A tire from the truck driven by a man who led Pasadena police on a three-hour chase has been listed on eBay.com.

According to the listing description, the tire came off a Chevrolet pickup truck shortly after the driver hit the spike strips authorities used to stop the vehicle.

The driver, Kenneth Ray Pool, was arrested after a lengthy standoff with police.
 
The listing stated that the proceeds from the auction will go to the Pasadena Police Department to help reimburse their losses during the chase.

 EBay Inc. helped to shut down a Russian Web site this week that was offering to sell stolen customer account information for as little as US$5 each.

Armed with an eBay customer's login and password, a fraudster could post items for sale, collect payments and then never deliver the goods. The site was also offering to sell a handful of PayPal accounts.

Security vendor Sunbelt Software detected the site Tuesday and reported it to eBay, which worked with the local ISP (Internet service provider) to have it taken offline, an eBay spokeswoman confirmed. She couldn't say how many user accounts were offered for sale or whether any customers' accounts had been misused.

The site probably collected the information through phishing attacks or a Trojan horse virus that plants keylogging software on users' PCs, said Alex Eckelberry, president of Sunbelt, in Clearwater, Florida.

Attempts to harvest and sell such information are fairly widespread, he said. "It would make the hair on your neck stand on end if you knew," he said.

The site, at http://www.ebayseller.cc, was inaccessible Friday morning, but Eckelberry posted screen captures in his blog that appeared to show account information for sale from customers in the U.K., Germany and Australia. His posting is at http://sunbeltblog.blogspot.c...

The site preferred accounts that were used infrequently, meaning a user would take longer to notice any suspicious activity, and asked a higher price for accounts with good feedback ratings. Prices ranged from $5 to $25 per account.

"We're in contact with law enforcement to track down the perpetrators and we're going to vigorously pursue this investigation to ensure they are prosecuted," the eBay spokeswoman said.

A check on the Whois database showed the Web site was registered on Dec. 2, 2005, allegedly to a company in Cypress, California. There was no reply Friday at the phone number provided, although the site's creator would be unlikely to use real contact information.

EBay reiterated its guidelines for customers to avoid having their data stolen: Be extremely wary of e-mail that ask you to update personal account information, download

The auction page offering Elkhart County jail pants purportedly “worn by the ‘Corn Field Killer’ &rdquo ; was shut down Monday.

On an anonymous tip, sheriff’s investigators determined the pants were supposed to have been worn by Spenser Krempetz, who was convicted in March of murdering Barbara Jo Keim.

The seller, an Osceola teenager, listed his name and address on the online auction ad.

Detective Ray Caples found the 18-year-old had been in jail at the same time as Krempetz, but not in the same part of the jail.

The teen has not been charged.

Imagine for a moment you’re Madonna. Would you want to seat your magnificently sculpted bum on anything but the most pristine toilet seat? I mean, you wouldn’t want your arse where Mariah Carey’s was only days earlier. I’m not Madonna and I wouldn’t want to go near that thing. That’s why I’m not particularly fazed by the New York Daily News report that Miss Madge has instructed each of the venues on her Confessions tour to supply her with a fresh toilet seat.

According to the newspaper’s source, “[The toilet seat] must be wrapped in plastic so her people can open it, and then she demands it be disposed of immediately after she leaves the venue so no one can sell it on eBay." Good thinking. Madonna is so thorough. No wonder she’s the Queen of Pop.

Her rep didn’t even bother denying the item. She merely quipped, "I don't know if anyone helps her wipe, but there are probably people who would volunteer." Oh if only Madonna would offer her bottom up for wiping on eBay. I think she would make a new record in bids.

"Isn’t that strange?" she said.

Nolan, a former Freeman editor, had her home burglarized 11 years ago in New Berlin, when someone, she said, backed a truck up to her house and made off with a heavy antique desk that belonged to her great-great grandfather, Rufus Cheney, who organized the Freewill Baptist Church, the historic church on Prospect Hill in New Berlin. But the desk was filled with heirlooms of Nolan’s family, priceless memories she’d thought lost forever.

