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EBay Inc. said Monday that it plans to appeal a ruling from a French court that fined the company about $63 million for the sale of counterfeit luxury goods over its Web site. The online-auction giant said that the ruling goes beyond the sale of counterfeit products and represents an attempt by manufacturers of high-end goods to exert greater control over the market -- especially over the secondary sale of authentic products that take place outside the normal distribution channels. "We believe that the overreach manifests itself through an attempt to impose, in France, a business model that restricts consumer...

A Briton living in Australia has agreed a bid of more than £192,000 after putting his "entire life" up for sale following a split from his wife. Ian Usher, 44, who left Darlington six years ago, included his house, car, job and friends in the online eBay auction, in an effort to make a fresh start. The lot attracted a peak offer of 399,300 Australian dollars (£192,276) when bids closed early on Sunday. Despite expecting higher bids, Mr Usher said he had "no regrets". At one point offers on the "life lot" rocketed to over two million Australian dollars (£1m)...

Scroll down for updates… Ethics, schmethics. Despite the cloud over Countrywide pals Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad, the latest mortgage bailout boondoggle has cleared another congressional hurdle. The Senate voted 83-9 to move forward on Dodd’s housing aid bill. Final vote is scheduled for later today. We’ll see if the White House upholds its veto threat. Meanwhile, Politico asks Senate members to show them their loans. Check out the results here. http://www.politico.com/homeloans/ It’s so, so tough to be a U.S. Senator, isn’t it? http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZTY3ODA3NmMwZGJjNjVkYTllNWE5ODE0MjAwMzJhNWY= Sniff. *** Update: Here’s the cloture motion roll call vote. Look who’s AWOL again… http://senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=2&vote=00155 ***...

In an attempt to game Microsoft's new Live Search Cashback program, an eBayer has put a $714 price tag on $630 in cash. Here's the listing in all its glory: Pay cash for cash That's right, $630 in cash can be yours for $714. But if you access the page through a Live Search ad link that returns 35 per cent of the purchase price, you can make up the difference. And then some. So you make a profit, and so does the seller. At the expense of Microsoft and eBay. That's the theory, anyway. It's unclear whether this actually...

Broad, invasive provision touches nearly every aspect of American commerce. ~~~ Hidden deep in Senator Christopher Dodd's 630-page Senate housing legislation is a sweeping provision that affects the privacy and operation of nearly all of America’s small businesses. The provision, which was added by the bill's managers without debate this week, would require the nation's payment systems to track, aggregate, and report information on nearly every electronic transaction to the federal government. *** Call Congress and Tell Them to Oppose The eBay Reporting Provision in the Housing Bill: 1-866-928-3035 *** FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey commented: "This is a provision with...

Senate Housing Bill Requires eBay, Amazon, Google, and All Credit Card Companies to Report Transactions to the Government Broad, invasive provision touches nearly every aspect of American commerce.Contact:  Adam Brandon Phone:   202-942-7612 Email: abrandon@freedomworks.org Washington, DC -  Hidden deep in Senator Christopher Dodd's 630-page Senate housing legislation is a sweeping provision that affects the privacy and operation of nearly all of America’s small businesses. The provision, which was added by the bill's managers without debate this week, would require the nation's payment systems to track, aggregate, and report information on nearly every electronic transaction to the federal government. Call Congress...

Some long-time eBay users are rebelling against policy changes at the on line auction company -- they've gone as far as loosely organizing an international boycott. EBay trading rules have changed recently and many eBay sellers don't like them. They claim the new rules threat the small time sellers who built eBay into a multi-billion dollar company. Around 47,000 people have signed an online pledge to boycott eBay until the company changes its new trading policies. “Our collective belief as eBay users is that eBay wants to get rid of the small time sellers that built eBay, said Ann Smith...

A jealous husband who suspected his wife of an affair took revenge — by putting her for sale on eBay. Paul Osborn, 44, kicked out wife Sharon and advertised her on the Internet auction site — with bids hitting $969,890. It offered his “cheating, lying, adulterous slag of a wife” to the highest bidder — and became an Internet phenomenon, with users forwarding the link worldwide. But Sharon, 43, denies an affair and cops are now investigating Paul for harassment

I thought this might be of interest to the FR community, since it involves rights (actually as I found out, a complete lack thereof) with regard to software we paid for and many of us thought we owned. This is a bit long – I apologize for that, but I felt it might be important to include the emails I received from ebay and from Microsoft with regard to my alleged or apparent copyright rights violations. I have italicized the referenced emails so you can scan through those if you like and read the non-italicized text, which is my story....

