Via Amazon.com

They were controversial as soon as they hit the market — the Django Unchained action figures caused debate over whether they were racist, inappropriate, and/or exploitive. Now the dolls have been banned from eBay, according to TMZ.

As we reported, many complained that the selling of these slave dolls, which were available on Amazon, is not only racially insensitive but also makes light of slavery. Following massive backlash from African-American advocacy groups, The Weinstein Company (which produced the film) discontinued the promotional figurines.

Ebay said via emails to sellers, “Since the manufacturer of this product has discontinued the item’s sale due to its potentially offensive nature, we are not allowing it to be sold on eBay,” reports TMZ. According to eBay, the dolls  were in violation of the company’s “Offensive Materials policy.” The dolls had been fetching as much as $300 apiece. According to Deadline Hollywood, the bidding for a complete set of the dolls had reached $1,000.

But all this controversy could have the opposite effect, making the doll even more collectible and expensive.

Are you opposed to the Django dolls?

Elena Elisseeva/Shutterstock.com

Last year after her first baby was born, Asharah Damore was looking for something to keep her creative juices flowing as well as make a little money while she stayed home with her newborn son. “Although this was a tremendous blessing I felt like I was losing my identity after about the six-month mark. I knew I didn’t want to go back to work but I wanted to make money doing something I enjoyed,” Damore explains to us.

So she turned to eBay. “I frequent the thrift stores and I would always see brand new or next to new items not in my size which I would pass [on] buying because I had no one to buy them for,” she says. “So I decided to start buying a few of those items too see if I could re-sell them on eBay.”

Damore found nearly immediate success, but the eBay format took time to master. “The first month was great and but it was hard to keep the momentum because on eBay keywords are very important and depending on how you list your items someone searching for what you have may or may not be able to find it,” Damore points out. “So you have to be creative on how title you listings.”

It’s not hard, however, to get started. First, you need to set up an account by registering on the website. “There’s no fee for listing items so long as you do not exceed 50 items per month; after that, the fee is nominal. In addition, once your item sells, you must pay eBay nine percent of the sale price, with a maximum fee of $250,” reports Forbes.

Ebay gives users two options on how to sell their products. The most common is the auction method. A seller establishes a baseline price (reserve), the length of auction and can even strike a deal, called “Buy it Now.” You can also lists items for sale at a set price with no bidding.

Now, you have opened a virtual business. Treat it as such and be professional in your approach, online language and dealings with customers. Forbes suggests picture your eBay business as a virtual storefront. “There are also websites, such as auctiva and The Seller Sourcebook, that provide thousands of templates based on a variety of categories. Pick one that works for you. Then be sure to categorize each item correctly so it can be easily found,” reports Forbes.

Image: Press Association via AP Images

Mobile payments are hot in tech right now, and we’ve reached a major milestone in getting consumers to use their phones to pay for items in real life. Square, which originally produced a mobile credit card reader and has since launched a mobile payments app for consumers, launched its partnership with Starbucks that was announced back in August.

Consumers who have the Square Wallet app on their iPhone or Android device and have it linked to a debit or credit card can simply scan a barcode at 7,000 Starbucks locations nationwide to pay for their purchases. While Starbucks is the largest company partnering with Square Wallet, it is not the only one, and the app allows users to explore nearby merchants who also use the program.

Business Insider has a step-by-step guide to using Square Wallet at Starbucks, and the companies also released a video, embedded here:

Square has done a lot to make it easier for small businesses to accept credit cards and made it more convenient for consumers to pay with their phones. But it is not the only company working to get a foothold in the mobile payments space. PayPal also produces a small credit card reader and has a digital wallet product, plus the brand recognition that Square sometimes lacks outside of tech circles.

Google Wallet is also making waves as it is investigating a physical plastic card that is linked to its mobile app, allowing users to access several accounts with one card. Intuit and eBay, not to mention more traditional credit card companies such as MasterCard and American Express, also have a stake in the game.

One reason mobile payments are so popular now is that they provide small businesses with more ways to accept payments and build loyalty. And while the partnerships with Starbucks and other big guns brings a lot of press and buzz, the impact for small businesses is huge—and is arguably the bigger story.

Have you used Square or other mobile payment apps? Would you like it if your local mom-and-pop shop allowed you to use them?

Image: TheFancy.com

Design house Jil Sander has sent a new handbag this season. And it’s a brown paper bag priced at $290. For men and women, because that sort of thing is unisex. True, the bag is “crafted from coated paper,” has “stitched seams” and “metal eyelets.” And, of course, the Vasari, as it’s known, has the words “Jil Sander” written on it. But it’s still, basically, a paper bag that costs $290.

There’s also a leather version of the bag for $360. The Jil Sander website says the bag is sold out. And you thought those LeBron X sneakers were pricey!

Here are some other things you can buy for $300 or less, just for fun.

-Today’s Groupon Getaway deal to St. Croix: $229 for three nights at the Hibscus Beach Resort.

-Three tickets to see Cirque du Soleil in Atlantic City on eBay.

-This made-to-order desk made from “reclaimed wood” on Etsy.

-The prix-fixe vegetable tasting at Per Se restaurant in New York’s Columbus Circle. Your meal will include sweet corn sorbet; an olive, artichoke and parsley omelette; and fancy cheese and crackers. If there’s something you don’t finish, you can take it home in your designer brown sack.

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A seller on ebay described his brown faux-leather satchel for $7.98 as “Ni@@er-Brown”. The owner who is based in Shanghai, China listed it’s “Korean style Lady PU leather handbag shoulder bag 4656” in several colors including rose pink, peach blossom and watermelon red–however failed to describe their dark brown shade without throwing in a racial slur. Apparently this isn’t the first time the derogatorily titled color has painted an unpleasant picture.  Read more here…

Most recently, Apple came under fire this June for its “Picture Effect Magic app,” which allowed users to tint their pictures in various shades–including “Ni@@er-Brown.” Again, a faulty Chinese-to-English translation was to blame. Lin Xuehua, the app’s creator issued an apology and promptly changed the color to “brown.”

Can you believe this nonsense?

In this digital age, everything is changing. And I do mean everything, even the way we discipline our children. Earlier this month, a mother of two boys decided to sell her sons’ spinning tops, called Beyblades, as punishment for destroying the bathtub while they were using it as a battle ground. She listed the spinning tops on EBay.

Although the opening bid was $69 dollars, it quickly skyrocketed to $999,999 before it was taken down. The mother assumed it was a hoax.

Get the additional details behind the story here.

Was this a good idea for a punishment or is it too humiliating for the children?

(Businessweek) — Tim L. Fields bids for jewelry, art, and antiques on eBay (EBAY), sometimes in 30 to 40 auctions at a time. The New Orleans attorney spends hours in court and away from his PC, so he gets his shopping done using an eBay application on his iPhone that sends alerts when he’s been outbid or when a sale is a bout to expire. “It’s sort of an addiction,” says Fields, who has used the eBay mobile app to buy a $15,000 set of antique French silver.

Read More…