Is this some sort of scam??

[joliztoyco]

After reading about a seller stating that despite seeing Beanie Babies sell for thousands of dollars, she was getting no bids on hers. Several sellers stated that while they "sold" for that price they doubted that the sellers ever received payment. So, being a rainy day with nothing to do, I decided to check it out....
So I went to "Original Beanie Babies sold listings.
Just today (8/30) there were about a dozen listings that were sold for over 10,000 dollars!!!!
All being sold by sellers with ZERO feedbacks.
And all being bought by buyers with what looks like randomly generated Ebay ID's with ZERO feedbacks!
The locations of the buyers and sellers look different...but....what in the world is going on??

[Anonymous]

Money Laundering

[3lilyankeefans]

I’ve noticed that many of these beanies that get “sold” for thousands are relisted within days. 

[powell-memorabilia]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Money Laundering

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Ridiculous. No respectable money launderer would pay a 15% commission to eBay.  And then someone has to pay taxes on the profit?

[bonjourami]

Sport bidding.

[Anonymous]

What better item to do it on than an item that lacks a true price, unlike a TV that has a somewhat set price range. Why not target an item that has been discontinued and thus, fly under the radar.

1. Fake ebooks and overpriced eBay listings are fronts for digital money laundering

The proceeds of crime are increasingly laundered online, using methods ranging from improbably expensive ebooks and eBay listings to cryptocurrencies such as ZCash and thousands of micropayments through online transaction systems (The Guardian). Research indicates that around $200 billion is laundered online every year, of a worldwide money laundering total estimated by the UN to be in the region of $2 trillion. Other 'cyberlaundering' tactics for erasing the criminal origins of money include using Uber to book "ghost journeys", booking Airbnb rooms that will never be used and buying and selling expensive, tradeable items in games including FIFA and CounterStrike.

and another

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/6847-isis-laundered-money-into-us-using-ebay-investigators

[luckythewinner]

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@joliztoyco wrote:

what in the world is going on??

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The sellers are listing these items elsewhere, and using these fake eBay results to convince people there is a profit to be made.

[powell-memorabilia]

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@Anonymous wrote:

What better item to do it on than an item that lacks a true price, unlike a TV that has a somewhat set price range. Why not target an item that has been discontinued and thus, fly under the radar.

1. Fake ebooks and overpriced eBay listings are fronts for digital money laundering

The proceeds of crime are increasingly laundered online, using methods ranging from improbably expensive ebooks and eBay listings to cryptocurrencies such as ZCash and thousands of micropayments through online transaction systems (The Guardian). Research indicates that around $200 billion is laundered online every year, of a worldwide money laundering total estimated by the UN to be in the region of $2 trillion. Other 'cyberlaundering' tactics for erasing the criminal origins of money include using Uber to book "ghost journeys", booking Airbnb rooms that will never be used and buying and selling expensive, tradeable items in games including FIFA and CounterStrike.

and another

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/6847-isis-laundered-money-into-us-using-ebay-investigators

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Articles are from years ago - pre-MP scrutiny.  Back in 2017, you could easily buy an account

or just set up a new one.  AND, you didn’t pay eBay right away - so could skip out on fees.  It is a bit harder now - these crazy sales aren’t money laundering.  

[monroe67]

"And all being bought by buyers with what looks like randomly generated Ebay ID's with ZERO feedbacks!"

I can't comment on the "zero feedback" aspect of this sentence, but - - - -  -

Nobody can see the eBay user ID of any buyer except the seller from whom that buyer bought.   Those randomly-generated anonymous eBay user IDs are created as protections for the buyers and are not indicators that those buyers are doing anything illegal or immoral. 

Try it for yourself.  Click on "View listings" of almost any seller who posts on these boards.  (I say "almost" because, for example, I use a different ID for selling.  I post and buy with this ID.)  You will NOT see any true ID of any buyer from any seller other than yourself.  

