Security researchers have developed a technique for copying house keys using only a picture of a key.
The approach - developed by computer scientists at UC San Diego - requires no physical access to keys and only a relatively low resolution picture for the software to work. Boffins at the university said they developed the approach in order to nail the false belief that keys are inherently secure.
In one demo, the computers scientists took camera phone pictures of a residential key to pull out the information needed to create identical copies using image-recognition software. A second exercise featured the use of a 5in telephoto lens to take pictures of a key from 200 feet away.
The keys analyzed had a series of five or six cuts, spaced regularly. The San Diego team developed software (dubbed Sneakey) that was capable of analysing photos from nearly any angle to measure the depth of each cut, the so-called bitting code. This, alongside knowledge of the brand and type of key, is enough to make a duplicate.
Adjusting for a wide range of different possible angles and distances between the camera and the target key created headaches for the researchers. They got around this problem by matching control points from a reference image onto the equivalent points in the target image.
"We built our key duplication software system to show people that their keys are not inherently secret," said Stefan Savage, a computer science professor from UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering. "Perhaps this was once a reasonable assumption, but advances in digital imaging and optics have made it easy to duplicate someone’s keys from a distance without them even noticing."
Savage added that some locksmiths have been able to copy keys by sight from high-resolution pics. The development of better image processing software makes it possible to extract the necessary data with far less expertise. The researchers carried out the exercise using Yale keys and its not clear how effective the approach would be using other types of keys.
Professor Savage presented the student-led research at the ACM’s Conference on Communications and Computer Security 2008 in Alexandria, Virginia on Thursday (30 October). ®
Prize/Odds: One Hundred (100) HP PC’s (item H24-KA633, retail value of $500 each) 100 HP Printers (item H24-CB029A, retail value of $170 each), & 100 Viewsonic 22” LCD Monitors (item #V18-2206, retail value of $320 each). Odds of winning will depend upon the number eligible entries received.
Continue Reading Below for Rules and list of current winners, maybe your name is already there!
Online tat bazaar eBay is changing how it charges to encourage more fixed price sales instead of auctions.
Changes to the fee structure announced yesterday seem to make "Buy it Now" offers more attractive, at least to sellers of higher value items. Smaller sellers seem alienated by the changes.
eBay wants to make itself an all-round online retailer rather than just an auction site. For bigger sellers with plenty of inventory, the changes should mean paying less fees to eBay - that’s how it’s being interpreted on eBay message boards. The new fees start on24 September.
Fees are split between up-front charges and final value fee - a percentage of the selling price. Items sold for less than £29.99 used to be charged 7.5 per cent, those selling for between £30.00 and £49.99 at 4.5 per cent - both will be charged 9.9 per cent under the new scheme. However, volume sellers can get discounts of up to 40 per cent on these fees if they sell enough volume and provide good enough service. The situation is further complicated by adding in PayPal fees to the total - eBay encourages sellers to use PayPal. PayPal protection will go up from the current £500 to unlimited from the end of September.
But insertion fees for Buy It Now listings used to cost between 10p and £1.30. They will now cost between 1p and 40p.
There is no change to the obligation to accept PayPal - sellers must offer it but can also accept other payment methods. Last month eBay backed down in Australia from moves to only accept PayPal.
COMMENTS:
And PayPal now "hold" your cash for a month!
By Steve
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 12:22 GMT
Unless you’ve sold more than 100 items on your account PayPal will now place your money on "hold" until you either get positive feedback from the buyer or after 21 days….!?! WTF?!
eBay and PayPal are a complete joke and have forgotten what their target customers are. They are in the business of assisting trade, not telling me I maybe untrustworthy cause I haven’t trade 100 times on their site.
Hmm, a case of …
By M
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 12:22 GMT
… shooting their foot with 12 bore shotgun!
eBay #1231231237 12 bore shotgun only used once! $433.99. BUY IT NOW!
NINE POINT NINE PERCENT!
By Greg
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 12:40 GMT
Plus PayPal on top! No way will people pay that much to list. They’ll just bugger off to eBid.
What the hell is eBay’s problem? People *enjoy* a site full of auctions and small sellers, because it’s full of bargains and oddities. eBay seem determined to turn their site into simply a front-end for dropshippers and Hong Kong con artists. To hell with that!
Do ebay remember who their customers are?
By Anonymous Coward
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 12:52 GMT
Do pepole still buy things on ebay? Inbetween the scammers, fakers, and big Hong-Kong box shifters, there are very few ‘real’ sellers anymore. I used to use ebay when bargains were available from real sellers, but unfortunately it’s just a big online-buy-it-now-shop. Why buy something under UK auction law (with associated risk) using Paypal when you can buy the same item from an online shop for the same price, and get the added credit card safety features?
Buy-it-now is ruining eBay
By Jonathan
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 13:02 GMT
Just try to look for a game on eBay - with their lax security, all of them are fakes from China. I should know, I’ve bought one or two. Instead of people auctioning games after they get tired of them, illegal counterfeit groups sell their wares to unsuspecting people.
dig your own hole …
By Shaka
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 13:06 GMT
eBay is turning into a joke now. They’re excluding the people who made them huge profits during their start period and now looking at making quick large profits.
Well they can fuck right off.
I think it’d be really cool if we could have some sort of mass eBay protest and users just ignore eBay for a week. That ought to give them a good kick in the nuts. And if they don’t change their greedy attitude then there are plenty other options to eBay.
