General Electric Co. said Tuesday it will partner with eBay Inc. and Internet payment service PayPal Inc. to launch and market a new credit card.

Financial terms of the partnership with GE Consumer Finance were not disclosed. The PayPal Plus credit card expands on the two-year relationship between GE and PayPal. In 2004 they launched PayPal Buyer Credit, a revolving credit line for registered PayPal customers. This new agreement also includes GE eventually launching an eBay branded credit card, while eBay promotes the new card.

Shares of General Electric fell 26 cents to $34.07 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

According to a report in the US daily New York Post, Microsoft is thinking hard about taking over the online auction eBay. The paper got its information from "several sources close to the negotiations." Microsoft would then take over eBay and integrate it in its own MSN portal.

Both Microsoft and eBay seem to want to enter into the deal to combat Google's power over the market. Negotiations have reportedly been going on between for the two firms for several weeks but have been stalled because of concerns about how the anti-trust authorities will react.

A few days ago, eBay entered into a far-reaching, long-term partnership with Yahoo for Internet advertising, pay systems, and Internet telephone advertising. One insider told the New York Post that this other deal would not affect the potential takeover of eBay by Microsoft.

Where would this world be today without a good helping of freaks, weirdos, nut-jobs, wackos and psychos on eBay? Or as I call them “The Big Five.” I mean really, how could the rest of us ever know how great we are if we didn’t have these social misfits to compare ourselves to. Now when I say freak or weirdo, I’m not talking about some poor soul who’s ticket came up short in the genetic lottery. I’m talking about those fascinating people out there who choose to act this way. God love ’em.

How one uses the big five really depends on your age. If you’re between 13 and 18 you tend to prefer the word freak. Unfortunately, you tend to exaggerate its meaning calling everyone with a stray eyebrow-hair a freak. You also show no hesitation in calling the 38-year-old Subway guy a psycho just because he asked what school you go to. On second thought, I’ll give you that, as it does come off a little creepy. Word Usage: “There’s this like psycho at Subway and he’s like 60 or something and he totally asked me like what school I go to and I’m all like, um just make my wrap.”

Between 19 and 30 you still have strong ties to the word freak but you’ve happily graduated to the more common, weirdo. This word can almost describe anyone, including that person on the bus who’s yet to discover the merits of Mennen Speed Stick or for that matter, bathing. By definition, he’s far from a weirdo, yet he still earns the moniker just because he made you uncomfortable. Word Usage: “Oh my god I sat behind some weirdo on the bus that reeked like vegetable soup.”

Between 30 and 55 you’ve seen a lot of odd people by now and have no problem using most of the big five. And why not, you’ve earned it. After all, you’re the demographic that keeps this country’s economy rolling. That may be the reason why you feel the need to add the word job to the end of your favorites such as nut and wack. Word Usage: “Tell me you saw that wack-job on the news last night who says he’s cloned a gazelle.”

Over 55, there is a dramatic change in the way you describe people. No longer do you find the need for words like, psycho, freak or weirdo. As you retire, for whatever reason, you drop the word job from the end of wack and nut. That’s not to say you don’t enjoy the word wacko, problem is the older you get the more you are inclined to switch to the more Disney-like, wacky. Word Usage: “My glaucoma’s acting up - pass me my wacky tobaccy.”
 
As for me, I seem to get called weirdo a lot. Word Usage: “Lose the stupid hat in your column photo, you look like a friggin’ weirdo.”

A custom ukulele autographed by Omaha billionaire Warren Buffett sold for $11,211 Friday on the online auction site eBay.

He will donate all the proceeds from the auction to Children's Hospital in Omaha.

The soprano ukulele is one of two designed to resemble a Dairy Queen ice cream cone.

International Dairy Queen is one of the more than 60 companies owned by Buffett's investment vehicle, Berkshire Hathaway of Omaha.
 
Buffett plays the ukulele in his free time.

Last month, a Razorbacks championship ring and hardcover book fetched $21,700 on eBay. The person who offered the ring for bidding at the Internet auction site remained a mystery.

