IMMIGRATION CANADA IS FOR SALE: Immigration Canada, an online monthly newsletter of ILW.COM, is for sale. ILW.COM has increasingly focused on its print publishing business in US immigration law (from practically nothing to 12 titles in 2 years). As our only non-US property, Immigration Canada is not a good fit for us any more. Who are we? ILW.COM is the leading immigration law publisher online. Our website has 50,000+ pages of information on immigration law and attracts almost 200,000 unique visitors a month (almost 2,000,000 page views a month). The site was founded in 1995.
WHAT IS OFFERED FOR SALE: Included in the sale are the archives, the goodwill, and the circulation list. Immigration Canada has one of the largest circulations of any Canadian immigration periodical in the world, with a hyper-clean opt-in email list of 4,000+ subscribers exclusively for this online monthly newsletter. The monthly publication archives go back to June 2004. (Logos proprietary to ILW.COM and software code proprietary to ILW.COM are NOT included in the sale - just the actual text content of the archives.)
WHO SHOULD BUY AND WHY: Just to develop a circulation list of this size would take between $4,000 to $60,000 - based on google/overture price ranges for the appropriate keywords, and the ranges for conversion from site traffic to email address. The diverse readership includes not just potential immigrants to Canada, but a large number of professionals interested in Canadian immigration law - including a significant number in the US. Buying an established publication enables jump-starting internet marketing efforts, even if all the archives are discarded and only the name is kept, preserving the relationships with the readers. The Immigration Canada circulation list would be a good fit for the following: (a) a Canadian immigration law firm which wants to significantly expand its internet marketing effort (b) a vendor of services to Canadian immigration law firms (c) anyone involved with Canadian immigration who wants to quickly acquire a valuable online marketing strategic asset. We are fully prepared to assist the ultimate buyer achieve a smooth acquisition of this asset. SPECIAL BONUS: As an added incentive, we will carry a text link to the buyer's website from our home page for a period of 6 months after the sale. We will also redirect traffic from the old URL on our website to the buyer's website for a period of 6 months after the sale. The branding value of the text link from our home page alone is worth a lot of money.
ABOUT THE SALE PROCESS: Since this asset is worth different things to different people, we have found it difficult to price it. Hence, we are using the unusual option of an ebay auction to find the right buyer. However, buyers can begin with a minimum bid of even $1. The auction process we have selected is called "private auction" so that bidders can be assured of anonymity from other bidders. The bidding will end at 1pm Pacific Time (4pm Eastern Time) on Friday, October 20th. The successful bidder will have one business day to send us either a certified check, or a wire transfer, or credit card for payment (all in US dollars only). To learn about how the buying process on ebay works, see here. To ask a question about the sale, please send an email to webmaster@ilw.com. To bid for this valuable asset, click here.
Explanation: You can see the number of people who have viewed this auction using the counter at the bottom of the ebay page. Bear in mind that the counter counts each computer separately, not each visit from the same computer separately, thus, it is counting viewERS, not viewS. You can "watch" this auction by selecting "watch" on the top right of the ebay page. This will keep you advised even if all you want to do is watch this matter.
Explanation: Only watchers who have ebay accounts are counted under "watchers" above. Those who are watching as guests are not included in the count. This is a private auction--the identity of bidders and watchers will not be displayed or disclosed.
I hope you realize that the auction is legally binding. If someone bids one dollar and there are no further bids, you are bound by the terms of auction to sell it for 1 dollar.
Another thing: I think you should inform as many interested people about this auction as possible before launching the auction.
My advise would be not to start the auction so low, especially if the word is not spread around. I would first try the ad format on ebay. These would be more expensive but you wouldn't risk losing your valuable asset for next to nothing. Ebay is going through transition period and they are having tons of problems right now. They have problems with broken search engine, which means that not all items are visible at all times to all users. That's one of many problems.
I am an experienced ebay seller (powerseller).
the day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution- paul cezanne
As Immigration Canada asset no longer fits into our strategic plan, we have decided to part with it. It is in fact a valuable and useful asset to someone involved in Canadian immigration field. The reason for having this auction is to have someone make use of it rather than simply shutting it down.
