the title and she will get a cashiers check in the seller’s name. In the memo she will make sure to remit the payment from me and write that it is for the car (the paper trail!). The seller will then be handed the check, and immediately hand it back to the bank (after providing 2 forms of ID and filling out a federal form since it’s over $10,000) to cash it out. I feel safe in this situation, he got his cash, I got the car, and everybody should be happy. Keep in mind that I also have to set this up with the bank about a week ahead of time so they can place an order to have that amount of cash on-hand for that day. Much to many people’s surprise, banks don’t have much money they can just hand out. They will easily take your money, but it’s much harder to take it out.

Knowing all of this information, do you think I should feel comfortable with the transaction? Or do you feel it’s a scam somehow? If you still think I am somehow getting scammed, definitely let me know how, so I can look further into it.

Hopefully I’ll have a pristine Viper sitting in the garage in the next two weeks! Anybody want to buy a perfect fully loaded 6-speed 97 C5 red Corvette with 36,000 miles for $19,999 ? E-mail me!

I’ve talked about doing a new design here, here, and here in the past. One of my goals for this year is to actually go through and launch it! I’m currently working with a developer now to get this done…the actual design aspect is 95% complete. The design (just the homepage) has been HTMLized and integrated into Wordpress.

Now we’re working on doing some of the custom stuff that I need done. Once that’s complete we’ll work on getting the actual sub pages (like a post page) HTMLized and integrated into Wordpress. After this is done, we’ll be going through other pages to make sure all looks good (ex: category pages, archives, etc), importing all the old data into it, doing a bunch of testing…as well as updating (this will make more sense when it’s launched), and then hopefully launching it.

I’m really hoping to have the new site launched this month as it is the one year anniversary of my blog…and what a great way to celebrate that! I think you guys will really like the new look and feel! For now a teaser will have to do: