Today one can go onto eBay.com and buy a Saint, or at least parts of its body. Bones and hairs of Saints have been part of a subculture and its market ever since churches collected them to be veneered. Churches exchange relics and collect them in their treasuries. Sometimes the relics go up for sale to help churches with financial burdens, but now private collectors can buy holy relics online.

EBay is generating a market for these objects; there are those who buy them and there are those who oppose this market. The International Crusade for Holy Relics is trying to stop eBay from being a platform to sell holy relics. I guess one should be free to buy and sell anything, as long as there is a buyer. In most cases I think the bones of saints are fake, so it really doesn’t matter. Or does it

EBay was the online winner this "Black Friday," data published on Saturday showed, but overall Internet traffic growth was well below last year's even as bargain hunters tracked down sought-after toys and electronics on the web before "Cyber Monday."
Overall traffic to the Nielsen/Net Ratings Holiday eShopping Index, which tracks more than 120 online retailers, rose 12% on the Friday after Thankgiving over the same day last year, according to the online audience measurement firm.
 
That was significantly below the 29% growth in overall traffic to the index from 2004 to 2005 and was more in line with 11% growth seen from 2003 to 2004.

EBay Inc had the most web traffic on "Black Friday," one of retail's busiest days, with 7.5 million unique visitors, according to the data. Amazon.com was in second place, with 3.4 million unique visitors, followed by Wal-Mart Stores Inc, with 3.2 million. There was no way to determine what percentage of Internet users were actually making web purchases.

The search for Mattel's TMX Elmo, this season's most popular and hard-to-find toy, drove much of the online traffic in advance of "Cyber Monday," the unofficial start of the online holiday shopping season.

EBay reported that 2,537 TMX Elmos were sold on Friday for an average price of $70.10. The toy retails at Wal-Mart for $39.97 and can be found on Shopping.com for as much as $150.

Other popular items on eBay included Sony's PlayStation 3, 14,675 have been sold on eBay for an average price of $1,186.39 from November 17 to November 24, and the Nintendo Wii. Since that product debuted on November 19, 26,708 have been sold for an average price of $412.53.

Shopping.com and PriceGrabber.com, which allow consumers to compare deals from a variety of retailers, saw year-over-year jumps of 40% and 45%, respectively, in the volume of traffic on their sites.

If I Did It, how much would I be worth? That's the question many buyers on eBay and reporters from the Wall Street Journal are asking today. Many listings of If I Did It, OJ Simpson's supposedly hypothetical retelling of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, have already been pulled by eBay, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) at News Corporation (NYSE:NWS)'s HarperCollins unit's request.

The bids were reportedly in the thousands before the auctions were ended, although many booksellers interviewed by the WSJ said they would put the price of the book closer to $1000 (although they'd only pay $100, buy low, sell high, anyone?). This auction ended at a whopping $8300.

Some put the book's price between $2000 and $5000, although everyone seemed to agree that such a price wouldn't be sustainable in the long run.

Instead of beating the First Amendment drum, I'll just riff on a capitalist beat: people obviously want to read the darned thing! My objection would likely be more literary snobbishness than righteous horror -- Judith Regan ain't known for her wordcraft. But if people want to read it so badly they'll pay thousands ...

The book had been scheduled for release Nov. 30 following a two-part Simpson interview on Fox, but News Corp., owner of Fox Broadcasting and publisher HarperCollins, canceled the project after an outcry condemning it as revolting and exploitive.

Responding to concerns from HarperCollins, eBay spokesman Hani Durzy said Wednesday that the online auction house has been removing offers to sell purported copies of the book from the site. In one case, bids had topped $1 million.

A phone message left for eBay representatives was not immediately returned Thursday.

Brown family attorney Natasha Roit said the site's deadline-style auctions means some transactions could finish before eBay acts. HarperCollins has said all copies of the book would be destroyed, but is always a chance some could get out.

"The voice of the American public was heard loud and clear by News Corp. and HarperCollins in recalling the books," Roit said. "We really need to stem the tide and get these books out of circulation because anything that's out there now is really hurtful to the family."

Simpson, 59, was acquitted of the double murder of his ex-wife and her friend Ron Goldman in 1995 but was later found liable in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Goldman's family. The former football star has not paid the $33.5 million civil judgment, and his NFL pension and Florida home cannot be seized.

In interviews with The Associated Press, Simpson denied committing the murders. He also disputed his publisher's contention that the book amounts to a confession, insisted the title was not his idea, and said the hypothetical sections were written by a ghostwriter.

News Corp. spokesman Andrew Butcher said the company paid $880,000 to a third party in connection with the project. Of that amount, $100,000 was to go to the ghostwriter and the rest to Simpson's children.

"Absolutely no money was ever given to O.J. Simpson by us," Butcher said Wednesday.

Simpson said any profit from the book would be "blood money," but he said he needed to pay his bills.

"It's all blood money, and unfortunately I had to join the jackals," Simpson said, referring to authors of books about him. "It helped me get out of debt and secure my homestead."

Simpson would not say how much he was paid in advance, but he said it was less than the $3.5 million that has been reported. He said the money already has been spent, some of it on tax obligations.

Butcher said News Corp. cannot recoup any of the money because Simpson honored his end of the contract by producing the book.

Simpson said he was convinced the book would have been a best-seller.

"If I Did It" cracked the top 20 of Amazon.com last weekend in prepublication sales, but by Monday, when it was canceled, the book had fallen to No. 51.

OJ SIMPSON’S scuttled book about the murder of his ex-wife attracted hot but brief bidding on eBay before being removed on Wednesday, while the former football star laughingly said he had been paid and had spent his advance.

The book, If I Did It, and an accompanying two-part television interview were dropped by media conglomerate News Corp. on Monday after an outcry from advertisers, booksellers and relatives of the dead.

The book and interview were touted as a hypothetical account of how Simpson would have killed ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994. Simpson was reportedly paid a sum of $3.5m in advance.

Publishers have pledged to recall and destroy all the books but one copy appeared briefly on eBay. It got more than 50 bids, the highest of more than $1,600, in about two hours.

