More than 167 million people use eBay, says shop owner Jeff Rubinoff. Ninety-two percent of the users are buyers, he adds with a wide grin.

What makes Rubinoff so darned happy to know this trivia is his new store, QuikDrop, opened last August in Plantation. It specializes in marketing and selling other people's stuff on eBay, for a percentage of the total sale.

''We're your gateway to eBay,'' Rubinoff said. ``Most people don't have time to track their items on eBay, or lack the computer skills, or lack computers. The elderly, for instance. Or items that are just too big to sell online for most people. We've sold a time-share in the Bahamas! It's convenient.''

Rubinoff, with 50-50 partner in business and in life, wife Tamara, 40, said they moved from Detroit to open the QuikDrop franchise, the Sotheby's of Internet auctioneers, in Plantation.

''Overall, the reason people need to use our store is that we can use up to 20 photos on a 3D screen for a car, or five for a set of golf clubs, and we have the technology and support to weed out phony bidders and online scams,'' Rubinoff said.

QuikDrop provides all the photos, writing, listing, e-mail and phone call follow-up, payment processing, packing, and shipping for the client's items, such as forklifts, medical equipment, paper cutters, flame-retardant cabinets, boats, computers or golf clubs.

By selling through a reputable eBay auctioneer like QuikDrop, said Rubinoff, the seller can avoid providing private information including bank account numbers or contact information, and buyers will purchase from QuikDrop knowing it ensures quality and shipping.

But probably the main reason sellers use QuikDrop is that they can research the item to determine market value and marketability, he said.

''Right now, cellphones are hot, really any consumer electronic that is not more than a few years old, because people want to upgrade their lifestyle,'' he said.

``And sports equipment. We've even shipped an outrigger (canoe) to Hawaii. The best thing to do is bring your stuff in.''

BY YVONNE CAREY

Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron has heaped praise on former eBay president Jeff Skoll after she found out that he funded her latest film 'North Country'.

The billionaire businessman left the online sales company eBay to create Participant Productions, which he hoped would allow him to make socially relevant and meaningful films.

Theron said: "Jeff said he's made his money and he wanted to do something that makes him feel good and is not just arty so nobody's going to see these movies.

"He's showing that these kinds of films are financially viable."

However, Theron added that, while she is a fan of Skoll's more recent film contributions, she has still never used eBay, claiming that she is "technologically illiterate."

"I still look at a fax and go, 'Wow!'" she added.

In addition to 'North Country', Participant Productions has also funded George Clooney's recent film 'Good Night, And Good Luck' and the documentary 'Murderball'.

Investigators probing the murder of Rachel Entwistle and her baby daughter have obtained the family’s eBay trading records and already contacted one especially disgruntled potential customer.
 
In addition to confirming that eBay turned over the records to Middlesex investigators, a spokeswoman said the San Jose, Calif.-based Internet giant froze husband and father Neil Entwistle’s account after a rash of trading irregularities about a week before the murders.
 
Entwistle had been an active trader on eBay, but an unpopular one in recent weeks.
 
He was apparently luring potential “millionaires&rdquo ; using photos of large-breasted women in skimpy outfits and promising quick cash. But his alleged schemes raised the ire of would-be buyers.
 
Since Jan. 6, eBay received 16 complaints against Entwistle’s services, registered as srpublications.
 
Hani Durzy, the eBay spokesman, said Entwistle had been a model seller since 2004.
 
“They were going fine, then all of a sudden, over a 48-hour period, it went south,” said Durzy. “The user account is currently on suspension since Jan. 9.”
 
One eBay user who said he was scammed is David Brown of Coalville, Leicestershire, England. He said he tried to buy software at a discount.
 
“The advert went along the lines of rather than the promotion company spending $20,000 on advertising in computer magazines, they were selling massively reduced original program copies at a fraction of the price you would normally pay,” said Brown. “I thought the advert was pretty genuine at the time. I suppose all the other losers thought the same too, eh?”
 
Brown left a comment on the board that called Rachel Entwistle, Neil’s slain wife, a “liar” and a “thief,” but said he is now not sure whether he was dealing with Rachel or her husband. “I haven’t got any more information on this case just to say that the police have been in contact with me and will be calling today for further information,” he said.
 
Durzy said, “It is unclear if or when those who did not receive what they paid for will receive it.
 
“We have a fraud complaint system built in. Most payments go through PayPal. Many of the sellers offer PayPal buyer protection.”

Norman Miller

Looks like there's plenty of room opening up on the Indianapolis Colts bandwagon.

An Indianapolis-based seller posted an eBay auction with the title: "A stinking helmet signed by Peyton Manning ... aka CHOKE ARTIST." In the item description, the seller says, "Can't bring myself to back this guy anymore, this is why I'm getting rid of this stuff that's stinking up my house."

The irate fan, whose photo of the helmet for sale includes a photo of Manning in the background with "LOSER" scrawled across it, rips on Manning for "looking like a third-grade youth football QB in the playoffs year in and year out" and even lets kicker Mike Vanderjagt off the hook. Sort of. "Even though you still choked, you should have never been put in that position to begin with. It was the idiot quarterback's fault."

You wouldn't think this approach would exactly drive up the price, but the seller ended up getting $405.

Seattle Post

Robert Traube is hoping to ride the wave of e-commerce growth.

With online sales up 23 percent during the holiday shopping frenzy and no one profiting from online shoppers more than online auction site eBay, Traube has hitched his wagon to that shooting star.

Last fall, Traube opened Utica EBob, a store at 2 Campion Road where Traube can put goods online for sellers who don't have the computer skills or time to do it themselves. Advertisement
 
His storeroom boasts, among other unique offerings, a giant gold boxing glove, a Utica Police Department uniform, designer handbags and a collection of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue calendars.

