eBay raises commission fees again

eBay's commission is now nearly double what it was just two years ago. File image: AP Source: AP

THE dominant online auction site, eBay, will substantially increase its sales commission from May.

"Final value fees for successfully selling an item will increase to 9.9 per cent,'' eBay said in an email sent to registered users this morning.

The company raised the standard fee to 7.9 per cent only 12 months ago.

The increase should deliver eBay a revenue bonanza as lifting the commission rate from 7.9 per cent to 9.9 per cent is a jump of more than a quarter.

eBay's commission is now nearly double what it was just two years ago.

In 2011 the final value fee was reported to be just 5.25 per cent. However, at that time there were also insertion charges. Now the first 40 are free.

From May this year, eBay will also increase the maximum fee from $100 to $250.

News Limited requested comment from eBay. None has so far been forthcoming.

The new fee structure can be found here.

Will it stop you from selling on eBay? Tell us: john.rolfe@news.com.au

Follow this reporter on twitter: @costofliving; @public_defender
 

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Lost then found and then lost again

Missing person: The Imposter has an element of surprise. Source: Supplied

MOVIE REVIEW: The brain-melting story chronicled by this mesmerising documentary zeroes in on that elusive point where the too-good-to-be-true becomes the too-sad-to-even-think-about.

In 1994, a 13-year-old boy named Nicholas Barclay went missing in rural Texas. The police never found a single lead in their investigation.

In 1997, Nicholas Barclay came home. Police in Spain found him wandering the streets, saying he had been abused as the victim of a child abduction ring. In the annals of modern crime, this was beyond a miracle.

As the title of the film clearly signals, the Nicholas Barclay who went back to Texas was not the same person. He looked markedly different. He spoke with a pan-European accent. Though no one knew at the time, he was also 23 years old.

Nevertheless, the Barclays had no doubt in their minds that their boy was back. Top-line law-enforcement officials in the US and Spain believed everything checked out.

And then? Let's stop right there. The Imposter functions best when repeatedly springing an imposing, in-built element of surprise.

Think of it as a real-life psychological thriller.

SEE The Imposter, now playing for a limited season at Cinema Nova

--

The Imposter [M]

Rating: 4/5

Director: Bart Layton (documentary debut)

Starring: Beverly Dollarhide, Frederic Bourdin, Carey Gibson, Bryan Gibson

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Bionic hand lets amputees 'feel' again

A bionic hand with a sense of "touch" similar to the one which will soon be transplanted to its first human patient. Pictures: cole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (EPFL) Source: Supplied

A BIONIC hand which allows the recipient to feel lifelike sensations is to be transplanted on to a patient's arm for the first time.

Until now, artificial limbs have been able to pick up brain signals destined for the absent hand and translate them into movements, but they could not give sensory feedback.

The new hand, which is attached directly to the nervous system via electrodes clipped on to two of the arms main nerves, aims to restore a sense of touch in amputees.

The electrodes will allow the recipient to control the hand using just their thoughts and will also send signals back to the brain.

Scientists hope the breakthrough will pave the way for a new generation of artificial limbs that more closely imitate real body parts by providing feeling and increased dexterity.

Studies have shown that up to half of hand amputees do not use their artificial limb because they are not comfortable with how it appears or functions.

Dr Silvestro Micera, of the Swiss-based Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, who helped develop the limbs interface, said: This is real hope for amputees. It will be the first prosthetic that will provide real-time sensory feedback for grasping.

A Swedish company has announced it will transplant a bionic hand "wired into the nervous system" to restore a sense of touch. Picture: cole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (EPFL)

It is clear that the more sensory feeling an amputee has, the more likely they will get full acceptance of that limb. We hope that one day it will be embedded in the arm and the user will just forget it is there.

In 2009 an earlier, fixed model of the hand was temporarily attached to a patients nervous system via electrodes. He was able to wiggle the fingers of the robotic hand, make a fist and hold objects, and said he could feel needles being jabbed into the palm.

The new model, which will be fully attached to the arm, can deliver sensory feedback from all the fingertips, as well as the thumb, palm and wrist. The team plans to transplant it into an anonymous patient later this year.

Dr Micera, who was attending the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences conference in Boston, said: The idea would be that it could deliver two or more sensations at one time.

You could have a pinch and receive information from three fingers, or feel movement in the hand and wrist.

We have refined the interface, so we hope to see much more detailed movement and control of the hand. It is intended to be as lifelike as possible.

A Swedish company has announced it will transplant a bionic hand "wired into the nervous system" to restore a sense of touch. Picture: cole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (EPFL)

View the original article here

Bionic hand lets amputees 'feel' again

A bionic hand with a sense of "touch" similar to the one which will soon be transplanted to its first human patient. Pictures: cole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (EPFL) Source: Supplied

A BIONIC hand which allows the recipient to feel lifelike sensations is to be transplanted on to a patient's arm for the first time.

Until now, artificial limbs have been able to pick up brain signals destined for the absent hand and translate them into movements, but they could not give sensory feedback.

The new hand, which is attached directly to the nervous system via electrodes clipped on to two of the arms main nerves, aims to restore a sense of touch in amputees.

The electrodes will allow the recipient to control the hand using just their thoughts and will also send signals back to the brain.

Scientists hope the breakthrough will pave the way for a new generation of artificial limbs that more closely imitate real body parts by providing feeling and increased dexterity.

Studies have shown that up to half of hand amputees do not use their artificial limb because they are not comfortable with how it appears or functions.

Dr Silvestro Micera, of the Swiss-based Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, who helped develop the limbs interface, said: This is real hope for amputees. It will be the first prosthetic that will provide real-time sensory feedback for grasping.

A Swedish company has announced it will transplant a bionic hand "wired into the nervous system" to restore a sense of touch. Picture: cole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (EPFL)

It is clear that the more sensory feeling an amputee has, the more likely they will get full acceptance of that limb. We hope that one day it will be embedded in the arm and the user will just forget it is there.

In 2009 an earlier, fixed model of the hand was temporarily attached to a patients nervous system via electrodes. He was able to wiggle the fingers of the robotic hand, make a fist and hold objects, and said he could feel needles being jabbed into the palm.

The new model, which will be fully attached to the arm, can deliver sensory feedback from all the fingertips, as well as the thumb, palm and wrist. The team plans to transplant it into an anonymous patient later this year.

Dr Micera, who was attending the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences conference in Boston, said: The idea would be that it could deliver two or more sensations at one time.

You could have a pinch and receive information from three fingers, or feel movement in the hand and wrist.

We have refined the interface, so we hope to see much more detailed movement and control of the hand. It is intended to be as lifelike as possible.

A Swedish company has announced it will transplant a bionic hand "wired into the nervous system" to restore a sense of touch. Picture: cole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (EPFL)

View the original article here