Nancy Fiddler is cleaning out her garage in Sebastopol these days, which is the thing to do if your garage has a mastodon in it.

Not just any mastodon, but a full-grown one. It's among the finest examples of a fossilized mastodon in North America, and certainly the finest example of one in a Sebastopol garage.

Fiddler wants it gone. It's been in the family for 11 years, and that's long enough for the relationship to have run its course.

"This," she said, pointing to the creature that fills half the garage, "was something we felt we could let go of."

The mastodon ad began running last week. Since then, the number of bids has remained constant. There were none on Friday, none over the weekend and, as of Monday night, the running total was zero.

It could be the asking price. Fiddler set the minimum opening bid at $115,000. She figures the thing to be worth $800,000, but she is not the first person to discover that a precious family heirloom is perhaps worth less than the adoring family figured.

Experts at LifeGem HQ in Chicago then burned the hair without oxygen to ensure it did not disintegrate.

They extracted 130 milligrammes of carbon from 10 strands and divided it into three separate diamond presses.

Each of the presses was exposed to temperatures of 3,000 degrees celsius and placed under one million pounds of pressure for a two week growing period.

Once ready, the stones were cut into Round Brilliant Diamonds, polished and then certified.

This happened because the original seller stupidly made a typo in the listing, which happens rather frequently on eBay. In this particular case, he listed "ALLSOPP" as "ALLSOP", which means that his item would not be returned by users making a search for ALLSOPP items. You'd think people who are about place to an item for sale on eBay would at least ensure that the items are properly listed. I mean, it doesn't take that much effort to read a small paragraph at least thrice.

Taking advantage of this typo, one guy won the auction for a mere $400 and went on to resell the item for a staggering $500,000+.

Why is Will doing this?
Will has teamed up with one of his friends and USC fraternity brothers, Craig Pollard, to support Pollard's non-profit Cancer for College. www.cancerforcollege.org Will is offering the spot in his new movie in order to raise the most money possible for the foundation. Cancer for College was created by Pollard, a two-time survivor of Hodgkins' disease to provide college scholarships to current and former cancer patients.

Will attends CFC's annual charity golf tournament and auction and serves and the celebrity host. This year, Will wanted to add something extra to the event. He decided to open up the part in his movie as an auction item. 100% of the proceeds from this auction is going to Cancer for College.

What does the winning bidder get?
The highest bidder will meet Ferrell at the charity banquet in Southern California on September 28th, 2007 to be honored as the auction winner. Then, in October 2007, the winner will meet Ferrell again on set during a day of filming his new movie and appear in a scene with him in his new movie, "Step Brother".

On July 19, 2007, Britney Spears shocked the OK! Magazine staff and the world with what can only be characterized as a complete and utter meltdown. What was meant to a beautiful shoot of the star turned into a frustrating day for all. In the aftermath, our staff discovered over $21,000 in missing and damaged clothing and accessories, including this gorgeous Versace gown from the Spring 2007 Collection.

After reimbursing retailers for the damaged goods, we'd love to turn this once-negative into a positive by donating the proceeds of this auction to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (M.A.D.D.). We reacted to Britney's heartbreaking cry for help by chronicling the day in print for her and the world to see it was time for change. And now, we're asking that you bid heavily towards M.A.D.D. -- an organization who's call for change is something that we all admire.

This promotion will not apply to the following types of listings: All eBay Motors listings (including Parts & Accessories, Passenger Vehicles, Motorcycles, Power Sports, Other Vehicles), Live Auction, Professional Services, Real Estate, Ad Format and Store Inventory listings. The following business and industrial categories are excluded from the Insertion Fee Sale: tractors & farm machinery (91952), heavy equipment (25249), concession trailers, carts (67145), imaging and aesthetics equipment (92035), forklifts and other lifts (97185), manufacturing equipment (92080), metalworking equipment (92082) and commercial printing presses (26247)

"Two weeks ago today history was made," Murphy said at a press conference this afternoon in San Francisco. "I was privileged enough to be in house. I was lucky enough to be that guy who caught the ball. Today I am excited to announce that myself along with SCP Auctions will be putting the ball up for sale."