We are aware that the auction is legally binding and are prepared to sell it at the best price we get. We are not depending on Ebay for publicizing the auction. We are publicizing it using our publications and website: Homepage, Immigration Daily and Immigrant's Weekly.
We encourage anyone who thinks that it is a bargain (which it is) to go ahead and bid for it.
You're welcome. If you need any help regarding the ebay auction format, don't hesitate to contact me. I wish you good luck. Hope you generate a lot of bidding action.
the day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution- paul cezanne
Explanation: When the first bid is entered, Ebay shows as "current price" only the minimum needed to win the auction at that time (at this time $1)--not the amount of the bid entered. During the final 12 hours of the sale we will not be able to provide updates on the Ebay page. You can get updates anytime on this discussion board thread.
UPDATE OCT 6TH APPROX 6PM ET: 126 viewers, 8 watchers, 6 bids. Last bid $101.57
Explanation: Bidding has begun in earnest there have been 6 bids that went as follows: $5, $10, $20, $25, $100 & $101.57.
Note: We will not be posting any update until Tuesday morning as we celebrate the Columbus Day long weekend. Ebay of course is open 24hr and 7 days a week. Please use the standard Ebay tools to follow and bid. We recommend that you bookmark this ebay auction pageand hit refresh when you visit it to see the latest action.
UPDATE OCT 10TH APPROX 9AM ET: 222 viewers, 13 watchers, 11 bids. Last bid $122.50
We are back from our Columbus Day weekend and will now be posting updates on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. Last weekend was not only Columbus Day weekend in the U.S. but also Thanksgiving weekend in Canada.
UPDATE OCT 11TH APPROX 2:30PM ET: 277 viewers, 14 watchers, 13 bids. Last bid $262.52
Explanation: An important way that ebay auctions work is that the winning bid is NOT the highest one, but the SECOND highest one plus a small amount. So, lets say you bid $10,000 for an item, and the next highest bidder bids only $500. Well, then, you win the item for about $525, NOT $10,000. So, that's why it may make sense to go ahead and bid your maximum up front, so that you don't have to go back again and again to raise your bid, since you can rest secure in the knowledge that even if you bid much higher than the next highest bidder, your winning bid will be tied to the second highest bid, not yours.
Who is going to buy useless information for canada immigration? Are you aware of the fact that if you raise the price on e-bay using your friend's ID; you still pay the listing and selling fees be careful
UPDATE OCT 12TH APPROX 10AM ET: 309 viewers, 16 watchers, 17 bids. Last bid $455.00
Explanation: We will not be able to post updates to the Ebay page tomorrow. So this may be our last update there. We will continue to provide updates on this discussion board thread.
Pointers for those new to EBay: Several of the current bidders and potential bidders who have contacted us are not familiar with Ebay auctions. Here are a list of pointers they may find useful. 1) If you have been following this auction but have not yet created an Ebay account to bid on it, it takes less than 2 minutes to create the account and enter the bid. Simply click on the following link and follow the directions: https://scgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?RegisterEnterInf...d=0&encRafId=default 2) If this asset is valuable to you, bid what you think it is worth and you will still get the best price because the final price is a few dollars above the SECOND highest bidder. ex. If you bid $10,000 and the second highest bidder bids $500, you will purchase it for around $525 not $10,000. This also ensures that you will not loose the asset for a mere $10 & $20, which is a common occurance on Ebay. 3) The final 2-3 hours (Friday: 9am-11:45am PT / 12pm-2:45pm ET) are critical. You need to be monitoring your e-mail and refreshing your screeen, because much of the action takes place in those hours.
If you have any questions, please feel free to write to webmaster@ilw.com.
As we head into the home stretch, the final day, of this action, we have noticed a pattern in the email correspondence coming to us. Basically, people want to know (1) Why are we selling? and (2) What is being sold? Here are the answers to these questions.
(1) Why are we selling?
As we said before "ILW.COM has increasingly focused on its print publishing business in US immigration law (from practically nothing to 12 titles in 2 years). As our only non-US property, Immigration Canada is not a good fit for us any more." We estimate that we have spent over $10,000 on Immigration Canada in the last four years (including the pre-launch period). It is unlikely that this auction will realize our expenses, so we will end up losing money on this sale. However, we do not believe that just shutting it down is the best way to serve the readers of Immigration Canada - instead, leaving them in the hands of someone who will make use of the list appears the preferable course of action.