Monopoly
By The Voice of Reason
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 13:07 GMT
This is why monopolies are a bad idea. Vote with your feet!
Well, I always thought the fees were high, but it was a good service
By Big Dave
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 13:09 GMT
Now? Nah. Too much cost for the little guy. You lost me (and hopefully many others). Back to Amazon.
The demise begins
By Simon
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 13:26 GMT
I have been using Ebay less and less and with these new fees I won’t be selling anything else on ebay again.
It used to be fun on ebay but with the charges (and increasing postal charges) it’s back to being cheaper and easier selling in the local paper.
Mines the coat that won’t be on ebay
We had someone from eBay come into work recently to give a talk
By Ben
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 13:32 GMT
Apparently they are making PayPal payment compulsory as it cuts down the risk of fraud. Right. So it’s got nothing to do with the exorbitant fees?
Last couple of times I’ve sold items I’ve been shocked by the chunk ebay took, only then to have even more taken by paypal. Sellers obviously try to build this into their P&P, so I just use Amazon used for books these days. It’s excellent
Just signed with EBid
By Fluffykins
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 13:37 GMT
Thinking about discount for payments outside PayPal as well.
Damn Ebay
By Matthew Pringle
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 13:44 GMT
Yeah Ebay/Paypal just screwed me with the withholding money scam. I had to really pester the buyer to leave feedback and im my experience not many buyers actually do leave feedback.
Try phoning paypal, their telephone system only now works with voice recognition, which doesnt actually work leaving you spending at least 5 times as long on their expensive phone line as the old touch tome system did.
This company is becoming a f**king joke
Spade meet grave
By adnim
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 13:48 GMT
Hopefully Ebay will collapse under the weight of their own greed.
This is what corporations do, they provide a reasonable service at a reasonable price with reasonable quality. As the market share and customer base increase, conditions are slowly added and concessions slowly removed from the T&C’s and costs to the consumer are slowly hiked. Eventually what one has is a totally different service with a completely different price structure to that which attracted one to the service in the first place.
I can only agree
By Anonymous Coward
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 13:52 GMT
I can’t add much that others haven’t said so well already. Except to complain about the asinine policy of not allowing sellers to leave negatives any more either, regardless of circumstances. Even a checkbox system like "Buyer did not pay" would be nice. I’m Looking at ebid in another tab right now. I just wish I could transfer the positive feedback I’ve built up on ebay for the last 5 years.
Better than eBay
By Shaka
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 13:56 GMT
I have a set of Shure SE530PTh earphones that I was going to grudgingly put on eBay yesterday, but I was loathe to give them such high fees, risk my goods to dodgy buyers only then to have PayPal come along and also take a chunk of my money.
So I put them on AVForums instead where at least I know there are more trustworthy people who share same interests as me.
I’ve just accepted an offer made to me. I don’t have to pay anyone any fees and the money will be transferred directly in to my account. Totally hassle free.
So yes, there are other ways to sell eBay, you will not be missed by me!!
paypal "you’ve almost reached the payment limit on your account" message
By Glyn
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 14:12 GMT
"We’ve noticed that you’ve almost reached the payment or ’sending’ limit on your PayPal account. Once you’ve reached your sending limit, you won’t be able to buy any more goods on eBay or other online shops with PayPal. There’s no need to worry. To lift this limit, you simply need to get Verified."
Anyone else had this rubbish. My mates had one and he’s does a lot more transactions than me on it, yet strangely our limits are the same :O
Paypal holds what’s left of your money for interest $
By coozoe
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 14:21 GMT
eBay says you can pay with your bank account OR credit card and it’s immediately paid to the seller. WRONG! If you only list a bank account, it becomes an eCheck and cart blanch for PayPal to hold your money as long as its accountants tell it to.
Nice Model
By Aimee
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 14:32 GMT
This (eBay) is a typical good model, screwed by the suits , as usual.
Time for a new eBay, not based on greed, with perhaps a percentage going to worthy causes.
Double Dipping
By K
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 14:36 GMT
The listing/final value fees don’t make it viable for ‘normal’ sellers on ebay these days.
Add the extortionate paypal fees on top of that and ebay enjoy 2 bites out of your miniscule profit!
Alternatives
By Chris
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 14:40 GMT
If like me you were wondering what the alternatives are, I would just like to mention tazbar.com
Dont use Ebay
By paul
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 14:49 GMT
So, what are the alternatives, has anyone got some good ones?
Shipping add on.
By Charles
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 14:52 GMT
The fee situation has resuted in many of the sellers I have bought stuff from recently adding "handling" to their shipping. It is hard when one buys something fro US10, to pay US20 for shipping, and note that their is a postal indicta for US 1.97 on the package that arrives.
Supose you can’t blane the seller for trying to cover their costs, but I am sure glad I built up my stock of Tubes (Valves in the UK) when i still could.
@ Chris
By Andy ORourke
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 15:29 GMT
"If like me you were wondering what the alternatives are, I would just like to mention tazbar.com"
They came so close, they could have registered tatbazzar.com
Seriously, I did used to seel some stuff on ebay but it just costs too much now. I generally put stuff on Amazon, their fees are quite high but at least you dont have to pay PayPal’s fees as well
Post Office?
