After more than a year battling several criminal charges here, the owner of a Hummer limo service in the valley might soon be off the hook.

Prosecutors have requested an Eagle County judge to dismiss charges against Jonathan Levine, the owner-operator of VailLuxuryLimo. Levine, 44, of Wildridge, faces two counts of criminal impersonation, a felony. He is charged with using false identities to gain access on the auction Web site and defraud eBay, as well as eBay's customers, the criminal complaint says. Levine, who is out on a $50,000 bond, originally faced more criminal charges.

District Attorney Mark Hurlbert said new evidence that appeared in the case made it hard to continue.

"It's something that happens from time to time. With any case it's a fluid situation," Hurlbert said. "Even if we have a good case at the beginning, sometimes new evidence comes up and makes it hard to prove the charges. And that's what happened in this case. Avon (police) did a great investigation for us."

Hurlbert, however, filed the dismissal without prejudice, which means if new evidence appears in the case, they could re-file it.

Rhidian Orr, Levine's attorney said they're objecting to the prosecutors' request for dismissal.

"I want them to dismiss it with what would be the equivalent of dismissing with prejudice, which means they can't continue to harass my client," Orr said. "I hope this is the last time.

"The case started with about 14 felony counts initially filed," he added. "All charges have been dropped, but two. They're attempting to dismiss the case right now. That means they didn't have a case."

False ID charges

Avon police arrested Levine in April 2004 for allegedly using multiple false identities to sell items on eBay. According to police reports, Levine, used 11 aliases.

Levine said the charges weren't true and that "he had been framed."

According to a report from the eBay fraud department, there were six suspensions on Levine's account for fraud and illegal activity. All identities allegedly used by Levine eventually came back to his address or a credit card number receiving payments.

According to Avon police investigators, when they searched Levine's home and vehicles they found what they called a "significant" amount of potential evidence against him and a bag of suspected methamphetamine.

If convicted, Levine could face up to 18 months in prison and fines of up to $100,000 for each felony count. Levine is also charged with computer crime, a misdemeanor.

SOPHISTICATED criminals are taking aim at customers of the internet auction house eBay to skim money from their bank accounts.

The emails tell recipients their eBay account will be suspended and they will be barred from the auction site unless they update personal details.

The fraudulent emails also provide a link to a website where the information can be entered.

eBay Australia trust and safety director Alastair MacGibbon said the fraud was an industry-wide problem and most internet companies with large customer lists were targets.

He was unable to say how much money had been lost by customers through the fraud.

To deal with the crime eBay has set up an investigation team and called on people who receive suspicious emails to send them to spoof@eBay.com.au for confirmation.

The company has also advised users to keep their anti-virus software up to date, never email their online account details and to download an eBay tool bar.

The ruthless crooks have also taken aim at Australians who give to charity, with a phony email purporting to be from the Red Cross and asking for donations for London bombing victims.

The emails, usually sent by overseas crime syndicates, are part of identity fraud crime that costs Australia $1.1 billion annually.

The Australian Federal Police say the internet fraud has spiralled.

"The number of individuals who have been affected by this type of crime, and the value of the funds compromised, has increased markedly in recent years," an AFP spokeswoman said.

The crime is being fought worldwide by the US based Anti-Phishing Working Group.

"Police blotter" is a weekly report on the intersection of technology and the law. This episode: an ebay deal goes awry.

What: Dispute over quality of Pfaltzgraff Heritage tumblers that were purchased on eBay.

When: Arrest made September 2001, case decided July 20, 2005.

Outcome: After being arrested on charges of stalking an eBay seller, Jay Howard Rothhaupt sued. He largely (but not entirely) lost before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.

What happened: When Rothhaupt bought a set of Pfaltzgraff Heritage tumblers on eBay for $59, he was unhappy with the quality. Even after eBay sellers Seldon and Phyllis Scott offered a full refund plus return shipping costs, Rothhaupt remained irked.

It's not clear what happened next. The Scotts claimed that Rothhaupt refused to leave and they called the police (Seldon Scott is a special deputy with the county sheriff's department). Rothhaupt said he left the property when requested.

Seldon Scott followed Rothhaupt in his own car. Not long after, Rothhaupt was pulled over on interstate 71 by police and frisked. After acknowledging he had a rifle in the back of his car that he said was used for target shooting, Rothhaupt was arrested on charges of second-degree stalking, harassing communications, theft by deception, and third-degree criminal trespass. He was tried on two of the four charges and acquitted by a jury.

In response, Rothhaupt sued in federal court alleging his constitutional rights had been violated. The three-judge panel ruled in favor of the Scotts and the sheriff's department on all grounds but one, saying that the only claim that might have merit is that Rothhaupt was wrongfully arrested.

Quote: "We disagree with the district court on the propriety of the arrest, because (the deputy) lacked probable cause. Under the Fourth Amendment, an officer 'may not seize an individual except after establishing probable cause that the individual has committed, or is about to commit, a crime.'" --from the court opinion

Jennifer Aniston's toilet-paper musings are not for public consumption.

The Southern California lawyer who made headlines this week for promising to auction off memorabilia of his and Aniston's long-ago supposed summer of puppy love, including the birthday card the future Friends star was said to have improvised on two-ply, has scuttled the sale.

Michael Baroni said he nixed the planned eBay auction, set to launch on Friday, after hearing from Aniston's camp that the actress would rather the items not be put up for bid.

"I have nothing but fond memories of Jennifer as a friend, and only wish her well," Baroni said in an email.

Aniston's publicist did not return a call for comment.

Baroni planned to seek at least $100,000 for the lot of photos and trinkets, some dating back to 1984, when Aniston was 15, he was 16, and, according to him, they shared a "summer passion" in New York. Baroni said the fling morphed into friendship, before falling off the map altogether. He said he last spoke with Aniston in 1991, three years before she shot to fame in Friends.

Though Baroni's memorabilia never was publicly offered on eBay, the same could not be said of a host of joke auctions--the one offering the "Jennifer Aniston love letters I will write and never send," or the one offering "an actual Jennifer Aniston love letter my brother sent her that parodied a hit country music tune lyrics." Baroni sounded concerned that he would be linked to those sales. He was not--that is, linked to those sales. Suffice to say, the T-shirts with the T.P. graphic reading, "I used you--Jennifer Aniston," was someone else's brainchild.

With his own eBay auction a non-starter, Baroni said he has no plans to revive the sale. That means the "love letter from Jennifer, handwritten in red pen," the piece of paper Aniston reportedly wrote her name and phone number on--"in her own liptsick!," the page from Baroni's "little black book that contains Jen's old NY address and phone number," and the famous toilet-paper birthday card might forever be off-limits to celebrity archivists.

Though Aniston might have scored a victory in keeping the reputed remainders of her young love life off the market, on the day, she was only one-for-two in the romance department. Friday, after all, would have been her and Brad Pitt's fifth anniversary, but the couple fell several months short of that mark. Aniston filed for divorce in March. Real, not toilet, paper was used.

It was time, sadly, to put my car out to pasture. Time to shift out of the pre-cupholder, roll-down-your-own-window s era into the modern automotive age. So after 13 years, I mustered all my courage and ventured back into the market.

But how did I end up shopping for such a major purchase on eBay? I am, after all, a confirmed and proud technophobe, the owner of no iPods or PDAs whatsoever. I didn't have the chops to shop for a car on eBay. It just turned out that way.

I tried to buy the old-fashioned way, I really did. I knew the make and model I wanted, and I knew I was looking for a used car. I even had a target age: three years old, one of the constant stream of vehicles that roll into dealerships after coming off a lease. My intended car came with a four-year, 50,000-mile warranty, so I'd have the better part of a year to find any kinks and get them fixed for free. All in all, almost-new wheels, at less than an almost-new price.

That was the plan, anyway.

I liked the salesman at the dealership. I told him that I was ready to buy, but that I wasn't going to do it that day. Today, I said, I want to drive and ask questions. Tomorrow, I'll come back and talk money. As the 3-year-old son of a friend once told me, with a withering glance I would have thought impossible for someone his age: "Yeah, right."

In the lot, I checked out a few possibilities, picked out my favorite and took it for a ride. I loved it. When the radio blared Bill Withers's "Lovely Day," it only served as confirmation: This was definitely my car.

But it never happened. The salesman first offered a "today-only" deal, which I turned down, and that car was sold before I could return the next day. Then he mentioned a similar car whose price was higher. I set up an appointment to return the next day.

The salesman called in the morning. The car was up on the lift, he said, getting a stem-to-stern checkup so any defects could be fixed and it could be sold as a "certified" used car, commanding a higher price tag. I tried to hide my disappointment. Certification would put the car beyond my reach. Call me when they're finished, I said. The call never came.

And so it came to be that I stumbled -- or was I pushed? -- onto the Internet to buy a car. Okay, so the only thing I had bought on eBay was a pair of sandals. In an age when the online universe is so pervasive that my own mother is Googling me (hmmmm), I figured it was worth a try. In its five years of existence, well over 1 million cars have been sold through eBay Motors. If all those folks could do it, so could I. Maybe.

It was time for the Great Car Hunt, Version 2.0.

Searching for a car on eBay is fun, and frustrating. Type the make of your would-be wheels into the search engine, and dozens of cars are likely to appear, each with exhaustive lists of specifications and sometimes dozens of photographs. You may not have as many pictures of your own children.

And then there are the tantalizing dollar figures. A few dealers set their initial bids at zero or close to it, creating a feeding frenzy -- and an optical illusion, essentially. I'm sorry to say, but you're not going to snag that snazzy Audi for $250, though it may look like that if you watch an auction (usually 10 days long) as it begins. Other sellers start bidding at more realistic levels.

On the opposite end of the equation, some sellers advertise -- usually with capital letters and several exclamation points -- no reserve, which means the bidder with the highest offer at the end of the auction gets the car, even if the final offer is low. But most sellers set a reserve, or minimum price, that is unknown to buyers, so if the auction doesn't catch fire, there's no sale. And then there's a hybrid option in which there's an auction as well as a "buy it now" price.

Whoa, I thought one day, making my daily online rounds and spying "my" car, a 2001 Saab in purportedly flawless condition, 40,000 miles -- not fantastic, but not bad -- and at only $13,000, with two days to go in the auction. Okay, so the car was in Pennsylvania. I could figure something out, I reasoned.

I jumped. Count me in, up to $13,500, I wagered. I waited. For a couple of hours, no higher bids appeared. Could it be this easy?

Yeah, right, as my 3-year-old friend would say. Not a chance. When I returned to my keyboard a few hours later, my bid had been buried by offers that climbed thousands of dollars higher, the victim of an essentially efficient market.

Sure, you may get those vintage jelly-jar glasses for a steal in another wing of the eBay colossus, but it isn't going to happen with a purchase that has as large a buying audience -- and so much money at stake -- as a car. There are thousands of people trolling the same listings, looking for the same bargain. That means the drop-dead bargain doesn't exist. Look at it this way: Why on earth would a retailer accept a substantially lower price online for a car that he could get from a customer who had walked into his showroom?

All the same, that car ended up selling for a good price -- as it turned out, the lowest price I saw for a comparable vehicle, probably $2,500 to $3,000 less than it would have sold for at a Washington area dealership.

Sure, I knew, in my brain if not my heart, that finding a fantastic deal was highly unlikely. Still, I tried two other eBay auctions, with the same distinct lack of success. It took a lot of mental energy, as auctions stretched over days, and most of the final selling prices seemed to eerily resemble the prices I had seen advertised in showrooms.

And then I found Lenny. Or, rather, I saw a car listed that looked like "mine." This one had a "buy it now" price, which was considerably less than others of its type and was only a couple of thousand dollars more than the latest bid. The auction had a long way to go, and the bids would probably eventually reach the same level as the "buy it now" price.

In other words, I could save a lot of time and effort by acting now, as they say on TV. It would be like losing the crowd by riding the elevator all the way to the top, rather than taking the stairs with everyone else, step by step, and hoping to win the race.

But I'd never seen the car in person, much less driven it. And there was the fact that it was in New Jersey, and I was in Washington. Come to think of it, the whole notion of spending many thousands of dollars on a car, sight unseen, tires unkicked, was pretty outlandish. So I picked up the phone and called Lenny.

The dealership's phone number was at the bottom of the listing. Actually, it wasn't a retail dealership, but a wholesale operation, as the guy who answered -- that would be Lenny -- explained. Wholesalers buy cars at to-the-trade auctions and then resell them to retailers. Some also "flip" cars to individual buyers.

It made sense to me. And these guys didn't tack on the fees I had seen nearly everywhere else, both in online auctions and at dealerships: $150, $200, even $300 for "documentation" costs. Nuisance fees, it seemed to me, like paying them to sell you their car. I liked that Lenny didn't do that.

And this place, I found after making a few more clicks, sold some fancy used cars. BMWs, Jaguars. It shouldn't have made a difference -- after all, anyone can buy whatever they want from auction -- but for some reason, it gave me confidence that I wasn't about to do something really stupid.

I got a history report on the car by clicking on its vehicle identification number on the listing. For less than $10, CarFax, an independent firm, coughed up the details on the car's life, including whether it had sustained major damage, been stolen or whether its odometer appeared to have been rolled back. Everything came up roses.

What the heck. It was time. You take your chances. I sealed the deal.

After weeks of searching and dozens of cars perused, I would "buy it now." After competing with thousands of other bidders in the world's largest virtual bazaar -- and losing -- I got my quarry pretty much the old-fashioned way, by knowing a good deal when I saw it and by trying hard not to be distracted by games or gimmicks.

A few days later, I hitched a ride with a friend who was heading north. Little more than a couple of hours later, we arrived at our place.

There were cars everywhere on a piece of pavement that served as a showroom, and a makeshift office that -- let's just say -- apparently had not been tidied up in recent millennia. At the desk sat Lenny, disheveled but helpful, seeming at 2 p.m. as though he had just rolled out of bed. Across the lot was a considerably fancier work in progress, a bona fide showroom, with car logos and everything. These guys were moving on up.

And there was my car, looking as though it had just left the factory. About 10 minutes later, I was rolling merrily down the highway.

After a lot of work, it seemed easy. And I was lucky, no doubt about it. Nearly a year later, the car has heroically withstood a battery of endurance tests, and I got it for a lot less -- I'd guess $1,300 to $2,500 less, although it's impossible to know for sure -- than I could have haggled for from a local dealership.

Plus, my 2001 Saab 9-3 convertible, for which I wound up paying $19,700, is a lot of fun. Much more so than my eBay sandals.

Delmar Janovec, Net2Auction president, noted, "Management has begun discussions with a few potential acquisition targets, and we plan to aggressively investigate any potential acquisition opportunities that may be presented to us. With rapid organic expansion, as well as acquisition initiatives, we are working to capture a significant portion of the marketplace."

"By acquiring other companies in our industry, we could achieve several objectives in a few acquisition transactions -- we could move competition out of our way, we could further expand our eBay drop-off locations on a national basis, and we could increase our top-line revenue and profitability."

"There are literally tens of millions of Americans that have unused items to be sold on eBay, but choose not to do so themselves because they don't have the time, energy, or know-how. Management believes that we are facing what could be one of the greatest growth opportunities of this decade," Janovec concluded.

Net2Auction's acquisition initiatives followed announcement of its expansion objectives with plans to deploy its eBay drop-off services nationwide, planning for 75 eBay drop-off locations by year end. The company originally set its goal of 50 eBay drop-off locations, but given the company's progress to date, Net2Auction has revised its national expansion plans to include 75 eBay drop-off locations by the end of 2005.

Shareholders of Internet price-comparison company Shopping.com Ltd. approved today a proposed $620 million takeover by online auction house eBay Inc.

Shopping.com expects the deal to close around Aug. 30, the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Shopping.com didn't disclose the vote tally at the special shareholder meeting called to consider the eBay deal.

Last month, eBay, of San Jose, Calif., agreed to pay $21 a share for Shopping.com, an Israeli operator of a Web site which allows consumers to compare product prices across the Internet.

Another shopping comparison company, Shopzilla, was acquired by E.W. Scripps Co. last month for $525 million.

Separately, Shopping.com also said in the SEC filing that shareholders approved a $1 million bonus for Chief Executive Lorrie Norrington. The bonus will be paid immediately before the consummation of the merger, Shopping.com said.

A New Jersey maritime buff pulled the plug on his eBay auction for a Staten Island Ferry life ring after city officials raised questions about the transaction.

City lawyers are looking into how Forked River, N.J.-based Bay Heads came into possession of the 30-inch-diameter flotation device from the 40-year-old ferryboat John F. Kennedy, which is still in service.

Bay Heads president Elmer Dean told the Advance he personally purchased the life saver from a retired ferry employee about a year ago.

Still, Dean, who sells maritime equipment and other sundries through eBay, said he voluntarily suspended the auction once he learned of the city's concerns, and says he would like to avoid any kerfuffle.

"I purchased it," he said, "but I can't say whether it's really rightfully mine or not."

Dean would not identify the ferry worker from whom he purchased the life ring last year, but said he had no reason to doubt that it was obtained legally even though it apparently once was city property.

Dean claims the ring was used to rescue a woman who leaped from a ferryboat sometime between 1965 and 1968, and that an officer immediately gave the ring to the now-retired worker for his role in the rescue.

"Great story and great piece of history!!" bragged the auction listing, penned by Dean.

Dean conceded he had no proof that it was used in a rescue, but he noted that the ferry worker had shown him a service pin he received for his role.

The Kennedy entered service in 1965. Advance archives show no such rescues that jibe with the one Dean described, though not all water rescues are reported.

Dean said that he welcomed city inquiries to determine both the ring's authenticity and that it was legitimately obtained.

If found to be suspect, "I would return it," Dean said, "and I would like to put it in a museum if it was used in a rescue."

City Department of Transportation spokeswoman Kay Sarlin said her agency was "Not alleging any wrongdoing on Mr. Dean's part," but added, "Whenever someone puts city property up for sale on eBay, we're going to investigate, and we're currently looking into the circumstances of how this item was obtained."

In fact, a sports utility vehicle sells on eBay every 21 minutes. Surprisingly, most buyers are willing to cross state lines to get the car of their dreams, but buying a vehicle without seeing it or driving it first can be tricky. So be careful!

The first thing you should do is narrow your search. It's easier to find what you want if know the make and model of the car you're looking for. There are some other things you should be cautious about as well:

• Don't jump right in: watch the auctions for a while before bidding.
  
• Research the seller: check feedback from other buyers, and don't be afraid to call the seller directly if you have questions.
  
• Look for no-reserve auctions: that means find the seller who doesn't set a minimum winning bid amount.
  
• Make sure you have an out: bid only on auctions where sellers allow you to cancel after you inspect the car.

The Internet offers a lot of tools that can help. At CARFAX, for $19.99, you can get a car's history. Free services like true market value can give you a quick realistic idea on how much you should be paying.

Don't get caught up in a bidding war or you could end up paying too much. Remember, you have to pick up the vehicle or have it shipped if you win the auction, so include gas, hotels, food, lost work time and plane tickets in the cost of your bid.

For 724,000 professional sellers, eBay is now their prime or secondary source of income. This compares with a similar survey in 2003 that found 430,000 used eBay to supplement their income - a rise of 68 per cent.

During the first six months this year, eBay members in the US sold around $10.6 billion worth of goods and services.

eBay, it would seem is becoming part of the American dream. According to the survey, 58 per cent of Americans say they have dreamed of starting a business and becoming their own boss. Unsurprisingly, two thirds of those surveyed said they wanted to set up their own business to make extra money while almost as many wanted the independence that being your own boss brings.

E-commerce giant eBay has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decide a patent issue currently pitting the computer technology and pharmaceuticals industries against one another in Congress.
The petition, disclosed Wednesday in an eBay regulatory filing, asks the Supreme Court to hear an appeal on whether eBay and other companies held liable for patent infringement should be routinely subject to injunctions while such cases are on appeal.
eBay and its Half.com subsidiary urged the Supreme Court to consider the matter, saying the stakes go beyond the interest of patent infringement defendants.

Who does the patent system protect--unsung inventors or opportunist litigants? "This case presents an important question of federal patent law with significant implications for the nation's economy," eBay wrote in its Monday request to the Supreme Court. "A permanent injunction in the context of patent law is a potent remedy. The enjoined defendant is faced with tough choices: redesign its product or the product's functionality to eliminate reliance on the patent, negotiate a license on possibly onerous terms, or cease production or use altogether."

The issue of patent infringement injunctions is before the U.S. Congress as it seeks to draft patent reform legislation. Computer technology companies like eBay, which have to contend with the possibility that they might be infringing myriad patents in the course of their business, want Congress to clarify existing rules they say give district court judges discretion in deciding whether to issue injunctions while patent cases wend their way through the appeals process.

The pharmaceuticals industry, by contrast, wants the legislation to reflect recent federal circuit court decisions--particularly the one eBay is appealing--which say injunctions against patent infringers should be standard during appeal except in extraordinary circumstances. Pharmaceuticals and biotech companies tend to face fewer patents in the course of developing a particular product.

eBay's patent woes stem from its May 2003 loss at the district court level in a patent infringement case brought by MercExchange. eBay lost crucial points of its appeal on the federal circuit level, which reversed the district court's decision not to issue an injunction against eBay.

The federal circuit did, however, grant eBay a stay of that decision while the company petitioned the Supreme Court.

Citing Sec. 283 of the Patent Act, eBay said in its petition that Congress had explicitly let district courts grant injunctions on a case-by-case basis.

"The Federal Circuit has decided to ignore this rule," eBay wrote.

One patent expert said eBay's petition had the potential to turn the tables on warring high-tech parties on Capitol Hill.

"The hardware and software industries have been at loggerheads with the pharmaceutical industry over including a provision in draft patent reform legislation that would limit injunctive relief," said Joshua Sarnoff, assistant director of the Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic at American University's Washington College of Law.

"If the Supreme Court grants certiorari to review the case, it is likely to reverse the Federal Circuit's interpretation and reassert that district courts may refuse to issue injunctions based on general equitable considerations. This would flip the legislative calculus, as the pharmaceutical industry would then seek to reverse the Supreme Court's decision by codifying a requirement to issue injunctions in all but exceptional circumstances," Sarnoff said.

San Jose, California-based eBay, best known for its online auctions, gets ample revenue from sales of used cars.

Its eBay Motors division drives $14.3 billion in annualized gross merchandise sales, which refers to the total value of goods sold on eBay, the company said earlier this month.

Shares of eBay closed up $1.57, or nearly 4 percent, to $41.99 on the Nasdaq.

A Jedi never dies; his stuff just goes on eBay -- or something like that.
"Star Wars" fans still mourning the final installment of George Lucas' science fiction epic, will have a chance to own two lightsabers used in the original trilogy. The film weapons are only two of thousands of Hollywood memorabilia items going under the online hammer as part of the Profiles in History auction on eBay on Friday, July 29.

Direct from the collection of "Star Wars" producer Gary Kurtz, the lightsabers, wielded by Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, are expected to fetch at least $60,000 apiece.

Fans will also have a chance to create their own macabre "Star Wars" body parts graveyard, crowned by Luke's severed hand ($25,000) from "Empire Strikes Back," C-3PO's eyes, Chewbacca's teeth and Yoda's feet. Other items from the collection include Luke's X-Wing flight suit, an original "Star Wars" script page with Lucas' alterations, Yoda's cane and Boba Fett lithographs -- featuring the bounty hunter, not printed by him.

Props from other films for sale include Harrison Ford's leather jacket from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," Tom Hanks' costume from "Saving Private Ryan," a Robby the Robot replica from "Forbidden Planet," Kirk Douglas' gladiator armor from "Spartacus" and Sean Connery's stunt machine gun from "The Untouchables."

The small screen is also represented in the auction including the "million dollar cello" from the "I Love Lucy" pilot, the Gavin MacLeod captain's uniform from "The Love Boat" and the soul-holder crystal amulet from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

To participate in the auction or view the complete list of items up for sale, visit ebayliveauctions.com.

Two popular sunscreens that Americans could buy only online or out of the country have been pulled off the virtual shelves of Internet shopping site ebay.com.

Losing Ombrelle and Anthelios has frustrated some Canadian eBay vendors, who were benefiting from the U.S. ban on the advanced sunscreens. The products, both manufactured by L'Oreal, await Food and Drug Administration approval of their active ingredient, Mexoryl.

Toronto resident Vince Allen began receiving e-mails last week informing him that his bottles of Ombrelle were being pulled off the market. Since he started selling the product two weeks ago, Allen says he has made about $1,000 marketing to U.S. shoppers.

"I needed money for a vacation," says Allen, who is now preparing for a trip to England. "What eBay is doing is outrageous. This isn't heroin or weed. This is sunscreen."

If Allen wishes to continue selling Ombrelle, he must use the Canadian eBay.ca or other international versions of eBay that aren't subject to U.S. drug laws.

EBay spokesman Hani Durzy says the Food and Drug Administration told the company recently that offering Mexoryl violates the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

"We follow the FDA's lead," Durzy says. "If they say this (Mexoryl) is not allowed to be distributed, we listen to them."

Some dermatologists call Mexoryl the best ingredient to prevent damage from ultraviolet-A rays, which penetrate deep and cause premature aging. Both the UVA and the shorter-length UVB rays have been linked to cancer.

Legal U.S. sunscreens are more focused on blocking sunburn-causing UVB-rays, says Dr. Clay Cockerell, president of the American Academy of Dermatologists. The allowable drugs for UVA protection, such as zinc oxide and Parsol 1789, don't block nearly as well as Mexoryl does, he says.

Jennie James, vice president for media relations at L'Oreal, says the company is working closely with the FDA to get Mexoryl in the United States legally. Laura Alvey, an FDA spokeswoman, says confidentiality agreements prevent the agency from discussing why the drug hasn't been approved or when it will be.

It's no surprise people have been rushing to shove copies of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas online since retailers started pulling the game, just don't go looking for cheap auctions in the videogame section. eBay has been actively pulling down auctions and informing sellers to re-categorize their auction into the 'Mature Audiences' section off the site.
In the quest for ultimate truth, I signed onto my own eBay account and sought out the details from a few friendly customer service representatives. Unfortunately, eBay doesn't seem to know exactly what's going on, either. One rep. wasn't even aware of the company's policies, while another pointed us in the direction of eBay's item policies, which provided little help in determining San Andreas' fate.

One member of the Gaming Age Forums had their auctions pulled down, and eBay said that because of the newly appointed Adults-Only rating, San Andreas must be listed on the website's 'Mature Audiences' section, lumping the videogame with - in eBay's words - "'Girls Gone Wild' style videos, Anime (Japanese animation) with adult subject material, most bondage related items, adult toys, and most adult magazines." Apparently virtual humping mini-games are now on par with softcore pornography. Good to know.

Apparently virtual humping mini-games are now on par with softcore pornography.
 
That's not all, though! In accordance with eBay policy (which apparently also gives the thumbs up to people actively selling copious amounts of bootleg games, music and DVDs, but not legitimate items), San Andreas falls under the 'Mature Audiences' category because it one or more of the following:

Items that depict frontal nudity (with very limited exceptions)
Images or representation of intercourse or other sexual activity involving humans or human-like creatures (such as in Anime or Hentai)
Anything which requires the person purchasing the item to be 18 years of age or older
Any materials where the sole purpose is to arouse or titillate the senses in a sexual manner.

Any items which are designed for sexual use (such as vibrators or bondage gear)
Items that portray sexual characteristics
You can, however, sell copies of Playboy, Penthouse and other adult magazines as long as their publishing date is prior to 1980. So, in other words, once San Andreas becomes associated with the same nostalgia of an Atari 2600 game, then it becomes fair game again. Yeah, we don't get it either.

One of Jennifer Aniston's former flings is auctioning off letters, notes, pictures and other memorabilia from the Friends star on eBay.
 
Michael Baroni, a California lawyer who claims he had a summer romance in 1984 with Aniston, is selling keepsakes such as a makeshift birthday card she wrote on a piece of toilet paper and a childhood picture of the pair.

According to Baroni, their summer lovin'- he was 16, she was 15- turned into a longtime friendship until they lost contact in 1991, when Aniston's showbiz career began to soar.

Aniston's representative, Stephen Huvane, didn't immediately return a call today from the Associated Press for comment.

"She was very fun and lively, a loving kind of person," Baroni said during a phone interview Friday. "I think the materials show an innocent look into someone I think is very endearing."

Baroni's auction begins July 29 on eBay with a$100,000 reserve. If the reserve is not met, the package of memorabilia will be withdrawn. Baroni wouldn't comment on why he was auctioning off the items beyond citing "financial reasons."

The multi-billion dollar industry eBay has swept the world over the past decade with more than 150-million registered users.

The company is entering its tenth year and is expecting to trade goods worth billions of dollars this year.

If you make a sell online do you have to report the income?  And what about sales tax?  Those are just some of the questions the popular online auction site raises.

Anyone can sell, all you have to do is be registered with the site. No business license is needed.

Jason Yotsuda does more than just report on the traffic.

He's auctioned off thousands of items on the site.

And he reports his income to authorities.

"So, if they wanted to they could trace it all the way back to how much you sold. Who paid for it? How much," says Yotsuda.

EBay has given rise to scores of companies piggybacking off the auction site's success.

Matthew Lucas started off as an individual seller and quickly found a business niche.

But alignment with eBay doesn't insure success.

"A watch, for example, and we put it next to a common item, let's say a baseball helmet or so. What was happening was the higher end item was literally being taken down," says Lucas.

What Lucas has done over the past few years is redefine his company to match customer demand.

Now his store specializes in luxury and fine items like purses and watches.

But how have online auction stores affected individual sellers?

"I can't really say if it's changed it for better of for worse," says Lucas from his store in the Punahou area. "But back in the day, I do remember, like many people, they started out of their basement or garage."

Yotsuda thinks the stores have helped timid sellers cash in online.

An eBay survey last year found that more than 400-thousand online sellers made a significant portion or all of their revenue from selling on eBay.

Rodney Skinner, 39, and Andrew Van Hoosen, 41, have been indicted on first-degree aggravated theft, money laundering, conspiracy, and computer crime charges, the Corvallis police department said in a statement.

The duo sold as much as $100,000 of the equipment on eBay over a several-month period, prosecutors said. A search of their residences uncovered over $200,000 worth of other stolen HP property, the Benton County sheriff said.

Although the pair have been charged, neither is in jail, nor was either required to post bail. They're to be arraigned August 11.