(2) What is being sold?
The best way to approach this is with a (true) anecdote. A lady member of our team subscribed (personally) last year to a magazine called "Budget Living". She received it for a number of months, and then it stopped coming for a couple of months. Then, she started receiving a magazine called "Shop, Etc". What happened was that "Shop, Etc" magazine acquired "Budget Living" and folded its list into its database (see http://blmag.com/issue200622/index.php ). Typically, when periodicals are acquired, the most valuable asset is the mailing list which the acquirer typically merges into its own mailing list. Occasionally, the brand name is also kept alive (as a sub-script), to keep the association and the goodwill (e.g., in the car context, Datsun-Nissan). It is very seldom that the archived content is used by periodical acquirers (it is otherwise, of course, for acquirers of TV and movie libraries), but it is customarily included in the sale. So, the best way to understand what we are selling is (a) a squeaky-clean email list, one of the largest in Canadian immigration law; (b) a relationship with the readers (c) the archived content. Since the likely acquirer may very well be a Canadian immigration law firm, it is unlikely that the archived content will be retained by the acquirer - who would want the name of other attorneys on their own website? Most likely, the acquirer will merge the email list with their own, and will become over-night the largest force in internet marketing in Canadian immigration. Also, please remember that included in the sale is a link from our home page for 6 months, and redirection of traffic from the old URL for 6 months. As we have said before, the home page link alone has significant traffic and branding value. The reason we are throwing this into the pot, is because we want the acquirer to have the comfort of knowing that we are interested in their making good use of the asset after it is acquired.
It appears that many people bidding are new to eBay auctions (as, indeed, are we). For those bidding, or seriously considering bidding, we remind them that the real action in eBay auctions is typically in the last few hours, and they should plan on being at their computers on Friday: 9.15am-11:45amPT/12.15pm-2:45pmET. It is common to lose the bidding for a few dollars if people get distracted toward the end of the sale or forget to hit "refresh", or especially for newbies, get involved so late in the sale that they do not "get into the flow" of it until it is too late. We encourage those seriously interested to pay close attention to this auction over these final 24 hours.
I do not care for Canada but I would like to buy ilw.com; I think $1.50 is a reasonable price. I can do a better job than you monkeys can. Please transfer the domain name over to my godaddy account. Thank you.
******
“You could not endure the shame; you resisted; you gave the great, eternally vital sign of change, sacrificing your glowing lives for freedom, justice, and honor.”
Originally posted by iperson: That's called shill bidding Penetrating. It's against the rules and can get the seller suspended or NARU (no longer a registered user).
That is what I suspect in this particular auction I miss the super moderator Michael
Super moderator Michael is watching over us; I am the medium for his spirit
******
“You could not endure the shame; you resisted; you gave the great, eternally vital sign of change, sacrificing your glowing lives for freedom, justice, and honor.”
UPDATE OCT 13TH APPROX 9:30AM ET: 377 viewers, 16 watchers, 23 bids. Last bid $685
Here are answers to the frequently asked questions by potential bidders in correspondence with us.
1) The mailing list will be provided in a comma delimited or excel or any other commonly used format preferred by the buyer.
2) Content will be provided in a zip file containing around 60 files. The page content in each file will be between the html tags: "<!--Begin Page Content" and "<!---End Page Content--->".
3) The link on the home page will have the text such as "For Information About Immigration to Canada See Here". We are open to any reasonable alternate phrasings.
4) If the buyer wants to extend their presence on our homepage beyond the six months included in the auction, we are open to the concept. We will negotiate a mutually acceptable price for continued presence separate from the auction.
FINAL UPDATE OCT 13TH APPROX 12:00PM ET: 396 viewers, 15 watchers, 31 bids. Last bid $1,225
With only a couple of hours to go before the auction closes, we are locking this thread. We will reopen it for a final wrap up after the auction is over.
If someone needs to contact us before the auction is over, please send an email to webmaster@ilw.com.
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be careful 
I miss the super moderator Michael 
