Bid-N-Save Montreal

Well once again my constraints have cut me short. Due to a lack of availablity for listing during the current sale, and the abundance of new items, we will be turning this sale into a rolling sale. It will now last a week longer, this will allow me the time to list all of the new items. Thanks for your continued patronage and understanding.

April, ladies and gentlemen, is national month of taxes. To celebrate this joyous occasion, we will be holding only one sale this month. But its going to be one hell of a sale! We have crazy one of a kind items, you wouldn't find anywhere but here! I won't be giving any hints this time. But you know us, musicians by nature, gamers by habit, friends and parents by choice.

April 17th - 28th 2008
We will be starting the listings as early as Thursday the 17th, but I wouldn't bother looking until at least Friday night. The listing will continue through the weekend, and may go on until Tuesday the 22nd, but in all likelyhood the listing stage should be finished by Monday. All listings should close between Friday the 25th and Monday the 28th.

Many items that have never been listed on Ebay will be listed during this sale. Many high end items as well. So keep an eye out! You know what kind of deals we've been known for in the past!

Powersellers Unite! What the hell is going on? Has anyone else been paying attention? Have you seen these new policies, ebay says to seperate the good from the bad, I think they are about to alienate themselves to death. Imposing all of these buyer biased policies, against their highest contributers. Maybe I am seeing it all wrong, maybe i am seller biased. As a seller have you ever received a neutral or negative feedback for no good reason? I have, in fact it averages out to 1/100. These buyers that thought they would get a car, when you listed a car radio. Other buyers that think SOLD AS IS, means fully tested, 100% functional, guaranteed & covered by the return policy. Now ebay inhibits you from leaving negative feedback for a buyer, now that is completely unfair. I thought ebay prided itself on fairness, and a level marketplace. Have you ever had a buyer try to fraud you, I have about 5/100. Wouldn't it be great if i could leave a negative feedback to that buyer stating what they tried to do, so other sellers could protect themselves.

5 Star DSR's?
Now how the hell are we going to do that? Almost every buyer complains about shipping, even if you only charge actual shipping. And that won't cover business expenses, such as paper, ink, boxes & packing material. Its nice that ebay halfed alot of the listing fees, but 10 cents is not gonna cover shipping, now is it? This of course is my only fault when it comes to DSR's, many other powersellers are in the same situation. How can you get a 5 star rating? offer free shipping? That's great, but these are auctions, not items in store. To be competitive you have to have the lowest price. All of my auctions start at 99 cents, i am not going to offer free shipping, each one of hundreds of auctions could cost me as much as $40 each out of pocket to ship. It wouldn't be long before I had to declare bankruptcy.5% buyer disatisfaction rate if you have 1 negative/neutral out of 20 in 30 days, paypla will hold all payments received for 21 days, would you ship? or would you wait for your money? If you wait, how do you think the buyer will rate your shipping time DSR, when they have to wait an extra 3 weeks for their item?

So What Do We Do? - How do we Raise our DSR's?
Please comment and let me know what you think.

Whew! As if I didn't have enough to do! I finally got it up for you guys, here is the list of our current amazon listings.
Thanks Everyone!