By Mister Cheese
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 15:30 GMT
Suggestion for the Post Office… why not set up a rival to e-bay with minimal fees and transfer payment to the seller automatically on delivery? They already have a network of pick-up/drop-off points, and seem to need more business…
Toss Pots
By Ken Darling
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 16:14 GMT
I gave up selling on eBay when they refused to accept the listings that offered Google Checkout as an accepted payment method.
So I closed my sellers account.
And this week I’ve closed my PayPal accounts.
Instead I sell on Craigslist. Much better and no fees.
Bad ebay.. Bad
By spam
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 16:20 GMT
time to go back to the car boot sale and use other sites.. how about amazon..
Re: Post Office?
By Humph
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 16:22 GMT
"Suggestion for the Post Office… why not set up a rival to e-bay with minimal fees and transfer payment to the seller automatically on delivery? They already have a network of pick-up/drop-off points, and seem to need more business…"
But wouldn’t that mean they’d have to actually do some work?
Ebay is getting out of the auction business
By RW
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 17:10 GMT
The Ebay suits see that there’s more money, less hassle, less effort required to make money from sales a la Amazon. So they’re abandoning their old business model and implementing a new one. As I think I commented a week or so ago, I anticipate Ebay will totally abandon auctions in the near future; and now it looks like that will happen before the end of the year.
Downside: Online auctions are a very efficient market and barring scams, frauds, and misrepresentation of goods, the final price is generally close to the theoretical definition of value: what a willing, well-informed buyer will pay a willing well-informed seller. With Ebay out of the picture very soon, sellers will be hard pressed to get the wide exposure Ebay offered.
Craigslist is all very well for everyday stuff, but if you have a specialty item, restricting yourself to the local market won’t yield the best price because there may be nobody locally who appreciates rarities and specialities.
Ebay seems determined to thrust their new model down everyone’s throats and those who don’t agree are to be tossed overboard. I long ago set up and bookmarked an Ebay search URL for a specific item of clothing I like, specifying brand, style, size, etc. This year, the same search string which had worked pretty well with very few false positives no longer works: the results returned include endless false positives: other brands, other styles, etc.
Sure this may give *those* sellers exposure in my eyes, but it doesn’t do any good: I know what I want and no substitutes need apply. I used to check daily, but now maybe a couple of times a month.
And the ludicrous PayPal nonsense is merely the cherry on top of the sundae ("eat this or we’ll make you").
Once Ebay has remodelled itself to look like Amazon, its insistence on PayPal will become a liability. Amazon doesn’t do that, so why would anybody waste money and mental energy on the bloodsucking vampires at Ebay?
Some readers may remember DejaNews, the original usenet newsgroup archive, which tried to reformulate itself as an all-purpose web portal, lost touch with its original business model, and ended up dying a painful death. I predict that Ebay is headed down a similar path.
What other decent online auction sites are there that are free of all the Ebay nonsense?
Sad to see a once-vital website stick its head up its own ass and then inhale deeply.
Ten Percent
By Mike Powers
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 17:12 GMT
eBay is just recognizing that ten percent of their customers represent ninety percent of their profit. A single mid-range mass seller generates as much profit as 60% of eBay’s small-user base put together. Small wonder that eBay is re-focusing on being a storefront service; that’s how they make their money.
ebay-gloom
By madra
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 17:17 GMT
i’m another self-loathing ebay addict. i’ve had a look at most of the alternatives, but i keep coming back to ebay to get shafted again and again. why? - because albeit that the rivals have better fee structures, they have a minute fraction of the items for sale that ebay does. it’s one of those catch22 situations; no-one sells on the other sites, coz no-one sells on them… and everyone sellls on ebay, coz everyone sells on ebay.
for a while there was bated breath all round, when it looked like google were planning to set up a rival ‘gbay’ but it never came to anything more than ‘google checkout’. amazon are about the only other company sizeable enough to knock ebay off their perch, but their system is only good for selling secondhand books and other things that amazon already sells.
i for one will drop ebay in a heartbeat the second something better comes along, but i’m not holding my breath!
recipe for an ebay killer:
1: similar numbers of items for sale as ebay
2: get rid of the pointless rules and restrictions on what people can sell
3: allow new users to transfer their existing feedback ratings from ebay
4: provide a fair feedback system
4: have customer service that disnae treat users with contempt
5: charge reasonable fees
Re: Bad ebay .. Bad
By Simon Ward
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 18:03 GMT
"time to go back to the car boot sale and use other sites.. how about amazon.."
Good if you’re selling something that they sell (books, games etc.) but useless for everything else. I regularly buy and sell books and games on Amazon, and my only real gripe with them is that their ‘postal credit’ is seriously flawed. It wouldn’t be a stretch for Amazon to do something eBay-like, but chances are it’s get overrun by the suits and end up going the same way. I trust Google about as far as I could physically spit Scotland.
I’ve got a bunch of hi-fi gear that I want shot of, but rather than get shafted by Fleabay and PayPal I’m going to stick a postcard in the window of the local post office instead. If that doesn’t work, then I may resort to the local car-boot sales.
Sometimes the analogue methods are best.
Some items work well on Buy-it now
By Kit Temple
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 18:28 GMT
Sometimes Ebay works very nicely as a shop - for the very niche items.
Eg. I am buying some live fish on Ebay - much better than searching through websites. And if I want the fish, I don’t want to wait days for an auction to end, I want to immediately purchase. The same for when I wanted some long ethernet cables without the hasstle of going down the shops.
