What's the story on these scams?

[vanclute]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=47350&item=3678024624&rd=1

I'm sure as hell assuming it's a scam anyway... anyone know what the supposed deal is with these?

J

[MagiMike]

Reading the description.. all he is selling is a web page link www.whatever..... not a real segway.
And if that link is not real well all he said was he would sell you the link.

[vanclute]

Yeah I know it's just selling a link. What I mean is, this has obviously GOT to be fake, there is no way one is goig to be able to buy a Seg for $400, even if you were an employee, a dealer, etc. The parts alone would cost more than that I'm sure. So if it's such an obvious blatant scam, why is it there? Is there anyone who thinks it's possible for it to be legit information?

J

[ions82]

I've seen people bid on these auctions. Some of them end with a fairly high bid. They go for all kinds of different things. I think people just post them and try to get payment before people realize the mistake they've made. I'm not sure how often these bogus auctions get paid for, but it must be enough to keep them going. It's actually pretty pathetic the lengths that people will go to in order to get money.

[vanclute]

And you'd think Ebay would just shut them down... I looked at that seller's other auctions, and they're all basically the same thing, you pay for information on how to pay almost nothing for something. And there were a good number of auctions too. Go figure.

J

[gotseg]

Matrix scam, he has posted before...

http://www.giguphosting.com/gotseg/gotseg.gif
segless and looking

[TiVoAussie]

Okay, one of his previous buyers has spilled the beans, this is how it works...

for your $16.95 you get a link to an auction (I use the term loosely) site:

http://www.bestofferauction.com/

They have a Segway on "auction", you pay $9.00 for the privilege of bidding, they "sell" 600 bids, you can bid up to $400.00. At the end they sell to the highest *unique* bid for the bid price. They get 600*$9.00 = $5,400 for the Seg, plus whatever the winning bid is, so they are sure of a profit.

The Segway auction started 6 months ago, and they've sold 26 of the 600 bids so far, so by my calcs the auction should end in about another 11 years. Don't hold your breath!

Dunno if it's a scam, but I'd say it's immoral. Another case of a fool and his money...

Cheers

Ron

There are a little over six thousand Segway owners!
There are a little over six billion people in the world!
We're two in a million! :)

[vanclute]

Hey Ron, great sleuthing! That's a really bizarre situation... so there's no time limit on the auction, it only ends when they sell all the bids? Well all anyone would have to do is be the first person to bid exactly $400 and you're guaranteed to win. That's just stupid!! LOL

Thanks for the report! I wonder how that past bidder feels now... ;)

J

[TiVoAussie]

Hi J
No, not quite... What you're missing is that it's got to be a *unique* bid to win... if you bid $400.00, then another guy bids $400.00 then you don't win, because $400.is no longer a unique bid. Have a look at the completed auctions on the site and you'll see how it works...
With good planning you could actually buy the Segway for $0.02 cents! If you were the first person to see it you could make 599 equal 1 cent bids and then a 2 cent bid. The 2 cent bid would be the highest unique bid and thus would win. Of course, you'd still be up for 600*$9.00 bidders fees, and that $5,400 might rather sour the deal! :)

Cheers

Ron


There are a little over six thousand Segway owners!
There are a little over six billion people in the world!
We're two in a million! :)

[BruceWright]

What a stupid site.

I could get better odds in Vegas.

-Bruce Wright

Segway: Vehicle of Dream

[TiVoAussie]

quote:Originally posted by BruceWright

What a stupid site.

I could get better odds in Vegas.


Yes, I quite agree! I certainly don't mean to promote it in any way! I was just fascinated as to exactly what was going on in this case. I find scams somewhat interesting, for some reason :) The more you understand them, the less likely you are to be caught, I hope!

Although it looks like a bit of money has gone into building the site, it's quite professionally done.

Cheers

Ron

There are a little over six thousand Segway owners!
There are a little over six billion people in the world!
We're two in a million! :)

[zoomster]

The scary thing is that when they first started offering this on Ebay, I saw folks bidding in excess of $1000. I hope they didn't pay. That's a lot of money for 1 in 600 odds....argh!!!

[vanclute]

Ohh I see, I thought it was the FIRST bid of a particular amount. meaning each bid could only be made by one person... that's hilarious. What a pathetic scam!!

Of course the best bet might be to bid zero... not too likely many people would do that. =)

J