Question
So I was searching for some things on ebay a couple nights ago and came across a few potentially great deals. The auction of interest started at .99 with no bids and a few days left. I'm thinking there are no bids because he states all bidders must be pre-approved in order to bid. What a turn off that can be! I decided I'd give it a try and e-mail him to see if I can bid. He writes me back to call him. I call the # and he says he is selling the item for $1000! So this guy is using ebay as a very cheap way to advertise his merchandise and avoid almost all fees. Everything he lists he starts at .99. Can't beat that with a classified ad and with a classified you can't open it up worldwide. Hopefully he'll have limited success but he's been around for a while with an established 275 feedback and something like 99.3% rating. How in the world do you report an offense like that? There's nothing in the auction stating it's fraud. I found out by going thru the e-mail and telephone process.
Answer
Some of the hi-jacked accounts also use "short" auctions, and "pre-approved bidding". I have no idea if that is relevant in this case, but thought it may be worth mentioning. You could check some of the feedback from a couple of months ago and see whether the auctions are written in a similar style.
Unless it is a $3000 item (per example), I can't imagine him profitting greatly from 99 cent starts with $1000 price tags, because anyone who has just jumped through the hoops looking for a bargain will be too peeved to actually purchase. If it IS a $3000 item, then the "deal" is probably too good to be true, and we come back to whether it is a hijacked account selling non-existant goods.
Kind Regards, Kevin
Answer
I wonder if during the phone call, if you had been willing to purchase for $1000, if the price would have been OFF-eBay, or $0.99 with $999 SHI, thus fee avoidance. Since the transaction was initiated via phone, the buyer can't easily prove to eBay what is going on, if anything.
I'd avoid pre-authorized bidding, unless it was something like a bonifide large and well known auctioneer, or similar.
Answer
More likly some one sends them a grand and they will never see an item.