The Canadian men's hockey team fizzled on the ice at the Olympics in Turin, Italy, but the group has scored big for a great cause.

Hockey Canada has again teamed up with EBay Canada to auction game-worn Team Canada hockey jerseys the guys wore at the Olympics. Three jerseys were worn by each Team Canada player at the Winter Olympics -- one black, one red and one white. The 22 jerseys up for grabs are the black ones worn in two games: Feb. 16 against Germany and Feb. 21 against the Czech Republic. Fans can bid on the jerseys until March 10. Proceeds will go to cover costs associated with the preparation and execution expenses of both hockey and sledge hockey teams for the Turin Games and Paralympics.

Check the Hockey Canada website at www.hockeycanada.ca or www.ebay.ca.

And standing in line at the busy security checkpoint at the Portland International Airport, you probably didn't have much choice: leave it behind or miss your flight.

So you parted with that pocketknife, pair of scissors or screwdriver and went on your way, knowing you can always buy another one.

It's a scenario repeated hundreds of times a year at PDX, and until recently, few people knew where all those items now considered unsafe for plane travel ended up.

It wasn't in a dumpster, that's for sure.

More than likely, your Swiss Army knife, Snap-On screwdriver or knitting needles are up for bid on the internet auction site eBay, being sold by the city of Portland, along with dozens of stolen bicycles, computer equipment and other items that end up in the city's property rooms.

City of Portland and State of Oregon officials have adopted the practice of selling items on eBay in a big way.

The city and state have multiple eBay accounts for selling everything from confiscated scissors to tanker trucks.

A quick search Thursday turned up hundreds of items ranging from a box full of kitchen knives to a late-model snowmobile to surplus maintenance vehicles.

Initial prices are extremely low, so most of the items had multiple bids.

Terry Brooks of the Oregon State Surplus Program says stolen property and surplus items come into a Salem warehouse, are sorted, labeled and then placed on eBay for sale to the public.

Some of the most popular items sold by the city on eBay are bicycles.

Portland is well-known as a cycle-friendly town, and the large number of bikes means a large number get stolen as well.

Tye Routley oversees the stolen property room in Portland, and says he sees all kinds of bikes come through his facility, from boxes of parts to full-on race bikes.

Many bikes listed by the city that sell on eBay for about $50 cost well over $400 when they were new.

A pair of kids BMX bikes and a pair of name-brand mountain bikes both had a starting bid price of just 99 cents.

Routley says the city always tries to reunite bikes with owners, but if an owner does not have a serial number or does not report their bike stolen, he has no choice but to list the bike for sale online.

In 2004, eBay sales sent over $70,000 to the state's general fund, all of it from the sale of confiscated or stolen items that were never claimed.

Sales figures for 2005 were not yet available.

The next time you make an online purchase -- or online sale -- paying attention to the "plus shipping and handling" part of the transaction could save, cost or make you some extra bucks.

That's the upshot of a study by two professors who looked at how people react to the prices and shipping costs for items they put on the block at the eBay auction site. It turns out, according to their research, that people are a lot more likely to notice the basic cost of an item than to check the shipping charges.

The bottom line: Sellers can make more money if they charge a lower price for the item itself, but charge a bit more for the shipping fees, according to the study by UC Berkeley Haas School of Business professor John Morgan and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology assistant professor Tanjim Hossain.

"Setting a low opening bid and a high shipping and handling cost yield systematically higher revenue than doing the reverse," Morgan and Hossain wrote.

Why does this happen? Why don't people look at the entire price? The answers may lie in part in how people process financial costs involved in negotiations.

"My preferred explanation is people keep separate mental accounts for different aspects of a purchase," Morgan said. "People keep a kind of mental account for the purchase itself and put that in one silo, and they keep a separate mental account for the shipping charges and put that in another silo."

The professors conducted several auctions to compare what happened when the opening bid was low and shipping charges high to auctions when the bid was high and the shipping charges low.

In three out of four experiments, a lower opening bid and higher shipping charge generated more revenue than when opening bids were high and shipping charges were low.

For example, the professors auctioned 10 video games for the Xbox console. In one experiment -- where the opening bid was set at a relatively low level and the shipping charges at a relatively high level -- the average revenue for the auction was $41.06. That was 11 percent higher than the average revenue of $36.95 for instances with higher opening bids and lower shipping charges.

In one instance, of selling music CDs, low item prices and high shipping costs produced 34 percent more revenue.

But it doesn't always happen that way. In auctions of music CDs, which tend to cost quite a bit less than video games, it was difficult to get away with shipping charges that greatly exceeded the cost of the CD. When there was a real disparity, such as an opening bid of $2 and a shipping charge of $6, average revenues when the shipping charges were high fell 3 percent below the high-bid, low-shipping scenario.

