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Burned on eBay

Posted on October 27th, 2006 by GregPC.
Categories: Uncategorized.

10.20.06

Last night I did something so dumb that I almost threw up. I was searching for an Xbox 360 on eBay and found what I thought was one listed as “New Xbox 360 Premium Console System Wholesale List NR!!” At the time the current bid was $250 - a great price for an Xbox - so I bid. There were only 12 minutes left on the auction and I found myself bidding actively.

After winning the bid and looking at the full details of what I had purchased, my heart sank. I had just spent $310 dollars on a list. I immediately contacted the seller but heard nothing. Shortly, though, I did get the list in question. It consisted of URLs to a variety of Web sites. Some of which did sell Xbox 360s at below retail pricing (often though depending on the number of units purchased). I don’t need 10 Xboxes though.

I failed to read or understand all of the details of the sellers description but believed I was bidding on the item pictured. (Although I did read that the item for sale was not the item in the picture, I assumed it meant that it would be provided in some sort of wholesale packaging - the concept of a “wholesale list” was, until last night, a foreign one to me.) While I certainly ought to have done better due diligence, there was something wrong with this sale process.

First of all, when I looked at the bid history this morning, I found that a new eBay member bid this item up - uncontested - from $2.00 to $100; and then this member and another new member bit it to $210. Both members only registered with eBay on October 18th, which strikes me as an odd coincidence.

Next, for some reason the seller felt compelled to add the following paragraphs to his description of the product:

Note to eBay Staff: This listing is in 100% compliance with eBay’s Compilation and Information Media guidelines. This information is based on my research, There are no cross references or excessive use of brand names in the title or the description.

This list is for specific wholesale items and therefore is not a “general wholesale list” per definition of “Compilations and Informational items.” This auction complies with your “Search Manipulation” guidelines as the title accurately describes exactly what I am selling. It is listed in the proper category: Everything else, Informational product, Wholesale list.

To me, this indicates a recognition on his part that the item might be questioned. And while it may be technically true, the seller did attempt to obfuscate the situation by including an image of an Xbox 360 console throughout the posting. This, coupled with an apparent manipulation of the bidding (which lead to what would be considered a low but possible price for the item), was the fuel for my fire.

I was duped by my own eagerness and by my failure to read all of the details of the item. My failure was compounded and encouraged by the sellers misleading posting and by the apparent manipulation of the bidding process.

The seller may have complied with the letter of the rules but he wholly ignored their spirit. Looking back, this wasn’t the first time a similar transaction has occured. For the new, more social Web to work, people need to pay more attention to the spirit of their actions then whether they meet the baseline set out by a given site’s rules. A few months ago I wrote about issues of community online and how I thought that for the most part the Web had created strong and positive ones. Last night I got a reminder that that isn’t always the case.

Being a PR guy myself, I’ve contacted the PR folks at eBay. We’ll see what happens.

10.26.06

I got a call from eBay today. Someone from the “office of the president” to let me know that they had become aware of what had happened (see previous post for the idiotic details) and had looked into the situation.

Happily, they recognized that there were some shenanigans going on and they have evicted the offending parties. I’m also to expect a call from PayPal to resolved the financial issues. If nothing else, I’m glad if I was able to prevent other people from being as foolish as I was.

10.27.06

ebay has recognized that “showbidding” was involved with this sale and as a result the seller is no longer a registered eBay user. ebay and PayPal have both profited from what has been recognized to have been a fraudulent sale, the seller profited from the dubious sale he conducted; but I the buyer/dupe am basically left out in the cold. The seller thought he was covered by living within the letter (but not the spirit) of eBay’s rules; now eBay and PayPal are using the same justifications to avoid making any sort of renumeration to me. At the very least they should be willing to refund the profit they received from this transaction.

I have been informed, in quite a rude way, that I am out luck. Buyer’s aren’t protected when purchasing digital goods – even, as in this case, when the goods are not what they purport to be.

For the time being though, enjoy the fruits of my gullibility:

The item was listed as “NEW XBOX 360 PREMIUM CONSOLE SYSTEM WHOLESALE LIST NR!!”; and described as follows: “Please note : This is a wholesale list; not the actual product pictured. With this list, you will save hundreds - even thousands on Xbox 360’s!”

In addition to the “NEW XBOX 360 PREMIUM CONSOLE SYSTEM WHOLESALE LIST,” the seller also promised to provide a “comprehensive list of drop shippers.” Both lists were sent on October 19th and I have reviewed the “NEW XBOX 360 PREMIUM CONSOLE SYSTEM WHOLESALE LIST” to see if it would, in fact, allow me to “save hundreds – even thousands on Xbox 360’s!” and to allow me to save “40-80%!”

Here is the list and what I discovered at each site:

http://store.wholesalecentralusa1.com/xb360prbuw5g.html
Console bundled with one game for $369.99 (plus $34.80 shipping) – no savings here and if I’d been looking for a bundled I would have specified that in my search.

www.Alibaba.com
A search of the site turned up several Xbox 360 mod chips, components and accessories but no consoles.

http://www.tradekey.com/selloffer_view/id/188212.htm
This link led to a sale of Xbox 360s that had closed on October 3, 2006; no pricing information was provided but the minimum order was 25 units. Seller made no mention of minimum order requirements in his description.

http://www.tradekey.com/selloffer_view/id/235686.htm
Following this link returned the following message: “Sell offer was not found!”

http://www.tradekey.com/selloffer_view/id/230355.htm
This one was close – units for $195; but only if one purchased the minimum order of ten units; again, the seller made no mention of minimum order requirements in his description.

http://www.tradekey.com/selloffer_view/id/32444.htm
This one offered units for $350 (not a substantial savings from retail) and only in orders of 100,000 units or more; again, the seller made no mention of minimum order requirements is his description.

www.tradekey.com
Various sellers (some provided by the seller above) were found – with closed sales or large minimum orders.

www.goWholesale.com
A search of this site for Xbox 360s resulted in nothing more than a listing of additional wholesale sites. www.dropshiponauction.com A search of this site returned a number of Xbox 360 Premium systems but all were either bundles (not what I sought) or costing more ($405.04) than retail with shipping.

www.Sav-On-Wholesale.com
A search for Xbox 360 returned the following message: “Sorry, there are no products found.”

www.Javacitywarehouse.com
This provides access to purchasing another wholesale list only www.simplx.com Dropship supplier, not an accessible wholesaler

www.megagoods.com
A search turned up a unit for $389.99 – not a substantial savings.

http://www.wholesalecentral.com/Dropshippers.html
This is simply a listing of additional dropshippers

http://www.guidesforwholesale.com/?hop=hfreview
This is a site providing access to additional dropshippers and wholesalers

http://www.salehoo.com/
This site provides access to additional dropshippers and wholesalers

http://www.buyanythingwholesalenow.com/
This site offers a book on how to buy wholesale www.doba.com Products available for members only – no product pricing provided to non-members

http://www.bestwholesaleelectronics.com/
Units available for ABOVE retail price ($430 + shipping)

http://www.netdropshipper.com/
Unit available for retail: Xbox 360 “Premium Gold Pack” Video Game System Model: xbox_360 (New) MSRP Price: $399.99 Average Price Online: $399.99 Your Wholesale Price: $399.99

http://www.gameasylum.us/dropshipping.html
No Premium systems available – core system available for more than $100 OVER retail

In short, a search of the sites the seller provided would not lead one to save on the purchase of an Xbox 360 Premium system – unless one were prepared to purchase multiple systems (a caveat the seller failed to mention of make clear in describing the item he was selling).

Technorati Tags: eBay, PayPal, Showbidding, fraud

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