Just Click Any Listing You Would Like To See Closer.
PC Games- Rise of Nations
PS2- Final Fantasy X
PS2- Midnight Club 2
PS2- Tomb Raider Legend
PS2- Scarface
PS2- Nascar Thunder 2002
PS2- Maximo: Ghost to Glory
PS2- Def Jam Vendetta
PS2- Full Spectrum Warrior
PS2- Triggerman
DVD- Disney: Cinderella III A Twist in Time
DVD- Disney: Sky High
DVD- Disney: Zathura
DVD- Disney: Eight Below
DVD- Disney: The Princess Diaries 2, Royal Engagement
DVD- Disney: The Pirates of the Carribean, The Curse of the Black Pearl
DVD- Disney: The Pirates of the Carribean, Dead Man's Chest
DVD- Disney: Cheaper by the Dozen 2
DVD- Baby Einstein: On The Go
DVD- Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
DVD- Deep Blue
DVD- Il Etait une Fois en Antartique
DVD- Peter Pan
DVD- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
DVD- I, Robot
DVD- Once Upon a Time in Mexico
DVD- Miami Vice
DVD- The Chronicles of Riddick, Pitch Black
DVD- The Chronicles of Riddick
DVD- War of the Worlds
DVD- Solaris
DVD- Sphere
DVD- The Butterfly Effect
DVD- Dirty
DVD- Dawn of the Dead
DVD- Land of the Dead
DVD- House of 1,000 Corpses
DVD- Hostel
DVD- Cabin Fever
DVD- Underworld
DVD- Ju-On
DVD- Bram Stokers', The Legend of the Mummy
DVD- The Amityville Horror
DVD- Freddy Vs. Jason
DVD- Souls Survivors, The Killer Cut
DVD- The House on Haunted Hill
DVD- Thirteen Ghosts
DVD- Van Helsing
DVD- Final Destination 3
DVD- Malibu's Most Wanted
DVD- Kill Bill Volume 2
DVD- Cellular
DVD- Histoire de Pen
DVD- Spider-Man 2
DVD- The Black Eyed Peas, From Sydney to Vegas
DVD- Anchorman, The Legend of Ron Burgundy
AUDIO- Destiny's Child, Destiny Fulfilled
AUDIO- Jimi Hendrix, Smash Hits


When you type really fast for a long time, do your fingers feel light and twitchy too? I am sure I missed a few listings, but these are most of 'em. Listings are always being added to amazon, we will re-issue this list in about 30 days. Once more, Thanks Everyone!

Our first Sale of March Will Start on the 7 of March. Items will be listed over three days, all listings will end between 15-17th of March. Highlights include tiffany style fixtures, babyfoot tables, hockey tables, a collector's set of backgammon, baby items.

Our second sale will start on the 21st of March. Items will be listed over three days, all listings will end between 29-31st of March. Highlights include a Roland MSQ-700 Midi Keyboard Sequencer, 1000watt HPS Power Supply, HPS Lights, Computer Equipment, Spring items

Hope to see you there, new items come in everyday, so you never know what to expect.

Knowledge is Power!

We purchased the L42WD22 from RCA about six months ago. We bought it, based on price and features.

The feature list is incredible for the price we found it at. The features included a built-in HD Decoder. More connections then we would ever use, including 2 HDMI/DVI ports. Many features built-in for audio/video correction including the EN-V System.

I like Thomson Electronics, the company who manufactures these units for RCA, The produced the Lyra Line of MP3's for RCA, and countless other products. I found solid reliability with their products before. Maybe I bought a lemon. When we fired up this baby, it was incredible! The image was amazing, up to 1080i (1920x1080 resolution interlaced). Absolutely no blurring or trace, the panel has a response time of 5 milliseconds, the same as Sharp and LG. The sound is quite good as well, some panels have no sound at all. This unit has four built-in speakers, and many audio settings, to simulate 3D or provide deep bass response. Unit allows for adjustment of Unit volume as well as audio out (very helpful). I really like this unit. The image truly makes your jaw drop, when I tell people its an RCA their jaws' almost fall off!

Things I liked:

The image is spectacular! The sound is good. I like wires and connectibility, this unit surpasses those needs. The unit's frame is small only about 2" around the panel. The warranty, this unit came with a 1 year warranty. Very Important!

Things I didn't Like:

The universal remote included with this unit. its ugly and boring.

Things I had a problem with:

Well here you go, the real issue at hand. Three months after I bought this unit, I starting having some problems when switching between sources, it was acting bizarre to put it lightly. Like I said earlier, maybe I bought a lemon. about a week later I started to see some burnt pixels. My screen is not in the sun or any direct light for that matter. So I called RCA who referred me to Thomson Electronics here in Canada. They promptly replaced my TV. Since then I have had no problems.

