eBay Seller Loses Potential Millions [MSNBC]

[DP ServBot]

Mentor, OH: eBay seller "sutterlinmachine" probably didn't expect the enormous interest in his seemingly common Bridgeport machine parts auction. Then again, he probably didn't realize that this lot, which will forever be remembered as "The Lot 7 Blunder", contained not one but two of the highly coveted dial wheels.

We contacted the winning bidder who was absolutely elated with his online find.

"When I saw those dial wheels in the description but not in the subject I had a feeling that I might get a real steal here. The dials can be used for fault diagnosis of a ship's main power system. Previous diagnostic results indicate that this method is of good generalization performance and expansibility. It can significantly improve the diagnostic precision".

Thanks to "The Lot 7 Blunder" it's pretty likely that eBayers have been given a new search method that will likely prevent this kind of find from ever happening again, but it also gives hope that there may be other great deals still lurking out there as well.

Source: eBay Aucton Link (http://cgi.ebay.com/Bridgeport-Machine-Parts-Handles-replacement-rebuilding_W0QQitemZ290214090599QQihZ019QQcategory Z25290QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

[DefaultGen]

.....

[Kitsune Sniper]

I can't tell if this is supposed to be an April Fool's "gag" or not. :\

[digitalpress]

Erm, those dials are worth millions? If they were worth so much and there was so much interest why didn't anyone bid?

I think that's the point of the article. They're valuable and only a few eBayers spotted it.

I wish we could find deals like that in videogaming auctions these days! Oh well.

[ubikuberalles]

Erm, those dials are worth millions? If they were worth so much and there was so much interest why didn't anyone bid?

From the above article:


We contacted the winning bidder who was absolutely elated with his online find.

Ahem. It looks like someone did bid and actually won the auction too!

[GnawRadar]

I think that's the point of the article. They're valuable and only a few eBayers spotted it.

I wish we could find deals like that in videogaming auctions these days! Oh well.

Word up! Ebay has lost it's fun. Sure you can get what you want, but it'll cost you a pretty penny.

[miaandjohnrule]

I can't tell if this is supposed to be an April Fool's "gag" or not. :\

There's no link to an article. Most definitely a gag.

[Michiganfan2]

100% gag. I work with Bridgeport Mills all day long and those parts are worth $200-$300 tops. Still funny though.

[evil_genius]

There's no way those things are worth millions.

[TonyTheTiger]

I think that's the point of the article. They're valuable and only a few eBayers spotted it.

I wish we could find deals like that in videogaming auctions these days! Oh well.

I think you can but you have to be a bit luckier. A misspelled title, a generic "Game Lot" that happens to make no mention of something worthwhile...

The only problem is that these days every auction lasts 7 days. That's a lot of time for people to "stumble" on it turning it into an ordinary auction.

[Vroomfunkel]

Word up! Ebay has lost it's fun. Sure you can get what you want, but it'll cost you a pretty penny.

Nonsense. I can (and do) find bargains on eBay pretty much every day of the week. You just need to know how to do it. In fact, due to recent changes, it's become even easier in some ways.

[Rev. Link]

I think you can but you have to be a bit luckier. A misspelled title, a generic "Game Lot" that happens to make no mention of something worthwhile...

The only problem is that these days every auction lasts 7 days. That's a lot of time for people to "stumble" on it turning it into an ordinary auction.

The other problem is that once found, people will often spread the word on sites just like this one. How many times have we seen links here to auctions for lots that have something valuable in them, like Stadium Events or such? If I was watching an auction like that and saw it linked here at DP, I'd be pretty upset. LOL

[The 1 2 P]

I think that's the point of the article. They're valuable and only a few eBayers spotted it.

I wish we could find deals like that in videogaming auctions these days! Oh well.

You can still find good video game deals on ebay. You just have to be patient.

[Massimiliano]

Nonsense. I can (and do) find bargains on eBay pretty much every day of the week. You just need to know how to do it. In fact, due to recent changes, it's become even easier in some ways.


+1: now that ID is kept private, nobody can find the stuff you are bidding on (which also pisses me off as I found a lot of my games by checking what known hardcore collectors were going to win)

[Vroomfunkel]

Hehe .. me too. But it works both ways - now no-one can see what I'm bidding on either (mind you, since I always snipe with a secondary id anyway there was never much chance of that ...)

[The 1 2 P]

Amen to the sniping part. No one on ebay has ever seen my buyer screen name in the last three years...except when the auction was over:P