"The stuff that comes in is so amazing," he said.

EBob generally charges sellers 25 percent of the sale price, but will negotiate lower fees on big-ticket items, Traube said.

Michael Hundertmark of Ilion said he had placed a number of items with similar stores, but prefers doing business with EBob.

"I've sold antique vases, and right now I have some Beacon blankets and robes on eBay," Hundertmark said. "(Traube) is very prompt in his payments, very fair with his fees."

EBob is one of several businesses in Oneida County that accept drop-offs from eBay sellers. Dwain Klatt's C&D Trading Post on Route 12 in Barneveld is the only one with drop-off service currently on eBay's list of trading assistants. Klatt has sold more than 1,000 items since 2001, according to eBay.

Traube, who has one other employee, said he expects business to pick up during the winter, when people are home more and looking for something to occupy their time.
 

Filipino boxing hero Manny Pacquiao is hot on eBay.

In fact, the excitement that Pacquiao generated from stopping Mexican fighter Erik Morales on Sunday has spilled over to ebay, the online American auction store.

"Pacquiao items" -- from autographed posters to boxing gloves to lighters to action figures -- have been offered for sale.

The hottest item on the online auction block is the official "Team Pacquiao" jacket, which has been bid on nine times since Jan. 23, a day after Pacquiao floored Morales.

Originally selling for $50, the jacket is now worth $152.50.

Jacket

An ebay member from the Philippines, identified as "blazer1024," is selling the white and red jacket bearing the logos of Pacquiao's corporate sponsors.

Another hot item is a pair of Everlast gloves autographed by Pacquiao. It sells for $174.99.

Another pair of boxing gloves with autographs of both Pacquiao and Morales has been sold for $127.50. The bidding started at $124.99.

An autographed 12" by 18" photograph of the contenders was not so hot, selling for only $2. But an 8" by 10" photograph signed only by Pacquiao was sold for $29.99.

A signed Pacquiao-Morales rematch poster is selling for $16.50, up from its original price of $9.99.

Chrome lighter

A Pacquiao "No Fear" shirt is selling for $17, from the original price of $15.

A Pacquiao chrome lighter, made by a jewelry store in Canada, is selling for $19.98.

But some items, such as DVD copies of the rematch, remain unsold.

Other items still searching for buyers are a TKO mitt signed by both Pacquiao and Morales ($149.99) and an autographed headgear ($124.99).

Another Pacquiao item still searching for a buyer is a new pair of white wristbands.

Wristbands ignored

Despite pleas from a Connecticut-based seller, the wristbands are being ignored.

"This package of wristbands is extremely rare and difficult to find. Even in Manila it is difficult to find Darlington products featuring Manny's endorsement. As Manny says, 'Darlington, siyempre.' Here is your chance to own this brand new pair of wristbands. Supply is extremely limited," the seller wrote.

A Philippine-based seller is also having a hard time selling videotaped copies of the 10 fights of Pacquiao against Mexican fighters Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez.

Singson gives side

The bout was widely watched in the Philippines and Pacquiao's victory lifted the spirits of Filipinos.

But the appearance of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson in the ring right after Pacquiao defeated Morales drew sharp criticism.

Singson yesterday explained his presence in the ring at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.

"Manny signaled me to join him in the ring. So I did. What's wrong with that?" Singson said in a statement.

"It would have been bad if I did not honor his invitation. He might have been offended."

To his critics, Singson said: "They are just envious."

By Frank Cimatu

The whale's would-be rescuers call it a "symbol of hope," but really it's a small, bright red plastic watering can of the sort usually favored by gardeners.

On Monday, the can _ which was used to moisten the skin of a northern bottlenose whale that became stranded in the River Thames and then died _ was put up for auction on eBay. All the profits go to the British Divers Marine Life Rescue, the all-volunteer charity organization that attempted the rescue.

Bids began at $9 but by the end of the day had surpassed $10,000. The auction will last 10 days, ending Feb. 1.

By JENNIFER QUINN

"Here's your chance to own a symbol of hope, a piece of history and donate to a worthy cause all at the same time," the site said.

Millions glimpsed the red can as they watched all-news television stations reporting live from the river rescue and it also featured in photos of the operation on newspaper front pages.

The can belongs to Faye Archell, a member of the rescue team. Archell picked it up at a local home-improvement shop and has used it during other marine mammal rescues _ mostly of porpoises and seals. This was the first time it had come to the aid of a whale.

"We were splashing the whale, but a watering can is actually much more effective," Archell told The Associated Press.

If the buyer wants, the can could be signed by members of the rescue team, including Paul Jepson, the veterinarian who supervised the operation and who on Monday was performing the post-mortem examination of the whale.

Results of the necropsy were expected Wednesday, and the skeleton will then be donated to the Natural History Museum in London.

The attempted whale rescue was estimated to have cost the volunteer rescue team about $8,800.

It was still not known what caused the 19-foot-long whale to swim up the Thames, far away from the northern bottlenose's usual north Atlantic habitat.

http://www.o2.co.uk" title="http://www.o2.co.uk" target="_blank"http://www.o2.co.uk

"Hello, I am seeking an employer for my engineering services," John Davis wrote in his eBay posting. "After a summer of job hunting to such places as Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon as well as Callaway Golf and Taylor Made Golf I was only contacted for one interview…I hope that there is someone out there that takes this seriously as I am an extremely dedicated worker who just needs to get his career going."

Davis wrote that he's a recent graduate of the University of California at San Diego, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering. "I graduated in June 2005 with a GPA of 3.021," he noted.

In his eBay auction listing, which began Monday and ends on January 27, Davis set the starting bid at $46,725.75. So far, there have been no bids for Davis's services. He's hoping to snare a position at an aerospace company working on space applications or on unmanned aerial vehicles, or at a golf manufacturing company. ("I am an extremely avid golfer," he adds.)

Davis's salary expectations come in at the lower end of the scale. According to a National Association of Colleges and Employers survey, 2005 starting salaries for aerospace engineers averaged $50,993. Aerospace engineers who graduated from the University of Michigan in 2004 received starting salary offers of $49,986, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Davis's listing has already attracted some unsolicited job-hunting advice on Digg.com, which started a discussion thread after posting a link to his eBay auction. "I think his presentation is overall good but could improve. He sends negative vibes when he tells us about all the companies he applied for and wouldn't give him a job. I think having a photo of him in a suit would be better than a casual t-shirt. It would give him a more professional look," wrote a user who identified himself as "erkan."

Bill Cobb, president of eBay North America, said in a memo to eBay users on Wednesday that the new service -- to be called eBay Express when launched this spring -- aims to broaden the range of products shoppers can expect to buy on eBay.

EBay also disclosed changes to the fees it charges in the United States for listing items on eBay.com, raising by around 8 percent the percentage transaction fee that it charges on the value of goods between $25 and $975 in value. It said it would cut prices on low-priced items and other seller features.

"We do believe this broadly to be accretive," EBay Chief Financial Officer Rajiv Dutta told investors on a conference call with investors following the company's 2005 year-end financial report.

EBay spokesman Hani Durzy said that eBay now charges 5.25 percent of the first $25 of the final sale price of an item; 2.75 percent of the next incremental $975 of value, and 1.5 percent of the incremental value above $1000 of the item. The middle tier of prices -- from $25 to $975 -- will now be charged transaction fees of 3 percent, up from 2.75 percent.

SHOPPING BASKET

EBay Express will feature an online shopping cart that allows buyers to select multiple items and pay for them all at once, as Amazon.com Inc. shoppers are used to doing.

Payments can be made via credit cards or eBay's online payment service. Sellers are paid instantly, meaning the potential for buyers to defraud sellers is eliminated.

"We also think it (eBay Express) will attract new buyers to eBay who prefer a more conventional e-commerce shopping experience," Cobb said in his note to users in the San Jose, California, company's core North American market.

The full note is available on eBay's site at http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/...

EBay Express is described as a "specialty site" that will be part of the broader eBay marketplace, alongside its exiting eBay Stores and "Fixed Price" listings.

EBay sellers with strong buyer ratings will qualify to sell their items on both eBay Express and traditional eBay.com sites. Initially, eBay Express will only be available to U.S. sellers, but plans are to extend the service internationally.

EBay Express is "a new feature, a quick and easy way to find items at a fixed price for quick and easy shopping," eBay President and Chief Executive Meg Whitman told investors on a conference call following the company's 2005 year-end financial report.

EBay price increases initially apply only to U.S. listings. International price changes will be announced later this quarter, eBay executives said. EBay also said it was waiving all final sale fees in its EachNet China business.

A one line item in the UK Sun has caused quite a stir as it is being reported that an ultrasound of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's baby is for sale on the popular online auction site eBay.

However a quick scan of the online auction house shows no such item.

We could just be missing the alleged item or it may have been available and then pulled. 

If you are looking for a unique Angelina Jolie item the search term Angelina Jolie baby and Brad Pitt baby turned up a tortilla with a cut out and the question Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Baby?  A bid of six dollars is now on the item.

Get used to it folks.  This will be the most watched pregnancy for some time. 

Jolie and Pitt were readily available to the paparazzi as she worked on her upcoming film, 'The Good Shepard' in the Dominican Republic and as the pair took a goodwill tour to Haiti.

After several months of dodging photogs and news agencies, there are now pictures and video of Jolie and Brad everywhere.

It will be interesting to see if they are that easily photographed in the states.

Best guess on that one is "no."  If they allow it - they won't have a moment's peace.

--Cris Bergman

Two pairs of stolen skis were returned to their owners this weekend when police in Park City arrested a juvenile male and recovered thousands of dollars of stolen equipment.

The bust was facilitated by a man who found his stolen skis being offered for sale on eBay. The skis, which were stolen from the Park City Mountain Resort last week, were spotted for sale online within a few hours of being reported stolen to police, said Sgt. Annette Ellis.
 
Investigators traced the sale to an address in Utah County where, on Sunday, they found a boy who confessed to stealing more than 15 pairs of skis and five snowboards over the past several weeks, Ellis said. Six pairs of the stolen skis were recovered instantly. The man who told police about the eBay connection had his skis returned to him later that day.

On Monday, a woman who had reported her skis stolen on Saturday also had her skis returned to her. "The juvenile is being cooperative with detectives," Ellis said. "We hope to recover even more skis." Park City police have recently renewed their ski and snowboard registration program in the hopes of reducing similar thefts.
 
The registration is simple and free - fill out a form and attach a sticker to your equipment. The form will document both the sticker's identification number and the equipment's serial number. "Often times, the only way to positively identify them is by that serial number," Ellis said.
 
Park City police officers host a booth on the weekends at the Park City Mountain Resort for the registration and hope to have the process automated online soon. Those needing more information about the program can contact Officer Kris Phillips at 435-615-5566.

An old friend is going to be missing when the boating season opens later this year on Seneca Lake.

Noted for their ability to track down surplus military equipment, the veterans of the World War II era at what is now Sampson State Park found a retired U.S. Coast Guard buoy tender.