That's the case this time, too. The ad on eBay for the ring says only that "this ring is from a starting player of the Arkansas Razorback Basketball Teams of 1993/1994 and 1994/1995."

The ad also says the owner played professionally in the NBA, Europe and Australia and that "the ring is not the same ring that was sold in April."

Bidding was up to $11,500 around midday Thursday and ends just after midnight CT on Monday morning. The item's location is listed as Fort Smith.

Several other items are also included, such as an autographed basketball, a game jersey and a team warmup suit.

Arkansas won the NCAA title in 1994, beating Duke 76-72. The Razorbacks lost to UCLA 89-78 in the 1995 title game.

A ring from Texas' first undisputed football national championship in 36 years was listed for sale on eBay, then pulled from the site.

For a 10-karat gold ring valued at about $350, bids had reached more than $10,000 by Wednesday afternoon before the listing was pulled from the online auction service.

The anonymous seller said the ring belonged to a former Texas player but doesn't say whom. The name and jersey number on the ring were blacked out in the photographs.

Athletic department spokesman Nick Voinis said school officials don't know which player owned the ring or who is selling it. The ring is sized 10½-11.

"It's disappointing," Voinis said. "It's something you should be honored to receive. Every other player is taking pride in theirs."

NCAA rules prohibit current players from selling championship rings. But there's little to prevent former players from cashing in.

Texas bought about 200 rings for players, coaches and staff.

eBay India, the Indian arm of auction site eBay.com, one of the most popular shopping websites, on Wednesday released some trends of its consumers. According to Ambareesh Murty, director - category management - eBay India, the most searched item by keyword on the site is ‘trains’, even though the company doesn’t sell any trains, the real ones that is! ‘Ipod’ is the second most searched item, with ‘railway ticket’ (another service the site doesn’t provide), ‘Nokia’, and ‘tickets’ being the other items on the top 5 list.

Mobile and accessories are the largest selling products on the site with one selling every 7 minutes. By value, auto is the biggest segment, with about three cars and four bikes changing hands a day.

Nokia and Sony Ericsson are the most popular brands amongst ebay’s 2 million registered users in India. A mobile accessory sells every 18 minutes and the quickest to ship are data cables and handsfree kits.

Murty says for over 7 lakh people in the US, ebay is their primary or secondary source of income. For India, the corresponding figure is a few thousand.

Globally, an average buyer from the site is between 25 and 55 years of age, is value oriented, and earns between $25,000-$80,000 a year. Average buyer in India is younger, between 18 and 40 years of age, and many are from Tier II and Tier III towns.

On the seller side, businesses that depend upon ebay for significant proportion of their revenue, they have 2-5 employees to dedicatedly service customers from site channel. ebay earns money by charging a slab based (5% for amount up to Rs 4,000 and 2% for every thousand thereafter) fees from the seller.

According to Janhavi Jasraj, business head, Wespro Corp, her company derives about 40% revenues from selling MP3 devices and digital cameras from ebay, in spite of having a physical presence in many retail outlets across the country. She has five people who only look after the ebay business.

Those keen to grab a keepsake of the Socceroos' winning penalty goal against Uruguay in last year's World Cup qualifiers will soon have their chance when eBay lists a chunk of historic turf on its online auction site next week.

The charity auction aims to sell off the very piece of ground from which John Aloisi kicked the winning goal in the historic 4-2 penalty shootout win after extra time on November 16.

Officials from the Olympic Stadium in Sydney dug up the single square of earth following the victory and it was then dry-frozen over a period of weeks to remove any moisture. It has since been kept preserved in a glass cabinet.

The winning bidder will also receive an autographed ball used from the winning game and proceeds will go to the Johnny Warren Football Foundation which was established after the death of the former Australian soccer captain to help talented players expend their skills on the pitch.

eBay has played host to a number of unusual auctions in Australia, the most notable of which was the "Four Blokes" auction in which four young men from Sydney attempted to sell a weekend of "beer, snags and laughs" to an international audience.

That auction gave rise to a swathe of copy-cat charity auctions, and even celebrities such as Kyle and JackieO of 2Day FM got in on the act, offering a member of the public a chance to "sleep" with them.

However one of the hazards of high-profile online auctions is the large quantity of fake bids they attract and the "four blokes" were left high and dry after dummy bids swamped the site making it impossible to distinguish genuine offers.

GoingGone, a company that provides add-on verification services, has been hired to monitor the World Cup turf auction, and will checking credit card authorisation on all incoming bids.

Tired of late nights and complaining neighbors, the owners of The Royal, a club in South Baltimore, are doing what Americans now do with things they don't want anymore.
 
Mark Lasker and Peter Allen are selling their Baltimore liquor license on the Internet. And the ad, written by Lasker, is a grabber:

"Rare Opportunity. These licenses are no longer issued by the Baltimore City Liquor Board. They are only available from an ever dwindling pool of pre-existing licenses."

The asking price is $125,000 - a sum bar industry insiders say is not exorbitant considering the license's location near Federal Hill, a hub of nightlife in the city that is off-limits to new tavern licenses. The license could also be moved to another part of the city's 46th legislative district, which includes Canton and Fells Point.

"If they get more than $125,000, that would set the standard," said Melvin J. Kodenski, a Baltimore attorney who has helped broker dozens of liquor license sales over the years.

Liquor board officials said they'd never heard of anyone selling a license online but gave the concept a thumbs up.

"As long as it's legal and ethical, God bless 'em," said the liquor board's acting executive secretary, Samuel T. Daniels Jr. "And if they get that price, God did bless 'em."

Lasker said he listed the license on eBay about two weeks ago and, according to the counter at the bottom of his ad page, it has been viewed by more than 450 interested or just plain curious parties. Lasker said he and Allen had received more than 10 e-mail inquiries as of Friday. They've had no offers.

"EBay is simply a larger market to sell to," Lasker said. "It's great. I just bought a camera for my Dad on eBay. It's so easy."

The men, who are in their 30s, are no eBay neophytes. They listed their bar building, at Light and Randall streets, on eBay's real-estate section a few months ago and got calls from potential buyers in New York and Chicago.

The bar did not sell. The business partners have decided to move ahead with plans to redevelop the site as a restaurant and apartments, but Lasker and Allen say they are hopeful that eBay will create a similar buzz about their liquor license.

"I think the license is worth $125,000," said Allen, an Australian who moved to Baltimore when he married a city resident. "The fact that we've already had inquiries says a lot."

But selling a liquor license is more complicated than purchasing a camera or a vintage Barbie, and when word got out that The Royal's license was for sale on eBay, some bar critics called foul. Liquor board officials said they received several e-mails and calls about the posting over the weekend but said they told those who inquired that it was OK. The liquor board has to approve all license transfers.

"It's very novel," Daniels said. "As long as the license is legitimate, and it is, I don't know why a seller can't employ any legal means to sell it."

An eBay spokeswoman said she wasn't aware of any reason why Lasker and Allen couldn't sell their liquor license online, although she cautioned would-be buyers to do their homework. She could not say how often people try to sell liquor licenses through the Internet site.

"I don't know that it is something that we have listed very often on the site," said the spokeswoman, Catherine England. "It sounds like it may have happened in the past, but we don't have a category for liquor licenses. That is usually a good barometer."

A search of eBay yesterday turned up one other liquor license for sale, this one attached to an historic, 12-room hotel in Harrisburg, Pa. The seller was asking $350,000 for the entire package and was trying to entice prospective buyers with this line: "After the dinner-hour your patrons can relax in the pub to the entertainment of your choice."

The Royal, while not historic, has a colorful past. In 2002, when it was run under a different name by other owners, the bar was raided by city vice police and cited with adult entertainment violations. At the time, the bar was operating as a swingers club where barmaids wore see-through tops and patrons engaged in sex acts on couches on the second floor, according to police reports.

