Who cares about political tweets from some random country's president when payment channels are a much more interesting and are actually capable of carrying value?
So let's have a short history of various payment channel techs!

Generation 0: Satoshi's Broken nSequence Channels

Because Satoshi's Vision included payment channels, except his implementation sucked so hard we had to go fix it and added RBF as a by-product.
Originally, the plan for nSequence was that mempools would replace any transaction spending certain inputs with another transaction spending the same inputs, but only if the nSequence field of the replacement was larger.
Since 0xFFFFFFFF was the highest value that nSequence could get, this would mark a transaction as "final" and not replaceable on the mempool anymore.
In fact, this "nSequence channel" I will describe is the reason why we have this weird rule about nLockTime and nSequence. nLockTime actually only works if nSequence is not 0xFFFFFFFF i.e. final. If nSequence is 0xFFFFFFFF then nLockTime is ignored, because this if the "final" version of the transaction.
So what you'd do would be something like this:

1. You go to a bar and promise the bartender to pay by the time the bar closes. Because this is the Bitcoin universe, time is measured in blockheight, so the closing time of the bar is indicated as some future blockheight.
2. For your first drink, you'd make a transaction paying to the bartender for that drink, paying from some coins you have. The transaction has an nLockTime equal to the closing time of the bar, and a starting nSequence of 0. You hand over the transaction and the bartender hands you your drink.
3. For your succeeding drink, you'd remake the same transaction, adding the payment for that drink to the transaction output that goes to the bartender (so that output keeps getting larger, by the amount of payment), and having an nSequence that is one higher than the previous one.
4. Eventually you have to stop drinking. It comes down to one of two possibilities:
   • You drink until the bar closes. Since it is now the nLockTime indicated in the transaction, the bartender is able to broadcast the latest transaction and tells the bouncers to kick you out of the bar.
   • You wisely consider the state of your liver. So you re-sign the last transaction with a "final" nSequence of 0xFFFFFFFF i.e. the maximum possible value it can have. This allows the bartender to get his or her funds immediately (nLockTime is ignored if nSequence is 0xFFFFFFFF), so he or she tells the bouncers to let you out of the bar.

Now that of course is a payment channel. Individual payments (purchases of alcohol, so I guess buying coffee is not in scope for payment channels). Closing is done by creating a "final" transaction that is the sum of the individual payments. Sure there's no routing and channels are unidirectional and channels have a maximum lifetime but give Satoshi a break, he was also busy inventing Bitcoin at the time.
Now if you noticed I called this kind of payment channel "broken". This is because the mempool rules are not consensus rules, and cannot be validated (nothing about the mempool can be validated onchain: I sigh every time somebody proposes "let's make block size dependent on mempool size", mempool state cannot be validated by onchain data). Fullnodes can't see all of the transactions you signed, and then validate that the final one with the maximum nSequence is the one that actually is used onchain. So you can do the below:

1. Become friends with Jihan Wu, because he owns >51% of the mining hashrate (he totally reorged Bitcoin to reverse the Binance hack right?).
2. Slip Jihan Wu some of the more interesting drinks you're ordering as an incentive to cooperate with you. So say you end up ordering 100 drinks, you split it with Jihan Wu and give him 50 of the drinks.
3. When the bar closes, Jihan Wu quickly calls his mining rig and tells them to mine the version of your transaction with nSequence 0. You know, that first one where you pay for only one drink.
4. Because fullnodes cannot validate nSequence, they'll accept even the nSequence=0 version and confirm it, immutably adding you paying for a single alcoholic drink to the blockchain.
5. The bartender, pissed at being cheated, takes out a shotgun from under the bar and shoots at you and Jihan Wu.
6. Jihan Wu uses his mystical chi powers (actually the combined exhaust from all of his mining rigs) to slow down the shotgun pellets, making them hit you as softly as petals drifting in the wind.
7. The bartender mutters some words, clothes ripping apart as he or she (hard to believe it could be a she but hey) turns into a bear, ready to maul you for cheating him or her of the payment for all the 100 drinks you ordered from him or her.
8. Steely-eyed, you stand in front of the bartender-turned-bear, daring him to touch you. You've watched Revenant, you know Leonardo di Caprio could survive a bear mauling, and if some posh actor can survive that, you know you can too. You make a pose. "Drunken troll logic attack!"
9. I think I got sidetracked here.

Lessons learned?

• Bears are bad news.
• You can't reasonably invoke "Satoshi's Vision" and simultaneously reject the Lightning Network because it's not onchain. Satoshi's Vision included a half-assed implementation of payment channels with nSequence, where the onchain transaction represented multiple logical payments, exactly what modern offchain techniques do (except modern offchain techniques actually work). nSequence (the field, but not its modern meaning) has been in Bitcoin since BitCoin For Windows Alpha 0.1.0. And its original intent was payment channels. You can't get nearer to Satoshi's Vision than being a field that Satoshi personally added to transactions on the very first public release of the BitCoin software, like srsly.
• Miners can totally bypass mempool rules. In fact, the reason why nSequence has been repurposed to indicate "optional" replace-by-fee is because miners are already incentivized by the nSequence system to always follow replace-by-fee anyway. I mean, what do you think those drinks you passed to Jihan Wu are, other than the fee you pay him to mine a specific version of your transaction?
• Satoshi made mistakes. The original design for nSequence is one of them. Today, we no longer use nSequence in this way. So diverging from Satoshi's original design is part and parcel of Bitcoin development, because over time, we learn new lessons that Satoshi never knew about. Satoshi was an important landmark in this technology. He will not be the last, or most important, that we will remember in the future: he will only be the first.

Spilman Channels

Incentive-compatible time-limited unidirectional channel; or, Satoshi's Vision, Fixed (if transaction malleability hadn't been a problem, that is).
Now, we know the bartender will turn into a bear and maul you if you try to cheat the payment channel, and now that we've revealed you're good friends with Jihan Wu, the bartender will no longer accept a payment channel scheme that lets one you cooperate with a miner to cheat the bartender.
Fortunately, Jeremy Spilman proposed a better way that would not let you cheat the bartender.
First, you and the bartender perform this ritual:

1. You get some funds and create a transaction that pays to a 2-of-2 multisig between you and the bartender. You don't broadcast this yet: you just sign it and get its txid.
2. You create another transaction that spends the above transaction. This transaction (the "backoff") has an nLockTime equal to the closing time of the bar, plus one block. You sign it and give this backoff transaction (but not the above transaction) to the bartender.
3. The bartender signs the backoff and gives it back to you. It is now valid since it's spending a 2-of-2 of you and the bartender, and both of you have signed the backoff transaction.
4. Now you broadcast the first transaction onchain. You and the bartender wait for it to be deeply confirmed, then you can start ordering.

The above is probably vaguely familiar to LN users. It's the funding process of payment channels! The first transaction, the one that pays to a 2-of-2 multisig, is the funding transaction that backs the payment channel funds.
So now you start ordering in this way:

1. For your first drink, you create a transaction spending the funding transaction output and sending the price of the drink to the bartender, with the rest returning to you.
2. You sign the transaction and pass it to the bartender, who serves your first drink.
3. For your succeeding drinks, you recreate the same transaction, adding the price of the new drink to the sum that goes to the bartender and reducing the money returned to you. You sign the transaction and give it to the bartender, who serves you your next drink.
4. At the end:
   • If the bar closing time is reached, the bartender signs the latest transaction, completing the needed 2-of-2 signatures and broadcasting this to the Bitcoin network. Since the backoff transaction is the closing time + 1, it can't get used at closing time.
   • If you decide you want to leave early because your liver is crying, you just tell the bartender to go ahead and close the channel (which the bartender can do at any time by just signing and broadcasting the latest transaction: the bartender won't do that because he or she is hoping you'll stay and drink more).
   • If you ended up just hanging around the bar and never ordering, then at closing time + 1 you broadcast the backoff transaction and get your funds back in full.

Now, even if you pass 50 drinks to Jihan Wu, you can't give him the first transaction (the one which pays for only one drink) and ask him to mine it: it's spending a 2-of-2 and the copy you have only contains your own signature. You need the bartender's signature to make it valid, but he or she sure as hell isn't going to cooperate in something that would lose him or her money, so a signature from the bartender validating old state where he or she gets paid less isn't going to happen.
So, problem solved, right? Right? Okay, let's try it. So you get your funds, put them in a funding tx, get the backoff tx, confirm the funding tx...
Once the funding transaction confirms deeply, the bartender laughs uproariously. He or she summons the bouncers, who surround you menacingly.
"I'm refusing service to you," the bartender says.
"Fine," you say. "I was leaving anyway;" You smirk. "I'll get back my money with the backoff transaction, and posting about your poor service on reddit so you get negative karma, so there!"
"Not so fast," the bartender says. His or her voice chills your bones. It looks like your exploitation of the Satoshi nSequence payment channel is still fresh in his or her mind. "Look at the txid of the funding transaction that got confirmed."
"What about it?" you ask nonchalantly, as you flip open your desktop computer and open a reputable blockchain explorer.
What you see shocks you.
"What the --- the txid is different! You--- you changed my signature?? But how? I put the only copy of my private key in a sealed envelope in a cast-iron box inside a safe buried in the Gobi desert protected by a clan of nomads who have dedicated their lives and their childrens' lives to keeping my private key safe in perpetuity!"
"Didn't you know?" the bartender asks. "The components of the signature are just very large numbers. The sign of one of the signature components can be changed, from positive to negative, or negative to positive, and the signature will remain valid. Anyone can do that, even if they don't know the private key. But because Bitcoin includes the signatures in the transaction when it's generating the txid, this little change also changes the txid." He or she chuckles. "They say they'll fix it by separating the signatures from the transaction body. They're saying that these kinds of signature malleability won't affect transaction ids anymore after they do this, but I bet I can get my good friend Jihan Wu to delay this 'SepSig' plan for a good while yet. Friendly guy, this Jihan Wu, it turns out all I had to do was slip him 51 drinks and he was willing to mine a tx with the signature signs flipped." His or her grin widens. "I'm afraid your backoff transaction won't work anymore, since it spends a txid that is not existent and will never be confirmed. So here's the deal. You pay me 99% of the funds in the funding transaction, in exchange for me signing the transaction that spends with the txid that you see onchain. Refuse, and you lose 100% of the funds and every other HODLer, including me, benefits from the reduction in coin supply. Accept, and you get to keep 1%. I lose nothing if you refuse, so I won't care if you do, but consider the difference of getting zilch vs. getting 1% of your funds." His or her eyes glow. "GENUFLECT RIGHT NOW."
Lesson learned?

