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HALF.COM OFFERS PERSON TO PERSON E-COMMERCE

Have some old DVDs, CDs, books, athletic equipment or other personal possessions you'd like to convert into cash but haven't had any nibbles from your garage sale or that classified ad you placed in your local newspaper? Or are you looking for something in the aforementioned categories but can't find the bargain you had in mind? Could be the Internet just may hold the answer to your quest. Half.com is a relatively new e-commerce site founded in 1999 yet it's become one of the most visited shopping sites offering more than 50 million items for sale. Recently acquired by eBay, Half.com is not an auction site but rather acts as a facilitator between buyer and seller.

Simply put, Half.com streamlines the entire process of buying and selling between two people while adding security and safety by insuring that both parties will get what they intended. Putting your items for sale on Half.com offers many advantages over traditional classifieds in a local publication in that your ad is seen by millions on a national scale. If your item has a UPC code or model number, entering it will automatically display a product photo for you as well as other relevant information. For example, if it's a music CD, the jacket cover, author, and song titles of each track will be displayed. If someone has additional questions, they may post them and the answers will be seen by anyone interested. One example I found particularly interesting is how students are using Half.com. They buy the semester's text books on Half.com and when finished, put them back for sale and get all their money back for the next set of books.

Another really cool feature not found on any other site is the Price Patrol. Let's say you're browsing another web site such as Amazon for a book. Before you make your purchase, Half.com's Price Patrol will open a small window on your screen alerting you that it has found someone willing to sell the same thing on Half.com but for a lot less money. One click will take you to a full description and you can decide if you want to go for it right there.

One other nifty feature is the Wish List. Let's say you find what you're looking for but the person is asking too much. Or you can't find what you want at any price. Enter what you are looking for and the price you want to pay in the Wish List and Half.com will continuously look for what you desire. If it does become available, Wish List will automatically send you an email that your wish has been granted.

Half.com membership is free and listing your classified ad is free as well. Half.com takes a percentage at the time of sale based on what the item is or its value. Check their web site for specific details.

www.half.com

Lasers are back!

When ready to buy a printer, so many just assume it's going to be an inkjet since they're so inexpensive. But laser printer prices are falling as well. Typically, most of us print 90 percent of everything in black and white and lasers print faster and cheaper than inkjets when it comes to monochrome output. Samsung has just introduced their ML-1210 laser printer at $199. Its 600 dpi, 12 pages per minute output is ideal for personal and even home office use. It has both USB and parallel connectivity, 8 MB of memory and works on both PC and Macintosh computers. It's Toner Save button will save up to 40 percent of toner extending the capacity of one cartridge from 2500 to 3500 pages. A Reprint / Cancel button lets you reprint the last page even with the computer turned off or cancel a page that's about to print, and it's N-up mode lets you print up to 16 pages of text on a single sheet of paper making for an ideal index sheet.

www.samsungusa.com/printer