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As an Amazon.com Seller

Not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’ve added an Amazon.com Store link on my side bar, which currently lists the items I’m selling on Amazon.com. I began to buy and sell stuff on Amazon.com a long time back, but only recently (a few months ago) began to push a lot more volume (instead of 4 or 5 items a month, I am now pushing 30+ items a month). And it’s bringing in quite a shiny penny. Actually, I’m not too sure how shiny the penny is as in I haven’t really done any bookkeeping besides knowing that I’m selling items for more than what I purchased it for, which can range from a few dollars to over a hundred dollars per item.

I’m not going to go too deep into how this all works and what my “secrets” are, but if you’re interested in anything I’m selling and I personally know you, I can probably sell it to you at cost. Also ignore anything that’s listed as $2,000 as that just means I’m currently not selling it, probably due to insufficient stock or the pricing isn’t at what I want to sell it for.

I’ve also been maximizing my earnings by using my Amazon.com credit card and directing people to purchase under my affiliates account. The credit card gives me 3% back on all Amazon.com purchases, which has netted me $75 worth of Amazon.com gift certificate rewards for each of the last 2 months. The affiliates account started with only $90 earnings a few months ago, but just last month, I’ve broken $200.

Concurrently, I also list the items in my Half.com Shop, which gets me purchases once in awhile, but they don’t really have that high of an audience as Amazon.com. I’m currently also thinking of becoming a merchant on Buy.com Marketplace, but they have a bit more requirements to join.

All in all, I’m happy with the results.

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Chase Freedom Credit Card + Chase Checking Account

Some time earlier this week, we had a discussion over dinner about credit card with rewards. Chase Freedom was mentioned to be one of the better cards to use overall since it gives you 3% cash back on the top 3 categories on your bill. Today I saw this thread: Chase Freedom Credit Card Holders! 3% Rewards in TOP 5 w/ Chase checking account

The Chase Freedom credit card rewards 3% cash back or 3 points per $1 on the first $600 in purchases in the top 3 of 15 Everyday categories where you spend the most each month. Chase checking account customers will earn 3% cash back or 3 points per $1 on the first $600 in purchases in the top 5 of 15 Everyday categories. That’s 2 additional Everyday categories. If you are an existing Chase Freedom credit cardmember and a Chase checking customer, your account will be upgraded to these new benefits; a confirmation letter will be mailed when this takes place in June, 2008. To apply for Chase Freedom with the exclusive benefits for Chase checking customers, or to learn more including pricing and reward program terms, see a Chase branch banker. Restrictions apply. Subject to credit approval. Chase credit cards are issued by Chase Bank USA, N.A. There are 15 Everyday categories consisting of grocery stores (that are not affiliated with or departments of superstores, warehouse clubs or discount stores), gas & convenience stores, quick service payment/fast food restaurants, telecommunications, cable/satellite TV/Internet Service Providers, video rentals, department stores, dry cleaners, drug stores, movie theatres, local and suburban commuter passenger transportation (including ferries, bridges, tolls, parking garages, taxis/limos), pet supply stores and veterinary services, utilities, beauty shops (salons and spas), or gym/recreation memberships. Benefits will no longer apply if, at any time, the checking account is closed.

For more details, visit Chase Exclusives.

Do note, there is a cap on the amount of 3% rewards you get per month (currently capped at $600, which translates to $18 worth of 3% rewards). After which, all remaining purchases will be rewarded at the 1% tier for the remainder of the month. That equates to $7,200 in purchases eligible at the 3% tier which translates to a maximum of $216 of cash back per year.

If you want to try out the Chase Freedom credit card, currently there’s a $100 sign up bonus: Chase Freedom Application

If you want to try out Chase checking account, currently there’s a $125 sign up bonus: Chase Checking Application (requires you to be logged into any Chase account)

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How’s My Driving?

So while driving home today, the truck in front of me had this bumper sticker: “How Am I Driving?” with an 800 phone number and some id which I’m guessing is used to identify the truck.

That got me thinking, how awesome would it be to create my own bumper sticker point it to an answering machine and see what people think of my driving. ;p

Of course a toll-free number would be ideal, but given that people are probably going to make calls on their cell phone, minutes don’t count any differently between toll-free vs local, and I can easily setup an answering machine using the IPKall + FWD setup for free.