The craft was acquired and berthed at the state park marina for a time, but was no longer required to set buoys. The Sampson sailors, proud of their latest acquisition, kept her polished and scrubbed to near perfection.

The largest boat on the lake, it was only logical to use her four years ago for a special mission.

She joined helicopters, sonar arrays, a miniature submarine, divers and scores of people and boats on Seneca Lake south of Lodi Point State Marine Park. They gathered with the hope that one more search would lead to the discovery of the body of Tavis Schneck, 23, of Brookfield, Ill.

Schneck and Melissa A. Girton, 23, of Saratoga, Ind., had borrowed a rowboat for an evening ride on the lake on May 10, 2001. A mishap of some kind dumped both passengers into the lake. Girton's body was found the next morning.

Schneck and Girton were with a group of 15 Ball State University students ending their Muncie, Ind., school year with a vacation at a Caywood cottage.

Using everything from dogs able to detect bodies under water to a submersible submarine, five searches failed to turn up the young man's body.

The buoy tender entered the searches as a dive platform and to tow sonar arrays, cameras and grappling equipment.

About this same time, the Sampson sailors made it known that they felt it best to dispose of the craft.

The Seneca County Sheriff's Department and the parents of the missing man, David and Linda Schneck of Illinois, agreed to buy the vessel and split the $4,000 cost. The buoy tender became the USS Schneck in 2003.

Years of use finally caught up with the craft a few months ago.

She blew an engine, was declared surplus property by Seneca County officials and was put up for sale on eBay.

Steve Gibbs of Braddock Bay Marina Inc. of Rochester decided the craft was just what his salvage company needed.

His bid of $14,101.01 beat 234 others.

Another sheriff's department vessel, Marine 1, a twin engine outboard, drew 117 bids with a British Columbia man making the top offer of $12,210.

County officials said they will add the money to $90,000 budgeted for a new sheriff's department boat patrol and marine recovery division under James Larson as the officer in charge.
 

Neil Chaffie

Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.

Ebay has become on of the largest brands to launch a direct consumer mobile strategy in launching its mobile site. 

Simply text "EBAY MOBILE" to 87222. The SMS text message we send you will cost just a few cents. When you receive the SMS, just select the URL in the message and it will open in your phone's browser.

Jim Liddle

Online shoppers tended to rely more on Google than other search engines for their shopping-related searches in December, but eBay sent even more traffic to shopping sites, according to a Hitwise report issued Wednesday, writes Reuters. Some 11.1 percent of all December shopping-related visits originated at Google - 28 percent more than last year. eBay generated more than 13 percent. Yahoo Search and Microsoft's MSN Search drove 4.05 percent and 0.79 percent of retail visits, respectively.

Some 18.3 percent of all visits to shopping and classified websites originated with search engines.

Hitwise found that eBay, Amazon.com, Froogle and Shopzilla's BizRate were the four most popular online shopping sites originating from Google in December, accounting for 18.1 percent of the retailer traffic from Google.

The hit movie Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe has clearly renewed interest in the classic novels by C.S. Lewis. Terapeak Marketplace Research, a research firm specializing in the eBay platform, reports that The Chronicles of Narnia jumped 51 spots to number one on their Hot 100 eBay book list.

Terapeak found 110 copies of the softcover version of The Chronicles of Narnia listed on eBay the week after the film hit North American screens on December 10th. This is up from just 13 listings at the end of October. Listing Success, a good measure of demand for items on eBay, also jumped 18% over the same period.

In all, 893 copies of Narnia books (paper, audio, and box sets) were listed on eBay the week of December 10th to 16th, with an average price of $28.24. During the last week of October, there were only 213 Narnia listings on eBay, and they had an average price of $22.48.

You may be wondering how sales of other novels were impacted by the big-screen versions this holiday season. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire has already grossed more at the box office than the previous two Harry Potter films, but sales of the novel have been consistently strong on eBay. All six Harry Potter books (plus the box set and audio versions) are currently in Terapeak's Hot 100, with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince leading the way at #3.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden could also be found on movie screens this Christmas. eBay sales of the novel have jumped slightly, climbing nine spots on Terapeak's Hot 100. The Jane Austen novel Pride and Prejudice was also adapted into a major motion picture in December. However, eBay sales of the book have actually decreased since October!

Terapeak Marketplace Research has developed the most advanced research tool for analyzing eBay consumer transaction data. With over 1.4 Billion transactions in 2005, eBay is the most reliable consumer activity index in the world.

by Paul Martin

Cricket Australia will give a stern warning to its employees about scalping after Ashes tickets allocated to a staff member were last night found on sale through eBay.

The embarrassing memo came as Cricket Australia and state cricket authorities confirmed they would be clamping down on online ticket scalping for the hugely anticipated Ashes clash next summer.

With Ashes tickets details delayed this week, Australian and English cricket authorities have been inundated with inquiries by fans wanting to secure seats to the five-Test series.

Concerns about a black market have prompted Cricket Australia to plan a crackdown against scalpers using the Internet, but yesterday had to start by looking in-house, after sets of Cricket Australia tickets were already up for sale through eBay.

An UK-based seller advertised four tickets per day for the first Test in Brisbane and last Test in Sydney, citing "friends in high places" as a source.

"My contact works for Cricket Australia. He will have at least 10 tickets for each full match, of which four I have purchased from him," the seller wrote.

Cricket Australia lawyers last night demanded eBay remove the items from the site for contravening the cricket bodies' conditions of sale.

Cricket Australia spokesman Peter Young confirmed employees got tickets to international matches generally in their home city, although no Ashes tickets had been promised.

"They sit in blocks anyway, so anyone who bought those tickets would have been easy to identify and then asked to leave," Young said.