"When we jacked up the shipping charges to $6, a lot of people perceived us as being crooks," Morgan said.

Morgan compares it to a $400 upgraded sound system that somebody might add to an automobile. People are more willing to pay that fee on top of the purchase of a $20,000 vehicle. But they would be more likely to balk if the $400 upgrade was in addition to an oil change.

"It's a pretty natural thing to just focus on the price," said Jennifer Brown, an economist and graduate student with UC Berkeley's Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics. Brown co-wrote a separate study that found that an auction of identical coins produced 60 percent more bidders on the eBay site than on the Yahoo! auctions site, and 30 percent higher revenue.

Matters have become more transparent on the eBay site. To help consumers, the company recently organized searches so shipping charges appear along with the item cost when the search results appear, said Catherine England, a spokeswoman for San Jose-based eBay Inc.

"We also have a policy against excessive shipping charges," England said. "But that's a gray area. If we get complaints about excessive shipping fees, we would pull that item from the site."

Ultimately, it's up to buyers to beware.

"The lesson for consumers is clear," Morgan said. "You want to pay attention

CONTRA COSTA TIMES

The jersey believed to be the one worn by Texas Western point guard Willie Worsley during the 1966 national championship game against Kentucky is heading to auction.

The jersey was saved for more than 30 years by Danny Whitlock, a backup point guard for UTEP from 1970-72. Whitlock said he was a graduate assistant for head coach Don Haskins after his playing career, and obtained six of the game-used jerseys in 1974.

"We were in the gym and I heard that the trainers were going to throw them away because they had to make room for more equipment," said Whitlock, who is now 56 and needs the money to put toward the cost of a liver transplant and 24-hour care for his handicapped son. "So they gave me them in a laundry bag and I put them in my trunk."

Whitlock had no idea that any of the jerseys would be considered valuable one day. He said he gave the jerseys to his friends and they wore them for pickup games. Whitlock said he wore the No. 14 jersey of Bobby Joe Hill, the star guard of the team. When it got ripped and tattered, Whitlock said he threw it out.

The only surviving jersey of his lot is Worsley's, which Whitlock said he never wore.

"I thought I'd keep one for old time's sake," Whitlock said. "It's amazing I still have it. I've rescued it out of a few garage sales."

Whitlock and his wife, needing to pay off their debts, looked around the house a few months ago trying to find items that would have some value. They figured the jersey might be worth a couple of hundred dollars.

Former UTEP player Danny Whitlock said proceeds from the sale of the jersey would help cover the cost of a liver transplant and 24-hour care for his handicapped son.
When they heard that the story of the 1966 national championship game, in which Texas Western started five African-American players and beat Adolph Rupp's Kentucky team, would be memorialized in a book and a movie, both titled "Glory Road," the Whitlocks knew that it was time to part with the jersey.

Thanks in part to the historical nature of the item, combined with the attention from the book -- which hit shelves in November -- and the movie, which was released nationwide on Friday, the auction house has estimated that the jersey is now worth between $8,000 and $10,000. The movie was made by an arm of the Walt Disney Co., which is the parent company of ESPN.

Chris Ivy, director of sports collectibles for Heritage Galleries & Auctioneers, said the jersey will be authenticated before it goes to auction, but his experience in the industry leads him to believe that Whitlock has the genuine article.

"We have an exact photo match and the tagging matches up with the examples of the other collegiate jerseys we have seen from that period," Ivy said. He doubts that the players had more than one home and one road jersey. Attempts to contact Worsley were unsuccessful.

Worsley was a backup guard during the 1965-66 season when the Miners went 28-1, but he started in the national championship game as Haskins went with three guards to help beat Kentucky's press. Worsley scored eight points in the Miners' 72-65 victory, which was his average for the season.

Darren Rovell

The silent auction on the Vermont Giant Vegetable Growers Association's Web site runs through Sunday.

The seeds are from prize winning pumpkins or their progenitors. By Monday total bidding had reached $1,650, said Erin Rutkowski Doe, of St. Albans, an auction coordinator.

One seed from Kevin Companion, a Williston grower who has produced pumpkins exceeding 1,000 pounds, is expected to draw bids of at least $300.

Other seeds on the auction block are from the largest pumpkin ever grown in the state -- a 1,120-pounder grown in Pittsfield in 2005 -- and from a 1,385-pound pumpkin, the world's largest in 2003.

Bids have come in from around the country, Canada, Europe and Australia, Doe said. The last bids will be accepted on Sunday at 8 p.m.

The seeds have been donated by VGVGA members and pumpkin growers from other states.

The proceeds from the auction will be used to establish VGVGA membership and for special events.

Members display their fruit and vegetables at the Champlain Valley Fair and around the state and New England.

Vermont Giant Vegetable Growers Association's seed auction: vermontgiants.tripod.com

Information from: St. Albans Messenger, samessenger.com 

The victim, who was a teenaged rape victim of Homolka and her ex-husband, Paul Bernardo, has never been compensated for what happened to her, said Wendy Lutczyn, a former friend of Homolka's who knows the victim.

``I just feel something is owed to her for what this has done to her life,'' Lutczyn, who once worked with Homolka at a veterinary clinic in St. Catharines, Ont., told The Canadian Press. ``Maybe just send her on a nice vacation.''

The victim, now 30, is ``very much struggling'' with the fallout from the crimes and feels she has been forgotten, Lutczyn said.

Lutczyn offered the 33 letters and cards on EBay, which suddenly pulled them Wednesday four days after they went on sale. They had already attracted a high bid of $1,625, with a week to go.

``Those letters clearly violated what is known as our offensive materials policy,'' said Alex Brown, a spokeswoman for EBay Canada who said she didn't know who had complained.

Homolka wrote the letters from Kingston's Prison for Women, where she was jailed between 1993 and 1995 while waiting to testify against Bernado at his trial for the sex slayings of Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French.

Bernardo was jailed for life, while Homolka pleaded guilty to manslaughter in a notorious plea bargain.

Lutczyn, who is now considering burning the letters, says Homolka never mentioned her crimes, the victims or their families in her correspondence.

In one of the handwritten notes on stationery adorned with stickers and cartoon images, Homolka writes: ``Wow! I am shocked. What a great day. I got five letters and I also got to go outside for the first time since the beginning of August. One of the guards took pity on me.''

In another, she writes: ``I'm listening to a song I love called Dreams. It's my song.''

A verse she includes goes: ``Dreams can come true. You know you got to have them. You know you got to be strong.''

Lutczyn, who calls the letters ``so bizarre,'' says they prove Homolka is a ``psychopath.''

``What person in their right mind would talk about talking to police officers about murdering two young girls and then want to know what their hair is going to look like when they get it cut?''

Homolka was released from prison in Quebec last summer after serving her full 12-year manslaughter sentence in the deaths of French and Mahaffy.

One of the dozen bids for the letters came from American Ray Randolph, who offered $1,000. But he was adamant he wasn't interested in flipping them for profit.

``I was considering destroying them just because it's kind of yucky in a lot of ways,'' Randolph said from near Denver. ``I was also considering posting them (online for free).''

Word of the sale sparked sharply differing views.

``They obviously have more morals than Wendy,'' one Internet poster said of EBay's decision. ``Profiting off the crimes of this beast (Karla) is just wrong.''

Jen Foster of Hamilton, who runs a Homolka discussion forum, said the letters had historical interest.

``They were sent to her, and if (Lutczyn) doesn't want them anymore, I would just rather she not destroy them,'' Foster said in an interview.

``It does seem like something that would be good to keep as far as a reference as to who she was at that time because she was really kind of detached from everything.''

Lutczyn agreed the material has historical value.

``Unfortunately, it's horrible history.''

Lawyer Tim Danson, who speaks for the victims' families, said he found the EBay sale distasteful and exploitative.

``If she really wanted to do something altruistic, she could donate them to some library,'' Danson said.

``But going on EBay is something that doesn't sit right with me.''

Lutczyn said she now regrets having put them up on EBay.

``I got mad one day and decided I was going to do this just to try to help (the victim) out a little bit,'' Lutczyn said.

``I guess I should have realized after all these years what a kerfuffle it would cause.''

Homolka, who lives in Montreal, could not be reached for comment, and her lawyer did not immediately return calls.

Other Homolka-related material _ a book with a high bid of $60 and a newspaper article with an offer of $11.62 remained for sale on EBay on Wednesday.

The letters auction was to have ended early next week, just days before the Canadian release of the Hollywood film Karla.

The Aston Martin spy car from the James Bond movies Thunderball and Goldfinger complete with machine guns and tire slashers is on the auction block.

The 1965 Aston Martin DB5 could fetch up to $2.5 million at RM Auctions’ 7th Annual Vintage Motor Cars Auction on Jan. 20 in Phoenix, Ariz.