• Payback's a bitch.
• Transaction malleability is a bitchier bitch. It's why we needed to fix the bug in SegWit. Sure, MtGox claimed they were attacked this way because someone kept messing with their transaction signatures and thus they lost track of where their funds went, but really, the bigger impetus for fixing transaction malleability was to support payment channels.
• Yes, including the signatures in the hash that ultimately defines the txid was a mistake. Satoshi made a lot of those. So we're just reiterating the lesson "Satoshi was not an infinite being of infinite wisdom" here. Satoshi just gets a pass because of how awesome Bitcoin is.

CLTV-protected Spilman Channels

Using CLTV for the backoff branch.
This variation is simply Spilman channels, but with the backoff transaction replaced with a backoff branch in the SCRIPT you pay to. It only became possible after OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY (CLTV) was enabled in 2015.
Now as we saw in the Spilman Channels discussion, transaction malleability means that any pre-signed offchain transaction can easily be invalidated by flipping the sign of the signature of the funding transaction while the funding transaction is not yet confirmed.
This can be avoided by simply putting any special requirements into an explicit branch of the Bitcoin SCRIPT. Now, the backoff branch is supposed to create a maximum lifetime for the payment channel, and prior to the introduction of OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY this could only be done by having a pre-signed nLockTime transaction.
With CLTV, however, we can now make the branches explicit in the SCRIPT that the funding transaction pays to.
Instead of paying to a 2-of-2 in order to set up the funding transaction, you pay to a SCRIPT which is basically "2-of-2, OR this singlesig after a specified lock time".
With this, there is no backoff transaction that is pre-signed and which refers to a specific txid. Instead, you can create the backoff transaction later, using whatever txid the funding transaction ends up being confirmed under. Since the funding transaction is immutable once confirmed, it is no longer possible to change the txid afterwards.

Todd Micropayment Networks

The old hub-spoke model (that isn't how LN today actually works).
One of the more direct predecessors of the Lightning Network was the hub-spoke model discussed by Peter Todd. In this model, instead of payers directly having channels to payees, payers and payees connect to a central hub server. This allows any payer to pay any payee, using the same channel for every payee on the hub. Similarly, this allows any payee to receive from any payer, using the same channel.
Remember from the above Spilman example? When you open a channel to the bartender, you have to wait around for the funding tx to confirm. This will take an hour at best. Now consider that you have to make channels for everyone you want to pay to. That's not very scalable.
So the Todd hub-spoke model has a central "clearing house" that transport money from payers to payees. The "Moonbeam" project takes this model. Of course, this reveals to the hub who the payer and payee are, and thus the hub can potentially censor transactions. Generally, though, it was considered that a hub would more efficiently censor by just not maintaining a channel with the payer or payee that it wants to censor (since the money it owned in the channel would just be locked uselessly if the hub won't process payments to/from the censored user).
In any case, the ability of the central hub to monitor payments means that it can surveill the payer and payee, and then sell this private transactional data to third parties. This loss of privacy would be intolerable today.
Peter Todd also proposed that there might be multiple hubs that could transport funds to each other on behalf of their users, providing somewhat better privacy.
Another point of note is that at the time such networks were proposed, only unidirectional (Spilman) channels were available. Thus, while one could be a payer, or payee, you would have to use separate channels for your income versus for your spending. Worse, if you wanted to transfer money from your income channel to your spending channel, you had to close both and reshuffle the money between them, both onchain activities.

Poon-Dryja Lightning Network

Bidirectional two-participant channels.
The Poon-Dryja channel mechanism has two important properties:

• Bidirectional.
• No time limit.

Both the original Satoshi and the two Spilman variants are unidirectional: there is a payer and a payee, and if the payee wants to do a refund, or wants to pay for a different service or product the payer is providing, then they can't use the same unidirectional channel.
The Poon-Dryjam mechanism allows channels, however, to be bidirectional instead: you are not a payer or a payee on the channel, you can receive or send at any time as long as both you and the channel counterparty are online.
Further, unlike either of the Spilman variants, there is no time limit for the lifetime of a channel. Instead, you can keep the channel open for as long as you want.
Both properties, together, form a very powerful scaling property that I believe most people have not appreciated. With unidirectional channels, as mentioned before, if you both earn and spend over the same network of payment channels, you would have separate channels for earning and spending. You would then need to perform onchain operations to "reverse" the directions of your channels periodically. Secondly, since Spilman channels have a fixed lifetime, even if you never used either channel, you would have to periodically "refresh" it by closing it and reopening.
With bidirectional, indefinite-lifetime channels, you may instead open some channels when you first begin managing your own money, then close them only after your lawyers have executed your last will and testament on how the money in your channels get divided up to your heirs: that's just two onchain transactions in your entire lifetime. That is the potentially very powerful scaling property that bidirectional, indefinite-lifetime channels allow.
I won't discuss the transaction structure needed for Poon-Dryja bidirectional channels --- it's complicated and you can easily get explanations with cute graphics elsewhere.
There is a weakness of Poon-Dryja that people tend to gloss over (because it was fixed very well by RustyReddit):

• You have to store all the revocation keys of a channel. This implies you are storing 1 revocation key for every channel update, so if you perform millions of updates over your entire lifetime, you'd be storing several megabytes of keys, for only a single channel. RustyReddit fixed this by requiring that the revocation keys be generated from a "Seed" revocation key, and every key is just the application of SHA256 on that key, repeatedly. For example, suppose I tell you that my first revocation key is SHA256(SHA256(seed)). You can store that in O(1) space. Then for the next revocation, I tell you SHA256(seed). From SHA256(key), you yourself can compute SHA256(SHA256(seed)) (i.e. the previous revocation key). So you can remember just the most recent revocation key, and from there you'd be able to compute every previous revocation key. When you start a channel, you perform SHA256 on your seed for several million times, then use the result as the first revocation key, removing one layer of SHA256 for every revocation key you need to generate. RustyReddit not only came up with this, but also suggested an efficient O(log n) storage structure, the shachain, so that you can quickly look up any revocation key in the past in case of a breach. People no longer really talk about this O(n) revocation storage problem anymore because it was solved very very well by this mechanism.

Another thing I want to emphasize is that while the Lightning Network paper and many of the earlier presentations developed from the old Peter Todd hub-and-spoke model, the modern Lightning Network takes the logical conclusion of removing a strict separation between "hubs" and "spokes". Any node on the Lightning Network can very well work as a hub for any other node. Thus, while you might operate as "mostly a payer", "mostly a forwarding node", "mostly a payee", you still end up being at least partially a forwarding node ("hub") on the network, at least part of the time. This greatly reduces the problems of privacy inherent in having only a few hub nodes: forwarding nodes cannot get significantly useful data from the payments passing through them, because the distance between the payer and the payee can be so large that it would be likely that the ultimate payer and the ultimate payee could be anyone on the Lightning Network.
Lessons learned?

• We can decentralize if we try hard enough!
• "Hubs bad" can be made "hubs good" if everybody is a hub.
• Smart people can solve problems. It's kinda why they're smart.

Future

After LN, there's also the Decker-Wattenhofer Duplex Micropayment Channels (DMC). This post is long enough as-is, LOL. But for now, it uses a novel "decrementing nSequence channel", using the new relative-timelock semantics of nSequence (not the broken one originally by Satoshi). It actually uses multiple such "decrementing nSequence" constructs, terminating in a pair of Spilman channels, one in both directions (thus "duplex"). Maybe I'll discuss it some other time.
The realization that channel constructions could actually hold more channel constructions inside them (the way the Decker-Wattenhofer puts a pair of Spilman channels inside a series of "decrementing nSequence channels") lead to the further thought behind Burchert-Decker-Wattenhofer channel factories. Basically, you could host multiple two-participant channel constructs inside a larger multiparticipant "channel" construct (i.e. host multiple channels inside a factory).
Further, we have the Decker-Russell-Osuntokun or "eltoo" construction. I'd argue that this is "nSequence done right". I'll write more about this later, because this post is long enough.
Lessons learned?

• Bitcoin offchain scaling is more powerful than you ever thought.

Guide: Claiming and Dumping Bitcoin Faith (BTF) for complete idiots
Why am I bothering to write this?
I've already dumped my Bitcoin Faith, and I want you to dump yours too, tank the market and make my dumping look like a genius decision.
I guess you could say I have no faith.
What will I need for this?

• A public and private key (Such as a paper wallet) that had funds in it at block 500,000
• The private key must be in WIF format (The type that is on a bitcoin paper wallet from bitaddress.org)
• A Windows PC
• An account at btctrade.im or a friend with an account at btctrade.im

What don't I need?

