I sell on eBay, Half.com and some other eCommerce sites as a hobby.

The other night, I found a great deal on adhesive labels. 1600 of them for 5.99. WOW I thought, that's less than a penny a label and it will save me a lot of time and tape.

SO I bought them, and paid for them....

Today I came home and there was a 10 pound box of labels sitting on my porch. I opened them and was most pleased.

I told some of my friends, thinking I'd pass the great deal on. Turns out this is a common internet scan that I'd never heard of.

What has happened is that the BUYER used my name and address and opened a UPS account in my name, then ordered me some free shipping supplies. I looked on the box to see if there were clues if this is what indeed, did happen. Sure enough, right there on the 10 pound box it said UPS SHIPPING SUPPLIES.

He pocketed the entire amount minus about 55 cents or so for ebay/paypal fees.

Looks like UPS would wise up to this. This same guy has over 20 more boxes listed....and there are a lot of other sellers doing this as well.

Free money.

If I wanted a UPS account, I'd have opened one myself. I NEVER use UPS. USPS is more economical for me.

What were these people really doing?
Stealing?
Sharing?
Building a library?

Don't libraries violate copyright by sharing books and CDs with me?
I'm so confused about what makes one thing right if the govt does it, but another similiar thing (to me) is wrong if the population at large does it.

ODJ cracks dow n on 'internet crime' (piracy)

Today it is 10 cents to list fixed price on eBay.

What this means:

---If you sell on eBay you can list an item for a fixed price today that will run for the next 7 days for a dime.

---If you BUY on eBay it will be a good time to look for items that you've been wanting. Listings will dramatically increase and more listings will feature a set price with no competition other than the finding - first one to find it and buy it gets it.

--If you are a developer of a listing application - Your application will get free stress testing today. Most online applications available right now will indeed crash. eBay, judging from my past experiences, will falter in places and be slow at intervals today as well.

Sale for eBay Sellers Going on today

Perhaps we need a topic called "Corporate Greed"

Ebay aquired Half.com a good while ago. At first they claimed they were intrested in the ISBN/UPC database listing capabilities the site had.

Now, the truth unveils itself.

Ebay is closing half.com in mid July.

Currently sellers are able to list any book on half.com with no up front fees. If the book sells, 20% of the selling price goes to half.com. If the book does not sell, it can sit forever or until canceled.

This is great for readers who like more obscure titles as it increases selection and supply.

eBay has closed half.com, saying that sales are not brisk enough. In reality, eBay is driving sellers to a thirty cent weekly minimum nonrefundable listing fee. For sellers that establish eBay stores, the listing fee is a bit lower, but its been my experience that stores have very little traffic without concurrent auction exposure.

To force the blood out of the turnip, eBay will also be able to derive profits from transactions that are completed via credit card on Paypal.com.

I believe that this reeks of monopolistic business practice (buy your competition and ruin/close them) that will raise the average cost of books (How can you sell a book for .75 cents it if costs 1.40 to sell it?) and will also lower the supply of books available.