“The James Bond Aston Martin DB5 is one of the most famous cars in the world. It’s just amazing. This is by far and away the most popular car we have seen in our 26 years of hosting collector car auctions,” RM Auctions co-founder Rob Myers said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

It is one of only four cars originally constructed and used for 1964’s “Goldfinger” and 1965’s “Thunderball” as well as promotional tour use. The auction car was primarily used for promotion.

Some of the special James Bond options on the Aston Martin include Browning machine guns, a wheel-mounted tire slasher, a retractable rear bulletproof screen, an oil slick ejector and a smoke screen system.

Formerly the property of Sir Anthony Bamford, the famed James Bond Aston Martin is one of several celebrity cars offered from Tennessee’s Smoky Mountain Car Museum — where it has been on display since the late 1970s.

Also on the auction block will be Al Capone’s 1928 Cadillac, Hank Williams Jr.’s 1964 Pontiac and a stable of $1 million-plus vehicles.

An ordinary fruit sticker that mysteriously ended up on a $20 bill could spur collectors to drive up the price at an auction Friday.

The "banana note" bears a bright red, green and yellow Del Monte sticker next to Andrew Jackson's portrait.

The flawed bill originated at a Treasury Department printing facility in Fort Worth, but just how the fruit tag found its way onto the greenback is unknown.

Daniel Wishnatsky of Phoenix paid just over $10,000 for the bill in a 2003 auction on eBay.

Heritage Galleries and Auctioneers of Dallas is auctioning the bill for Wishnatsky in Orlando, Fla.

The note is rare because the Bureau of Printing and Engraving diligently inspects and destroys flawed currency before it escapes the plant.

A West Michigan landmark is going up for auction. Rosie's Diner in Rockford near Grand Rapids will soon be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

In 1987, Jerry Berta bought this 1940's dinner from its owner in Little Ferry, New Jersey and moved it to his land on 14 Mile Road. Since then, more than a million customers have bellied up to its counter.

The dinner was named after "Rosie the Waitress," who was featured in the popular Bounty paper towels "quicker picker upper" commercials.

Over the years Berta has added three other vintage diners to his collection and now, he has decided it's time to give it all up to concentrate on his neon art.

The diner will be sold to the highest bidder in a one-day only internet auction. The auction will start at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, January 31st.

WMMT 

“Chevrolet is thrilled to make available these 10 unforgettable trips to the 2006 Olympic Winter Games,” said Kim Kosak, Chevrolet general director of advertising and promotions. “Chevrolet has been a longtime sponsor of the U.S. Ski Team, U.S. Snowboarding and the U.S. Olympic Team. Our Olympians are poised to make history in Torino and this charity auction is a great way to support our talented and hard-working athletes.”

The 10 all-inclusive trip packages will be auctioned separately on eBay from Jan. 4 at 7 p.m. ET through Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. ET. Each trip is for two people and the value of each trip is $12,600. The travel dates in Torino are Saturday, Feb. 18 through Wednesday, Feb. 22. Complete details are available on ebay.com.

“The U.S. Ski Team and U.S. Snowboarding will make history in Torino,” said Marolt, CEO and president of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association. “We appreciate the opportunities our longtime sponsor Chevrolet are giving to fans in America so they can watch firsthand as we become Best in the World in 2006.”

As Chevrolet’s special guests, auction winners will be treated to the finest that the picturesque city of Torino, Italy, has to offer, as well as elite access to the Olympic Winter Games with prime tickets to the most sought-after events.

Each trip to the Olympic Winter Games in Torino includes:
• Roundtrip air travel via an exclusive charter from New York direct to Torino, Italy
• Economy air travel to/from the winners’ home cities connecting to the charter in New York
• Deluxe accommodations in a Torino hotel
• Ground transportation throughout the stay including luggage handling on arrival and departure
• Tickets to the premier Olympic event each night
• A selection of optional daytime tours, activities and Olympics events
• All food and beverage during the trip
• One special evening at a Torino landmark, Palazzo Madana
• Custom-designed gift bags
• Personalized service from event management specialists prior to the Games and throughout the stay

Taking time off their hectic schedule, top tennis stars assembled here to participate in the Chennai Open ATP Championship, today took part in a charity auction of outfits made by famous designer Ashish Soni.

Defending champion Carlos Moya, runners-up Paradorn Srichaphan and India's doubles specialist Leander Paes gave a visual treat to the select audience attired in the special clothes designed by Soni, the first Indian to be invited to the show at the prestigios New York Fashion Week.

The special event, with only 200 entry tickets on sale at a price of Rs 7,500 each, was held by IMG to mobilise funds for the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund for tsunami victims.

Paes' black suit with a bright shimmering magenta shirt topped with a bidding of Rs 30,000.