Lasker and Allen purchased the bar in 2003 and tried to turn it into a live-music venue, but neighbors complained of noise, trash and parking hassles. The men installed insulation in an effort to keep noise levels down, but some residents still complained. In the end, the business partners said they got tired of fighting. Today, they open the bar occasionally to keep their license valid. Licenses that go unused for 180 days or more are subject to revocation.

"I just got exhausted," said Lasker, who previously co-owned a Federal Hill bar called Boomerang. "I couldn't do it anymore."

Leigh Ratiner, chairman of the recently created Baltimore City Liquor Advisory Committee, an advisory group that will work with the liquor board to review liquor laws, initially balked at the idea of an eBay liquor license sale. He relaxed when he was told that Lasker had promised to add a sentence to his ad explaining that no sale would be final without liquor board approval.

"If that's done, I have no problem with it," said Ratiner, a retired lawyer who is pushing for liquor law reform. "Otherwise, it makes it appear that these things are just up for grabs. I don't think liquor licenses should be traded like baseball cards."

Rogers is the Warren County teacher who pleaded no contest to having sex with a student. She was free on probation until recently, when Rogers was accused of making contact with the boy. One allegation is that she sent him graphic video of herself using a cell phone.

An artist in Colorado said Rogers inspired the doll. More than 100,000 people viewed it before eBay shut the page down this weekend.

The controversial doll is a six-inch tall polymer clay version of Pamela Rogers. It appeared on eBay last week as the creation of David Johnson, a Denver, Colorado artist.

“It was just fun. I just did it for fun. I don't want to be known as the Pamela Rogers action figure guy. I guess I am now though,” Johnson said.

Johnson saw the images on TV and went to work.

“You know I just thought I should make a doll of her…that would be hilarious. And, so I did. I sat down and for the next eight hours I made it,” Johnson said.

He said the one of a kind doll was up to $405 before eBay shut it down.

Johnson said someone complained, and eBay sent him a notice that said: ‘A celebrity or their representative has notified eBay that this item violates their right of publicity, a person’s right to control commercial exploitation of his or her image or likeness.’

Johnson said laughing, “I just thought it was hilarious that she said I'm infringing on her celebrity. I'm like, yeah. Nice way to become a celebrity there, lady.”

The Pam Rogers doll remains unsold, but Johnson has already been personally contacted by several prospective buyers.

He's certainly surprised by all the interest in the doll. Johnson said he has no plans to make another one.

Now you can.

A pair of size 11½ loafers belonging to the Liberty University chancellor went on sale on eBay Friday morning to benefit a student group, which wants to raise money for a creation science museum.

By 2 p.m.,the loafers had already received nine bids, the highest for $20.50.

LU is one of handful of colleges that offer a creation science course as an alternative to evolution.

Falwell parted with the loafers several weeks ago at the request of a creation studies class.

“He gave us his shoes right away,” said Angela Franulovich, a LU student. “Dr. Falwell is kind of a fun-loving person.”

He can also be seen walking around campus and praying for the school. So it’s fitting that the eBay shoe sale has been entitled, “Standing on the Word of God.”

Falwell said the shoes are the ones he wore for all of 2005.

“I wear one pair of shoes whether I’m playing in the yard with my grandkids or going to the White House,” he said.

“These shoes could tell a lot of things that I won’t.”

They are the shoes he nearly died in last spring when he fell victim to respiratory arrest. They were also present when he made peace last fall with Sen. John McCain at his Washington office.

Why loafers?

“In my old age, I’ve gotten lazy,” Falwell said. “I like to step in and walk on.”

A surgeon bypassed official channels to purchase essential medical equipment from the internet auction site eBay, a hospital has admitted.

General surgeon Kevin Murray had already ordered £45,000 of equipment to set up his new operating theatre at the James Paget Hospital, Gorleston, Norfolk.

But he forgot to order a surgical retractor, an essential item which holds wounds open while operations take place.