The former football star was acquitted in 1995 of charges he committed the bloody June 1994 murders. But a civil court jury in 1997 found him liable for the deaths and awarded the victims` families $33.5m in damages. Little of the judgment has been collected.

Publisher HarperCollins, part of the News Corp. group, said on Wednesday it had contacted eBay about removing the copy of If I Did It from the Web site.

An eBay spokesman said HarperCollins took action under laws governing intellectual property rights.

OJ Simpson's scuttled book about the murder of his ex-wife popped up for sale on eBay today and attracted a top bid of more than $US1,600 ($A2,080) before it was removed.

The book, If I Did It, and an accompanying two-part television interview were dropped by media conglomerate News Corp on Monday after an outcry from advertisers, booksellers and relatives of the dead.

But one copy, touted as a hypothetical account of how Simpson would have killed ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994, was offered for sale on eBay.

Publisher HarperCollins, part of the News Corp group, has pledged to recall and destroy all copies on the book that were shipped ahead of the intended November 30 publication.

"We have contacted eBay about removing the book. We are doing everything in our power to have them all destroyed," HarperCollins spokeswoman Erin Crum said.

Within three hours, If I Did It had been taken down from the site after getting more than 50 bids, the highest more than $US1,600 ($A2,080).

"Whether you think he is guilty or not a jury of his peers found him innocent, so who are we to judge? Anyway I received a true copy of this book, did not read it, do not want to read it, but want to sell it," the seller, from Texas, said in a posting.

The auction site said HarperCollins took action under laws governing intellectual property rights.

Another posting by someone eager to track down a copy of the book remained on the site, and at least two people were auctioning off OJ Simpson-related email addresses. The seller of OJ.IDidItzgmail.com described the address as a way for businesses "to profit from the resurrected OJ craze".

The former football star was acquitted in 1995 of charges he committed the bloody June 1994 murders. But a civil court jury in 1997 found him liable for the deaths and awarded the victims' families $US33.5 million ($A43.5 million) in damages. Little of the judgment has been collected.

The taped interview with Simpson, ditched this week by News Corp, also was expected to find its way onto the internet. Popular video site YouTube on Wednesday had dozens of spoof and satirical amateur videos on the topic but no authentic tape.

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) has been paid $100,000 in damages after settling two cases of illegal software sales.

Two defendants, Kevin Liu and G T Tian, paid a total of $100,000 in damages, as well as agreeing to stop selling illegal software, in one of the cases arising from the SIIA's Auction Litigation Programme.

Liu and Tian also provided the SIIA with records identifying their customers and suppliers of pirated software.

The suit was filed on behalf of Symantec, and was among the first under the Auction Litigation Programme.

This initiative aims to monitor popular online auction sites, identify individuals or groups selling pirated software and prosecute those pirates on behalf of the Association's member companies.

The defendants were accused in the suit of infringing copyrights and trademarks owned by Symantec in Norton PC Anywhere, Norton SystemWorks 2005 Premier and Norton Ghost.

Over two years, the defendants sold $750,000 worth of software for approximately $123,000.

"Selling pirated software, especially through online auction sites, is a growing problem that hurts businesses and consumers and threatens the credibility and viability of online auctions," said Keith Kupferschmid, vice president of the SIIA's Software Anti-Piracy Division.

"Defendants Liu and Tian learned the hard way that selling pirated software does not pay."

Liu said in a statement: "If I had known the SIIA was checking eBay for software piracy, and if I had known that the software was pirated and that I'd have to pay such a high fine, I would have never sold the pirated software to begin with."

KATIE 'Jordan' Price is planning on removing and selling her G-Cup implants on ebay.

She is reportedly fed up with her really big boobs and wants to tone it down just a little.

After removing the implants she plans on selling it on ebay and donating some of the proceeds to charity.

The busty babe says, "I can't wait. I still want them to be big - they're certainly not going to be small. I just want them to be more pert.

"I'll put them on eBay and I'll want a minimum of £1 million. I'll give some of that to charity."

Sunday's launch of Nintendo's Wii console has not generated the media buzz and user frenzy of Sony's PlayStation 3, but the $250 console has generated a steady stream of e-commerce revenue, according to eBay.

The online auction firm had logged roughly 6,600 Wii sales 36 hours after the launch, selling at an average price of $435, a company spokesman told vnunet.com.

EBay completed 3,352 sales on Sunday at an average price of $482, a 93 per cent mark-up on the $249 retail price.

Buyers who waited a day to bid on a Wii found that much better deals were to be had. On Monday morning 3,245 of the consoles had sold for an average price of $387, a 55 per cent mark-up.

The Wii prices stand in stark contrast to those that followed the launch of the PlayStation 3.

About 800 Sony consoles changed hands at an average price of $2,716 in the first 12 hours after the launch on Friday, providing sellers with at least a 350 per cent mark-up based on the $599 price tag for the most expensive model.

Even on Monday PlayStation 3 systems were selling on eBay at a 125 per cent mark-up.

The price differences reflect the buzz surrounding each console's launch. Sony, facing a dramatic production shortfall, shipped only 400,000 PlayStation 3 machines.
Hard-core gamers lined up to purchase the next-gen machine days in advance, although most stores had few units on hand. The resulting frenzy produced riots and even shootings.

The Wii was rolled out with much less fanfare. Nintendo shipped over one million consoles with little incident. The Wii is aimed at the less rabid family and casual user base.

The Wii is slated for a European release on 8 December. The PlayStation 3 European release has been delayed until March 2007.

On the day of PlayStation 3's launch, it was a scalper's paradise online. Though a number of auctions were suspiciously high, it wasn't uncommon to see machines with ending bids between $2,000 and $3,000 -- likely well-worth the time spent in line over the course of several days. Since then, however, so many have flooded the market, they've driven the price down to something more based in reality.
As of this morning, there are 20,639 listings for PlayStation 3 machines. The newest auction to end has a starting bid of $2,300 and has absolutely no bidders. The one immediately below, however, is currently ending in a few minutes, yet has 15 bids, pushing the price to $1,125.