"We have sent a reminder to staff what the protocols are for tickets, which is they are for themselves or immediate family only."

The development came as English cricket captain Michael Vaughan backed England fans to use "special ways" to procure much-sought after Ashes tickets and support England.

But CA and the state bodies – who look after tickets at each venue – have warned anyone buying tickets from a scalper, particularly through on-line auction sites, could blow their cash.

Overseas package tour allotments will be limited but up to 30,000 English fans are set to try their luck when tickets go on general sale.

Christmas flights go on sale in the UK next Monday, and many anxious cricket lovers will buy seats in the hope of getting Ashes tickets by any means.

"England fans are very clever and have special ways of getting tickets and I'm sure we'll be well supported in Australia," Vaughan said.

CA and the state bodies plan to consult with the NRL and the ARU, however, on the best way to identify – and cancel – tickets on-sold through eBay and other sites.

Large numbers of tickets for State of Origin, NRL Grand Final and Wallabies matches were voided after they were found being sold on Ebay for huge profit.

But while football can be on-sold for the purchase price CA's policy is no on-selling at all, meaning any Ebay tickets will come under scrutiny.

"Anyone buying an on-sold ticket faces the prospect of being banned from admission. If it is determined they are not the original purchaser, we have a legal right to ban them," Young said.

An ARU spokesman said rugby would do all it could to help CA, already a partner in the Collaboration of Major Professional Sports (COMPS), on issues like sports betting.

English cricket bosses were forced to pursue a similar crackdown on internet auction sites during the last Ashes series, with a ticket at the Oval going for as much as $2500.

The NRL, ARL, ARU and FFA are currently lobbying state governments to legislate against on-line scalping.

EBay has reluctantly worked with the sports, but has previously stated it believes people have the right to sell their tickets on its site.

State bodies yesterday also said they'd monitor credit card sales to pick up large scale ticket buying, or for a big area within the ground.

The Ashes ticket details, which were due to announced this week, will now be postponed until the next CA board meeting on February 6.

The issues holding up the announcement are ticket pricing and the date they go on sale. It is expected the June on-sale date will be brought forward to March or April.

Iain Payten

There is something of a controversy tonight involving those police union membership cards -- sometimes referred to as "get out of jail free" cards. They're not, but that's the perception.

There is now no shortage of these cards on sale, on eBay. And not everyone is happy about it.
Eyewitness News reporter Stacey Sager has more.

Police will be the first to tell you these are by no means get-out-of-jail cards. Instead, they are commemorative items given to members of various police unions. It means if you own one, you may occasionally gain some courtesy in a touchy situation -- occasionally.

That means, more often than not, you won't. Yet on eBay, you can now bid on these police union cards. In fact, a search we did today revealed at least 63 of them and they are by no means cheap.

Det. Michael Palladino, Detectives' Endowment Association: "I've heard that our D.E.A. card is sold out on eBay for 99 dollars. And I think it's highway robbery to pay 99 dollars. As I said, for a piece of plastic that has no value."

The police unions here in New York are extremely frustrated by this, mostly because the money normally generated from the cards goes to help widows and orphans of slain policemen.

And, they say this type of e-commerce has no limit. For example, the recent case of Peter Braunstein, who's accused of dressing as a firefighter then sexually attacking a woman. Well, he bought the firefighter's uniform on eBay.

Edward Mullins, Sergeants Benevolent Association: "If eBay were to start selling narcotics tomorrow across the computer system, should they say they have no accountability to that?"

A spokesman at eBay called the sale of the cards "perfectly legal because these organizations are giving them out in the first place." He went on to say "maybe they oughta think about how they distribute them."

The real question is what can the police unions do about this problem? It turns out, there may be a solution starting next year.

More of the unions will place a disclaimer on the back of their cards. It prohibits any resale on eBay. But police still wish the law was more on their side.

Traficant, convicted of racketeering crimes in 2002, is at the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minn. The 63-year-old former 17th District U.S. representative is projected to be released Aug. 10, 2009.

Michael Truman, Bureau of Prisons spokesman in Washington, D.C., said Tuesday that inmates are permitted to engage in hobbies, such as painting, but are not allowed to operate a business.

Truman said Traficant would not be permitted to sell his paintings but could ship them to a family member who, in turn, could sell them and return the money to Traficant's prison commissary account.

Truman said he was unable to confirm whether the paintings on the Web site beammeupart.com and eBay are, in fact, Traficant's.

Horses and barns

The paintings depicted on the Web site and on eBay feature mostly horses and barns. Traficant once raised saddlebred horses on his farm in Greenford and exhibited them at horse shows.

In an effort to prove authenticity, the Web site includes a note, purportedly written by Traficant, to a woman in New York in February 2005. An envelope with the prison's return address and marked "artwork do not bend" are included on the Web site.

The artist's background, as portrayed on the Web site, says Traficant was railroaded into federal prison on trumped-up charges after nine terms in Congress.

He stole $16,000 worth of equipment from work over four months, police say, and then sold it on eBay.

Brian D. Homola, of 33 Brick Pond Road in Middletown, was arrested at work in Montgomery Wednesday following a "lengthy" investigation by state police in Newburgh and Middletown, as well as Middletown police and the U.S. Postal Inspection Services. Homola, 40, was charged with third-degree grand larceny and third-degree criminal possession of stolen property, felonies.

Police would not release the name of the company because, they say, the investigation is continuing. Homola might face additional state and federal charges.

About $3,000 worth of allegedly stolen industrial equipment and parts were found during a search of Homola's home at 33 Brick Pond Road.

He was sent to Orange County Jail on $2,500 bail, and due to appear in Town of Montgomery Court Jan. 25.