In order to save time he bypassed official channels, and bought the retractor off eBay.

When hospital officials found out, the retractor was confiscated before it was used during surgery.

But after being checked and sterilised it has been returned to Dr Murray and is now in use in his operating theatre.

Roy Haynes, director of human resources and operations at the hospital, said the instrument posed no threat to public health.

"When Mr Murray was first appointed he wasn't aware of the administrative procedures we have in place where instruments are concerned," he said.

"He was asked which equipment he required and we ordered £45,000-worth for him. But he had forgotten to order the retractor and for speed he ordered it on eBay.

"We have strict procedures for disinfecting and initially the instrument was taken from him and put through the disinfecting process.

"I am pleased to say that once the process had been completed, the retractor was handed back to him and that really is the end of the matter."

Uri Geller said he got a sign from Elvis Presley, and the message was loud and clear: "Don't worry, you'll have my house."

The psychic, who had the winning bid of $905,100 US for a house Presley lived in as his career was taking off, said he was travelling to London in the closing moments of the eBay auction Sunday when the radio began playing, Love Me Tender.

He said he knew then that it was a done deal.

Presley bought the four-bedroom house in 1956 with his early song royalties. The singer, his parents and grandmother lived there for 13 months before moving to Graceland.

Geller, who lives outside London, is buying the house with two partners: Peter Gleason, a New York lawyer and retired firefighter, and Lisbeth Silvandersson, a jewelry maker in England.

They plan to restore it to its 1956 splendour and bring sick children from Palestine, Israel and America to see it. He hopes for permission to make it a museum.

Geller said he met Presley in the 1970s and "freaked him out" with his 'mental' spoon bending.

He hopes the $3000 reserve price will cover his debts and raise money for his daughter who has diabetes - the condition that prompted the need for his leg to be removed.

But Mr Torrance is striking hurdles.

The tattooed leg, which he keeps in his freezer, was withdrawn from the Trade Me website within hours of being listed.

Trade Me business manager Mike O'Donnell said sale of body parts was not allowed on the site, mainly because it was distasteful.

It was not the first time someone had tried to sell a body part on the website but Mr O'Donnell said he was still shocked by Mr Torrance's offer.

"No matter what we see on Trade Me, we continue to be surprised daily."

The leg was viewed by 20 people but no bids had been placed before it was withdrawn at 9am yesterday. The leg sports a tattoo of an open book which Mr Torrance said symbolised emotional blackmail from his time being "locked up".

Mr Torrance said he still intended to sell the leg despite the Trade Me setback, and was looking for other websites to list it on. He is also unfazed by the possibility that selling his leg could be illegal.

Nelson Bays police area commander Inspector Brian McGurk said police would be looking at the legalities of Mr Torrance's actions.

"There's probably a significant public interest factor in this matter to scope out the possibility of it being an offence under the Crimes Act or the Human Tissues Act."

Mr Torrance, 42, was diagnosed with type one diabetes when he was 20 and had developed ulcers on his right leg. It was amputated below the knee last February.

He was unsure why he kept the leg.

"Maybe it's because I'd had it for 42 years."

Mr Torrance said he still felt as if the leg was there, especially after walking or sitting still for a long time.

He is a certified interior painter but has been unable to work since the amputation and is on an invalid's benefit.

He was eager to get back to work but the doctors told him it would be 18 months before his stump stopped shrinking, he said.

If eBay has anything to say about it, media sales will be heading online soon, at least in a test run overseen, but not endorsed by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA). Looking to expand its business, eBay pitched the idea of using online auctions to sell air time to the ANA's Television Advertising Committee several months ago, and has now received the bid to go forward with the project.

A number of major advertisers have backed the concept of an online ad auction service, including Wal-Mart, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, and Lexus, yet the idea is still controversial in some quarters and for that reason the ANA as a whole has fallen short of embracing the idea outside of committee. Auctions have the tendency to drive prices up, which tickles the wallets of those selling ad time, yet smaller or more conservative advertisers could end up watching the most desirable times being dominated by the biggest brands or companies with the loosest pocketbooks.

Still, eBay isn't alone in its desire to jump into ad auctions. Google has already been pursuing the concept with print advertising, and although that company's efforts have so far fallen far short of expectations, it too is looking to expand into the airwaves. Retail gorilla Wal-Mart is also exploring the idea, and is trying to round up US$50 million in sponsorships to set up a beta program for online auctions. Smaller start-ups are also getting into the game, with Bid4Spots.com taking the reverse approach and driving ad prices down by getting radio stations to compete in selling their unsold time.

Controversy aside, it appears that online ad auctions have enough support from big-name players to be given a number of chances to succeed before anyone declares the concept a failure. Right now, eBay should be the one gloating, as it has the inside track with the ANA, and Google's lack of success so far may mean that the search giant's auction model is in some serious need of retuning. Wal-Mart, of course, is the dark horse in this contest. The company has little experience in the auction world, but may be able to leverage its formidable retail power to convince advertisers to use its service.

In any event, sale of ad time is a field that has remained largely in the old-school "handshake and lets do lunch" vein. The large push toward revamping that model shows that there are still areas of business into which the Internet has not fully penetrated, and the major players are still yet to be determined.

Uri Geller along with two business partners were the winning bidders of the eBay auction for Elvis Presley’s old home.  The auction closed with a winning bid for $905,100.  This was Elvis’s home he lived in before Graceland.

Geller’s goal would be to turn the home into a museum one day.  The property is located at 1034 Audubon Drive, Memphis, TN.  The 2,916 square feet house has four bedrooms and two bathrooms.  Elvis purchased the home originally in 1956 with a $500 down payment.  The house which was built in 1955 has 9 rooms and a swimming pool.

The eBay auction had a total of 73 bids for this property.  The starting bid for this auction was set at $100,000.  Geller had the winning bid at close of auction on May 14^th for $905,100.  According to Geller, the seller’s of the property are Mike and Cindy Hazen.  They originally purchased the home quite a few years ago for around $180,000.

The 40-year-old drive-in boasts an 86-foot-wide screen and parking spaces for 550 cars. It was listed on the online auction site on April 18 with a minimum bid of $450,000, and bidding closes Thursday.

As of Monday morning, there were no bids on the 25-acre property, which is located northeast of Sharon.

The seller has also posted ads for a $1.25 million office building, a $2.67 million commercial warehouse and a $395,000 office warehouse.

It's not the only drive-in posted on eBay. One in Weatherford, Okla., is also up for auction.

Fans of the online casinos are fuming over reports that Senator Bob Goodlatte – arguably the online casino industry´s toughest new opponent – received a letter congratulating him for his efforts from EBay executive Brian Bieron. EBay´s subsidiary company PayPal is currently attempting to generate business from Europe´s online casino industry – a move that many casino players view hypocritical in light of EBay´s support for anti-gambling legislation.

According to reports, Bieron´s March 14th letter to Goodlatte commended the online casino industry´s opponent for introducing "commonsense legislation" to combat illegal online casino gambling in the U.S. The letter also stated that the most effective solution to banning online casino gaming would be to give law enforcement agencies the power to prosecute casino fans who participate in online gaming.

Despite the views of its parent company, PayPal has signed deals in recent months with two online casino firms to provide full payment services. PayPal's European division also began permitting Bet Fair customers to deposit and withdraw funds via its online service. In March, PayPal Europe announced the same services for Ladbrokes customers. So far Bieron has not commented publicly on his support Senator Goodlatte´s proposed online casino legislation.

AN Australian larrikin has failed in his bid to sell New Zealand for a bargain-basement price on eBay.

The country was described in the ad as having "very ordinary weather" and bidding opened at one cent.

A generous bid of $3000 had been entered by the time the eBay realised the problem and stepped in to say New Zealand was not for sale, the Associated Press reported.

