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I can tell you that the problem with feedback is that we get negative feedback from buyers when it is absolutely uncalled for. We have had buyers leave negative feedback because they didn't like the music on the CD they bought from us. We've had negative feedback when the USPS lost the package and we replaced it for free. We've had negative feedback when a buyer thought the package should arrive in two days.

Once a buyer leaves a negative, it's there in the count. Folks evaluating our trustworthiness rarely look at the actual feedback - they just look at the numbers. We have been able to track dips in sales and prove that they follow a rise in negatives.

Buyers are "customers". There's a million of them out there, and many of them are really, really looking to pick a fight. I'm sure you've seen those types at retail counters. The only thing a seller has to prevent frivolous and undeserved negatives is the ability to leave similar negative feedback for the buyer.

By the way, our store is http://stores.ebay.com/CD-Velocity?refid=store

The 4th edition SRD will be much more of a reference document than the 3e SRD. The current edition contains almost all of the rules and allows "copy and paste" publishing. WotC would prefer to see 3rd party publishers to use their creativity and talent instead of reformatting or slightly changing pre-existing rules. As such, the 4e SRD will contain more guidelines and pointers, and less straightforward rules repetition.

Translation: we are not going to release the actual rules under a free license.

They never did. The current 3e/3.5e SRD is quite far from "Free" in many regards, and the d20 System License is full-blown branding, with controls in place that let WotC retroactively change terms (this lost one company some serious money when their printed product was suddenly in violation of an update).

On top of that, it sounds like the license is reforming to such a degree that it doesn't actually grant you anything you aren't already entitled to ... citing my question from the last round (which was submitted late and never saw moderation):

The view of OGL presented by Technomancer Press, for example, is that the OGL and d20 System License restrict more than they enable; US patent and trademark law already allows almost everything "granted" by OGL, whereas the only extra bit given by the license is the ability to reproduce the copyrighted text in exchange for restrictions on references to WotC printed materials. (The d20 System License grants use of the copyrighted/trademarked system logo, viewed by the industry as a requirement to sell successfully.) This presentation seems to indicate that a publisher is permitted (by law) to release D&D-compatible products and clearly mark them as such, so long as no WotC-owned logos are used and no copied text blocks are included. What response do you have to such a view?

This interpretation suggests that everything offered by the 4e "Game System License" is already permitted by law.

(Remember when Wizards of the Coast was a fledgling company, before Magic: The Gathering? They made greeting cards and a few unsanctioned D&D add-ons. TSR's (lack of) licensing did not permit this.)

Whadya mean?

Deities and Demigods did at one point include Cthulhu

F'htagn.

I don't actually know them personally; I'm familiar with the wiki because I used it extensively when I was setting-up/figuring out my give-one-get-one (G1G1) XO. The reason that I say that the management at OLPC is accessible is that one of the people that helped me via the wiki was Walter Bender, the president of OLPC.

I absolutely agree with you, however, that the biggest problem that OLPC has right now (in light of "competition" from Asus and other quarters) is its apparent unwillingness to make the XO generally available to the US and European public. Nicolas Negroponte has made a number of statements to the effect that selling the laptop to consumers would create a market for the laptops and would provide an incentive for individuals receiving laptops gratis (from government or charity) to sell the laptops, or an incentive for criminals to steal laptops from children. It is my view, however, that *in general* even very poor people will see the value of the laptop as an educational tool and will not choose to sell it, and that controls, procedures, and compensating incentives could be created to limit the impact of the exceptions (including criminality). Furthermore, if OLPC meets its very aggressive goals and distributes millions of laptops around the world, a market will inevitably come to exist; OLPC would do better to anticipate it and take advantage of it, rather than fight it. Aren't you more likely to buy an XO from a Peruvian fourth-grader through ebay if you can't buy it from Walmart than if you can? I think so.