HP's inkjet technology was developed at the Corvallis location, which currently boasts some 3,500 employees.

The world's biggest auctioneer, which trades everything from Pez candy dispensers to forklifts, turns 10 this year.

EBay has more than 150 million registered users throughout the globe who look set to trade goods worth about $40 million this year.

But companies like Bonfire Media are also enjoying success.

The Silicon Valley-based software developer has launched a program whereby eBay users can access the site via their mobile telephone.

Company cofounder Alex Poon said essentially Bonfire had created eBay for users' cell phones.

"No longer tied to their PCs, our users can now search on eBay, look at pictures of items for sale, bid on items, and check My eBay at a moment's notice, whether they are waiting in line at the post office, at a baseball game, or walking to work," he said.

"Pocket Auctions for eBay also alerts the user through their phone when they've been outbid or when an auction has ended, enabling users to respond immediately to real time events."

Bonfire co-founder Rich Chen said: "By making eBay mobile, we are enabling users to integrate eBay into the flow of their daily lives and use eBay in new, creative ways."

Auctiondrop is also trading on eBay's success -- if you want to sell something without the hassle of logging on, the company will do all the selling for you.

Auctiondrop CEO George Northup told CNN that his company sold nearly 40,000 items and handed out more than $2 million to sellers last year, taking a third of all sales as commission.

"Essentially (the item to be sold) will come here to our location in Fremont. We authenticate it. List it and photograph it. And run the auction. Collect the money and send you the proceeds," he told CNN.

"We think it's a great value. It costs roughly 33% of the proceeds."

He said eBay's commitment to focus on its core business meant the door was open for companies like Auctiondrop to tap into other markets.

"The philosophy of eBay has been to specialize in being the marketplace itself. So I think all indications are that they'll focus on their core specialty."

EBay senior vice president Michael Dearing told CNN there was a strong symbiosis at play, with eBay giving companies like Auctiondrop a vast market place, while Auctiondrop brings more buyers to the eBay fold.

"These businesses exist because there's demand for their services. And to the extent that the free market is working that way," he said.

"Creating opportunities not just for eBay employees and not just for sellers, but for people in the middle, is a great thing and we want to celebrate it."

For the quarter ended June 30, eBay posted a profit of $291.6 million on revenue of $1.1 billion, compared with a profit of $190.4 million on revenue of $773.4 million a year ago. That translates into 53% profit growth and a 40% rise in revenue.

Even though eBay has remained highly profitable, the combination of a below-expectations earnings report in January, complaints about rising merchant fees, and a perception that it's not doing enough to prevent fraudulent sellers from duping unsuspecting buyers has conspired to push the value of eBay stock down 40% this year.

The success of eBay's quarter was evident everywhere. International marketplace revenue was up more than 50%, to $418.8 million, fueled by the company's growth in markets such as China, France, and Italy. Payment revenue via its PayPal unit also rose more than 50%, to $243.9 million.

EBay users are proving that they can sell just about anything on eBay. More than $14 billion worth of autos, $3.3 billion worth of clothing and accessories, $3.2 billion worth of consumer electronics, $2.9 billion worth of computers, $2.5 billion worth of home and garden items, $1.6 billion worth of toys, and $1.3 billion worth of photo equipment were sold during the quarter.

Goods snapped up from travelers by airport security screeners in Pittsburgh are being sold south of the state border.
Cigarette lighters, nail clippers, scissors, pocketknives and other forbidden items are collected at Pittsburgh International Airport, hauled to a Jessup, Md., warehouse, repackaged in 50-pound boxes, then sold for $1 a pound.

Since October, nearly a ton of the stuff has been shipped across the Mason-Dixon line. The money goes mostly to running the program with the meager profits trickling into Maryland's general fund, said Dave Humphrey, spokesman for Maryland's Department of General Services.

It's all part of the post-9/11 world. Travelers at airports around the country surrender the items, and security officials decide where it all goes -- either to a state surplus department such as the one in Maryland or to a U.S. Transportation Security Administration contractor in Virginia, said TSA regional spokeswoman Ann Davis.

Davis said she did not know why Maryland, rather than the state surplus office in Harrisburg, was tabbed to get items from Pittsburgh.

"We might have just dropped the ball and (TSA in Pittsburgh) took their business elsewhere," said Ken Hess, director of Pennsylvania's Bureau of Supplies and Surplus Operations.

Maryland also picks up items from Baltimore/Washington International Airport and Long Island Macarthur Airport in New York. Pickups are made at airports every three or four months.

Eight Northeastern airports, including Philadelphia's, ship their goods to the state surplus office in Harrisburg. That office, like others in Kentucky and Alabama, pedals the items on eBay. Twenty pounds of lighters, 100 pocketknives and 30 Leatherman tools now are up for bid. The tools fetched a bid of $157.50.

Business in Harrisburg is booming. The surplus office there has generated $102,000 in eBay sales so far this year, including more than $23,000 last month. The office recorded $1,290 in eBay sales in its first month in July 2004.

"With this one-of-a-kind program, we're seeing more and more growth each year," said Pennsylvania Department of General Services spokesman Frank Kane. "We started selling on eBay to gain more of an audience and to maximize our profit."

Before 9/11, state surplus offices largely served as clearinghouses for old office equipment and other items that were either sold or offered to charity. When the federal government tightened security measures in the wake of the terrorist attacks and items began piling up at airports, state surplus agencies were called upon to help.

TSA screeners nationwide have collected 18 million items since February 2000, according to TSA records. About 80 percent of the goods are pocketknives, scissors and other sharp objects, along with mace and similar self-defense sprays.

Officials reason that shipping the goods to surplus offices is the best option for security screeners and travelers alike.

"It's far more convenient to leave a $10 Zippo (lighter) at a checkpoint than it is to run to your car and then come back in, possibly missing a flight," Kane said.

But some travelers aren't so sure there isn't a better way.

"I just make sure that I don't have anything that could ever be taken. I guess I travel so much that I'm aware of what they can and cannot take," Ken Mular, 42, of Atlanta, said during a stop at Pittsburgh International. The auditor said he makes 75 to 100 plane trips a year.

"I saw in one airport that they were offering a service where you could leave an addressed envelope with security and have items mailed back to you," Mular said. "It would be fair if they could do that everywhere."

Several items of great Israeli historical interest have been trading on the online auction site eBay. The original eye patch worn by former defense minister and chief of staff Moshe Dayan has been offered for the sum of $75,000, while a hanukkiyah (multibranched candelabra) belonging to prime minister David Ben-Gurion and made from bullet cartridges is on sale for $12,500.

These particular items are being offered by Pasarel Israeli Art and Treasures of Natanya. Moti Sander, a partner at Pasarel, said that his company specializes in Judaica and jewelry, and that he had received Dayan's eye patch from the minister's personal bodyguard, who said that he had gotten it, together with a Smith & Wesson 38 revolver, minutes after the famed warrior died in 1981.

Though Dayan's pistol appears on the eBay site, this is not for sale as the Web site forbids the trading of any arms. It is, however, for sale through Pasarel.
 
Ben-Gurion's hannukiyah was made for the prime minister in 1948 by workers of the Ayalon Institute, which manufactured bullets, and there is a personal inscription to the statesman on it. Sander said that he found the item in the Jaffa flea market, and that he had it authenticated by the very man who made it - now a resident in a retirement home in Tel Aviv.
 

Jennifer Aniston's teenage love letters are being auctioned on eBay, A man called Michael - who claims to have enjoyed a summer romance with the 'Friends' beauty when she was just 15 - is trying to sell a selection of "precious high school romance memorabilia" on the internet auction site.

He has set a reserve bid of a staggering $100,000 in exchange for what he describes as "an intimate and endearing look into Jennifer's heart."

Fans can bid for a love note apparently written by Jennifer in red pen, a piece of paper that the actress wrote her name and phone number on "in her own lipstick" when she first met Michael, and a 17th birthday card she made him out of toilet paper.

The eBay entry explains: "She felt badly about not buying him a birthday card, so she promptly ran to his bathroom to create one!"

Michael claims he first met Jennifer in 1984 at a Park Avenue Penthouse party while she was studying at New York's High School of Performing Arts - better known as the school in 'Fame'.

He says they kept in contact until 1991, but lost touch when Jennifer's acting career took off.

Jennifer recently split from husband Brad Pitt and was recently linked to actor Vince Vaughn after they were spotted getting close on the set of their new film, 'The Break-Up'.

eBay terminated the auction and reported the incident to police, a police spokesman in the west German town of Viersen said.

The long-term unemployed man, who confessed to making the offer, now faces charges for breach of Germany's law regulating transplants.

However, police said that the man did not know that offering his own organs was a punishable offence and that he decided to take the action in a bid to ensure his family's finances.

The police described the incident as a tragic case.

I've written plenty of columns about eBay (Quote, Chart) over the past five years, and I'm relieved to say that early on I saw the online auction giant would emerge as one of the few big winners in the Internet space.

Otherwise, I wouldn't provide links to these old eBay columns here, here and here.

But I must confess that what eBay has achieved to date, and the breadth and scope of the company's vision, has dwarfed my limited imagination. Sure, it was obvious even back in the embryonic days of ecommerce that eBay's rapid ascendance would render unassailable its position as the top Internet auction site. What wasn't as clear -- to me, anyway -- was how effectively eBay would be able to leverage its auction business into international markets and non-auction revenue streams.

Bears on Wall Street have been growling about eBay since the auction company missed analysts' estimates for the fourth quarter of 2004, and shares fell from $59.21 last Dec. 31 to as low as $30.78 in late April.

Based on its second-quarter earnings released Wednesday, however, eBay skeptics may have to reconsider whether the company has passed its peak.

EBay shocked the street by reporting 53 percent growth in Q2 earnings. The company earned $291.6 million, or 21 cents per share, for the three monthsended in June. That's up from $190.4 million, or 14 cents per share, in Q2 2004. Analysts had forecast earnings of 18 cents per share.

EBay CEO Meg Whitman told analysts in a conference call that the company "saw strong growth across every part of the business around the world." But two aspects of the company's business deserve special mention. One is international marketplace net revenue, which soared 51 percent to $418.8 million on the back of strong sales in Germany, which now is the company's No. 2 market.

What's interesting here is that eBay's global revenues are set to surpass U.S. revenues for the first time. The company's U.S. operations generated $423.6 million in Q2, an increase of 27 percent over the year-ago quarter, but less than $5 million more than international revenue. In Q3 we should see eBay's international sales eclipse U.S. revenue for good.

The second item of interest in eBay's Q2 report involves the growth of its online payment service, which comprises the balance of the company's $1.086 billion in Q2 revenue. EBay bought online payments company PayPal in October 2002, and the acquisition is (no pun intended) paying off spendidly.

Revenues from PayPal's transaction fees in Q2 were $243.9 million, a gain of 51 percent from the year-ago quarter and 145 percent from Q2 2003. And the number of registered PayPal users shot up to 79 million from 50 million a year ago.

If transaction revenue continues to grow this quickly, it may only be a couple of years before eBay's U.S. auction business becomes the company's third-best revenue generator.

Another interesting aspect of eBay's revenue model is it's somewhat evenly spread out among a number of categories, with one glaring standout. Among the categories delivering more than $1 billion in gross market value are:

A New Zealand teenager sells a small, red paper clip on an Internet auction site for $173 during "a boring day of work."

Buyer Keith Brock, of Auckland, grabs the clip from auction site TradeMe with the winning bid yesterday. The transaction proves to be harmless fun, as Brock and 19 year-old Rhys White donate the $173 to the Auckland SPCA.

Both men traveled into town to have a celebratory drink, with the bubble-wrapped, red paper clip safely tucked away in Brock's glove compartment.

Brock, who works in industrial automation is a TradeMe veteran, with his three-bedroon home up for sale on the site, currently going for over $650,000.

White put the paper clip for sale with the message, "hope this paper clip goes to a good home or office. Has served me well. He even included detailed technical specs: "30mm high and 10mm wide."

It wasn't long before the paper clip started receiving numerous enquiries. One person asked if the paper clip would attract women if it were hung from a car's rear view mirror.

White says he may now consider selling a broken rubber band.

eBay's second-quarter profit has eclipsed analyst expectations as the online auction leader brushed aside worries that it may be losing its competitive edge.

The San Jose-based company said on Wednesday that it earned $US291.6 million ($A384 million), or 21 US cents per share, for the three months ended in June, a 53 per cent increase from $US190.4 million, or 14 US cents per share at the same time last year.

eBay said it would have earned 22 US cents per share if not for accounting charges unrelated to its ongoing operations. That topped the mean analyst estimate of 18 US cents per share, according to Thomson Financial.

Revenue for the period totalled $US1.09 billion, a 40 per cent increase from last year's $US773.4 million. The volume exceeded the mean analyst estimate of $US1.04 billion, which reflected the midrange of the guidance eBay provided in April. All the company's other key measures, including active users and the amount of merchandise bought on its site, increased by hefty amounts from last year.

eBay released the results after the stock market closed on Wednesday. The company's shares declined 50 cents to finish at $US34.87 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, then rose $US4.97, or 14.3 per cent, in extended trading.

"There has been a lot debate about eBay - it certainly has been the most controversial of the large internet stocks," said American Technology Research analyst David Edwards. "Obviously, some pressure has been lifted with this report."

Reflecting management's optimism, eBay raised its outlook for the rest of the year. The company forecast 2005 revenue of $US4.3 billion to $US4.4 billion, including $US1.05 billion in the current quarter. Excluding accounting items unrelated to it ongoing business, eBay expects 2005 earnings of 82 US cents or 83 US cents per share, above the current analyst estimate of 79 US cents.

eBay's pleasant surprise came the day after another internet bellwether, Yahoo! disappointed Wall Street by reporting a profit that merely matched analyst expectations.

"Our (second-quarter) results underscore the power of our community of users and the potential of what we can achieve together," eBay chief executive Meg Whitman told analysts during a Wednesday conference call.

The performance provides eBay with a much-needed lift during what has been a tough year. An investor favourite almost as soon as it went public in 1998, eBay has been under fire for the past six months.

The backlash began in January when the company reported quarterly results that fell below analyst expectations. Since then, eBay has faced harsh criticism for raising its merchant fees and for not being more vigilant about weeding out the mischief makers and scam artists who make bogus bids or attempt to sell merchandise and never deliver the goods.

The backlash has contributed to a 40 per cent decline in eBay's stock so far this year, wiping out $US30 billion in shareholder wealth.

Meanwhile, online auction rivals like uBid.com and Overstock.com have been trying to capitalise on the criticism to lure away merchants and buyers. The poaching hasn't had a significant impact yet on eBay, which dominated online auctions with 51.1 million unique US users in June, up from 45.4 million unique users a year ago, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.

eBay management has been aggressively reaching out to many of its disgruntled sellers to address their concerns even as management assured investors the recent criticisms are overblown.

Ms Whitman seized on an opportunity to rebuff the critics, pointing out that the number of US stores selling on eBay had grown by 12 per cent to 173,000 since the higher fees took effect in mid-February.

Overall, ebay's community had 157 million registered users, up 10 million from March. Its online payment service, PayPal, also is becoming more pervasive, with 78.9 million account holders who exchanged $US6.5 billion during the quarter. Most payments occurred within eBay, where a total of $US10.9 billion in sales were made during the quarter, a 36 per cent increase from last year.

