Those Mystery Box auctions on eBay

[Sdashiki]

What does everyone think about those auctions that say $10,000 guaranteed. Ive seen high bids go up over thousands of dollars, on what is in essence (according to the auction clearly) A BOX, and nothing more.

Legally, anything said in those auctions means nothing except for the part where it says "You are bidding on a box, nothing more. anything in the box is a gift".

How can people do this?

 

[clayj]

My prediction is that crap like that will be shut down by eBay quickly, since it's essentially gambling.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Only a complete fool would bid on such things. Ebay is so lazy about punishing scammers though, there are so many of them.

 

[JeffTL]

It sounds suspicious to me. I think I smell organized crime of some sort -- smuggling or money laundering -- in this.

 

[floriflee]

Only a complete fool would bid on such things. Ebay is so lazy about punishing scammers though, there are so many of them.

Amen! I mean... a Virgin Mary grilled cheese sandwich?? C'mon!!

 

[Sdashiki]

i dont mean read what I said, I meant have you SEEN them yourselves?


like this one

this one

and this

I look into them a bit, check the sellers feedback and see 100% positive, even on the prior mystery auctions.

or the WOOHOOMYSTERYMAN auctions, that are PURE crap and go for $50 or more. And I think its all because they make a WYSIWYG piece of crap HTML auction and get featured on some oddball auction listing site. its bs, i want some of that $!

To be honest, ebay doesnt shut them down because they arent doing anything wrong. they state you are bidding on a box.

i just dont know HOW people can do this without guilt? Cuz if there is a foolproof way to get someone to bid $1000+ on something that cost me $50 or less, im down.

 

[XNine]

i dont mean read what I said, I meant have you SEEN them yourselves?


like this one

this one


and this

I look into them a bit, check the sellers feedback and see 100% positive, even on the prior mystery auctions.

or the WOOHOOMYSTERYMAN auctions, that are PURE crap and go for $50 or more. And I think its all because they make a WYSIWYG piece of crap HTML auction and get featured on some oddball auction listing site. its bs, i want some of that $!

To be honest, ebay doesnt shut them down because they arent doing anything wrong. they state you are bidding on a box.

i just dont know HOW people can do this without guilt? Cuz if there is a foolproof way to get someone to bid $1000+ on something that cost me $50 or less, im down.

It's called Capitalism. As long as they state that all you're bidding on is the box,a nd anything isnide it can be considered a gift, they are not in the wrong. Sounds like a good plan to make money to me.

 

[Sdashiki]

but why do people not leave nasty feedback afterwards?

spending $1000 on a box of shredded money is kinda crappy.

lots of auctions say "its for the rush"

but I think its for the money, and again I WANT A PIECE.

 

[XNine]

but why do people not leave nasty feedback afterwards?

spending $1000 on a box of shredded money is kinda crappy.

lots of auctions say "its for the rush"

but I think its for the money, and again I WANT A PIECE.

You can't leave nasty feedback if someone provided you the product that you purchased. They guarantee you a box. As long as you get that box, anything inside is a "gift." Therefor negative feedback could be argued by the seller, and the seller could easily win.

 

[clayj]

You can't leave nasty feedback if someone provided you the product that you purchased. They guarantee you a box. As long as you get that box, anything inside is a "gift." Therefor negative feedback could be argued by the seller, and the seller could easily win.

The thing to do, if you're opposed to this "Mystery Box" thing, is to report the offending auctions to eBay and let them deal with it if they consider it to be a problem. eBay has traditionally come down on anything that could be considered to be a "cheat", such as people trying to sell their own souls (which presumably you could do more than once), their virginity, or other items in which there may be deception involved.

 

[Mord]

some people bid crazy amounts and refuse to pay as an easier and more effective way of shutting them down.

 

[clayj]

some people bid crazy amounts and refuse to pay as an easier and more effective way of shutting them down.

And that'll earn you negative feedback and maybe get your eBay account shut down.

I think eBay just needs to do a better job of policing their auctions to make sure crap like this isn't being sold.

 

[Mord]

not if the auction in question is a scam

 

[Abstract]

....eBay has traditionally come down on anything that could be considered to be a "cheat", such as people trying to sell their own souls (which presumably you could do more than once), their virginity, or other items in which there may be deception involved.

But there is no deception involved. They're selling something as advertised --- a box. There's nothing wrong or illegal about this, only weird people who buy it.

 

[clayj]

But there is no deception involved. They're selling something as advertised --- a box. There's nothing wrong or illegal about this, only weird people who buy it.

But selling a box that may, or may not, contain something would be considered to be a game of chance in many jurisdictions. In other words, it could be considered gambling. And without any mechanism to ensure that some boxes DO contain more than advertised, it falls into the category of a con, if you ask me.

But I agree that anyone who buys one of these mystery boxes is probably an idiot.

 

[Abstract]

But selling a box that may, or may not, contain something would be considered to be a game of chance in many jurisdictions.

But the box is what's on sale, and anything you get with the box is just a bonus. As long as the seller is very clear that what he's selling is the box, there should be no real problem.

But if he's making it out to be like one of those Apple mystery bags sold at Apple Store openings where they guarantee $500 worth of stuff inside for a price of $250, then THAT is a game of chance because you might get a bunch of stuff that isn't worth much to you.