They do get annoying on auctions where you want second hand stuff - but I think you can normally chose ‘Condition - used’ to filter them out - not much Buy it now options on used goods.
As to small item fees - I guess Ebay must be losing a bit of money on them and making the good money off the power sellers.
paypay not that secure!
By Anonymous Coward
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 18:37 GMT
I left eBay/paypal months ago. When you think about Paypal, it only has 2 layers of security, a email address to login and a password. Er….that’s worrying, very worrying especially as any normal bank with online account requires at least 4 levels or more.
The last year I had my accounts, twice I had problems - major problems like paypal freezing my account with £500 in it! There wont be a thrid time - I quit!
why ebay love buy it now
By bert Plucker
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 18:47 GMT
An online auction requires good and stable network and server resources to enable a fair chance for everyone to bid and win. Bit pricey of course to keep upgrading kit as Ebay popularity grows.
‘Buy it now’ requires bugger all really as its just shopping online and no doubt easier on thier fat overstuffed wallets.
eBay rip-off
By Gulfie
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 21:16 GMT
I’m an eBay seller. Mainly computer components that I’ve upgraded. When eBay upped their rates a while ago I stopped using them as my no. 1 sales outlet. When I posted a mild message about the price rise ANC the alternatives. I was threatened with my account (100+ rated) being suspended.
This is a step too far and I’ll be looking for an alternate site to take my business. And an alternative to PayPal too.
We need Google Auctions
By Haku
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 21:37 GMT
It’s been painfully obvious for a long time now that eBay don’t want auctions, that they just want to be an online /shop/ front, starting with the Buy-It-Now & the introduction of ’stores’ for sellers so they can sell multipile identical items, then changing the address name of the new (& bloody awful to use) search to "shop.ebay.co.uk" from the old (& still thankfully working) "search.ebay.co.uk", and now the absurd price hikes for auctions whilst dropping the prices for fixed price listings.
I hate eBay for these moves, if you’re a collector of something obscure then it’s now going to be even more difficult to find those 2nd hand items because private sellers will be even more reluctant to list knowing they’re going to have to give such a huge percentage to eBay & PayPal for the "privilage" of selling through them.
Google appear to be the only company that could bring out an online auction site which would gain enough interest from sellers & buyers to steal customers away from eBay in significant amounts.
Do it Google, you know you want to.
Good thinking Ebay
By JC
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 21:42 GMT
Gradually do away with the only reason you became such a big hit. Ebay you’re in big trouble soon if your Buy-It-Now prices aren’t lower than everyone else’s.
@ K
By Timbo
Posted Thursday 21st August 2008 23:41 GMT
>>Add the extortionate paypal fees on top of that and ebay enjoy 2 bites out of your miniscule profit!
So, you must be a reseller….!!
For me, as a private individual, to use eBay is easy and simple….I have something I don’t want anymore and it’s "too good" to junk, give to a charity shop and no one I know, wants it.
A few other people might want it, so onto eBay it goes - it fetches a fair price and someone else gets the item….a win, win scenario.
If I’m lucky, I get a reasonable percentage of it’s original value back. If it doesn’t sell, I can offer it again (for free) and keep my fingers crossed.
As a reseller, you COULD open a shop (if you haven’t already got one) and sell on the High Street…..take a gamble on business rates/VAT/wages/National Insurance etc and hopefully a caring landlord….and that really would eat into your "profits".
PH - coz she could be regarded as "damaged goods"…?
Google will not make an EBay alternative.
By Richard
Posted Friday 22nd August 2008 00:10 GMT
Why?
Because EBay is one of their biggest advertisers. You notice that
Google does not push their payment system all that hard because
EBay felt threatened and also forbid its usage in the auctions.
Since I don’t sell, I don’t mind using paypal most of the time, though
you have to ask the seller questions as sometimes Paypal gets stupid.
"Well, the seller did not say the card WASN’T ripped".
True story that cost me $40. Soon as I use up the paypal bonus returns
I’m going to Visa and see what happens there.
Might get me to not use Paypal at all or even EBay, which means I will
save lots of money and Ebay will lose lots. Not that I necessarily win
tons, but my bidding certainly has made the overall price go up quite a
bit in some cases.
Walking away after 5 years of selling full time
By datamonk
Posted Friday 22nd August 2008 02:18 GMT
I’ve been thinking for a while that running an eBay shop is more trouble than it’s worth. Then last month for the first time I had my paypal account frozen and had to go through something akin to Franz Kafkas "The Trial" to even find out why. It turns out that someone had tried to chargeback on an item despite having actually bloody signed for it. It took a week to sort out and I couldn’t even get my money out to spend on more stock. I was repeatedly lied to, given conflicting information every time, given fake numbers to call and generally messed around by paypal despite being totally reasonable and doing everything they asked. Leaves a bit of a pissy taste in the mouth I can tell you when they are taking such a huge slice already.
Then this. You get charged to list, charged when it sells, charged when you get paid and charged when you try to get your money AND they are upping the fees?
I have to throw my cards down on this hand I think, I am closing my shop right now and even though I’ve worked so hard on it and had so many happy customers and managed a 100% positive feedback rating it just isn’t worth it. They will kill their business this time because all traders are sick of it and everyone will flock to the first viable alternative.
The only customers eBay are going to be left with are people who can’t add up.