Based on our most recent search (since then, most of these auctions have ended), taking into account the 23 auctions that actually had bids placed on them, the average bidding price was only $958. Would you be willing to wait in line for days on end for a potential $400-500 profit? Not to mention profit margins appear to be dwindling at a rapid pace, even if they are ending hundreds above retail.

Chances are the prices will continue to trickle down, never quite reaching actual retail. Whenever the mythical second shipment shows up, however, scalpers could be in for a bit of a surprise -- if Sony can deliver the units soon, that is.

A "GREEDY" insurance company worker who stole promotional vouchers from her employers for sale on the eBay internet site has escaped being sent to prison.

Serene Claw, 24, a call centre worker at Liverpool Victoria, admitted theft and transferring criminal property.

Her co-defendant, Ryan Oliver, 23, of Belle Vue Road, Bournemouth, pleaded guilty to converting criminal property.

 

Prosecuting at Bournemouth Crown Court, Michael Mackey said Claw, of Surrey Road, Bournemouth, had helped herself to Caravan Club vouchers from an unlocked stationery cupboard. They were part of a credit card scheme which entitled holders to a free stay at Caravan Club sites.

Claw gave the vouchers to Oliver, who sold them on eBay, splitting the profits between them.

A Bournemouth customer contacted Liverpool Victoria after spotting the vouchers on sale on the internet site.

Police traced Oliver, who was arrested on July 11. Seventy-two vouchers were found at the sound and lighting technician's home and another was discovered in his car.

Claw came clean the next day, telling officers she had stolen two "wedges" of vouchers and passed them on to her former school friend because they were "easy money".

Defending both Claw and Oliver, Paul Hester said they had been nave. Claw had succumbed to temptation and "acted totally out of character", losing her job when the offences came to light.

In Oliver's defence, Mr Hester said Oliver had used his own name on eBay. "If this was a serious criminal exercise this was tantamount to stupidity," he added, stressing that Oliver had taken out a £5,265 loan to repay the losers.

Judge John Harrow, who said the offences were motivated "purely by temptation and greed", sentenced Claw and Oliver to six months' imprisonment, suspended for two years. They must also complete 180 hours of unpaid community work. He told Claw: "As an employee you committed a serious breach of trust."

The crude "KKK Snowmen and Snow-women" were going for a starting bid of $13.77, the New York Daily News reported.

"He's made of clay and stands a nice size at 5" tall," the seller described one figurine. "He is in his white gown (some people like to call them sheets) and hood, which is removable for your viewing pleasure."

An eBay spokeswoman, Catherine England, told the Daily News that the site bans offensive items. But she said that with 105 million items on the site at any given time and 6 million added every day, eBay is unable to do a complete screening.

The site learned of the Klan figurines from the Daily News.

Previous KKK items that have turned up on eBay include a knife bearing a Ku Klux Klan shield, an antique hood and a T-shirt with a picture of a burning cross.

If you didn't camp out for the Sony PlayStation 3, you weren't likely to land one Friday. Well, unless you could put down plenty of cash to snag one from thousands that immediately went on sale online for three to four times the system's retail price.

The basic 20-gigabyte game console retails for $499; the more popular 60-gigabyte version sells for $599 at stores. However, one unit was going for $10,100 on eBay. Many were listed at $1,500 to $2,500.

Such stores as Toys "R" Us, Best Buy and Fry's Electronics sold out within minutes. Several retailers pre-sold systems, and some didn't get as many as expected, angering some customers. advertisement 
 
Retailers contacted couldn't say when they expect to get more units. Sony promised to ship 400,000 PS3 units for the U.S. launch Friday and 1million units by the end of the year. Sony had expected 2 million units for sale this year.

The scarcity of the game system led some diehard buyers to stand in line two and three days in advance.

You can buy almost anything on EBay.

City officials in New Bedford are hoping to use the Internet's top auction site to sell a 76-year-old Coast Guard lightship. City Councilor Joe DeMedeiros tells the Standard Times of New Bedford that the potential scrap metal value alone makes officials confident they can recoup much of the 212-thousand-dollars invested in the ship after it almost sank last summer. The city tried to auction the ship in September, but couldn't find anyone willing to pay ten-thousand-dollars and remove the historical artifacts on board.

There's no minimum bid this time, and the city removed the artifacts.The Lightship New Bedford was built by the Albina Iron Works, and is one of 13 remaining U-S lightships in the world. The auction is scheduled for December 5th through the 8th.

A woman says eBay has shut down her sale of two tickets to Saturday's Michigan-Ohio State football game that she and her husband had hoped would help them raise money to adopt a boy from Guatemala.

Kristie Sigler and her husband, Ken, put their season tickets, about 10 rows from the field, on the Internet auction site hoping the payout would help defray the $12,500 cost to begin processing their adoption paperwork.
 
But Sigler said eBay canceled the sale Wednesday, saying it violated its policy on charitable auctions.

"They never called, never e-mailed us or anything. They took it off and said because we were using the auction as fundraiser for the adoption, it violated their policy," Kristie Sigler told The Repository newspaper in Thursday's editions.

According to its Web site, eBay has specific guidelines for charitable fundraising because the area is subject to many state and federal laws. A message seeking comment from the company was left early Thursday.

The couple had been offered as much as $1,550 for the tickets by Wednesday afternoon.

"I'm most concerned that people will think we weren't being genuine," Sigler said. "We're still selling the tickets."

The tickets are now listed on the Web site dreamseats.com.

The top-ranked Buckeyes and second-ranked Wolverines are both undefeated, and the winner advances to the national championship game.

Bidding on eBay can get hot and heavy, often leaving losing bidders easy pickings for scammers.

It's called the second chance auction. It's an opportunity for bidders to get a second chance at an item they just lost. Unfortunately, it's also an opportunity for scammers to make some easy money.

The National Championship Game is college football's biggest event. Peter Comarato of Burlingame saw an opportunity on eBay to pick up four tickets. Bidding started at $1,900 dollars. Comarato bid $2,501, and within seven minutes upped his bid to $2,600 dollars.

Peter Comarato, Burlingame: "I was outbid at the last second literally by $50 dollars and I lost the tickets."

 An hour later he received an e-mail from someone posing as the seller. The author claimed the winning bidder was unable to complete the transaction. If he still wanted the tickets for the game, he should wire $2,600 dollars through Western Union immediately.