• A fully synched BTF client

Ok, I've got a key. How do I check if it had funds at block 500,000?
Go to blockchain.info, paste it in.
Let me give you an example so you can follow along.
Check out this Public Key on blockchain.info: 1LqMdotNwAVmqRYpkNTiDSEfPsbsgK23hx
Only one transaction. Nice. Click on the transaction reference, which is d9ed8f32b0f0e5d9fe2f53e0f32c3e89765f27ab365379c513df64859bed48cd
You'll see it was included in block 499990. And from the pub key you can see the funds did not leave PRIOR to 500000. In fact, the funds are still there. So BTF is in there.
If you do this check and find that funds were there before 500000, and the funds left after 500000, then you've got BTF in there. If however, the funds arrived AND left prior to 500000, you've got no BTF. Also, if the funds arrived after 500000 or arrived and left after 500000, then you've got no BTF.
Partial is okay. So say you had 10BTC that came in at block 488888, and then you sent 5BTC out at block 499000, and the remaining 5BTC stayed until block 500100, then you're good to claim 5BTF.
Got it? Ok next.
Ok, so my key had funds at 500000. But I don't have a WIF format Private Key. I've got my Private Key in some other god awful format.
Yeah, not going to help with that. But you can convert a private key from any format into the WIF format. You just have to search on the web a fair bit, but there's a converter out there somewhere. Go find it. Plenty of sites describe how to change a private key into a WIF format private key, but the web based implementations of this are hard to find.
I don't have a Windows PC!
Go find one.
What should I know about btctrade.im?
Well first off, do not even bother if you can't get verified there. If you can't get verified, then you won't be able to withdraw your coins later.
If you're from the USA, don't bother, they don't verify from that country. Australia, Canada and a bunch of other countries are fine.
Some hints on getting verified.
It takes about a day.
You can trade while you're waiting.
You'll need a passport.
When filling in the address stuff and it keeps complaining about the last field, put a single word in the last field and it should be okay. Example "Canada" will work. "556 Blah Road, Canada" will not work.
They want three passport photos. One of the front, one of the back, and one of you holding it with todays date. You can do the one of you holding it with todays date in english, that is fine.
Most passports don't really have a back to take a photo of. Take a photo of the front of your passport (the page with all of the details), and then flip a few pages into your passport, and take a photo of one of those pages, and put that in as the back. That works. Just make sure you upload three photos.
If after a day, you see red chinese writing at the top of the verification page, you've failed, and you need to try again. Try a different page for the back page.
Note that after you click confirm, there is radio silence for about a minute, and then finally it will show a "processing" message that you can click okay on. There is no progress bar. You don't get an e-mail verification once you are verified, so you have to keep on logging back in to check.
What about gate.io, can I use them?
No, they aren't accepting BTF deposits. It looks like they do, but the key never appears.
Done all that, what next?
Download the latest version of Python2 from here
https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-2714/
Not Python3, Python2. Install it into, say, the C:\PYTHON directory
Grab this code from pastebin -> https://pastebin.com/UAREBKk7
Copy it, put it in notepad, save the document as btf.py into your Python directory. Make sure Windows doesn't add a .txt extension or anything dumb like that.
I did not write this code. Use it at your own risk. Credit for this code to the person on bitcoinairdrops who wrote it and provided it for everyone. Theres a link to it somewhere too on github or something but I can't be assed finding it.
Let's create some transactions!
Ok so let's look back at our example of Pub Key 1LqMdotNwAVmqRYpkNTiDSEfPsbsgK23hx on blockchain.info. It's eligible for BTF, so let's do that one as an example transaction.
Your format will be C:\PYTHON>python btf.py
Let's talk about what those mean.
Obviously you're at a dos prompt running python and the btf.py script that you just saved.
The TXID is the TRANSACTION ID for the transaction that LAST SENT FUNDS INTO THE PUBLIC KEY BEFORE BLOCK 500000. So in the case of our example, it is d9ed8f32b0f0e5d9fe2f53e0f32c3e89765f27ab365379c513df64859bed48cd, which is the only transaction ID there. Easy. But in other cases, like when you have multiple deposits, or deposits and withdrawals, it won't be so easy. I'll come back to that later.
Next is the REF, which is the number (Between, say, 0 and 1000) of Public Key on the RIGHT HAND SIDE of the transaction. What the hell does that mean? Well, basically, look at the grey public key on the right hand side of the green arrow on blockchain.info for this transaction. That is the reference you want, but it STARTS FROM 0. So if its the first key that is grey, then your reference is 0. If it is the second key that is grey, then the reference is 1, and so forth. Screw this up and you ain't getting any BTF. For our example, it is 1. It can be any number up to 1000 and beyond, but most of the time it will be 0 or 1.
*See my comment at the bottom with regards to the REF, the information in the paragraph above can be slightly off in some cases, the info at the very bottom covers it.
Next is WIF, which is your private key off your paper wallet for the public key from which you are trying to extract the BTF. You should have this handy, no problems. Convert from a regular private key to a WIF private key if necessary as previously mentioned.
Next is BTFID. That is the public key deposit address for BTF on btctrade.im. Make sure you provide a BTF deposit address, not a BTC deposit address. Easy.
Next is SATOSHISMINUS1000. This is basically the amount available to send, denoted in satoshis, minus 1000. Use a BTC to Satoshi converter (Google it) to ensure you get the right number, and then round it down by 1000. So if you've got 1BTC in there, then you'll be transferring 99999000 Satoshis. In our example, you can do 232073 Satoshis. Make sure you are entering the amount relevant to the TXID that you're trying to claim. That is simple if there is only one transaction IN before block 500000. But if there are multiple transactions IN and OUT before 500000, you're going to need to put in lots of different amounts. What is really going to cook your noodle is that if you transfer funds OUT, but there is CHANGE that comes back IN, you have to use that TXID and grey reference to do your claim, assuming that the TX OUT with change coming back IN happened before block 500000. So basically, you can claim from the green transactions IN on blockchain.info, but you can often also claim from the red transactions OUT on blockchain.info.
Finally is SATOSHIS. Make this the full amount. So basically the previous amount you put in plus 1000. The amount from the TXID denoted in satoshis.
So form all of that together and you'll end up with something looking like this.
C:\PYTHON>python btf.py d9ed8f32b0f0e5d9fe2f53e0f32c3e89765f27ab365379c513df64859bed48cd 1 privatekeyinwifformatblahblablablablablabla bitcoinfaithpubkeyonbtctrade 232073 233073
Bingo. Run that and you'll be asked to say "I understand". Once you do that, it will say something about "if you hear nothing, all is good", you'll see a tx send line.
Go to btctrade.im and start refreshing the deposit page. You should see the deposit come in within 1 minute. If you don't see it within 1 minute, you've stuffed up. Once you see it come in, kill the DOS window, even though it still looks like it is doing stuff. It cycles through pong and send inv and stuff like that, but basically if it isn't in within 1 minute of the tx send line, you've stuffed up.
How about a harder example?
You got it.
Ok so suppose you did this.
You deposited 10BTC into an address at block 450000.
You then sent 5BTC somewhere else at block 480000.
You then sent the last 5BTC somewhere else at block 501000.
I think we will all agree that you've got 5BTF there to be claimed as there were 5BTC in that wallet at block 500000. So even though the middle transaction is red, and you're sending money out, you'll be using the TXID and REF from that middle transaction to claim your 5BTF.
Still not hard enough!
Ok, how's this one?
You deposited 30BTC into an address at block 450000.
You deposited another 20BTC into the same address at block 490000.
You then transferred the 50BTC out somehwere at block 501000.
You've got 50BTF, right?
Well yes, but you'll need to form TWO transactions to get it. You'll need to do one using the TXID and REF from the first transaction in, with an amount of 30BTC worth of Satoshis (-1000). Then you'll need to do another one using the TXID and REF from the second transaction in, with an amount of 20BTC worth of Satoshis (-1000).
Got it? Good.
Now go dump your BTF already!
Tip this charity (stepupinle.com) if you like what you read. BTC pub key: 15ycok47BteEuo7caWfGo1fL7vp6TXuCh7
Edit
Some additional information on the REF. In the guide originally, I mentioned that you should look for the public key on the right hand side on Blockchain.info that is in grey, and count up to that one, starting from 0. This is accurate in most cases, but to be completely accurate, you should click on the TXID itself, so you are just looking at the individual transaction. Then look at the right hand side and count from 0 to the public key to which the funds went. That is the number you need to use.
I ran into an issue where looking at the Public Key on Blockchain.info, I thought the reference (REF) was 2 (ie. The third public key down, the one in grey). After clicking on the actual TXID, I saw that there were many more outputs, and I had to figure out which one was my public key, and count down to it from 0. The correct reference ended up being 18.

