How someone got away with $1,100 by not selling a PS3 on eBay!

Published on December 7th, 2006

Posted by SN in General

Booya Tech – December 6, 2006:

I created an auction with the title “PLAYSTATION 3 PS3 60GB PREMIUM EMAIL”. The listing had a huge picture of a PS3 that took up the entire page followed by a short sentence that read something like: “Up for auction is an email address with the letters ‘PS3′ in it. This auction is for just an email account and not the actual system.” Despite this clear sentence and warning, I got something like 16 bid from the original $599 starting price and sold the email for around $1100. I got instant payment to my paypal account.

The buyer immediately requested his money back, and when I didn’t agree, he started a paypal dispute. After the 10 day period of the dispute, Paypal sent me an email saying that I won the dispute and the $1100 balance returned to my paypal account.

The only action that eBay took was that it took down the auction so it cannot be viewed anymore which is actually good for me since the disgruntled action winner cannot leave me negative feedback.

Of course this whole thing could be a joke as we have no evidence that it actually occurred.

25 users responded in " How someone got away with $1,100 by not selling a PS3 on eBay! "

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# 1 ECA said, on December 7th, 2006 at 10:03 am

This is as bad as the 360 sale of the 360 BOX, with nothing in it.

# 2 Jimbo said, on December 7th, 2006 at 10:06 am

And why are we giving this creep publicity?

# 3 Smartalix said, on December 7th, 2006 at 10:08 am

So we can all detest him together!

# 4 The other Tom said, on December 7th, 2006 at 10:10 am

Why detest him?
Its not his fault there are 16 morons stupid enough to frantically bid on something they didn’t read.

Caveat emptor

Now how do you say “if you are too stupid to read the description, please bid on my PS3e-mail auction immediately!” in latin?

# 5 Mike said, on December 7th, 2006 at 10:20 am

#4, I guess the problem is that this was never a good faith auction to begin with. The whole goal was to hope somebody would bid without understanding what the auction was really for. It’s not as if the auction was for the real item and the bidder just mistakenly bid three times more than he meant to.

So, if nothing else, this is just another example of something that may be perfectly within his rights, but quite lacking in ethics.

# 6 Smartalix said, on December 7th, 2006 at 10:34 am

Exactly. Those who blame the gullibility of others on the success of their misdeeds are navel lint.

This is in contrast to con artists that use greed and the desire to break the law to screw their marks.

The latter go into the deal thinking they’re the ones doing the cheating, while the former believe that they are parrticipating in a transaction in good faith.

# 7 RTaylor said, on December 7th, 2006 at 10:35 am

Watch this guy, he could be a Senator one day.

# 8 DDub said, on December 7th, 2006 at 10:41 am

I am not surprised by this. I was following the PS3 auctions closely the night they went on sale, and there were A LOT of these PS3 email address auctions. They were addresses like “PS3games@yahoo.com”. If you took the time to read the auction title and description, you would easily notice this, but the bids were flying like crazy that night, and I’m not surprised some people mistakenly bid $1100, especially since the real PS3’s were going for $3000-$3500 initially.

I remember seeing a few PS3 email auctions with several hundred dollar bids, so I believe it’s a true story.

# 9 Jeanne said, on December 7th, 2006 at 10:46 am

Re #2: And why are we giving this creep publicity?

1) To show how E-Bay does business.

2) As a cautionary note to buyers that there are people waiting to take advantage out there and to be careful.

To #4: Your comment is an example of what often times happens when people get taken advantage of. There will always be people out there like you who take the side of the victimizer and blame the victim.

# 10 danno said, on December 7th, 2006 at 11:23 am

It’s a scam. Sure the buyer put in writing the full details of what it is, but the intent was to mislead. If the intent was just to see how stupid people are, then don’t accept payment.

We would occasionally get fake invoices at work for such things as telephone listings or photocopier supplies. Somewhere on the “invoice” it would say “this is not an invoice” but the format was entirely like an invoice, and the intent was obviously to fool companies and see if some paid. It may not be illegal, but it’s still a scam.

# 11 rjisinspired said, on December 7th, 2006 at 11:57 am

Think it was about a week ago someone received, thought they received, a camcorder purchase. Upon opening up the box and uncovering the packaging, instead of a camcorder the person got a can of Ragu spaghetti sauce instead.

For $300.00 it must had been some good sauce.

# 12 Kurt Nelson said, on December 7th, 2006 at 12:07 pm

I saw the said auction, and it was very clear to me it was just an email address.

