Fagstein » eBay http://blog.fagstein.com Can you think of a better name? Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:54:01 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Another eBay story too good to be true http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/12/30/another-ebay-story-too-good-to-be-true/ http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/12/30/another-ebay-story-too-good-to-be-true/#comments Mon, 31 Dec 2007 02:51:01 +0000 Fagstein http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/12/30/another-ebay-story-too-good-to-be-true/ Hey, remember that guy who sold a snowbank on eBay, getting $3,550 to donate to charity?

Yeah, it was a junk bid.

I appreciate that journalists did their due diligence and contacted the guy who was selling the snowbank, to determine that 1. He's really selling a snowbank and 2. He's really donating the proceeds to charity.

But once again, they seem to take an unconfirmed winning bid as if it's a completed transaction. And when the bid is ridiculously high after lots of media coverage, there frankly should be an assumption that the bidder isn't going to pay.

Same deal with the Guitar Hero auction, which sold at 100 times its suggested retail price just because it came with some story of a guy whose son smoked pot. Though the winning bidder in that auction is a long-time account with good feedback, the deal hasn't been concluded yet so we shouldn't assume it's good.

Is a little bit of healthy skepticism (and patience) too much to ask?

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