Ridiculous eBay Auctions

rawbob

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LEGO-STAR-WARS-10188-DEATH-STAR-SET-100-COMPLETE-LOT-INSTRUCTIONS-24-MINIFIGS-/110893672112?pt=UK_Construction_Toys_Kits&hash=item19d1c726b0

mcvitie

Dusty and doesnt even have the box too!

LegobrandonCP

You can always wash the pieces. But what I'm afraid of, is people getting scammed.

mcvitie

Quite possibly an international bidder, as I think it states shipping worldwide is £14.99

drdavewatford

I think the point is that someone is listing a used, current set for more than the RRP; no reason why this should be a scam, just someone trying it on. And if a prospective buyer is willing to spend over £300 without doing their homework it's hard to feel much sympathy....

Cephaser

Isn't the point that it wasn't listed at more than RRP, but that people have bid over RRP?

rawbob

started lower than rrp so it's down to people not doing a simple search on the Lego website for the rrp. really baffles me that folk would bid that high without a little research.

Jawascrump

Maybe it's being shilled?

dunc8543

Whats shilled ?

atkinsar

^ Using another account to bid on your own items, or getting a friend to bid on them to raise the auction price. If they accidentally win thier own auction, they will usually give a second chance offer to the next highest genuine bidder. Very naughty and against eBay policy.

UKtsumi

I think the point is that someone is listing a used, current set for more than the RRP; no reason why this should be a scam, just someone trying it on. ....

I dont think theres anything to talk about really...

When I list on ebay, why should I add information on my listing that tells everyone where they can get the item cheaper?

roxio

Looks likely its been shilled, started at 99p and bidders IDs kept private.
And seller is shifting a lot of new lego as a private seller

drdavewatford

^^ Exactly - if people can't be bothered to shop around then so be it...

UKtsumi

heres one for a laugh!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LEGO-Star-Wars-Death-Star-10188-/170861946805?pt=UK_Construction_Toys_Kits&hash=item27c82a67b5

Dad

Watch this ebay seller!! Think he is fraudulent. Just a warning to everyone as it is not total stand out cheap but he has blocked 'contact the seller' and his phone number is not the correct one. Yesterday you could contact him but today you can't. Look at his completed auctions
reedltd_uk
Admin. If I am not allowed to post direct information like this then my apologies and please remove

Matthew

Talking of Ridiculous eBay Auctions, look at this. It's one of mine (run low on cash so having to sell some stuff I intended for me). I got them for £4 on Amazon a few months ago, RRP is £8, yet for some reason someone has bid £14! I'm not complaining though...

UKtsumi

@Dad

yep , I bought some stuff off him 2 months back (different name then) - sells (not) warhammer and lego, refunded through ebay , but takes time. - hes been doing this for a while.., various accounts.... but try telling ebay, and they are not interested!

Watch this ebay seller!! Think he is fraudulent. Just a warning to everyone as it is not total stand out cheap but he has blocked 'contact the seller' and his phone number is not the correct one. Yesterday you could contact him but today you can't. Look at his completed auctions

Dad

@UKtsumi... Yep!! I consider myself pretty clued up to this type of thing but went for a Knights Bus off him at £14.99 then checked him out!! Then when I saw the X wings and Batcave I sort of started calling myself names I can't repeat here Oh well...A little bit wiser.

mountebank

Sorry if I'm being a bit dense but how does this kind of scam work - the ones where expensive items are apparently sold at a very low price?

UKtsumi

^ @mountebank - this particular seller doesn't send anything, just keeps the money , ignores emails, you have to eventually claim to get your money back. I dont know how he gets around all the checks/paypal/bank stuff , but I know he refunded me not ebay, right on the last possible day.. maybe hes using the system as a free loans area? cheaper than a payday loan? - Im alot more careful now, and always check out their feedback and other items etc before I buy, even if it means missing out on a few deals, it saves me hassle at a later date.

monkeyhanger

Closed my first non-payment case today, can't believe the buyer gets off scott-free, not a blemish on their feedback, and not allowed to tell the world through feedback that he/she might not pay up. I gave the person 4 days before launching a case after trying to contact twice. I would normally give benefit of doubt and leave it longer, like they just went on holiday or something, but they were buying and paying for very low value SW minifig items throughout. The 4 days the case was open resulted in no action on ebay's behalf. Beware "choopchoop2012". Meanwhile ebay will refund the final value fee but not the insertion fee which was quite expensive as it had a reserve price which the seller met with their bid. Probably done this before as they have only "11" feedback for very recent and small purchases.

mountebank

just keeps the money , ignores emails, you have to eventually claim to get your money back.

