Ebay is a great place to find just about anything you can possibly think of. From designer clothes and cars to the kitchen sink! But there is a craze that has definately captured bidders attention - the mystery auction!

You can find mystery auctions listed in many catagories. Some of the most popular are the Everything Else, Crafts, and Health and Beauty catagories. 

Mystery Auctions are just that - a mystery. While some sellers will disclose certain items that will be included, some won't tell you anything. Also, there are some that have bonus levels, where when the bids reach a certain level the specific "gift" will be added.

Mystery Auctions are alot of fun to bid on, but be careful. There are some sellers that will take alot of your money and give you little or nothing in return for it. But the way they get around it is by stating that you are only bidding on a box or envelope and nothing else. So that releives them of the duty of adding anything, leaving you in some cases with some unwated or unusable junk.

Of course there are some sellers that exceede expectation, and go above and beyond what you paid. Those are the sellers that everybody adds to thier favorites list. You can generally tell that by thier feedback score, which is very important to look at when you buy a "mystery" item. Make sure that you check and see if they have had any negative or neutral feedback - and especially what was said.  But be careful - there are many instances where a buyer will not leave negative feedback in fear of retalitory negative feedback - even if the buyer is justified in leaving the negative.

All in all Mystery Auctions are fun and can be very rewarding. But make sure that you use caution when bidding, or you could wind up with a real stinker!