$15k for an iPhone? Whats with these listings?

[gino22]

$15k for an iPhone? What's with these listings?

I've been noticing this for a while now - when I search a common item, sold listings, price high to low, there are extreme outliers on top (example: iphone 5s | eBay).

The sellers usually have little to no feedback, and buyers generally have a few (highest I saw was 28).

So what's the angle? Money laundering? Trying to expedite some kind of "volume seller" rating? Been scrolling through more of these trying to place realistic values on electronics, so just curious.

 

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[jeff of pa]

maybe wishfull that a moron will bid

 

[Keppy]

If you go into his completed items on Ebay you will see that his items have sold of any were from $200.00 to $500.00 .. And his prices are back to normal could have been a Ebay mistake..

 

[gino22]

If you go into his completed items on Ebay you will see that his items have sold of any were from $200.00 to $500.00 .. And his prices are back to normal could have been a Ebay mistake..

There are multiple sellers doing this, but the realized number could be the result of a glitch. Most of them originate from questionable sellers, which makes me think there's something more to it

 

[diggummup]

I've seen some crazy "sold for" prices on Iphones and wondered what was up (or what were they up to) myself. I think it's sportbidders and scammers (shill bidders). What they are trying to accomplish, I have no idea.

 

[jeff of pa]

could these be Ebay in India or somewhere & The $ doesn't apply ?

15000 Rupee equals $240.62 US

 

[pat-tekker-cat]

Ya'll know, now that I let my "criminal cat", out for a minute......
what better way to move money around the planet, via Paypal and Ebay?

Post a pic of some rare, high price painting or art piece(that you don't even own and never intend to ship), allow your "buyer" to purchase it(at ridiculous price), make monetary transfer, download funds to bank(can you download to West Union?), pay all the fees, everybody keeps their mouth shut, cause everyone is making money.... not that the companies would be aware or complicit.

I'm sure there's been many past cases of idiot laundering, got more money than brains, and eventually they get caught. Or, it's just public knowledge, but, because they're "too big to suffer the consequences....", or certain ties, they get that pass, and slide.......

Ok, I'll put "criminal cat", back up now.....
the above is just assuming, it wasn't a glitch or hiccup.

 

[Baltimore]

Pat has a point, I've always wondered if there's any drug dealers or anything who sell crap items at weird prices, but are really selling other items and just using ebay or any other online selling platform as a front. Seems like that would be an easy way to move money around and stay somewhat under the radar. Who knows?

 

[Paleo_joe]

Ya'll know, now that I let my "criminal cat", out for a minute......
what better way to move money around the planet, via Paypal and Ebay?

Post a pic of some rare, high price painting or art piece(that you don't even own and never intend to ship), allow your "buyer" to purchase it(at ridiculous price), make monetary transfer, download funds to bank(can you download to West Union?), pay all the fees, everybody keeps their mouth shut, cause everyone is making money.... not that the companies would be aware or complicit.

I'm sure there's been many past cases of idiot laundering, got more money than brains, and eventually they get caught. Or, it's just public knowledge, but, because they're "too big to suffer the consequences....", or certain ties, they get that pass, and slide.......

Ok, I'll put "criminal cat", back up now.....
the above is just assuming, it wasn't a glitch or hiccup.

First you have to get the illegal cash into the bank/paypal without triggering the $10,000 reporting requirement. There is an estate sale company in my town that everyone believes is laundering money, because their prices are so high they never sell anything. On a Sunday,the house is practically 90% full. But -- It would be easy for them to pretend to the IRS they were selling several thousand dollars a day and deposit that money right into the bank as if it were real sales. On the expense side, they have twice as many employees than any other company, so they have high costs to offset the "sales."

 

[gino22]

Would be pretty stupid to launder money through items that could not possibly have a fraction of the realized value. Could just be lazy criminals. Dunno.

I'm thinking these are people dodging some kind of trade regulation on bulk sales by selling lots of items under the guise of singles. Buyers are pre-arranged or tipped off by some kind of code in the seller's name/item description. That or a conversion glitch as some have suggested.

 

[lookindown]

I saw a ridiculous sold for price on a common Pokémon card...it was the only item the seller had ever sold...in fact, there were two of these cards sold for thousands by two different, first time sellers...I couldn't figure it out.

 

[Bassmaster96]

No scratches or CRACKs? I don't know, but something is definitely wrong there.

 

[NJcigarman]

I had a friend who back in 2009 spent $2500 for a pair of World Series tickets here in Phila. The wife went nuts and told him he had to sell the tickets. So he went on ebay and listed the pair for 50,000 bucks. When they didn't sell his wife let him go to the game.

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

At times I have sold something locally that was also on ebay. If you cancel the ebay listing they want you to pay fees, assuming you sold it around them. I crank the item price up to at least $100k, and have ventured into the millions on occasion

I also delete the photos and replace the description with 'no item', same with the title, make it local pick up only, etc. Then just let it eventually expire and do not relist it. Kinda funny how many views listings like that get.

 

[lookindown]

At times I have sold something locally that was also on ebay. If you cancel the ebay listing they want you to pay fees, assuming you sold it around them. I crank the item price up to at least $100k, and have ventured into the millions on occasion

I also delete the photos and replace the description with 'no item', same with the title, make it local pick up only, etc. Then just let it eventually expire and do not relist it. Kinda funny how many views listings like that get.

These were "sold for" listings.

 

[Peachy]

Pat has a point, I've always wondered if there's any drug dealers or anything who sell crap items at weird prices, but are really selling other items and just using ebay or any other online selling platform as a front. Seems like that would be an easy way to move money around and stay somewhat under the radar. Who knows?

Thats what bitcoin is for. Ebay costs too much.

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

These were "sold for" listings.

Well then, thanks for clearing that up. Can you hook a brother up wif a link?

 

[lookindown]

Well then, thanks for clearing that up. Can you hook a brother up wif a link?

I don't know how to post a link...heck, just making a regular post is pushing my computer skills.

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

I don't know how to post a link...heck, just making a regular post is pushing my computer skills.

:P