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Will this company be the next ebay? No one knows for sure, but one thing is for sure. It would have been fantastic to pick up ebay for $2, before it developed its website. Investors now may have their chance with Acubid.com (NASDAQ-BB-EBID). Here is some research on the company, including management:
AcuBid.com, Inc.
AcuBid.Com, Inc. is a newly established, San Diego based, live Internet Auction House, specializing in the sale of high-end collectibles. AcuBid's business objective is to develop a premier Website for high end Internet collectible trading. The Company will maintain an inventory of rare and hard to find Items which it will auction off to the public. In addition the Company intends to act as a broker to provide a venue for sellers and dealers to display their collectibles to potential purchasers throughout the
world via the Internet.
The Company will operate in the exciting rapidly growing Internet E-Commerce industry, specializing in highly sought after collectible items. Shopping on the Internet is becoming a way of life with many established companies entering retail sales. The Company will employ state of the art merchandising and operational techniques to conduct the auction process as well as insure authenticity, deliver products, and guarantee the security of consumer credit information.
The Company will employ state of the art sophisticated merchandising and operational techniques to condud the auction process as weJI as insure authenticity, deliver products, and guarantee the security of all consumer credit information. The Company will endeavor to design its services to provide to the customers the best possible service and customer experience in order to encourage repeat visits and referrals to other potential customers. The Company will obtain its merchandise directly from vendors as well as acting as a middleman to list available items from other sellers.
The Company will provide the ultimate in customer care and service, guarantee the products offered, quickly and accurately fill orders, and provide a toll free customer support phone number staffed by knowledgeable and friendly professionals. Acubid's online auctions will provide an ideal outlet for many harder to find and higher priced collectibles The frequency of the company's auctions and its ability to reach a worldwide audience provides the ideal vehicle for sales of these types of items.
Narrative Description of the Business
The Company
The Company will operate an online auction for high-end collectibles to collectors and other Interested buyers. The company intends to expand to other areas of online retail and auction sales. The Company believes that its online auction represents an innovative exciting sales venue for vendors and collectors as well as a format for other interested potential buyers to view these exciting and exotic items.
The Internet online sales industry has expenenced a rapid growth both in terms of Web users and total sales. At the end of 1997 there were 38 million web users in the U.S. It is estimated that by the end of 2002 this number will increase to 135 million. In addition Web users are spending and ever increasing amount of time on the Web. A recent report issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce estimates that the overall traffic on the Internet doubles every tOO days. An independent source reports that U.S. consumer purchases over the Internet will increase from 2.6 billion in 1997 to 37.5 billion in 2002.
Profit Centers
Online Internet sales offers a unique opportunity for a variety of different point profit points:
1) Transactional fees:
Initially a transaction fee can be charged to the seller in the form of sales commission. Sellers of these types of items are used to paying commissions to the auction house at live auctions and the company anticipates little or no resistance to this method of generating income.
2) Advertising:
Once the company establishes a track record of " hits" on its site, It is anticipated that it will be able to sell advertising space on its site to a variety of advertisers who welcome the opportunity to reach the typical purchaser of high end collectible items. The demographic profile of the typical client of high end collectibles is among the highest in the nation, and should command a premium price for advertising space on the company's Website.
3) Miscellaneous Profit Centers:
The business of the Company readily lends itself to a variety of additional potential profit centers. Among these are membership fees, charges for shipping and handling, selling of fraud and other types of protective insurance, additional transaction fees borne by the buyer as well as the seller, registration fees, commissions on the sale of other companies' products pursuant to strategic alliances with other companies and profit margins on products sold directly by the Company.
It is also contemplated that the Company will develop additional software to be sold to users which will be compatible with the Company's auction and will facilitate the entire auction process.
The AcuBid Auction
The Company has an impressive array of technical support personnel. The Company intends to design an easy to use, fast, attractive Website to provide a venue for users through an exciting auction format. To participate in the auction a first time bidder will complete an electronic
registration form found on the Company's Website. The user will t~en be issued an identification number which will be their permanent number to be used for all future auctions. Additional security measures such as an individual password may be implemented.
There will be constant real time updates on all auctions, and bidders will be able to monitor their position in any auction. There will be various methods available to notify a bidder as to their position in an auction, and when they have been outbid. AcuBid intends to develop its own proprietary software which will electronically notify a bidder whenever they have been outbid for a specific item. This software will allow the bidder to monitor their position in numerous auctions simultaneously, without the
necessity of scrolling to each auction on their monitor.
When an auction is completed, successful bidders will be notified by email, method of payment confirmed and items shipped wit~in two business days of the close of the auction. Expedited shipping will be available at an additional cost.