None of these moans add up
By Charles King
Posted Friday 22nd August 2008 04:52 GMT
Let’s look at an actual example of some fees:
Say you’re a small-time seller and have an expensive book that sells at £100. You put it on eBay with a £50 reserve and it sells for £100.
eBay takes out £6.40 for listing fee +FVF. The remaining £93.60 then goes to PayPal, who take out £3.38, leaving you with £90.21(rounding down).
Sell the same book on Amazon and they’ll only give you £81.89. In addition Amazon will charge you a fee for passing on the money for delivery.
That’s quite a big difference in eBay’s favour.
The problem with eBay is small sellers who know little about the costs and realities of doing business. The fact that people are *still* whining about the changes to buyer feedback shows how unrealistic these people’s expectations are. All these sob stories from hobby sellers who thought they could make an easy buck on eBay when they know nothing about retail just make me laugh.
How about ebid?
By Dave Webb
Posted Friday 22nd August 2008 07:07 GMT
Does anyone have experience with ebid? I’d like to try them as their fee structure is massively better but it doesn’t seem to have the user base. Therefore I feel that anything I list will get much less interest than it would on ebay, and sell for a lot less.
I’ve registered anyway in the hope that as a result of ebay pissing everyone off it will grow bigger. Spread the word
Just sent them this (after eventually finding the right feedback form)
By Jon Winter
Posted Friday 22nd August 2008 07:16 GMT
Dear eBay,
That’s it. With your latest swathe of fee increases you have made it completely uneconomical for me to sell on eBay. Listing a buy it now item for 99p costs 40p in fees, plus 9.9% selling fee, plus a 28p fee to Paypal. So eBay/Paypal get 78% of the sale price in fees and I get 22%. Then you remove the option to make my items visible internationally so I have fewer customers. Mind you, with me making absolutely nothing any more selling an item, perhaps you have done me a favour getting rid of half my customers so I don’t waste my time posting things where I no longer make a profit at all. Every few months, eBay changes its fees or conditions or feedback system to make things worse for sellers and I consider leaving. This time there is absolutely no reason for me to continue to use eBay any more. Well done, you finally drove me away. And I just made it to 2000 feedback. Cheers, Jon
Looking for eBay alternatives …
By Geoff Mackenzie
Posted Friday 22nd August 2008 07:23 GMT
I’ve been one of their more loyal customers. Although I haven’t sold much lately, I had a few items lined up and I was still planning to use eBay, but this is clearly going from bad to worse so I’m out of there. I’m sure they’re going to succeed in what they’re doing - I don’t think they’re being stupid, just realigning what their site is all about. This is a systematic attack on small sellers - they really do want rid of us. They want a few big sellers and a horde of small buyers - you can see why they think that’ll work, and it probably will. I don’t see why they didn’t start a separate side-project for this though, there was no need to kill eBay in the process.
To avoid giving them the satisfaction I’m going to stop buying through them as well. Craigslist doesn’t seem to have really taken hold around here yet but Gumtree is going strong. I’m giving that a try. It’s a little bit of a shame to lose the convenience of Paypal but it’s a price worth paying now that the price of Paypal itself isn’t. I guess the eBay of old was too good to last.
paypal cuts down fraud?
By James Woods
Posted Friday 22nd August 2008 07:54 GMT
How does a company that prides itself on "masking information" contribute in a positive manner for fraud? Theres a large mis-conception, especially since PayPal is out lying about how they handle disputes. Sure having e-bay/paypal owned by the same company was a huge mistake, but it’s the free market right? Ha, I stopped using ebay years ago. With Paypal you never know, one day you wake up, your accounts frozen, and your on the phone with someone in india.
@Richard
By Bill Bennett
Posted Friday 22nd August 2008 08:10 GMT
I had a similar problem a few weeks back. Sold an iPod on eBay, stated "this item is used and has quite a few scratches on the screen".
The buyer opened a PayPal dispute saying that I hadnt said in the item description that the scratches were visible when using the pod. DUH!!
PayPal ruled in his favour, and made me give him a £20 part-refund.
@Shaka and his/her Shure SE530s
By Greg
Posted Friday 22nd August 2008 08:28 GMT
Arses! I’ve been looking for a set of those….on eBay….
Paypal?
By Anonymous Coward
Posted Friday 22nd August 2008 09:20 GMT
My PayPal account got hacked and crippled twice in the two weeks after I opened it*. Shut it down. End. Of. Story.
* and no I didn’t use a noobie password…..
Thank you, Jon Winter …
By Simon Ward
Posted Friday 22nd August 2008 10:04 GMT
I’ve just nuked my eBay and PayPal accounts and lacking anything suitable to put into the eBay ‘feedback box’, I cut and paste your rant, modified it a little to suit my own circumstances and let ‘em have it.
Maybe if enough people do this they’ll get the message, but I’m not holding my breath.
In the immortal words of The Exploited: Fuck ‘em.
Mine’s the one with the postcards in the pocket - they’re going in the Post Office window.
Vote with your feet
By David Goadby
Posted Friday 22nd August 2008 10:16 GMT
Let’s face it some will vote with their feet and go elsewhere (are there other dotcom auction survivors?) and the rest of us will continue to use eBay. Yes the costs are getting a bit steep but look at the alternatives.
The local papers charge a lot (£25 for a classified) for poor coverage, only a couple of days of good visibility, and no PayPal or CC options - cash or cheque. Mostly you will have to drive to do the deal adding to buyers costs so some will decline to visit.