Peter Comarato: "It was quick, it was quick."

He sent his money, but never got the tickets. Comarato had become a victim of the second chance auction scam.

Unfortunately police say they see scams like this alot.

Kenwade Lee, S.F. Police, Fraud Department: "If it's something that you really want, people do kind of get caught up in the moment. It's sort of like you against somebody else, and you want to win."

eBay says it posts warnings about the second chance scam on its site. eBay warns against responding to any offers not on its website or sent directly your eBay 'My Messages' folder. If you don't find the second chance offer in your folder - it's probably a scam. eBay also doesn't allow transactions through Western Union, so if you're being asked to use the money transfer service - walk away.

Comarato says the warnings need to be more prominently displayed.

Peter Comarato: "I would liken it to driving a car and a stop sign being that small, hidden behind a tree."

eBay says because Comarato responded to an offer not on its website or in his eBay my messages folder, he is not protected under the buyer protection plan. That plan offers any eBay user $200 dollars in free insurance.

The unfettered online marketplace for such items as Elvis memorabilia and Ferraris is imposing restrictions on the PS3, which is expected to become one of the hottest holiday gifts when it hits stores Friday.

Only established eBay Inc. vendors those who have racked up comments from at least 50 previous customers and have positive ratings of at least 98 out of 100 points can list PS3s before Friday. Each vendor can only list only one PS3 per eBay account.

The listing must include a photo of the pre-order receipt, and the seller must guarantee shipment within 30 days from the date of purchase. Before Friday, PS3s can be listed on eBay only in auction formats not as "buy it now" items.

Potential buyers, trying to avoid long lines, rain checks and empty-handed sales clerks on Friday, have already bid up PS3s to $2,300. The suggested retail price is $500 for a basic PS3 with a 20-gigabyte drive and $600 for a version with 60 gigabytes, built-in wireless and a Blu-ray DVD player for high-definition video.

Sony Corp., which has already delayed the PS3 launch twice, expects to have 400,000 PS3s available for its U.S. launch. EBay listed 3,144 PS3s or related items by Wednesday morning.

The restrictions, part of eBay's standing policy for all "pre-sale" items, also apply to Nintendo Co.'s competing Wii console, which goes on sale Sunday. EBay had 2,354 listings for Wiis and related items.

Microsoft Corp. launched its Xbox 360 console last year.

"We've seen a history with highly anticipated game consoles in extremely short supply during their initial launch," eBay spokeswoman Catherine England said. "With the Xbox, we saw a high number of well-intentioned sellers unable to meet obligations due to restricted supply."

Marcus Schmit, who claims in Chris Masters' biography Jonestown to have had a relationship with the 2GB host in 2001, was hoping to sell the letters.

But after being posted online for two days, eBay removed the letters from sale, saying they were "inappropriate" .

"We looked at the item and made a call that it was inappropriate," eBay spokesman Daniel Feiler said.

He said eBay allowed people to buy and sell "practically anything, but that doesn't mean everything".

Mr Feiler said he would not go into the specifics of what eBay thought was inappropriate about the listing.

The letters are believed to have had a starting price of $1200 but had not received any bids when they were pulled this morning.

Mr Schmit said he posted the letters online after a friend suggested it would be a good way to make some money.

He said he came to know Mr Jones by writing to him and classified him as a friend but only knew him for three to four months before he moved away.

"I wanted a career, I hadn't been to university, I hadn't even finished high school, I wanted to do something with my life and I thought Alan could offer me an opportunity," he said on ABC radio.

"I didn't necessarily contact him in regards to offering sex in exchange for a job, he was just, I thought, a valuable contact.

"The relationship started off as one of friendship, we'd be with each other once or twice a week, we'd talk on the phone every day, we'd go for dinner."

Before being removed, the on-line description is reported to have read: "I can only presume that this auction may cause many conservative, white, middle-upper class, ivory tower owners upset and result in aggressive and abusive messages from fans, supporters and possibly friends of Alan Jones."

Mr Schmit also wrote he was presenting an "opportunity for those who feel strongly against offering such a letter for auction - an offer to enable me to withdraw this letter from public bid".

eBay said people do occasionally relist items after they had been pulled down and they would deal with that issue if Mr Schmit relisted it.

Mr Jones declined to comment.

A Quakertown man used eBay to defraud online customers out of about $18,000, federal authorities said yesterday.

Todd Rabenold, 38, was indicted on six counts of mail fraud stemming from the transactions on the Internet auction site.

U.S. Attorney Patrick L. Meehan said Rabenold offered old and rare coins on eBay between April 2003 and April 2005, but never sent the coins after bidders mailed payment. According to the indictment, Rabenold offered his merchandise using the names Wholesalecoinsales, Hoogercoins, Westpenncoins, mary6020, Internet Sales Morgans, Easy Pages Internet Sales, Antique's Discounters, and Poconocoins. More than 50 victims were involved.

There was no telephone listing in Quakertown for Rabenold and he could not immediately be reached for comment. It was unclear whether he had an attorney

Alice Cooper is a serious car guy, and as you might expect, his garage has seen its share of cool toys pass through. Those who watched this past January's Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale may remember Cooper's sublime '39 Lincoln Zephyr, which changed hands for $248,000. Well, Matt over at MustangBlog shot us a note letting us know that another one of Alice's machines is on the block, this time over at the virtual auction house for everyman: eBay.

The car in question is a black 2005 Mustang GT pushing out over 500 horsepower (535, according to a graphic on the car itself) with a little help from things like a Paxton blower and intercooler and Billy Boat exhaust. An automatic transmission tackles the duty of wrangling those ponies to the rear wheels. It looks good too, sporting a Shaker hood (very sweet), red racing stripe, and red line tires that look right at home on the neo-retro Mustang.

"No More Mr. Nice Guy," the title of one of the well-known songs off the rocker's Billion Dollar Babies album, is emblazoned on the quarter panels under the "GT" badging. Those who don't heed the subtle warning may find themselves getting dusted should they decide to get frisky with the car at a stoplight. If you're interested, head on over to eBay and check it out. Bidding starts at $30,000 and yes, there is a reserve to meet.