Nothing special, just a copy of the current list (for the future) of what can be found at https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/mastebip-0039/english.txt
abandon,ability,able,about,above,absent,absorb,abstract,absurd,abuse,access,accident,account,accuse,achieve,acid,acoustic,acquire,across,act,action,actor,actress,actual,adapt,add,addict,address,adjust,admit,adult,advance,advice,aerobic,affair,afford,afraid,again,age,agent,agree,ahead,aim,air,airport,aisle,alarm,album,alcohol,alert,alien,all,alley,allow,almost,alone,alpha,already,also,alter,always,amateur,amazing,among,amount,amused,analyst,anchor,ancient,anger,angle,angry,animal,ankle,announce,annual,another,answer,antenna,antique,anxiety,any,apart,apology,appear,apple,approve,april,arch,arctic,area,arena,argue,arm,armed,armor,army,around,arrange,arrest,arrive,arrow,art,artefact,artist,artwork,ask,aspect,assault,asset,assist,assume,asthma,athlete,atom,attack,attend,attitude,attract,auction,audit,august,aunt,author,auto,autumn,average,avocado,avoid,awake,aware,away,awesome,awful,awkward,axis,baby,bachelor,bacon,badge,bag,balance,balcony,ball,bamboo,banana,banner,bar,barely,bargain,barrel,base,basic,basket,battle,beach,bean,beauty,because,become,beef,before,begin,behave,behind,believe,below,belt,bench,benefit,best,betray,better,between,beyond,bicycle,bid,bike,bind,biology,bird,birth,bitter,black,blade,blame,blanket,blast,bleak,bless,blind,blood,blossom,blouse,blue,blur,blush,board,boat,body,boil,bomb,bone,bonus,book,boost,border,boring,borrow,boss,bottom,bounce,box,boy,bracket,brain,brand,brass,brave,bread,breeze,brick,bridge,brief,bright,bring,brisk,broccoli,broken,bronze,broom,brother,brown,brush,bubble,buddy,budget,buffalo,build,bulb,bulk,bullet,bundle,bunker,burden,burger,burst,bus,business,busy,butter,buyer,buzz,cabbage,cabin,cable,cactus,cage,cake,call,calm,camera,camp,can,canal,cancel,candy,cannon,canoe,canvas,canyon,capable,capital,captain,car,carbon,card,cargo,carpet,carry,cart,case,cash,casino,castle,casual,cat,catalog,catch,category,cattle,caught,cause,caution,cave,ceiling,celery,cement,census,century,cereal,certain,chair,chalk,champion,change,chaos,chapter,charge,chase,chat,cheap,check,cheese,chef,cherry,chest,chicken,chief,child,chimney,choice,choose,chronic,chuckle,chunk,churn,cigar,cinnamon,circle,citizen,city,civil,claim,clap,clarify,claw,clay,clean,clerk,clever,click,client,cliff,climb,clinic,clip,clock,clog,close,cloth,cloud,clown,club,clump,cluster,clutch,coach,coast,coconut,code,coffee,coil,coin,collect,color,column,combine,come,comfort,comic,common,company,concert,conduct,confirm,congress,connect,consider,control,convince,cook,cool,copper,copy,coral,core,corn,correct,cost,cotton,couch,country,couple,course,cousin,cover,coyote,crack,cradle,craft,cram,crane,crash,crater,crawl,crazy,cream,credit,creek,crew,cricket,crime,crisp,critic,crop,cross,crouch,crowd,crucial,cruel,cruise,crumble,crunch,crush,cry,crystal,cube,culture,cup,cupboard,curious,current,curtain,curve,cushion,custom,cute,cycle,dad,damage,damp,dance,danger,daring,dash,daughter,dawn,day,deal,debate,debris,decade,december,decide,decline,decorate,decrease,deer,defense,define,defy,degree,delay,deliver,demand,demise,denial,dentist,deny,depart,depend,deposit,depth,deputy,derive,describe,desert,design,desk,despair,destroy,detail,detect,develop,device,devote,diagram,dial,diamond,diary,dice,diesel,diet,differ,digital,dignity,dilemma,dinner,dinosaur,direct,dirt,disagree,discover,disease,dish,dismiss,disorder,display,distance,divert,divide,divorce,dizzy,doctor,document,dog,doll,dolphin,domain,donate,donkey,donor,door,dose,double,dove,draft,dragon,drama,drastic,draw,dream,dress,drift,drill,drink,drip,drive,drop,drum,dry,duck,dumb,dune,during,dust,dutch,duty,dwarf,dynamic,eager,eagle,early,earn,earth,easily,east,easy,echo,ecology,economy,edge,edit,educate,effort,egg,eight,either,elbow,elder,electric,elegant,element,elephant,elevator,elite,else,embark,embody,embrace,emerge,emotion,employ,empower,empty,enable,enact,end,endless,endorse,enemy,energy,enforce,engage,engine,enhance,enjoy,enlist,enough,enrich,enroll,ensure,enter,entire,entry,envelope,episode,equal,equip,era,erase,erode,erosion,error,erupt,escape,essay,essence,estate,eternal,ethics,evidence,evil,evoke,evolve,exact,example,excess,exchange,excite,exclude,excuse,execute,exercise,exhaust,exhibit,exile,exist,exit,exotic,expand,expect,expire,explain,expose,express,extend,extra,eye,eyebrow,fabric,face,faculty,fade,faint,faith,fall,false,fame,family,famous,fan,fancy,fantasy,farm,fashion,fat,fatal,father,fatigue,fault,favorite,feature,february,federal,fee,feed,feel,female,fence,festival,fetch,fever,few,fiber,fiction,field,figure,file,film,filter,final,find,fine,finger,finish,fire,firm,first,fiscal,fish,fit,fitness,fix,flag,flame,flash,flat,flavor,flee,flight,flip,float,flock,floor,flower,fluid,flush,fly,foam,focus,fog,foil,fold,follow,food,foot,force,forest,forget,fork,fortune,forum,forward,fossil,foster,found,fox,fragile,frame,frequent,fresh,friend,fringe,frog,front,frost,frown,frozen,fruit,fuel,fun,funny,furnace,fury,future,gadget,gain,galaxy,gallery,game,gap,garage,garbage,garden,garlic,garment,gas,gasp,gate,gather,gauge,gaze,general,genius,genre,gentle,genuine,gesture,ghost,giant,gift,giggle,ginger,giraffe,girl,give,glad,glance,glare,glass,glide,glimpse,globe,gloom,glory,glove,glow,glue,goat,goddess,gold,good,goose,gorilla,gospel,gossip,govern,gown,grab,grace,grain,grant,grape,grass,gravity,great,green,grid,grief,grit,grocery,group,grow,grunt,guard,guess,guide,guilt,guitar,gun,gym,habit,hair,half,hammer,hamster,hand,happy,harbor,hard,harsh,harvest,hat,have,hawk,hazard,head,health,heart,heavy,hedgehog,height,hello,helmet,help,hen,hero,hidden,high,hill,hint,hip,hire,history,hobby,hockey,hold,hole,holiday,hollow,home,honey,hood,hope,horn,horror,horse,hospital,host,hotel,hour,hover,hub,huge,human,humble,humor,hundred,hungry,hunt,hurdle,hurry,hurt,husband,hybrid,ice,icon,idea,identify,idle,ignore,ill,illegal,illness,image,imitate,immense,immune,impact,impose,improve,impulse,inch,include,income,increase,index,indicate,indoor,industry,infant,inflict,inform,inhale,inherit,initial,inject,injury,inmate,inner,innocent,input,inquiry,insane,insect,inside,inspire,install,intact,interest,into,invest,invite,involve,iron,island,isolate,issue,item,ivory,jacket,jaguar,jar,jazz,jealous,jeans,jelly,jewel,job,join,joke,journey,joy,judge,juice,jump,jungle,junior,junk,just,kangaroo,keen,keep,ketchup,key,kick,kid,kidney,kind,kingdom,kiss,kit,kitchen,kite,kitten,kiwi,knee,knife,knock,know,lab,label,labor,ladder,lady,lake,lamp,language,laptop,large,later,latin,laugh,laundry,lava,law,lawn,lawsuit,layer,lazy,leader,leaf,learn,leave,lecture,left,leg,legal,legend,leisure,lemon,lend,length,lens,leopard,lesson,letter,level,liar,liberty,library,license,life,lift,light,like,limb,limit,link,lion,liquid,list,little,live,lizard,load,loan,lobster,local,lock,logic,lonely,long,loop,lottery,loud,lounge,love,loyal,lucky,luggage,lumber,lunar,lunch,luxury,lyrics,machine,mad,magic,magnet,maid,mail,main,major,make,mammal,man,manage,mandate,mango,mansion,manual,maple,marble,march,margin,marine,market,marriage,mask,mass,master,match,material,math,matrix,matter,maximum,maze,meadow,mean,measure,meat,mechanic,medal,media,melody,melt,member,memory,mention,menu,mercy,merge,merit,merry,mesh,message,metal,method,middle,midnight,milk,million,mimic,mind,minimum,minor,minute,miracle,mirror,misery,miss,mistake,mix,mixed,mixture,mobile,model,modify,mom,moment,monitor,monkey,monster,month,moon,moral,more,morning,mosquito,mother,motion,motor,mountain,mouse,move,movie,much,muffin,mule,multiply,muscle,museum,mushroom,music,must,mutual,myself,mystery,myth,naive,name,napkin,narrow,nasty,nation,nature,near,neck,need,negative,neglect,neither,nephew,nerve,nest,net,network,neutral,never,news,next,nice,night,noble,noise,nominee,noodle,normal,north,nose,notable,note,nothing,notice,novel,now,nuclear,number,nurse,nut,oak,obey,object,oblige,obscure,observe,obtain,obvious,occur,ocean,october,odor,off,offer,office,often,oil,okay,old,olive,olympic,omit,once,one,onion,online,only,open,opera,opinion,oppose,option,orange,orbit,orchard,order,ordinary,organ,orient,original,orphan,ostrich,other,outdoor,outer,output,outside,oval,oven,over,own,owner,oxygen,oyster,ozone,pact,paddle,page,pair,palace,palm,panda,panel,panic,panther,paper,parade,parent,park,parrot,party,pass,patch,path,patient,patrol,pattern,pause,pave,payment,peace,peanut,pear,peasant,pelican,pen,penalty,pencil,people,pepper,perfect,permit,person,pet,phone,photo,phrase,physical,piano,picnic,picture,piece,pig,pigeon,pill,pilot,pink,pioneer,pipe,pistol,pitch,pizza,place,planet,plastic,plate,play,please,pledge,pluck,plug,plunge,poem,poet,point,polar,pole,police,pond,pony,pool,popular,portion,position,possible,post,potato,pottery,poverty,powder,power,practice,praise,predict,prefer,prepare,present,pretty,prevent,price,pride,primary,print,priority,prison,private,prize,problem,process,produce,profit,program,project,promote,proof,property,prosper,protect,proud,provide,public,pudding,pull,pulp,pulse,pumpkin,punch,pupil,puppy,purchase,purity,purpose,purse,push,put,puzzle,pyramid,quality,quantum,quarter,question,quick,quit,quiz,quote,rabbit,raccoon,race,rack,radar,radio,rail,rain,raise,rally,ramp,ranch,random,range,rapid,rare,rate,rather,raven,raw,razor,ready,real,reason,rebel,rebuild,recall,receive,recipe,record,recycle,reduce,reflect,reform,refuse,region,regret,regular,reject,relax,release,relief,rely,remain,remember,remind,remove,render,renew,rent,reopen,repair,repeat,replace,report,require,rescue,resemble,resist,resource,response,result,retire,retreat,return,reunion,reveal,review,reward,rhythm,rib,ribbon,rice,rich,ride,ridge,rifle,right,rigid,ring,riot,ripple,risk,ritual,rival,river,road,roast,robot,robust,rocket,romance,roof,rookie,room,rose,rotate,rough,round,route,royal,rubber,rude,rug,rule,run,runway,rural,sad,saddle,sadness,safe,sail,salad,salmon,salon,salt,salute,same,sample,sand,satisfy,satoshi,sauce,sausage,save,say,scale,scan,scare,scatter,scene,scheme,school,science,scissors,scorpion,scout,scrap,screen,script,scrub,sea,search,season,seat,second,secret,section,security,seed,seek,segment,select,sell,seminar,senior,sense,sentence,series,service,session,settle,setup,seven,shadow,shaft,shallow,share,shed,shell,sheriff,shield,shift,shine,ship,shiver,shock,shoe,shoot,shop,short,shoulder,shove,shrimp,shrug,shuffle,shy,sibling,sick,side,siege,sight,sign,silent,silk,silly,silver,similar,simple,since,sing,siren,sister,situate,six,size,skate,sketch,ski,skill,skin,skirt,skull,slab,slam,sleep,slender,slice,slide,slight,slim,slogan,slot,slow,slush,small,smart,smile,smoke,smooth,snack,snake,snap,sniff,snow,soap,soccer,social,sock,soda,soft,solar,soldier,solid,solution,solve,someone,song,soon,sorry,sort,soul,sound,soup,source,south,space,spare,spatial,spawn,speak,special,speed,spell,spend,sphere,spice,spider,spike,spin,spirit,split,spoil,sponsor,spoon,sport,spot,spray,spread,spring,spy,square,squeeze,squirrel,stable,stadium,staff,stage,stairs,stamp,stand,start,state,stay,steak,steel,stem,step,stereo,stick,still,sting,stock,stomach,stone,stool,story,stove,strategy,street,strike,strong,struggle,student,stuff,stumble,style,subject,submit,subway,success,such,sudden,suffer,sugar,suggest,suit,summer,sun,sunny,sunset,super,supply,supreme,sure,surface,surge,surprise,surround,survey,suspect,sustain,swallow,swamp,swap,swarm,swear,sweet,swift,swim,swing,switch,sword,symbol,symptom,syrup,system,table,tackle,tag,tail,talent,talk,tank,tape,target,task,taste,tattoo,taxi,teach,team,tell,ten,tenant,tennis,tent,term,test,text,thank,that,theme,then,theory,there,they,thing,this,thought,three,thrive,throw,thumb,thunder,ticket,tide,tiger,tilt,timber,time,tiny,tip,tired,tissue,title,toast,tobacco,today,toddler,toe,together,toilet,token,tomato,tomorrow,tone,tongue,tonight,tool,tooth,top,topic,topple,torch,tornado,tortoise,toss,total,tourist,toward,tower,town,toy,track,trade,traffic,tragic,train,transfer,trap,trash,travel,tray,treat,tree,trend,trial,tribe,trick,trigger,trim,trip,trophy,trouble,truck,true,truly,trumpet,trust,truth,try,tube,tuition,tumble,tuna,tunnel,turkey,turn,turtle,twelve,twenty,twice,twin,twist,two,type,typical,ugly,umbrella,unable,unaware,uncle,uncover,under,undo,unfair,unfold,unhappy,uniform,unique,unit,universe,unknown,unlock,until,unusual,unveil,update,upgrade,uphold,upon,upper,upset,urban,urge,usage,use,used,useful,useless,usual,utility,vacant,vacuum,vague,valid,valley,valve,van,vanish,vapor,various,vast,vault,vehicle,velvet,vendor,venture,venue,verb,verify,version,very,vessel,veteran,viable,vibrant,vicious,victory,video,view,village,vintage,violin,virtual,virus,visa,visit,visual,vital,vivid,vocal,voice,void,volcano,volume,vote,voyage,wage,wagon,wait,walk,wall,walnut,want,warfare,warm,warrior,wash,wasp,waste,water,wave,way,wealth,weapon,wear,weasel,weather,web,wedding,weekend,weird,welcome,west,wet,whale,what,wheat,wheel,when,where,whip,whisper,wide,width,wife,wild,will,win,window,wine,wing,wink,winner,winter,wire,wisdom,wise,wish,witness,wolf,woman,wonder,wood,wool,word,work,world,worry,worth,wrap,wreck,wrestle,wrist,write,wrong,yard,year,yellow,you,young,youth,zebra,zero,zone,zoo