Boot sales are fading fast due to Ebay so early morning bargains are getting rare. And why waste 1/2 a day when an Ebay search takes 5 minutes and you don’t even have to get dressed.
The free sheets only cover more densely populated areas and you may have to travel a distance (petrol costs 20p a mile) to see the item only to be told it is sold.
If you take a step back then, like it or not, Ebay is still the better option.
Alternatives to Greedbay
By artyman
Posted Friday 22nd August 2008 11:34 GMT
Ebay is only interested in them making money, not you as a seller, when you face up to this fact then you can take positive action to change things. There are alternatives like http://ebid.net and http://www.tazbar.com two sites where I have been selling for two years at a fraction of the cost of eBay. Until people wake up and realise that eBay only survives because you let it by continuing to support the place by buying and selling on there. Take both your buying and selling elsewhere to the alternatives and it will eventually collapse.
I made more money in the first 12 months when i quit eBay than I had in the previous 12 selling on there, and that didn’t include the saving on fees either.
9.9 percent is outrageous fee for saling computer parts
By Doug Lynn
Posted Friday 22nd August 2008 13:58 GMT
HI, Ebay is not good for selling computer parts, unless they are old used parts where the markup is good. Computer and computer parts sell for anywhere from 3 percent to 15 percent profit margin. Ebay is just ripping us off. I only sell used parts on Ebay, they want too much money. Thats what happens when you take a good auction site and turn it into a corporation with hungry/greedy stockholders. To think Ebay was started by a Christian woman…. better evaluate your morals and usury.
the alternative is…
By Callum
Posted Friday 22nd August 2008 14:06 GMT
I started my backroom hobbyist mountain bike parts online shop in 1997 - paypal wasn’t around then so I had a natwest merchant services account and a bureau account at Netbanx (which I found out later is an ex pr0n consortium in cambridge).. As a small online trader, I was getting billed 8% on revenue, with full exposure to chargebacks and a 3 month revenue retention. I had to be a Ltd company to get the merchant account and get approved by the bank. There was little fraud protection at the time and i was hit with stolen card numbers a few times.
Today, for me, paypal is integrated through my website (not ebay) is a great tool allowing foreign transactions for a small fraction of the cost of using corporate banking. Sure, paypal has service quality issues, but then so did using the bank. In the three years I used them, netbanx never managed to tally the figures correctly with all sorts of rounding errors and strangeness! It’s just a cost of doing business and should be accounted for. Online international payments is not exactly simple and the HomeCommerceTards should realise that.
Ebay is great for selling ‘pooter parts !
By Mark
Posted Friday 22nd August 2008 14:51 GMT
I bought a 2nd hand Tosh laptop for £150, used it for a year then the motherboard developed a dry joint which I couldn’t fix.
So I took it to bits, binned the Mo’bo’, and flogged all the parts for about £140 !
It’s just a case of making a good guess at how much you can get for your bits, then selling them using buy it now.
I’ll still be checking out the alternatives tho’ because I don’t like Ebay’s monopoly which affords them a certain arrogance, and their customer service is often sh*te..
add this moan up then
By datamonk
Posted Friday 22nd August 2008 14:58 GMT
"Say you’re a small-time seller and have an expensive book that sells at £100. You put it on eBay with a £50 reserve and it sells for £100."
Is that in any way typical of an ebay sale? No, it’s not. It’s the same kind of spurious logic used by eBay themselves to offload on the more gullible journalists with the headline "eBay slashes fees" etc.
There are more relevant examples in the replies, most people are selling low value items - it is now impossible to do that because as someone points out they are taking nearly 70% of his sale price. That just isn’t feasible as a business. Higher value items are also hit badly, like I said the only people who are not going to be put off trading are large companies and people who can’t add up.
This will only benefit large companies with huge amounts of stock who will be selling their items with a quid off highstreet prices. That’s what ebay will become. Have a bit of empathy, people have put a lot of time into ebay. Plenty of them understand retail, they understand enough not to be fooled into thinking this is somehow a good thing at least.
Sadly there is no alternative yet, all these other suggestions are fine if you sell toasters or something but if you sell anything niche there just isn’t the customers there yet. eBay remains a good place to buy, just a pointless place to sell and as long as they have the buyers it doesn’t matter what they charge.
Pissed me off to read that guys comment though, what a patronising load of crap from someone who is a bit bitter they didn’t get a few years of working from home!
Ebay disaster
By B Taidi
Posted Friday 22nd August 2008 16:33 GMT
I for one will not buy any thing on ebay that is not on auction. Both ebay and paypal have become too greedy and totally forgoten where they all started. They are making one bad dicission after another. Ebay is becoming useless.
It’s easier to publish a listing on, it’s free and actual human beings with actual money will show up at your door, hand that actual money TO YOU, and leave with your stuff. AND to the comment about only hitting the local market, I live in Southern California. I’ve put up Craigslist ads and had replies from Texas, Florida and other states interested in my items. AND I’ve sold everything I’ve ever listed there for more than I, in reality, expected or could have gotten from Ebay.
Let’s hear YOUR opinion, be sure to leave us with your thoughts on eBay changes below:
Posted on 22 August '08 by Brad, under Uncategorized. 1 Comment.