Morbitzer and his wife Megan also announced they are donating 10percent of the ball sale proceeds to Big Brothers Big Sisters ofAmerica.

"This whole experience, even the series of events that brought meto be in the beer line while Bonds was batting, truly has beenamazing, and we feel this is the right time for us to sell the ball,and feel eBay is the right place to make this happen," said Andrew."We have supported Big Brothers Big Sisters of America in the past andwe believe the work they are doing with youth is really providingopportunities for disadvantaged kids."

"Over the years, a number of historic high-ticket baseballmemorabilia transactions have taken place on eBay, which has becomethe sports memorabilia industry's barometer for sales trends andmarket value," said Jed Clevenger, Category Manager, SportsMemorabilia at eBay. "We are honored that Andrew and Megan haveelected to use eBay as the platform to sell the ball, and weanticipate it will receive a lot of attention."

In light of continued controversy surrounding Bonds, sportsmemorabilia experts across the industry are speculating about thevalue of the 715th Bond's baseball.

"Say whatever you want about him, Bonds is one of the greatestplayers of all time," said Brandon Steiner, founder and president ofSteiner Sports Marketing and long-time sports memorabilia expert. "Ithink the ball could easily fetch between $300,000-$500,000."

In 2001, the 1909 Honus Wagner T206 card sold for $1.2 million oneBay, and that same year, Shoeless Joe Jackson's Black Betsy bat soldfor $577,610 on the site.

Andrew unexpectedly caught the ball one-handed while in aconcession line at AT&T Park on May 28. Major League Baseball andother security officials at the stadium immediately authenticated theball with a stamp and hologram. The couple also met Bonds after thegame. "Meeting Barry Bonds was such a pleasure. He's the one who hitthe record home run, and he actually congratulated us," said Andrew.

AuctionWire is providing the auction management services for thislisting, while Mpire is providing the promotional online page athttp://www.ebay.com/715, which includes video clips and sportsmemorabilia comparisons between Bonds, Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron.

The sweeping Alberta vistas and rural locales made famous by the movie Brokeback Mountain will be retraced by a father and son from Indiana who'll tour the areas in a vintage truck used in the film.

Bob Welsh, from West Harrison, Ind., won an eBay auction offering the weekend tour in a 1950 GMC pickup truck featured in the award-winning film.

Welsh paid $2,300.

"We just plan to relax for three days and we're looking forward to seeing some of the sites and buildings used in the movie," he said, adding Brokeback Mountain is "destined to become a classic like Gone with the Wind.

"I haven't been on a trip with Dad for 20 years," said his son Jeff, 44.

The city is poised to wring dirt for every penny it's worth when it comes to land sales: It's going eBay style.

The city will turn to Internet auctions to sell its extra land, a lucrative alternative to the old ways of either requesting offers from developers or just sitting at a table and hashing out a deal.
 
Commissioners approved the tactic unanimously Monday.

Selling land online is a new idea for governments in Palm Beach County, city finance officials say.

"As far as I know, we're going to be the first," said Nora Laudermilk, the city's procurement official. "I just thought it would be the best way to get the maximum price."

The city-turned-auctioneer technique promises to drive already high real-estate prices even higher. The city of North Port recently had an offer of $12 million for 1,900 tax-delinquent properties but raked in $60 million after an online bidding war. Miami sold the Miami Arena online, collecting $3 million more than the initial offer and $6 million above the appraised value, city officials say.

The first item that will be going once, twice and sold is a 43-acre tract along Haverhill Road just south of 45th Street, she said.

But nonprofits trying to get affordable housing built are wondering: What about us? The groups traditionally have relied on generous land deals from local governments so developers can build the projects, sell the units or rent them at lower prices to people with modest salaries, and still make a profit.

The highest-bidder approach would leave them out of the running, they say.