Thanks. So the "business model" is to hope that buyers won't bother acting on being scammed or won't do it effectively. Seems like a pain in the arse activity even for the seller.

111ins

a pain yes, but if they are doing it with 5 or 6 accounts and get $50 a month from each... might just pay the rent??

BoiseState

How do they have to pay back the money if they just empty their PayPal account? Can they actually take money from someone's bank account?

rawbob

further to my original post and the responses I have been getting. I have tried to buy various polybags and minifigs from members here and always get asked to pay top dollar (highest ebay prices) for them.

i thought the users of this site would be happy to let their items go for something a bit more reasonable than top ebay prices. surely the advantage of using brickset is no ebay/paypal fees and therefore prices can be a little less.

thornie

You mean ridiculous like this...?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lego-Kingdoms-7946-Knights-Castle-New-MISB-/300513310519?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f7fd3737#ht_500wt_1032

richo

I still can't understand why ebay doesn't implement a policy where by at the conclusion of a non paying buyer case, the buyer gets an automated negative for not paying.

monkeyhanger

Richio: Because they don't give a toss about the people who generate their revenue, the sellers. There's nowt we can do about it if we want to carry on selling there.

Matthew

Here's another crazy one, I just won a #4867 BNIB shipped for £29.99 with 0 bids except mine, yet there's another one on there ending in 20 mins which is at £31 + £7.50 shipping with 11 bids?!?

dougts

^ i see this kind of thing all the time. seems like search optimization/placement is huge.

SWAT_Strachan

eBay is frequented by idiots that feel clever getting that last minute bid in and winning! Mind you, best of luck to them, I was bidding on a used Battle of Geonosis set and set my max bid at £30 (inc postage), then a bunch of muppets appear in the last three seconds and bump the bidding up to almost £40! It's only £35 brand new from [email protected] :D.

They were welcome to it :).

TechnicNick

Here's one to watch out for - this seller is charging £22 for postage that will cost £2.70! Is he trying to catch people out, avoid fees or both ?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lego-Technical-Set-Number-850-/140777190733?pt=UK_Construction_Toys_Kits&hash=item20c6f9754d#ht_500wt_1287

prof1515

Here's another crazy one, I just won a #4867 BNIB shipped for £29.99 with 0 bids except mine, yet there's another one on there ending in 20 mins which is at £31 + £7.50 shipping with 11 bids?!?

People are stupid and consumers are even dumber than that. They often react illogically in such situations because they're motivated by their original impression of something regardless of how that impression no longer applies. In this case, the original bid was probably quite low making it a deal. Others of course said the same thing to themselves and bid as well. With that notion that it was a deal firmly planted in their heads, they refused to lose it even though their bidding war pushed the price high enough to not only negate any deal but actually make it more expensive.

Observation, analysis, further observation and constant analysis are things most people are either too stupid, too ignorant or too lazy to do. That's why the world is filled with consumer drones, political sheep, religious fundamentalists and Twilight fans.

LegoFanTexas

^ *Twilight Fans*

That is FUNNY!!!

muffenman

Here's one to watch out for - this seller is charging £22 for postage that will cost £2.70! Is he trying to catch people out, avoid fees or both ?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lego-Technical-Set-Number-850-/140777190733?pt=UK_Construction_Toys_Kits&hash=item20c6f9754d#ht_500wt_1287

As a long term Power Seller this is a Direct Policy Violation, may be a mistake! new seller, But doubtful he has 2 such listings.

Both REPORTED :)

I am doing my part I Report over 100 Items a day I am asking for a Job soon lol :)

mrseatle

I thought they take the eBay fees out of the postage too now? Which sorta sucks if you only charge exact shipping since you will lose some.

BoiseState

Pretty sure they take fees out of the total amount, including postage.

TechnicNick

As a long term Power Seller this is a Direct Policy Violation, may be a mistake! new seller, But doubtful he has 2 such listings.