By not selling the XO laptop directly to consumers, OLPC is hurting itself in a number of ways. First, it is failing to take advantage of the economies of scale provided by consumer markets (economies of scale that it needs). In some ways, it is also creating a perverse incentive for laptops to be transferred from third-world children to first-world consumers (as I describe above). Most significantly, however, it is giving the impression to government buyers in its target markets that there is something wrong with their product. As someone with experience doing business in Latin America, I can tell you for certain that a product that has not gained wide acceptance by US consumers is treated sceptically. That's not to say that there is a bias against locally-produced products; rather, there has been a history of many poor countries being a "dumping ground" of inferior or obsolete products that cannot be sold in Europe or the US. From the perspective of an over-worked bureaucrat, one clear sign that dumping is not taking place is that the product being sold is also being sold in the US or Europe. A common sign that dumping *is* taking place is that the product is *not* being sold in the US or Europe.

ummm...doesn't paypal's parent company eBay advise users not to click on links in email? And that they should manually type in the address (www.ebay.com) then go about their business? (eBay's security tip about email)

It was things like SFP and GBIC optical modules. These are standards-compliant components; anyone can make them. Cheap ones can sell for $10. Cisco versions that have passed Cisco's quality control can sell for $200. The Chinese counterfeiters made cheap ones, put a "cisco" label on them and sold them on eBay and the like.

This one, for example, is very likely counterfeit. It's a real 1000baseSX SFP, but it's not a genuine Cisco product.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Transformers-Animated-Blu-Ray-DVD-Orson-Welles-Action_W0QQitemZ320220144256QQcmdZViewItem

Reply to this thread if you've got some good apps to check out. I've been searching the web a little bit and it seems there's a lot of "samples" and a few alpha quality apps that have not been updated in a year. Ebay Desktop (desktop.ebay.com) was rather cool, but there's no seller's interface so it's only 50% complete in my view.

This is a popular revenue model in Asia, where the games themselves are free to play but charge a premium for a variety of premium extras, from vanity items to additional content or abilities. It's a model that's working well for Korean developer Nexon but hasn't been adopted by many American developers.

Or you can get the real thing at ebay while supplies last.

Real E-Meter

This will probably get taken down soon.

yeah according to ebays thing on this, there are 3 things you have to do to keep from being delisted by a copyright holder. those are:
a. Only list authentic items
b. Always use my own pictures and my own item description
c. Never sell bootleg copies of software, music, movies, or video games

source: http://pages.ebay.com/help/tutorial/verotutorial/q13.html

so it appears they do overstep the line and it just needs brought to ebays attention. you cant prevent people from reselling your crap except in certian situations. this isnt one of them. indeed.

The thing that worries me is not that they are allowed to remove items, it's this line here from eBay's FAQ page on VeRO:

"eBay will never give out your credit card information, except in rare cases when required by a court, or law enforcement agency. However, eBay's Privacy Policy states, "we can (and you authorize us to) disclose your User ID, name, street address, city, state, zip code, country, phone number, email, and company name to eBay VeRO Program participants..""

The summary states that "The Church of Scientology can delete auctions from eBay with no supervision under the VeRO program," but even according to the linked article this is not the case. The removals are taking place through the VeRO program, they're just contending that the removals are frivolous. As if that weren't enough, the title states that Scientology has been given direct access to the database. Going from frivolous removals to unfettered access to eBay's DB is a pretty ridiculous leap, and seems disengenous on the part of the original poster.

Having once worked at eBay (I quit in late '07) in association with people on the VeRO team, I can tell you that direct access to the DB is not required to get an item off the site very quickly; it is quite easy for rights-holders to get items they claim to be infringing removed... all it takes is a single qualifying complaint (per item while I was there, but they may allow lists now).

A couple of notes about VeRO compaints, however:

1- The complaint is made under penalty of perjury, which creates some potential for liability for frivolous or incorrect complaints on the part of the complainant (potentially difficult to take legal action on, but present).
2- It is a complaint of IP (Intellectual Property) infringement, not simply copyright infringement. That's why items that are sold from an organization for a specific use, and whose resale is legally limited, can be said to infringe if they are being used/sold in a way inconsistent with the IP owner's wishes.
3- There is an appeals process, and the item can potentially get put back on the site.

For an overview of the process, you can go to this page eBay provides to explain it: http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/vero-rights-owner.html

If you'd like to see a copy of the notice that VeRO members (registered IP owners) must send to get things removed, then download this PDF (also linked from the priorly mentioned page): http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/NOCI1.pdf

The summary states that "The Church of Scientology can delete auctions from eBay with no supervision under the VeRO program," but even according to the linked article this is not the case. The removals are taking place through the VeRO program, they're just contending that the removals are frivolous. As if that weren't enough, the title states that Scientology has been given direct access to the database. Going from frivolous removals to unfettered access to eBay's DB is a pretty ridiculous leap, and seems disengenous on the part of the original poster.

