Why are people so stupid?

[yhelothar]

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eB...:2:us&iid=160184301741

This guy sells envelopes, with the chance of getting a laptop or an xbox360 system, with obviously no guarantees.

This guy could easily, and legally, get away with just putting a dollar in each envelope, which clearly looks like what he's doing.

He still had dozens of people buy from him.

There's a sucker born every minute.

 

[dudeman007]

I got 10 bucks out of one of those the other day.

 

[Saint Nick]

I'm not sure how this works. Some of the mystery auctions on eBay stay up, whereas some of them are taken down.

Maybe they have to be worded funny? Who knows.

 

[Bateluer]

Just a modern form of gambling

 

[kranky]

I don't understand why people run scam auctions on ebay (don't deliver merchandise, deliver different items than was bid on, etc.).

There's no need to run scam auctions, when ebay lets you do "mystery auctions" like these and people will voluntarily give you money for nothing and it's all legal and the "buyers" are happy.

 

[Jeff7]

I was once given an article about a dollar auction - try auctioning off a dollar sometime, to two people. It'll probably wind up going for more than a dollar. There are rules though, if I remember them properly:
The highest bidder gets the dollar.
The other bidder must still pay the amount of their last bid.

The bidding will start at $0.01.
Once it hits one dollar, it may well keep going higher - one bidder will be the "winner" at a bid of $1, but the other would have to pay 99 cents. So, the lower bidder at this time will bid $1.01, so that he doesn't have to pay as much, should he win.
And so the bidding continues in that fashion, with each party trying to outbid the other so that their loss is slightly less. Depending on who's betting, maybe it'll go to $10, maybe $100, just as a matter of pride, all over one dollar.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
I was once given an article about a dollar auction - try auctioning off a dollar sometime, to two people. It'll probably wind up going for more than a dollar. There are rules though, if I remember them properly:
The highest bidder gets the dollar.
The other bidder must still pay the amount of their last bid.

The bidding will start at $0.01.
Once it hits one dollar, it may well keep going higher - one bidder will be the "winner" at a bid of $1, but the other would have to pay 99 cents. So, the lower bidder at this time will bid $1.01, so that he doesn't have to pay as much, should he win.
And so the bidding continues in that fashion, with each party trying to outbid the other so that their loss is slightly less. Depending on who's betting, maybe it'll go to $10, maybe $100, just as a matter of pride, all over one dollar.

that does not make sense. why would you pay anything IF you lose the bid?

 

[JTsyo]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: Jeff7
I was once given an article about a dollar auction - try auctioning off a dollar sometime, to two people. It'll probably wind up going for more than a dollar. There are rules though, if I remember them properly:
The highest bidder gets the dollar.
The other bidder must still pay the amount of their last bid.

The bidding will start at $0.01.
Once it hits one dollar, it may well keep going higher - one bidder will be the "winner" at a bid of $1, but the other would have to pay 99 cents. So, the lower bidder at this time will bid $1.01, so that he doesn't have to pay as much, should he win.
And so the bidding continues in that fashion, with each party trying to outbid the other so that their loss is slightly less. Depending on who's betting, maybe it'll go to $10, maybe $100, just as a matter of pride, all over one dollar.

that does not make sense. why would you pay anything IF you lose the bid?

Probably a charity auction.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: Jeff7
I was once given an article about a dollar auction - try auctioning off a dollar sometime, to two people. It'll probably wind up going for more than a dollar. There are rules though, if I remember them properly:
The highest bidder gets the dollar.
The other bidder must still pay the amount of their last bid.

The bidding will start at $0.01.
Once it hits one dollar, it may well keep going higher - one bidder will be the "winner" at a bid of $1, but the other would have to pay 99 cents. So, the lower bidder at this time will bid $1.01, so that he doesn't have to pay as much, should he win.
And so the bidding continues in that fashion, with each party trying to outbid the other so that their loss is slightly less. Depending on who's betting, maybe it'll go to $10, maybe $100, just as a matter of pride, all over one dollar.

that does not make sense. why would you pay anything IF you lose the bid?

Thems just the rules.
It's not so much a realistic game as it is an illustration of a psychological thing. The bidders are presented with those rules from the start.

I first heard about this concept in an article in GAMES magazine. This was just the gist of it, boiled down into several sentences.

Apparently it's nothing new

 

[ryan256]

So basically he's running an online raffle. He clearly explains it in the item description. True he might be just shipping everyone else a single dollar and the winner an Xbox. But hey you should have known what you were getting into.

 

[pontifex]

i didn't read all the feedback, but did anyone leave feedback saying they won the item in question?

the auction says he has 50 envelopes. $12 per envelope is $600. even if he puts $1 in each envelope, he's still making $550. hell, even if he throws in a 5, 10, or 20 here and there, he's still making a nice profit.

man, what a racket.

 

[jefa]

ebay should not allow their users to be scammed like this

 

[BlackTigers]

BRB, going to make Christmas cash!!!

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I've seen people selling raffles of something, where there are two tickets, one is sold already and you're bidding on the other.

...now, what are the odds that it's going to be a fair raffle?