E-Scribe News : a programmer’s blog

About Me

PBX My name is Paul Bissex, and e-scribe.com is my consulting business. I build web applications using as much open source software as possible. From September to June I teach web design and other important non-photographic professional skills to photographers. In the '90s I wrote technology commentary and reviews for magazines, newspapers, and web publications, including Wired, Salon.com, FamilyPC, the late lamented Web Review, and the Chicago Tribune. Feel free to email me.

Book Project

I'm co-authoring a book, "Python Web Development with Django", with Jeff Forcier and Wesley Chun. It will be published by Prentice Hall in July 2008, but is available for pre-ordering on Amazon now.

Colophon

This site is built on a fresh trunk checkout of Django, running on Python 2.5.1, served by Apache and mod_python. The database is SQLite. The operating system is FreeBSD, on a VPS hosted at Johncompanies.com. Comment-spam protection by Akismet. Vintage topo imagery from the Maptech archive.

Pile o'Tags

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Stuff I Use

Akismet, del.icio.us, Django, dpaste.com, Emacs, FreeBSD, Freenode, jQuery, LaunchBar, MacPorts, Markdown, Mercurial, OS X, Postfix, Python, SQLite, Subversion, TextMate, Trac, Ubuntu Linux, wmii

A Django site.
(Finally!)

Copyright 2008
by Paul Bissex
and E-Scribe New Media

Selling beat-up stuff on eBay

unmint

Despite my periodic criticisms of eBay (1, 2, 3) I remain a devoted user. One thing it's great for is selling things that require a lot of explanation -- because, unlike with a tag sale or classified ad, you don't have to repeat that explanation to every potential buyer. You write it up once and eBay does the rest.

I'm pretty tough on my hardware, so when I sell things the "explanation" is often a laundry list of defects.

The trick for me in writing up these items is to be completely candid. I lay out every flaw. I make it sound worse than it is. I attempt to be funny.

My number-one goal when selling stuff on eBay is to have a buyer who feels like he got what he paid for.

With that, I present: the Palm Tungsten T, Mad Max style with Super Fun-Pak.

Update: Sold! Final price $29.32, plus shipping. Not a bad deal for either party.

Sunday, January 8th, 2006
+ +

Some related posts: The Palm Foleo • Stupid eBay tricks • My Palm TX runs Windows 98

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