Ramsey Al-Rikabi

Austin Middle School has seen more than its share of controversy.

When the Galveston school district considered closing the school, the backlash helped kill a school bond initiative.

Then another bond initiative — this one including a refurbished Austin — passed.

But the same group that killed the earlier bond package successfully sued over the way the district hired Jamail Construction to do the work.

A judge ruled that by not conducting its own competitive-procurement process, the district had violated state law.

Now the Legislature is investigating similar practices statewide.

So when wood removed during the first phase of the project popped up on eBay last week, some eyebrows were raised in Galveston.

However, the owner of the company selling the wood said no money changed hands on the deal. Rather, when he learned that Jamail planned to haul it to the dump, he offered to take it off Jamail’s hands.

“We said we would handle the disposal,” said Billy Icenhower of Houston-based Hand Hewn Company.

The company’s eBay advertisement speaks glowingly of the 75-year-old pine planks removed from the Austin ceiling. It is selling the wood for $3.99 a square foot.

Icenhower said the 1-inch-by-3-inch-by-8-foo t planks were removed by Jamail workers and put in a container Icenhower placed on the site.

Icenhower’s company then removed the nails, stored the boards, dried them, milled them and put them on the market.

Putting up money to save the wood and then processing it made the wood valuable, Icenhower said.

“There’s a risk involved in taking the material,” Icenhower said.

In the process, customers will reuse the wood instead of it going to the dump, he added.

“They’re not buying a new, dead tree,” he said. “They’re buying a dead tree that’s been dead 70 to 100 years.”

By Marty Schladen

Here's a chance to buy a floating piece of history on eBay.

A 1926 riverboat that's been a fixture along the Muskingum River in downtown Marietta is up for auction on eBay.

The showboat Becky Thatcher is on the National Register of Historic Places and houses a Victorian-era restaurant, which is shutting down this weekend.

Owner Jeff Levin said business has been good during the tourist season and on weekends, but to pay the bills you need to be busy almost every night.
 
So far, the sternwheeler hasn't received the minimum bid of $550,000. The auction closes Jan. 14.

The director of the local convention and visitors bureau hopes the Becky Thatcher sells to someone who will keep it in Marietta.

AP

Criminals are again targeting eBay members, this time by sending forged auction inquiries from what appears to be the site's 'Question from eBay Member' message portal, according to security experts SpamStopsHere.

Account holders are prompted to respond to the inquiry by clicking the 'Respond Now' button in the email, and are then directed to a fraudulent eBay log-in screen.

After the seller has entered their log-in information the fraudsters steal their identity for later use.

Known as 'spear phishing', the attack is distinctive in that it is targeted and focused on one end user or organisation at a time.

Spear phishing emails are designed to appear as if they are sent from a trusted individual or company, and typically ask for log-in IDs and passwords.

Ted Green, chief executive at SpamStopsHere, said: "We are seeing an evolution in phishing and spear phishing attacks, and the sophistication is constantly increasing.

"Cyber-criminals are relentless in developing new and ingenious methods of monetary and identity theft."

Ebay members were targeted in a mass phishing campaign before Christmas which represented 96 per cent of all UK phishing attacks in December.

Vununet.com

It is the second county jail to go on the market in central Missouri in recent months. And while word of the sales have been treated in a mostly haughty, joking manner - both jails were offered as oddities at the online auction site eBay - one community is taking it seriously.

A good sale might offer some hope for the fading county seat of Huntsville and erase the memory of a double murder that occurred there.

The Randolph County Jail in Huntsville, about 45 miles north of Columbia, Mo., was built in 1910. It looks like a stately home of brick and stone. Several sheriffs and their families resided there. They lived in one half, while inmates lived in the other - an attached 30-man cellblock of metal bunks and steel bars.

The sheriff's wife usually cooked the inmates' meals. But with a new jail open, the county wants to sell the old one. And the goal is to breathe new energy into Huntsville, a town of about 1,500.

"Too many buildings around here are vacant," said Mark Price, 46, who grew up in the jail as the son of a county sheriff.

The jail presides over the corner of Main and Elm streets, at the far end of Huntsville's three-block downtown. The two grocery stores, a hardware store, drugstore and TV store that existed here when Price was growing up are long gone. The old buildings remain, but the County Courthouse and post office are the major attractions now.

Most of the jobs and stores are over in Moberly, a few miles away. Huntsville was once the county's economic engine, but its long, slow slide began when a major railroad switching station arrived in Moberly around the end of the 19th century. More trouble arrived when the region's coal mines closed in more recent decades.

For something good to come from the sale, said Price, "It'd be a step in the right way."

Randolph County got the idea to sell its jail from neighboring Howard County, where a 116-year-old former sheriff's residence and jail sit right off the square in the town of Fayette. No one wanted it. Tearing it down might have threatened the square's listing on the National Register of Historic Places, said Jim Steele, editor of the local newspaper.

So with the help of Steele's wife, Christy, an eBay aficionado, county officials turned to the Internet. In November, the jail sold for $42,000 to a Los Angeles lawyer. He plans to renovate it into a country getaway for himself. The sale was judged a resounding success.

"If there's anybody who is not happy," Steele said, "I have not encountered them."

Randolph County hopes to duplicate the result. Its jail was listed on eBay through the end of December. Bidding is expected to start in coming weeks. Minimum bid: $32,500.

"We were told by a real estate agent, one who knows these things, that someone could buy it for $36,000 and put another $36,000 into it and have a beautiful, beautiful residence," said Jim Myles, Randolph County presiding commissioner.

Marketing materials suggest the jail could be a home, law office or bed and breakfast. "What's your dream?" the ad asks.

