Jad Research Blog

Fake items abound on eBay, and it takes much effort not to be duped by scammers who peddle these wares. There have been many painful stories relating how a seemingly legitimate item turned out to be either fake or defective.

It is possible, however, to avoid these scams if one is careful and vigilant. Buyers should be wary of any purchase over eBay, and should take steps to ensure the authenticity of the item and to make sure the item is in reasonable condition.

Be Vigilant

Buyers should take the initiative by doing plenty of background research. They must learn as much as possible about the products before bidding on them. If the seller provides pictures of an item, they should not be taken at face value. Comparison of these pictures with the real item helps in this regard.

Many sellers will use pictures from manufacturers that do not represent the item they are actually selling; buyers should ask the seller for actual pictures of the item. If the seller balks, buyers should refrain from bidding. Collector?s items, autographed memorabilia, and historical artifacts are common items that are misrepresented on eBay.

Authenticate

Familiarize yourself with the various bodies that certify respective items. For example, reputable merchants of autographed sports memorabilia should include a COA (certificate of authenticity) from a trusted third party. Counterfeit or misrepresented items should be reported to eBay. When buying on eBay Motors, one may have an inspection service double-check if the seller is accurately representing his automobile.

Look at the Feedback

One should analyze the feedback rating of a seller. Analyzing feedback is another helpful exercise to prevent scams. Sellers who have an established history of credible sales are usually helpful and professional to deal with. Negative feedback should be a red flag as to whether one should pursue a trade with the person. The same thing applies for those who do not have feedback ratings at all.

Buyers must be careful however, since it is possible that a scammer has hijacked an account that has positive feedback.

Buyers should make sure they have read the entire product description on its eBay listing. Things to look out for are disclaimers, damages, current item condition, years of use, and others. If this information is not specified, it would do well for the buyer to contact the seller regarding such.

The Price Theory

If the price for an item is too good to be true, it probably is. Auctions that carry outrageously low prices should be taken skeptically.

Copyright 2005 Brad Eden

Brad Eden is a Entrepreneurial Sciences expert with 14 years of industry experience in real estate, marketing and technical communication. He currently consults with IBM in CA. Brad owns & operates a free traffic resource for entrepreneurs.

http://www.amercanfreetraffic.com/home.html

I have been involved with stamps nearly my entire life. My first collection was as a ten-year old boy collecting with my neighborhood buddies. By the time I was done with it, I had more than 3,000 stamps in my collection and sold it for the princely sum of 7.50 in 1958. I don’t remember what I did with the money. I think I treated my family to supper at the neighborhood burger joint.

I gave up on the hobby for about seven years and took it up again as an adult. Where before I collected anything I found, I started to look for stamps in better condition and in sets. The first such set I bought was from Vatican City for the 1962 Christmas celebration and paid all of 50c for it.

Though a mere trifle, it was the first knowledgable purchase and only the beginning of a career that would involve the expenditure of many thousands of dollars. Over the years I have bought many individual stamps and collections. The best buy I ever made turned a hundred and fifty dollars expenditure into a sixty-five hundred dollar sale.

My first serious interest in stamps was as a general collector of British Colonies. Especially the stamps of Malta. This interest led to a lifelong interest in the island and the writing of The Cellini Masterpiece under the pen name of Raymond John. Another of my interests was Papua New Guinea. Papua is an enormous island in the south Pacific and the site of many battles during World War II. In 1901 the British issued stamps for the territory of British New Guinea.

These eight stamps showed a native ship known as a Lakatoi and were printed on a variety of papers with a watermark called a rosette which resembles a four-leafed flower. Early printers didn’t pay much attention to how the paper was seeded into the printing presses, so the watermark, which has longer petals on one side, could appear in two positions. They also used thick and thin paper. Most of the stamps were printed on watermark horizontal paper with the short petals pointing up. They ranged from one-half pence to pay the postage for letters sent within the colony to half a crown for heavy parcels sent to Australia, Britain and the rest of the world. One stamp, the 2/6 on thick paper and with the watermark vertical is quite scarce and an expensive stamp.

