Auction Power Guide

On May 1st, as a result of the Mexican boycott, national retailers reported 4.2% lower sales for the day, with a 67.8% reduction in shoplifting.

Statistics lie and liars use statistics.

The May Day boycott was "A Day Without Immigrants", not "A Day without Illegal Mexican Immigrants". The people boycotting were both immigrants (legal and illegal) from all over the world and their supporters. Their were many countries of origin represented, not just Mexico.

National retailers are not able to report on shoplifting stats in such a short amount of time: 10 days between the date of the boycott and the date of your posting is not enough time for individual retailers to perform inventory, file reports with their national office, and have the national offices report on their findings.

If there was a 67.8% reduction in reported arrests for shoplifting on that day, then we should be thankful to our immigrants. A reduction in arrests may be attributed to store security staff participating in the boycott. So, the stores should be thankful for their immigrant supporting security staff that does such a wonderful job of catching shoplifters. After all, when their immigrant supporting security staff are working, they catch 67.8% more shoplifters.

Additionally, by calling people "illegals" you are dehumanizing them. This is similar to what has been done throughout history: people dehumanize groups of people to justify genocides. The Germans, Austrians and Polish governments did it to the Jews; the Serbians did it to the Croations, the Tootsi’s did it to the Hutus. You are not the only one guilty of dehumanizing an entire group of people. I just finally had to say something.

The term "Illegals" is used to dehumanize immigrants to the United States of Mexican origin. And, people will argue, "but they are illegal". Many of them ARE legal, many are not. But, we don’t call Jaywalkers "illegals", even though they are doing something illegal. Please refer to people who are here without proper paper work as "illegal immigrants" – this term is not dehumanizing.

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As for the other stats listed in the answers portion:

1. 40% of all workers in L. A. County (L. A. County has 10 million people) are working for cash and not paying taxes.
> Most eBay vendors don’t pay taxes. I didn’t realize they were all in LA county. Let’s call all those eBayers who don’t pay taxes "Illegals" too. I love pulling statistical B.S. out of my tush.

5. Nearly 25% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.
> That’s because they are arrested for being here illegally.

6. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.
> So what? Wait! I thought they were all on welfare and living in HUD housing. Which is it?

7. The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border.
> "Most likely"… now that’s a good one to quote!

8. Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.
> Boyfriends, girlfriends, ex-husbands, roommates and youth over 18, and cousins aren’t allowed in HUD housing – they are all illegal…. though not necessarily illegal immigrants.

10. In L. A. County 5.1 million people speak English. 3.9 million speak
Spanish (10.2 million people in L. A. County).
> This is such a silly stat: probably about 3M out of the 3.9M speak both English and Spanish, so do we have 4M people in LA who are deaf, dumb and mute and speak no language? Your numbers don’t add up.

Over 70% of the United States annual population growth
> If we didn’t have immigration, the population of the US would actually be decreasing due to a low birth rate. Since the birth rate makes the population decrease, of course the increase is due to immigration (and people living longer)

29% of inmates in federal prisons are illegal aliens.
> Makes sense if illegal aliens are being incarcerated for being here illegally. Makes the reader assume that they are in jail for other crimes though.

Haggling over price is a cultural thing. More common in some foreign countries, no one expects to pay the asked for price.  That’s always just a starting point.  Poke around on the Internet and look for articles on “price haggling” and “bargaining.”  One article we saw noted that in certain countries the first thing the seller does when they see you are a foreigner is ask you where you’re from, what nationality.

This tells them how far they can go in getting the most out of you in terms of price. They know the globe by national nature, which nationalities are hesitant to haggle over prices and which aren’t. Supposedly, Germans are the easiest marks and will pay the first asked for price most often, and the second easiest touches are Americans.

It’s just not part of our culture. We are used to shopping in stores where things have price tags on them. Never would we go up to the counter in Macy’s with a men’s shirt marked at $ 39.99 and say to the lady behind the counter, “I’ll give you fifteen bucks for it.”

They’d look at you like you were daft, a loon. Yes, bargaining is in style in more informal settings, such as garage and lawn sales in the United States, but by and large, Americans tend to shop around looking for bargains, comparing prices, not bargaining with individual sellers to make their own.

The Internet is changing that, with popular auction sites like E-bay and the concept of “Best Offer.” What is Best Offer?”

Well, at noted Dell computer laptop leader www.merkamericaco.com, “Best Offer” is just what it sounds like. If you see the “Make Offer” button below the “Buy it Now” price in the listing, it means that Merk America will accept Best Offers from buyers. What that means is that you can negotiate the price with www.merkamericaco.com, for example, if the price says one thing and you just sigh and wish it were lower? MAKE it lower! No shame or harm in asking. That’s what Best Offer is all about. Cyber-Haggling! You negotiate the price with Merk America and rather than go hunting around on the Internet for a lower price? Make a reasonable offer that you can afford and are willing to pay right on the spot and it gives you the chance to see whether or not the folks at www.merkamericaco.com are willing to move the item out of their inventory quicker rather than let it sit waiting for someone to come along and pay the full marked price. Merk America can either accept, decline, or even make you a counter-offer. It’s like being in a foreign market haggling over a souvenir item on vacation. It can be fun, save you the time of looking elsewhere and of course, save you money in the long run.

Caution, though, you should be serious about your “Best Offers,” and you should only use this feature when you are serious about and really want the item but just feel you should or might be able to get it at a lower price. No vendor likes sitting inventory. A sale is a sale and a moved piece of inventory is quickly replaced with another item for sale. It’s the way to make money. Keeps the inventory moving. That’s why www.merkamericaco.com embraces the “Best Offer” concept wholeheartedly. Also, if your offer is accepted by the seller, you’re obligated to pay for the item, so be a tough bargainer and negotiator, but don’t just play games.

Perpetual Designs
http://www.articlesbase.com/laptops-articles/best-offer-for-serious-money-savers-only-746568.html