http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=1393463839
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=1394279327

And that's just in the last 5 mins.

Sheesh

The description says you are not bidding on the official strategy guied to the game.

I wonder what they will get?!?

People should learn to read descriptions. Worst I saw was the one where the item description was like 2 pages typed out and about midway to three quarters of the way through it said, "you are not bidding on any of the items mentioned, but a list on how to get these items at wholesale cost."

I would have been pissed if that happened to me.

Yeah but these were obviously described. A freakin' picture of the guide is there. And on the other one, the first line says you aren't bidding on the game, as small as it is. I think some people when it comes to anything on the computer just don't focus on everything on the screen.

Someone's gonna be pissed with the money spent on that crap.

Just saying that this guy could be extremely shady and he may not choose to even ship the guide. I have seen a lot of auctions where they will picture the item and then say in it you are not bidding on the guide.

Anyway who cares, anyone would be pissed if they dropped $45 for a strategy guide.

"You are not bidding on the game you are bidding on the official strategy guied to the game."

"Note: ths auction is not for the game itself just info on how to get them, and other elactronics for wholesale"

I wonder if these bidders can read?

I've sold lots of items on Ebay just to have people email and ask me questions cleary detailed in the listing.

From my experience many buyers do not read the details only the header listing.

Are you guys saying I should withdrawl my bid?

Time to thin the herd....

Hmm...those actually are pretty straightforward, apart from the header of the GTA one. You definitely have to read the text, then read it again...I saw one where the text said 'Shipping will be 4.00' which was reasonable for the product, then at the bottom it had 8.00 as shipping charge. I emailed him and he said it was a typo, and he corrected it.
I think the worst case of this, and most obviously fraudulent, was one a while back where some scumbag had a whole paragraph about the Sony Playstation 2 [back when it was harder to find], and the key phrase was:
'You get the Sony Playstation 2 picture below'.

Yes, people were bidding 150-250 and recieved a PICTURE, not the Sony PS2 pictureD below. Typo? Based on the rest of the text, it could be assumed to be a typo...except he had about 30 of these going on, the winners of each recieving a picture. They tried to contact me at his snail mail address; lo and behold it was fake. It was definitely pushed into mail fraud territory. And it's a shame, because I have been dealing on ebay and half.com for 3-4 years, and have had only one NPB on some thirty cent item, and have received all my goods as promised, sometimes even better than promised. And morons who can't read the ad and then complain, and a-holes like the PS2 scammer, take advantage of people and ruin it for everyone else--and ruin the rep of internet sales for those who aren't already online....

I think these really go to show that ebay and morons do mix... Well, I'm off to list some wholesale lists and the box to my PS2

Hmmm I think I'm going to buy some official strategy guied

Idiots and Ebay DO mix.. Its funny and sometimes profitable.

Do these people actually end up having to pay the $45 for the guide or suffer the consequences of a negative rating? That auction is clearly designed to rip them off, I would hope Ebay would do something about that in their arbitration period they hold if something goes wrong.

I love ebay, this stuff just ruins it for the rest of us.

No way those people pay it...unless they don't release what they paid for until it comes to them.

I'd take negative feedback instead of paying $45 for something found at gamefaqs.com. Then again I have the great power of being able to read English.

@ eBayers

Why did they try to contact YOU at HIS snailmail address?

That post is confusing as the linked auctions. dtcarson, you might have a future in scamming ebayers.

That'll teach people to read the fine print. Whoever bought that is going to be pissed when they get their "package". Negative feedback here we come.

1. "there is a sucker born every minute"
2. stupid ebayers ruin it for themselves, they get the negative feedback, and complainted filed against them, and then their accounts are closed. they dont hurt the rest of the ebay community that much
3. just think, the winner of that auction has NOT managed to kill himself by accident yet.
4. both acutions are very, very clear in the description, they are not shady, vague, or unclear.

if you look at the bid histroy: bid history

the seller started the auction off for $.01 ---- so, its not like he had a reserve, but it now, or initial price of $40.00 --- he was legitmately trying to sell a strategy guide, just as described and pictured.

In the description, yes. In the title, no. The title of the auction is "Grand Theft Auto Vice City!!!!" That's why people thought the auction was for the game. Of course the bidders still should have read the description, but the title is certainly misleading.

There was another PS2 one when they were hard to find. I think the bidder actually filed a lawsuit.

The decription stated: You get a Playstation 2 box and instructions.

What did the bidder get(for around $400 I think)? The empty box and instruction manuals. Just by leaving out a comma in the description, he got $400 for some cardboard. A wise investment.

Question for you, imagine this example of a typical ebay auction of mine:
---------------------------------------------
Auction Title:
"The Matrix Keanu Reeves NEW sealed L@@K!"

Descrition:
The Matrix
DVD
New, Factory Sealed
Buyer to pay shipping
email with questions

--------------------------------------------

IF you read the description, it clearly states the auction is for a DVD, however, the title doesn't not indicate that. Is the TITLE of this auction mispresenting this item? I would say no.

Now, if some person who didnt read the description bought the item and expected a VHS Tape, LaserDisc, Soundtrack, Poster, Book, Autograph from Reeves, etc ----- is it my fault cuase the auction title didnt say "DVD" in it? no, not at all. The buyer mis-read the auction.

==================
in the GTA VC auction, the title is NOT mispresenting the item. the description clearly states what the item is, it fact it says "strategy guied" TWICE in the auction, and it says "Strategy Guide" no the item picture.

This $45 price and 22 bids, 4 bid retractions is obviously cause of stupid ebayers. A buyer with feedback of 150+ ran it up to $10 THEN a bunch of kids with a COLLECTIVE feedback under 25 ran the auction up to $45.

Why did this happen?
Cause a bunch of kids who cant buy this game legally at the store (M rating) are trying to buy it on ebay to bypass their parents and the M rating.

Thank you to the few, proud game store clerk keeping this game out of the hands of little kids. IF kids keep on getting this games, before you know it, we wont have access to them anymore either cause of stupid soccer mom's and 60 minutes blaming all their problems on somthing else (in this case violent VG's)

In your example, the DVD is (presumably) listed in the DVD category, not the VHS category. So I wouldn't call that misleading. But the GTA strategy guide was listed in the category for PS2 games. If it had been listed in the strategy guide category, then I wouldn't see a major problem with it--although having the word "guide" in the title still would have been the best option.

i agree that the GTA VC strategy guide was listed in the wrong section.
now, say that I accidentally placed my Matrix DVD in the VHS category --- but as in my auction example, the description states that the movie is in DVD format. --- would you suggest that i was intentionally trying to pass off the DVD as VHS?

I agree with you, jason. I don't think he's trying to scam anybody. But I do think he was trying to get more hits on his listing by keeping the title ambiguous. He probably thought that a lot of people (who presumably wouldn't normally consider buying a strategy guide) would click on his listing thinking it was for the game. The prospective buyer would then think "Oh a strategy guide for for this game I'm looking to buy. I think I'll bid on this, too."

So I don't think this guy is trying to defraud anybody. He's just being sorta tricky in his title to get more attention.