Like the eBay auctions, PayPal also is a prime fraud target. The company hopes to combat the problem with a tougher anti-fraud system that it plans to begin testing in Germany later this summer.

Piper Jaffray analyst Safa Rashtchy described eBay's quarter as encouraging, but wondered how much of the earnings gains were being generated from the company's higher fees. "If they are just generating more revenue per seller, that is not as good as attracting new sellers," he said.

The higher fees generated very little of the company's revenue growth, according to chief financial officer Rajiv Dutta. "This is largely a (sales) volume story," he told analysts during the conference call.

Ms Whitman and Mr Dutta predicted eBay would be able to stimulate even more sales later this year, with the addition of an online price comparison site, Shopping.com, and upgraded search technology to make it easier to find merchandise listed in auctions.

Renewed strength in core U.S. and German units buoyed the online marketplace -- and lots of investors. Some analysts remain wary

An Idaho potato destined for the soup pot got a reprieve when a Virginia woman noticed that it looked just like a manatee.

Virginia Mathienssen, who grew up on Florida's Gulf coast, was so struck by the resemblance that she nicknamed the potato Spud and put it up for auction on eBay. Proceeds from the sale go to the Save the Manatee Club, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

I just love manatees, Mathienssen told the newspaper. So for me to find this potato, and have it look like something I've loved all my life, it's a blessing.

A number of oddly shaped foods have been sold on eBay. The most famous and expensive was a grilled cheese sandwich bearing what some people believed to be a likeness of the Virgin Mary that sold for $28,000, while a chicken breast in the shape of Pope John Paul II's profile went for $232 and a potato shaped like Who guitarist Pete Townshend for $81.

We all got a great laugh out of the photos she sent and thought, why not? said Judith Vallee, executive director of the Save the Manatee Club in Maitland, Fla.

eBay has tightened rules governing credit card acceptance and clarified its prohibition of a type of fraud known as shill bidding.

eBay said Monday that sellers could no longer accept PayPal payments from buyers without accepting credit card transactions, thereby avoiding PayPal fees. eBay acquired PayPal in 2002.

Sellers' practice of restricting PayPal payment methods "was creating a bad buyer experience," said PayPal spokeswoman Amanda Pires. "It would be like walking into the grocery store and filling up your cart, getting to the check stand with your credit card and being told sorry, even after you saw the credit card logo outside the store."

Under PayPal rules, sellers can accept payment through bank transfers or PayPal balances for free. But sellers in the United States who accept credit card payments are charged between 1.9 percent and 2.9 percent of the value of the transaction, based on volume.

Pires sought to quell concerns that eBay was tightening the restrictions merely to boost PayPal's fee collections.

"We got a lot of community feedback, which is why we're changing this," Pires said. "And it was a very small percentage of sellers who were doing this."

Previously, only sellers who displayed the PayPal logo were disallowed from restricting credit card payment. Now all sellers who accept PayPal must accept credit cards.

eBay also spelled out to sellers what it said had been a gray area in its policy forbidding shill bidding, or bidding intended to artificially inflate the price of an auction.

Under the clarified policy, a seller's family members, roommates and employees are forbidden from bidding on the seller's items.

"Because a seller's family members, roommates and employees have a level of access to information about the seller's items which is not available to the general community, they are not permitted to bid on items offered by the seller--even if their sole intent is to purchase the item," reads the clarification. "Family members, roommates and employees may purchase items from a seller without violating this policy simply by using fixed price purchase options that do not involve bidding. These fixed price purchase options include Buy It Now or purchasing from the seller's eBay Stores."
 
Previous Next The rules clarifications came the same day eBay announced it was canceling its Anything Points incentive program.

Company spokesman Hani Durzy denied any connection between the trio of changes.

"There isn't any specific tie-in," Durzy said. "Everything we do is done with the community in mind, taking into account what we've heard from them and what we've seen on the site in an effort to make eBay a better, safer, more advantageous place for buyers and selling."

Shayan, who writes his own songs and plays piano, took five years to get his debut album Deliverance recorded and released, financing the whole project by selling shares in himself on the auction website.

He told BBC World Service's The Music Biz programme that he is from a tech-savvy but very wealthy family, and started writing songs in 1999, after losing both parents in quick succession.

"I needed money to record good demos. I had great songs, or at least I believed I had great songs, and it stemmed from there," he said.

"I kind of understood how the industry worked in terms of the royalties scheme, so I put up an auction as an individual saying that if you invest £3,000 in me, I'll give you a quarter percent of my life's earnings in music.

"Who would have thought that in a week's time, I would have got three people to invest £9,000."

Difficulties

The advert appealed for people to invest in Shayan's future, offering shares in his career "for every single piece of music I ever write".

This includes CD and DVD sales, concert earnings, and any money paid from appearing on radio, TV, press, or other media work.

He pointed out that, while the investors were taking a big risk, they were getting investment in the copyright, which exists 70 years after his death in the UK, and 60 years in the US.

"If you put £3,000 in me, and I sell 100,000 albums, you double your money," he added.

But he admitted, however, that in the end only the public can decide whether he will be a success and determine whether the shares in him will be worth anything at all.

"That's what's going to be really hard for me," he said.

"I won't have the pull of the major [record labels], to say 'put him on television, put him on radio, he's going to be a big star.'

"But then, if I do succeed and climb up the ladder, I'll stay there."

eBay is discontinuing a 2-year-old incentive program for sellers and partners in the United States, the company announced on Monday.

eBay Anything Points, which operates like a "frequent flier" program to stimulate customer loyalty, will be phased out by Feb. 28, the company said. Points earned under the program will be honored through August 2006.

The incentive program lets sellers and eBay partners such as Netflix, Hilton Hotels and Priceline, award points worth a penny apiece that customers can redeem for eBay purchases from sellers that accept PayPal, an eBay unit.

"When it launched, we anticipated that eBay Anything Points would bring more benefits to our community than in reality we saw that it actually did," said eBay spokesman Hani Durzy. "Based on conversations with the community of sellers, particularly, we decided it would be better for them if we took the money and resources spent on Anything Points and devoted it to other channels within sales and marketing. It wasn't providing the return on investment that we were expecting."

The Anything Points incentive program on eBay Canada will continue, however.
 
Previous Next Durzy declined to specify what went wrong with the domestic program, but said the Canadian version had produced different results.

eBay will prevent sellers from offering the incentive points on new listings starting Aug. 15. eBay said it would, on Sept. 30, remove remaining points from listings still offering them.

eBay recommended that people with eBay Anything Points credit cards contact the credit card provider with questions about those accounts.

WICHITA, Kan. A collector paid 100 dollars this week for a letter from B-T-K killer Dennis Rader.

Hurricanes may rip off roofs, break car windows and test a person's sanity. But for some, Hurricane Dennis has damaged neither their senses of humor nor their business savvy.
Want a battered shingle? Tree branches? A piece of toast? These and other Dennis-related souvenirs are popping up on eBay.

Currently listed on the Internet auction site, for example, is a bottle of Hurricane Dennis wind with an inch of rain as a gift to the highest bidder. The starting bid is 98 cents, but the item has competition from other eBay denizens selling similar souvenirs.

One auctioneer is selling a piece of the mangled metal sign from the Ramada Inn Bayview - the one that nearly sliced through CNN reporter Anderson Cooper, who was on the air when the wind finally brought it down.

"We have many little pieces of that sign, and also a large piece that is actually one of the entire A's from the Ramada sign ... hurry, these pieces from a one-of-a kind trademark of Dennis will be gone soon," wrote the seller, who promised that photos of the pieces of sign would be posted as soon as the seller has power and can use a scanner.

The starting bid was 99 cents and by yesterday afternoon was $28. The seller could not be reached for comment.
 
"I don't think that's very nice unless they're going to give it to charity," said hotel manager Linda Parkinson, who can't believe the hotel's damaged sign has become so famous. "Everyone's been telling me we've been on TV, but we didn't have any electricity, so we never saw it."

Then there's the dark piece of toast with untoasted words "Dennis 7-10-05 the Menace!" on it - a play on the decade-old toasted cheese sandwich with the Virgin Mary's image that fetched $28,000 on eBay last year.

The Virgin Mary toast made headlines because the sandwich never grew mold. The Hurricane Dennis toast doesn't have mold yet, either - nor, as of yesterday afternoon, any bids.

"This is not for consumption, but a memory of the havoc that Mother Nature can cause," wrote the seller, who promised to donate a third of the money (not the toast) to the American Red Cross. The seller could not be reached.

Nixon filed the fraud suit against Michael D. Pickens of Bethany. His wife, Tamera Pickens, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he is disabled with a rare blood disease, is unemployed and has never sold anything over the Internet.

The suit claims Internet ads promised top-quality clothes, including ads from Victoria Secret, Banana Republic and other well-known brands. When customers placed their orders through the online auction site eBay, the suit says, Pickens arranged for the shipment to come from companies that sell industrial rags, unwanted clothing or household items meant for poor countries. In one case, a customer received feces.

Nixon said Pickens either ignored or refused requests for refunds.

The lawsuit, filed in Harrison County Circuit Court, seeks a permanent injunction and fines of $1,000 per violation.

Budding internet entrepreneurs had a chance to learn more about selling online in south Wales on Saturday.
Internet auction giant eBay visited Cardiff to help people make the best of their enterprise on the net with its 'university' programme.

Students included Louise Sidford, who launched an internet jewellery box business two years ago.

She already employs three people, has a 2,000sq ft warehouse in Barry and business turning over £150,000 a year.

eBay claims to have 10 million users in the UK and one in five people in south Wales are thought to be registered on the site. 

Ms Sidford turned her interest in jewellery into a full-time business, selling empty jewellery boxes, after growing from small beginnings.

"I bought some gem stones and found a few mounts," she said.

"Then we had a jewellery party. I had a few boxes left over, so I put them on eBay and the rest is history.

"We outgrew the house last July and now we've moved into a 2,000 square foot warehouse in Barry."

The eBay University hopes to create more start-ups like Ms Sidford's firm, Boxes and Busts.

"Our events are designed to inform, educate, enthuse and empower our community members so they're in a better position to join the thousands of people who are already making a living by trading online," said Matt Priddle from eBay.

The event was held at the Julian Hodge lecture theatre at Cardiff University on Saturday.

It was time, sadly, to put my car out to pasture. Time to shift out of the pre-cupholder, roll-down-your-own-window s era into the modern automotive age. So after 13 years, I mustered all my courage and ventured back into the market.

But how did I end up shopping for such a major purchase on eBay? I am, after all, a confirmed and proud technophobe, the owner of no iPods or PDAs whatsoever. I didn't have the chops to shop for a car on eBay. It just turned out that way.

What if something goes really, really wrong? Say you pay for a car and never receive it. EBay's Vehicle Protection Program (eligibility will be noted in the listing) covers you for up to $20,000 for such cases of deliberate fraud.
 
I tried to buy the old-fashioned way, I really did. I knew the make and model I wanted, and I knew I was looking for a used car. I even had a target age: three years old, one of the constant stream of vehicles that roll into dealerships after coming off a lease. My intended car came with a four-year, 50,000-mile warranty, so I'd have the better part of a year to find any kinks and get them fixed for free. All in all, almost-new wheels, at less than an almost-new price.

That was the plan, anyway.

I liked the salesman at the dealership. I told him that I was ready to buy, but that I wasn't going to do it that day. Today, I said, I want to drive and ask questions. Tomorrow, I'll come back and talk money. As the 3-year-old son of a friend once told me, with a withering glance I would have thought impossible for someone his age: "Yeah, right."

In the lot, I checked out a few possibilities, picked out my favorite and took it for a ride. I loved it. When the radio blared Bill Withers's "Lovely Day," it only served as confirmation: This was definitely my car.

But it never happened. The salesman first offered a "today-only" deal, which I turned down, and that car was sold before I could return the next day. Then he mentioned a similar car whose price was higher. I set up an appointment to return the next day.

The salesman called in the morning. The car was up on the lift, he said, getting a stem-to-stern checkup so any defects could be fixed and it could be sold as a "certified" used car, commanding a higher price tag. I tried to hide my disappointment. Certification would put the car beyond my reach. Call me when they're finished, I said. The call never came.

And so it came to be that I stumbled -- or was I pushed? -- onto the Internet to buy a car. Okay, so the only thing I had bought on eBay was a pair of sandals. In an age when the online universe is so pervasive that my own mother is Googling me (hmmmm), I figured it was worth a try. In its five years of existence, well over 1 million cars have been sold through eBay Motors. If all those folks could do it, so could I. Maybe.

Searching for a car on eBay is fun, and frustrating. Type the make of your would-be wheels into the search engine, and dozens of cars are likely to appear, each with exhaustive lists of specifications and sometimes dozens of photographs. You may not have as many pictures of your own children.

And then there are the tantalizing dollar figures. A few dealers set their initial bids at zero or close to it, creating a feeding frenzy -- and an optical illusion, essentially. I'm sorry to say, but you're not going to snag that snazzy Audi for $250, though it may look like that if you watch an auction (usually 10 days long) as it begins. Other sellers start bidding at more realistic levels.

Click here for more...

FOR SALE: The City pass on eBayA PASS giving access to all areas of Manchester City's football stadium has been found for sale on ebay.

Club officials said they were `appalled' that the internet auction site had allowed the sale at a time of heightened security fears.

The pass - which the club said was out of date - was put up for sale by Ben Evans, a Customs and Excise worker. He claimed it would allow access to the boardroom, players' tunnel and changing rooms at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Mr Evans, 22, boasted to a Manchester Evening News reporter that he also had contacts at the club who could help by-pass security measures on matchdays.

City security chiefs demanded ebay remove the item from its website.

Last night, Mr Evans, who faces being banned for life from the stadium, told the M.E.N. he had made a "stupid mistake".

He said: "I've been very naive, and I now realise that it was wrong of me to try and sell the security pass. As soon as I realised my mistake, I immediately took the pass off the website.

"I hope the club will forgive me. I put it on as a joke. As soon as I realised how serious it was, I took it off."

Mr Evans, from Newton Heath, put the item - described as a "Manchester City Access All Areas Pass" - up for sale last Sunday and the auction was due to run until lunchtime today. But he stated he was willing to sell directly to any bidder offering £60.

In his sale description, Mr Evans wrote: "It comes already with, I'm guessing, an employers' name on it, so you can either take up his identity, or if you know how to get a laminate off without damaging the contents, then you could do that, tippex or write over the name with yours, and your (sic) in!"

AUCTION: Ben EvansMr Evans added: "I found dressing smartly (ie suit), got me in the easiest with the pass. Please do not turn up with a City shirt on, as they will just laugh, look as professional as you can."

When our investigator met him, Mr Evans, who is believed to have worked as a steward when the club was based at Maine Road, admitted the name on the pass was his own and claimed he had been given the pass when he had been employed by the club.

Manchester City confirmed the pass appeared to be genuine but said it was out of date. Stadium and safety manager Peter Fletcher said: "The pass is four years out of date and we are confident that our security staff would not have allowed entry to any part of our stadium."

The £110m City of Manchester stadium has some of the most advanced security and crowd-handling measures of any football ground in the country, including a 24-hour CCTV room.

A club spokesman said it could find no record of Mr Evans having worked for them but that he may have been employed on a casual basis as a steward.