A strange eBay auction. Family is eBaying their debts. See link for more details. Bids over $100 to- date.Please consider this purchase with care. My debt is about average for most Americans. If you purchase my debt you will be saving me and my family from great amounts of stress and much heartache. I can not allow returns on this item as I'm not so sure its anything I'd want back. Thank you so much for considering allowing us a second chance at a better life and you can be sure this purchase is Very good for your Karma! If...

THIS IS BARAK HUSSEIN OBAMA'S BREAKFAST FROM THIS MORNING, 4-21-08 AT THE GLIDER DINER IN SCRANTON, PA. WINNER GETS HIS USED DINER PLATE WITH HIS USED SILVERWARE AND UN EATEN PORTION OF HIS WAFFLE & SAUSAGE LINK. IT WAS WRAPPED WITH SARAN WRAP IMMEDIATELY AFTER HIS DEPARTURE AND IS NOW IN THE FREEZER AWAITING THE LUCKY WINNERS BID!!! THIS IS 100% AUTHENTIC AS YOU CAN SEE HE WAS AT THE DINER BY THE PICTURE AND IT WAS ON ALL LOCAL NEWS STATIONS. THIS PLATE WAS WRAPPED BY THE WAITRESS THAT SERVED HIM. GUARANTEED AUTHENTIC, HIS DNA IS ON THE SILVERWARE....

WALNUTPORT, Pa. - Mary Jo Pletz was really, really good at eBay. But now the former stay-at-home mother and gonzo Internet retailer fears a maximum $10 million fine for selling 10,000 toys, antiques, videos, sports memorabilia, books, tools and infant clothes on eBay without an auctioneer's license. An official from the Department of State knocked on Pletz's white-brick ranch here north of Allentown in late December 2006 and said her Internet business, D&J Virtual Consignment, was being investigated for violating state laws. "I was dumbfounded," said Pletz, who led the dark-suited investigator to a side patio area, where he grilled...

WASHINGTON — Stolen and sensitive U.S. military equipment, including fighter jet parts wanted by Iran and nuclear biological protective gear, has been available to the highest bidder on popular Internet sales sites, according to congressional investigators. Using undercover identities, investigators purchased a dozen defense-related items on the auction site eBay and the online network Craigslist from January 2007 through last month and received the items "no questions asked." The Defense Department regards much of the stolen equipment to be on the U.S. Munitions List, meaning there are restrictions on their overseas sales, the Government Accountability Office said Thursday. The equipment...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Stolen and sensitive U.S. military equipment, including fighter jet parts wanted by Iran and nuclear biological protective gear, has been available to the highest bidder on popular Internet sales sites, according to congressional investigators. Using undercover identities, investigators purchased a dozen defense-related items on the auction site eBay and the online network Craigslist from January 2007 through last month and received the items "no questions asked." The Defense Department regards much of the stolen equipment to be on the U.S. Munitions List, meaning there are restrictions on their overseas sales, the Government Accountability Office said Thursday. The...

From Shailagh Murray's pool report on Obama's visit to the Italian Market in Philadelphia, where he met an extremely persistent photograph-seeker: Run in #1: outside the first shop, on the way in Man: Senator can I have a quick picture with you. (Obama has his arm on the guys arm in a very nice way, like he does when he shakes peoples hand) but Obama refuses to take a picture and walks away.) Man: It will take you two seconds. Don't cram me, I'm not doing anything to anybody. Jesus. Run in #2: after the first shop Man: "Senator can...

March 27, 2008 - As a Catholic Church, we need to be quite sensitive about the disposition of sacred articles that are no longer being used in our parishes. A trend developing is finding Catholic sacred articles on places such as E-Bay or other online salvage sites. The real problem with these sites is that there is no attempt to reuse, or restore the items for their proper liturgical and devotional use. They are simply sold to the highest bidder. Whether the buyer is another Catholic Church, an individual, a bar, a nightclub or anything else is not even...

As John McCain begins a three-day swing today through California -- one of the newest members of his campaign team, outgoing EBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman, may draw much of the attention. Whitman, a 51-year-old billionaire, according to Forbes magazine, is said to be considering a run for California governor in 2010 after getting her first taste of politics on the finance team of ex-presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a former colleague at the consulting firm Bain & Co. (snip) Little is known about Whitman's political views; until recently she was registered as an independent. She grew up in a Republican...

