From what I had observed in checking some of the auctions is that you have a lot of new ebayers who also are just getting into buying audio gear and don't know what to look for. How about this ad: "Soundesign 2-way Tower Speakers 3-foot towers with 6-inch cone woofer and 2-inch cone tweeter. Beautiful wood trim. 25-watt max power handling." Open for bids, with a Buy It Now option price of $199. Oh, I'm sorry, $199 WAS the opening bid price. That's no misprint. The whole speaker system might have weighed 15 pounds total, about as sturdy as a cereal box. And guess what? Some guy or his girlfriend (he says it was her) placed a bid on the pair. I sent them an email trying to warn them to cancel their bid and take the heat with a note explaining how/why they had to. Couldn't reach them in time. The guy wrote back to me and was really em-Bare-Assed to read the description carefully after I explained it to him. My suggestion was to offer the seller her fees and maybe $20 to keep from getting negative feedback.
BUT.... the shrewd and the crooked have found a loophole in the ebay system: private listings. No one can warn any bidders that they're getting scammed with this tactic in place. And the clever ones are using it to their advantage. There have been many times when I wrote emails with or without attachments warning them of the scam speakers. A few times it worked. Almost all of them were honest folks either new to ebay or looking to buy some decent equipment at a fair price.
That's why forums like this can really help out if people do a little research and take the time to read (and join).:yes: