Elderly Amish Man Caught on Film With Prostitute, Blackmailed
When a 75-year-old Amish widower slept with a prostitute, he -- we feel certain -- felt pretty bad about it the next morning. As if that guilt weren't enough for the old man, the prostitute and her boyfriend demanded $67,000 from him, claiming that they had filmed the scene with wall-mounted cameras and would upload the recording to the Internet. The pair was later arrested and, we can only imagine, the Amish man abhorred technology more than ever.
Bank Robber Gets Away With the Help of Craiglist
In October, a bank robber -- wearing a safety vest, blue shirt, face mask and goggles -- eluded police with the help of Craiglist. Just outside the bank, while the robbery was in progress, stood a group of men who were responding to a Craiglist day labor opportunity. As the advertisement required, they were all wearing safety vests, blue shirts, face masks and goggles.
Nude New Zealander Arrested After Responding to Fake Sexy Text Message
Late in 2007, a Wellington, New Zealand man received a racy text message from two anonymous "ladies," giving him only an address and a request that he show up naked. Well, he indeed showed up naked... at the home of one appalled, unsuspecting New Zealander. Both the nude Romeo and the sadistic texter were arrested, though neither were prosecuted.
Fake Craiglist Ad Costs Man Most of What He Owns
Last Spring, a post appeared on an Oregon Craigslist board stating that the owner of a specific house was leaving all of his worldly possessions (still in said house) to whoever wanted them. When homeowner Robert Salisbury rushed home -- on a tip from a woman suspicious about the offer of a free horse -- he found his house being ransacked by 30 strangers. We suggest he take that horse and collect some vengeance Clint Eastwood-style.
17-Year-Old Jailed for Stealing Virtual 'Furniture'
When a 17-year-old Dutch boy hacked into several accounts on the Second Life-style site 'Habbo' in 2007, the the law got involved. The boy was discovered to have stolen $5,800 worth of virtual furniture and knick-knacks. Apparently, crime -- whether actual or virtual -- does not pay.
Phishers Going After Your Phones in New 'Vishing' Trend
Over the past year, sneaky spammers have begun to forsake the worn-out territory of e-mail in favor of cell phones' fertile frontier. The result? "Vishing." Get it? Voice mail phishing. It might be more ominous if it didn't sound like a James Bond villain saying, "Wishing."
Burglars Break Into Restaurant, Steal HDTV, Leave Money / Food Behind
Around Halloween of last year, a truckload of thieves drove into -- that's right, into -- a Pennsylvania Mexican restaurant, where they -- apparently uninterested in the cash register -- stole a mid-grade 47-inch HDTV and fled the scene. We've all heard about how this generation is lacking in ambition, but this generation's thieves, too?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
americansportsme said 7:33PM on 2-25-2008
As a ebay power seller for years I made them lots of money. Now I am over it and will never go back. Ebay does not look out for their sellers and to charge them more is absurd. I hope they go under. Good Luck ripping off everyone else. You can have your Paypal too. I will use neither...
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Steve Purdy said 7:56PM on 2-25-2008
My eBay account got hacked (by intrusion, I think into a server that did not have the proper protection) and I had bills over $600 before I realized the account was being used. I hadn't been doing anything on eBay for quite a while. eBay DID close out the bogus orders, but refused to tell me how it happened!
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Jim said 9:37PM on 2-25-2008
Thank you for being one of the first to see that the exbay story is not over!!!!
There are still hundreds of thousands of very angry sellers. Some of them have gone on to open e-stores on other auction sites.
Some are still in the process of finding a new online auction venue.
Some can't afford to stop listing and selling They are helpless, but they are looking around.
Some haven't gotten the word yet.
I firmly believe that the eBay that was, will never be the same. The seller community has lost too many talented, motivated, competent, and honest sellers.
Those sellers, who are usually also buyers, AND their buyers, will find new homes. Ebay is the biggest loser.
"IT" has left the building!
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Michael Pechacek said 11:08PM on 2-25-2008
Ebay is making Millions of Dollars , But hey why not be greedy , and make more ! With no one caring about sellers or any honest reply to any problems , and a leftist Poltical Agenda ( its not OK to sell WWII German Military , But Stalin is a OK Guy ! ) and No protection if YOU get Screwed ( but they protect themselves, even to your Disadvantage ! )And cutting freedom of both information and speach , only to their advantage . Well what do you expect in the internet as controlled by Corporations??