Police said Gary Blank, 37, of Bensalem, Bucks County, reported his wife's 14-karat gold diamond ring stolen two years after she died of breast cancer.

The state Attorney General's Office said Blank received $23,000 from his insurance company before trying to sell the gold band on the eBay auction site. Before placing the ring up for sale he removed the three-carat diamond and gave it to a woman living with him, according to a criminal affidavit.

State agents said they searched Blank's home in Bensalem and found the ring hidden in a bottle of laundry detergent.

Blank was arrested Thursday and sent to Bucks County Prison on $50,000 bail.

Most people think of eBay as a place where you sell physical items. They often start by selling unwanted bits and pieces from the attic, moving on to other things in the garage and, if it takes a hold, venturing into the market of buying items to sell.

Not many people associate eBay as a place where you can sell a service.

Let's imagine I want to offer my services as a French language teacher. Where else do you know that you can advertise for 10 days, reach an audience of millions and only pay a few pounds or dollars in fees?

I can easily create an auction with my language services such as teaching, proofreading, editing etc. I list my qualifications and any appropriate memberships I have. I also include a photo of myself - making it personal.

What I am really doing with this auction is selling myself.

I would start the auction at a minimum hourly rate, and probably have a Buy it Now hourly rate too.

I know of a guy who lives in Germany and offered English language services on eBay.de. Within days he received work, and had to re-list many times as his Buy it Now rate was being taken up regularly. He gained commercial and private customers alike.

I also heard of a group of computer programmers who were made redundant after their jobs went "offshore". Having found it difficult to find new jobs, they decided to turn to eBay. Their ideal was to stay together as a team of software developers. So they created an auction to give the winning bidder the rights to negotiate exclusively for their services. The winning bid amount would go to a charity.

They started the bidding at $250, and the auction went well. They did indeed find an employer who wanted to take the whole team. And the group made several hundred dollars for their charity. A highly satisfactory outcome!

If you have a skill, expertise and qualification, why not enlist the power of eBay to sell yourself?

John Z. DeLorean began his automotive career in 1947 when he worked part time at Chrysler while in college. From there, he rose fairly quickly in Detroit and after securing the vice president position of car and truck production for GM, DeLorean quit and formed DeLorean Motor Company.

Before DMC went belly-up in 1982, it had produced 9,000 copies of its iconic stainless-steel exotic.

But sometime before that, DeLorean, ever the dreamer, penned plans for the next DMC product: the Sedan. His 1980 notes and drawings about that future product, as well as several magazine clippings from that era could be yours if you're the winning bidder of this eBay listing.

From the description, there is even a Telex from Giorgetto Giugiaro (designer of the original DMC two-door exotic) to DeLorean.

Auction ends Tuesday. Let us know if you win.

Bill Lacovara said bidding had reached $550, but outrage was higher that he would auction intimate documents written as long ago as 1973, the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger reported Tuesday.

While about half of the 300 mostly unopened prayer letters are illegible because of their time in the water, Lacovara said he thought there would be public interest in them. There was among about 25 bidders, but there was more anger, so he withdrew them, and said he will give them to the daughter of the deceased Baptist minister who had collected them.

The Rev. Grady Cooper, a former associate pastor of the Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Jersey City, N.J., died nearly two years ago, and Lacovara said he had tracked down his daughter for the handover, the newspaper said.

"I apologize to anyone who was insulted," Lacovara told the newspaper. "It was never my intention to offend anyone. I was looking at these more like antiques."

There was no indication how the bag of letters ended up the water, the report said.

PayPal, the most popular online payment system, on Monday said it will pay up to $100 million in promotional incentives to customers who use the service on up to 100,000 merchant sites in North America.

In a statement, the unit of online marketplace eBay Inc. said millions of PayPal customers will be eligible to receive cash rebate offers up to $20 when paying with PayPal from November 23 through May 15, 2007.

Qualifying merchants include the sites of Barnes & Noble Inc., Dell Inc., Petsmart Inc., Starbucks Corp., Art.com and a portion of the Hewlett-Packard Co. site, PayPal's site said.

A free shipping promotion also begins on November 23.

Shares of eBay were up 59 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $32.98 in early trading on Nasdaq on Monday.

This handsome giant sea horse is up for auction on eBay. Starting bid is US$899. Human not included. From the auction listing:
Comes directly from a Pennsylvania Estate and has never been offered before.

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING GIANT SEA HORSE 7' 6" TALL (90") x about 7" thick and PERFECTLY PROPORTIONED including HUGE EYES. If you want to attract attention, this is what you'll need to get the job done.

PRICE REDUCED. There's only one like this.

He has a metal grommet at top for hanging him from your ceiling or on the wall of your home, business, or restaurant. Perfect condition with no flaws ready to work inside or outside in the weather. Weighs about 75# or so. YOU'LL NEVER SEE ANOTHER LIKE THIS AGAIN, that's for sure. It is the best of the best and the asking price is far less than it's real value.

You're supposed to be paying taxes.
Anyone with an eBay business is supposed to be reporting profits to the Internal Revenue Service.

And even casual sellers of stuff around the house may owe. But there is no such thing as an eBay W-2.

The site has no obligation to report sales data to the IRS, and the agency doesn't have the power to request a broad-based data dump.

"This is where we have to depend on the honesty of the taxpayer to report these items when they should," says IRS spokeswoman Jean Carl.

The IRS draws a line between operators of a business and those selling "personal use property."

Anyone who acquires merchandise and resells it through an online auction with the intent to make a profit is operating a business, says IRS spokesman David Stell.

The seller needs to check IRS guidance for self-employed small- business owners in Publication 334, which includes lengthy directions on how to value and account for inventory.

"People who have eBay businesses, I've noticed, pay taxes like any other business should," says Colin Wells, who teaches eBay classes as a hobby.

But, "the majority of people I've met have an interest in selling personal items on eBay."

Don't think that because you bought your stuff with your after-tax income, you get a pass on paying income taxes when you sell it.

The IRS' basic guide to income tax, Publication 17, gives guidance in Chapter 14, "Sale of Property."