All items sold will be authenticated by AcuBid1 either by specialized software, or in some cases by well krow experts in the field. Guaranteed authenticity will be a service provided by AcuBid to all its registered successful bidders. In addition various forms of fraud insurance will be available.
Analysis of the Competition
The Internet electronic commerce market is a rapidly growing and intensely competitive market. This competition is expected to increase in the future. While the company intends to specialize and carve out a highly targeted niche market, it will still be competing with a variety of other companies in the industry. In addition the Company may decide to diversify its offerings and will therefore be competing with a full range of internet online sales companies, these include a variety of Internet Auction houses such as e-Bay, Ubid, ONSALE, Yahool Auctions, First Auction, WebAuction and other companies offering similar products through physical auctions.
The Company eventually intends to expand its focus into other product lines beyond highend collectibles, and include all types of collectibles and even venture into a full line of products such as jewelry, gemstones, unique types of electronic and household goods, and classic automobiles.
CAPITALIZATION
The Company's authorized capital consists of 50,000,000 shares of Common Stock, of which 2,639,301 shares are issued and outstanding. The total amount committed to the Company for the issued and outstanding shares is $6,672,857 with an average purchase price of $2.53 per share.
MANAGEMENT
A. Directors and Executive Officers.
The Directors and Executive Officers of the Company are:
-
NAME AGE POSITION
Lawrence Schaffer 30 Director, Chief Executive Officer, and President
Norman Schwartz 55 Director, Chief Financial Officer, Secretary and Vice President of Finance
Devin Singleton 31 Director and Vice President Technical
John Irvine 48 Director
Larry Herbinaux 31 Director
B. Biographies of Directors and Executive Officers and Employees.
LAWRENCE C. SCHAFFER- 30, President. Bachelor of Arts, University of Arizona, 1991. Employed in the brokerage industry in New York as a stockbroker for four years at Guntal & Company, Janney Montgomery Scott and Natwest Investor Services. Mr. Schaffer also has experience in administration and marketing for several small-cap public companies. Mr. Schaffer has served as President for International AcuVision Systems, Inc. since 1994. Mr. Schaffer is one of the founders of WebGalaxy, Inc., an Internet service provider based in Carlsbad, California.
NORMAN A. SCHWARTZ 55, Director, Chief Financial Officer, and Vice President of Finance. Mr. Schwartz receive a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Arizona and a Master of Laws in Taxation from New York University and was formerly a staff member in the Office of the Chief Co~nsel of the Internal Revenue Service in Washington, D.C. Subsequently, Mr. Schwartz was principal and Chief Executive Officer of Oxford Financial Corporation of Phoenix, Arizona and was Chief Executive Officer and director of American Lube Centers of Houston, Texas, one of the largest franchisees of ]iffy Lube International. Mr. Schwartz is currently an officer and director of AmeriTrust, an estate planning and financial planning firm.
DEVIN SINGLETON 31, Director, and Vice President Technical attended the University of California at San Diego to obtain a CJient Server Technology Certificate. Mr. Singleton is a Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer and has been a senior software engineer for Stellcom Technologies, Sorrento Valley, California. He was formerly programming consultant for Mail Boxes etc., Systems Analyst/Programmer to Melles Griot Hene Lasers of Carlsbad, California and Programming Consultant to Integrated Health Systems of La Jolla, California.
LARRY HERBINAUX - 31, Director, Bachelor of Science Degree, University of California San Diego, 1990. Mr. Herbinaux has extensive experience as a software engineer and has experience designing and developing software that provides a framework for both integrating and customizing the sign-up, provisioning, and user self administration of internet services. Mr. Herbinaux has worked for stellcom technologies where he jointly developed products with Microsoft. Mr. Herbinaux designed and developed software for an Internet gaming system, the largest rnternet SQL server to date. Mr. Herbinaux is experienced in writing and developing custom applications for the Internet; currently he is working on a joint venture between Qualcom and Microsoft to develop wireless Internet applications.
JOHN S. IRVINE 48 Director. BA & MA, Western University, Toronto Canada. John is President of both Affinity lelesystems Inc. of Canada and U.S.A. Affinity Telesystems. Affinity is a marketing management company in the telecommunications field with strong affiliation to the labor movement. Affinity has exclusive agreements to supply a range of telecommunication services and to market United Labor Online to Unions that represent almost 3 million members. Prior to founding Affinity, Mr. Irvine was employed in senior management positions in the Banking and Office produds industries. lohn will be responsible for developing, servicing and expanding the number of Union subscribers.
CONCLUSION
EBID is definitely worth a hard look. Don't miss the opportunity to invest in an INTERNET AUCTION company PRIOR to its national launch!
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