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Rich said 11:56PM on 2-25-2008
I'm sorry but how many sellers on there say they will give negitive feedback if the buyer gives them bad feedback? And most of the time when they threaten that, they are terrible sellers. I've had one seller take 2 weeks to ship and then lie about it. another misrepensented the item which was a mp4 player 4gb and when i got it, was a 1gb claiming to b 4gb. and when i contacted the seller they wanted to do nothing about it but made threats against me if I left bad feed back. Unfortunatly for them I forwarded the email to ebay with my complaint. So in my opinion the sellers deserve the feed back change as most of them were abusing it anyway. hopefully now the buyers can give honest feedback without fear of reprisal
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afontana said 12:35AM on 2-26-2008
Ebay sucks. I ran jeans sales with them, and never had a problem until one buyer filed a complaint of non receipt. All sales were with optional insurance, which buyer did not take advantage of. Well, negative feedback and an attempt to reverse my funds on paypal! I sold 100's of pairs at great pricing with not one complaint. I fought back and kept my money. I've not been back since. They grew to big, sell lots of crap, and deserve a competor eat them for breakfast. GOOD EBY!
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karin r said 1:41AM on 2-26-2008
I have extended the boycott already by leaving the site permenantly for ecrater.com http://theeclecticcollector.ecrater.com/
I was mainly a buyer and occasional seller on ebay (venturecrew145) with 100% positive feedback as both. But what sane person would continue to do business with a company that treats us the way ebay does?
I spent the week of the boycott looking for a new home and defining the reasons it is no longer viable for me to continue a business relationship with ebay.
1- Mr Donahoe stated he wants to rid the site of the embarassing sellers of "flea market" items- otherwise known to buyers as unique vintage items and what a great many of us searched ebay for- in favor of large powersellers who drop ship their items (JUNK) from China.
2- If I wished to continue to sell my items on ebay, I would be required to pay a 66% increase in fees.
3- If I did sell an item I would be required to use paypal, ebay's own bank, to receive the money from the sale and pay them a fee as well.
4- Paypal will also now be holding for 21 days with no intrest, the money paid to the small seller, while ebay still requires that I ship the item as soon as paypal receives the funds, meaning that I have to ship an item using MY money to cover shipping! And if the buyer ends up deciding they want my item for free, and initiates a charge back with paypal, I can bet they get their money back, leaving me out the following- Money lost on listing fee paid to ebay, money lost to ebay on Final valuation fee when the item was "sold" errr "Stolen", Money I had to pay to ship the item, MY item which I will never get back, Fees to paypal for money I NEVER received AND........
5 To add insult to injury, I will only be allowed to leave this wonderful buyer POSITIVE feedback, while I receive Negative feedback for being robbed!
6- BUT.....it does not end there. Additionally, for the pleasure of paying 66% more in fees to list my item, ebay has created a new DEFAULT search matrix, called "Best Match" which will give the powersellers selling the same items as me TOP placement in the search results, meaning my item, because I am a small seller, will never be seen, therefore never purchased :)
WOW! What a deal ebay is! No wonder buyers and sellers alike are leaving in droves!
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Bob said 5:47AM on 2-26-2008
I have been an avid ebayer for quite sometime, buying only. I could never figure out why, after I had completed my part of the transaction, I hadn't received any type of feedback until I had left feedback for the seller. Ebay should make it mandatory that the seller leave feedback before the transaction is completed. I personally have never had a reason to leave negative feedback.
As far as seller fees,a lot of sellers are cleaning out their attics and really aren't making much on the sale by the time you take out the seller fees and paypal fees. As with everything else,greed takes over and the little guy is squashed!!!!!
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Mel said 7:30AM on 2-26-2008
Ebay is just wrong to over charge like they do! Big deal that they came down on the listing prices. They went up on the final fee and this is a lot more than someone like me can handle. It is bad business to be greedy Ebay and you know it! They actually think that they are better than God, Who gets 10% of our pay each week! How dare you Ebay! Your final listing fees are stupid and just wrong. You should realize that the more people you have listing that the more you will make. Stop being greedy and get a real life!