"Construction costs are so high that a key way of making sure housing is affordable is some concession or donation of the land," said Terri Murray, executive director of Northwood Renaissance, a non-profit group that works on the affordable housing problem.

The groups asked commissioners to set guidelines on which properties might be suitable to be sold at a discount, or even given away, for less-expensive homes and apartments.

Mayor Lois Frankel said the city takes affordable housing seriously, pointing to its affordable housing task force.

"This particular ordinance does not go to that issue," she said. "This will be one of the issues that they will be looking at as they help develop the policy."

Laudermilk said the non-profits shouldn't worry because city commissioners will still be able to set criteria for land sales, including setting land aside for affordable housing, she said.

But such a case-by-case system "makes it a political process," which cash-strapped nonprofits have neither the time nor the resources to handle, said Annetta Jenkins, senior program manager for the South Florida office of the Local Initiatives Support Corp., which helps non-profits with affordable housing efforts.

"It will make it harder to build affordable housing," she said. "And it's already hard enough."

For more information tune to Central Florida News 13. Only on Bright House Networks.

COPIES of a sick magazine containing pictures of the last moments of Diana were for sale yesterday on Internet auction site eBay.

The harrowing photos of the Princess of Wales being treated in the back of the crashed car have been published by Italian weekly Chi.

Now copies of Chi - very few of which are available in Britain - were yesterday being hawked on the site just a day after sons William and Harry condemned their publication.

Last night a Palace source said they were "saddened" at the latest sick twist in the saga. One copy - advertised as "Sealed Chi, Lady Diana special, banned last photos" - attracted 10 bids up to £41.

The blurb ghoulishly stated: "The Truth on Lady Diana - includes world exclusive last-ever photos never seen before. This is the magazine that they have tried to ban in the UK."

The auction had two days to go, yesterday, with a second copy stands at £37 with the same number of bids.

Advertisement

Regular eBay trader Chris Drake, 32, who came across the magazine auction, said: "I can't believe people would want to make money out of something so outrageous.

"We are talking about a picture of a dying mother, the publication of which has left her children terribly upset."

Last week Princes William and Harry blasted the magazine, saying they were "deeply saddened" it had sunk to "such a low".

Last night eBay said they had pulled the plug on auctions of the magazines and would not allow any others.

Among the mementoes Kerik was trying to unload were his NYPD jacket with the word "commissioner" across the back, photos of Kerik with U.S. President George Bush, Queen Elizabeth II of Britain and other well-known figures and a letter from Israel's police chief congratulating Kerik on his nomination as Homeland Security secretary, the New York Daily News reported.

Kerik withdrew his name from nomination after information about his personal and professional life came to light. He recently pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges involving taking favors from contractors while he was the city corrections commissioner.

"Who wants a perp's jacket?" one police officer asked the Daily News.

SOUTH Africa's Nelson Mandela has been everywhere from apartheid prisons to Buckingham Palace. Now the elderly anti-apartheid icon is taking the leap into cyberspace and auctioning himself off on eBay.

The Mandela eBay item was announced as the South African statesman - who turns 88 next Tuesday - toured the facility with former US President Bill Clinton.

"I always try to show up around Madiba's birthday," said Mr Clinton, calling Mr Mandela by the affectionate clan name by which he is known to most South Africans.

Mr Clinton pledged to help treat children with cardiac problems at the Sisulu Centre, named after the late Walter Sisulu who together with Mandela is regarded as the father of post-apartheid South Africa.

The special eBay auction, which will last from November 6-16, will also feature items including a singing lesson from South African vocal legend Miriam Makeba and a "business brainstorming" session with Patrice Motsepe, the country's best-known black billionaire.

Bidding will start at $10,000 in the 10-day auction, and sports memorabilia dealers expect it to fetch about $200,000. Morbitzer, who caught the ball when it fell from the bleachers overhead while he was waiting to buy snacks, said he'll be happy with whatever he gets.

"I was just standing in line and it fell in my hand. It's like money falling into your hand, so you can't be disappointed with whatever you get out of it," Morbitzer, 38, said today.

The baseball likely won't sell for nearly as much as earlier home run balls, memorabilia dealers said. Mark McGwire's 70th home run -- the record-breaker for a season in 1998 -- sold for $3 million at auction, and Bond's 73rd home run in the 2001 season sold for $450,000.

But the 715th ball has an advantage, said David Kohler, president of SportsCards Plus, the auction company that sold Bonds' 700th career home run ball.

"It's got a great story behind it. This guy went to the snack stand and this ball fell on him," Kohler said.

Morbitzer set an undisclosed auction reserve, which means the bidding has to reach a certain minimum -- higher than the opening bid of $10,000 -- before the ball will be sold. The auction begins at noon on July 24 and closes at noon on Aug. 3.

It likely won't be the biggest baseball memorabilia sale at eBay, which regularly sees transactions of highly-valued items including rookie Michael Jordan baseball cards and Babe Ruth-signed baseballs. The online auction site sees 26 baseball card transactions every minute, said Jed Clevenger, a sports memorabilia manager with eBay.

Morbitzer said he and his wife, Megan, would love to take whatever money they get from the ball and put it toward a down payment on a house, but they haven't decided for sure what they will do with the cash.

The couple thought long and hard about giving up the ball because they consider it such an important piece of baseball memorabilia, Morbitzer said. It helped, he said, that they met Bonds after the May 28 game when he hit the home run.

"You just don't get that many shots being a part of history," he said. "To have the ball, the one that broke the great Bambino's record, is something you wouldn't normally want to give up."

Combined with just needing the money -- Morbitzer said he and his wife aren't wealthy, and even if the money doesn't go toward a house, they'll set it aside for the future -- owning such a sought-after piece of baseball history got to be a pretty big burden at times. He stores the ball in a safe deposit box at a bank, and he's visited it twice.

"Sometimes you wake up at four in the morning, and you're like, 'God, I wonder if it's still there?'" he said, laughing. "You try to act nonchalant and walk into the safety deposit room. I actually asked the guard to turn around. And then I just peer into the box and look at it."

After selling his very sweet Customized Suburban to the highest bidder for $33,800.00, Dale Jr. is in the process of unloading another of his magnificent stable inhabitants, a 2005 Corvette C6 with paint work of cherry red and flames and only 2,096 miles on the odometer. As a side note, he might want to start thinking about another venue besides eBay... the aftermarket upgrades alone probably cost close to the bidding price, minus the actual car. At any rate, the bidding is up close to $70K and Jr. has even offered to sign the hood, so pony up the cash (and save some to redo the paint if fire isn't your thing).

"Looking to upgrade his car collection," hmm? We're furiously scanning the tabloids for more information on the reason for Dale's fire sale, we'll keep you posted.

Former Macy's and Donna Karan executive Joseph Cicio took the step of posting the property after trying for years to sell the 85 acres that contain an antiques store, general store, pottery shop, large colonial house and two barns surrounded by woods.

With a population of 1,300, Warren is the state's third-smallest town, the New York Post reported.

However, it is the current or former home to such notables as Henry Kissinger, Joan Rivers and Oscar de la Renta, the report said.

Britons made £8.5 billion last year by trading goods online, according to a new survey. The research, by Orange Broadband, said UK citizens made an average of £341 in 2005 through auction sites such as eBay.

People in their 30s are making the most money online, while 12% of people surveyed claimed to have made more than £500 last year.

Other findings include proof about the huge uptake in social networking. Over 60% of respondents also said they regularly use community-orientated sites such as MySpace.

Moreover, one in three people said they spend at least 11 evenings every month on the web, instead of going out with their friends.

Orange Broadband says 20% of Britons have created personal websites, while 5% have their own blog.

Bid late and win big—that's the conclusion of two Korean researchers who studied online auctions on eBay and developed an equation that describes the relationship between bidding behavior and item winning.

People who bid just a single time, during the last moments of an eBay auction, are the most likely to win, say Inchang Yang and Byungnam Kahng, physicists at Seoul National University in Korea.

In a paper published in the June issue of Physical Review E, Yang and Kahng present an equation for the pattern of bids made over time, a function that obeys a power law distribution. Graphically, that pattern has a "fat-tail distribution," indicating that the total number of bids increases more quickly near the end of the auction than at the beginning.

"Bidders create a new, self-organized pattern even though no one controls their activities," Kahng said via e-mail.

Yang and Kahng also determined the mathematical relationship between bid frequency and winning. They discovered that auction winners are most likely people who bid infrequently—biddin g just a single time, at the end of the auction (a strategy known as "sniping.")

The Korean team's results are consistent with findings made by Harvard economist Alvin Roth in a 2002 paper published in American Economic Review. Roth determined that late bidders were often experienced eBay users, who employed sniping as an established tactic.

Ebay's auctions have a set end-point, allowing people who submit bids at the last minute to avoid giving other bidders a chance to respond with a higher offer. According to Roth, sniping also prevents bidders who are knowledgeable about the value of an item for sale from tipping off others that the item might be worth a lot of money.

"There's a good reason to bid late," Roth said.

There are also risks to banking on a last-minute attempt. Such bidders may find themselves unexpectedly busy when the auction closes or unable to get a very late bid to transmit successfully.

Still, sniping remains a popular—and bankable—winning strategy, Roth said.

"People's behavior," he said, "does respond to the detailed rules of the market, often in quite understandable ways."

Merchants looking to sell their goods through eBay may not use Google Checkout as a payment method, the auction site now says in an updated Acceptable Payments Policy. Google's new service has launched as a potential competitor to eBay's own PayPal.

Although it does not offer person-to-person payments, Google Checkout does overlap when it comes to purchases from online stores, where PayPal makes a bulk of its revenue. "Sellers may not request payment through online payment methods not specifically permitted in this policy," eBay says, adding that it only supports established and safe payment services. Those who violate the policy can end up suspended from eBay.

Numerous items from last month's romantic ceremony, including a menu from the reception and a piece of wedding cake, have popped up on the site at a whopping opening price of about $5,000.

Other memorabilia being sold off by anonymous wedding guests include the book of the ceremonies and an engraved Tiffany desk clock.

Nicole married Urban, 38, in a private ceremony in Sidney, Australia, attended by close friends and family.

The star-studded guest list included Kidman's close friend, "King Kong" actress Naomi Watts, "X-Men" actor Hugh Jackman and "Bridget Jones" star Renйe Zellweger.

The 39-year-old actress' first husband Tom Cruise, who she was married to for nine years, was not present at the ceremony, however, their adopted children, Connor and Isabella, watched their mother tie the knot.

A JUROR'S notes from the infamous trial of Lindy Chamberlain are up for sale.

Yvonne Cain, 57, known as the "weeping juror" when she cried as Azaria Chamberlain's jumpsuit was held up in court, and later the "doubting juror" when she expressed regret at the conviction of the baby's mother, has listed the collection on internet auction site eBay.

"These have just been lying around under the bed for years," the Craigmore woman said yesterday.

Lindy Chamberlain, now known as Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton after remarrying, was tried and convicted of her daughter's murder after saying a dingo had taken the baby from an Ayers Rock campsite in August, 1980. Bloodied clothing was discovered in the area, but no body was found.

The case divided Australia, and the fight to exonerate the jailed woman went on until a royal commission in 1987 led to the conviction being overturned in 1988.

Ms Cain became a friend of Mrs Chamberlain-Creighton and campaigned for her exoneration.

She discussed the sale with Mrs Chamberlain-Creighton and husband Rick Creighton when they visited her in Adelaide from their home in Cooranbong, NSW, several weeks ago.

"Lindy talks about Azaria openly . . . it obviously has taken over her life (and) they still live with it day to day," she said.

"At that time, Rick was saying to me: 'Do know your notes would be worth between $40,000 and $50,000'."

She opted to register them on the British eBay site because of the need to publish a reserve price in Australia. They have been listed for 10 days, but after three days there had been no bids.

Celebrities who attended the 2006 Black Entertainment Television Awards June 27 donated items from their goody bags -- expensive gifts given to VIPs at awards shows.

Donations were made by Harry Belafonte, Chaka Khan, actors Boris Kodjoe and Marlon Wayans, rapper/producer Lil John, rappers and Oscar-winners Three 6 Mafia, hip-hop artist Chamillionaire, will.i.am from the Black-Eyed Peas and actress Thandie Newton, among others.

The ongoing auction is set to end July 10,

Signed memorabilia, Chanel sunglasses, gold jewelry, watches and designer clothing are some of the items available for bid, the foundation said in a press release.

The single most expensive item -- a Rapstor watch valued at least $3,900 -- was donated by Chamillionaire.

The foundation operates free AIDS treatment clinics in the United States, Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the largest free alternative HIV testing program in California.

The auction will benefit the foundation's prevention and testing programs, specifically HIV/AIDS education and outreach to women.

There have been some very odd things sold via eBay - it really is a website that seems to create demand for everything. Even 'a ghost in a jar' managed to find an owner, who spent more than $15,000 to acquire the bona fide gift of somebody else's lifetime, and a jar.

Seriously, you can use eBay to sell anything. A ball of aluminium foil sold for $3.10. A videotape with 'Death Tape: Do Not Watch' written on it sold for $18. Take a blowtorch to some cheese on toast and you can make a million...

Back to reality for a moment, and here in Lemon Studios there was a discussion about whether you could sell office space on eBay. Sure you can! It's eBay! 

And with that, Jodie at Lemon Studios has posted an ad on eBay offering up one of their desks to the highest bidder. So if you're in the internet or digital space and want to work in an air-conditioned office in central London, then here's your chance to get in on the action.

Lemon Studios is great for meeting new internet folk and there are a few startups kicking around, so there is a bit of a buzz here. On top of that E-consultancy lives here, so you know you'll be in good company.

Bidding for the Beethoven Academie based in Mechelen, Belgium, had reached 100,000 euros ($128,064.90) when the orchestra abruptly ended the auction Monday after being told by eBay representatives it was illegal to buy or sell people, PlaybillArts.com reported.

The orchestra's communications officer, Stephanie Adriaansen, said the top bid actually was placed by their production manager, who had gathered a group of friends together to boost the price in an attempt to gain some media publicity.

Although the figure may sound like a lot, she said it was less than 1-10th of the lost annual subsidy from the government.

"I am afraid that the orchestra will die after all," she told PlaybillArts. "It could be next week, it could be next month, it could be after six months."

A German woman has put her Ferrari up for sale on eBay and added herself as an extra feature.

The 26-year-old, who refers to herself only as Leila on the site, says she hopes the unusual move will help her find a man.

She said: "I've got the car because I inherited a fortune from my parents, and now I'm looking for someone who does not want to marry me just for my money."

She is starting the bidding at £865,000.

She says she has already received hundreds of emails from across the world and one offer of £1.38m "but he couldn't prove he had the money", she said.

A FOOTBALL fan tried selling his role as best man on eBay so he can watch today's England World Cup match against Portugal.

James Circus offered his seat at the top table at his friend's wedding in Essex. Bidding on the online auction website started at £2 for the role, which includes speech and meal.

Mr Circus, from Wickford in Essex, admitted the bid began as a joke after he bought tickets for the quarter finals but realised it was impossible to go.

He intended to turn up for the wedding at 2pm and carry out his duty handing the rings to the groom, but was determined not to miss the match at 4pm.

He says on eBay that he will be returning from the pub at 7pm to resume his role, adding "and at that point you will have to leave".

Yongping Duan, 45, a California investor and former owner of a consumer electronics company, won the weeklong auction under the screen name ``fastisslow.'' Rocky Liang, a Taipei businessman with the screen name ``magicyourlife,'' unsuccessfully tried to outbid Duan, driving up the price by $70,000 in the three minutes before the auction closed 10 p.m. New York time yesterday.

Duan gets to bring seven friends to a New York steakhouse to query Buffett, the world's second-richest man, about his business strategy and investment philosophy. The 75-year-old chairman and chief executive officer of Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. transformed a failing textile manufacturer into a $142 billion holding company by acquiring out-of-favor securities and businesses in dozens of industries.

``We didn't pay for the lunch, we paid for the fundraising,'' Duan said. The Enlight Foundation, which his family founded and runs, will provide the donation, he said. ``Warren Buffett chose the pocket for me to donate to.''

The auction, which attracted just five bidders, raised money for the Glide Foundation, a San Francisco charity. Glide serves 700,000 free meals a year and provides dozens of other social services on a $12 million budget, according to Cecil Williams, the foundation's chief executive officer and minister of the associated church.

Charity Work

Susan Buffett, the billionaire's late wife, volunteered at Glide. Buffett said June 25 that he would give away 85 percent of his personal wealth, or Berkshire stock valued at about $37 billion, to five charities, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

EBay in 2003 took over the bidding for the lunch, originally part of a live auction in San Francisco. That year, Greenlight Capital LLC founder David Einhorn paid $250,100, according to Glide. The 2004 winner, Jason Choo of Singapore, won with a bid of $202,100 and then added a check for $47,900 to make the total $250,000.

Duan was a ``proxy'' bidder, meaning EBay automatically topped the highest offer by $100 on his behalf. The world's largest online auctioneer was authorized to do so as long as the offer didn't exceed his limit of $650,000.

Mohnish Pabrai, who manages $300 million at Pabrai Investment Funds in Irvine, California, including about $30 million in Berkshire shares, stopped bidding at $502,300.

``My wife will treat me to a good dinner, and we will come back next year,'' he said of losing, in an interview before the auction ended.

Buffett's Books

Duan said he read one of Buffett's books after he stopped running a consumer-electronics company in China, moved with his family to the San Francisco Bay Area and became an independent investor five years ago.

``I mostly want to thank him'' for the advice, he said. He also planned to ask what an investor without good investment targets should do with extra money and whether Buffett ever considered it wise to use debt for acquisitions.

``No topics are off limits except for what Berkshire Hathaway is buying or selling,'' Buffett's assistant, Debbie Bosanek, said before the auction began.

At $620,100, lunch with Buffett ranks as the second-highest sale price for a charity item auctioned off by San Jose, California-based EBay. A Harley-Davidson motorcycle autographed by celebrity guests of Jay Leno's late night talk show fetched $800,100, England said. Proceeds went to the Red Cross International Disaster Relief Fund for tsunami victims.

The priciest item sold on the site was a $4.6 million business jet, EBay spokeswoman Catherine England said.

Google will take a major step beyond search on Thursday, launching an online payment service that will undercut the charges of established providers such as Ebay’s PayPal in enabling transactions over the web.

The internet company is introducing Google Checkout, which it says will speed the purchase process for consumers and make it easier for advertisers to monitor and complete sales.

Eric Schmidt, Google chief executive, had earlier insisted that the payment system would not compete directly with Paypal, but the final version has ended up targeting the same market.

“Since we needed to build a great checkout experience for Google products [such as Google Earth, Google Video and Web Albums], we thought why not think bigger and let other merchants leverage this checkout process as well,” said Salar Kamangar, vice-president of product management, in a Financial Times interview.

A small shopping trolley icon next to Google ads will signal that anyone clicking on them can buy a product or service using Checkout, which will store users’ details securely, including chosen credit card numbers and billing addresses. Users will also be able to go to a page summarising their orders across a range of merchants and enabling them to track packages.

Google said it had been working with retailers such as Starbucks, Jockey, Levis, Timberland and Buy.com in testing the service.