Outlookindia.com

Michigan's Largest Racer's Auction returns to the Kalamazoo Fairgrounds for a one-day auction on Saturday, January 14, 2006. This will be a great opportunity for the Michigan auto racing fraternity to get together to buy or sell their auto racing equipment.

Everyone that is involved in go-carts, asphalt racing, dirt racing, two-wheels or four-wheels will be in attendance at this great event.

Auction officials will start taking consignment items on Friday, January 13th from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The doors will open at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, January 14th with the sale starting at 9 a.m. All of this will take place at the Hazel Gray Building located on the Kalamazoo Fairgrounds.

A large number of Vendors will also be on hand at this event. So far, the list includes: A&B Designs, ARCO Racing Starters, Berlin Raceway, Fine Line Designs, Gator Tooth Racing Products, Midwest HANS, RCM Graphix, Specialty Auto, Wildside Fabrication, Wehrs Machine, Zander Radio Systems and many more.

If you are interested in buying or selling at the Rockford Racer's Auction, please visit the official website at www.racersauctionnews.com or call the Auction Hotline at (815) 316-7841.

The Kalamazoo Fairgrounds is located at 2900 Lake St. in Kalamazoo. More information can be found at their website, www.kalcounty.com/parks.

Midwest Motorsports/Racer's Auction will also be hosting Illinois's Largest Auction at the Sportscore Indoor Center in Rockford, IL on January 6-7, 2006.

by Kevin Ramsell

Now that the season's holiday presents have been unwrapped, big online auction sites are trying to entice people to resell -- instead of return -- unwanted gifts.

Yahoo Inc. is preparing to open a section of its auction Web site specifically designed to help disappointed recipients resell gifts at no cost. Tuesday, Overstock.com Inc. started a promotional campaign encouraging shoppers to get rid of less-than-perfect presents. "Polyester sequined pants not your style?" asks one of its Web ads, which includes links to a guide on how first-time users can put items up for auction. EBay Inc. says it will promote online regifting through its Web site and Tuesday held a one-day promotion, cutting some listing fees to 10 cents.

The efforts are aimed at luring new customers at a time when they find themselves swimming in stuff they can't use. Unlike retailers for whom unwanted gifts often spell unwanted returns, online auction sites celebrate the objectionable necktie or the not-quite-right wallet as a potential gold mine of new listings and a convenient way to attract new customers to their sites.

When Bonnie Sarana received a brown Coach "hobo" handbag from her aunt this Christmas, she immediately thought of eBay. "I am just not a big fan of pocketbooks with logos," explains the 30-year-old from Brooklyn, N.Y. She says she would rather sell the item online than face the embarrassment of asking her aunt for a receipt. So she brought it to a local eBay drop shop -- where consumers can have their items put up for bid by a professional -- and has listed the item at a starting price of $9.99. She hopes it will sell for around $100, leaving her with a hefty amount even after the drop shop deducts its 30 percent fee.

Online auction sites usually notice a post-holiday rise in listings, but retailers predict that gift-reselling will increase even more this year as consumers face tighter return policies. Stores are cracking down on fraudulent returns by implementing stricter rules and, in some cases, by charging restocking fees that can be around 15 percent of the purchase price. Increased traffic across online auction sites in general, meanwhile, has online retailers expecting a particularly strong reselling season this year.

Deeper discounting later in the season also means that that sweater you would like to return is likely to fetch significantly less than the original price -- making reselling it all the more appealing. Today, a retailer may offer you only $30 for a sweater originally bought for $60. But online auction sites hold at least the potential of a better deal. Some products -- especially scarce items such as must-have handbags and electronics -- often sell for retail price or more. More conventional items, however, such as everyday clothing may still sell for much less than the retail price.

The extent of Internet reselling can't be precisely measured, of course, since it's not clear which postings are unwanted gifts. An eBay-commissioned survey conducted by Survey.com in November found that about 10 percent of respondents had sold unwanted gifts online. Among 25- to 34-year-olds, 22 percent of respondents said they had done so. And online retailers expect to feel the effects. Overstock.com says holiday-gift reselling is likely to drive the number of items posted by individual sellers on its auction site up by as much as 25 percent through January.

Analysts also say the Internet's role in decreasing the stigma often associated with reselling is likely to send more gift sellers online. Over the past few years, buying and selling used items online has become mainstream in part due to the anonymity behind the transaction. Online auction sites are among the fastest growing Web sites among users. EBay attracted more than 56 millions unique visitors in November, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, up 10 percent from a year ago.

The fact that it is getting cheaper and easier to post to online auction sites is also likely to fuel gift reselling. Online retailers say the prevalence of digital cameras and even camera phones will also help to increase listings as will the growth of drop shops where consumers can have their items put up for bid by a professional who typically takes a cut of around 30 percent of the selling price.