Two sisters from Virginia sold their Illinois-shaped corn flake on eBay Friday night for $1,350. "We were biting our nails all the way up to the finish, seeing what would happen," said Melissa McIntire, 23. "There's a lot of relief involved." The winner of the auction, which lasted more than a week, is the owner of a trivia Web site who wants to add the corn flake to a traveling museum.

CHICAGO - Two sisters from Virginia who are selling a corn flake shaped like the state of Illinois on eBay say the online auction Web site canceled their listing. "Something really dramatic just happened with our corn flake," Melissa McIntire, 23, of Chesapeake, Va., said Tuesday, explaining that the sisters received an e-mail from eBay saying the state-shaped cereal was in violation of the site's food policy. But the flake is back. The sisters say the Land of Lincoln twin they discovered in a box of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes is still available after all. McIntire and her 15-year-old sister Emily...

eBay scripting trick used to boost seller ratings Shockwave redirection ploy in mystery auction attack By John Leyden → More by this author    Published Tuesday 18th March 2008 17:04 GMT Hackers have been caught using a malicious scripting scam in an apparent attempt to boost their rating on eBay.An auction for a 4WD car on eBay.co.uk featuring the ruse was brought to our attention by Reg reader John early on Monday. eBay pulled the auction on Monday afternoon but The Reg has this screenshot.The auction for a 2007 Range Rover Sport HSE offered a car valued at £40K for...

eBay's Meg Whitman to co-chair McCain's campaign Sat Mar 15, 8:02 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Meg Whitman, eBay Inc.'s outgoing chief executive officer, will co-chair the national presidential campaign of U.S. Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee. The organization said on Friday Whitman, 51, would play a lead role in the campaign's financing and policy development. Since Whitman joined eBay in 1998, the 30-employee start-up has been transformed into a Fortune 500 company with nearly $8 billion in revenue. This success made Whitman one of the most powerful women in business and earned her a ranking among...

You are bidding on a framed genuine FAKE birth certificate of Barack Hussein Obama. Did I say that his middle name is Hussein? I did? Okay. Here is the fun part. Because it is apparently against the rules to use the middle name of HUSSEIN, the winning bidder will have the opportunity to choose a new middle name to replace HUSSEIN. It will be inserted in the FAKE certificate. We can begin using the name, and then we won't have to worry about being arrested by the DemocRAT PC police for using the actual real name HUSSEIN. Let's see how...

March 3, 2008 Jilted lover uses eBay to hit back at Wikipedia guru After being dumped by Jimmy Wales on his own website, Rachel Marsden put his clothes up for auction on eBay Philippe Naughton As of midday today, $102.50 could buy you a little piece of internet history: the T-shirt that Jimmy Wales was wearing when he met Rachel Marsden for what he insists was their one and only night of passion. There's nothing special about the T-shirt, except for a couple of stubborn stains that even Tide extra-strength could not remove. But it's not every day that a...

"Look at this 35000 listings never sold anything these look funny to me. Let me know what you think check this out. 320199384960 "

Man sells record collection on eBay for $3-million PITTSBURGH — This could be a record “record.” A Pennsylvania man says he can now retire because someone has bought his massive collection of vinyl albums, singles and CDs on eBay for the asking price — $3-million (U.S.). Paul Mawhinney says a buyer from Ireland agreed to shell out $3,002,150 for his collection of nearly three million vinyl albums, singles and CDs. The winning bidder has already deposited $300,000, and Mawhinney says a bank has confirmed he has enough money to buy the collection. EBay spokeswoman Karen Bard says the price is...

By the time Bill (not his real name) left the Church of Scientology a few years ago, he had amassed quite a collection of Scientology material—mostly books, tapes, e-meters. But ex-members of Scientology (especially staff members) find themselves in a difficult spot in this regard when they leave Scientology: their books, tapes, and e-meters are only valued by Scientologists, who, quite inconveniently, are strongly discouraged (read: disallowed) from communicating with ex-members—as any ex-Scientologist will tell you. Not surprisingly, he turned to eBay, where a Scientologist buyer can remain blissfully unaware that his seller is a declared suppressive person. But every...