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Asus Eee PC 2G Surf The new Asus Eee PC 2G Surf brings portable computing to the next level. At 7-inches and weighing only 2 pounds, you can take the Eee PC anywhere. This amazing little notebook features rich network and wireless connectivity, a graphic user interface for simplicity and ease of use, and more than 40 built-in applications. With the Asus Eee PC, bumps and shocks are no longer issues, because it features a dependable solid-state 2GB storage drive that gives you unparalleled shock-protection and reliability. Power-efficient design provides longer operating time when you’re on the go. Perfect for the student, the Asus Eee PC 2G Surf offers an excellent Internet experience and makes it easy to learn, work, and play. Shop the World Wide Web without attaching any lines or wires. Learn through the latest technology without a technical manual. Connect with friends and family with just a few clicks. You’re always connected with built-in WiFi 802.11 b/g that automatically detects and connects to the Internet at any hotspot. The Eee PC includes the documents and the e-mails software, and a suite of other productivity software to help keep you on track. Upload photos and videos and share them instantly on Flickr or YouTube without waiting till you get home. Enjoy music and videos with extensive support for a wide range of digital multimedia. Log on to Skype or other networks, and you can connect with friends anywhere, anytime. Best of all, the ultra-portable Asus Eee PC 2G Surf is incredibly inexpensive – so you’d better place your order quickly before the word gets out that this is the best deal anywhere for a super-light, versatile notebook that makes even schoolwork tons of fun!
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So many types of memory. So many terms used to describe it. EDO, DRAM, BEDO, etc, WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?!?
Use this handy list of memory specific definitions below to help you understand what it all means.
Here are some of the most common terms you will here, be sure to click READ MORE below to view the entire list.
NON-ECC/Non-parity — Most desktop and laptop computers take NON-ECC or Non-parity memory.
ECC/Parity — ECC or parity modules look for errors in data and are most often found in servers and other mission-critical applications used by large networks and businesses.
Unbuffered — Most PCs and workstations use unbuffered memory which is faster than registered memory.
Registered/Buffered — Registered or buffered modules delay all information transferred to the module by one clock cycle. This type of memory is primarily used in servers.
Fully buffered — Designed for next-generation servers, features an advanced memory buffer.
CL — CAS (column address strobe) latency, which is the number of clock cycles it takes before data starts to flow after a command is received. Lower CL is faster. Modules with different CL can be mixed on a system, but the system will only run at the highest (slowest) CL.
Component configuration — (For example: 64Meg x 64) Indicates the size of the memory chip components on the module.
Voltage — For example 2.6V. Indicates the power used by the module. The lower the better.
What does memory do, how does it work and why do I need more?
Memory Swapping: This is why the more RAM you have, the more things you can execute faster in your computer. But what happen when you want to open an application that takes more memory that your RAM can support? Memory swapping happen. Lets say you have a total of 512 megabytes of RAM. And you open an application that needs 1014mb of RAM to fully operate. Theres a problem, now your computer will take 512mb’s of data at a time, sends it to the CPU, wait to get it back again, sends it back to the harddrive, retrieve the OTHER 512mb’s that have remained untouched, sends to the CPU, wait to get it back, and re-send it to the harddrive. He will make that again, and again, and again until your application has closed. Due to the harddrive read/write speed memory swapping will greatly slower your system. The solution? Get more ram. The advantage of having more RAM is that you can execute multiple applications before going into a memory swapping situation.
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HI BRAD my computer desktop is a dell amd with the Windows XP Pro installed on it and it always works so good except that now i get the following error when i try to run the computer?
“we apologize for the inconvenience, but windows did not start successfully. a recent hardware or software change might have caused this” “If your computer stopped responding, restarted unexpectedly, or was automatically shut down to protect your files and folders, choose Last Known good configuration to revert to the most recent settings that worked”
“If a previous startup attempt was interrupted due to a power failure or because the power or reset button was pressed, or if you aren’t sure what caused the problem, choose start windows Normally”
safe mode
safe mode with networking
safe mode with command Prompt
last known good configuration(your most recent settings that worked
starts windows normally
Use the up and down arrow keys to move the highlight to your choice.
but now when i try and select anything no matter what it is on the list that it lets me pick from i get the following error:
[b]“STOP: c0000218
The registry cannot load the hive(file):
\SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE
or its log or alternate. It is corrupt, absent, or not writable.
Beginning dump of physical memory.
Dumping physical memory to disk:”
then i get a windows count down timer that starts at 99 seconds. then the screen goes black and it all starts all over again the same way each time and i can only stop it from doing this by pulling the plug out from the wall why is it doing this?
TopiCato - Des Moines
RESOLUTION:
Well Topicato, it sounds to me like you have a very frustrating problem. I hope I will be able to assist you.
You will need a Windows CD, preferably the same that you have installed on your system. If you do not have a CD, borrow one from someone, you will not be copying any software onto your computer from it so do not worry about pirating.
You will need to be able to boot from a CD on your system, if it doesn’t already do that, you will need to go into your BIOS and look under a section called “boot” or “boot priority” or something similar. Make sure that your FIRST boot device is CD or CD/DVD or something similar.
Here are the steps for you to follow Topicato, it is very important that you do them precisely the way I have them and in the order listed. good luck!
