Dave,

I asked the guy about how fishy it looked and that since he was bidding
against himself I would only give him half of what he was asking.  He said I
was right and sold at my asking price.

In short I asked him and he told me

Jere

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
Of DaveC
Sent: Monday, April 15, 2002 7:47 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: E-bay Scam Trend (Caveat emptor)

>The event:      I saw a pair of rear hatch struts and bid on them
>for $25 (volks
>cafe has them on special for $12.50 ea) and I was out bid, and the sellers
>minimum was not reached.  Auction finally ends and time passes (I'm not
>watching the item) and I get this pmail saying that the item didn't sell
and
>was wondering if I would like to buy them.  I said NO! not at $32
>
>Learning Point:  Seller have been known to set their minimum selling price
>so high that the item will not sell and then they re-approach buyers to see
>if they want to buy off-line at the higher price.  Another tactic that I
>seen used is that they bid against their own item under a different name to
>drive the price up and when they win the then go the next highest bidder to
>sell at an inflated price (off-line to boot)

How do you know that these persons bid against themselves? Unless
someone squeals on them, how does this come to light?

Dave
--
Dave Carpenter

Whatever you wish for me,
May you have twice as much.

"Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think
we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering." -- Arthur C.
Clarke