Having once worked at eBay (I quit in late '07) in association with people on the VeRO team, I can tell you that direct access to the DB is not required to get an item off the site very quickly; it is quite easy for rights-holders to get items they claim to be infringing removed... all it takes is a single qualifying complaint (per item while I was there, but they may allow lists now).

A couple of notes about VeRO compaints, however:

1- The complaint is made under penalty of perjury, which creates some potential for liability for frivolous or incorrect complaints on the part of the complainant (potentially difficult to take legal action on, but present).
2- It is a complaint of IP (Intellectual Property) infringement, not simply copyright infringement. That's why items that are sold from an organization for a specific use, and whose resale is legally limited, can be said to infringe if they are being used/sold in a way inconsistent with the IP owner's wishes.
3- There is an appeals process, and the item can potentially get put back on the site.

For an overview of the process, you can go to this page eBay provides to explain it: http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/vero-rights-owner.html

If you'd like to see a copy of the notice that VeRO members (registered IP owners) must send to get things removed, then download this PDF (also linked from the priorly mentioned page): http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/NOCI1.pdf

Open Gaming License by egg_green:
With D&D 3rd Edition, we were introduced to the D20 System and the Open Gaming License, which allowed third party publishers to produce supplements for the game. Will there be something akin to this for 4th Edition? What form will it take, and will it be more or less restrictive?

WotC:
The initial 4th Edition plans for allowing third-party publication of compatible supplements have been announced, and we're currently working with a number of independent publishers to iron out the details and get them started. Our goal is to allow 3rd party publishers, both large and small, the opportunity to publish products compatible with Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition.

First, thanks for getting rid of the red-tape-ridden "d20 System License." I'd like to follow up this line of thought with some clarifications on what the OGL can and can't actually do: What is the official response to claims that game mechanics themselves cannot be patented or protected as Intellectual Property (the way Software Patents are)?

The view of OGL presented by Technomancer Press, for example, is that the OGL and d20 System License restrict more than they enable; US patent and trademark law already allows almost everything "granted" by OGL, whereas the only extra bit given by the license is the ability to reproduce the copyrighted text in exchange for restrictions on references to WotC printed materials. (The d20 System License grants use of the copyrighted/trademarked system logo, viewed by the industry as a requirement to sell successfully.) This presentation seems to indicate that a publisher is permitted (by law) to release D&D-compatible products and clearly mark them as such, so long as no WotC-owned logos are used and no copied text blocks are included. What response do you have to such a view?

What are your goals in drafing the next OGL, and how do they differ from the current version? What can you acknowledge as mistakes made with the previous OGL and d20 System License?

eBay's counternotification policy for VeRO takedowns applies only to claims of copyright infringement. (Read the page you linked to.) Scientology is using bogus trademark infringement claims to take down E-meter listings. Therefore, counternotification is not available.

Of course, another completely misleading headline and article summary.

The VeRO program does not provide direct access to eBay's database to delete items. It is a fast-track for manufacturers to submit deletion requests for items they believe are infringing on their copyrights. Every time an auction is deleted, the VeRO program gives eBay the proper documents holding the manufacturers legally responsible for their claim of copyright infringement.

Taking a simple look at the program's description reveals that ANY auction being deleted through this program can be reinstated, automatically, by the user, within 10 days. They simply have to do the same thing the manufacturer did: claim legal responsibility for their auction, in writing.

Now, there's no doubt that I, as a private individual, would never risk challenging the very well funded battery of lawyers the Church of Scientology has to keep me in line. Even though I know they have no leg to stand on, I can't afford the legal battle. But I wouldn't cry that its eBay's fault, when eBay gave me the option to directly challenge the "manufacturer".

That's wacky. Try it yourself...
In the search box type (without quotes) "emeter". If you type it with the quotes, that's different.
What happens? You perform a search for "exeter"!

I'm sure it isn't anything sinister, though. A search for "cimputer" is changed into a search for "computer". But it sure is confusing.

Actually GM are included in the program.

http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=gmlicensing

The summary and title are a bit misleading. The CoS is removing listings using the VeRO program, not getting "direct DB access" as is claimed. Still blatant abuse of the program, so their actions are definitely NOT defensible.