Finals are going to span from tomorrow afternoon until the 5th of May, so I will just use this as a vent thread and keep updating it rather than do a several-part series on finals or anything like that.
I hand-write out all of my planners. I get those 100 page composition books from the dollar store. Every day gets a page with hours written down the left margin from 9 am till 12 pm. Each book has three months worth of pages. When a day ends, I alternatively fold in the top and bottom corners and it kind of acts like a book mark so I can immediately flip to the current day as time goes on...
This is an obsession. I will open my planner and flip through the pages and write in my class schedule and appointments and reminders and the "expected to-do lists". I've been doing this since March of last year. I now have 4 composition books stashed away in a drawer filled with folded pages and those day-to-day notes and the list of expectations I had for myself on any given day. My steady print. My lawyer-in-training cursive. Sometimes a rare quick poem that escaped from the chemical restraints of my meds.
And always at the end of every semester, in big ALL-CAPS printing, surrounded by a rectangle:
TORTS FINAL 6:30-9:30 PM
SALES FINAL 10:00 AM- 1:00 PM
etc etc
And here we are again, rectangled all-caps scribbles. Together, again. For the last time.
Usually, you'll have a designated "finals week" (which tends to span 2-3 weeks). All the finals fall into that timespan and if you're a lucky duck, each exam will be at least a couple days apart.
But why let a graduating third year enjoy that kind of luxury? Naww...
My first final is a take-home which will be sent out Thursday and turned in Saturday night. Then an in-class final Monday night (preceded by a 10-minute topical oral presentation in another class).
Then we get this nice teeny tiny little break they call "Reading week". But it's not a week. It's about 3 days.
May 2: Final. May 4: Final. May 5: Final.
(Mind you, the "finals week" is schedule to go until about May 17 or so. Oof.)
So I'm about to jump into a sea of sharks.
I go into stockholm syndrome mode. The law is my captor and I love him. I study him. I know and memorize all of his nooks and crannies. When I'm ready to tell the world, I write his life story (my outlines-- usually from memory) on whiteboard stretching across the classrooms.
...aaaaaaaand then I take the exam and forget about him forever [unless a) it ends up being a bar tested subject and I'll be learning it again this summer or b) it's a law subject I want to pursue a career in].
And tonight's the night before it all starts. It's like waiting in that three-hour line for a roller coaster and you're finally gonna go next.
So I will be taking a cruise to Stockholm very soon. I'll try to write home when I can...
Update 4/23 Afternoon: Got my assignment for my take-home final. I wish I can indulge some info on it, but 1) don't want to say anything that would be risk me being identified here and 2) our school does anonymous grading. So wouldn't want #1 to lead to flopping that up.
But I am excited about it. I do have a class in about 30 minutes so I can't jump on the project yet, but I will have all day tomorrow and most of the day Saturday. Whee!
After picking up this assignment prompt and walking outside, my Nate Reuss-lyic-singing friend was out here singing a few lines of "Carry On" by fun. I peeked over the wall to see if he was close enough so I could join him.. he was quite a ways away and just sort of stopped singing, so I just returned to my sitting spot. But it was a nice voice to hear and a nice moment of that bipolar-Nate Reuss Lyrics bonding lol.
Update: 4/24 Early Evening: Woke up relatively early (9:30) and did a chunk of research to start compiling the things I need for this take-home final. Took a needed nap at around 1-3 pm. Got back to work and have spent the last three hours compiling and putting squeaky clean touches on the first half of a two-part final.
Ugh, like I said I can't go into detail on this (maybe after I turn it in and get my grade back, if it's still topical, I'll post the details about it then.) But I'm happy about this because I get to squeeze a little creativity into this final.. which I've done on this first half. And I'm thinking of something cool for the second half.
With over 24 hours to spare before I have to turn in both parts of this final, I'm feeling good :) But I still have to squeeze in more work for other classes this weekend. Presentation on Monday. Trial Practice Final Monday night. Doing some study prep for upcoming review sessions.
I've also got to wake up early tomorrow for a three-hour semi-mandatory bar prep thing. And I also want-need to go to the gym, tonight.. probably in about an hour. So I'm going to set myself up to start on part 2 of this take-home, hit the gym, and curl up with the Bruce Jenner 20/20 interview when I get home (while doing little bits of work on this final during the commercial break).
Update: 4/25 just after midnight: So I would say I'm 85% done with this take-home final. I'm at the point where everything is on the page that I think should be on the page, but I need to spend time going over things and checking to see if I have any loose ends. Getting ready to pass out now so that I can wake up "early" tomorrow for the thing that I gotta do for the...zzzzzzzz.....
Update: 4/25: late afternoon: Take home final is DONE and turned in!!! Now I have to do: Presentation for Monday (only needs to be 10 minutes long so shouldn't be awful), Prepare for in-class final Monday night, get things together for review sessions on Tuesday/Wednesday.
OH and I also have to do the darn school newspaper before the month ends. -_-
Even though I was able to push through with this first final, I feel like I haven't kicked into "marathon mode" yet.....
Update: 4/25 evening: Working on my presentation. It's supposed to be about investing in gold. The class is corporate finance so I've been learning all semester about stocks and bonds and balance sheets and present and future values and all kinds of stuff-- it's the first time I've purchased a special calculator for a class since 2007.
I picked the topic of gold thinking there was something super complex and amazing to it. In the context of a class like this, it really isn't that complex. There's this price for gold that's set by the people who want to trade gold. And you buy a 1 oz coin of gold for that price. So in the context of a class where market value of stocks is based on intrinsic values of companies which is estimated by experts reviewing pages-long balance sheets and financial statements...... Eh nope. Not this. We, as humans, just feel like gold is special, and we pay $X for it. And we've got gold. And if we want, we can sell it for $Y. Oh, and Warren Buffet thinks investing in gold is stupid because gold can't actively turn a profit like a business can. I'll probably get brownie points for menitoning Warren Buffet.
...The presentation has to be 10 minutes long.. I can't end there, right? So now I'm on the verge of an existential crisis trying to pinpoint the moment in time in our human history where we decided to place a value on gold (or any currency) for any sort of concrete reason. And then I have to switch from history and philosophy to science to see that one supporting reason-- although not THE reason-- why gold is valued is because it's an inert, relatively rare metal. Doesn't rust, easy to smelt, heavy, and out of all the elements of the periodic table, Au is, chemically, the most ideal element to create a valuable currency from, with silver and copper coming in 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
But now we have our fiat currencies and the gold standard has been eliminated in almost every country... so why do people want to buy a 1 oz gold bullion coin for $1,200?
The only financially sound reason leads me to come up with ideas worthy of conspiracy.. and yet, as the kind of person who is always expecting worst-case scenarios, it makes total and complete sense to me so I don't knock anybody for thinking this way... in the history of fiat currency, fiat currencies will go up and down in value and sometimes, eventually become worthless. But through it all, gold retains value internationally-- the value fluctuates, but it never falls anywhere near into oblivion.. the price remains relatively high. So one day, when the US dollar crumbles and the economies of the world are running around like chickens with their heads cut off, the people with gold bullion will still have something that's worth something because.. well.. refer to the above paragraphs. lol
...typing all this out has really just been a practice in whatever it is I'm gonna say on Monday. I don't know how much farther I can take this topic...
Update 4/26 early afternoon: So I was stupid last night and the rabbit hole I went down with my gold research lead to me taking a fresh look at bitcoin. Wow. So.. a while back, when Bitcoin was trading above $600 or so, I had used faucets and got 0.015 bitcoin saved up. At one point, that much was worth $15 USD or so. It was basically beer money. I mostly used faucets.
And it's funny because when bitcoin used to only be about $5 USD, this random Bitcoin twitter account paid me 1 BTC to write a poem about bitcoin. WOW. and I ended up just giving that away as donations to friends.
So I looked back into bitcoin and the faucets I used to use and realized that these days, the faucet payout is higher. So I spent quite a bit of time in the wee hours last night fauceting bitcoin. I didn't fall asleep until 4 am (d'oh!). So I woke up today around 1 pm.
I'm trying not to feel bad about it. After all I woke up early yesterday and didn't take a nap to even things out. On the days I don't have to wake up early, I'll sleep in until 11 or 12.. so this isn't that bad. And I did get my final done yesterday.
So that's behind me. Maybe I can start fauceting again when I'm done with finals. But okay. We're done with that now. Back to focusing...
...this final I have Monday night is a team project. I woke up to texts from a teammate asking me for comments and suggestions on his part. So I went into his google doc and made my comments. Now I have to do my part which is to write a script, basically.. I've only written an outline.. I've written a script like this before and I know, once I start and it flows, it keeps flowing... Ugh.. can't quite get to the flow, yet..........
..Maybe I just need more coffee? :-/
Update 4/26 early evening: Took a coffee break and sat to talk to my mom for a while about my school work. She started talking about a party she went to last night with dad. I asked her how they got invited to the party (what the connection was) and she went on a long tangent about the party without directly answering the question.
See, my Monday night final, I have to do a direct examination. Essentially, you ask a fairly open-ended question but you prep your client ahead of time to give a pretty precise answer and prep them so that they DON'T go on a tangent. That's the script I've been working on...
...so I tell my mom she would make a horrible direct examination witness because I asked her one simple question and she went on a tangent that had nothing to do with my question. She was like, this is what your dad and I have always fought over for the last 30+ years. You think just like him. lol.
And it's true. I was raised in a direct examination/cross examination environment. My dad never pushed my to be a lawyer, I decided to be that on my own, but he inadvertently trained me for two decades to think like a trial lawyer questioning a witness. Although my training was in the form of me being that witness.. the witness who got a bad grade or didn't do her chores or the witness who needed help with homework or wanted to talk about education plans. If you don't answer a question a certain way with my dad, a conversation that a normal person would think should only last 5-10 minutes could turn into a 3-hour ordeal. I'm not exaggerating. And my dad didn't raise us that way by design, it's just the way he handled things with us.
...funny when I decided to use this reddit post as my little finals period venting post, I didn't think I'd start unpacking my childhood or my bitcoin fetish or an existential journey though the history of monetary exchange...
Update 4/26 nighttime: I'm trying to give myself a break by watching my regular Sunday Night shows.. Once Upon a Time and Secrets and Lies. My phone is blowing up with texts from a teammate asking me to help him with his part of Monday night's final.
OH NO OH NO RIGHT AS I'M WATCHING TV I SEE BEN CRAWFORD IS GOOGLING BIPOLAR DISORDER. DAMNIT, ABC, AND RISPERDONE... OHHH NOOO. NO NO NO NO NO F** YOU ABC DO NOT PIN TOM'S MURDER ON BIPOLAR DISORDER.
Anyway, after three years of law school, it's been a struggle, but I've more or less mastered the art of thinking twice-- or three times-- before I send off a text or email. This is especially helpful if somebody starts getting annoying or gets me upset. It's an exercise in "professionalism" and if you don't learn it by the time you're sworn in with the bar, it can cause you some problems in the teamwork arena. Text communication is a damn art.
NO F** YOU ABC DON'T MAKE THIS ABOUT JESS HAVING BIPOLAR AND NOT TAKING HER PILLS. GOD DAMNIT.
...Sorry, that was totally topical. I'm literally watching Secrets and Lies while I type this. If you watch the show, it'll make sense to you lol.
So I'm getting a flood of texts from these teammates asking me for their help. I'm the type of person who usually only communicates with a team to make sure logistics are worked out. I'm usually not asking the team for help on things that are minute details that I should be working out myself. And now one of my teammates is hitting me up asking me to do just that.
Option 1: DUDE I CANNOT HELP YOU RIGHT NOW I HAVE MY OWN PART OF THE PROJECT TO WORK ON PLUS ANOTHER PRESENTATION TO WORK ON. (And I say Option 1 because this is usually the visceral immediate reaction)
Option 2: Read his texts with my full attention (when there's a commercial break) and respond with my advice to help him.
I've been doing Option 2 all day.. all weekend, really. I even just made him a video to give him a comprehensive critique of his part of the presentation which he's written out and shared on google docs. I'm SO SO close to switching to Option 1.
Sigh..
Update 4/27 Afternoon: Finished my presentation. On to the next...
Update 4/28 After midnight: Two finals down. Flugh.
I got to a point tonight where I just wanted to get my part of the team-assigned final done and teleport home. At one point during a direct exam on the other side, the guy next to me who was about to do cross-- the same guy who was constantly texting me for help all weekend-- whispered in my ear and was like "so how do you think I should address what he just said in my cross?"
Like, okay, maybe I should be flattered, right? This guy is asking me for advice on this stuff which probably means he values my opinion. But at this point, I was just DONE. I can't THINK for you right now, bro. I just kind of waved my hands and told him "I don't even know, man."
Then I do my part which was a direct examination. I wrote a script for it and sent it to my "witness" ahead of time so he could get a good read through of it and it could go smoothly. I guess you can put some blame on me here for not trying a little more to practice with this guy, but he is a mutual friend of a lot of us in this class and he had played this exact same "witness" part for the other team last week. He didn't do awful but there were a lot of times where he was tripping over words and it felt like he might have been reading the thing for the first time.
He was probably just as exhausted as I was, but it just wasn't making things much easier. I got through the thing. There were a lot of amazing gems I had written in this script and he just didn't perform them the way I had hoped so again-- that's partly on me for not practising beforehand. But I'm glad he did it and helped. Always better to have somebody than nobody and without him, I would've had nobody.
Then later on with a different witness, the opposing side got up to do cross. I won't go into the details but they tried to introduce evidence that they knew or should've known was allowed in-- I tried to do exactly what they did last week and was turned down. So I made an objection. And in part I was annoyed because it was like-- you guys knew I wasn't going to allow this (we exchanged this in a stipulation memo last week) and you knew I wasn't able to do this last week. And they tried it anyway. But it was more than that-- it was just the whole weekend and all the anxiety of working on a team on top of having to do a presentation earlier the same day.. oye. And now you're gonna try to introduce evidence that even I wasn't allowed to get in. So my objection came out bitchy. My professor later characterized it as me sounding like I thought everyone in the room is stupid. Okay, I get that perception and there's no use arguing but at the same time it's like, I'm done. I'm just done.
I know it's a lot to ask everybody else to see things the way I see them, but for five fucking seconds can I get a break?
There was a redeeming moment, I guess. Another teammate had asked us to make comments on his closing. I did. He basically nixed all of my comments without making a single change to his "script" or even acknowledging what I was saying. And I mean that's fine, that's how he wants to do it. But I've had a history of working with this guy and he'll be MIA on the group project and then all the sudden last minute pops up and throws all of his suggestions at us too late and didn't pay attention to all the things we had already said. So seeing him just nix all my comments just added on to the 50 pound weight on my head. But then at the end of his argument, he did make ONE change that I had suggested. It was a fairly technical one but it signaled to me, "you were right on this one, and I'm doing it your way."
That was a nice 5 seconds.
At the end of the night and a long round of comments from the professor, we had to sign in on the attendance sheets (ABA law schools are weirdly strict on attendance records and you've got to write your john hancock on a sheet every class session). So I go up to sign and look up at the professor and he says good job and shakes my hand and gives me a wink. One of those "you did all right and i know that you know that i know that you know that you'll end up all right out there" That was another nice 5 seconds.
So I'm exhausted. And it's not over. I don't have to face another final until Saturday but I've got to go to review sessions that are semi-mandatory and require me to do practice exams if I want to show up.
At least I can sleep in a little tomorrow...
Update 4/29 wee hours: I spent the whole day prepping for a review class then I went to that review class and that was basically my day. Tomorrow will be similar and then I get to really get into the marathon.
Also, today was the official last day of classes which translates to me officially fulfilling by ABA class attendance obligations for graduation. I celebrated with lobster mac and cheese and a cupcake.
I think I may desparately need an extra 48 hours to study. Thing is, I've gotten by on less. I just need to figure out out I'm going to compact better....