I clicked on "View listings" near your ID on this post, and I see your current listings.  Over on the left side, I scrolled down a bit to where it says "Show Only."  One of the options there is "Sold Listings."   Clicking on your Sold Listings:  

It looks to me like the buyer of your Toy Story Woody's Round Up was User ID "9***0" who has 837 feedback.  Other bidders were "o***l" and "j***7."  Those are randomly generated five-character IDs which may or may not bear any similarities to those bidders' true eBay IDs.  

[joliztoyco]

I did not know that!! So I learned something today.  So the person doing all the buying could be the same person??
And from my experience,  buying a thousand dollar item from a seller with zero feedbacks and no seller history is just asking for trouble.
But thank-you....

[bonjourami]

"I did not know that!! So I learned something today.  So the person doing all the buying could be the same person??
And from my experience,  buying a thousand dollar item from a seller with zero feedbacks and no seller history is just asking for trouble."

If that buyer pays, which is doubtful.These types of auctions attract sport bidders.

[maxine*j]

There are any number of reasons for this, but the common one is the old, old ploy to generate interest and inflate prices, so that holders of the same or similar items will reap the benefit.   It has been going on in the art and antiques markets forever.

The "buyers" do not intend to pay the prices they bid things up to, or the crazy asking prices they, themselves, had already helped to create.   What they want and get is the  appearance, a public impression  of great value, so they get bigger prices for their own stuff when they flog it.

Read this from the seller himself about the Beanie Baby that "sold" for $45K and made headlines around the world a few years back:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Toys-Hobbies/PSA-on-quot-sold-quot-45K-Princess-Diana-Beanie-Baby-From...

It reads in part: "If you are in the beanie baby collecting and selling sphere you may have seen a Princess Diana bear that sold for $45,000 back in August. That was my listing... The person who bought that bear immediately canceled after purchase... [and] never contacted me about it. eBay considers it sold despite... [the fact] that it was canceled and relisted.."

As I said, it's an old practice. 

Could it also be money laundering or part of some other illegal or immoral scheme?  Sure.  I'm just familiar with it from the world of art collectors, and it goes way, way, way back. 

-

[dbfolks166mt]

Ridiculous. No respectable money launderer would pay a 15% commission to eBay.  And then someone has to pay taxes on the profit?

Actually it happens a LOT more than you would think and 15% fee is not that bad for cleaning money. As for taxes on the profit you obviously misjudge the intelligence of the modern era thief. Of course there are the dumb ones that get caught. There are lots of postings about eBay and money laundering following are a couple.

https://www.networkworld.com/article/2239006/two-sentenced-to-prison-for-online-money-laundering.htm...

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SACRAMENTO-EBay-bidder-admits-money-laundering-2787205.php

https://www.nationalsolicitors.com/notting-hill/latest-news/ebay-obsessive-jailed-for-money-launderi... 

[dbfolks166mt]

Articles are from years ago - pre-MP scrutiny.  Back in 2017, you could easily buy an account

or just set up a new one.  AND, you didn’t pay eBay right away - so could skip out on fees.  It is a bit harder now - these crazy sales aren’t money laundering.  

     It is still pretty easy to setup an account and there is little scrutiny of the buyers and/or guest accounts. Seller accounts are a bit more difficult but still possible. Personal information is easy to data mine these days and SSN's are prolific. There were people that received a 1099 from eBay last year who had never sold anything on eBay. Some never even knew they had an account. Obvious identity theft and by the time it's discovered it may be difficult to follow the trail. VPNs, bogus bank accounts, temporary bogus email accounts................  To quot Theodore Roosevelt  "A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad."  

https://www.nbcnews.com/technolog/odds-someone-else-has-your-ssn-one-7-6c10406347

[carlmarxx]

Currently Fake bootleg  Beanie  Babies  are highly collectible  paid for  by Toy  collectors   .   It just funny to see goofy sellers that thing ty BEANIES are worth anything .