In 1906 the British separated Papua from the rest of New Guinea and overprinted the remaining stamps in stock with the word “Papua” in large serifed type. Most of the thin paper stamps apparently had been used up, leaving the vertical and horizontal watermarks. The 2/6 with horizontal watermark and vertical thin paper are common and sell for around a hundred dollars each. The watermark vertical, on the other hand, is a major rarity and catalogs for 6,000 British pounds in the Stanley Gibbons catalog. It is the scarcest stamp of Papua and missing from most collections. It is also a popular stamp and when offered it brings tremendous prices.

In 1995 I was still a full-time dealer and made regular buying trips through the midwest and the east. I happened to stop at a stamp auction house in the midwest and went through the lots which were arranged for viewing in small binders. I was pleased to see the Papua overprints and I eagerly inspected the set. It was in pristine, lightly hinged condition and as such, in top collectible condition. I eagerly went to the 2/6 and held it up to the light with my tongs. It was the thick paper.

A good start.

I couldn’t tell if the watermark was vertical or horizontal and I asked to borrow a dipping tray and watermark fluid. The tray is black and when fluid is poured over the stamp, the stamp paper becomes transparent and the watermark will appear.

I could hardly believe my eyes. I had to take another stamp from the set to compare it, but there it was. Watermark vertical!

I looked up to find the woman who was showing the lots giving me an inquisitive look. Would she get a copy of the Gibbons catalog and examine the stamp, too. If so, my discovery would come out and someone else might decide to bid on it.

I carefully replaced the stamps in their mount and handed the book back to her. The sale was nearly three weeks away and I couldn’t wait around until then. I could either go back home and make another trip or contact an agent to bid for me.

I decided on the agent. I gave him a bid of fifteen hundred dollars on the lot to beat out anyone who wanted the stamps but didn’t know about the variety. My biggest concern is that one of the biggest Papua collectors in the world was a local and if he got a look at the stamp, I would never be able to buy it. All I could hope was that he didn’t get a copy of the catalog, or if he did, that he wouldn’t show up to view the lot.

The next twenty days were the longest of my life. The night of the sale I called the agent. He said the starting bid was 75.00. I didn’t sleep that night and called him again early the next morning. I had won the bid at 150 plus 10%. A collector of British Oceania stamps had run up the price on me. The auction house would be shipping my stamps the next day.

The parcel arrived certified mail three days later. I contacted the Papua specialist, but he already had a copy and didn’t want another one. A day later I sent it off to the British Philatelic Association for a certificate. From there it would be included in a Christie’s rarity sale. Four months later it sold for 3,800 pounds or approximaterly 6,500 US.

Now you may ask why the auction house wasn’t aware of the value of the stamp. For one thing, the house catalogued the stamp using the Scotts catalog. Scotts is the standard American catalog and usually only lists a value for the most common variety. The watermark variety is listed in Gibbons, which is British, which includes many other color and watermark varieties than the Scott catalogue. Another reason the stamp may have been overlooked is that auction describers must look at thousands of stamps every day. Even if he (here the gender denoter is correct, I know of only one female describer) has a Gibbons catalog, most will not take the time to look for possible varieties. In short, it is one of the things that makes the hobby so fascinating. Anyone who has found a valuable antique knows the feeling.

Happy hunting!

John Anderson is a retired dealer in stamps and collectibles. He is now a full-time writer. His novel, The Cellini Masterpiece, was published under the pen name of Raymond John by iUniverse in October of 2004 and is available in select bookstores and on the web. He will happily answer questions sent to http://www.cmasterpiece.com

What is the Get?

The Get is the Jewish form of divorce. The husband and wife must co-operate in obtaining the Get. If a spouse does not co-operate then whilst he/she may have obtained a civil divorce, by decree absolute, the couple will not be considered divorced within the Jewish religion.

Where possible the religious divorce should be dealt with within the same timeframe as the civil proceedings.

My husband says that he will issue a civil divorce based on adultery - does that matter?

Yes. This will have a significant impact on you and your new partner (if named in the petition).

The reason for this is that if a married woman commits adultery before she has her Get, she and that man will never be able to marry each other in a religious ceremony. The civil divorce petition will provide evidence of a sexual relationship before divorce and as a result preclude the couple from a religious marriage.

If the couple choose to have children, within the Jewish religion, they will be considered illegitimate. Consequently, this could result in their exclusion, to a certain extent, from their religious community.

My wife will only obtain the Get if I agree to her financial demands-what can I do?

It is not unheard of for one party to try and use the Get as a tool with which to make unreasonable financial demands of the other. Until recently, there was little that the legal system could do to help a person who is being denied a Get or pressurised because of it. However, recent changes in the law go some way to avoid an abuse of the religious process for divorce as against the civil one.

What to do?

If one spouse does not co-operate with the other, a new piece of legislation called the Divorce (Religious Marriages) Act 2002 can be invoked to facilitate the Get. The 2002 Act therefore assists Jewish spouses to obtain a Get (and also other religious usages where the co-operation of a spouse is required in order to obtain a religious divorce).

The 2002 Act amends an existing piece of legislation called the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 by inserting a new section 10A. This section gives the court the discretion to delay the making of the decree absolute until the husband and wife have first obtained the Get. The court will make such an order where it is ’satisfied that in all the circumstances of the case it is just and reasonable to do so.’

The application will be prepared by your solicitor and submitted once the decree of divorce has been granted. The application is supported by an affidavit, which sets out the grounds on which the application seeks the order.

If the application is successful the court process is effectively suspended until such time as the parties have obtained their Get. The decree absolute will be granted if satisfactory evidence is placed before the court, which should be in the form of a declaration with the necessary certificate. The declaration confirms that the Get has been obtained and the certificate, which has been, issued by the ‘relevant religious authority’ corroborates that fact.

Finally, for the husband and wife who are divorcing and who are halachically Jewish, in order to ensure that the Get is recognised throughout the Jewish world it must be obtained from an Orthodox Beth Din.

Tracey Dargan practices family law with Curry Popeck, a firm of London solicitors.

Everyone has heard of skin peels and there are many - lactic, glycolic, salicylic, TCA (trichloroacetic acid), and phenol. Of these there are basically 3 levels:

Minor, superficial peels - lactic, glycolic, salicylic.
Medium depth peels - TCA, Jessner’s
Deep peels - phenol.

We will only deal with medium strength TCA peels here as they are the easiest to apply (Jessner’s can require multiple concurrent applications and taping to aide in skin penetration), safest, and, by far, the most effective against numerous skin ailments/conditions. They are also one of the most effective treatments for acne currently known to the medical community.

The most common treated area is the face. TCA is applied usually in a cream. Doctors will mix Obagi, Apeel, or other previously prepared cream with TCA and then apply this mixture to the face or body area to be treated. The creams tend to have a skin dye of green or blue so the doctor can easily see what areas have and or have not been treated. It is usually applied with a cotton or foam applicator. This is then left on for 10-20 minutes. Some doctors prefer to use a straight (non-cream) solution of TCA. This works much faster and penetrates deeper and is used for deeper peels.

After application and proper time for the desired depth is achieved, the doctor will apply a neutralizer. This is usually just a mixture of baking soda and water made into a paste. Some doctors will add chipped ice to further cool the skin. The skin will now be inflammed and if no dye was used will look like a bad sunburn. This will last 2-4 days until it starts to peel off and reveal new, clean, younger looking skin. Depending on the skin problems treated it may take several treatments, but a major difference will be seen immediately.

The results from a TCA peel are far more reaching than with a regular, superficial peel. Results can last 6 months to a year and it has been known to keep acne at bay, shrink and lessen acne scars, reduce and tighten up wrinkles, improve color, pigmentation, etc… A TCA peel cannot be applied as often as a more superficial peel. Generally speaking, a superficial peel can be applied every 2-5 weeks. A Stronger, medium depth peel needs more time batween peels for the skin to properly heal and regenerate. Doctors like to wait 2-6 months or more between these peels.

This process of chemically exfoliating the skin is more rapid and deeper in a TCA peel than in most peels. Many skin peels, like lactic, glycolic and salicylic are good at reducing oily buildup (overactive sebaceous glands), and very minor skin imperfections. but they cannot effectively treat acne, wrinkles, fine lines, etc… TCA has been proven to treat these deeper skin conditions and is offered at almost every dermatologist and plastic surgeon office. The improvement in skin color, tone, etc… is so drastic that women, even men are lining up in droves to have this done all over the world.

David Maillie is a chemist with over 12 years experience in biochemical research and clynical analysis. He is an alumni of Cornell University and specializes in biochemical synthesis for public, private, and governmental interests. He can be reached at M.D. Wholesale: www.bestskinpeel.com or by visiting or www.mdwholesale.com.

South Africa is a fascinating country, the huge open fields buzzing with animals and one of the smallest population ratios in the continent. South Africa has some of the very best natural surroundings in Africa, the appealing blend of unmarked fields, scenery and marshlands makes the complete place come to life. Not only may you be marvelled at the countryside, you will additionally be graced at the appealing lakes and waterfalls. A real sanctuary on earth. Visit Africa and go on Zambia safaris to explore the wonderful planes of South Africa.

In Zambia one will be able to investigate the leading waterfall of all, the Victoria Falls. This great waterfall has been a location for tons of lions with loads of big cats and elephants coming to bathe in the cold waters that run here. Also make sure you yourself see the birds & hippos at the Zambezi River, & do not forget to hire a safari guide as the river might well be a bit aggressive. you yourself may also wish to hire a walking tour in South Luangwa National Park and get near with the varieties of wildlife. On a driving tour you yourself will view tigers & extremely rare wild dogs. If one are lucky enough you yourself will view a heard of giraffes with their young. The facility to be so close with these alluring animals is amazing.

Places to stay in Zambia can range from five star hotels right through to huts without any showers. Whichever accommodation type you select one will be sure of a lovely time.

Jumbo mortgage loans provide financing to those who need a loan above conventional loan limits. Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FHLMC), two large agencies that purchase the bulk of residential mortgages in the United States, establish these limits. This limit signifies the maximum dollar amount that they will purchase from an individual lender. Those who need a first mortgage above the limit must look beyond the traditional lending market and search for lenders who offer jumbo mortgage loans.

Conventional Loan Limits

Conventional loan limits set by the two agencies are sometimes updated to reflect mortgage market changes. The last change, occurring in January 2006 established a limit of $417,000 for single-family mortgage loans. This limit affects every state in the union except Alaska and Hawaii. These two states have limits that are 50% higher than the rest of the country.

The Jumbo Mortgage

With rising home prices, many individuals and families find conventional loan limits constricting. This is why jumbo mortgage loans are available. For those who need heavy financing, jumbo loan lenders are there to provide it. Large investors, such as insurance companies and banks, often step in to fill the need for additional financing with maximum mortgage amounts going to the $1 million or $2 million range. Before purchasing a jumbo mortgage loan, you should be very confident in your ability to make the monthly mortgage payments, which may be quite large. Here is a list of recommended Jumbo Mortgage Lender online. It’s important to use a reputable lender online to make sure your personal information is secure.

Finding a Lender

Because jumbo mortgage interest rates are normally higher than the rates for conventional mortgages, it is important to find a good lender. Fortunately, the lending market for jumbo mortgages is competitive. Many lenders online now offer this form of financing, which will enable you to make comparisons easily. While shopping, take time to carefully compare rates, lending fees, and loan terms and conditions.

Did you ever see an image where only a small part of it is sharp? Using the aperture ring correctly can maximise the artistic look of your image.

Not only does it determine the depth-of-field, it also has the power to direct the human eye.

The human eye is instinctively drawn towards noticeable points of an image. These are usually the sharpest and most important parts of an image. Using a wide aperture to limit the area of sharp focus can direct attention to the most important elements of your image and blur out any off-putting backgrounds.

This isn’t that hard to accomplish, and can be blissful if done correctly.

Lets start off with understanding depth-of-field, aperture and f/stops.