UPDATE: March 16 2008

My daughter threw a baseball into the screen. Wow, what a test! She's is two, but shes got one hell of a swing! I was quasi watching through the corner of my eye, what I saw was my daughter wind up and throw. I believe I saw the screen bend back about an inch into the frame, and return. Wow I was phreakin' out. I ran over to the panel, gave a close inspection. There was a sort of marred mark where the ball contacted, but I was firstly looking for damaged pixels, i was shocked to see no wrong colors and no dead or mislit pixels. Absolutely amazing! I was able to wipe off the mark left by the baseball with warm water and almost no pressure. This happened about two months ago, and still there is nothing wrong. Thompson is making me feel very comfortable again!

Knowledge is Power!

Being second in line to write about bargainland liquidation, leaves something to be said about Ebay. I deal exclusively with bargainland liquidation in Canada. You may have read an earlier guide written about these procrastinating sellers, i will simply add my experience to the list. Yes its true Bargainland has had 10000+ Negative Feedbacks within the last twelve months, I think they average 50% Positive feedback. While smaller sellers like myself and others strive to maintain an almost perfect 100% Positive Feedback score, hoping to improve our odds of sale, it seems the the titanium powersellers don't really care what you or anyone else thinks. As long as they walk hand in hand with Ebay, Buyer Beware! I have purchased three items from Bargainland. A plastic beauty set for my daughter: The box was falling apart when it was delivered, it was missing pieces, and generally not in the condition specified. A Box of childrens clocks, this was perfect. A set of Proactive for my wife: After two months and numerous emails we still hadn't received the item, or a refund, or even a response. It wasn't until we filed Item Undelivered with Paypal that the Item magicaly appeared three days later. But they never ever replied to me.

When they say item may not be in condition described,
Believe them - Its Probably Not.
As for their customer service, I guess when you get big enough,
you can't see the small people anymore...
Better to stick to the smaller sellers, they answer your questions,
respond to your emails, and usually have a very high positive feedback score.

Knowledge is Power!

First of all, don't freak out. These things are pretty fixable. Usual errors include bad sectors, phantom files and folders.

There is a website that helps very much: mympxplayer.org

There you can find all kinds of downloads, different schemes, you can even download the opening screens of The Apple Ipod Nano, making your copy look even more real then the real thing. These units are quite fun, many more options and features then the ipod nano. And the video is pretty good, considering.

How to fix that bad sector/missing space/phantoms Problem

Turn on your MP4 (disconnected) go to setup, go to Online Mode, make sure to select Normal Only. Exit setup, turn off the unit (not standby, switch it off). Connect the unit (to PC) with the power off. On your computer, open flash drive properties (usually d: or E: or F:) (on my PC its K:). You will probably see two(2) flash drives concern yourself only with the lower drive. (Example you see A: B: C: D: E: and F: drives, C: is your hard drive D: is your DVD Drive, then both E: and F: are your flash drive (mp4) you will work only with E:, forget about F:, Don't use it.) Now click on tools under drive properties, now click on Error-Checking, make sure that you click 'search for and repair bad sectors' click start. Error-Checking will probably report that problems were found and repaired. If so run the error-checking again with the same settings, until error-checking reports the drive problem free. Then close the error-checking. Left-click on the flash drive, select Format, click on 'Resotore Device Defaults' then proceed to format the flash drive. Now its ready to use. They work better when you turn the unit off (not standby) before connecting to the PC.

This routine was developed on a Vista System (since vista works so well..... ) Other OS's might not have the same results. Shortly I will post on upgrading the firmware.

If you are looking to Purchase one of these units. The Rockwell Chips seem to be the leader. Having an MP4 Problem? Let me Know, I Can Help, Or Point You To Someone Who Can.

Knowledge is Power.....

I woke up to the sound of my wife screaming. Four days earlier we had received our brand new leather couch. A real work of art. Firm, thick natural leather, in a contemporary design, oversized. It had to be delivered twice because the first time they couldn't fit it through the door. It was specially treated with a ten year anti-stain treatment, we didn't want anything to happen to it. This couch cost us over fourteen hundred dollars. Four days after we had it, i woke up to the sound of my wife screaming. Walking out of the bedroom blurry eyed and confused, I inquired to the nature of my wife's dismay. Before she could answer me I saw the couch. One third full of blistered little punctures, even some tears were the under-fabric had been pulled through. You see I have a cat. I also have a few kids. When we bought the couch we thought of the kids (with the ten year anti-stain) but never thought of the cat. When I saw the holes and tears in the couch I almost lost it. After a few hours I decided to find out what I could, and try to repair the couch myself (The dealer started laughing when I told him what happened). Here is what I found out, and what I did. And let me just say, that now no one can even notices the damage when they are looking for it. So it worked out well.