Something like this would also probably work great for parents whose children are starting to drive. Instead of having the “student driver” sticker on the back of your car, you’ll have the “How’s My Driving” bumper sticker. And just wait for phone calls to trickle in. 🙂

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Hide and Seek with Famous Scientists

Got this joke from a work distribution list:

Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, and Blaise Pascal were chilling together one day when they decided to play hide and seek. They drew lots, and Einstein was the first to count, so he turns around and hears the skittering of feet behind him.

When he’s done, he turns around, and Newton is standing right there in front of him.

“Dude, Isaac, the point is to be the LAST one found!”

Newton pointed to the ground below him, in which he’d drawn a square, one meter on each side, said, “it wasn’t I you found,” and walked off in victory.

Confused? See the explanation in the comments.

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McDonald’s/Rock Band Promo – 8 Songs Discounted to 80pts

Along the same lines as the previous post, thanks to Mike C for pointing out the fact there the McDonald’s/Rock Band promotion that went on last month that dropped several songs to 80pts ($1) was still in effect.

According to Shacknews:

Marking the third promotional campaign to feature Rock Band downloadable content this week, developer Harmonix and fast-food eatery McDonald’s have teamed up to offer cheaper downloads of select songs across the next month.

Beginning today, the cost of two individual Rock Band tracks will be temporarily lowered to 80 Microsoft Points ($1), down from the average asking price of 160 Microsoft Points ($2). The promotion will run for a total of four weeks, with the discounted songs changing every week.

Meant to promote the McDonald’s Dollar Menu, the cheaper downloads are available for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 editions of the multi-instrument music title.

The discount schedule and specific per-week songs are:

5/6/08 – 5/12/08 :

5/13/08 – 5/19/08 :

5/20/08 – 5/26/08:

5/27/08 – 6/2/08:

The promotion was supposed to end on 6/2 and only 2 songs were supposed to be discounted each week, but it appears even though the promotion is over, all 8 songs are being discounted. Not sure if this is a permanent discount, or if it’s a glitch, but if any of those songs interest you above, you should get them soon. The only 2 songs I really know from that list are: Blink 182 – “All the Small Things” and All-American Rejects – “Dirty Little Secret”.

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2 Free Disturbed Tracks for Rock Band (Xbox 360)

Got this deal from FromHyd on SD. According to the thread, you can get 2 free tracks by Disturbed (which is released on June 3rd, 2008).

  1. Go to Disturbed / Xbox / Rock Band
  2. Enter the following code: 1lfa89
  3. Click Submit
  4. Enter download code you receive on your Xbox Live Account

To redeem your token code, go to the Xbox 360® Dashboard and enter Xbox LIVE® Marketplace. Select the Redeem Code option to enter your code to begin downloading your content.

When I tried redeeming the code in Firefox, I got the error:　You have already redeemed your code!, but it worked fine in IE7.

Disturbed According to Xbox 360 Fanboy, the following 3 tracks by Disturbed are scheduled to be released on 6/3:

  • Indestructible
  • Inside the Fire
  • Perfect Insanity

So it’s probably going to be 2 out of those 3.

You’re probably wondering what exactly is this deal? And what does it mean by Best Buy pre order code? I actually have no idea and the thread doesn’t really go into specifics. Someone did mention:

Code works. Disturbed Pre-Order Pack downloaded. OP repped!

So maybe pre order refers to the name of the download: Disturbed Pre-Order Pack which Best Buy was distributing. Or it could be you had to pre-order something at Best Buy to qualify for this code. Either way, I’m not sure what it means, but if you’re questioning the ethicality (is that even a word?) of this deal, I would suggest you probably skip it until more details are revealed.

Update: Apparently today is June 3rd.

Update #2: According to Mike C, Indestructable and Inside The Fire are the 2 free tracks in this pack.

Update #3: Looks like all the download codes have been redeemed.

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HSBC Direct Increases Interest Rate: 3.50%

I just got this email:

The last time I wrote to you, I told you how committed we are to helping you get the most from your money and reach your savings goals faster.

Well, even as the economy continues to prove challenging and the Federal Reserve reduces rates, we have some good news to kick off your summer.

Your Online Savings Account rate has increased to 3.50% APY*, effective June 2, 2008. That’s up from 3.05% APY. And it’s 9x the national savings average.** This at a time when some other savings rates have been falling.

This great new rate will be available through August 15, 2008. After which, you’ll continue to get our great everyday rate. So the faster you deposit, the faster your money will grow.

And you can feel confident knowing that we’re part of the global HSBC Group ranked number one by Forbes magazine in their annual Global 2000 ranking issued on April 21, 2008.

Once again, I sincerely appreciate that you have chosen HSBC Direct as the place to make your money grow.

Sweet! While other banks are hovering between 2.75% and 3.15% (HSBC Direct was at 3.05% if I recall correctly) and when interest rates continue to drop, this is a sweet interest rate! Too bad it’s only going to last 2.5 months. I doubt others are going to follow suit, but who knows.

If you don’t already have an HSBC Direct account, you can get more information here: Online Savings, Online Payment and Online CD Accounts, HSBC Direct.

Not really worth opening a new account if you don’t already have one, but for those who do, it might be worth it to temporarily hold you savings in HSBC and get the extra 0.5% of interest. Best of all, it applies to your whole balance and not just new deposits like some banks (*cough* INGDirect *cough*).

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Weekly Top Posts (5/25/2008 to 5/31/2008)

Here’s this week’s top post:

  1. How to download HD Trailers from Apple.com
  2. Six Flags Discount (~50% Off)
  3. Last Week: #5 Free AutoCheck Report (Similar to Carfax)
  4. Last Week: #3 4 Free Xbox Live Arcade Games
  5. Last Week: #10 Print USPS First Class, Media Mail, Parcel Mail Postage for FREE!
  6. New Weezer – Pork and Beans Music Video
  7. Last Week: #4 Windows Update Error: 80070490
  8. Last Week: #6 Reindexing Media Center Library
  9. Last Week: #8 Missing Codecs in Firefox to Play Video in Gallery2
  10. Last Week: #9 LeekSpin

Previously…

New comer for this week was my Weezer – Pork and Beans Music Video blog post. Got quite a few hits, I’m assuming from people searching for the story behind it.

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Dead Seagate

So awhile back (probably around 3 months ago), my first RAID5 file server (4x160GB) had a hiccup, where it wouldn’t detect 1 of the 4 drives and the Promise RAID controller would enter this “critical state”. I powered off the computer and checked to make sure all the cables were fine and made sure they were snug and tight. I rebooted, it started working again. Of course it needed to rebuild the drive (which takes ~2 hours) and after the rebuild was successful, I thought nothing much about it.

A few weeks ago, I noticed it was once again in critical state. To clarify, I hardly log onto this machine as it only serves as a file server, so I have no idea how long it’s been in critical state, but I can only assume it’s been for quite some time. I rebooted the machine several times and it finally detected the drive and started to rebuild. This time, after rebuilding, using Promise’s PAM (Promise Array Management) software, I told it to synchronize to make sure everything was working fine. When I came back to check on it, I noticed it kicked that drive off the array again.

I decided to move all the data onto my second file server (yes, I know that I promised to blog about that and yes, it’s still coming. ETA: undetermined) as a prevention measure. The 2nd file server is a 2.5TB and had over 50% free so it can easily accommodated a 480GB file server, which was nowhere near full.

I finally got around to testing that file server. First I tried changing SATA cables, but it pretty much failed immediately after rebuilding. I wanted to avoid running diagnostics on the drive since this was a hardware raid controller, the individual drives weren’t expose to the controller, which meant it required me to take the drive out and plug it into a different machine (since this motherboard doesn’t have on-board SATA ports). I finally caved and took the drive out and plugged it into my main box.

I installed Seagate’s SeaTools for Windows and pretty much 5 seconds into the short test, results show FAILED. Sigh… Looks like I’m going to need to RMA the drive. Interestingly enough, I was still able to format the drive. This is my first RMA in years. The last one was probably back in college?

I’m not saying Seagates are bad. In fact, 90% of the hard drives in my computers are Seagates and the other 3 drives on my Promise RAID controller are the exact same drive, so I’m guessing this was just a bad one in the batch.

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Mix Up at Birth

So I was reading this article: Twin, separated at birth, sues for mix-up a few days ago and thought to myself, if I found out my child was mixed up at the maternity ward a few years down the road, what would I do? Would I exchange the kids and get my real child back? Or would I keep the existing one since I’ve already developed a bond with him/her?

These stores aren’t that uncommon either as I’ve been seeing more and more of them.

Personally, I think I’d keep the child I already have, but there’s still something about screwed up about the situation. Not only will this knowledge bother you for the rest of your life, you’ll probably have recurring feeling of wanting to know how your real child is doing. And I’m not saying that you can’t love this child as much as your own, but it’ll definitely change things.

I also think it depends on how long I’ve had the child. If it’s been only 3-6 months, I might actually consider swapping back.