Mr Fletcher added: "We are appalled that eBay has allowed this item to be listed for sale, particularly at a time when public security should be at the forefront of everyone's mind. We will ban the vendor from entering the City of Manchester Stadium for life."

A spokeswoman for ebay confirmed Mr Evans had removed the item from sale himself before the auction. She said the website could not screen every item and had to rely on sellers adhering to a user agreement.

The spokeswoman said: "With over five million new items going up on site each day, ebay has strict listing policies in place to protect buyers and sellers alike."

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!! In case you missed the big news this week, Ben Jones, the former actor who played "Cooter" on the hit show "The Dukes of Hazzard" is urging moviegoers to boycott the upcoming release of the Dukes movie. Why? He says it's too naughty.

Given that singer/model/doctoral candidate Jessica Simpson is running around in a skimpy bikini throughout the movie, we're guessing no one will listen to Cooter. And, really, shouldn't he be happy the movie is sparking a renewed interest in the show? He shouldn't get all wrapped up in his Daisy Dukes.

So, in honor of Cooter, we went looking for something special on eBay for the ultimate Dukes fan. What did we find? A one of a kind beauty.
 
The jumping days are over for General Lee #1.
General Lee #1, the original car used in the Dukes pilot episode ("One Armed Bandits" for you trivia geeks), and later featured as a parts car in the series, is up for grabs. While the reserve price is somehow above the ridiculous current $14,500 bid, the sellers are at least honest about the car's condition.

"Please understand that as a car it's 100% junk! But as the 1st car to be coined the GENERAL LEE and as a surviving prop from the shows earliest times, it's absolutely priceless!" they said.

Among the list of "features" is "JUMP DAMAGE!! Lots of it!!"

C'mon, guys, wouldn't your wife love having this hunk-o-junk sitting in the front yard for all to see? Get on it!

'We've Got Bologna & Cold Beer Waitin
In keeping with the, uh, "good times" theme this week, we here at ECommerce Guide decided it was time to make vacation plans. But we didn't need to book our trip through Expedia or Priceline. No sir. We found our dream vacation right on eBay.

Where to, you ask? Well, of course, in beautiful Jaffrey, NH!

The husband and wife selling team *pinksherbert* has generously offered a "Podunk Redneck Deluxe Trailer Vacation Getaway" for the highest bidder. This is too good to be true!

Why go to Miami when you can party
with this feller in New Hampshire?
"The Redneck with the highest bid WINS a 7 night stay in our camper trailer at our place with all the extra special amenities! All you have do is choose the dates you want to come (any time in July, August or September) and find a way to get your happy little self here!" they said.

"We've got bologna & cold beer a waitin! We want you to come visit us in our little podunk neck of the woods! Y'all are gonna LOVE the deluxe poolside accommodations (sic)...just look at the photos below!" added the sellers.

Indeed, a look at the photos shows a golden Mr. PinkSherbert sunning himself in the family pool, enjoying a nice, cold Corona. Other accommodations include a trailer that sleeps seven, a fold-down dinette and a "deluxe" fire pit made from the inside of their old washing machine.

"We'll even give you free firewood and a bag of marshmallows," say the sellers. Could it get any better than that? We don't think so. For $869.52, this dream vacation could be yours! Act fast!

The Company expects to increase its marketing efforts jointly with eBay Live Auctions and the NAA to increase the conversion rate of auctioneers utilizing the Company's auction services, with specific initiatives aiming to increase the already 22 million hits per month the site has sustained for the year. The Company also expects to increase efficiency in its marketing and operations following the consolidation of its NAALive.com and iCollector.com operations.

About Ableauctions.com

Ableauctions.com Inc. (AMEX:AAC) is a high-tech liquidator and online auction facilitator that operates the domains iCollector.com, NAALive.com, Unlimited Closeouts.com and iTrustee.com. As an online auction facilitator, the Company, with the experience of over 3,000 auctions, has developed state-of-the-art technology to broadcast auctions over the Internet (www.ableauctions.com/technology) and currently provides the technology and related services to auction houses, enabling them to broadcast auctions over the Internet. The Company broadcasts business and industrial auctions over the Internet for auctioneers and members of the National Auctioneers Association (NAA) and art, antique and collectible auctions for numerous galleries and auction houses around the world through eBay Live Auctions.

As a liquidator, the Company, through Unlimited Closeouts and iTrustee, purchases overstocks, order cancellations and discontinued products from major manufacturers and importers, then sells the merchandise to major retail chains, other resellers or the public.

For a comprehensive Corporate Update and prior releases, visit www.ableauctions.com. For more information, contact Investor Relations at investorrelations@ableauc tions.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements, particularly as related to, among other things, the business plans of the Company, statements relating to goals, plans and projections regarding the Company's financial position and the Company's business strategy. The words or phrases "would be," "will allow," "intends to," "may result," "are expected to," "will continue," "anticipates," "expects," "estimate," "project," "indicate," "could," "potentially," "should," "believe," "considers" or similar expressions are intended to identify "forward-looking statements." These forward-looking statements fall within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934 and are subject to the safe harbor created by these sections. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, involve known and unknown risks, a reliance on third parties for information, transactions or orders that may be cancelled, and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in our industry, to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results include risks and uncertainties related to the performance of our staff, management, financing, competition, online auction business, our ability to implement or manage our expansion strategy, general economic conditions, our ability to license our software to other auction houses, our ability to acquire profitable companies and integrate them into our business successfully and other factors that are detailed in our Annual Report on Form 10-KSB and on documents we file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements made herein are as of the date of this press release and should not be relied upon as of any subsequent date. The Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance on such statements. The Company does not undertake, and the Company specifically disclaims any obligation, to update any forward-looking statements to reflect occurrences, developments, unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such statement. Actual results may differ materially from the Company's expectations and estimates. The Company does not realize nor book the full revenue of auctions that it facilitates in its financials, only the net auction fees, that can vary from time to time, that it realizes.

Airport screeners search you and your bags -- taking any items the FAA says you can't take on board. The state says those items are "abandoned property." Now, the state is turning that "abandoned property" into cold, hard cash for the state.

The State of Kentucky is making hundreds of thousands of dollars sellings the items on eBay.

They don't just sell items from Kentucky airports -- but items seized from airports in Florida and Massachusetts. Those states didn't want to deal with the amount of seized items, so Kentucky said it would take the items off their hands... and then put them on eBay. The state says it makes about $2,500 a month from its eBay sales. It also sell items to local schools and non-profit groups. Those groups can buy a pile of scissors for just $20.

With the enormous growth in online auction sales, it's time for some fair competition when it comes to sellers paying the appropriate taxes and duties, writes Martin Feil.

Ebay is the ultimate technological evolution of free trade. It is not the epitome of fair trade.

eBay is a worldwide online auction market, bringing together millions of sellers and buyers. eBayers buy and sell just about anything, except food, alcohol, prescription drugs and a range of products and services that are dangerous, perishable, illegal or prohibited by eBay for various reasons.

Buyers and sellers are told they are responsible for ensuring their transactions are legal and that they should find out about the laws of their own country.

Some general comments on intellectual property, trademarks and copyright are provided on the eBay site but users are told to seek advice from a lawyer if they have issues. eBay's compliance information is focused on US laws and only pays lip service to those eBay members trying to understand complex legal requirements.

Perfect competition involves many sellers and buyers. It also requires perfect knowledge. The problem with eBay is that no individual is fully acquainted with the laws of their country. They are not security experts, GST consultants, customs brokers, tax advisers or logistics experts. Even if they were, these areas of expertise are only relevant to federal law. State laws create further compliance problems.

eBay addresses the commercial problems through its feedback process, which allows buyers and sellers to comment on their transactions and the other party's behaviour. This is clever but not flawless, and there is an opportunity to manipulate responses.

The system does not help eBay members with potential compliance, regulatory and logistics problems. This is significant when purchases and sales are made across national borders.

The Australian Tax Office, the Australian Customs Service and the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service have policies to deal with imports and exports of goods, services and intellectual property in small consignments.

These cover tax, duties, prohibited imports and exports. They also provide thresholds of value and tax, or duty, below which buyers and sellers do not have to make payments or submit customs documents.

The Tax Office is also interested in whether sellers are hobbyists or operating a business and whether annual sales exceed $50,000, the threshold for GST registration and the requirement for a tax invoice and an Australian business number (ABN).

Overseas sellers wouldn't have a clue about our invoicing requirements and the fact buyers in Australia are supposed to retain half the money if they don't receive an appropriate tax invoice. Essentially, eBay is extending the old saying of "let the buyer beware" to "let the buyer and the seller beware".

Public education needed

If there are more than 2 million Australian eBay members, then there is an obvious major public education program needed to allow them to buy and sell without fear of being prosecuted or ripped off, or having customs seize their purchases. The ATO, with industry associations, educated many people in a wide range of industries, and the public, when the GST was introduced (the GST Start Up program). The Government spent more than a billion dollars on that initiative. Similar programs have been conducted where work practices could have resulted in major leakages from the Australian taxation base.

Customs has held up some eBay imports and collected duty and GST that the purchasers did not know they had to pay. Customs also has seized some goods and sent letters to buyers telling them they have breached the Trade Marks Act and will be prosecuted by trade mark owners unless they allow customs to retain the seized goods.

It is a fact that freight costs for imported goods often substantially remove the gloss from the eBay bargain.

It is also a fact that some luxury goods are offered on eBay at prices that mean they must be second hand, stolen or fake.

The old saying was, "I can get it for you wholesale". The eBay saying for some sellers seems to be, "I can get it for you at a fraction of its cost".

These are all matters a buyer with perfect knowledge of the industry and the market, and of cross-border and domestic regulation and compliance, would know about. The trouble is that nobody knows all of these things. There are simply too many areas of special knowledge required.

eBay empowers individual consumers and sellers to attempt to recapture their own supply chains. You can purchase without the logistics chain of importers, wholesalers, retailers, banks and compliance, and logistics service providers.

Unfortunately, your transaction size is nowhere near large enough to warrant you becoming an expert on everything or enable you to negotiate a rock bottom transport/border clearance and other compliance requirements.

It is true the aggregation of eBay trade is large enough to warrant both government and eBay action to educate eBay's massive membership. This will be expensive and is probably the reason eBay leaves it to members.

The eBay membership base has the potential to undermine the taxation and intellectual property and regulatory structure of world economies. On the basis of 2 million members in Australia, it is not unlikely that there are a hundred million reasonably affluent members worldwide.

Unfair competition

It is simply not good enough to say the members should educate themselves. It is impossible. Failure to comply and pay appropriate taxes is also unfair for those companies selling products that compete with the eBay infrastructure because they are paying income tax, payroll tax, GST and Australia's other taxes and levies. This may be free trade but not fair competition.

eBay must exist in an environment of compliance and its members must pay their fair share of tax. It should be obvious that if 2 million Australian members buy and sell goods and services representing only a small proportion of their income, then there is a large issue for the Government and, for that matter, other governments. If we don't collect taxes we can close the schools and hospitals, disband the army and the police force and turn out the lights.

eBay plans to acquire Shopping.com in a $620 million cash transaction aimed at resuscitating the auction giant's slowing growth rate.

The acquisition, announced Wednesday, brings the Web's biggest comparison shopping engine under the hood of the largest auction site at a time when eBay has been struggling to maintain its growth in the face of increasing competition from Yahoo, Google and others.

eBay said the acquisition will help it funnel more bidders to eBay auctions.

"What we think this does is it helps us meet the evolving needs of our sellers," said eBay spokesman Hani Durzy. "That's the big motivation for us. The central reason we made this acquisition is to provide sellers with a new channel for selling and a new set of buyers."

Analysts said larger growth concerns inspired the buy.

"In the last year, eBay hasn't had the kind of growth it had in the past," said Saikat Chaudhuri, assistant professor of management at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. "That's very logical, because you see a certain amount of maturation in the industry, and Yahoo was getting into their space and Google is playing around with Froogle comparison shopping. So they're all competing with each other, and eBay is looking for a way to grow in terms of adding customers and broadening its portfolio."

The acquisition puts eBay in close competition with the commercial engines of search giants Yahoo and Google. The deal also is a sure sign of eBay's financial interest in the booming search-engine marketing business, which is expected to be worth more than $5 billion this year.

Similar to Yahoo and Google, Shopping.com makes money from advertisements that appear adjacent to related search results. But unlike rivals, its sole specialty is in listing prices of commercial goods sold across the Web. Google's shopping service, Froogle, also lets people search for and compare prices on products. (The site, launched in 2003, is still in beta). In addition, Yahoo has beefed up its retail search site in the past two years to allow for comparison shopping.

Shopping search is a key asset for the Web giants because search is often the last link between a consumer and an advertiser. Industry experts estimate that 20 percent of all search queries are commercial in nature.

eBay itself has long been an avid search-engine marketer, buying thousands of keywords to promote its marketplace on Google, Yahoo and Shopping.com. In recent years, the company has also introduced auction-style advertising for eBay sellers so that they may promote their goods within its walled garden.

With Shopping.com, eBay will own a major avenue to funnel traffic back to its online mall, along with the ability to bolster its fee revenue with advertising dollars.

eBay declined to say how the two Web sites might be integrated. But Durzy said it was "fair to say" that eBay was looking into ways to get more eBay auction listings into Shopping.com search results.

Previous Next "Shopping.com is a complementary platform," Durzy said. "They do certain things very well, and the one group of sellers for whom the platform could be very interesting is those who experiment with new and in-season products, which you can find in any store and in multiple places online. Those are the kinds of items people would be very likely to use a shopping comparison site to find."

eBay said it expects that Shopping.com's Epinions site for consumer reviews will complement its own "community feedback-driven marketplace."

Headquartered in Brisbane, Calif., and with offices in Netanya, Israel and London, Shopping.com has sites for the United States, the United Kingdom and France. The company cited ComScore Media Metrix in claiming about 50 million distinct visitors every month.

The two companies said they expect the deal to close in the third quarter following regulatory approval and a vote by Shopping.com shareholders. Shopping.com, which said it has about $140 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of May 31, went public in October.

My husband has a new hobby. We got a new computer and so he took some parts off of our old computer, like the DVD burner, and attempted to sell them on eBay, the online computer auction house. It's sort of like having a garage sale, except that the entire world can shop at your online garage sale.

My sons and I knew that if my husband was successful, we could be in big trouble. When he participated in our neighborhood garage sale last year, he got so excited at selling all of our unwanted stuff that he ended up selling our sons' golf clubs. We didn't realize this until the boys went to play golf and couldn't find their clubs.

I found a lovely porch chair set for $25 at a neighbor's house and we bought it. While I finished walking the garage sale route with my mother-in-law, I came back to find that my husband had sold the porch chair set I had just bought; he got $40 for it. A year later, I still don't have a porch chair set.

So now he moves on to eBay. He was successful, selling everything that he put up for sale. For the six days that the items were up for auction, he checked his site constantly, updating us all on the progress. I told my sons that we had better lock up all of our valuable items, because if he succeeds, he'll start looking for more things to sell. We decided that we could rent a storage locker under an assumed name to hide our stuff.

Our family is like that. We get obsessive about things. If we find a recipe that we like, I'll make it four times in two weeks until we're sick of it. We always joke around with my mom and husband that once they find a shirt that they like, they'll wear it all the time.

