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Hey everyone! If you're reading this, you are probably well acquainted with mystery auctions. If not, that's okay, I'll explain.
In this guide you will learn the following:
I strongly suggest that you assume you will get the lowest value possible to avoid disappointment. Here's an example:
Check feedback! See that people have actually won something from these mystery auctions.
If you are suspicious that the seller is a scammer.. do not bid!
Ask the seller questions! If they do not respond whatsoever in a reasonable amount of time (a day or two), that is reason to be suspicious. Respectable sellers make sure they have clear communication in case there is a problem.
If possible, ask for the username of bidders that have won big prizes. You can then contact them personally to verify this.
HALL OF SHAME
birminghamdeals is one eBay user I have had the unfortunate chance of dealing with. He has had 3 mystery auctions for a gigantic lot of items at a too-good-to-be-true price. He even gave away money to bidders at specific dollar amounts! I bid on one of his auctions where I was was to receive gift cards, disney items, and other things. Because I was the first and only bidder, I even got a $5 discount for participating. So what happened with this story? I immediately contacted the seller to ask when the item would be shipped, and asked for a delivery confirmation code. No reponse. No response after at least 3 emails! I did not receive anything for 1 month. I reported it to paypal as an item not received, and the seller immediately responded with a delivery confirmation code. Oh, I got my item. What was in the box? A pair of men's pants, an old ticket for a superbowl party last year, a pair of shoes, expired coupons, a laminated piece of paper that said "YARD SALE", and empty/invalid giftcards. There was more junk, but they were so worthless I can't even remember it.
**VERY IMPORTANT**
The seller then escalated the dispute to a CLAIM. Why did he do this? Because when paypal closes a dispute, it cannot be reopened. What does this mean? Paypal will see that I have a delivery confirmation code and think "The item will be sent, end of story." No. What if you finally get your item and it is not as described? If the case is closed, you CAN NOT do anything about it. You lost your money.
I knew this and immediately called paypal, telling them about the problem. They took notes about it, but unfortunately, there's really nothing they can do about it at this point. I have to "get an expert" to look at the item and write a document saying it, in fact, was not as described. Uh.. how do I get an expert on expired coupons?
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In this guide you will learn the following:
- What is a mystery auction?
- Things to look out for/How to spot a scam
- What you can do to make the most the mystery auction
- Hall of Shame!
In each mystery auction you are usually bidding on a completely worthless item. This includes:
Get my drift? The seller then tells you about items you may/will get, in addition to your worthless item. These items, however, are a GIFT from the seller and you are not, in any way, guaranteed to get this item, unless the seller explicity says so. The most popular items are:
Sellers of mystery auctions 99.9% of the time insist on exchanging positive feedback only, since you, as a buyer, should have understood the fact that not everyone can "win big".
Why do sellers do this? Most of the time they are trying to build up their seller rating and reputation on eBay. You benefit, too, as sellers usually promise to leave positive feedback as long as you do the same.
Never bid on a mystery auction if you do not understand the terms of the auction.. or if you don't understand anything I've explained above! If you end up losing money, you'll be pretty upset. I know I was. =/
Note on Free Money:
Things to Look Out For/How to Spot a Scam-An empty cardboard box
-An empty envelope
-An "e-envelope"
-A blank piece of paper
-An empty envelope
-An "e-envelope"
-A blank piece of paper
Get my drift? The seller then tells you about items you may/will get, in addition to your worthless item. These items, however, are a GIFT from the seller and you are not, in any way, guaranteed to get this item, unless the seller explicity says so. The most popular items are:
-Xbox 360
-Playstation 3
-Gift Cards
-Huge cash prizes ($100-$1000) via Paypal
-etc.
In case you don't understand yet, people bid in hope of getting that great prize; they are taking that chance, but remember.. you're not guaranteed to get it at all! In fact, many times it ends up being a scam, but I'll get to that in the next section.-Playstation 3
-Gift Cards
-Huge cash prizes ($100-$1000) via Paypal
-etc.
Sellers of mystery auctions 99.9% of the time insist on exchanging positive feedback only, since you, as a buyer, should have understood the fact that not everyone can "win big".
Why do sellers do this? Most of the time they are trying to build up their seller rating and reputation on eBay. You benefit, too, as sellers usually promise to leave positive feedback as long as you do the same.