Both REPORTED :)

I am doing my part I Report over 100 Items a day I am asking for a Job soon lol :)

Quite right too... :-)

mrseatle

So to break even... even an honest seller must inflate their shipping a little. But not that much...

y2josh

I haven't checked lately, but the fee on shipping costs (which I still maintain exists simply because eBay doesn't police their own policies) was US only.

ACWWGal2011

Can the price that's a result of bidding be counted b/c i think i have a winner: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lego-Series-1-Collectible-MINIFIGURES-Complete-Set-16-Minifigs-ZOMBIE-WRESTLE-/400303676679?_trksid=p4340.m1374&_trkparms=algo=UPI.GIROS%2BPI.WATCH&its=I%2BC&itu=UCI%2BUCC&otn=5&pmod=300725770472&po=&ps=63&clkid=71312951554383715

It's a complete set of series 1 figures with about 2 days left for $107.50 after 36 bids. Unbelivable.

LegoFanTexas

^ Unbelievable because it is high, or low?

Look at the picture, it is very detailed, the seller has thousands of feedback, top rated, good percentage, etc.

They specifically say "mint condition", and "smoke and pet free home".

Clearly this is a professional seller, I would expect professional service from him/her, and I would pay more for it.

For 16 retired, rareish figs, this seems reasonable. But then I don't collect minifigs, so perhaps it is not, but to my eye, I don't see any red flags (or Red Doodads, for that matter).

dougts

individually on bricklink, these would cost you about $80 at current prices, plus shipping. figure that's at least 4 or 5 different vendors, shipping could easily be another $15+ Now throw in the fact that these may or may not include the accessories, given the way brickling minifig listings work, and I'd say that ebay auction price is right in the correct range.

oldtodd33

^ The price is about right for what they are. It looks like there was an auction recently with 16 sealed S1 went for 132.00 and someone also paid 300.00 for series 1,2 and 3 lately. They are gradually going up like most other eol sets.

mressin

eBay is frequented by idiots that feel clever getting that last minute bid in and winning! Mind you, best of luck to them, I was bidding on a used Battle of Geonosis set and set my max bid at £30 (inc postage), then a bunch of muppets appear in the last three seconds and bump the bidding up to almost £40! It's only £35 brand new from [email protected] :D.

Or maybe the seller boosted the price up to GBP 40 himself with a second account?

AFFOL_Shellz_Bellz

This auction is just stupid! Why would anyone even waste their time to list this at such a ridiculous price.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEGO-Duplo-My-First-Set-5416-33-pieces-/260743263515?pt=Baby_Toys&hash=item3cb582751b

CCC

^ It must auto-relist too. Look at the dates of the offers ... they go back to May 2011.

alldarker

Can the price that's a result of bidding be counted b/c i think i have a winner: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lego-Series-1-Collectible-MINIFIGURES-Complete-Set-16-Minifigs-ZOMBIE-WRESTLE-/400303676679?_trksid=p4340.m1374&_trkparms=algo=UPI.GIROS%2BPI.WATCH&its=I%2BC&itu=UCI%2BUCC&otn=5&pmod=300725770472&po=&ps=63&clkid=71312951554383715

It's a complete set of series 1 figures with about 2 days left for $107.50 after 36 bids. Unbelivable.

Biggest problem I see with this auction is the fact that although the titel says: "Series 1 Collectible MINIFIGURES" (and the photo shows series 1), the description says: "Complete Set of 16 series 4 MINIFIGURES".

justmichael

What I find slightly amusing are the auctions that label themselves as "100% Complete!" and "No Minifigures" on the same line.

Maybe it's a semantics thing. Sure, the model may be "100% complete" but I wouldn't consider the set "100% complete" if it didn't include the figs.

Bugs me.

SWAT_Strachan

Or maybe the seller boosted the price up to GBP 40 himself with a second account?

If that was the case I would have expected to have been contacted with a second-chance offer. There was no such offer, so it was more than likely some spotty little oik feeling very clever by winning at the last second... even if it means he now has to pay more than a new one cost.

acedogg77

Just bought Dumbledores office 4729 of an ebayer named Legendary, winning bid was £15.41 and postage took it just over £20, only to recieve a message saying he isn't willing to sell at that price as he's losing money on it and wants at least £30 for it.

If that was the case, set the start price at £30 or put a reserve on, pretty fuming about it tbh.

He does have other lego up for auction, so I'd recommend you all avoid.