"Property held for personal use only, rather than for investment, is a capital asset, and you must report a gain from its sale as a capital gain. However, you cannot deduct a loss from selling personal use property."

Wells suspects many personal items sold on eBay are sold for less than what they were purchased for. If so, the seller can't offset other income with the loss - but they wouldn't need to report income, or pay taxes, on the sale.

"A lot of people use eBay to sell items they don't want or have any use for," Wells says.

"That's where the difference takes place, as far as taxes go."

EBay and the IRS: the facts

• Basically, the law says if you sell it, you should pay taxes on it, and anybody with an eBay business is supposed to be reporting profits to the Internal Revenue Service.

• EBay, however, has no obligation to report sales data

• The IRS does not have the power to request a broad-based data dump.

• The IRS says anyone who acquires merchandise and resells it through an online auction with the intent to make a profit is a self-employed small-business owner. Publication 334 includes detailed directions on how to value and account for inventory.

David Milstead is finance editor of the News. He can be reached at 303-954-2648 or milstead@RockyMountainNew s.com.

Police said Friday they have closed their investigation and do not plan to seek criminal charges.

The remains were confiscated Oct. 10 after being spotted on the Internet auction Web site.

A Michigan State University anthropologist determined that remains likely date from the early 19th century and were part of a collection of anatomical specimens from Scottish anatomist Allen Burns, the Times Herald reported.

The collection was brought to the United States in 1820 and has been housed at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The remains are from a child, probably between the ages of 6 and 9, Norman Sauer, an anthropology professor, told police in an e-mail.

"The medical mummy is clearly an important historical specimen and should be returned to the Burns Collection," Sauer wrote, noting that many specimens have disappeared from the collection over the years.

Lynn Sterling told police she obtained the remains from a friend who works in demolition and who said he found them in a Detroit school he helped demolish about 30 years ago.

The listing was removed from eBay on Oct. 11 because it violated a policy against selling human remains, eBay has said. The Web site allows the sale of skeletons for medical use, but not mummified remains.

Four "sexist and misogynist" urinals have been removed from a public toilet in Vienna and offered for sale on eBay, Reuters reports.

The offending pissoirs - lovingly sculpted by local artist Rudolf Scheffel and installed in "toilet-bar Vienna", next to the National Opera - caused a bit of a rumpus during the run-up to the 1 October parliamentary elections when they were "used by political party supporters attending rallies nearby". Although the urinals had been in service for three years, this political exposure provoked women's groups to slam the offensive porcelain, which resulted in its removal.

The seller promises: "Each urinal will, of course, be meticulously cleaned. The artist himself will sandblast it, brush the mouth's teeth, and give them a new varnish."

Mick Jagger was unavailable for comment this morning.

We all have seen the ads and infomercials on TV from the like of Dave Espinosa and others, hawking their Ebay reseller kits and proclaiming how many people make substantial incomes off of Ebay. Is it possible? Yes, there are quite a few people out there that their entire income source is derived from auctions like Ebay and Yahoo auctions. Is it easy and where do they get their items cheap enough to resell on Ebay for a big profit? Well, that takes a little delving into.

First you have to identify a product or item that has an immediate demand. It does not matter how good the price you get on something is if no one wants to buy it, right? Scour Ebay and you can easily find some hot selling items like Ralph Lauren polo shirts, Dolce & Gabana jeans, almost anything Versace, etc. Jot down these hot items. Do not be like some sellers that sell knock offs incorrectly listed as originals, you may make a quick buck, but will soon be found out and labeled as a scammer and your sales and feedback scores will plummet. Its not worth it. A good feedback score and reputation will make you or break you on Ebay.

The best sources may even be local to you. Many Ebayers buy items from Marshalls, TJ Maxx, and even their local dollar stores and resell them on Ebay. Ebay is a huge market place and the possibilities are limitless.

An explosion at eBay's PayPal division has caused the evacuation of 26 employees on Tuesday night. The fire department responded to the building at 7.31pm after a private security firm reported explosions may have occurred inside.

Nobody was injured in the incident and after a search of the company's 100,000-square-foot complex no suspicious devices were found. "Whatever caused it was pretty strong'" said San Jose Fire Capt. Jose Guerrero.

Fire crews arrived to find a 7-foot glass windows shattered on the first floor. "The window's frame was bent and a light haze covered the area", Guerrero said. San Jose bomb squad officials later roamed the building but found no other explosive devices.

"It was fortunate that no one was hurt,'' said Catherine England, an eBay spokeswoman. Business is expected to continue as normal on Wednesday.

FROM concert tickets to secondhand cars, internet surfers have become used to being able to buy almost anything on eBay.

Now bargain-hunters have the chance to bid for a 100-year-old West Lothian pipe band.

For a starting price of £20,000 the musicians will ditch the moniker Torphichen and Bathgate Pipe Band - one of the oldest and most successful in Scotland - and adopt the name of their sponsors. Sponsorship secretary Richie Adams said the band hoped to raise money to pay for travel costs so they can take part in competitions in the UK and abroad.

He said: "No-one's ever done this before. It's a novel way of plugging into a market."

The band is hoping to sign up to a three-year sponsorship deal, but would consider a shorter period.

Depending on the level of investment, they may also perform at corporate functions. "We could offer pipe band quartets, after dinner speakers - a full package," Mr Adams said.

The sponsors' logo would feature on the band's bass drum, pipe bags and shirts. The name would also be called out whenever the band won a prize at a contest.

More than 160,000 spectators attend major piping competitions each season.

Torphichen and Bathgate finished second in the Grade Two division of pipe bands this year and hopes to be promoted to the first division in 2007, where it would compete among the top 40 bands in the world. Band leaders hope the money from the eBay auction will allow them to spend more time practising.

