Can this be legal?

Check this auction out, and read carefully:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3062281785&category=15945

It's for a Nextel i733 cell phone. Basically, it's a limited edition i730 with a few extra bells and whistles, made exclusively for Bloomingdales.

This auction is for 12 $150 raffle tickets. After the 12 tickets are gone, the phone will be raffled. So the seller gets $1800 for a $400 (?) phone, and 11 bidders are out $150.

This has to be against eBay's policies. I'm going to try to report it, but with it ending so soon, I don't have much of a chance. But, this thing makes me sick.

 

Nope, not legal! Just plowed through eBay's policies. Raffles, giveaways, etc. are NOT allowed.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-giveaways.html

Thing is, I'm trying through two different browsers to report this, and it's saying my browsers don't support cookies. Even after I enabled all of them.

I may risk getting in contact with the bidders and telling them that the auction violates eBay's policies.

 

Can someone else try to report this? I'm just curious to see if anyone can get to an e-mail form. Pissing me off--it's like eBay has cut off any way for me to respond.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-giveaways.html

There is a "report" link. I've now tried two different computers, completely disabling ALL safety measures (allowing all cookies, no "hosts" file, no other web filters, adding ebay.com to allowed cookies, etc.), and still eBay says I won't allow cookies. Something's up. Damned frustrating that it's always a hassle to get in touch with them.

 

Rudy,

Try deleting all your cookies, closing the browser and opening it again and then logging in to myEbay. I experience this problem occasionally, and deleting all cookies and trying again ALWAYS works for me.

 

When I've had similar problems with cookie sites before, I ended up finding out that the site itself was listed as "do not accept cookies" from in the advanced privacy/security settings of the browser.

 

Well, that worked...but I went and did it on another computer. I won't wipe out all the cookies I have set just for one feedback problem. Ebay must have some totally screwed-up cookie handling to allow this to happen; I'm going to bet it's time/date related. (And it's something that must have changed only recently, since I used the form a few weeks ago to report a copyright infringement.)

Thanks!

(BTW: I got the feedback filed, and ended up at a little survey asking how satisfied I was. You can guess how I answered! )

 

Ebay's the only one I've had this problem with. With all the sites I visit, and cookies I've stored, I never have run into this problem before except at Ebay. I checked my cookie privacy/security settings and actually added Ebay to my "always accept" list to see if it would help. No go.

Funny thing is, the other computer I used, I've only logged into Ebay once or twice from it. Go figure.

What I may try next time is deleting ONLY my Ebay cookies. But I'm out of the hole for now.

And tomorrow morning I'm going to watch the status of that auction. Hope it's pulled before those poor folks get rooked out of their money!

 

I repoted it for you but it looks like someone else beat me to it, since after I submitted the report I got a message that the auction had already been reported by someone else.

 

Something funky is up with ebay's site. It would not let me log in, indicating that my password was invalid. Given that the question I entered as a hint definitely reminds me of the password for that site, I know I was typing it correctly. Could I have mistakenly changed my password at ebay without realizing it?! I just ended up changing my password after answering other questions in order to access my account.

 

FYI: same seller is listing a very suspicious "coupon" or "gift certificate" supposedly worth $1000 in merchandise at a place called Worldwide Shopping Network. Has an opening bid of $200, with BIN price of $600. Looking at the merchandise (off brand junk), something looks really suspicious about the whole deal.

And BTW: tried to go back to another complaint form. Cookie error is back. Only this time, clearing the cookies does NOT cure the problem. *sigh*

 

I bet we posted at nearly the same time. Thanks much! At least I know someone's on it at Ebay.

I agree something funky's up with their site. I also noticed lately that I'm having to log in a lot more than I used to. Their cookies are definitely crumbling the wrong way!

 

Not that it changes anything, but the "auction/raffle" is really for 5 phones, so you have about a 40% chance of getting one for $150. That would be about right if it is indeed a $400 phone (12 X $150 = $1800, while 5 X $400 = $2000).

Still not legal, but even worse, what are those idiot bidders thinking, especially since the seller's got zero feedback!?

 

Hold on one minute -
He decides who wins! He could tell all the bidders that they lost and keep all their money.
Man this is probably easier for him than composing new e-mails for his Nigerian e-mail scam.

 

Is that fish I smell? Can you imagine if only 11 people bid? "So sorry, I drew number 12 which was me."

 

I smell the stench from here. And I still smell it from Ebay too...the auction hasn't been killed yet.

 

Goodness...that never occured to me. Plus this makes me think it violates the multiple-items policy as well, since you're not bidding on one concrete item. (One could make a poor argument that a raffle ticket IS the item, but that's also against policy.)

This kind of thing makes you wonder if it's the seller that's stupid, or the bidders who are even more stupid for falling for what may be a scam.

Another red flag: the seller doesn't accept Paypal. Once someone sends a money order off, they've lost any type of recourse.

I'm all but ready to log in using a different user ID and warn these buyers. Four hours left, I don't see it getting pulled. BUT, after the fact, Ebay might tell the winners the auction was null and void. I had that happen to me on a film scanner this summer, and they told me that due to a problem with the seller (which I was unaware of), the outcome of the auction was nullified and I was not obligated to pay.

 

FWIW, now the the feedback forms are working fine this morning.

 

Keep on it, Rudy!


The high bidders list shows people with low feedback numbers and lots of negative feedback, too.

BTW, I am having the exact same problems you are with the cookies. I can't even remove items from the various lists in "My eBay" anymore.

 

Yep, some of the sellers seem tailor made for that auction.

Weird, but today the cookies worked fine in both of my browsers on my good computer, and I didn't have to mess with the cookies at all. Is there a full moon outside?

 

These bidders are NUTS!!!! What is to prevent this guy from emailing each bidder, telling them "sorry, you lost"?????

What a scam............

 

Well I see that this auction ended without 12 bids, though the several bids that are listed total over $1,200.

 

Call the Police!

Call Ebay!

Call the Ebay Police!

"The Ebay Police!"

 

Most of the bidders look bogus... except this guy: 626mondeo. 31 feedback, all positive. He's bidding 2. I think he's in for a rude awakening.

 

Well that's interesting, eh? I wonder what Mr. Raffle's gonna do now?