Never bid on a mystery auction if you do not understand the terms of the auction.. or if you don't understand anything I've explained above! If you end up losing money, you'll be pretty upset. I know I was. =/
Note on Free Money:
Many sellers offer to give free money simply for bidding on the auction. You don't need to win it, you only need to bid at specific dollar amounts. Sellers do this to promote bidding on the auction, and make bidders happy. I've seen and heard many success stories of people who got free money just for bidding, so go for it! Just remember! If you end up as the high bidder at the end of the auction, you will be obligated to pay for it as a bid on eBay is a binding contract to purchase the item.
I strongly suggest that you assume you will get the lowest value possible to avoid disappointment. Here's an example:
ex: "Prizes from $.XX to $XX.XX!"
Assume you will get .01 to $10.00, because those X's really don't guarantee more than that. Sure, it may be more, but realize it's not actually a sure thing.
Assume you will get .01 to $10.00, because those X's really don't guarantee more than that. Sure, it may be more, but realize it's not actually a sure thing.
Stock Photos. Stock photos do not prove the seller has the item in hand. They are simply images taken from the internet.
Feedback. If the seller has put up many mystery auctions previously, buyers usually post whether or not they made profit/won big. They'll be excited, of course, but if you notice all the feedback contains complaints that buyers lost money, and you see very few happy buyers earning some extra money, I suggest you keep away from them.
Odds that are too good to be true. Sellers post items on eBay.. to make money! Why would they offer a $300+ item at a 1:10 chance of winning for $5.00? Even if 10 people bought this e-envelope or whatever it may be, the seller would make $50.00. That's pretty irrational for someone trying to make money when they can just sell the high-end item by itself.
Remember! Anyone can type the words "This is 100% honest auction!"
If the auction involves you/the seller picking a number, it does not matter if they offer to take a picture of themselves picking out the number from a bag/hat/etc. They can always look at the number/card beforehand and simply pick out a loser to give you! Do not let this "picture taking" offer entice you in any way!
What You Can DoFeedback. If the seller has put up many mystery auctions previously, buyers usually post whether or not they made profit/won big. They'll be excited, of course, but if you notice all the feedback contains complaints that buyers lost money, and you see very few happy buyers earning some extra money, I suggest you keep away from them.
Odds that are too good to be true. Sellers post items on eBay.. to make money! Why would they offer a $300+ item at a 1:10 chance of winning for $5.00? Even if 10 people bought this e-envelope or whatever it may be, the seller would make $50.00. That's pretty irrational for someone trying to make money when they can just sell the high-end item by itself.
Remember! Anyone can type the words "This is 100% honest auction!"
If the auction involves you/the seller picking a number, it does not matter if they offer to take a picture of themselves picking out the number from a bag/hat/etc. They can always look at the number/card beforehand and simply pick out a loser to give you! Do not let this "picture taking" offer entice you in any way!
Ask for pictures of the item!! Request that the seller take a picture of the high-end item they're offering. This picture should also contain a piece of paper with the seller's username printed on it to prove they have it in their possession. Anyone can put up a stock photo of any expensive item.
Check feedback! See that people have actually won something from these mystery auctions.
If you are suspicious that the seller is a scammer.. do not bid!
Ask the seller questions! If they do not respond whatsoever in a reasonable amount of time (a day or two), that is reason to be suspicious. Respectable sellers make sure they have clear communication in case there is a problem.
If possible, ask for the username of bidders that have won big prizes. You can then contact them personally to verify this.
I've added this section because I've come across strongly suspected scammers on eBay, and with each new one I find their username will be added along with their stories. If anyone has any names to add to this list, please contact me! Include the details of the transaction/suspicion. Thanks!
***thanhwes is infamous for scamming buyers. He offers "One Day Only" mystery auctions with the following terms. Buy It Now for $30 for a 50% chance at winning either a PS3 or an Xbox 360. After you pay $30, you either win the game system, or win nothing at all. The problem is, out of all the identical 90+ mystery auctions he posted, no one has ever won! If there were truly a 50% chance of winning, then half of bidders should have won a system! After I contacted him about it, he claims that one person has won, but after requesting their username, I received no response. Be wary of auctions such as this! Please do not be tempted to bid on his auctions!