Given our obsessive tendencies, you understand how concerned we became about the eBay thing. We thought that my husband would be spending all of his time taking stuff to the post office to mail out his packages. But so far, things have been calm and no one has noticed anything missing.

MSNBC ran a special business report on eBay last week. It was an interesting look at the company, from its inception as a place for people to buy and sell collectible items like Pez dispensers, to today where it is a worldwide store where you can buy anything. Whatever you are looking for, you can find it on eBay. A potato chip that looks like Elvis? It#'s on eBay.

We have purchased cell phones, baseball jackets and sunglasses on eBay, so far with no problems. When you buy on eBay, you rate your experience with the seller. Sellers also rate the buyers. When you are looking to buy from someone, you read about other people's experiences with that person. If they have a lot of negative reviews, you may decide not to purchase from them. It's an interesting system and as a seller, your goal is to have satisfied customers give you a good rating so that others will buy from you.

I met several people at the Book Bonanza this year who sell books on eBay and Amazon.com. One woman I spoke with came up from Cortland. She goes to book sales and what she buys there for $1 or $2 each, she sells for $5 or $6 online. The books that she bought were nothing special in my mind, but she says there is a good market for them.

That seems like a pretty great job to me. You go to book sales on the weekend and then take your bounty home and put it up for sale on your eBay store. You are your own boss and you work when you want to, even in your pajamas if you want to. Although the constant schlepping of books to the post office to mail out your packages would be annoying. I guess no job is perfect; I suppose I#'ll keep mine until I find that perfect one.

Marilyn responded to my request for summer memories. She grew up in the

village of Cayuga and fondly remembers taking swimming lessons sponsored by the Red Cross and the village at The Dock on West Genesee Street. She said she spent many days at The Dock, soaking up the sun, reading books, hanging with friends and swimming over to the pier. Ah, the good ol' days.

Australian David Diaz, who is playing in his first Open, yesterday thanked The Daily Telegraph for our help in uniting him with his caddie, Stephen Bridle.

When Diaz and his regular caddie parted company, Diaz invited people to bid for the job on Ebay. "Life-time opportunity," read the advert, "to caddie at the Open." The bidding started at 4,000 Australian dollars (£1,700) and was soon up to 20,000 (£8,500).

Bridle, who read the story in the Telegraph, was too late with his bid but e-mailed the player last Friday to say that if the winner were to drop out, he would be happy to serve as first reserve and match his bid. On Friday afternoon, he got the call he wanted.

Diaz had specified that he wanted a single-figure handicap golfer and Bridle, a London stockbroker, plays to eight at Princes and Loch Lomond.

"I'm having an amazing experience," said Bridle, as he and Diaz embarked on their last practice round. He had worried that the other caddies would take a dim view of how he had bought a bag for the Open, but that body of men could not have done more to make him feel at ease.

On Tuesday, Rick Mackenzie, the caddie-master, gave him an hour's crash course in caddying. Bridle is now thinking that he might take time out from his stockbroking to do the St Andrews' Caddie Connect course, whose past pupils include a couple of disillusioned lawyers and a retired RAF navigator.

As applies to his fellow caddies, Bridle would get 10 per cent of the £720,000 first prize if he were to win. In the face of such good fortune, he says he would give the money to charity.

A vintage car once owned by The Who rocker Keith Moon is being sold on eBay - nearly 30 years after his death.

The bidding for the 1939 Chrysler Wimbledon limousine has started at $9,500.

The drummer - who had a reputation for driving cars into swimming pools - died from an accidental drug overdose in 1978.

LONDON - Toy firm Hornby is to challenge eBay with the launch of its own auction website for toy and model collectors.

Famous for model railways and Scalextric, the firm has opened model-auctions.com to any toy collector or seller, regardless of brand, and will charge a nominal listing fee.

The aim is to build better relationships with collectors and consumers, and provide a rival to eBay.

The website, developed by Sagittarius Marketing, will be promoted to Hornby's customer database before the roll-out of a wider campaign in the collection press.

Sales of Hornby's products have enjoyed a renaissance in the past 18 months, rising by 15% to £45m in the 12 months to March.

Martin Feil's aspersions regarding eBay and its members (Opinion, July 7, Business 8) are unsubstantiated and way off the mark.

eBay requires that listings and transactions on its site comply with domestic and cross-border laws, including customs and tax laws. For example, listings on eBay.com.au are deemed GST inclusive where GST is applicable to that transaction.

eBay also provides members with information regarding their legal and tax obligations through its trading policies and other communications.

eBay has zero tolerance to wrongdoing. We monitor key areas of the site and will proactively suspend members for wrongdoing.

We also work extensively with law enforcement and government agencies, including Customs, the Attorney-General's Department, ACCC, Tax Office and the police, to address any wrongdoing.

Where matters are being investigated by a government agency, eBay will provide an information package including member details, complete background information of the person under investigation, and evidence to help bring any offenders to justice. eBay's ability to help government agencies in this way means that any attempt to commit wrongdoing on eBay can actually be more easily dealt with than other more traditional forms of offline trade.

eBay has unparalleled protective mechanisms such as VeRO, a worldwide intellectual property rights protections scheme implemented in 1999.

In fact the Australian Government sought eBay Australia's input in relation to the recent copyright law changes based on our experience in running the VeRO program.

There are over 2 million Australian eBay members (as of October 2004) and over 2000 Australians make a full-time living selling on eBay.com.au. Since its inception, eBay has enabled everyday Australians to compete on a level playing field with big business by making inefficient markets efficient.

Mr Feil's criticisms of what comprises a significant proportion of the Australian community are unwarranted and unjust.

    P ayPal, a wholly-owned subsidiary of eBay, said yesterday that it had partnered with China Pay, an official online payment operator in China, to offer online payment services in the world's second largest Internet market.

    " This is a very special and important moment since we started to introduce PayPal to non-US markets in 2003," said Mathias Entenmann, vice-president of the US online payment company's international business.

    C hina has become the first Asian market eBay has introduced to its online payment service in the region.

    P ayPal claims that security, speed and convenience are the three major draws it can offer. It also allows users to send and receive payment through an e-mail address.

    B y the end of the first quarter PayPal had 72 million users worldwide, with the volume of total transactions reaching US$18 billion last year, about 9 per cent of the total e-commerce transactions in the United States and 5 per cent of the global total.

    I n China, PayPal has partnered with China Pay, the online payment arm of the country's official band card information switch centre, China UnionPay.

    Z hou Ye, general manager of China Pay, said that in the co-operation, China Pay provides a cross-bank payment platform and its certified shops, while PayPal acts as an important payment tool for consumers to buy products and services from the Internet and certified shops of China UnionPay.

    C hinese Internet companies NetEase.com Inc and Tom Online, as well as Kijiji.com, an online classified ads website of eBay, became the first partners to accept payment from PayPal in China.

    H owever, eBay Eachnet, the Chinese arm of eBay, will become the biggest beneficiary of the introduction of PayPal, which is expected to formally launch in September.

    " It is just like a tiger getting a pair of wings," said James Zheng, chief operating officer of eBay Eachnet, citing an old Chinese saying to describe the huge help of PayPal.

    T he development of e-commerce in China faces bottlenecks in the areas of payment, logistics and credit, and the introduction of payment tools like PayPay will make payments easier and encourage more people to try e-commerce.

    E bay Eachnet already has an Escrow service in China, which allows buyers to send money to an account of eBay Eachnet. Sellers, meanwhile, can only access remittances from the account once a buyer verifies the products. The move is aimed at curbing fraud, but of necessity means it takes much longer to receive payment. With PayPal, however, remittances are instant.

    T o meet the requirements of the Chinese market, PayPal will offer free services to Chinese users for some time, but Entenmann declined to say when it will begin to charge users. It usually charges around 2 per cent of the transaction price in other parts of the world where it operates.

The city has red-tagged the hotel portion of the Stanwood Hotel and Tavern, declaring it unsafe for occupancy.

The city has given the building's owners, Tami and Bob Anderson, until July 31 to remove all tenants from the hotel. Some live there as renters. The tavern area was not included in the violations cited.

The Andersons have appealed the city's inspection. Their lawyer, Bruce Galloway of Lake Stevens, is getting a second opinion from an engineering consultant.

Galloway questioned the timing of the city's notice, which first came to his clients' attention June 23. Two days earlier, The Herald ran a story about the unusual online listing, which was first posted June 16 and was still on eBay's popular auction Web site as of Saturday.

"It's not usual to see a newspaper article and then get notice of infractions the next day," Galloway said.

The problem with that theory is the city's police department had already requested a building inspection on May 9, after responding to a complaint, said Stephanie Cleveland, the city's planning director.

The news about the eBay listing was an unfortunate coincidence, Cleveland said.

"We were all surprised," she said. "Actually, it would be great to have somebody buy the building" if they could afford to fix it up, Cleveland said.

The Andersons have listed an asking price of $425,000 for the two-story, 7,660-square-foot building at 26926 102nd Ave. NW.

Tim Nordtvedt, the city's building inspector, visited the hotel June 23 and identified the following violations of the International Building Code, which Stanwood uses:

"Apparent severe foundation, wall and floor structural damage - hazardous and unfit for human habitation."

A tenant "exiting from the second story of the building passes through the apparently dilapidated and dangerous portion of the building."

Tami Anderson did not dispute that the building needs repairs.

"We know that we need to put a new foundation in," Anderson said. "We don't have the cash to put into it."

She said they would tell any prospective buyers of the building's problems.

Those problems might not be bad enough to warrant kicking out all the tenants, though, Galloway said. It depends where the damage is in relation to the rooms, he said. That's why he has hired a consultant for a second opinion.

That engineer's report could be ready by the end of next week, Galloway said.

"If my engineer agrees with the (city) inspector, we will immediately withdraw the appeal," Galloway said. "I'm not in this thing for a fight if there's no reason to fight anything."

A Pittsburgh man is auctioning off a picture that he claims shows a ghost from a recent tour he took of the Gettysburg Civil War battlefield.

Click Here for More WPVI.com Bizarre News
The man doesn't identify himself on eBay, which is taking bids on the picture through July 17th.

The picture, as it appears on eBay, isn't terribly clear -- but the seller says that's because he took it with a disposable camera and he doesn't have a digital original. So the man took a digital picture of the picture and posted that on eBay.

The man says his research suggests the ghost is of a Confederate soldier in full dress uniform.

The famous Civil War battle occurred July First through Third, 1863 and has prompted many ghost stories.

So far, the top bid is $3.50 cents.

The Olmos Pharmacy, a local landmark since 1938, now is item # 4392862742 on eBay.

The iconic Olmos Park pharmacy and lunch counter known for its soda fountain and thick, creamy shakes is for sale in the same virtual venue that has already offered the world a grilled cheese sandwich burned with an image of the Virgin Mary, a small town in California and a ghost in a jar.

Asking price for this little slice of Americana? A cool half-million — and that doesn't include the building or the land, just the business.

Sydney Wild's eyes widened Friday afternoon when she learned that the place where she took her sons for shakes 30 years ago is listed on eBay.

She and husband Jim were treating their granddaughter Hailey to her very first Olmos shake (chocolate, of course).

"I hope they don't change it," Wild said as Hailey slurped the fresh whipped cream at the bottom of her shake.

John Dodd, the pharmacist who owns the place, hopes they don't, either.

After working 12 hours a day, six days a week since he bought the pharmacy 15 years ago, Dodd, 64, says he's ready to relax, travel the country a bit, do some fishing.

While it's not stated in the listing, beyond text suggesting the owner would like to "pass on the legacy" of the pharmacy, Dodd says he wants to the new owners to keep everything exactly as it is.

And why wouldn't they? The Olmos Pharmacy is profitable, boasts a fiercely loyal customer base, a familial atmosphere, one of the last soda fountains in Texas, recent accolades from Gourmet magazine, a pharmacy that still delivers and a permanent place on "must visit" lists for tourists around the world.

So why eBay?

"Because it's unique," Dodd said from behind the high pharmacy counter. "And this place is unique. (Putting it on eBay) certainly got a lot of attention, hasn't it? I could have put it in a commercial magazine and not gotten a nibble."

The pharmacy isn't open for bids like most items on eBay. It's on a separate real estate listing that merely provides a way for potential buyers to contact sellers.

When he first bought "Olmos," as the locals call it, Dodd did everything. He filled prescriptions, kept the books, fixed the plumbing, even fixed the soda fountains.

Because it already was a landmark, Dodd didn't change anything, just cleaned the place up a bit. The pharmacy still runs "the old fashioned way," he says, with charge accounts and all-day deliveries.

Betty Garza, a counter waitress for more than 35 years, "came with the building," he said. It's going to take more than a new owner to remove her, Dodd says.

"Everybody's gonna stay. You can't get rid of 'em."

Ambrose Uriegas has been working at the pharmacy for only a year, but even he says he's not going anywhere.

He says the phone was ringing before the place even opened Friday morning.

"Grandparents, parents, children and grandchildren, they're all calling," he said. "Charline McCombs, she's a big fan, a regular, she's already called."

As the lunch crowd thinned out, a couple walked in with their 20-month-old daughter.

Steve and Lisa Ellis are from San Antonio but now live in Houston. In town just to drop off Steve's mother, they made just one stop before heading out of town: the Olmos Pharmacy.

"We shared one of our first dates here," Steve said.

As he ordered a shake for the three of them to share, Lisa looked around.

"This could be a really good investment," she said. "Vintage is so in right now."

Dodd's son Phillip went to pharmacy school with the idea that he'd join his father at the Olmos one day, but he fell in love and moved away. Now he just wants to make sure the right person buys it.

By 3 p.m. Friday, he'd already gotten a couple of calls, but because he was working, he hadn't followed up on them yet.

Back at the pharmacy, business finally was calming down. Dodd joked with two ladies waiting for a prescription.

A pack of kids piled into one of the booths and sucked on their shakes. Uriegas rang up a regular and shared the news.

The customer laughed gently and looked around. The value of the Olmos Pharmacy, he said, "is really immeasurable, isn't it?"

Then he grabbed the small paper bag off the counter and walked out the doo

Enet, a small Israeli answer to eBay, is claiming NIS 250,000 from a disgruntled client who sought revenge by publishing denigrating messages on forums run by Maariv web site NRG. The company is also suing NRG and the manager of its consumers' forum, claiming it was their duty to stop the libelous messages, and that they had cooperated with the angry client.

Enet filed its suit against Yitzhak Hochberg and his son last week. They say they had bought a new wireless phone via the site. Apparently Hochberg was unhappy with the purchase, claiming he had been supplied a used device in old packaging.

In February, enet says, it received an email from Hochberg senior and junior, referring the company to 11 consumer forums. They claim the message said, "You thought your trick would lose you just one customer. Wrong."
 
Not only did Maariv not delete the defamatory messages upon first request, says enet, forum manager Eitan Barzilai, posted his own message proposing a boycott in retaliation for its attempts to "gouge customers."

enet wants a quarter-million shekels in compensation and an apology in print from Maariv.

It's enough to make you wake up in the middle of the night, eyes drawn to your PC, fingers itchy for the feel of a keyboard. It can make you fight with loved ones, travel long distances, bleed your bank account dry. It teases, tickles and taunts, leading to behavioral tics such as bidder's bulimia, the snake maker and cyber-sniping, among other things.