The building is solid but worn. The residence was transformed into office space in 1989, when future sheriffs decided not to live there. Heavy scuffs mark the hardwood floors, "probably beat up by ankle chains and such over the years," Myles said during a recent tour. The cellblock looks exactly as it did when the last orange-jumpsuited inmates left in June. Graffiti adorns the metal walls, like the pencil-written "Yeah, this place sucks."

"It sure does," Myles said, reading the inscription.

The front hallway is a fortress of bulletproof glass and steel doors. This is a legacy of the shooting.

On June 22, 2000, a man and a woman burst into the hallway, intent on breaking out a friend jailed inside. They shot and killed a deputy and a jailer. But they could not find the correct keys to unlock the doors. They were later caught. All three are serving life sentences or sit on death row.

"It's a sore subject for me," said Don Ancell, who was sheriff when the shooting occurred.

He had complained for years that the old jail was unsafe. But the county never found the money to build a new one. The shooting changed that, persuading voters to boost the local sales tax to pay for a new justice center, which has space for 100 inmates. The center is dedicated to the two officers who died.

Ancell said he supports the jail's sale, even if he can't imagine what anyone would want with it.

"If they can sell it, as bad shape as the county is in, I'm all for it," Ancell said.

The county is in debt, but the selling price is "a drop in the bucket," Myles said. One benefit to the county would be regaining the public's trust, especially since a county commissioner was charged in November with stealing more than $5,000 from two groups, including the local Cub Scouts.

Offering the jail for auction "has been a very positive thing, generating lots of publicity," Myles said.

National TV and newspapers have carried the story, and it has bounded around the Internet, making Huntsville and county leaders sound enterprising.

They just need a buyer. More than 100 people have contacted Myles for more photos and information.

Myles hopes to find someone like Howard County's Los Angeles lawyer.

"I think we'll ask him if he'd like to own two jails," Myles said, "or if he has a friend he could recommend to us."

A Boston man was indicted Thursday on charges that he hacked into online auctioneer eBay Inc.'s site, stole users' credit card numbers and then used them to purchase more than $32,000 worth of online gift certificates.

Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts Sean Galvez, 20, was indicted on one count of larceny by a single scheme and 10 counts each of violating the unauthorized access statute and violating the identity fraud statute. He was scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 18.

Galvez gained access to more than 40 eBay accounts, changed passwords and retrieved credit card information between February 2003 and September 2003, according to the indictment.

He allegedly used this information to buy more than $32,000 worth of gift certificates, $8,000 of which he spent, the indictment said.

EBay became aware of the alleged incident when several customers notified the company that their account passwords did not work. EBay referred the matter to the United States Postal Inspector, who traced the purchases to Galvez's home.

Boston.com

Nathan Rambaud says he got 100 dollars for a cotton ball, 61 dollars for a pine needle and 51 dollars for a handful of peanuts.

Using the eBay user name nlrebel, and a cartoon logo of himself, Rambaud inspires fans to bid on his listings, which often make eBay's Most Watched List of unusual items.

The 30-year-old elder care nurse and married father of three says his first offbeat offering was six months ago, when he signed a pair of jeans and sold them for 23 dollars. He had been auctioning more conventional stuff but then noticed another seller doing well with oddities, so he tried it himself.

Yesterday I reported that the Million Dollar Homepage is selling the last 1,000 pixels. I already had a feeling Alex Tew would do something special with the last pixels. And he did. He put them on eBay to be auctioned off. The current bid is already $6,200, which is 6 times the normal price. The auction is still going another 9 days.

As you can see in the photo the last 1,000 pixels are prime real estate on the Million Dollar Homepage.
So Alex is geared to make more than $1 Million with his little idea. The funny thing is that he could launch a 2nd Million Dollar pixel page and it most likely will sell out too.

All other copies and knock off pixel pages that have sprung up can not even come close to make this kind of money. The first mover advantage is absolutely essential to this money maker.

Alex Tew could actually sell or launch now anything and it would be successful with this traffic at hand. Let's see what he pulls off next.

I4UNEWS

ANDREA MARIA CECIL

Michelle Warren sits at her desk inside her little yellow York Township home, cruising a Web site that lists the two wooden jewelry boxes she recently sold on eBay.

The winning bid for one was more than $50, while the other was almost $30.

"Those jewelry boxes really killed me," said Warren, shaking her head and laughing.

Although she didn't think the boxes were anything special, a couple of eBay users loved them, and that means money in Warren's pocket. She's an independent specialist for San Francisco-based FoundValue.

More than 105 million eBay users will buy more than $30 billion in merchandise this year alone, according to FoundValue, a three-year-old company comprising a network of nearly 200 independent specialists in almost 40 states who sell other people's unwanted belongings on the Internet.

Warren is one of those specialists and has the type of relationship with FoundValue that an operator has with a franchise.

She sells people's items, which she stores in her basement, by posting them on eBay. Once the items are sold, she ships them to the buyers. Later, FoundValue sends the items' original owners checks for a majority percentage of the selling price.

Meanwhile, FoundValue and Warren receive a commission from the items sold based on a sliding scale - they receive 35 percent of the first $250; 25 percent of the next $750, up to $1,000; and 15 percent of amounts more than $1,000. Warren keeps most of the commission, as FoundValue keeps only 7 percent of the final selling price of each item.

Warren had four items listed on the auction Web site last month: a suitcase, a set of golf clubs, a crystal Christmas candy dish and a Baltimore Orioles souvenir baseball.

The 47-year-old first became a FoundValue specialist in May after spending $357. Of that, $192 was for a digital camera Warren uses to take pictures of the items she's selling, and $165 was for her FoundValue membership kit.

Initially, Warren was looking to buy into a franchise, but decided against it after more than a year of searching.