# 13 Jim said, on December 7th, 2006 at 12:24 pm

I wish we knew the email address, so we could send him some mail. At least then he’d be getting some use out of an $1100 email address.

# 14 SN said, on December 7th, 2006 at 1:05 pm

#13, Yeah, we could send him some free gmail invites!

# 15 Gremlinclr said, on December 7th, 2006 at 1:57 pm

I’m sorry but I have no sympathy for stupid people. If you’re willing to shell out $1,100 bucks but you can’t be bothered to read the auction? Sucks to be you.

If I’m spending that kinda dough, you damn well better believe I’m gonna know what I’m buying.

# 16 Eugene Shubert said, on December 7th, 2006 at 4:03 pm

It is morally wrong to abuse or take advantage of mentally defective persons.

# 17 ioiosotwig said, on December 7th, 2006 at 4:05 pm

I remember reading about a DJ at a radio station that ran a contest with the prize being the keys to a brand new Corvette. The winner did not take this well, and filed a lawsuit. The judge said the DJ was purposely being misleading and awarded the man a Corvette Car and NOT just the keys…

He probably would have to sue the station for the car, and this probably was a lost cause, but he had his day in court!

# 18 Reality said, on December 7th, 2006 at 4:10 pm

Actually, the person keeping the $1100 for an email account that the person never really got anyway is fraud. They should be ashamed for even keeping it.

# 19 tallwookie said, on December 7th, 2006 at 4:24 pm

HAHAHAHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

thats sweet!! more power to that guy!!

Mebbe morons will READ (assuming they can) before purchasing.

# 20 SN said, on December 7th, 2006 at 5:29 pm

17. I think you’re thinking about this story:

Woman thinks she wins Toyota, wins Toy Yoda

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) — A former waitress has settled her lawsuit against Hooters, the restaurant that gave her a toy Yoda doll instead of the Toyota she thought she’d won.

Jodee Berry, 27, won a beer sales contest last May at the Panama City Beach Hooters. She believed she had won a new Toyota and happily was escorted to the restaurant’s parking lot in a blindfold.

But when the blindfold was removed, she found she had won a new toy Yoda — the little green character from the “Star Wars” movies.

David Noll, her attorney, said Wednesday that he could not disclose the settlement’s details, although he said Berry can now go to a local car dealership and “pick out whatever type of Toyota she wants.”

After the stunt, Berry quit the restaurant and filed a lawsuit against Gulf Coast Wings, Inc., the restaurant’s corporate owner, alleging breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation.

The restaurant’s manager, Jared Blair, has said the whole contest was an April Fools’ joke.

# 21 Mr. Fusion said, on December 7th, 2006 at 6:40 pm

Well, as I think of some of the people I know.

I know this one guy, he could remove your spleen or appendix in his sleep, without any complications. But he can’t for the life of him tie a decent knot in his tie. He can’t write legibly either.

There is this other guy and his brother. Shoot, he can tear down a big block and rebuild the whole thing before lunch and have a whole car race ready by dinner. Can’t read a lick though and barely sign his name.

Then there is this guy that builds web pages. Very good work too. He prefers to buy food like canned spaghetti and ravioli because he can’t cook crap.

None of these people are stupid. Obviously they have some areas that they excel and other where, well, they are not as proficient. So to all the smug armpits that think the email bidder is a moron, let me congratulate you on your all round excellence. It must be so satisfying to know how superior you are.

#6, well put.

# 22 meetsy said, on December 7th, 2006 at 10:57 pm

the pasta sauce/brick=camcorder was a story in USA Today about a couple dealing with BEST BUY

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2006-11-27-pasta-camcorder_x.htm

Not ebay.

# 23 ECA said, on December 8th, 2006 at 2:36 am

First LINE on an EBAY site…

ARE YOU STUPID…READ ALL the fine txt….

STUPID…

# 24 ezma said, on December 8th, 2006 at 4:59 am

4 & 10, My thoughts exactly. Ebay AND Paypal must give the buyer’s money back and take action ( auction?) against any seller scam artist selling fake stuff, lists anything misleading on Ebay. It depends on the intention, and his intention was to make money on others’ trust for Ebay. If Ebay does not limit these frivolous sales, it gives a bad name to all the ebayers.
On a second note, how could anybody who works hard for his money think that PS3 is worth anything this price?

# 25 Terry said, on December 8th, 2006 at 5:11 am

Flip the question around: why were/are people so willing to shell out big bucks just to get the new systerm “RIGHT F***ING NOW!!” ?

For the record, I’ve worn out two NES and currently own and use SNES, Genesis, GameCube, PS2, Gameboy(s).

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