'iSold It on eBay' employee Greg Kitchen wraps a Southwestern saddle and antler lamp to ship to a winning bidder. His favorite items to come into the store are musical instruments.
 
More than 145 million users in 33 countries buy and sell almost every imaginable item on eBay. 

Delilah Burgett, manager of 'iSold It on eBay' on U.S. 281, found her engagement ring on eBay.
 
Lupe Flores lists a collection of John Wayne collectibles at the 'iSold It on eBay.' An average of $40 billion worth of merchandise is hawked internationally each year.
 
It's the Internet giant eBay, and it turns 10 this year.
While official anniversary festivities took place last month in San Jose, Calif., the online marketplace still is to be celebrated in San Antonio. On Saturday, seasoned and novice eBayers will meet at the DoubleTree Hotel for a dose of e-wisdom as a part of the eBay University lecture series.

Since its inception, the site has become the "go-to" place for buyers in search of a rare collectible, sellers looking to make an extra buck and anyone simply fishing for a good deal. No interest is too strange or specialized, no values too high or low. The eBay system is so efficient that millions make a living from trading on the site.

While archetypal items such as CDs and T-shirts still are offered for sale, eBay also has become notorious for its more outlandish auctions; noted swaps have included a vial of astronaut Neil Armstrong's breath, a fork used by baseball player Derek Jeter and a grilled cheese sandwich with a likeness of the Virgin Mary that sold for $28,000.

The past decade has seen exponential expansion of the site, attracting ever more buyers (which is good news for sellers) and more sellers (which means more competition).

For the past seven years, Paulo Villarreal, an employee of the University of Texas at San Antonio, has sold pop culture artifacts purchased, sometimes literally for pennies, in Latin America.

"I sell magazines, CDs, old records, photographs and postcards," he says. "Almost all of the stuff has been bought in Mexico and they have both Latin and American performers."

Villarreal was introduced to eBay by family members who sold Mexican toys on the site. In the seven years since, he's made as much as $11,000 in one year. His biggest sellers: Spanish-language magazines featuring American stars such as Lee Majors and Madonna on the covers, which went for $70 each.

Villarreal candidly admits that, as eBay grew, the influx of sellers resulted in heavy competition, putting him out of business for nearly two years. When the spike in new users stabilized, Villarreal re-entered the market, but says profits never have been the same.

"Things are better, but not quite as they were in the glory years," he says.

Many users, including those in the San Antonio area, have found that specialization is the key to eBay success.

A self-proclaimed handyman, Carl Buckert, looks to eBay to find parts for his many projects, such as renovating everything from late-model cars to old lawnmowers. Parts for such items are often so rare that it's not enough simply to be willing to outbid a rival.

A graduate student at Our Lady of the Lake University, Buckert has depended on cyber-sniping, also known as snaking, to win auctions. Timing is crucial because the strategy involves placing a bid seconds before an auction's close, but after other snipers have bid. That's why Buckert has at times been forced to covertly bid while in class, using a Palm Pilot with Internet access.

"Don't bid until the last minute, because if you bid early, all you are really doing is driving up the price," Buckert advises.

Buckert's favorite recent find is an old back seat he bought for his latest project, restoring a derelict 1990 Jeep. He got it for $110, including shipping, less than half of what it was going for in automotive magazines.

But Buckert also uses eBay for more practical purposes, such as buying and selling college textbooks.

"(Textbooks) are cheaper on eBay to begin with," he advises. "I usually get back at least what I paid for them as well."

For those who might hesitate to take the eBay plunge, specialty stores have sprung up throughout the country, touting their expertise in helping neophytes.

One such store is "iSold It on eBay," with three locations in San Antonio. Lupe Flores, a sales representative for the San Pedro branch, says customers are more likely to look to the store for guidance when selling, rather than buying. San Antonio stores are at 13433 U.S. 281, 8332 Agora Parkway and 11650 Bandera Road.

"The store is for people who don't want to bother, don't want their personal info on the Internet or who are a bit less tech-savvy, such as the elderly," Flores says.

Flores has helped sell items such as a limited-edition, signed copy of Robert Frost's last poetry book, a combination saddle and antler lamp and, lately, an abundance of "Star Wars" paraphernalia.

"The value of things relies heavily on trends and the state of pop culture," he explains. A recent search found there were close to 90,000 "Star Wars"-related items for sale on the site; a Drew Struzan original hand-drawn poster was the highest priced item with a starting bid of $73,000.

Joining "iSold It on eBay" was an obvious move for Flores, who has his own eBay stories to tell.

He recalls buying a Boba Fett action figure with a rare factory defect on the arm for $5 at Wal-Mart and then selling it for $275 on eBay.

"It helps to be a geek, because you know what to look for," Flores reveals with a laugh.

However, he cautions new users that such windfalls are rare, and warns that the site has become the ultimate brothel for alleged "get rich quick" schemes intended to hook and then scam unassuming users.

"Do a critical analysis of every transaction, especially if it sounds like a hoax," Flores adds.

Flores also discourages bidder's bulimia, or placing too many bids on the same item within a short amount of time.

Created in 1995 by software engineer Pierre Omidyar, eBay was initially a forum where traders with streamlined interests swapped collectibles such as Beanie Babies and Pez dispensers. As business grew, it was only a few head scratches and caffeine-laced contemplations before the execs at eBay realized the site was modifications away from becoming a global enterprise.

Enter added features such as the auction-bypassing Buy-it-now option, eBay University and PayPal, a system that allows users to safely pay for their purchases using a credit or debit card.

The site has since become a cultural phenomenon, with 147 million users in 33 countries hawking an average of $40 billion worth of merchandise per year.

But the evolution of the e-bazaar has not been perfect. Questions have been raised about reporting profits to the IRS and the site's anti-fraud system. Relations with small-business owners have become strained over hikes in fees. And the site has occasionally been forced to pull items of questionable taste and legality, such as when pieces of the Columbia Shuttle, which disintegrated during re-entry in 2003, were offered for sale.

"Because it's such a public platform, it's hard to catch the strange stuff sometimes," explains Jim Griffin, the lead instructor of eBay University.

These problems aside, revenue for the Internet giant easily crosses the $1 billion mark per financial quarter.

Griffin says eBay still sees room for growth.

"There are entire regions of the world where people are just being introduced to the Internet, and we want them to know about eBay," he says. "The larger the community, the better it is for everyone involved."

Now, after complaints by the music industry, eBay is removing the illegal Live 8 DVDs.

If I could convey only one concept to someone who was about to start selling on Ebay, it would be this: no one has ever purchased anything on Ebay with this in mind--"I think I'll buy something on Ebay from some random guy and pay more than I would at the store down the street."

No one has ever said that. Not once. That is why Ebay sellers who appear to be "that random guy" always fail miserably. It's not enough to simply be professional and responsible. You have to make an active effort to appear professional and responsible.

To begin with, you must actually have a good deal. There are dozens of liquidators and wholesale outlets. If you do your research, you should have no problem finding good prices on anything you want to sell. I list a number of the best ones in my book.

Once you have something good to sell and a good source to buy it from, you have to decide how you are going to present it.

At this point, you are giving your customers a good deal --which is important--but if you don't present it as a good deal, they will have no way of knowing.

One way you can do this is by setting yourself apart from the pack with a unique selling proposition: tell potential customers exactly why they should shop at your store over other Ebay sellers' stores.

For instance, if you know that the sellers in your category who undersell you can only do it because they are selling damaged or refurbished products, then tell that to your customers. Let them know that your products may cost a few more dollars. . .but if they buy it somewhere else for less on Ebay, it is probably broken.

You will also want to add extra services and guarantees to your product that no one else offers. For example, you could give free support or free shipping. Or you could guarantee to ship everything within 24 business hours of purchase. Or you could bundle your product with other products. Whatever you do, your goal should be to gain a competitive edge over big sellers by adding an unquantifiable amount of value to your item.

. . .but even this is not enough to make you appear professional and responsible.

You must frame your products in a template that looks professionally-designed. You will need to either learn HTML or purchase a template from Ebay or elsewhere. In the end, you need to ask yourself this: "if I stumbled over this auction, would I think it was professional--or would I immediately move on?"

It is also a good idea to ask another person what they would do, since it is often hard to judge your own work.

In addition to this, you will want to operate like a real business would. You should email your customers with shipping confirmation numbers. You should be polite to customers and use a systematic process to conduct all transactions and customer interactions.

Everything I mentioned in this lesson is relatively simple. Most of it can be accomplished in a matter of hours; however, the vast majority of Ebay sellers neglect to do it. If you put everything in this lesson into practice, you will immediately put yourself light-years ahead of all stores that look like "that random Ebay guy."

http://www.workathomerightnow.net/ebay.html" title="http://www.workathomerightnow.net/ebay.html" target="_blank"http://www.workathomerightnow... - Written by Isaiah Hull, author of "How to Profit on Ebay In Seven Days Without Spending A Single Penny." For a limited time only you can get a pre-publication copy of his book for ONE-FOURTH the post-publication price!

Less than a day after the worldwide Live 8 shows, bootleg DVDs of the concerts were already being offered on eBay. By Tuesday (July 5), the auction company had begun removing the illegal discs from the site following complaints from the British

"I will not profit from the concert ... This is money that should be used to save lives." — Pink Floyd's David Gilmour.
 
"The unauthorized copies of Live 8 DVDs we have been told about have been taken down, because the sale of fake items is not permitted on eBay.co.uk," the site said in a statement. A spokesman for Live 8 organizer Bob Geldof said called the people who posted the sales "cretins and scum."

The auction site had already run afoul of Geldof before the shows, when he labeled eBay an "electronic pimp" after users offered tickets to the free London show for sale for hundreds of dollars (see "Live 8 Auctions Pulled After Geldof Urges eBay Protest").

The discs, some of which appeared on the site within 24 hours of the end of Saturday's 10 free concerts, drew bids of up to $31 each and featured footage from both the Philadelphia and London shows, according to Reuters. Especially angered by the sales was record company EMI, which paid millions for the rights to release the official event DVD.

"There are too many people out there who believe music is for stealing, regardless of the wishes of artists and the people who invest in them," said David Martin, director of anti-piracy at the British Phonographic Industry. "Sadly we are not at all surprised by this incident."
 
A number of the major acts who performed at the shows have seen their album sales spike in England in the days following the event. According to one of Britain's main music retailers, HMV, the sales of Pink Floyd's album Echoes shot up 1,343 percent on Sunday compared to the week before. The group, which re-formed with bass player Roger Waters for the event (see "Jay-Z, U2, Madonna, Pink Floyd Deliver Live 8 Highlights"), has agreed to give all profits from sales in the wake of Live 8 over to charity and have encouraged other artists and record labels to do the same.

"Though the main objective has been to raise consciousness and put pressure on the G8 leaders, I will not profit from the concert," guitarist David Gilmour said. "If other artists feel like donating their extra royalties to charity, perhaps then the record companies could be persuaded to make a similar gesture and that would be a bonus. This is money that should be used to save lives." Though the spike was partly accounted for by the previous week's low numbers, an HMV spokesperson told Reuters that the sales of nearly 1,000 copies of Echoes was still impressive.
 
Other albums that had robust bumps included the Who's Then & Now (up 863 percent), the Annie Lennox-fronted Eurythmics Greatest Hits (500 percent) and Dido's Life For Rent (412 percent). Coldplay notched one of the smallest sales increases of the London acts (3%), but still sold the most records with more than 2,800 copies.

Another brisk seller was the London show's opening number, the collaboration between U2 and Paul McCartney on "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." The song was released to legal download services within minutes of its performance and quickly hit #1 on the iTunes charts in Britain, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Belgium, according to a report by The Associated Press. The proceeds from the sales will benefit Live 8.

On Monday, the London show's finale — an all-star sing-along to "Hey Jude" led by McCartney — was also offered for download. No sales figures were available at press time.

For those of us who know nothing about golf, it takes a fair bit to catch our attention.

The story has to be pretty quirky. After all, it's a sport which tolerates what most people would regard as unforgivably bad attire; a normal level of quirkiness just won't cut it.

But a quirky golf story has Melbourne talking.

Victorian golfer David Diaz, who went pro in 1990, has managed to qualify for next week's British Open at the home of golf, St Andrew's in Scotland.

His regular caddy inexplicably gave up the gig on Monday and Diaz has decided to put the job out to tender: the privilege of carrying his clubs around the Royal and Ancient course is now up for grabs on eBay. Bids start at $4,000.

But there are catches.

First, you not only have to pay Diaz for the job, but also pay your own airfare and accommodation. Oh, and be there by Monday, please, or the deal's off.

More tricky, perhaps, is the request for a single-figure handicapper. All those elements combined narrow the field considerably.

Diaz says he needs someone to provide the four "ups": turn up, keep up, clean up and shut up. He will take care of the rest.

So far, no bids have been recorded but it's not over yet. Diaz says he remains hopeful someone will want to take up the offer.

After all, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to get up close and personal with the world's greats at the world's most famous tournament.

Bad pants are entirely optional.

INTERNET auction site eBay said today it had begun removing illegal DVD copies of the Live 8 poverty awareness pop concerts from its website, after the record industry complained.

Some of the pirate recordings on the site early on Tuesday were on sale within 24 hours of Saturday's concerts ending, and have been attracting bids of up to £16.99 pounds ($US31) each.
One of them boasts footage from huge concerts in London's Hyde Park and Philadelphia.

Ten concerts took place in all, from Tokyo in the east to near Toronto in the west, and more than a million people turned up to see the greatest line-up of rock stars ever assembled.

 While the concerts were free, British media said record company EMI paid millions of pounds for the rights to release the official DVD of the event, which Bob Geldof organised to put pressure on world leaders to do more to beat poverty.

"There are too many people out there who believe music is for stealing, regardless of the wishes of artists and the people who invest in them," said David Martin, director of anti-piracy at the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

"Sadly we are not at all surprised by this incident."

EBay said it had begun removing the listings.

"The unauthorised copies of Live 8 DVDs we have been told about have been taken down, because the sale of fake items is not permitted on eBay.co.uk," the site said in a statement.

EBay has already been labeled an "electronic pimp" by Geldof after free Live 8 tickets appeared on the site ahead of Saturday's concerts.

It suspended some of the accounts of users who placed hoax bids for the tickets of up to £10 million in order to sabotage the sales.

Geldof also organised the Live Aid charity gigs 20 years ago to raise money for Ethiopian famine victims, and brought out a re-recording of the 1984 "o They Know It's Christmas? track to try to prevent bootleggers profiting from the original.

The BPI urged eBay to toughen its safeguards against piracy, noting a dramatic rise in illegal sales.

In 2001, the BPI arranged for the removal of 2315 illegal online auctions, but in the first six months of this year that number had risen to 13,280.

Marketwatch reported Sunday that eBay will be facing another competitor in China. Marketwatch reported that Tencent Holdings Ltd., a service with 150 million active accounts on its QQ instant-messaging platform, is expected to launch its own C2C marketplace. eBay's Chinese marketplace eBay Eachnet already faces competition from Alibaba's TaoBao site.

Alibaba calls itself "the world's largest global business-to-business ecommerce marketplace" and claims that its consumer marketplace Taobao.com has surpassed eBay Eachnet in China. (Taobao charges no fees to users.)