1. Insert the Windows XP Professional CD into your CD/DVD drive and restart the computer.
2. Your system may ask you to “strike any key to boot from CD” make sure you do that in time.
3. Once the Win CD has finished loading, it will offer you a setup screen. From this screen you need to select “Run Recovery Console”
4. Now you should be in a DOS like atmosphere: black screen, white letters, etc. you will now need to type the following,
(do not type the [SPACE] or [ENTER], they are there to guide you) (If your Windows drive letter is not C: make corrections)
Hi Brad, I have a problem and have not yet been able to solve it. In fact, I have already given up a month ago, but now I see your Q&A thing here and I am hoping you can assist me.
I CAN NOT INSTALL WINDOWS! ANY VERSION OR ANY CD!
I have disconnected my soundcard, modem, ethernet card and even my video card (just using the onboard VGA). then I tried to install windows xp home from the original disk, i could not install it. I get the error at 29% completion "the file" whatever "was not copied correctly" then it lets me hit escape to skip the file or enter to retry. Naturally I assumed that my disk was bad, I borrowed my neighbor’s disk and had the same problem, so I purchased a new Windows XP Home from Wal-Mart and brought it home gleefully expecting to be back up and running an hour later…. 29% = same problem. so I called Best Buy and they assured me that it was my DRIVE that was bad, that made sense to me so I ran to BB and purchased and new DVD/CD drive. brought it home and i still had the same error at the exact same spot, windows could not copy the following file to the darn hard disk drive. as usual if i click escape to skip that file and the remaining 30 some files once the install is done i get a blue screen with white letters telling me to kill microsofts butt.
sorry.
So then I call Com-USA and they tell me that it is my motherboard, then they sell me a new motherboard for $150, they "suggest" to me that I purchase a new CPU as that has probably failed as well, but I decline.
They did convince me to get a brand new hard drive though, 320 Giggerbites!
Brad, I am so upset just writing about this again. after all that, it did not work. there is no change at all! new windows CD, new hard drive, new dvd/cd drive, new motherboard! all that new hardware that I do not need. okay. last thing. I tried to bring the board and drive back to compusa and the windows disk and other stuff, no one would accept them back. so i thought heck George, I am in it this far, why stop now, so i went to COMPUSA again and bought the CPU they originally suggested and guess what happened this time when i tried to install windows? the exact same thing. please please please tell me what my problem is!
RESPONSE:
Hello George, sounds like a VERY frustrating situation you have there. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I think you are going to have to make ANOTHER purchase : )
From the symptoms you describe to me, my first suggestion would be to change the IDE cables (or SATA? you did not mention the type of system) BUT I assume that when you purchased the new drive, it would have come with shiny new cables and you would have used them, I assume.
My next suggestion, would be THE MEMORY. If you have two or more memory modules, (sticks) remove one, try to install, if that doesn’t work, replace the other with the one you just removed and attempt to reinstall again. I belive, based on the symptoms you described that you will find the install will run SMOOTHLY now. if you have only one memory module in your system, you will have to purchase another and replace it. frankly George, it should never have been suggested to you to exchange all that other jazz. In my opinion, you have spent more for parts then it would have cost for a new computer AND you now have almost enough parts to make a new computer. pick up a nice CASE / power supply from www.TigerDirect.com , throw in all the extra parts you just bought and you will have a new computer for the kids. : )
If you need to buy memory, this site will tell you what you need and how much $$ www.crucial.com
Please let me know how things go!
UPDATE FROM GEORGE 2 DAYS LATER:
Brad Brad Brad! Your the man! I had 2 512MEGABITE chips in my motherboard, I removed 1 of them and tried to install win xp and IT WORKED!!!!! no error! thank you thank you thank you!
PROBLEM: Windows will not install properly, even with different disks and different hardware.
SOLUTION: replace memory modules.
Do YOU have a computer or tech related question? SEND your questions to cheapest PC repair!
Here are some ZenCart videos to assist you as you set up and use your new online store.
It may seem daunting at first, but once you get your used to the way your new online store works and you put some effort into it, the payoff in the end makes it all well worth it.
In one demo, the computers scientists took camera phone pictures of a residential key to pull out the information needed to create identical copies using image-recognition software. A second exercise featured the use of a 5in telephoto lens to take pictures of a key from 200 feet away.
science professor from UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering. "Perhaps this was once a reasonable assumption, but advances in digital imaging and optics have made it easy to duplicate someone’s keys from a distance without them even noticing."
the student, the Asus Eee PC 2G Surf offers an excellent Internet experience and makes it easy to learn, work, and play. Shop the World Wide Web without attaching any lines or wires. Learn through the latest technology without a technical manual. Connect with friends and family with just a few clicks. You’re always connected with built-in WiFi 802.11 b/g that automatically detects and connects to the Internet at any hotspot. The Eee PC includes the documents and the e-mails software, and a suite of other productivity software to help keep you on track. Upload photos and videos and share them instantly on Flickr or YouTube without waiting till you get home. Enjoy music and videos with extensive support for a wide range of digital multimedia. Log on to Skype or other networks, and you can connect with friends anywhere, anytime. Best of all, the ultra-portable Asus Eee PC 2G Surf is incredibly inexpensive – so you’d better place your order quickly before the word gets out that this is the best deal anywhere for a super-light, versatile notebook that makes even schoolwork tons of fun!
You will need a Windows CD, preferably the same that you have installed on your system. If you do not have a CD, borrow one from someone, you will not be copying any software onto your computer from it so do not worry about pirating.
