ebay

Own your very own piece of embarrassing Boston history!

I think we all know by now that yesterday, the city of Boston experienced the humiliation of a lifetime when light-up ads for the Cartoon Network show Aqua Teen Hunger Force, depicting a "Mooninite" character, were mistaken for bombs and basically shut down the city. (There must be something in that dirty water, you know, the same thing that makes them root for the Red Sox year after year.)

Naturally, one of the LED advertisements from Boston wound up on eBay and bids had topped $5000 in what seemed like seconds. It appears, however, that the auction has … Read more

Thievery in the digital age

I recently got my car stolen from a public parking lot. When I got it back several days later, all the electronics were stolen, along with everything else even remotely valuable. The same day I got it back, a friend of mine told me to check out Craigslist to see if any of my stuff had been listed. I took his advice, and to my surprise I found a local posting with what was undoubtedly some of my car's electronics, along with a post date the same day of the theft.

I immediately contacted the police with the posting … Read more

This Dell laptop really is exclusive

Bill Gates isn't the only bigwig who's putting his John Hancock on limited editions. Not to be outdone, Michael Dell is signing a special line of his namesake laptops that feature an exclusive World of Warcraft theme, according to Laptoping. But unlike so many other so-called special editions, this one is truly limited--to only two, both for sale now on eBay.

"The custom-painted Burning Crusade Edition features (artist Mike) Lavalle's airbrushed re-creation of original composition from the new World of Warcraft expansion," according to the eBay listing. The XPS M1710 gaming laptop also has a … Read more

PS3 crosses $10,000 barrier on eBay

Whatever you want to call them (opportunists, price gougers, geniuses), the slew of sellers auctioning those PS3 consoles they waited in line for could soon be laughing maniacally all the way to the bank.

We reported earlier that bids for Sony PS3s had reached $9,000 this morning. By Friday afternoon bidding on eBay had jumped over $10,000 for a new, unopened 60GB unit. (Thanks to Evan J. for the tip.)

One entrepreneurial young man, asking $16,000, pleads on his seller's page, "FREE OVERNIGHT!!!! Help fund my college education!" The accompanying grainy photo of him … Read more

Stop the madness!

If you thought the PS3 frenzy ended at midnight, you were terribly mistaken. It was just warming up.

After finding very few fans planning to keep their purchased PS3 for themselves at yesterday's launch, it was to be expected that more drama would ensue today. This morning the world awoke to next-gen consoles auctioning for obscenely high prices and very few places to buy or even place an order for one.

Costco's Web site was down this morning, though now shows just an empty crate and a "sold out" banner. CircuitCity.com reports it is "… Read more

eBay rules no match for PS3 and Wii sellers

Many bloggers and posters are agog at the restrictions eBay has placed on the listings for presale Playstation 3 and Wii consoles. The rules, however, have not made a dent in the number of game machines up for sale.

As of Thursday afternoon, there were 3,144 listings for "PS3" and related items, and eBay had listed the Playstation 3 as the "It" item of the day. Listings for the Wii, due out November 19, numbered 2,189 and bids went as high as $2,000 for one console that came with 6 games and "… Read more

'AD' fans everywhere die and go to sitcom heaven

One of the most ridiculous props on the most ridiculously funny show ever is for sale.

That's right, the signature wheels of Gob (that's pronounced "Jobe," for all you "Arrested Development" newbies), the magic arts-dabbling son of the Bluth clan, are on the market.

Played (dare I say, expertly) by Will Arnett, Gob zipped around on a Segway, wreaking havoc on his fabulously dysfunctional family. Seeing as how the show was axed by Fox at the end of last season, it seems only natural that the Segway would eventually pop up on eBay. Kudos … Read more

Does the IRS need to know about your eBay sales?

With April 15 nearly upon us, eBay sellers may have some extra homework to do before popping their tax returns in the mail. According to the Associated Press, many people are confused about whether they should report windfalls from online auctions to the Internal Revenue Service.

The question is whether the auction activity constitutes a small business or a hobby--a distinction that's not always clear. For instance, is the person whose flea market finds fetch top dollar online operating a business?

The IRS offers a few guidelines. If the taxpayer depends on the income, acts in a businesslike manner … Read more