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bamalady07 has had auctions titled "PS3 and Cash Mystery Auction" in which the winner can win $15, $30, $50, $75, $100, $150, $200, $250, $300, or a PS3. As of the date this guide was written, the seller has had 7 auctions, but another eBayer has found many of the winners have only won $15. I contacted the seller about the concern and this was the response:
"That is not true, I have had more than a couple people win more. I don't know where your getting your information, but your wrong. Like I said, I have had more than a couple win more. If you don't like my auction or have a problem with it, please go somewhere else. I don't have the time for your petty nonsense. I am a respectable seller and honest, or else I wouldn't have 100% feedback. So, please go somewhere else with your "JUNK" and don't contact me again unless you have some worth reading."
Hah, I don't know, potential unfair mystery auction sellers aren't a petty issue for me.
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0natalie123 is the most disgusting scammer I've come across thus far. This seller put up 8 mystery auctions for 8 separate boxed. 5 boxes allegedly had Xbox 360 Elites, 1 had $5, 1 had $80, and 1 had $300. A few days after the auction end, the seller got 3 consecutive negative feedbacks for being a FRAUD. What happened? I contacted one buyer who said:
"Just a heads up, you don't want to do business with this guy. Check out item #260163591049. I had the unfortunate pleasure of winning that auction. I got a box with an X written on it, a PS3 BOX, notice I said BOX, not the system. Some old khaki pants and other garage sale type clothes, a pompom from wendys, an atlanta falcons ticket STUB and a pillow.. that looks like an ipod. All for the low low price of $500. Let's just say I'm in the process of fighting him now on paypal and have to go get a police report for paypal (though my credit card company says they are just gonna dispute it and get my money back.) There were some other things in it like a 15 or more year old laptop CPU that was broken and missing buttons. I've bought many items from ebay and have never felt so cheated."
(The above text was editted for spelling and grammatical errors)
A second bidder I contacted said the following:
"The listing said that five of eight winners would receive an xbox 360 elite and the other prizes are $300, $80, and $5.. the seller did not ship anything or send one email to anyone who had a question. Also to get the seller's feedback up, they bought items from themself using another account."
I'm not sure how this bidder would know, but it's definitely worth noting. Please do not be tempted to bid on any of 0natalie123's auctions! This is the worst scam by far! Just remember that old saying "If it's too good to be true, then it probably is" and trust your gut if something seems suspicious.
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birminghamdeals is one eBay user I have had the unfortunate chance of dealing with. He has had 3 mystery auctions for a gigantic lot of items at a too-good-to-be-true price. He even gave away money to bidders at specific dollar amounts! I bid on one of his auctions where I was was to receive gift cards, disney items, and other things. Because I was the first and only bidder, I even got a $5 discount for participating. So what happened with this story? I immediately contacted the seller to ask when the item would be shipped, and asked for a delivery confirmation code. No reponse. No response after at least 3 emails! I did not receive anything for 1 month. I reported it to paypal as an item not received, and the seller immediately responded with a delivery confirmation code. Oh, I got my item. What was in the box? A pair of men's pants, an old ticket for a superbowl party last year, a pair of shoes, expired coupons, a laminated piece of paper that said "YARD SALE", and empty/invalid giftcards. There was more junk, but they were so worthless I can't even remember it.
**VERY IMPORTANT**
The seller then escalated the dispute to a CLAIM. Why did he do this? Because when paypal closes a dispute, it cannot be reopened. What does this mean? Paypal will see that I have a delivery confirmation code and think "The item will be sent, end of story." No. What if you finally get your item and it is not as described? If the case is closed, you CAN NOT do anything about it. You lost your money.
I knew this and immediately called paypal, telling them about the problem. They took notes about it, but unfortunately, there's really nothing they can do about it at this point. I have to "get an expert" to look at the item and write a document saying it, in fact, was not as described. Uh.. how do I get an expert on expired coupons?
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If you're reading this and have any contributions to make, please contact me and I will definitely look into the story. Thank you for reading my guide! This is the first one I've written, so if anyone has any contributions to make, I gladly appreciate it. Remember! Even though you should take care in what mystery auction to bid on, many are completely legitimate and really fun! That's the whole point, isn't it? Enjoy!
Guide created: 10/02/07 (updated 07/15/08)
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