Time to sell my Thinkpad?

[lenmullen]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0023204287

ibm 600e laptop in ex working con. windows xp

User ID Bid Amount Date of bid
vson32( 4 ) US $1,925.00 Aug-27-06 15:51:30 PDT
vson32( 4 ) US $1,925.00 Aug-27-06 15:50:54 PDT
kitkat85uk( 67Feedback score is 50 to 99) US $1,900.00 Aug-27-06 12:05:12 PDT
vson32( 4 ) US $1,500.00 Aug-27-06 15:50:37 PDT
vson32( 4 ) US $800.00 Aug-27-06 15:49:53 PDT
vson32( 4 ) US $600.00 Aug-27-06 15:49:23 PDT
vson32( 4 ) US $400.00 Aug-27-06 15:48:21 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $280.00 Aug-27-06 15:26:14 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $270.00 Aug-27-06 15:25:42 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $251.00 Aug-27-06 15:16:04 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $225.00 Aug-27-06 15:15:53 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $200.00 Aug-27-06 15:15:39 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $175.00 Aug-27-06 15:15:28 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $150.00 Aug-27-06 15:14:48 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $140.00 Aug-27-06 15:14:25 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $115.00 Aug-27-06 15:14:07 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $100.00 Aug-27-06 15:13:28 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $90.00 Aug-27-06 15:10:54 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $80.00 Aug-27-06 15:10:23 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $75.00 Aug-27-06 15:09:35 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $72.00 Aug-27-06 15:09:14 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $70.00 Aug-27-06 15:08:54 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $65.00 Aug-27-06 15:08:33 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $60.00 Aug-27-06 15:08:06 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $58.00 Aug-27-06 15:07:46 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $55.00 Aug-27-06 15:07:24 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $52.00 Aug-27-06 09:10:52 PDT
stg6955( 322Feedback score is 100 to 499) US $50.31 Aug-27-06 07:38:33 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $50.00 Aug-27-06 09:09:51 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $45.00 Aug-27-06 09:09:34 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $40.00 Aug-26-06 13:24:08 PDT
member726457( 1 ) US $39.00 Aug-26-06 13:14:07 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $38.00 Aug-26-06 13:23:54 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $35.00 Aug-25-06 21:25:12 PDT
jeff10bunny( 205Feedback score is 100 to 499) US $32.00 Aug-25-06 20:59:28 PDT
chargeri95123( 4 ) New eBay Member (less than 30 days) US $30.00 Aug-24-06 15:56:49 PDT

[rkawakami]

LOL! Another (three or more) eBay accounts that have been hijacked or created just for kicks. Search on bidding history by the user "vson32" and take a good look at who bid "against" him/her and see the common bidders (kitkat85uk, kelly19801 and gobroin) in those auctions.

Got caught in one of these fake bidding wars a couple of weeks ago.

[lenmullen]

Whole thing is curious. The listing is for a 600e, but the description is of a 600x. The seller has 0 feedback, so I was just watching without intent to bid. Then I saw the bidding erupt and had to sit in until the end of the auction.

[rkawakami]

The listing itself seems genuine enough. I've seen rookie sellers mess up on the descriptions (and also some veterans too!). Upon further investigation these eBay users are not who they seem:

lisageorge01
whiskeydaniel_06
jfridlund

Here's some good ones:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0021097335
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0021235574

Don't you wish you had a couple of Toshiba Satellites or Dell Insprions now?

[Saysana13B]

I dont understand, are these guys just bidding to piss the sellers off?

[rkawakami]

The way I understand the "game" to work is this: Somebody replies to a "phishing" e-mail apparently from eBay that says "your account has been deactivated... click this link to verify your information...". Well, the duped user enters his/her eBay userid and password. The fake eBay site collects that information and then it's used to start the "fun". Once these jokers have access to a valid eBay account, sometimes getting a good feedback rating in the process, they establish fake users on which to bid against the stolen account. They go find some items to bid on using each account to keep bidding up the price.

Why? They're probably bored kids with too much time on their hands and they think this is just a fun game to play. It only makes eBay look bad because it lowers the trust in the entire system.

Moral of the story: NEVER reply to any e-mail message that says your eBay/PayPal/credit card/etc. account has been deactivated. NEVER click on any link within those e-mails. If you do have an account with those businesses, go directly to their websites or better yet, call them on the phone. Actually, if your bank or credit card account really was deactivated, they should be calling YOU.

edit: Sorry to get a little off-topic but since this happened to me a couple of weeks ago (a fake bid was placed against an item I bid on), it still irks me. I could go on a rant about eBay's policy for Second Chance Offers, but I'll leave that to another thread...

[Saysana13B]

I see. So there isn't actually a real purchase, just raising the stakes for fun.

[rkawakami]

I see. So there isn't actually a real purchase, just raising the stakes for fun.

If those were real buyers in the two auctions I posted earlier, I've got over a dozen Thinkpads I'd be willing to sell to them at.... hmm... $15k/laptop... (Ray breaks out his Palm Zire...) in a combined lot for $180,000. Gee, my younger daughter COULD go to UC Davis after all!

[dsigma6]

they most certainly could have the intention of purchasing the item with the usual fake money order, and then have the "overage" sent back to them.

[JHEM]

Gee, my younger daughter COULD go to UC Davis after all!

Ray, you just need to hop in your Wayback Machine and go back to when the top 15% of CA HS graduates were guaranteed an education in the UC or CSU school system for little, if any, cost.

While the new CA education master plan now provides guaranteed college admission for all CA HS graduates, it also brought on the ever rising costs that you have the pleasure of paying.

Regards,

James