A CNN/Money article looks at various services for people who want to sell their stuff on ebay but don't want to do any actual work. I've been selling off my (very old) CD collection, and various computer parts. I think the profit is around $100 so far for three weeks. But most of the items are very low sellers, so i'm lucky if i make $5 or so per item. And they really take it to you with fees. Want to list an item? There's a fee. If the item sells, there is another fee. If the buyer pays by paypal (almost everyone does), there is another fee. And of course there is shipping, if the shipping cost is above what you estimated, you pay the cost. Most people on ebay thus have exoborant shipping fees, that's where they make the actual profit. Anyway, all these fees add up to 10-20% of the item's cost, so on that $5 item, if i make $4 that's normal. Anyway, it's a good way to get rid of stuff you'll never use again, and make space for new stuff. I do like the new features of Ebay, for example you can enter the UPC number of a DVD and Ebay will automatically give you a picture and description of the item.

Then there is this new service: a DVD swapping service called PeerFlix. For $0.99, you can trade a old DVD (call it A) with someone else's DVD (call it B). Good idea and nice and legal. Better than buying the DVD in the store or on Ebay. Of course the usual cavoits apply, for example bogus buyers. It depends on the honor and integrity of the person. The ebay system is revolutionary in that everyone gets rated, so dishonest people are quickly found out. Dunno if this happens with the peerflix system. Of course, this supposes there are things that I want to watch, several times.

Netflix is also hugely popular, for a low monthly fee you can get whatever DVDs you want (up to 3 or so per order), and mail them back when you are done. No late fees. Again, supposes that they have something you want. J & I talked about this, we already watch 2 hours of law and order every week (plus stargate and battlestar galactica). Anyway, more DVDs equals more couch time. Maybe it will be different when we have kids and won't be able to go out too often.