Some eBay users abuse feedback system, study finds

University researchers in the East Bay said Wednesday they have discovered that a number of people who use the digital bazaar at the eBay online site are buying and selling reputations along with goods and services.
Some eBay users resort to artificial means to bolster their reputation on the Internet auction site by selling and buying good feedback, according to a professor and a doctoral student at UC Berkeley. The users are taking advantage of what is one of the eBay site's key features, the reputations of the sellers and buyers.
"I could go into this market and buy lots and lots of points of reputation," said John Morgan, a Haas School of Business who co-authored the study with Jennifer Brown, a doctoral student with UC's Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. "They want to buy that reputation so people think they are a good seller."

Read more http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/16429945.htm

Cramer's 'Mad Money Lightning Round': Bid on eBay

Here's what Jim Cramer had to say about some of the stocks that callers offered up during the "Mad Money Lightning Round" Wednesday evening:
Sirenza Microdevices (SMDI - commentary - Cramer's Take): "We recommended that in the midsingle digits ... sold it in the teens, and we never looked back ... radio frequency for the Sirius Satellites (SIRI - commentary - Cramer's Take) of the world. ... Sell Sirenza Micro and never look back."

Read more http://www.thestreet.com/_googlen/funds/lightninground/10331877.html?cm_ven=GOOGLEN&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA

http://www3.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO39686/

Two 17-year-olds face burglary and felony theft charges after they allegedly tried to fence computer equipment they stole from Fort Collins high schools through the online auction house, eBay.
The two suspects - a Fort Collins High student and Poudre High student - allegedly stole computers and other electronic equipment totaling over $40,000.
The break-ins began in mid-October with the last one occurring during the early morning hours of Jan. 3 at Fossil Ridge High School. Fossil Ridge was hit three times, Fort Collins High twice, police said.
Acting on a hunch, Poudre School District security officials decided to check the latest offerings on eBay on Jan. 4 and discovered computers from the latest heist.
"They took a gander, and there they were," said school resource officer Suzanne Rice.

Read more http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4986712

Milford man buys snow on eBay to compensate for warm, dry winter

A Milford man has purchased his own winter wonderland in this dry and unseasonably warm season.
Chris Hansen used an online auction to fulfill a Christmas wish of his three daughters by buying snow from snowy Colorado.
A former Monroe resident who now lives in Loveland, Colorado, said today that Hansen was the winning bidder in a snow auction on eBay.

Read more http://www3.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO39686/

EBay buying online tickey broker for $310 M

EBay Inc. is buying rapidly growing online ticket broker StubHub Inc. for $310 million (all figures U.S.) in cash, further expanding the Internet auctioneer's electronic bazaar.
The San Jose-based company announced the deal late Wednesday after the news had already been leaked to the media.
The sale, expected to close before April, punctuates another improbable Internet success story.
Jeff Fluhr, StubHub's 32-year-old co-founder and chief executive, launched the San Francisco startup against the dreary backdrop of the dot-com bust 6.5 years ago with another former student at Stanford Graduate School of Business, Eric Baker.

Read more http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/169862