There was almost universal outrage on Monday as a set of false teeth and a briar pipe belonging to Professor J.R.R. Tolkien went up for sale on eBay. The unknown seller was asking $10,000 dollars for the two items, along with documentation proving their authenticity and their key role in the fashioning of the War of Middle Earth. ‘You can even see where the Professor chewed his pipe as he made the key decision to kill off Golum,’ read the product description. ‘Just think: these are the first teeth to ever utter the words: “My precious…”&l squo;

Tolkien fans have been quick to condemn the sale. ‘This is so utterly monstrous,’ said one member of a Lord of the Rings message board, ‘it could only be the work of the Dark Lord Sauron himself.’ Others were more circumspect. Henry Landis, one of eBay’s fiercest critics and author of eBay Babylon: A Brief History of Knocked Off Gear, confessed that news of the sale had not come as much of a surprise. ‘In the last twelve months, we’ve seen the attempted sale of Charlie Chaplin’s artificial hip, Oliver Hardy’s moustache, and Cary Grant’s plummy English voice box. If anything, I would have thought that false teeth belonging to Tolkien would have brought a higher asking price, especially when a single buckshot chipped molar belonging to Ernest Hemmingway recently went for $25,000 dollars.’

Hopes that the dentures would reach that price ended three hours into the auction when eBay removed the items from their listings. Tolkien experts had raised concerns over the state of the teeth, pointing out that Professor Tolkien’s favourite shag tobacco, known as Old Toby, could not have stained teeth to the extent apparent in the eBay photograph (above). ‘Those are not his teeth,’ said Tolkien authority, Dr. Lewis Plug. ‘They are simply too stained, too crooked, and look almost orcish. As everybody knows, the Professor was actually half Grey elf.’

It’s one thing to own all of your favorite star’s movies or be able to recite all of their famous film quotes — but how about buying their house?

For Jack Nicholson fans, if you’ve got $450,000 lying around, you can now score yourself a true piece of memorabilia.

Jack’s childhood home in Neptune, New Jersey, is up for bid on eBay. The starting bid is listed at $449,000.

The 2,500-square foot home, located at 1410 Sixth Avenue, was built in 1926, has 5 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. It was posted for auction by RE/Max of New Jersey.

“According to the locals, Jack would wait eagerly every Saturday morning on the front steps for the first neighbor headed to the local movie theater and the afternoon matinee,” the posting claims. “Aside from the obvious history connection, it is a charming and stately home.”

eBay spokesperson Catherine England said the online marketplace was unable to verify the validity of the residence.

“Due diligence is left strictly to both eBay buyers and sellers,” England told Access Hollywood. “But if the sole reason someone is interested in buying this is because of the connection to Jack Nicholson, they should definitely ask the seller to provide documentation.”

England said this also wasn’t the first celebrity home to go up for bid on eBay. One of Elvis Presley’s previous homes was also once posted on the site.

But does Jack even know his supposed childhood home is up for bid?

“If Jack Nicholson’s representative sees it and it’s not something Jack wants to lend his name to help it sell, he can ask us to remove it,” England added.

As of Friday, there were zero bids. The auction ends November 18.

Singer/actress Britney Spears' fans can now lay their hands on some of her personal belongings.

The items - a Vespa scooter with Britney's autograph on it, a helmet signed not only by the 'Toxic' star, but also by celebs like Neil Patrick Harris and Andy Milonakis, are among the items being auctioned on Internet auction site eBay.

The sale will reportedly benefit the Camp Laurel foundation for children living with AIDS and HIV.

Spears' association with eBay doesn't end here, for she has had a very interesting link with the auction site in the recent past when eBay had put the pop singer's half eaten sandwich on sale on the site.

Meanwhile, contrary to recent reports, Spears and hubby Kevin Federline have not named their second child Sutton Pierce and instead that they have named him Jayden James.

The couple already has a son, Sean Preston, who was born in September 2005.

Since becoming a part of the bloggingstocks team I have observed that two things have gotten readers' passions in an uproar more than anything else based on clicks and comments. One is the Ken Lay / Enron saga and the other is Ebay (NASDAQ:EBAY) and their variable strategies for dealing equitably with vendors. Jim Cramer posts also get a lot of attention from our readers...go figure?

Ken Lay, the deceased CEO of Enron, escaped punishment for his conviction on numerous charges related to Enron's demise, not the least of which was selling his soul. In my book, he deceived the public, he deceived investors, he deceived his employees, he deceived his business associates, and he deceived himself. His family cremated the body so not much is left. While he will not be spending any time behind bars the pressure of the prosecution, the trial and verdict no doubt caused him to pay a high price. He lost his reputation, he lost his privilege and he lost his life. What else is there? His soul?

In reading some of the negative comments about Ebay from my many posts it is clear that there is a segment of the Internet population that feels Ebay sold its soul to the devil. That got me thinking about what a soul is worth. And from there, could you auction one off on Ebay? People sell the naming of stars in the universe. People sell rights to other imaginary things in the solar system. They legitimize this with various certificates and nonsense... and they make some money. How much is a soul worth? In Ken Lay's case it may have been worth billions of dollars at one time; he must have had "key man insurance". When he sold his soul a lot of Enron value evaporated. Now that he is gone his soul is worth nothing -- or is it? If someone posted it for sale on Ebay would there be any bids? Would Ebay accept such a thing? If there were bids what would the high bidder receive?

Yes I know this is all very silly and I reserve the right to be silly at times, if it stretches one's mind and causes people to think about how their actions affect others and how value is created and destroyed. At the same time there have been some strange things for sale on Ebay. Does Ebay strictly prohibit the sale of souls? If so, than how could they have sold theirs? Is this another conflict of interest?

In the mean time Ebay has issued a very positive quarterly earnings report to the chagrin of it's detractors; Cramer's ratings are through the roof (even if he has lost some integrity in the process); and Jeffrey Skilling, the ex-Enron president, was sentenced to 24 years and 4 months behind bars, thus assuring that we have not heard the end of this saga. So that must be what the judge and jury thought his soul was worth. It will be a course in most business schools for sure. Oh yes... and I have my worthless Enron stock certificate framed and hung on the wall in my office as a reminder that I make mistakes too and should try very hard not to repeat them.

As soon as Pete Stollwerck of Mukilteo glimpsed the plush red T.M.X. Elmo doing his tickle-induced belly-laugh on ABC's "Good Morning America" show, he knew he should buy a few.

He ended up buying 104 on the Internet auction site eBay, not for his grandkids, but as an investment in furry, red bellies.

