Wildly overpriced Ebay (UK) items?

[CanUK]

Now and again I come across Ebay UK "Buy it Now" listings with an insane price. I mean really over the top - not just some guy hoping to get lucky and find a sucker.

Here's a recent example of a £100 Sealey (UK budget brand -probably not even worth the £100) drill listed for £2244.95. That's something North of $3500USD. This particular business seller has several items listed like this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sealey-18...Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM&hash=item564261d9fc

So what's the seller's motivation? Clearly nobody is going to pay that much, but they must have a reason for bothering to list it at all. Is there some sort of minimum-listing requirement for business sellers?

 

[Bob C]

Guess I'm outta touch, whats that in dollars?

 

[CanUK]

Guess I'm outta touch, whats that in dollars?

...drill listed for £2244.95. That's something North of $3500USD...

 

[Jagmandave]

Must be something wrong here, he couldn't have really meant that price.....could he?

Maybe email the seller and ask them?

 

[canuckian]

9 sold

 

[CanUK]

Must be something wrong here, he couldn't have really meant that price.....could he?

Maybe email the seller and ask them?

This is the thing - I see it way too often (maybe a few times each week) for it to be a mistake -and in each case it's a business. I did email one seller a while back, but got no reply of course.

Edit: The seller in the original link -if your sort his other items by price, he has maybe >50 similar examples.

 

[CanUK]

9 sold

I can only assume it was before he adjusted the price upwards.

 

[Outlawmws]

Two words: Money laundering...

 

[CanUK]

Two words: Money laundering...

I dunno -at least in this case they run an actual retail store (http://www.epictools.co.uk/About-Us) and most of their 3000+ listings are more reasonably priced.

 

[Monte]

at the "Epic Tools" store they have epic prices of course

 

[ihateminimumwage]

at the "Epic Tools" store they have epic prices of course

 

[rocker92]

could the drill be a cover for a product that is illegal?

 

[willhollin]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SEALEY-AK...t=UK_Hand_Tools_Equipment&hash=item41635b5b72

I think mine trumps yours!

 

[Outlawmws]

I dunno -at least in this case they run an actual retail store (http://www.epictools.co.uk/About-Us) and most of their 3000+ listings are more reasonably priced.

What better way to bury illegal money flow that behind a "legitimate" business? It's been done that way for over 100 years. (Read between the lines in the Godfather movie series....)

could the drill be a cover for a product that is illegal?

Illicit payments are a definite possibility.

The key question here is are these outrageous priced items getting sold for that amount? If so, I think we have an answer...

 

[CanUK]

I think mine trumps yours!

You're not kidding!

I really though there would be an obvious answer to this and I was just being a bit thick. I've thought about asking on here for a while now...

 

[willhollin]

Only thing I can think of is Ebay shops get a reduction on the amount of money they pay per item if the list a certain number. They may not necessarily have the item so list it at a price that will never sell.

Other than that it's a mystery!

 

[Steevo]

Yeah, but shipping is free!