Interestingly people who are targeted by this can file a DMCA counter claim and bring the issue into the court system. I hope this guy does that - maybe some of the CoS's practices can finally see the light of day.

I wondered why I couldn't find any Xenu or Anti-Scientology items on ebay.

I wondered why I couldn't find any Xenu or Anti-Scientology items on ebay.

Other companies have come before SoC.

a Partial list

Other companies have come before SoC.

a Partial list

Well, if you RTFA, it has nothing to do with insider knowledge. Instead:

"The mechanism that permits the Church of Scientology (and others) such broad access and discretion is called the Verified Rights Owner ("VeRO") Program. Membership in VeRO is obtained simply by submitting a form to eBay explaining that you are an Intellectual Property rights holder. ... It should come as little surprise that VeRO members routinely overreach, as the cost of challenging a listing removal is almost always prohibitive. ... The VeRO Program makes a great deal of sense for some types of listings -- counterfeit Rolexes and Gucci handbags appear on eBay with such frequent regularity that those companies would be hard pressed to handle these trademark violations any other way."

eBay has more info about their VeRO program.

Basically, the original summary is misleading: lots of companies (e.g. copyright/trademark holders) have access to directly delete auctions on eBay. The Slyentologists are only one of many (but they're fun to pick on!).

Given that the Church of Scientology isn't on the list of VeRO about me pages, the whole thing seems really, really iffy.

Except it's not e-bay's policy to remove feedback like that.
See http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-abuse-withdrawal.html

Many eBay sellers are upset about these new changes, and they're not taking it lying down. They've formed a Boycott Feb 18th-25th. I say, if you don't like eBay why give them your business at all?

Sellers may charge reasonable shipping and handling fees to cover the costs for mailing, packaging, and handling the items they are selling...Sellers who want to be sure they are in compliance with this policy may charge actual shipping costs plus actual packaging materials cost (or less).

In addition to the final listing price, sellers are permitted to charge:

Actual Shipping cost: This is the actual cost (i.e. postage) for shipping the item.

Handling Fee: Actual packaging materials costs may be charged. A handling fee in addition to actual shipping cost may be charged if it is not excessive.

As another crusty old high-school-turned-grown-up, I heartily recommend you try "D&D Tactics" for the PSP if you're looking for the real "tabletop RPG on the computer". It's much more legalistic than WoW - more precisely, its complexity is transparent. The systems takes on the role of DM, and the game plays just like a well written tabletop campaign. A key advantage of the game is that it takes care of all rules, roles, and effects, so you can focus on play - because of this, you can control an entire party in turn-based combat. Much like its inspiration, there are nearly limitless variations - races, classes, weapons, spells, items, and more are turned like a firehose onto the player almost immediately. The one thing this entire paradigm loses, of course, is social interaction. Thankfully, the PSP's ad hoc WiFi allows multiple players to game together on separate PSPs.

Like you, I was yearning for a walk down D&D memory lane. For the past two years, I've been buying up a full set of AD&D 2nd Ed. books from the worldwide garage sale that is eBay. (Let's face it, 2nd Ed. AD&D is the only real D&D... Gygax rules!) I've been trying to get friends on-board but everyone else is more interested in WoW and other MMORPGs. This game was a great way for me to get the D&D fix I was jonesing for.

Here you go. It is definitely worth it.

You can find sets to open most security screws for under $20.

Example here....

Glad to see Jaime advocating an alternative in the mainstream. Joe Six-Packs need to know the choice is there before they can make the choice.

I don't think they want to sell them to people that aren't going to be buying the games.

This is a good idea and will help catch most frauds, but many people have access to a MICR check encoder. I worked for a Fortune 100 retailer and they had one in every store, and they were hardly kept under lock and key. Also, if one were an enterprising criminal, one might just buy one.

Obviously, the ultimate (and very elegant) coup de grâce would be to buy it with a fraudulent check.

olpc for sale

There are 1351 iPhones on eBay right now. Most of them are unlocked. Some of the sellers have hundreds of iPhones. So a sizable chunk of that unsold inventory is over on eBay.

It's like the early days of the PS3, when eBay sellers overbought and there was soon a glut of the things on eBay for months, selling below retail.

There are 1351 iPhones on eBay right now. Most of them are unlocked. Some of the sellers have hundreds of iPhones. So a sizable chunk of that unsold inventory is over on eBay.