Here's an eBay auction with a difference: an apparently innocent-looking punt of a Sony VAIO VGN-NR21J/S laptop: There then follows the usual item description, but what makes this particular sale a little more interesting is the vendor's candid purchasing advice for users of the world's favourite tat bazaar: DIFFERENT WAYS YOU CAN STEAL THIS LAPTOP OFF ME: PAYPAL: Paypal is currently ebays preferred method of stealing high value electrical items off sellers. There are a number of various ways you can use to steal this laptop using paypal. 1: A Fake “Item Not Received” (I.N.R) Claim – All you simply...

EBay abandons negative comments about buyers   Suzy Jagger and Jonathan Richards   All buyers and sellers are equal in the virtual auction world of eBay, but buyers are about to become more equal than everyone else. From May, eBay, the world's biggest online auction house, will block sellers from posting any negative or neutral comments about buyers who purchase their goods to coax more of them on to the site. The move means that anyone selling an item will have little recourse to complain that the purchaser of their Britney Spears T-shirt or antique Whitby egg-timer had been...

Outgoing eBay CEO Meg Whitman isn't retiring to life on the golf course. The L.A. Times reports today that Whitman may run for governor of California. "Whitman has talked with top Republicans about the possibility of a run for California governor in 2010, according to three operatives who have had discussions with her. Whitman is said to be asking detailed questions about the logistics of a run and the effect she could have as governor, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to reveal the conversations." Whitman said this week that she'll...

According to this story by Joe Matthews in today’s LAT, EBay CEO Meg Whitman is seriously considering running for Governor of California in 2010. On the surface, she cuts an attractive political figure. She’s rich. She’s a woman. She’s not only shattered glass ceilings as a Captain of Industry but she’s helped build one of California’s best known and respected companies. And did I mention that she’s rich? I’ve heard reports that she has twice as much personal wealth as our superrich Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. I also happen to know that she’s smart enough to have already engaged one...

Rockwall man boasts of nuclear reactor, but no arrest made Thursday, January 10, 2008 By JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News A 22-year-old Rockwall man's Internet boasts that he had made a mini-nuclear reactor in his garage resulted in a visit recently by federal authorities. Representatives with the FBI and the Texas Department of State Health Services' Radiation Control Program took away the man's science equipment on Friday – but not because he was doing anything dangerous or illegal. Rather, the man's parents, with whom he is living, asked that the equipment be removed, officials said. The man, who...

There's been some talk lately about whether eBay CEO Meg Whitman should resign. EBay would be invigorated if she did. Recently, she's been criticized for signing on as the financial co-chair of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. Whitman met Romney years ago when she consulted for his private equity firm. At BloggingStocks, Gary Sattler thinks that Whitman might request a paid leave of absence from eBay to work on the Romney campaign. I really doubt that. It's ludicrous to think that a CEO of a major public company would do such a thing. If Whitman indeed asks for time off to...

I just wanted to share with you all what one can find in a $2 box of junk. I had never heard of rootie kazootie before, but, thanks to google, I now research everything I "find". Please share your own treasure hunting experiences.

MONTREAL (AFP) — After catching his 15-year-old smoking pot, a father sold the hard-to-get "Guitar Hero III" video game he bought his son for 90 dollars for Christmas at an online auction, fetching 9,000 dollars. The sale took place after the father spent two weeks searching for the video game for the Nintendo Wii gameboard. "So I was so relieved in that I had finally got the Holy Grail of Christmas presents pretty much just in the nick of time. I couldn't wait to spread the jubilance to my son," the father wrote on the eBay website. "Then, yesterday, I...

Has anybody seen the new format over at eBay? It went into effect this afternoon and it is HORRIBLE. One problem it is not as easy as before to set up search parameters. Also you can't see completed items for a number of items in a particular category. On top of that, you can no longer see the number of feedbacks for the sellers when scanning the listed items. The latter is important because a lot of us require a certain level of feedbacks before purchasing from a seller. You can still see the feedbacks for the sellers but FIRST...

RCMP investigator says eBay trying to hide scam problem. A Calgary man is one of 1,000 Canadians who have been scammed on eBay through a tactic known as hijacking, and the RCMP says the online auction service is not co-operating with their criminal investigations. Shaqir Duraj, a Calgary bakery owner, won an eBay auction for a car in early October. He thought he was dealing with a reputable seller with a 98 per cent customer satisfaction rating. When Duraj complained to eBay, the company wrote him a letter saying someone had temporarily taken over, or hijacked, the seller's page, and...

