Torahs for Sale on eBay.

Groups can buy Torahs online, but must beware of dangers SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — New Jewish communities are relying on the Internet to communicate, organize, build community — and sometimes to obtain Torahs. Four-year-old Minyan Tehillah in Cambridge, Mass., applied online to Save-A-Torah Inc., a Maryland organization that rescues and restores Eastern European Torahs and donates them to needy congregations.
“We qualified — we’re students and young adults,” ritual coordinator Rachel Milner Gillers says.
Commissioning a new Torah, which can cost $20,000 to $60,000, was out of the minyan’s reach.

Read more http://stlouis.ujcfedweb.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=208863

Police Break Up EBay Gang

An Oceans 11-style crime syndicate that carried out more than 200 highly planned jewellery raids across Europe has been smashed by police.
Forces in seven European countries have broken up the network which channeled more than £25m from jewel heists into drugs and real estate.
The money came from highly choreographed raids on jewellers, mainly in northern Italy, with the goods fenced on eBay and through pawn shops, Europol said.
Police made 35 arrests after swooping on the homes of suspects in Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Spain, France and Germany.
Italian police have been working on the case since 2005.
The gang usually worked in teams of four thieves to rob high-end jewellery stores in operations often lasting less than a minute, said the agency, which coordinates police intelligence throughout Europe.
Stores in at least a dozen other countries were targeted.
Without intelligence cooperation, "it is very unlikely those countries would have known that the group responsible was one and the same," Europol director Max-Peter Ratzel said.
Spokesman Soren Pedersen said more arrests were expected around Europe. "This is just the start of a major police operation," he said.
The stolen items were swiftly moved out of their country of origin and sold, allegedly to finance hashish and cocaine trafficking from Spain to Scandinavia.

eBay Addresses Vladuz Hacking Incident

Rumors have been circulating since December that a Russian had hacked into eBay databases. Screenshots of discussion-board posts by eBay moderators that were composed and signed by "Vladuz" were posted by eBay members as proof that the hacker had accessed eBay email accounts. An eBay spokesperson did not respond to an inquiry made by AuctionBytes last month looking for information about the alleged hacking incident.

But a small group of eBay users kept discussing the Vladuz matter online. On Wednesday, eBay finally responded to an inquiry from the Register in the UK and acknowledged that someone had obtained access to a small number of eBay email accounts (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/20/ebay_conspiracy).

Read more http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m02/i22/s03

eBay Find of the Day: Original Pink Panther car

Here's a special item that can tell the love of your life how truly unique you think he or she is. This one of a kind pink vehicle was created in the '60s as the real world embodiment of the cartoon car used in the Pink Panther TV show. As the eBay description tells us, "respected" Hollywood builder Jay Ohrberg created this monstrosity fantastic custom. Described as a "limo," it is 23 ft long, 6 ft wide and is powered by a 7-litre engine! It's front-wheel drive for those in snowy climates, and although capable of running on its own, it has only been started occasionally. The seller admits it might need brakes and advises towing it to events where it is sure to draw a crowd.

The seller also promises that the rights to use the Pink Panther name are available from MGM as part of the deal. As outrageous as it looks on the outside, the inside looks tailored for Austin Powers. A huge shagfest lounge is what you're greeted with when you drop open the tailgate-like doors. Surely it's seen a lot of lovin'. The seller promises to have it reupholstered, as well. Act now, the opening bid of 75,000 pounds (Approximately US $147,210.00) is the only one up right now with three days left. It's eBay Item number: 190081313567. Sort of reminds us of that wild Nomad from Barrett-Jackson.

And the Winner Is...Wyoming girl is highest bidder in eBay auction of OWU tuition

A final bid of $18,669.99 finished out Oklahoma Wesleyan University’s auction on eBay for a full year of tuition, room and board.Candace Blain of Douglas, Wyo., currently a college sophomore at South Dakota State University, was the highest bidder.

Blain, who is majoring in nursing, will transfer to OWU next year but is not keeping her win for herself — she will be giving the tuition to her younger sister, Chelsea, who is a senior in high school in Wyoming.

Read more http://www.examiner-enterprise.com/articles/2007/02/15/news/news840.txt

Shill-bidding: ECS researchers propose a solution for online auctions

Researchers at the University of Southampton have proposed a solution to ‘shill-bidding’, a disruptive but increasingly prevalent practice which threatens the integrity of online auctions such as eBay.
Shill-bidding occurs when a seller, or a friend or associate of a seller, bids clandestinely on their own sale. Sellers can thus increase the price of their own items or ultimately buy them back if the auction fails to achieve the price they want.

Read more http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/about/news/1177

eBay Sellers Cash In on ‘Mooninites’

Those light boxes installed in major cities across the nation to promote Cartoon Network's Aqua Teen Hunger Force first triggered a terrorism panic in Boston, then triggered some commercial exploitation on eBay.
Fans have designed and are selling T-shirts taking off on the crisis, caused when law enforcement officials in Beantown two weeks ago treated the lighted figures of a "Mooninite" character from the show as possible explosive devices.

Read more http://animators.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=105155