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Alice said 7:41AM on 2-26-2008
I used ebay for the most part quite nicely. Small seller. Then I put back up a computer my daughter had bought three months before on ebay, but with upgrades on drives as she wanted to trade up. Well just before the deadline for complaints on an item was up, I received a complaint from the buyer. I responded as they claimed there were viruses and the frame was cracked. It wasn't either. I asked for pictures to compare with the ones I had taken to verify damage and received none, said their computer was down. When I finally received them I found that they had damaged the computer keyboard-they admitted they had moved since getting the item. I said I would only reimburse for virus protection, though I had the computer professional cleaned before shipping. They had damaged the item themselves as they made no claim when the item shipped. Waiting weeks to even complain. I didn't hear from them. On the last day of the dispute deadline they posted negative on my account despite having contact by private e-mail and phone; I couldn't post back as I didn't read it till the next day. Despite contacting ebay with proof of discussions and verified timeline, they did nothing. Not even allow me to answer the negative.
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Patti said 9:09AM on 2-26-2008
Ebay is losing more sellers and buyers each day as the word gets out about the boycott. I have seen posters, blogs, news reports,etc. about the boycott. I don't think the powers that be on Ebay ever thought the protest would go this far. But I am sure sites like onlineauction.com, ecrater, epier, nonloch and others are very happy to have the Ebay refuges.
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Judy said 9:09AM on 2-26-2008
Now, if we would only band together and boycott the gas stations for 2 or 3 days, we might convince the oil companies to begin reducing their rediculously record profits. This is something ebay boycotters should band together to do NOW.
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TIM said 9:50AM on 2-26-2008
During the month of Dec. i listed over 200 items on ebay, the last 60 day i have listed none. If your not aware you can go to godaddy and set up a small eccommerce web site for $10.00 a month which is cheaper than a ebay store and also not have to pay all the listing fees. Also ebay is the larger seller of illegal items in the world and the government is giving them a free ride for a few campaign dollars.
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Carl Tapp said 10:40AM on 2-26-2008
IF YOU STOP SELLING ON eBay - WHERE CAN YOU GO TO
SELL THINGS ?
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dsouth said 11:29AM on 2-26-2008
Instead of boycotts ebay sellers should just start paying their ebay balance DAILY via a credit card other than paypal.
Keep in mint that discover Card and Amex have some of the highest fees involved and will cut into ebay's bottom line.
Stop feeding the bull
http://ebaykickbacks.com
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cary said 8:24PM on 2-26-2008
Stopped using several months ago,because of someone else using my account.No customer service to handle problems.Paypal a JOKE.Company has to much revenue coming in to CARE.Something else will replace EBAYs Auction Flawed System.
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James said 9:17PM on 2-27-2008
I've slowed down my listings a fair amount but I can't afford to stop 100% since my family relies on me to pay the bills. I have a 10 month old child. I do agree the new fee's are ridiclous. I'm going to open my own website.
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John said 12:13PM on 2-28-2008
Why don't ebay adopt a "blind" feedback system?
ie. once sale is complete both parties can leave feedback and comments, but they can' be seen until both have left feedback, said that they won't leave feedback, or , say, 45 days has elapsed after which feedback can't be left.
Ebay should also make it's dispute resolution better so that you can get negative feedback removed if you can disprove comments left by the other party.
With the current system, the feedback will become worthless, as most 100% sellers will have 70-80% scores and it will be impossible to know if a negative feedback is genuine or malicious. how exactly will that help buyers?
Also, yes, the fees, paypal rules and best match are now just plain daft.
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Bob said 1:38PM on 2-28-2008
Tired of FEEBAY?
Visit http://www.coinday.com for all your coin needs! Free listings! No FEES! FREE Classifieds! Free Registration and no credit card required.
Many Feebay members have already switched over and are no longer selling on Feebay.
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mike said 5:52PM on 2-28-2008
We’ve seen a huge surge in business at http://hosted4.us as a result of ebay raising their fees. A lot of merchants seem to have decided that it’s more cost effective to pay a flat monthly fee and run their own website without someone taking a cut of their profit margins. We have sold more of our prepackaged ecommerce solutions http://qcs.hosted4.us in the past week than in the past few months.
Thanks eBay!
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