SCP, a partner with the premiere auction house Sotheby's, specializes in high-end sports items and will run an online auction for the ball from Aug. 28 to Sept. 15. Auction officials say the ball is probably worth at least a half million dollars.

Murphy, who bought tickets for the Padres-Giants game along with a Yankees fan friend in advance of passing through San Francisco en route to an Australian vacation, eventually decided to sell the ball when it became clear that the cost of keeping it would be too much to bear. Advisers informed him he would be taxed on the ball just for holding on to it.

With the new Misspelled Auction Search service, users simply enter the correct spelling of a product that they want to buy, select the "Get Misspellings" checkbox, and click on the "Submit Query" button. The service will automatically bring up current eBay auctions with both the correct and incorrect spellings so that users can find the auction that is right for them. To place a bid, users must sign up for an account at eBay.com.

"We offer a unique way to shop at for auctions so you can make an educated purchase" says Arthur Lee, owner of Branica.com. "Typically you can expect to see savings of up to 80% off the usual auction price with misspellings."

It goes on sale this Friday, and die-hard Apple fans are expected to line up overnight or longer outside retail stores to get their hands on an iPhone for either $500 or $600.

But skeptics wonder whether even the most innovative product could live up to the iPhone's lofty expectations - and whether the pre-launch anticipation has spiraled too far out of control. Scrutiny of the product is so great that any small disappointment could send Apple's stock plunging, experts say.

The iPhone has already generated a thriving cottage industry online, with more than 1,100 peripheral iPhone items currently for sale on eBay, including colorful holsters, touch-screen protectors and car adapters.

Here's how Darple works. You want to buy a toaster and find five different styles and brands that are acceptable. You bid on all five but specify that you will buy only one of them. As soon as one seller accepts your bid (it can be a different price for each toaster), all your other bids are withdrawn.

Traditional double auctions have required the buyer to bid on identical items, such as Microsoft stock.

Darple's software, for which the company has sought a patent, allows double auctions on all kinds of items at once. For example, you want to buy your grandmother a birthday present, but you don't care whether it's a blouse, baking pan or book for under $25. You create what Darple calls a bidset for all three. The seller who accepts your bid first determines what Grandma's gift will be, and your other bids are withdrawn.

The move came after eBay executives met with representatives of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), which said in a report recently that nine out of every 10 ivory items sold online contain ivory from poached elephant tusks.

The ban is "fantastic news," said Peter Pueschel, the head of IFAW's Global Program Against Wildlife Trade, because of eBay's "commercial and financial might" and its international reach.

"IFAW believes that this is an important step forward, but that a total ban is ultimately needed, and we will continue to work with eBay and others to implement this," he said.

Because it is mainly a commerce platform enabling person-to-person trading, eBay has long walked a tightrope when it comes to regulating what its community of users can buy and sell. Pattern Found

International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said it had conducted a survey in Britain, Australia, China, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Canada and the United States and tracked more than 2200 elephant ivory items listed on eBay websites.

It found more than 90 per cent of the listings breached even eBay's own wildlife policies.

International wildlife trade laws differ from country to country and are often complex, but according to the IFAW in general it is illegal to sell carved or uncarved ivory unless it is antique and accompanied by a proof of age certificate.

The Fund says the only way to protect elephants from poachers is to shut down the markets where illegal ivory can easily be passed off as antique.

"As the world's largest online shop window, eBay has a special responsibility to lead the way by banning ivory from their sites," Robbie Marsland, IFAW's British director, said.

"Only a global ban on all ivory sales will remove the cover under which this criminal activity currently operates and as a result, seriously help to decrease illegal trade and the cruel and unnecessary slaughter of elephants."