Preface

I will preface this guide by saying I have been on eBay a very long time, and during that time I have been part of several thousand transactions. I mention this only to illustrate that ANYONE can be 'taken' on these eBay Mystery Auctions...and I mean anyone.

It is time to educate everyone on exactly what is happening with most of  these eBay Mystery Auctions.

Over the course of the last few months, I have bid on and occasionally won a fairly large number of Mystery Box and Mystery Envelope auctions on eBay. I did so, at first, out of pure ignorance. I initially caught the fever that gets you thinking you could actually come out ahead in these auctions. Well guess what? That's right - you don't.

Once I was hustled for that first Mystery auction, that was it. I was incensed, and determined to ferret out these sellers, and figure out their scams - and boy are there plenty. I want to make sure that by the end of this guide, you will know exactly what you are looking at when you happen upon these 'Mystery  Box' Auctions and 'Mystery Envelope' Auctions as to allow you the BUYER, to be on a level playing field with those SELLERS looking to quite simply - rip you off.

Mystery Envelopes

Mystery Envelope auctions are nothing more than a money making scheme for the seller. That's right, the seller of these Mystery envelopes are creating this auction to simply take your money. If you look long enough on eBay you will find sellers actually selling the techniques on how to set up these Mystery Envelope Auctions. I found one, and bought it.

The eBook talks about how you give a certain percentage of the profits back to the buyers - about 30%. Some eBayers buy these envelopes knowing full well what they are getting themselves into - they don't care. That's fine. Just realize that most of the sellers of these envelopes, no matter how convincing their auction narrative is, are NOT giving back 30% to the buyers; matter of fact, most are keeping all the profits. The profit is why they started the auction in the first place.

This is proven when you take a look at their feedback and see there are no feedbacks from big winners, and if there is feedback to that effect, and this is very important, often times the feedback that talks about big winnings is a new user. Remember, eBay allows any one person to have up to 3 different accounts on eBay - You can start three different accounts/user names, with the same credit card, address, name etc. There is no way for another eBay member to know if the person leaving 'bid winnings' favorable feedback is the same person as the seller. This tactic is used all the time.

Know how to figure out if the feedback that says "Oh my GOD! $1,000? You've got to be kidding?" is the seller? Look at that eBayer's history. Look at their recent  winning auctions. Look at the auctions they have bid on. See a trend? I have caught, personally, 3 different Mystery Auction sellers doing this. Reported them all. eBay suspended all of them. They used one or more of their other eBay users names to bid on and win one of their Mystery Envelopes and leave feedback talking about all the riches they received. All this in an attempt to separate you from your money.

Mystery Box Auctions

Ok, here is the story with the scam that is taking place with most of these Mystery Auctions. What item can you think of that is appraised much, much higher than it's actual worth?

That's right, jewelry.

This is the cornerstone of these mystery auctions and the PURPORTED worth of the items inside. REMEMBER THIS- Many Mystery Auction Box sellers are placing diamond rings and jewelry in their boxes - sounds great doesn't? You see a mystery box auction that has a header something like this "GUARANTEED $100,000 worth of items in this Mystery Box". I recently bought a pair of Diamond Earrings for my wife on eBay. Paid about $300.00. Nice earrings. Half Carat total weight. Problem was they did not come with a Appraisal. So I took them to my local Jewelry store and they appraised them for me. Guess what? They appraised for $1900.00!  Most of you know this is commonplace.

So what do Mystery Auction Box sellers do? (I have actually caught them doing this)

They buy a diamond ring on eBay (foolishly using the same account they start the mystery box with) and make sure the ring they buy comes with an appraisal. The appraisal, per usual, says the ring's replacement value is something like 10X what they paid. They place the ring in the mystery box and use the APPRAISAL VALUE as part of the mystery box "Worth". They then buy other items on eBay like used electronics. They then add the New Price value of the used equipment to the "worth" of the box...see the trend? Buy stuff cheap on eBay, gather it up, and sell it in a Mystery Box with the worth being hyper-inflated based on appraisals and new item prices.

To everyone reading this, please know that at this very moment that are SCORES of these Mystery Box auctions taking place on eBay RIGHT NOW.

 Another VERY popular item included in these mystery boxes is a 'gift certificate' to an obscure website that will sell anyone a gift certificates for pennies on the dollar of the face amount of the gift certificate. You can only use this gift certificate on their site, and once you use this to buy something, after paying the surcharges and inflated shipping fees, you end up getting the merchandise for about 30-40% MORE than if you went down to your local electronics box store to buy it.

So the Mystery Box seller, goes to this site, buys a gift certificate to this online store for, let's say $500.00. But as talked about before, the actual face value of the gift certificate says it entitles you to $3000.00 worth of merchandise! Wow! So you take your gift certificate, after you won your mystery box auction, and you go to this site and buy a $3000.00 Plasma TV with your new found gift certificate that you only paid $200.00 for in a mystery auction. Problem is, after all of the site's surcharges, your $3000.00 Plasma TV just cost you $4500.00, AND you are out $200.00 for the mystery box you won that promises "A total value on the contents of $3000.00". Understand the scam?

Again, as you read this, there are hundreds of mystery boxes on eBay that do this. The same mystery box will promise cash as well. All they do after the high bidder wins, is take a SMALL portion of the high bidder's payment, and include it with their worthless gift certificate. Many mystery box auctions will use ALL of these tactics in ONE AUCTION.

Please take my advice and do NOT bid on Mystery Box. It can be intoxicating but at the end of the day - You WILL LOSE MONEY. Take it from me, I have spent months playing these suckers, to learn how they do what they do.

Consider yourself educated on the subject now.

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