The steps required to auction off an item on the Internet can be straightforward. Sellers start by taking and uploading a picture of the item before entering a description and choosing the listing category. Sellers may be charged a listing fee anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars and be asked to turn over 5 percent or more of the selling price to the Web site. They must set the starting or asking price of the item as well as the duration of the auction and are notified of the winner when the auction has expired.

But closing a transaction is often not as easy as starting one. First-time sellers can be at a disadvantage when trying to unload their gifts since auction Web sites, particularly large one such as eBay and Overstock.com, are dominated by professional sellers with huge stocks of inventory and years of experience. To boost the chances that their regifted items will sell, users should accept PayPal to avoid fears of payment fraud and provide detailed product descriptions so that shoppers know exactly what they are getting, an eBay spokesman says.

Leah Jordan, 38 years old, says she is waiting to resell some gifts she received for Hanukkah until January when traffic on the Web rises as potential buyers return to work or school. But in past years she has resold several gifts, most often gift cards because they retain most of their value. Last year, Ms. Jordan, a lawyer in Philadelphia, says she sold a $50 Lands' End gift card for just over $40 and a Baby Bjorn gift card, worth about $95, for about $10 less than the retail price.

The reselling trend represents options not only for sellers, but for buyers too as thousands of new items flood the auction sites. Shoppers can hunt for recycled gifts by sorting items by the most recently listed and by searching for product descriptions that include the word "new." But shoppers looking for deals shouldn't expect to find hot items like iPods. Instead, they are likely to see lots of clothing, a difficult gifting category often plagued by sizing errors. Other popular items include gift cards, which sellers post for slightly less of their value, and knickknacks and collectibles for the home.

Royal Philips Electronic is leveraging its position as the supplier of light bulbs for the famed New Years Eve Ball above Times Square to launch a multi-brand cross promotion, with a dash of charity thrown in for good measure.

Philips will hold an online charity auction on eBay to sell off the light bulbs used to illuminate this year's ball, with all proceeds going to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. This will be the last year Philips will use halogen and incandescent bulbs. It's LED, solid-state lighting for next year's ball. The company hopes this "end of an era" will stir interest in the bulbs as collector's items, according to Paul Zeven, CEO of Philips Electronics North America.

"New Years is an ideal opportunity for people to pause for a moment and contemplate the upcoming year," Zeven said in a statement. "We see this 'pause' as an opportunity to help consumers spread goodwill."

The auction, part of the company's "Next Year is brought to you by Philips" ad campaign, will take place from December 30, 2005 to January 6, 2006 on the company's microsite, philips.com/newyears. Bidders can choose from halogen bulbs from the exterior of the Waterford Crystal Ball, or from multi-colored and strobe lights from the interior. All listed bulbs will be authenticated with a production number etched in the bulb and an accompanying letter of certification.

On its New Year microsite, Philips also provides a form for users to share their New Year's resolutions, which can be forwarded to a friend or shared with the world in a "living globe" of resolutions that will be visible for the first week of the year.

Individuals who post resolutions can also register to win one of the bulbs used in Times Square for the New Year's celebration.

Philips has used interactive media in the past for branding its consumer electronics and B2B electronics products. In May, the company kicked off a $100 million global campaign that included online ads, search, and a microsite for its "Sense and Simplicity" brand message

Click Z News

The gruesome display erected by Joel Krupnik and Mildred Castellanos outside their Gramercy Park home features a knife wielding Santa in a bloody display with more than 20 Barbie heads. Neighbors complained the display was anti-holidays.

The New York Post reports Krupnik and Castellanos have already received a $200 bid, and Krupnik said the money will be donated to the winning bidder's favorite charity proving the couple is not anti-Christmas. Bidding ended at 3 p.m. (EST) Sunday.

"We never meant to offend anybody or any religion," Krupnik told the Post.

That little-known commodity, a refurbished single-use medical device, was recently offered by a seller who could not be identified, and there was no way of knowing who bought it and whether it was ultimately used on a patient.

Manufacturers of single-use devices say they cannot vouch for the safety of their instruments if they are reconditioned. Those who sell such devices say there is no credible evidence that their refurbished devices are riskier than new devices, and they say they can save hospitals about half the cost of a new device.

But are hospitals buying medical devices on eBay? There is little way to know.

EBay Inc. says it is not its role to oversee the buying and selling of such devices. ''We don't take responsibility for items sold on the site," said eBay spokesman Hani Durzy. ''We're a marketplace."