What they told me:

Liquid Leather - Liquid vinyl that is supposed to match the color and texture of your leather. You work it in then apply a piece of textured plastic which you remove after a little while leaving a small textured patch of vinyl, hopefully the same color of your couch. I remember these vinyl patch kits from the 80's they didn't work good then, I don't think they're any better now. Leather Conditioner - To soften the leather, so that the little blisters that go with cat punctures disappear (come flat). I did buy this, and in my opinion it is very neccesary for the blisters. Various Other Products - Including meltonian, and polishes, fillers.

(But in the end everyone said the same thing, that it was unrepairable)

What I did:

I went to see a tailor/shoe repair guy. Someone I know from my neighborhood. He told me that liquid leather was a waste of time, and to try melting meltonian into the tear/puncture then polish over the damage. Hmmm, didn't sound good to me, but I tried on an old leather shoe. It didn't work at all. Stuck at a loss, a loss of ideas and a loss of a fourteen hundred dollar couch. Being very handy myself I spent some time thinking about my predictament. I decided to get myself a super huge magnifying glass with a light, some high-grade contact cement and see what i could do.

First I set the magnifying glass up over the couch, turned on the light. This was the key, now I could see the smallest detail like it was bigger then my plasma. Then with four needles (yeah needles!) I went to work. Using one needle to lift one side of the tear, I applied contact cement inside the tear. Then gently pushing the two sides together, wiping off any excess contact cement. This process took about three hours to complete maybe 100-150 little blistered punctures, and maybe 10-15 small tears. I took my time and tried to do as good a job as possible. One hour later (leaving a little time for the cement to dry) I applied leather condition to the couch. Then we decided we wouldn't sit on it until morning (leaving more time for everything to set).

Imagine my surprise when i woke up the next morning, came out ot look at my couch and i couldn't see any damage. All the blisters had disappeared, and were barely (I mean BARELY) visible. It was like it had all been a nightmare, and i had just awoken. The damage is so well repaired that visitors don't believe me when I tell them the tale of The Cat & The Couch. It has been nearly a month since then, the damage has not become visible, or opened again. The repair seems to be more then effective, and nearly invisible.

I hope if your couch is damaged this information will help you to return it to its original state, as it did for me.

Good Luck, Knowledge is Power!

Have you purchased a DVD9? Or maybe an asian import? Maybe you were just trying to buy that hard to find Disney DVD for your son or daughter. I've experienced the displeasure of buying DVD9's and Imports first hand, and I'll explain my personal experiences and how to spot and avoid these DVDs, hoping to help new users.