Depth-of -field: The distance from the front to back that is in reasonable sharp focus is called the depth-of-field. There are two ways of controlling depth-of-field: Use a small aperture or focus on a point farther away from your camera.

Aperture and f/stops: The aperture is an opening in the centre of the lens through which light passes. The amount of light, which passes through an aperture, is indicated by f/stops. The lower the f/stop the more light that passes through the aperture. Opening up one full f/stop doubles the amount of light entering the camera. F/4 admits twice the light of f5.6.

By selecting a small or narrow aperture (f/16 or up), all or most of the scene will be reasonably sharp. This is ideal for landscape photography. By using a small aperture you increase the depth-of-field.

By selecting a large or wide aperture (f/5.6 or below) you decide which part of your image is sharp. This is ideal for taking pictures of wildlife, portraits, sport and small objects. By using a large aperture you decrease the depth-of-field

The smaller the f/number, the wider the aperture.

There is about twice the depth-of-field behind the point of focus as there is in front of it, using any aperture.

Now you know how to isolate your subject, so it’s time to put it to use. Set your camera to aperture-priority (AV) mode, and then select a large aperture (f/2 - f/5.6). By doing this the camera will select the shutter speed automatically. If you are shooting wildlife choose a low viewpoint to maximise the image, try putting the camera lens at eye-level with the subject.

While the above will help to isolate you subject, it’s only a start. Know your subject, especially when shooting wildlife. Don’t be fooled into thinking all elements of an image must be sharp to be considered a good photo.

TJ Tierney. Irish landscape photographer. www.goldprints.com

Almost any activity you can think of has an online forum dedicated solely for the discussion and exchange of information on that particular topic. Forums have been around in the form the dial-up bulletin boards and internet newsgroups that were popular in the 1980s and 1990s. The internet forum has since evolved into one of the most used tools the internet has to offer. Any topic you can imagine more than likely has numerous forums with regular participants. Poker is absolutely no exception, as there are thousands of poker websites which offer their visitors a forum to join in on the discussions.

Poker forums are a magnet for the novice as well as the seasoned poker professional. These forums feed the avid poker player the much needed information in all aspects of poker play, types of poker and the latest news. Some poker forums are solely for announcing the big poker tournaments which run throughout the year. The reader gets filled in on where the tournament is to be played as well as the particulars on play qualifications.

Poker related forums can also be game type specific. Sites are popping up everyday based solely on one game in particular, Texas Hold’em. Do a web search for that topic and you’ll be amazed at the number of sites which have devoted themselves to this one game. Seven Card Stud and Omaha Poker are also very popular forum topics as well. These card games have enough of a loyal following that the site owners receive thousands of visitors each and every day. Site owners offset the cost of running there forums with advertising related to the niche.

There are certainly some very good reasons why poker players would want to search out and become a member of these forums. One of which is the fact that a player can improve his game by frequenting high quality poker forums. By high quality, the forum should be well maintained with fresh news and happenings in the world of poker. If the last entry is more than a few days old, then the forum is a slow one. A slow forum is not necessarily a bad forum, but if you’re looking for updated content then you can do better.

The benefits a player gets from poker forums are:

Staying Updated: The world of poker has a lot of tournaments being held all year round. Poker players can be advised of local tournaments in their area and who will be there as well as the fees and prizes involved.

Game Improvement: More experienced players trading game stories and past experiences of how they handled a situation can help the novice player when faced with the same circumstances.

Tips and Tricks: Talk to a veteran poker player who’s willing to mentor and I’ll bet you’ll learn more from them than you will any of the poker books you’ll find for sale. A smart poker player never takes the time to think he can’t learn a new trick or two, and neither should you. Learning the game of poker is easy, but to master it takes a lifetime. Take advantage of the free advice those who have played many years have to offer.

Poker forums are a tool which any poker player can use to brush up on their game, catch up on the news in poker, or find out how last Friday night’s garage game went with Fred and the gang. Visit just a few of these gems, and you’ll become a card carrying member of the poker forum club.

Read up on your favorite professional poker players including Erik Seidel and Eskimo Clark today.