"Even the ones that were the least costly were costly," she said.

That's when Warren started researching stores on eBay and discovered FoundValue.

"I thought, 'OK, I can afford this. ... I won't go broke doing this,' " she said.

Three months before she became a FoundValue specialist, Warren was laid off from her job at Unisys Corp., an information technology business based in Blue Bell. That was followed by a bout with Lyme disease that stopped her from advertising herself as a FoundValue specialist.

But now that she is feeling better - though she is still suffering from some pain and fatigue - Warren is pursuing more business and trying to market herself better.

She has refrigerator magnets that she hands out as business cards and is thinking about buying advertising space in the Community Courier.

Thus far, most of her customers have been friends and neighbors who wanted to rid themselves of their stuff, including a stovetop popcorn popper, lamps and Hewlett-Packard printer ink cartridges. Items that do not sell go back to the owner.

Although her FoundValue job doesn't provide enough money to live on - thus far, her sales total $2,600.94 - Warren likes the fact that she doesn't have to leave her house.

"I like home," she said. "That's my favorite place in the world to be: home."

A tumultuous year is coming to a close for the world's most popular online auction site. 2005 began with a sagging stock price and disgruntled users howling about another rise in listing and store fees. Several competitors jumped into the ring only to be forgotten shortly thereafter. eBay Live! in June was, by all accounts, a roaring success (despite the lame pep rally dancers…) eBay then gobbled up VOIP company Skype in October for who-knows-what-reason. Finally, eBay responded to demands from its Power Sellers to beef up support and fix the oft mis-used feedback system.

Despite all the ups and downs, eBay remains king of the e-commerce hill around the globe. 2006 should be just as exciting.

Gotcha
Meanwhile, a bit of justice was handed down this week for a 21-year-old Oregon man convicted of hitting eBay with a distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack in 2003. According to the Red Herring, Anthony Scott Clark, 21, of Beaverton, Oregon, faces a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years supervised release after pleading guilty to the crime.

While we certainly don't condone such activities, we think a 10-year prison sentence is a wee bit harsh for this crime. We think it might be better to force Mr. Clark to use an old Pentium 66 with Windows 95 for three years.

Fruitcake, Anyone?
According to a new survey commissioned by eBay, nearly 60 percent of Americans receive unwanted gifts during the holidays, and more than half admit to re-gifting, says an article on MSNBC.com. In fact, the auction giant even promoted the reselling of unwanted gifts on its site by running a one-day promotion, where it cut the new listing fee to 10 cents.

AuctionBytes added that the survey revealed that the most popular items people re-gift are knick-knacks (50 percent), pampering products (36 percent) and fruitcake (31 percent), followed closely by household appliances (24 percent) and exercise books and videos (23 percent). The gifts people cited as those they would least likely re-gift include handmade gifts (57 percent), gift cards (39 percent) and "experience" gifts, such as tickets to concerts or sporting events.

We don't know about you, but we're keeping our pink bunny pajamas and that shiny new official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle we received.

Just Do It
In case you missed it, ECommerce-Guide posted another of James Maguire's eBay Seller Profiles this week, which featured veteran eBayer Adam Hersh. Hersh has made millions on eBay since 1998. Among the tips he recommends are: learn by trial and error, keep track of competitors' auctions and "have fun while doing it."

Devin Comiskey is the Managing Editor of ECommerce-Guide.com.

A tumultuous year is coming to a close for the world's most popular online auction site. 2005 began with a sagging stock price and disgruntled users howling about another rise in listing and store fees. Several competitors jumped into the ring only to be forgotten shortly thereafter. eBay Live! in June was, by all accounts, a roaring success (despite the lame pep rally dancers…) eBay then gobbled up VOIP company Skype in October for who-knows-what-reason. Finally, eBay responded to demands from its Power Sellers to beef up support and fix the oft mis-used feedback system.

Despite all the ups and downs, eBay remains king of the e-commerce hill around the globe. 2006 should be just as exciting.

Gotcha
Meanwhile, a bit of justice was handed down this week for a 21-year-old Oregon man convicted of hitting eBay with a distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack in 2003. According to the Red Herring, Anthony Scott Clark, 21, of Beaverton, Oregon, faces a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years supervised release after pleading guilty to the crime.

While we certainly don't condone such activities, we think a 10-year prison sentence is a wee bit harsh for this crime. We think it might be better to force Mr. Clark to use an old Pentium 66 with Windows 95 for three years.

Fruitcake, Anyone?
According to a new survey commissioned by eBay, nearly 60 percent of Americans receive unwanted gifts during the holidays, and more than half admit to re-gifting, says an article on MSNBC.com. In fact, the auction giant even promoted the reselling of unwanted gifts on its site by running a one-day promotion, where it cut the new listing fee to 10 cents.

AuctionBytes added that the survey revealed that the most popular items people re-gift are knick-knacks (50 percent), pampering products (36 percent) and fruitcake (31 percent), followed closely by household appliances (24 percent) and exercise books and videos (23 percent). The gifts people cited as those they would least likely re-gift include handmade gifts (57 percent), gift cards (39 percent) and "experience" gifts, such as tickets to concerts or sporting events.

We don't know about you, but we're keeping our pink bunny pajamas and that shiny new official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle we received.

Just Do It
In case you missed it, ECommerce-Guide posted another of James Maguire's eBay Seller Profiles this week, which featured veteran eBayer Adam Hersh. Hersh has made millions on eBay since 1998. Among the tips he recommends are: learn by trial and error, keep track of competitors' auctions and "have fun while doing it."

Devin Comiskey is the Managing Editor of ECommerce-Guide.com.