That means buyers and sellers of reprocessed single-use medical devices on eBay operate largely under the radar. In many cases, there is no certain way of knowing where sellers obtained used medical devices and no sure way of knowing who bought them, interviews and records show.

Among the more visible online marketers is ClearMedical Inc. of Bellevue, Wash., one of the five largest reprocessors in the United States. In a three-month experiment last year, the company said, it operated an eBay virtual storefront, selling reused single-use medical devices that it considers ''noninvasive" because they do not enter the bloodstream when used on patients. That includes pulse oximeter sensors, which measure oxygen in the blood, and compression sleeves, which increase circulation. (One bidder offered $450 for a set of compression sleeves; ClearMedical said that was about a 30 percent discount off the original price.)

Privately held ClearMedical declined to disclose sales results from the test market, but chief executive Gregg Bennett said it went so well, ''we have bigger plans in process." He declined to disclose them.

When asked how ClearMedical can know who is buying its devices online, Bennett said his company can ask buyers to ''validate" themselves; a hospital, for example, can furnish a copy of its purchase order, he said. But if individuals want to buy a reprocessed medical device, he said, there is little that can be done to confirm their identity. Bennett added, however, ''Nobody's concerned about that here. Why would anyone (outside of the medical field) want to buy one of those devices?"

As it turns out, there is a market for medical devices on the Web. In 2004, an Arizona medical clinic bought a pacemaker on eBay, and it was implanted in a patient. The pacemaker, it was discovered, had been stolen. On eBay, a company called Trimey this year offered for sale devices reprocessed by Phoenix-based Alliance Medical Corp., the nation's biggest reprocessor. That included percutaneous lead introducers -- long, narrow plastic tubes that surgeons insert into a vein, such as the jugular. Such devices are used in cardiac surgery; for example, a surgeon will thread an electrical wire through the lead introducer into a patient's heart, which is used to temporarily pace the heart.

On eBay, the reprocessed device had a starting bid of $4.99 -- at least 20 times lower than the regular cost of a lead introducer package. The eBay seller did not respond to e-mail; there was no telephone listing for Trimey in Mentor, Ohio, where it stated online that it was based; and no incorporation records could be found.

''We don't condone it and certainly don't support" such sales, said Don Selvey, Alliance's vice president of regulatory affairs and quality assurance. Alliance has alerted the online service that reprocessed devices are not to be sold on eBay. Through a spokesman, he also said he did not know where sellers obtained the reprocessed devices.

Reusing lead introducers is inappropriate and raises concerns about patient safety, said Minneapolis-based Medtronic Inc., a medical maker of such devices.

Once single-use devices are shipped from manufacturers, the device makers ask, how are the instruments handled and resterilized before being sold on eBay and potentially used on patients?

''What quality controls are there throughout the process?" asked Rob Clark, a Medtronic spokesman.

Jim Stewart, an eBay seller in Huntington Beach, Calif., said he shies away from selling reprocessed single-use medical devices but does offer some, including laparoscopic devices used in abdominal surgery. Occasionally, he said, his company, the Granite Group, obtains such devices from hospitals that already had the instruments refurbished. ''Ninety-some-odd percent is identified," he said.

EBay requires sellers of medical devices that are state or federally regulated to include a disclaimer saying that buyers should not bid on the medical device unless they are an authorized purchaser. Durzy, the eBay spokesman, said it is the seller's duty to confirm that the buyer is authorized to make the purchase. What, then, constitutes an authorized purchaser? He said to ask the Food and Drug Administration.

Larry Spears, the FDA's deputy director for regulatory affairs in the Office of Compliance in the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said the federal agency periodically monitors websites but does not have specific rules about the sale of reprocessed single-use medical devices on eBay. ''That's an area we haven't put any writing on," he said. 

By Washington Post

Since I-BID was launched in 2003, the state has earned about $700,000 from the sale of more than 3,000 items, including an old Department of Transportation helicopter and Swiss Army knives confiscated from travelers at the state's airports.

''There are people interested in everything we might sell,'' said Brian Chapman, chief operating officer for the Department of Central Management Services. ''Cars and trucks, to one-armed dolls.''

Boats, instruments, treadmills

The helicopter sold for more than $250,000. A bid of $435 won a bright orange locker, football and helmet from the University of Illinois. There are also boats, musical instruments and exercise equipment.

''And what household is complete without a Zamboni?'' Chapman said, referring to an ice resurfacing machine recently arrived from the University of Illinois at Chicago's rink. (Hours before the auction was scheduled to close, 16 people had bid the Zamboni up to $1,002.50.)