In June, eBay formed a strategic alliance with China's Global Sources Ltd. to create inventory-sourcing opportunities for eBay PowerSellers on eBay EachNet in China and via eBay's newly launched Reseller Marketplace

Following an investigation by Birmingham Trading Standards in co-operation with ELSPA, a 40 year-old Sutton Coldfield woman has been caught importing fake Game Boy Advance cartridges and selling them on eBay.

The offender, who has not been named, first came to the attention of the authorities last December after an eBay user complained that they had been sold a counterfeit game advertised as genuine.

ELSPA's Internet investigator then made a series of test purchases from the woman's eBay page, and found that she had conducted almost 400 transactions over a 12 month period.

Trading Standards officers found "a substantial number" of fake GBA cartridges, most of them Mario titles, when they searched the woman's home. She had been importing them from Hong Kong, bringing them through Coventry airport, and selling each one for between UKP 10-25.

The woman made "a full and frank admission" when interviewed by authorities, and now faces prosecution.

"Counterfeiters believe that the numerous internet auction sites today offer a completely immune route to market for the illegal sale of counterfeit and pirated products - this is not the case," said ELSPA deputy DG Michael Rawlinson.

"Sites such as eBay have stringent policies on illegal trading and cooperate fully with authorities to ensure these are enforced. ELSPA is grateful to Birmingham City Council Trading Standards for their hard work in this investigation."

Councillor Neil Eustace, chair of Birmingham City Public Protection Committee, commented: "It is notoriously difficult to bring to book people operating illegally on the Internet. Everyone involved has done an excellent job in seeing this investigation through to a successful conclusion."

A bidder on eBay has won a power lunch with billionaire investor Warren Buffett for US$351,100.

The auction ended Thursday night [US] and the winner was identified as "hanka3153". Bidding had started at US$25,000.

Money paid to spend a bit of time with the chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway is going to the Glide Foundation, a charity group that workswith the poor and homeless in San Francisco. Buffett has hosted lunches over the last several years to benefit Glide.

The winner would be able to take up to seven friends to the lunch, which will be in either Omaha, Nebraska, where Buffett lives; or in New York. Buffett and the winner would select a time, date and location.

The package does not include travel and accommodation

The Toronto Sun's Live 8 edition was up for sale on EBay yesterday as entrepeneurs tried to cash in on the free concert.

Yesterday's Sun, with nine pages of Live 8 coverage and a 16-page pullout section, was up for a starting bid of $12.41 ($9.99 US) yesterday from a seller in Oshawa.

Other hucksters trying to flog Live 8 tickets from Barrie, Ont., on EBay saw slow starts to their auctions as a mint ticket reached bids of 99 cents yesterday.

One set of two tix had generated one bid by 9:15 p.m. yesterday and another lone ticket had no bidding interest a full 14 hours after the seller had put it online.

Still, bidding could escalate because the auctions are young, with five days remaining for bidders to grab the mementos.
 
Six items from the Barrie Live 8 concert had made their way on to EBay by last night. Apart from the tickets, four T-shirts were up for sale for $43.46, with one bid between them.

 A leopard head wrapped in a plastic bag gazes dully upon rows of metal shelves. In the next aisle, hundreds of elephant tusks are stacked. Other rows are filled with reptile-skin cowboy boots, caiman-skin wallets and bags of dried seahorses.

Seized by federal wildlife inspectors, these items and a million more are stored at the National Eagle and Wildlife Property Repository - evidence of the booming trade in illegal wildlife parts.

In the past, law enforcement focused on merchants and smugglers, but now federal wildlife officials say there is a new, emerging threat: the Internet.

"What the Internet has done is increase trading by bringing buyers and sellers together," said Special Agent Ed Grace of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Worldwide, the illegal trade in endangered wildlife is a $4.2 billion-a-year smuggling enterprise, eclipsed only by illegal drugs, federal experts say. The United States, Europe and Asia are the biggest markets.

The contraband wildlife parts are increasingly traded through chat rooms and legitimate websites, such as eBay, law enforcement officials say.

EBay, the world's largest Web auctioneer, prohibits selling live animals and illegal wildlife parts, but the site carries 50 million items, adding 5 million each day. As a result, some banned items slip through, eBay spokesman Hani Durzy said.

"We don't want to do anything that encourages people to knowingly or unknowingly break the law," Durzy said. "We will end listings; we will kick people off site; and we will provide agencies whatever information they need to prosecute traffickers."

Still, on Monday, eBay had 387 listings for "African elephant ivory," including some not labeled antique, which would be exempt from an international ban.

"Before, if you wanted a tiger- skin rug, you'd either have to travel abroad or rely on classified ads, which would limit buyers to a finite number of people," Grace said. "Now, with the Internet, the market has been popped wide open."

Grace said at least 70 percent of his cases involve computers in some way. For example, e-mail records from a suspect in the Midwest led to a raid on a house in Firestone last year, where almost 100 live snakes, many of them venomous, were seized, Grace said.

Brenda Lorisch is considering buying a new home and keeping her old one to store the mountain of designer clothes she sells on eBay.
We have a 2,600-square-foot house with three bedrooms, but only one bedroom we can sleep in, the Houston entrepreneur said with a laugh. But my husband doesnt complain any more because I make more money than he does.

Candance Mahlendorf sells collectibles from her home in Fremont, Neb., and struggles with the same issue. We have five bedrooms, and three out of five are all eBay. Now my husband insists that all our eBay stuff goes right into the three bedrooms the moment it comes in the house, she said.

Their challenges pale beside those facing William Bowman and Sabrina Morales, who sell exotic woods from their two-bedroom apartment in Harrisonburg, Va. The only room in the house that does not have product is the bathroom, said William Bowman. That is no lie.

Clutter is one of many thorns prickling the horde of Internet entrepreneurs angling to strike it rich on eBay, the global online bazaar featuring 50 million items for sale every day. There is also the loneliness of working from home, the tedium of photographing hundreds of items, the grind of answering customer e-mails and the anxiety over competing with other eBay sellers who regularly pop up out of nowhere.

The challenges are intensifying as Web commerce and its biggest player, eBay, turn 10 this year. What started as a hobby for many has overtaken careers and personal lives, transforming them as a new form of commerce takes shape online. Now that thousands of eBay entrepreneurs have years of selling under their belts, they are wrestling with serious issues of scale.

We have gone from a minivan to a full-size cargo van to a FedEx delivery truck, said Mark Anthony, a Phoenix entrepreneur who has been selling model car kits on eBay for five years. Anthony stores 9,000 to 11,000 model car kits in and around the large house he bought when he started on eBay.

Yet he still loves the lifestyle, he said. Its kind of like having a garden: You go out in the morning and pick out some stuff to sell that day, whatever you feel like depending on your mood.

As I heard in interview after interview at the companys recent users conference in California, eBay dealers tend to go through a predictable evolution. They start selling junk lying around the house, branch out to buy inventory wholesale either online or from local stores, then really ramp up once they find a product that clicks with the sites bargain shoppers. Most sellers work solo or with spouses at home, at least until sales hit $10,000 or $15,000 a month, because the cost of hiring staff and renting space would gobble up any profits.

Eventually, high-volume sellers often buy a small warehouse or storage barn and drop it in their back yards, or rent one in town to not only hold inventory, but provide office space. They hire part-timers to help pack the oodles of stuff they ship to buyers around the world.

All told, eBay reports more than 100,000 merchants belong to its multi-tiered power-seller group, which requires sales of at least $1,000 a month and carries various perks. The color-coded levels of the sales club start at bronze and progress to titanium, which requires monthly sales of $150,000. That sounds like a lot, but remember, actual profits are a fraction of sales.

Gary Richardson is a typical early-stage power-seller, hawking Harley-Davidson sunglasses from his home atop a rural mountain in Locus Grove, Ark., for the past two years. He works full-time as an industrial refrigeration

technician, but with his eBay sales doubling monthly, he is hoping to quit soon. He has attained silver sales status, meaning his eBay revenue exceeds
$3,000 a month.

Also at the silver level are Jody Rogers and Asad Bangash, both 31, who sell an unusual product you wont find elsewhere: khussa sandals handmade in Pakistan by a man who develops the designs by phone with Rogers. She and Bangash — who go by beachcombers! on eBay — were working for car dealerships before the Internet bug bit them. Now they work side by side, six days a week, in a backyard apartment behind their house in Orlando, Fla.

While my income has gone down, I have never been happier, Rogers said. I own my own business and I make my own hours.

Rogers believes her business will eventually take off, even though eBay millionaires likely represent a tiny fraction of the 430,000 people earning income selling on the site.

But the prospect of wealth does not appear to be the primary motivator for most. Rather, its about calling the shots.

After years in the corporate world with people breathing over your back, this is the perfect job for me, said Emily Sabako, of San Marcos, who quit her post as a chief financial officer to spend more time with her two young children and now sells Mary Frances handbags on eBay. Where else can you work in jeans and bare feet, have the blues on in the background and be drinking your iced tea?

After four years, Sabako, 46, has reached the gold level, grossing more than $10,000 a month.

Angela Cash, of Kennesaw, Ga., is on the ladders next rung, a platinum seller with monthly sales over $25,000. She finally bought a warehouse last year to support her home-decor business, which employs two full-timers and eight part-timers. Im what happens when your eBay business gets out of hand, she said.

EBay wont say how many sellers have hit the platinum or titanium levels. Nor is much data available on how many of the sites 60 million active users are sellers. In 2003, the most recent year eBay conducted a major survey of its users, the company estimated there were nearly 4 million sellers on eBay in the United States. Nearly 120,000 were using the site as their primary or only source of income; another 310,000 used it as a secondary sales channel, the survey concluded.

Ebay dealers are quick to tell you their Internet businesses can be turbulent, even on the upper rungs of the sales ladder.

Last year was horrendous for me; my business sagged, said Mike Lazar, a Philadelphia area video dealer who had been one of the sites biggest sellers, auctioning nearly 10,000 close-out movies a week. After he lost a key supplier, sales took a hit. Now he lists 1,000 titles a week on eBay and remains profitable by also selling at rivals such as Amazon.com.

I went full circle, said Lazar, who pared his staff from 21 to seven in recent years. I started in my house, and then we got into a big warehouse. I had 19,000 square feet at one time. Now we have about 2,100 square feet.

All of which suggests a get-rich-slow dream on eBay. It may be more about taking control of lifestyles than raking in moolah.

By now, stories of people offering to don corporate logos on various body parts are a dime a dozen. But some are just too sensational to ignore.

The latest in eBay mania is the story of Karolyne Smith, a Salt Lake City, Utah, woman who recently auctioned off her forehead to any company willing to plop down $10,000. In return, Smith agreed to get a permanent tattoo of the company's logo placed square in the middle of her forehead.

Within only a few days of the auction's start, the self-proclaimed "Forehead Goldie" appeared on CBS's nightly news, was fielding offers for interviews from local radio shows, and made it to the No. 2 spot on eBay's list of most watched items. With press coverage at its peak, Smith had created just the kind of marketing frenzy companies look for. And who stepped in to seize the opportunity? All together now, class: GoldenPalace.com.

Using eBay's "Buy it now" feature, the online casino sealed Smith's fate for a cool $10 grand. And it appears Smith meant business. She went through with the tattoo this week, reportedly after employees at the tattoo parlor she selected spent seven hours trying to talk her out of it. PRNewswire is hosting video of the tattooing taking place as well as some crowd reactions after Smith exited the parlor with her newly decorated noggin.

In her original auction posting, Smith says she loves to be the center of attention. Looks like she and GoldenPalace.com just might be boon companions.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.com ...

Coffee offered in the first Web auction by the impoverished African country sold for an average $3.22 (1.82 pounds) per pound, the sponsor said.

All 26 lots of top grade washed and unwashed coffee on offer from Ethiopian coffee cooperatives were sold above the reserve price of $1.50, said Willem Boot, president of auction sponsor eCafe Foundation.

"Because of your support, the...auction generated more than $187,000 for Ethiopian cooperative coffee at an average price of $3.22 per pound," Boot said in a letter thanking auction bidders.

The auction was the first for the eCafe Foundation, which provides education and economic development assistance to farming communities that grow rare arabica coffees.

It also monitors auctions to help communities earn more from their product.

The highest bid received was $6.50 per pound for Ethiopia's top-grade coffee from Yirgacheffe. The lowest winning bid was tendered at $1.82, Boot said.

Ethiopian coffee normally fetches an average of $1.30 in normal markets.

All 26 lots auctioned above their reserve price of $1.50 per pound, Boot said.

Growers welcomed the results.

"Through the efforts of the foundation, Ethiopian coffee was able to be sold at a triple price of $6.50 per pound," said Oromia Coffee Union head Tadesse Meskela, referring to the top bid.

Tadesse said the auction also showed growers that they should focus on quality, rather than quantity.

Abraham Begashaw , head of the Agriculture Ministry's Coffee Quality Control Department, hailed the auction as an initiative that brought positive results and support to Ethiopian coffee farmers.

Four unions of 151 coffee cooperatives, with a total membership of 180,000 individual producers, participated in the auction.

Ethiopia is the largest coffee producer in Africa with annual production estimated between 250,000 and 300,000 tonnes, most of which is consumed locally.

The country earned $296.3 million by exporting 144,925 tonnes of coffee in the first 11 months of the trading year July 2004-June 2005.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (June 29, 2005) -- The chance to wave the green flag signaling the start of an exciting Indy Racing League IndyCar Series event is a thrilling, often once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for those receiving the honor. For the July 16 Firestone Indy 200 at Nashville Superspeedway, Firestone Racing is making that possibility a reality for one lucky fan -- and all in the name of a good cause.

Firestone has placed for bid on the popular auction website eBay the Honorary Starter's position for the Firestone Indy 200. From now through July 5, anyone interested may bid on the honor, with the highest bidder (provided the offer meets the minimum reserve bid) invited by Firestone Racing to climb into the flag stand before the race and then wave the green flag as the Indy cars thunder past to commence the annual thrilling race at Nashville Superspeedway.

Best of all, proceeds from the top bid go directly to charity -- United Way of Metropolitan Nashville.

"We realize the average fan rarely, if ever, has an opportunity to serve as Honorary Starter for a race of any kind," said Al Speyer, Executive Director, Firestone Racing, "so we thought it would be nice to open the possibility to everyone. I have been fortunate enough to serve as Honorary Starter for the Firestone Indy 200 in the past, and let me tell you, it's one of the more memorable experiences of my career in racing. We're sure the winning bidder will enjoy the entire evening we have planned and know that he or she will also enjoy having helped many others in the process with the donation going to United Way."

The winning bidder receives four grandstand tickets for the race from Firestone Racing, admission to Firestone's pre-race hospitality area and gets to meet Andrew Firestone, great-grandson of Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. founder Harvey Firestone and most recently star of the ABC-TV reality show "The Bachelor." Prior to taking position in the flag stand to start the race, the winning bidder also will be decked out in Firestone Racing apparel and receive a lesson in "proper flag waving" from the official IRL starters. Transportation to and accommodations for the event weekend are the responsibility of the winning bidder.

To view and bid on this rarest of opportunities, follow this Internet link: www.cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=654 2964095&ssPageName=AD ME:B EF:US:1

Or, go to www.eBay.com and enter item number 6542964095 in the item search. Bidding ends at 10:27:40 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, July 5.