It's like the early days of the PS3, when eBay sellers overbought and there was soon a glut of the things on eBay for months, selling below retail.

I've ALREADY said that in my articles MONTHS ago! Just read these articles: http://www.ghostnasa.com/posts/012arescantfly.html http://www.ghostnasa.com/posts/017aresmystery.html http://www.ghostnasa.com/posts/018srb5nonsense.html http://www.gaetanomarano.it/articles/011srb5.html about 20 years ago, Apple borns in the Steve Jobs garage, then its computers was able to compete with IBM mainframs, etc. my question is: can a "new.space" company born like Apple did 20 years ago? now is the era of companies like SpaceX that wants to to launch its Falcon rockets but it's not easy to raise funds to start a new.space company however, I try to do it on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=ADME%3AL%3ALCA%3AIT%3A31&viewitem=&item=280194182637

www.eBay.com: Buy new and used Plutonium for your research, now at eBay!

You can get a Dell at this cool website called http://dell.com/

But you can't get any of the ones that shock you. For that, you'll need http://www.tigerdirect/ or http://www.ebay.com/

No guarantees at either of those places!

For laptops that don't shock you, try shopping at Best Buy, where only the PRICE will shock you.

The Dell X1 can be gotten for a lot less. It's very similar to this new Airmac. It comes with external DVD drive can run about 7 hours on battery. More if you take a spare battery. I'm typing this post on the one I bought 3 years ago. It is running KUbuntu perfectly.

Yeah so! I was four. It came with a special controller for the Atari.

C64 - My first game was a little cooler One on One: Julius Erving and Larry Bird You could even break the backboard in 1984.

When it was 55,000 I could have bid 55,100 and been the highest bidder.

Where is $55,100? http://offer.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=220188946461/

Chemicals that are hard to get? Thermite is pretty easy to make, and burns at 2500 degrees C, more than enough to melt anything a hard drive is made of... Some drives have steel cases, which thermite can easily melt... Other drives use aluminum cases, which melts very quickly.

As for how hard these chemicals are to get, what you need is aluminum powder and iron oxide, and something like magnesium ribbon to ignite it... A quick ebay search reveals:

Aluminum powder:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150202139025

Iron oxide powder:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200189637708

Magnesium ribbon:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250203671690

And if your really lazy, a guide for making your own:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180202428709

Or a ready made "thermite kit" which includes everything you need, $10 for 1lb of thermite good to go:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320202959476

Your right about the paranoia aspect, it's unlikely that your data is important enough that anyone would go to significant effort to recover it, but melting drives down is easy, cheap and fun.

Chemicals that are hard to get? Thermite is pretty easy to make, and burns at 2500 degrees C, more than enough to melt anything a hard drive is made of... Some drives have steel cases, which thermite can easily melt... Other drives use aluminum cases, which melts very quickly.

As for how hard these chemicals are to get, what you need is aluminum powder and iron oxide, and something like magnesium ribbon to ignite it... A quick ebay search reveals:

Aluminum powder:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150202139025

Iron oxide powder:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200189637708

Magnesium ribbon:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250203671690

And if your really lazy, a guide for making your own:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180202428709

Or a ready made "thermite kit" which includes everything you need, $10 for 1lb of thermite good to go:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320202959476

Your right about the paranoia aspect, it's unlikely that your data is important enough that anyone would go to significant effort to recover it, but melting drives down is easy, cheap and fun.

Chemicals that are hard to get? Thermite is pretty easy to make, and burns at 2500 degrees C, more than enough to melt anything a hard drive is made of... Some drives have steel cases, which thermite can easily melt... Other drives use aluminum cases, which melts very quickly.

As for how hard these chemicals are to get, what you need is aluminum powder and iron oxide, and something like magnesium ribbon to ignite it... A quick ebay search reveals:

Aluminum powder:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150202139025

Iron oxide powder:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200189637708

Magnesium ribbon:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250203671690

And if your really lazy, a guide for making your own:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180202428709

Or a ready made "thermite kit" which includes everything you need, $10 for 1lb of thermite good to go:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320202959476

Your right about the paranoia aspect, it's unlikely that your data is important enough that anyone would go to significant effort to recover it, but melting drives down is easy, cheap and fun.