More than 22 bids were received before eBay, which describes itself as selling "mostly household items", pulled the plug.

"Clearly New Zealand is not for sale," eBay Australia spokesman Daniel Feiler was quoted as saying.

"It is mostly household items we have for sale, but there are the occasional quirky items put up," Mr Feiler said.

"We have a look at them and if they are OK we leave them, but if it is something that can't be sold, we take them off."

Would you want a Kentucky Derby hat after the Derby? You might if it sat on the head of model Petra Nemcova. This year she was the wearer of  a new hat created by Eric Javits for Grey Goose vodka (last year, Jamie-Lynn Sigler was the celeb hat model). The one-of-a-kind hat is created each year and then sold on eBay to benefit the Barnstable-Brown Foundation to support diabetic research. The value of the hat is $1,000.

The hat has spiraled silver gray braid which represents the lanes in which the horses's race and the dotted veil pouf symbolizes the moment when the horses leave the gate. Last time I checked on eBay, bids were up over $330. The auction ends on May 18.

Internet auction website eBay still sees plenty of growth opportunities in the future even though sales grew by a massive 90 per cent last year.

EBay managing director Australia and New Zealand Simon Smith said the online shopping site was growing quickly and now had about three million members in Australia, representing more than one in five adults.

"Last year, the value of sales on eBay in Australia grew 90 per cent," Mr Smith told a Trans-Tasman Business Circle function in Sydney.

"So we're large and growing very, very quickly."

He said the growth was coming from new members, and from existing members using the site to buy a wider variety of items.

"When we compare ourselves to some of the other markets - so US, Germany and the UK - we still see plenty of growth opportunities," he said.

"Those markets are all continuing to grow ... well into the double-digits."

Mr Smith said the main challenge in terms of future growth was in attracting more members; giving those who had held off buying and selling items through eBay more confidence to do so.

As well, the company had to continue to entice existing members to branch out into buying items in new categories.

"The challenge is getting them (members) to think about eBay as a place to buy items other than the first one that they've bought," he said.

He said the business fitted in well with the Australian mentality, as it gave people "a fair go" and provided those living in rural and regional areas with the opportunity to trade items not otherwise available locally.

Mr Smith said according to market researcher ACNielsen, four million Australians visited eBay every month, making it the biggest e-commerce site in Australia and the third most popular Australian website overall behind companies such as Qantas, Virgin Blue and Ticketek.

He said the success of the site was illustrated by the motors category, with Australian users now selling a car every 12-and-a-half minutes, whereas such purchases were never made online five years ago.

Eminem’s Grandmother is flogging his first tape recorder on eBay.  

The rapper used the stereo, borrowed from his uncle, to lay down his first raps when he was a young lad.

His Gran, 64-year-old Betty Kresin, said: “Ronnie (Eminem’s Uncle) had this stereo in his bedroom and him and Marshall would go up there and crank this thing up.

“They would play records and start rapping over the music and tape it.”

She added: “In the summer, when the windows were open, the neighbours would go crazy. But Marshall wouldn’t care.” 

Ebay is now the temporary home for the King of Rock and Roll’s first home, with bids now topping $450,000 (£245,000 approx). 

It's auction of Elvis Presley's home  goes on until May 14, and although bidding has been underway quietly for some weeks, the pace has picked up markedly. Initial bids started out at £60,000.

Built in 1953, 1034 Audubon Drive, Memphis, Tennessee was bought by a 21-year old Elvis in 1956, from the royalties earned from ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, and became his first home.

A single-story house with four bedrooms, it soon became a shrine to devoted female fans, who would throw themselves at the front bedroom windows in the hope that Elvis was there. He eventually moved to the back and after 13 months, he moved out altogether.

Potential bidders for the house should be aware that you will need to be pre-qualified first, love 1950’s décor and expect to have lots of annoying, unofficial visits from diehard Elvis fans.

Ebay is now the temporary home for the King of Rock and Roll’s first home, with bids now topping $450,000 (£245,000 approx). 