Rush's eBay Letter Gets Patriotic Venue 'One of the most valuable printed documents of the modern era' at Patrick Henry homestead [clip] A listener, identified as "Ted from Cleveland," asked [Bill Hemmer on Fox's "America's Newsroom"], "What happened with Rush Limbaugh's eBay sale of the Democratic letter from Harry Reid? Did he match the final purchase amount? Did he make a presentation?" [clip] To answer Ted from Cleveland, Hemmer invited Limbaugh to respond on the air. "Well, let me tell you about the woman who was the high bidder on eBay. Her name was Betty Casey, and she's a philanthropist....

A change of pace with this DUFU edition. If you have no interest in eBay you might as well skip reading this. However, I have had a fascination with eBay for years all through the ups and downs and every bit of information I can get about selling on eBay is always appreciated by me even if it comes from DUmmies who now have a new eBay forum on their site. Basically the early years of eBay from its beginning through about 2001 were great times for sellers. I first put a crappy T-Shirt up on eBay in 1998...

The company that lets you find “it” is now needing to find a way to stop Congress from ruining its business. Proposed legislation, if made law, is threatening to require all sellers of goods to disclose your name, address, and phone number to all potential purchasers. This would be a huge blow to the company and to the partners who sell products on the eBay site.In an email sent at 9:27 PM yesterday, eBay sent me a message that warns of legislation that could harm sellers: Dear [James],We wanted to let you know about proposed legislation in Congress that could...

My boss's Sister In Law put this on eBay.

eBay Shocks Victoriously By Rick Aristotle Munarriz October 18, 2007 Despite all of the spitballs hurled its way, eBay lived up to its new "Shop Victoriously" ad campaign by coming through with better-than-expected earnings. Revenues surged 30% higher to hit $1.89 billion. -snip- So what's the secret sauce at eBay.com? Despite a 5% decrease in listings, they are converting better and at higher prices -- $14.4 billion in gross merchandise value swapped hands during the quarter, a healthy 14% advance.

<p>WASHINGTON — One of the most contested states in presidential politics is center stage Sunday night as FOX News airs a Republican candidates primary debate in Orlando, Fla., that is sure to be used by the 2008 contenders as a chance to cater to the party's conservative base.</p>

Today's Daytona Beach News-Journal, a decidedly liberal-leaning rag, reports on the charity auction in an article entitled Scathing letter from Democrats about Limbaugh nets $2.1M on eBay.This article, while surprisingly rather fair in tone for the News-Journal (although the article does attempt to give credit to Harry Reid at the end), appears on page 6 of the LOCAL section, right next to the OBITUARIES!

Newspapers are supposed to be so much better at television at providing hard facts and context to today’s news. That’s not what the Washington Post did on Saturday in a snarky Style section article on Rush Limbaugh raising $2.1 million on eBay (and donating the same amount) to a worthy charity auctioning off Senator Harry Reid’s snotty letter to Clear Channel Communications denouncing Rush Limbaugh’s remarks about phony soldiers like Jesse Macbeth.Neely Tucker’s short piece failed to explain the context of (a) what Rush originally said on the air about phony soldiers and (b) what Reid’s letter to Clear Channel...

Click here for the unbelievable video.

Imagine my surprise this morning when I clicked on Rush Limbaugh's eBay auction to check out what the latest bid has risen to. Last night it was just over a million. Well, this morning it has risen to over an AMAZING TWO MILLION DOLLARS!!! Rush Limbaugh has taken the Senate smear letter, signed by 41 Democrats, sent to Clear Channel and turned lemons into lemonade by auctioning the document on eBay. Proceeds, with matching funds donated by Rush, will go to the Marine Corps - Law Enforcement Foundation. And now the DUmmies are MAD because Rush has acted as...

The bid is now ujp to $2,100,100.00.

Rush Limbaugh called people like Jesse Macbeth and Scott Beauchamp "phony soldiers" mostly because they have to rely on dishonesty to get their anti-war message across. As a result the Senate Democrats in an unprecedented governemental intrusion, issued a letter to Clear Channel's CEO demanding Rush be censured. That letter as most of us know was put on eBay with the idea of generating funds for one of Rush's favorite charities. Rush Limbaugh has pledged to match the funds of the highest bidder which doubles the value of any purchase. As I type, the bidding has reached slightly more than...

Via Drudge

The auction reached $511,100 at 13:08 PDT!!!!