The Captain's Blog ™

Just viewed a great news story on the BBC’s news website.

Jack Neal - a three-year-old boy - apparently took advantage of being left unattended for a few moments at his Mother’s computer, which she’d left logged in to her eBay online auction account.

With some nimble navigation and a couple of clicks he managed to use the “Buy It Now” feature to have Mum buy him a £9,000 Nissan car – in a rather fetching Barbie pink.

The seller reportedly took the episode in good humour and re-listed the car, which was fortunate for Jack – who actually prefers red - and no doubt even more of a relief for his Mum.

Whilst eBay are generally very good about such things, I doubt the Neals would have got off quite so lightly if Jack had found himself logged in to, say, an online casino or a share dealing account (unless of course he won / made a mint, in which case we’d never hear about it).

So remember: if you’re using a computer to which other people have access – including toddlers and work colleagues – make sure you log out of eBay or anything else where they could end up stitching you up, even if by accident. eBay also has a parental lock facility, which Mrs Neal has wisely now started to use!