It's auction of Elvis Presley's home  goes on until May 14, and although bidding has been underway quietly for some weeks, the pace has picked up markedly. Initial bids started out at £60,000.

Built in 1953, 1034 Audubon Drive, Memphis, Tennessee was bought by a 21-year old Elvis in 1956, from the royalties earned from ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, and became his first home.

A single-story house with four bedrooms, it soon became a shrine to devoted female fans, who would throw themselves at the front bedroom windows in the hope that Elvis was there. He eventually moved to the back and after 13 months, he moved out altogether.

Potential bidders for the house should be aware that you will need to be pre-qualified first, love 1950’s décor and expect to have lots of annoying, unofficial visits from diehard Elvis fans.

Fancy owning rally driver Colin McRae's first World rally championship Subaru Impreza?

Try eBay.

Former Northern Ireland champion Denis Biggerstaff currently owns the hi-tech Subaru - in fact, he drove it to 14th place on the international Rally of the Lakes at the weekend - but has decided to sell it on the world's biggest internet auction site.

"I want to upgrade to a newer version," said Mr Biggerstaff, from Dromara, "and thought it might be a good idea to put it on eBay because it is quite an historic car. It might be of interest to a collector as well as other drivers."

The Subaru, registration number P18WRC, was the first of the new breed of World Rally Cars to have been built by the Subaru team nine years ago and was driven by the former World champion from Scotland.

It bears the designation PRO/WRC/97.001 - indicating it was built for Subaru by Prodrive, the Banbury company which runs the Japanese manufacturer's World championship programme; that it is a WRC car, constructed in 1997 and that it was chassis No 1.

The four-wheel-drive, two-litre, turbocharged Impreza, which accelerates from 0 to 60mph in three seconds, was used in the World championship that year by a number of drivers, including McRae, Italian Piero Liatti and Sweden's Kenneth Eriksson before being sold into the hands of privateer competitors.

It first came to Northern Ireland in 2001 to be driven by Owen Lamont and two years ago was bought by Biggerstaff, a two-time Northern Ireland champion and former British rallycross champion.

He has used it regularly on NI championship rounds as well as international events and Biggerstaff demonstrated that it is still a competitive machine at national level by scoring his last victory in the car on the New Year Stages Rally at the start of this season.

"I've enjoyed using the Subaru but now I would like to move up to a newer version," he said. "It has already attracted quite a bit of interest with over 1,000 hits on the web page in the first 24 hours."

The auction, which has already seen a bid of more than £30,000, ends on May 9, but Biggerstaff, who has all the paperwork to prove its authenticity, stresses he "won't be giving the car away".

"In the current rally market it is worth about £75,000, but to a collector who wants the original WRC Subaru Impreza it could be worth more than that. We'll have to wait and see."

Eight pages of the book 'Novel Twists' have been written so far by eight different people from five countries, the Glasgow Herald reported.

Phil McArthur said he got the idea while home in bed recovering from chemotherapy for lymphatic cancer last year.

He decided the best way to get people involved was to put the pages on eBay. The response from wannabe authors was immediate, McArthur told the newspaper.

He said he was impressed by the quality of writing, although he had to reject a couple of pages.

'I am not claiming to be a great literary critic. As long as it makes sense within the context of the novel as a whole, and takes the story forward, then I am happy,' he said.

McArthur said the book will likely be published by a U.S. company that offers a print-on-demand system in which a copy of a book is posted on a publisher`s website and printed only when a customer orders it, the newspaper said.

Warren Buffett is now on the auction block. A portrait of the Oracle of Omaha is being auctioned off on eBay.

Buffett saw the picture during a visit to the Florence Mill. He signed it and gave a letter of authenticity on Berkshire Hathaway letterhead to Linda Meigs, whose son drew the picture before he passed away. "He admired Warren Buffet. He was actually a B shareholder," Meigs said of her son. The minimum bid for the drawing is $10,000.

The money raised from the sale will benefit the Florence Mill, which is listed on National Register of Historic Places.