Does anyone know what the deal with this is?

If it seems too good to be true then it almost always is. Just becaues the bidder has a high rating does not mean his account may not have been compromised... I would stay away from this one if I were you.

Looks like a trick to me. Keep your money in your pocket.

RUN AWAY!

You should avoid these type of auctions at ALL costs.
Here is a run down of what this is.

First, it is restricted to approved bidders. Why? Because the moron you are about to e-mail for bidding approval will reply to you with a story about how he is out of the country and needs you to western union the money to him. You will do it, so happy about your new display and he will take off with your cash. Western Union cannot track payments. They do not have the ability to do this. Under no circumstances should you believe anyone who says that this is a perfectly legit deal.

How'd they get a picture that looks like they really have it? From other people, from forums like these that have pictures of people's setups. It happens.

An auction that requires you to get approval to bid is what we like to call a SCAM. They will take your money and leave you high and dry.

So is this awesome seller someone who is scamming the public? No. Their account is hijacked and they probably have no idea about this auction. You can e-mail them, but the hijackers will most likely get the e-mail. You are stuck. The best you can do is report the auction to ebay at once. They will remove it.

I think that someone should make a sticky about these types of aucitions.
Save your time and your money. If something that is normally thousands of dollars is being sold for 50% off then it is a scam. I don't care if the Pope is selling it from his hosipital bed.

It's as legit as most of the free ipod/mac mini/hooker etc. sites -- plus you should have an equal chance of actually getting the machine.

It's a really good deal for the seller.

Please help him out, he needs the money for drugs.

And you'll feel so much better after "giving" a drug addict your money in exchange for a boatload of empty promises that'll never materialize.

The Spaniard's auction has been taken down already by eBay, the Aussie and another clone from the UK have been reported to eBay.

Here is my list of "Fraud Flags"

Possible Fraud and/or hijacked accounts if the auction has 5 or more of the following criteria:

Preapproved bidders only (so they can harvest emails and sell to multiple suckers off-ebay),
New, high end product,
No reserve or buy it now far below wholesale,
Non-recoverable payment methods onlyt (such as wire transfer, Western Union, bank draft) or Paypal for items over $1,000 (which will probably be disallowed after the sale is made),
Individual selling multiple "new" products,
No feedback history of selling this type of product (hijacked acct),
Zero-feedback, cloaked or new account,
Copy and paste graphics and text,
Missing or absurd seller location,
Free shipping (typical of "offshore supplier/Western Union" type scams)
Country doesn't match account registration,
Selling product that is not shipping yet,
Selling product only available from authorized dealers,
Short auction (to sell before EBay responds to complaints),
Solicits direct contact by email (anonymous, throwaway email account),
Says not to use the eBay "ask Seller a Question" link,
Clone of another auction from a different seller (same text, graphics and/or offer)



Billyergs had a great idea: copy the title of the auction and Search - to find clones.

Thanks
Trevor
CanadaRAM.com