Over a three years ago I bought my first "Asian Import", it was not specified in the auction listing. the only thing specified was "region 1" and "english". I knew something was wrong from the moment I saw it. It looked almost home-made, substandard quality print on the disk as well as the sleeve(artwork). There were even spelling mistakes on the sleeve. This disk had a small logo "DVD9". Are DVD9s copies, or bootlegs? I tried to find out, but I didn't get very far. Ebay's views at the time were DVDR and DVDrw are obvious copies, and therefore are banned items, unless specified as DVDr or DVDrw in the auction listing and not violating any copyrights. They didn't see DVD9 as bootlegs, and would need a letter of "proof of in-authenticity". I paid only a few bucks for this disk and didn't want to lose any more time over it. The movie actually played fine. Leading me to believe that DVD9s are not bootlegs but very low quality factory made DVDs. Brought to this belief through the in-action of Ebay and Paypal. I went on to buy more. Next I bought a package. About sixty or seventy DVDs from the philipines, i took the time to check the dealers feedback and refund/shipping policies. I won the auction at a couple of hundred dollars, and paid another hundred for shipping. Al this was transferred from my credit card to paypal to xoom. Xoom takes care of country's that don't have paypal, in the same way paypal does here. The movies came all working wonderfully but with the same low quality prints. Some had nice prints, most did not. I was somewhat satisfied. I kept about thirty and sold the other forty to friends and various other outlets including ebay. I had no problems what so ever. I was thinking to myself that this was to good to be true. So I decided to buy another package. I almost lost six-hundred dollars! I found another dealer selling cheaper, and I decided to buy a very large package of about 250 DVD's. I won the auction, made an instant payment, and sent an email to the dealer. This payment was made the same way as the previous one. After four days with no answer to my email and six hundred dollars on the line, I got nervous. The next after contacting my credit card company I found out that the money had been refunded. Refunded by who? They said paypal refunded the money. I checked with all involved parties, and found out that xoom refunded to payapl on the basis the the bank account in the philipines was frozen and under investigation. Thank-god I thought to myself. I didn't lose any money, and the guy was obviously dirty. So feeling somewhat protected I bought more, another hundred, from a dealer with good feedback and a refund policy. The package wich I had paid 80 dollars shipping for, took about four weeks to arrive. It arrived physically damaged. 20% of the DVDs were physically damaged, also about 10% of the sleeves were physically damaged. I contacted the dealer about this, the asked me to make an inventory and send it to them. Which i did by the next day. I also started watching the movies to see how they played. 40% were unplayable. They never even started. 20% stopped half way through and had no physical damage. Another 10% had various defects, such as the audio track being too fast or slow, terrible video quality such as pixelation. One in particular looked like it was shot in a movie theater, i am sure the you can see someone in the audience get up in front of the camera. I contacted the dealer I was very upset. The dealer didn't answer for about four days. When she did she reassured me that she would refund and non-working disks and even send me extra as an apology. She told me just to throw the dvd's out and wait for the new ones. I did. One week, two weeks and then three. This was my lesson of "Buyer Beware". I contacted her again, she said she didn't received the disks. What! She told me to throw them out. Of course this all turned out to be my mistake... yeah sure! So because she didn't receive the dvds before the refund policy expired, she didn't have to refund anything. I got about 20 working dvds for about 280 dollars. Then I stopped buying imports. Some people call them imports, some asian and some DVD9. Armed with this knowledge I tried to buy one real DVD. I bought "House of 1000 Corpses" from a dealer in the US. I emailed him before I bid asking if it was an asian/import/dvd9/copy/bootleg. He guaranteed me that it was not, it was an authentic original Region 1 factory made (in the usa) DVD. When it arrived, I'm sorry to say I didn't believe it to be original or authentic. It didn't say DVD9, but again it had the same low quality prints. This time I ran the upc, it was correct. But I still believe it to be fake. Burnt Again! Then I tried to get Narnia for my kids. Searching hard through all the listings to find what i believed to be authentic region 1, again i contacted the dealer, and he too reassured me that it was authentic factory made (in canada). The same thing, no DVD9 markings but the same low quality prints. Are there any real region DVDs on ebay anymore? I mean like the ones you purchase at futureshop or HMV. I don't think so.I think i bought some imports from blockbuster the other day. I tried earlier this month to buy some "Baby Einstien" DVDs for my daughter, but they were are obvious asian imports/dvd9. Think I'm going to go to Futureshop.

How To Spot The Asian Imports DVD9's:

They usually say "region 1 playable". Before they never used to say authentic region1, now they do. Some thing are obvious, like if they say no asian markings on disk or sleeve, then you know its an import. Where is the dealer located, if they're from the philipines or hong kong forget about it. Even dealers located in the states and canada sell imports and DVD9. Most real region1 dvds have the english/spanish/french audio tracks, inquire about audio tracks, if they say anything other then probably its an import or DVD9. Ask them were the disk is made. Ask them for the upc then check it on ebay.

When Buying:

Ask the dealer straight out is this an import or asian or DVD9? Check for a refund policy that gives you enough time to return the dvd. If returning it, do it by a trackable service so you have proof you retuned it. Pay by credit card, so if anything goes wrong you can take it up with the credit card company, they are usually much better help then paypal or ebay.

Remember Buyer Beware, And Good Luck!