Mattel Inc. unveiled T.M.X. Elmo Sept. 19, a decade after the original Tickle Me Elmo doll spurred desperate parents into fistfights. The T.M.X. stands for both "Tickle Me Extreme" and "Tickle Me Ten." Tickle the doll and it dissolves into a giggling fit, rolling around on the ground and standing again.

"This is quite a financial investment," said Stollwerck, owner of a private hospitality consultant business. "I am hoping it will pay off."

Stollwerck said his Elmo investing is a hobby. He has sold a few items on eBay before, but never anything of this volume.

He plans to resell the dolls after Thanksgiving on eBay. About 5,000 of the dolls are listed on the site, which sells items to the highest bidder. The dolls are selling on eBay for about $100 for the toy, which retails for $39.95.

Stollwerck wouldn't say how much he spent on his batch of Elmo dolls. He did say he hopes to make a 25 percent profit.

He has sold a few of the dolls as a test run. The first went for $102 plus $15 for shipping and $2.50 for shipping insurance. The sale netted him a small profit, he said.

"I got my money back and a little more."

A Colorado man was the winning bidder from a Salem couple who purchased it at a real estate sale.

Douglas Seleman told the Statesman Journal newspaper that his Lincoln collection, stored in boxes after a recent move from California, requires at least one room in the house for display. It includes busts, sculptures, lithographs, engravings, photographs and books.

Seleman has been collecting Lincoln memorabilia for about 15 years.

Although the writing is faded and barely legible, the Civil War certificate is dated December 15th, 1864. The certificate was discovered in a box of old newspapers at an estate sale in Salem by Brian and Trudy Leupold, who paid $6 for it.

The group posted a 31% rise in sales to $1.4bn (£748.9m) in the three months to end September, and net income came in at $281m.

The company's growth was helped by a strong performance at eBay's online payments unit, PayPal, which registered a 41% increase in sales to $350m.

But investors have expressed concern over growth at eBay's core auctions business, leading to the group losing about a third of its value this year.

The group changed its pricing system in August to encourage sellers to use auctions more often, which the company said had led to a pick-up in auctions listings in September.

But analysts said it was too early to say whether the change would have a long-lasting effect on the group's overall performance.

Skype, which eBay bought last year for $4.1bn, continued to perform well with a 20% increase in registered users to 136m.

EBay said it expected full year sales to be around $5.9bn, and 2007 revenue growth was expected to be in the range of 17% to 21% over 2006 sales - falling short of analyst estimates of a growth of 25%.

After being cheated by her husband, a furious Brit woman has put his entire wardrobe up for sale on Internet auction site eBay.

The enraged wife and the mother-of-two has branded her former partner a 'dirty little weasel.'

The unidentified woman has set no reserve price on the auction, but said that she would take cash or swap the items for 'a decent single man.'

"These are all the items that were in my husband of six and half years, and partner for 15 years' closet," the Daily Mail quoted the woman, as stating on the site.

"This includes tops, trousers, boots, socks, underpants and a few bonus items that he didn't have stashed at his new fiancee's house when I found out about the dirty little weasel's affair, though God knows how he was going to get married to her without me finding out," she added.

"Some of these items might be slightly damp due to them having been chucked out of the bedroom window and sitting in the garden for a bit."

"I would consider swapping for a decent single man."

Although the highest bid till now has just been 1p, the sale offer was flooded with questions from curious potential buyers.

The queries include a number of bizarre questions such as: "Are the sleeves attached, crotches intact and paint free?,

"Do you think he did it because you couldn't iron, or is she just younger and better looking?"

But it seems the woman is enjoying the quirky queries, for she answered: "Depends whether you fancy fat birds!"

Another man, a former U.S. Marine from Michigan who lost part of his brain and lived on a small pension, thought he was buying a rare coin.

They and dozens of others paid hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars for merchandise advertised on eBay - but received nothing.

On Wednesday, a Lehigh Valley, Pa., woman was sentenced in Philadelphia to three years in prison for scamming 75 people nationwide on the popular Internet auction site.

Julie C. Miller, 34, who had addresses in New Tripoli, Hellertown and Breinigsville, also was sentenced to three years' supervised release by U.S. District Judge Stuart Dalzell. Miller collected nearly $70,000 between November 2003 and January 2005 from people who never received their merchandise.

Miller pleaded guilty in July to three counts of mail fraud and could have been sentenced to as many as 20 years in prison.

"Drugs took over my life and became more important than my children," said Miller, a paralegal with two small children who cried as she told Dalzell that her problems stemmed from drugs and a former boyfriend.

But Dalzell, in pronouncing sentence, said he was disturbed that Miller perpetrated the scam while on probation from other crimes in Lehigh County.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joan Markman, who described Miller as an "unremitting con artist," said Miller had four convictions between 2002 and 2005 in Lehigh County for various offenses, including trafficking in stolen and counterfeit checks.

Miller also had been arrested nine times in Lehigh and Northampton counties, most recently in April for stealing $12,000 in checks from a Hanover Township, Northampton County, business while negotiating a plea deal for the eBay thefts, Markman said.

"What troubles me most is that this all happened while under probation in Lehigh County," Dalzell said. "I have to protect the public from you."

According to prosecutors, Miller's scam was simple: to offer products via eBay with "no intention of providing."

Items Miller advertised included Pittsburgh Steelers tickets, merchant gift cards, Gucci handbags, Disney World passes and tickets to the Super Bowl.

When customers complained, she found different ways to avoid them. Some she sent "cheap" or "counterfeit" goods. Others she provided phony package tracking numbers.

In most cases she "ducked" calls and e-mails from customers demanding their products or refunds, Markman said. Sometimes she sent refund checks that bounced.

Customers eventually complained to eBay, which closed Miller's account. But Markman said Miller simply would open a new account under a different name, e-mail address and bank account.

Markman added that most of the people fleeced were of "limited" means and the loss of a few hundred dollars was severe. None of the victims traveled to Philadelphia for the sentencing, but many did provide what Dalzell described as "compelling" written statements.

"These victims have faces," Dalzell said. "They have lives."

Miller will be required to pay restitution once she's released from prison, from $100 per month the first year to $300 per month the third year.