Before I-BID, the state sold surplus equipment at small warehouse auctions in Springfield. But the Web has opened the auctions to new customers throughout the country and the world. More than 9,500 people are registered bidders.

'70s furniture popular again

''It certainly increases interest,'' said Curtis Howard, head of surplus property for the state.

As interest in I-BID has grown, state warehouse workers have begun looking for items such as couches, tables and chairs from state office lobbies in the 1970s that have become trendy again. ''We've had people pay up to $600, $700 for recliners,'' Howard said.

If a high bid comes in at the end of a listed deadline, I-BID officials extend the auction for another five minutes. The extensions continue until there's a clear, uncontested winner.

When the state auctioned off a 1986 Corvette convertible, late bidders extended the auction nearly 35 minutes, running the price up to $10,075, well over the listed value, officials said.

AP

The historic home bought by Courtney Love about eight years ago is up for public auction to satisfy debts in a foreclosure case.

The 41-year-old rocker, who was married to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, purchased the gabled bungalow for his family in 1997 and now owes about $367,000 including the loan balance and legal fees, to WMC Mortgage of Los Angeles, which filed for foreclosure in the Superior Court.

The house, which sits on more than 5 hectares, or 13 acres, at the edge of Capitol Forest near Littlerock, is about 16 kilometres (10 miles) south of Olympia.

Cobain's sister, Kim, lives there now, according to records at the Thurston County sheriff's office.

According to documents filed with a lawsuit in October 2004, Love stopped making mortgage payments in December 2003. The lawsuit identified Love as a trustee of the Courtney Love family trust.

The home was built in 1903 by Thomas Bordeaux, who owned a lumber company that cut trees in the nearby Black Hills.

It is one of the last remaining structures from the town of Bordeaux, which was demolished when the logging operation was shut down in 1941, and is included in a local historical inventory, county records show.

Love can keep ownership of the house if she pays off the debt before the property goes to auction at the county courthouse on January 6.

© Copyright Press Association Ltd 2005, All Rights Reserved.

A historic home bought by rocker Courtney Love about eight years ago is up for public auction to satisfy debts in a foreclosure case, the Thurston County sheriff's office has announced.

Love, who was married to the late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, purchased the gabled bungalow for his family in 1997 and now owes about $367,000, including the loan balance and legal fees, to WMC Mortgage Corp. of Los Angeles, which filed for foreclosure in Superior Court.

The house on 13 acres at the edge of Capitol Forest near Littlerock, about 10 miles south of Olympia, was built in 1903 and is currently occupied by Cobain's sister, Kim, sheriff's records show.

County sheriffs handle foreclosure auctions in Washington state.

According to documents filed with a lawsuit in October 2004, Love quit making mortgage payments in December 2003. The lawsuit identified Love as a trustee of the Courtney Love family trust.

The home was built by Thomas Bordeaux, who owned a lumber company that cut trees in the nearby Black Hills. It is one of the last remaining structures from the town of Bordeaux, which was demolished when the logging operation was shut down in 1941, and is included in a local historical inventory, county records show.

Love, 41, can retain ownership by satisfying the debt before the property goes to auction at the county courthouse on Jan. 6.

Besides the purchase price, anyone who buys the house at auction is responsible for back property taxes, most recently listed at about $7,800, sheriff's Sgt. Dan McLendon said this week.

"As of yet, we haven't received any inquiries," McLendon said.

Information from: The Olympian, theolympian.com

How much would you pay to play poker with "Seinfeld" creator Larry David, water ski with the Kennedys on Martha's Vineyard, have lunch with U.S. Sen. John McCain or make a cameo appearance on ABC's "Desperate Housewives?"

News Alerts Some people, it seems, are willing to pay $20,000 or more.

A weekend on the Vineyard with David and members of the Kennedy clan went for $24,000, while a walk-on on "Desperate Housewives" went for $20,000 in an online charity auction that benefits the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, a human rights group named after the former U.S. senator and attorney general.

Bidding on more than 100 seemingly priceless items opened earlier this month on charityfolks.com. The auction had raised more than $300,000 as of Monday evening, with bidding on some items -- including lunch with McCain and a tour of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington by former U.S. senator and astronaut John Glenn, open until Wednesday evening.

"It's really encouraging that so many people still feel the absence of my father keenly and have been incredibly generous in supporting this auction," said Max Kennedy, one of RFK's sons.

Robert F. Kennedy's widow, Ethel, and other family members organized the auction, which also offers bidders the chance to watch a Red Sox game from the dugout, join actor and animal rights activist Alec Baldwin in adopting a puppy from a New York shelter, or go shark fishing with former U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy.

"He catches them every time," Max Kennedy said of his brother.

Boston.com