Sorry, these are as good as I can do with phone-cam.
It seems that the mesh shielding is broken, the actual wiring looks to be intact (untested).
Should I: a) Tape it up & hope for the best b) get a replacement cable (where from? I’m from the EU, hence the daft question) and solder it in, c) bring it to a repairshop (any idea how much I’m looking at?), or d) sell it on ebay as new in original packaging and go to hell.
Any USB cable will work as long as it has on one of the 2 ends a USB type A male plug.
The other end does not matter as this end is getting cut off for the repair.
c) bring it to a [S]repairshop[/S] Stick modder. There are very few brick and mortar shops that do any actual repairs any more, but Tech Talk it self is filled with modders who will replace your busted USB cable, cost of repairs like this can scale any where from $5 to $25 dpending on the cost of parts and materials and if/and how much the modder charges for his time and labor.Need a Modder in Your Area? Check This Post
Never take option A.
d) would be a last ditch choice as you will lose money selling the stick with a bad USB cable.
If you sell it on eBay make sure you mention the condition of the USB cable.
If it still works you could open the stick, snake that part inside, and knot the cord on the inside and outside of the cord exit for strain relief. If it still works after doing that (aka pushing it inside didn’t strain it so much that it broke), then that should last you indefinitely.
Completely forgot to post back, how rude of me- thanks for the advice; the tying-a-knot solution works perfectly for now, but I did buy a soldering gun and 3 meter USB cable just in case.