Verified? (This bot cannot verify AMAs just yet)
Date: 2013-08-22
Link to submission (Has self-text)

Questions	Answers
What's the weirdest thing you've sold? How many hours would you say you work per week? What's the most valuable thing you've sold?	Weirdest, that's hard to say since I collect oddities myself. Vintage jock straps would make the list. Link to imgur.com Link to imgur.com
Why were these links already purple for me?	They were on the front page of WTF a few weeks back so maybe you looked at them back then.
Annual gross sales? Net profit? Where do you buy your stuff from?	$110,000, $60,000 and I buy mostly at auction.
Does it get exhausting ALWAYS having to look for new product?	Sometimes. That's honestly the easiest part though. The shipping is the biggest pain.
What's the shipping process like, especially on your bigger items? And how do you deal with having to potentially ship multiple big items around the same time?	Sometimes I will spend an entire day just packaging. I bubble wrap my item and then put an two inch layer of foam cubes all the way around. Sometimes I will have to re-size a box or two.
What was the Black Keys experience like? And does it provide a steady income or does it come in spurts instead?	It's all about averages. I sold the Black Keys a very rare drum machine. I shipped it to their studio but never talked to any of them.
How did you know it was them?	One of their names was on the account and it was being shipped to the studio where they were recording in Nashville.
Have you ever been dicked by PayPal or ebay?	Oh yea.
Elaborate …	It's happened more than once. I had one customer who eBay allowed to return a package that they had accidentally run over with their car. The customer claimed that the post office had delivered it that way but I talked to their postmaster who said that was not the case.
That is not that bad compared to some stuff I have heard. This one guy sold a tape machine for >$5000 and the buyer claimed he never got it, and then the buyer got a full refund without any argument.	I've had customers try to rip me off for more but I won the cases.
Do you have a lawyer or something, or you just spend hours on the phone arguing?	On occasion I've been able to point out to them that the buyer is leaving a large amount of negative feedback which indicates fraud. In short though, you have to waist a lot of time on the phone talking to them.
Do you think if eBay where to start accepting bitcoin as a usable currency on their site that you would accept them for your transactions?	I doubt it. ebay owns paypal so I think they want to keep as much of the profits as possible.
What sale has been the most special to you and why?	I remember one customer who purchased a Christmas ornament from me. They were really excited and thankful because it was one that they had had before their house burned down.
Do you have any advice for people wanting to sell big ticket items ($500+ such as iPads, computers, cameras, etc.)? The last time I sold on ebay, I was scammed out of an iPad. The buyer claimed SNAD, by saying that I sent him and empty iPad box. Of course Paypal sided with him after I appealed the claim. What has been your strategy towards mitigating fraud?	That's a hard one. Although in recent years ebay has gotten better at dealing with fraud it is still a pain in the neck to deal with their support team. There is no sure fire way to avoid fraud. Always buy insurance and if you are worried about fraud you can take additional steps like taking video the item working and taking pictures of your packaging process. When you have an issue with fraud also check the buyers feedback and feedback given to see if you can see a history of fraud. This can help when talking to an ebay rep.
How did you find your niche?	I don't have a niche per say. I've found that it is better to have a well rounded knowledge. If you buy enough of any item though you will become more and more familiar with it.
If you had to set a standardised size for italian meatballs, What would be the diameter (in cm) of said meatballs?	2"
What are your primary marketing resources? Search marketing? FB? Newsletters? Word of mouth? Anything else? How much are your marketing costs?	I don't do any marketing of my own. ebay spends a huge amount of money marketing their auctions. I don't do many consignments so it doesn't matter if people know who I am.
But you sell only very niche, special interest items. How do people find your stuff if you don't advertise it? Are there people searching specifically for the book 1639 The Use of The Lord Verulam Viscount English Law Book 17th Century?	Not many if any. That's why the key words "English Law Book 17th Century" are in the title. Some items take a long long time to sell. I do sell other items such as cameras and audio equipment that sell much quicker as they have a much broader appeal. I also keep 400-500 items listed because like you said, there aren't many people looking for some of my items.
What's a good week's worth of income for you? About how many hours a day do you work?	I try to make a profit of about $1,200 a week. I don't always work the same number of hours but I probably work 40-50.
That[s pretty good I would think that this would take a lot longer like 80-100, good job. Was it way longer at the start until you got 'faster' or always like that.	I've only done this full time for 3 years so I had lots of time to practice while I sold part time. I was much slower when I started but luckily I didn't have to do it to make a living at that point.
How old are you? How far do you expect to grow this business? Will you be making six figures next year? What uni did you attend.	I am 32. I will not be making six figures next year. I am still a few years away from that. I attended Cincinnati State. My degree is in Graphic Design. I was a graphic designer for 5 years.
Did you start your business out of necessity or out of opportunity?	I was 18 when I started. My brother was 16 and we sold as partners. We've always been hustlers so we saw it as a fun opportunity.
Worst thing that happened to you during a sale?	How about worst purchase. I once purchased hundreds of brand new shoes of of craigslist with plans of reselling them. Turned out, none of them matched.
Were they supposed to match? If they were what did you do?	They were supposed to match but were just in a couple of giant boxes. There wasn't really anything I could do because after I noticed there was no way to find the buyer.
Sucks man. Well maybe someone else got the same shipment except they got the other shoes instead lol.	Ha ha, I think they were display shoes from a store.
How bad is paypal to deal with?	Terrible if their is an issue. They are getting better though.
What does eBay charge you for each listing? What about PayPal?	It depends on what category that you list in. This calculator can help you figure that out Link to www.newlifeauctions.com
Do you have to file taxes in every state with income/franchise taxes? I assume you have a CPA that handles it.	No, I only have to file taxes in the state of my residence.
Are you expecting a massive drop when the laws change regarding online sales?	No. A large percentage of my customers are fairly wealthy.
Why did you stop graphic designing?	It didn't pay enough, my boss was a jerk, and I hated working regular hours.
I'm guessing less than 60k then?	Yes, far less. I was worth a lot more but it was a tough market.
How can I get started?	Start by selling small things that you have sitting around your house. Don't go big, start small and work your way up.
What if I run out of things to sell? Do I buy things online and sell for a higher $$?	Yes.
Any good items to sell for starters? Cameras? furniture? antiques?	Stick with what you now best. Do your research on recent ebay sales of the same item to figure out how much you will make.
What kind of auctions do you buy from? Any tips for sellers that you can give us?	I buy mostly from estate and consignment auctions. My best tip is research, research, research. When you buy don't be impulsive. Know your market.
Do you have a target market? I always wondered if it would be wise to try to market to a niche on ebay or just put all sorts of things out there. Ebay has gotten so big, it attracts a diverse crowd looking for all kinds of goods.	I sell a huge variety of items so my target market varies from item to item. If you have an eBay store you can ad categories so if a person finds one of your items they can easy find other like items that you have for sale. You can also list in your sales that you offer combined shipping to encourage people to buy more than one thing.
Interesting, I've been seriously considering hustling and makin some money by going around to garage sales in my area. You can get some great deals. Once I bought a 5.1 receiver for $5 and then turned around and sold it to a friend for $30. I imagine I could extend that to ebay.	If you have some free time and a little extra money I say give it a shot. Plus the hunt can be fun.
Do customers try to scam you ever?	Occasionally but it is rare. That happens more with consumer electronics while I deal more with vintage, antique, and business.
Do you list items for sale that you are interested in buying beforehand, to see if you can make profit?	No I do not. That's a dangerous game of chicken and violates ebay policy.
Do you pay federal income tax? Has the IRS every given you a hard time?	I do. I've not had any issues.
Is it worth it? The commission they take must be ridiculous! How do you protect yourself from fraudulent buyers. I've heard ebay is very buyer biased.	You have to calculate the fees when purching things for resale. It it is always worth it for me. Make sure you insure your packages, take lots of pictures, and don't be afraid to block a buyer.
Any tips you'd like to add? I'm a 15yo who does the occasional sell on ebay so would love some! Thanks! :)	My tip would be to do your research. Check completed items to figure out what the average sale price of an item is. And if you need to check fees use a fee calculator like this one Link to www.newlifeauctions.com
How much would you take for your 6ft Mid Century Industrial Age Machine Work Bench w/ Cast Iron Legs & 2 Drawers?	I think I almost broke my back moving that monster. I'm open to offers. If you picked it up it would be less.
How to you figure out what to charge for shipping ahead of time? Do you ship all items even oversized ones?	I use a postal scale to estimate shipping costs. For items over 80lbs you have to use a freight service.
Vague answer. Care to elaborate?	Sorry, when you are listing an item you have the choice to either choose flat rate, estimated, or freight. For most items I choose estimated. I weigh the item, ad what I estimate the packing material will weight (it depends on the size but generally a pound or two) enter that information on the form, and ad a handling charge to cover insurance and packing material. For items listed as freight the buyer has to contacted me and I get a quote from my rep at freightquote.com
When is the best day and time to end a auction item?	It depends on what you are selling. I would normally try to end on any day but Friday or Saturday, early evening.
What's the largest amount of profit you made from a single sale?	Probably $2,000.
How much 'time off' do you give yourself? And what do you do about listings when you're on vacation? Don schedule any to end during that time?	I sell mostly store items so when I go out of town I shut down my store sales. I've taken two weeks off this Summer.
Ever made a substantial loss on something?	Not more than a few hundred.
Whats the most profitable item youve sold?	I once made over 2k off of an accordion.
What's the beat and cheapest place to ship from? Box supplies also? Thank you.	I ship using USPS. UPS is generally cheaper for large items. I get a lot of my boxes and supplies from friends and family but when I buy them I use Link to amshipping.com
Where do you store all this stuff?	Currently at my house.
Can you explain your process, maybe give us a run down on your workflow? Do you have a minimum ratio you are looking for? How you minimize shipping costs? When you say you buy at auction, does that include ebay? If so, primarily ebay?	I start my week by making a list of all of the auctions that I plan on researching. After that it's pretty much just buying, listing, shipping. It's not the same everyday. My profit margin depends on how much has to be invested in the item, estimated time it takes to turn it over, and the difficulty in shipping it. Higher priced items generally have a lower margin of profit. I buy everything from audio equipment to books at auctions. I don't buy to resell on eBay.
