ebay idoit: pays $55 for $50 gift card

[BigWill]

The Link

 

[El Sapo]

There is a hidden idoit in this exchange : the person(s) that he had to outbid who were also over $50.

 

[UTeric32]

This guy hit the nail on the head...

"I think it should be pretty obvious it was purchased with a stolen PayPal account.
Anybody who has ever been an Ebay seller knows all-to-well the PayPal dispute.

It's likely the person who purchased the gift card did so with a stolen Ebay & PayPal account (as in figured out another persons password through some nefarious scheme). Then bid on the item with this account, and sent payment.

Now I would imagine the winning bidder is probably asking
the seller to simply email them the gift cards code, so they can purchase something from Target.com...

Than, 4 or 5 days later the seller would receive a PayPal dispute from the real account owner, because of a purchase they did not make... and since the seller did not physically send the gift card via a mailing service (to have evidence of the delivery) PayPal will favor the buyer, and the seller gets screwed."

 

[jcdenton]

Reminds me of a recent eBay experience I had where I auctioned off a gift card, and the buyer mentioned that if I ever have any more gift cards from that particular store (let’s say Crate & Barrel, even though it wasn’t), she's always in the market to buy them. I thought this pretty strange so I checked out her eBay listings. Apparently the full extent of her “business” was buying gift cards for about 90% of face value (the typical rate on eBay) and using those gift cards to buy and resell items from C&B.
This seemed like an idiotic business model to me because, so I thought, even if the listings sold for the same price as on the actual C&B website, she would MAYBE break even when you factor in listing fees and shipping expenses.

But what I realized when I looked up the specific items was, she was reselling items for minimum prices of at least 15%-20% above what they were listed for on the actual company’s website.

In other words her entire business was completely “parasitic” in nature, just leeching off of the company’s products while providing no actual value whatsoever, and just simply preying on idiot buyers who assume they’re getting good deals because they’re buying on eBay, without realizing they’re paying at least 15-20% markups for the exact same items they could order directly from the actual vendor.

 

[shorty]

That is precisely the reason I have never made an ebay purchase. I have always found the product cheaper either locally or at the maker's website.

Just because you hear there are great bargains on ebay does not mean everything is a bargain. Do your homework.

 

[OrangeChipper]

Shorty,

If you are willing to do your homework, you can find some really good deals. You have to be aware of certain sellers that have high shipping fees, etc. But by and large you are not paying taxes and can save big bucks.

Don't knock it til you try out. But yes, certainly ebay areful k

 

[RabidLonghorn]

I buy gift certs from ebay all the time and I am amazed people pay $55.00 for a $50.00 cert. I see people all the time pay $495.00 for a $500.00 gift card then pay 3 or 4 bucks for s&h, wow they saved 2 bucks.

 

[Ampoliros]

A guy who works with my girlfriend has a side business. His business model is this: he works in downtown Boston. On his lunch break (and after work too probably) he goes to Filenes basement, TJ Max, Marshalls, etc. These are all deeply discounted clothing stores within 3 blocks of her office. He buys (usually womens) items from them. He sells those items on ebay for more than he paid. If item fails to sell on ebay, he returns them to the store for a full refund or store credit to buy more stuff. It's basically completely foolproof.

Also, in preparation for the 3g iphone coming out, I just sold my old iPhone on ebay. My 8gig gen1 iphone that I paid $399 for 6 months ago (and it is obviously used and has a ding on one corner, which I disclosed) sold for $450. The. week. before. the. 3g. iphone. was. going. to. be. announced. Talk about not doing your homework ebay buyer. The fact that the 3g iphone only costs $200 was probably further salt for his wounds.

 

[LongIslandIceSIP]

^^^

Even after the new iPhone has been announced, old iPhones are still selling for more than what they were purchased for!!

I think it's people who think that the new iPhones won't be able to be unlocked?

I'm thinking about selling my old iPhone so I can upgrade to the 16GB 3G

 

[Luke Duke]

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