Impotence or, more clinically, erectile dysfunction is the inability to maintain an erection of the penis for satisfactory sexual intercourse regardless of the capability of ejaculation. The recent introduction of effective medication has increased awareness of this previously little appreciated disorder.Erectile dysfunction (ED) is the repeated inability to get or keep an erection firm enough for sexual intercourse. ED affects 15 to 30 million American men. ED is treatable at all ages.

Its Signs and symptoms is characterised by the inability to maintain erection. Normal erections during sleep and in the early morning suggest a psychogenic cause, while loss of these erections may signify underlying disease, often cardiovascular in origin. Other causes leading to erectile dysfunction are diabetes mellitus (causing neuropathy) or hypogonadism (decreased testosterone levels due to disease affecting the testicles or the pituitary gland).

There are no formal tests to diagnose erectile dysfunction. Some blood tests are generally done to exclude underlying disease.The researchers also say that “ED is a predictor of depressed status in men”.The association between depressive symptoms in men and erectile dysfunction (ED) appears to relate to decreased sexual activity and dissatisfaction with not being able to have a healthy sexual life, research indicates.
Viagra is sold as a medicine… as a treatment for “erectile dysfunction”.

VIAGRA DOES NOT PROTECT YOU FROM GETTING SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES, INCLUDING HIV.

Viagra Facts:

*Percentage of time Viagra use results in sex: 66%

*Percentage of Viagra users who have sex at least once after using the drug for a few weeks: 83%

*Average duration of erection with 100 mg of Viagra and 20 minutes of sex videos, among men with erectile dysfunction: 1 minute

*Average duration of erection with a placebo and 20 minutes of sex videos, among men with erectile dysfunction: 3.6 seconds

*Percentage of men who don’t refill their Viagra prescription: 50%

*Number of times Pfizer says men should try Viagra before giving up: 8

*Percentage of men who suffer at least one side effect while using Viagra: 48%

*Percentage of men who stop using Viagra because of side effects: 1%

*Decline in erectile function for every decade increase in age: 12%

*Decline in erectile function for every 20 pounds of weight gain: 3%

*Price of a single Viagra pill in the U.S.: $9-$10

For more assistance visit: http://www.viagrapunch.com/viagra_info.html

We are providing the information regarding Erectile Dysfunction or Impotence: its correct usage, how it effects one’s life, latest updates by renound experts, newsletters and even the live stories of people.

A radio controlled car is made up of a remote and the model car. By turning or pushing the joystick up or down and left or right, the individual is capable to make it go in whatever direction.

There are many numerous models currently on sale in the gadget market. The simple replica toys can only simply travel a small distance. Enthusiasts that hunger to have the authentic deal should acquire the remote control vehicle that needs to be put together & personalised.

Remote operated toy cars are grouped either as electric operated or as nitro power-driven. The wonderful thing about cars that have an electric powered engine is that the battery supplied is fully reusable. Remote control vehicles that adopt fuel will want to be topped-up and lubricated after some time, which is very similar to normal cars.

These types of toys are often played with by kids of differing ages. Specific department stores have models identical to those raced in America’s NASCAR racing and monster trucks that are often seen in the demolition derby. This merely emphasises that people can benefit from radio controlled vehicles both on and off the road.

Do these marvellous toys call for a lot of repairs? Yes they do. The owner should ought to test the battery unit, the shock absorbers & the tires frequently. This will help ensure that the vehicle is capable to preserve its pace & efficiency each occasion it’s sent to the race course. Let Toy-Shopper.co.uk help you find great prices on star wars projectors and make this summer the best one yet.

The hobbyist should be aware that not all of the cars parts can be fixed. This is due to toy manufacturers designing their cars to operate only up until the components basically break. Shoppers that want to enjoy the radio control car will somehow need to trade the parts, nevertheless this can be from time to time hard to locate.

Radio controlled toys don’t purely relate to cars. There are also planes, ships & helicopters to get your hands on in the toy store.

Both parents and children alike who are curious & for some reason have never done this prior perhaps should stick to the basic model(s) and then only upgrade later if the person is actually serious with it & wants to participate in official remote radio car competitions.