To help it gain traction, Google is offering discounts to merchants and charges of only 2 per cent on purchases and 20 cents a transaction.

“We think it’s very competitive, you will typically pay in the range of 2 to 3 per cent and 30 cents per transaction with other providers,” said Mr Kamangar.

The scheme has had a longer gestation period than most Google products and is not being launched like the usual unfinished “beta” products, but as a final version. News of it first surfaced in April last year when Google filed to incorporate Google Payments Corp. The length of time signals Google’s lack of experience in financial services and the need to build out an infrastructure and fraud prevention mechanisms.

Online transactions are still dominated by credit and debit card companies, but the PayPal service has won around 10 per cent of the market. In its last quarter, eBay reported that PayPal earned $330m from processing $8.8bn in payments, up from $227m and $6.2bn a year earlier.

Nashville partners in the Honky Tonk Hall of Fame said Monday they plan to list the Zippin Pippin on eBay along with houses once owned by Elvis Presley's father and Johnny Cash.
Stephen Shutts, who coordinated last month's $1 million sale of Elvis Presley's former house on Audubon, said he plans to take Elvis' favorite car from the Zippin Pippin -- the first car -- and use it as an attraction in his traveling music museum.

The rest of the towering wooden roller coaster on the Libertyland grounds would be listed on eBay primarily "to generate interest and publicity. It could be put up in a best-offer scenario. The idea is to see if anybody has any land, any ideas," Shutts said of his effort to preserve the roller coaster as part of Americana.
"Though our company is based in Nashville, we recognize that Memphis plays an incredibly important part in our national, state and even personal history. As the new owners of the Zippin Pippin, we intend to respect that history and hopefully help the city leaders move forward with their vision for the property," Shutts and partner Robert Reynolds said in a letter to the editor in today's editions of The Commercial Appeal.

In addition to the coaster, Shutts said he has agreed to represent owners of two other Memphis properties in eBay auctions. One is the home at 3650 Hermitage once owned by Elvis's father Vernon Presley. The four-bedroom brick house appraised at $146,000 now is owned by Willie C. Thomas and Evelyn Thomas.

The other property, at 5676 Walnut Grove Place, just off Walnut Grove Road in East Memphis, was owned by Johnny Cash for one year after his first Sun Studio recordings.

Current owners David Pollow, a real estate investor, and wife Pearl Pollow, said the only sign that a musician lived in the house is the mailbox Cash had installed. It has a wrought-iron guitar motif above the box.

Pollow said he bought the house in 1960 just after Cash moved to California. The couple said they didn't realize at first Cash had lived in the home, then liked the idea.

"I like his singing, and he was a good country boy," said Pearl.

David Pollow said one of Cash's daughters, Rosanne, has visited twice through the years as a reminder of her childhood and her father's beginnings in Memphis.

The couple own a shopping center in West Palm Beach, Fla., and lease nine buildings to the Postal Service. The four-bedroom house with 3,053 square feet is appraised at $228,000.

David Pollow said he has no idea what the house might bring at auction, but he was attracted to the auction idea when he saw the outcome of the auction for Elvis Presley's former home on Audubon Drive in East Memphis. The house sold on eBay for $905,100, then, when bidders and owners were unable to close, another buyer stepped in and paid $1 million.

Pollow said the price of his house will depend on the zeal of Cash fans, some of whom may be inspired by the "Walk The Line" Cash film. "If fans wanted the house, they would bid whatever it takes," he said.

For Shutts and Reynolds, the first priority will be the Zippin Pippin. It could be listed on eBay as early as this week, Shutts said. They bought the coaster for $2,500 in an auction by the Mid-South Fair and were given 30 days to remove it.

Shutts said he plans to ask for a 30- to 60-day extension to remove it from the Libertyland grounds. However, City Council parks committee chairman Scott McCormick said last week the city, which holds the lease on the Libertyland property, may not be willing to grant an extension.

"That's very narrow-minded. ... How bad would that look on the part of the city?" Shutts said.