Like most readers of Consumerist, Adam is cynical about extended warranties. However, he writes that he had a surprisingly good experience with a SquareTrade warranty that he purchased, and wanted to share. [More]
ebay
Self-Auctioning Black Box Will Set You Back At Least $6,858
By 2.28.10
Artist Caleb Larsen’s latest creation, A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter, isn’t likely to appeal to traditional art collectors, who tend to like to hold onto their purchases for a little while. That’s because Larsen’s black cube is programmed to try to re-sell itself as soon as a new owner takes posession — and buyers are contractually obligated to let it do so. [More]
EBay Says It Will Remove Listing Fees For Low-Priced Items
By 1.26.10
EBay needs more people to buy and sell stuff on its site, so it will change its listing fees at the end of March, says Reuters. Once it goes into effect, auction items with a starting price of 99 cents can be listed for free, and eBay will take 9% of the final price or $50, whichever is less. [More]
I Sold My PSP To An eBay Phantom, Now I'm Stuck With It For Weeks
By 1.13.10
Pat thought he had sold his PSP on eBay, but now complains that he’s stuck in a lurch — unable to get rid of the device — because the inexperienced buyer won’t pay up. [More]
eBay Overflowing With Holiday Beggars
By 12.14.09
As if there weren’t enough ways to spend money on nothing on eBay, the holiday season has brought a wave of dubious make-my-Christmas donation solicitations, MSNBC reports. [More]
PayPal Abandons Another Scammed Seller
By 12.8.09
Todd got ripped off by a scammer on an eBay purchase. He made sure to insure the device before shipping it off via the United States Postal Service, but it turns out that an insurance claim won’t help him get PayPal to step up. [More]
All-Day eBay Search Outage Frustrates Shoppers, Angers Sellers
By 11.22.09
eBay shoppers and particularly eBay buyers are annoyed after a back-end outage has kept shoppers from searching and from viewing sellers’ stores for most of the day. While the site posted a workaround that makes it possible for users to search, it’s unlikely that most casual shoppers will find and use the workaround.
eBay's $2.025 Billion Sale Of Skype Complete
By 11.20.09
eBay has successfully unloaded Skype. They remain a minority stakeholder, but 70% of Skype has been sold to a group that includes the original co-founders of the internet telephony company.
Top 10 Crappiest CEOs (According To Their Employees)
By 10.27.09
Glassdoor released its report of the 50 lowest-rated CEOs as determined by employee reviews on its site. I scractched out all the companies you don’t care about and ended up with this list of the 10 Crappiest CEOs (of consumer-facing compaines) (according to their employees)…
PayPal Links Account To Mysterious Email Address, Won't Unlink Or Explain Why
By 10.26.09
PayPal has locked Jessica’s account and won’t release her funds until she pays off the negative balance in her other account. That’s fine, except that she doesn’t have another account. Whatever they linked her to, it’s not hers. Of course, this being PayPal, they won’t give her any information about the other account. She can’t even access it to see what the balance is or who it belongs to.
California Is Having A Garage Sale!
By 8.26.09
This Friday and Saturday, the state of California is going to hold a massive garage sale (they’re actually calling it that) to try to get rid of surplus state property while also raising enough money to pay the bills for another month. If you’re in Sacramento you can attend the event in person. If not, you can still take a look at the things they’ve posted on eBay. Who knows, maybe you’ll find a cool car!
GM Cleans Out Closet, Will Sell New Cars On eBay
By 8.10.09
GM just realized that the downstairs hall closet is a freakin’ mess. Mom went down there and saw all these, like, Pontiacs and stuff in there and now everyone is in trouble for letting it get this bad. The solution? An eBay store!
Buy Tchotchkes At Yard Sale, Make Up A Story About 'Em, Sell Both On eBay
By 7.20.09
Have you ever picked up something at a yard sale and wondered where the heck it came from? Like a disturbing clown painting that the owner has a hard time parting with, or a queer Hummel knockoff. The bloggers at Significant Objects seem to have.
General Motors May Sell Cars Through eBay
By 7.11.09
General Motors is considering a partnership with eBay to make it easier for consumers to impulse-buy new vehicles, the recently solvent car maker announced yesterday. Though the deal isn’t yet finalized, General Motors would like to sell their vehicles both through traditional auctions and with a “Buy It Now” option.
Reach Half.com Customer Service
By 6.29.09
Stephanie reminded us of the little-known customer service phone number for Half.com. If you need to call them up, point your phone to 1-800-545-9857.
Postal Service Gettin' It On With eBay
By 6.17.09
The USPS is getting all modern-like, hooking up with eBay to let sellers be billed later for postal services rather than pay immediately. Also, a new tool will let sellers roll streamline the shipping process by letting them buy and print labels without having to juggle accounts or wait in line at the post office.
Hey, Skype, Why Can't I Change My Billing Information?
By 6.9.09
Over the last 1-2 years Skype has gone from being a great alternative to the greedy phone companies, to being worse than AT&T, Time Warner Cable and Comcast combined. Skype’s shady business practices are unlike anything I have experienced with ANY phone or cable company before. And I am saying this as someone who spends $150/year on Skype subscriptions and at least another $50-$75/year on additional Skype out credits.
RadioShack Electronics Trade-In Program Not The Fastest Way To Get Cash
By 5.14.09
A Dallas Morning News blogger decided to test out RadioShack’s new trade-in program, where you mail them your unwanted cellphone, for example, and they mail you a gift card, which you can then turn around and use to buy 7,000 house brand AAA batteries. As you might expect, RadioShack didn’t offer him as much money for his Blackberry Storm as he saw them going for on eBay, but the real problem came from the missed deadlines and delays in getting his gift card: what they said would take one week ended up taking 5 1/2 weeks, and might have taken longer had he not emailed them.