I notice you do pretty much everything as a Buy-It-Now/Make Offer -- there's only nine things as an auction listing. Is there a reason for that?	In recent years it's been my experience that for most items buy it nows get you the most money. The issue I have is a lot of my items are high dollar, niche items. There may only be a couple of people looking for them so if I sell them at auction I run the risk of them going very cheap.
Also: wifey and I are antique dealers, and so are my in-laws, and our experience, my inlaw's experience, and even what we hear from other dealers is that eBay sales are way, way down for antiques. What do you think you're doing different that keeps the sales coming?	I stay on top of buying trends. What people are buying is constantly changing. People in their 30s and 40s are now major buyers while people in their 70s and 80s are dying. Therefore the prices for things from the 1980s are up while things from the 1950s are way down. I don't just buy based on what I was able to sell 5 years ago. I check the current prices.
What method should I use to pay the ebay sellers fee? - Paypal or by Debit?	I use paypal which is directly linked to my checking account. That way I if transferred all of my funds out of my paypal it can pull it from my checking. Both Debit and Paypal will essentially work the same way though. The only issue would be if you didn't have any money when the bill was automatically paid.
What is your opinion on the eBay Buyer Protection? Do you ever get buyers who will receive an item, say it was not received as described, try to get a refund, send the item back and then turns out nothing was wrong with the item?	Buyer protection is pretty one sided. I had a package sent back once that was "not as described" that was never opened. I've also had people try to work the system for a refund while keeping the item. Luckily though most buyers are honest.
You've said that you mainly get your items from auctions? I've spent a lot of time watching Auction related shows on Discovery but I've never been there myself. I'd like to try acquire an item there and then resell it on ebay? Can I get an interesting product at an auction for around 100 pounds (~155 USD) Can you share some of your auction techniques? Such as how do you know that a particular item you're bidding on will sell at a bigger price? Thanks.	I don't buy at storage auctions. Plus those shows are rather scripted and set unrealistic expectations. A lot of estate auctions will have a list of some of the items that will be up for sale that you can get in advance or there will be a preview before the auction starts. Write down the items of interest and then search ebay for those items to see what recent sales have ended at.
I have an old Spirograph set that I'd like to sell on Ebay. Have never done that before, could you tell me how to go about that? Do I have to type in a lot of info, or is it all automatic? I mean, how do I get paid for instance? What do I need to set up?	You will have to set up a paypal and an ebay seller account. You will have to type in all of the information yourself. The process from start to finish is too much to type out but they will walk you through it. You will get paid through paypal and then have the option to transfer it to your bank account.
Why are you currently selling women uniform shirts?	Why not?
What would you say is your least favorite thing about eBay? And in your opinion, what would be the best thing eBay could change to help benefit the sellers?	The high fees. The best fix would be to either lower the fees or to change the way that they deal with buyer complaints.
Do you operate under an official business? If so, what type?	I pay taxes under my name. At this point I've not seen the advantages of becoming an LLC.
What do you sell primarily?	I sell a lot of antique books and vintage audio equipment.
I'm always looking to expand and branch out. I sell online too. My sales are nothing compared to your sales. My goal is to have a six figure salary before I am thirty, that I have created myself. Last year, I got 1/5th of the way. This year, I look to surpass that. Do you import a lot of goods to resale? I really try to stay away from that. What do your products really include? Do you hate the IRS as much as I do?	I buy all of my items locally. And yes, I hate the IRS. I pay them way too much money.
How did you get started?	I attended an auction with my mother and my brother when I was 18 and my brother was 16. We have both always been hustlers to some degree and this seemed like a fun way to make some money. We started off dealing mostly in vintage board and video games.
When exporting to place's outside of the US e.g. countries in the EU have you ever been screwed over by the exchange rate or import tax?	I have not. Paypal converts foreign currency to USD before it goes into my account. The buyer is responsible for all import taxes.
How do you deal with storage for all of the merchandise, packing materials ect. and do you pack and ship yourself? Any tips on making that a smooth or at least decent experience?	I'll admit, I'm not really that good at this. I did purchase another building to put my inventory in but it is not yet ready for the move. I do most of the packaging myself but I do higher some family members from time to time to work for me.
I see on eBay too for a living, but my average sold item is $31, so I have to do a lot more volume. Been using eBay since 1998. How do you feel about the lack of power that sellers have now? Have you ever been scammed by a buyer taking advantage of the "Buyer Protection Program"?	The buyer does have too much power. I agree. Fortunately ebay has recently taken steps towards fixing that. They aren't there yet though. It doesn't happen often but I have been scammed on a couple occasions. I have also won cases as well.
Does the international shipping charges depend on what country you're shipping to, or is it a flat rate or something?	It varies by country. There are also different shipping restrictions for each country.
Do you use terapeak? How do you SEO your titles and listings?	I do not. I generally search complete items and see what key words were used to fetch the highest price. Sometimes some creative thinking works just as well.
How much time do you spend working daily? Are your hours predictable?	I probably average 8. Its not real predictable as it is determined but where I am buying from that day and what inventory I have to list and ship.
Would you trust people selling pills on eBay? Do you think a lot of them are fake?	I wasn't ware that there were people selling pills on ebay. I would look at their feedback to see if they have a history of satisfied customers.
Do you use flat rate boxes or plain boxes? What's the cheapest way to ship non-media items?	I use plain boxes. Flat rate priority can be a savings if you are either mailing heavy smaller items or you ship a lot to far away places.
What percent profit would you say you have on each item you sell?	There is no standard. It varies from 25% to 200,000%
Funny that this is an AMA right now - this is my SO's store. Link to stores.ebay.com. Within the past few weeks he has been begging me to quit my full time job and work with him and I'm very tempted, your thoughts after quitting? Was it a good decision?	It's certainly not for everyone but I've never regretted it.
Do you have health insurance?	No.
Any advice for people who would want to sell manufactured items, i.e. cell phone cases, how do you go about starting this up? Where do you find people to produce items for you?	This is outside my area of expertise. Sorry.
What freight service do you use?	I use freightquote.com
What made you start selling on eBay for a living?	I sold on ebay on the side for 12 years. I was a graphic designer and I just got tired of working for someone that I didn't like for pay that wasn't what it should be. So I quit and started working full time selling on ebay.
If you were to sell products that are fairly commonplace, is there any way to get your listing to consistently appear higher in search results, or do you list so many that you get more people coming to your channel?	Yes, you have to earn the "top rated seller" status. When you search by "best match" it puts the sellers with a "top rated seller" status at the top. Link to pages.ebay.com
What was the most valuable/unique thing you've ever sold?	Most valuable would be a set of coins that I sold for $5,600. Most unique is a hard one. I sold quite a few screen used props from the movie Ben Hur which were pretty unique.
Ever thought of opening a pawn shop? Not sure what the marketplace is where you live, but you could do both (ebay/physical store).	I prefer to sell my own inventory. Dealing with cosigners ads an additional degree of difficulty and aggravation. Plus it would require me to keep business hours.
How do you do all the accounting? This may be the first year I may actually hit the point where I get sent a tax form, and I'm wondering what I should be doing in the mean time to prepare for tax season. Thanks!	I use turbo tax. I keep my records using a simple spread sheet. It is very basic with line items for total month sales, fees, and a breakdown of purchases.
Congrats on your sales. Your descriptions are very sparse. Do you feel descriptions are overrated? You do not have any info on shipping costs, payment parameters such as when payment is due, etc. Thanks & continued success.	If an item isn't unique then a long description isn't normally needed. Most people find the item because that is specifically what they are searching for.
Do you remember what was so special about the coins? I collect coins a little and I'm just curious	It was a proof set. I can't remember the year. There was one gold coin and the rest were silver. The rare one was actually the silver dollar because it was only produced for that set.
Have you ever considered buying your own Online-Store to save the ebay and paypal fees? What is your opinion on these?	A lot of my items are so niche that it would be very difficult to attract the right buyers with my own store.
Are you able to hookup Google Analytics, to see your customer demographics? Not sure if ebay is that robust for the users...	I am not. ebay has some analytic but they are geared more towards the items that you've sold than the buyers themselves.
That's really interesting. You don't happen to have a picture, do you?	Not that I could easily located and I can't for the life of me remember what year the proof set was. I only made $400 off of the purchase but I knew that I could flip it and make that money within 2 weeks so it was still a good buy.
Have you ever tries etsy?	I have not. esty tends to work better for hand made items. At least that's been my experience.
Ever consider getting into Amazon with more predictable products and using FBA to save yourself some trouble?	I also sell on Amazon. I've found that Amazon is good for selling more mainstream items.
What is the most overpriced thing you have ever bought?	The most I've ever lost is maybe $300. The most I've spent on a single item is 5k.
How many hours would you say you work a week?	40-50. Sometimes more, some less.
Do you find it worth it?	Yes.
I bet your house is very interesting. Does it smell a bit dusty though?	My house is very interesting. I collect oddities and art.
Do you still ship to Italy ? :p.	Some things, like Ben Hur props.
How's Steve Carrel?	I feel like there is a joke in here somewhere but since I am oblivious to it I'm just going to say, "he is doing well but his mom is a bit under the weather."
Can you approximate your yearly income?	60k.
Use registered post for anything valuable. Signature required on delivery.	USPS requires signature confirmation for anything insured for over $200.
OP did ...	Yep, the answer is of course me. My more recent purchases which are not pictured are two WWII practice bombs and a piece of one of the popes robes.
You can see the fees on eBay itself. They're ridiculous. I believe it's 9% of the final value fee and PayPal is around 3% or so. There's a few categories that have flat rate listings I believe, like autos. They also cut into your shipping costs as well.	They are category specific and vary from 4-9% on ebay. 10% would be a good average to use.
Why is it people with 0 feed back keep buying my shit but never pay.	You can change your settings to not allow 0 feedback buyers to bid.
I just wanted to tell you that you have a typo in the description of your Industrial Age Work Bench. you wrote "Pleas ask all questions before purchasing" ;)	I'll have to fix that. It's certainly not my fist typo ha ha.
Hello, I was wondering how far from your house do you usually go to find this stuff, and also, what the luckiest find you ever had was. Thanks.	Not normally more than a 45 minute drive. I once found a book on a shelf at a second hand store that was 29 cents that I resold for $250. As far as luck goes I was lucky to even see it at the store.

Last updated: 2013-08-26 18:57 UTC
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