Why does eBay allow auctions where you're not allowed to bid??

[aramatic]

There is at least one seller who lists a valuable item in auction format with bidding starting at $1.00. But among the photos is one that says bidding is not allowed and all bids will be removed. The item is said to be available only at the Buy It Now price, except Buy It Now is not an option! Instead, the price is in the description and you're told to get in touch with the seller. How is this either sensible or allowable?

[lamber9347]

Every listing has a button to report it, look under the description to the right. You should report the listing as there are too many daily listings to be caught so they rely on users for reporting them. Best of luck to you....

[ebooksdiva]

The seller is attempting off site sales to circumvent selling fees , it's not allowed and should be reported. 

[selsa84]

I know exactly what you mean. Just saw a map of California that starts at auction for 1.00 but I'm pics it says you can only buy it off eBay.  I've reported it many times and it's been going on for over a year.

[caldreamer]

You should report this Seller.    EBAY does not allow Sellers to make deals "outside EBAY".

[stainlessenginecovers]

Ebay has NO KNOWLEDGE of what a listing 'says' in it's body. 

Overall, the seller is NOT allowed to do what they are doing. 

As others have stated- report it- enough reports and that seller will be bye-bye. 

[kensgiftshop]

The account could have been hijacked.

Do they have a lot of listings like that?

[selsa84]

It's been reported many many times. 

[redmodelt]

Reporting multiple times by the same person for the same listing does no good. Multiple people have to report it. The bots in most cases are not going to see what is in a photo, just what is in the listing. So, by putting the don't bid in a photo, they are getting around the bots. 

Best course of action would be to report it and move on, than hope others do the same thing. 

[krazzykats]

Deals off eBay have no buyer protection if something goes wrong.

[a_c_green]

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@aramatic wrote:

There is at least one seller who lists a valuable item in auction format with bidding starting at $1.00. But among the photos is one that says bidding is not allowed and all bids will be removed. 

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That's a common scam using a hacked account. Once the scammer has accessed the account, a bot process uploads thousands of listings in all categories, generally with a $1.00 opening bid and that contact info in either the description or one of the later images. Photos of the item itself are lifted from a previous legitimate listing. 

For example, do a search for "Schwinn Krate" (the high-value vintage Schwinn Sting-Ray performance model) in the Complete Bicycles category, and (as of this posting) the first two listings are $1.00 auction scams where the offsite payment info is the second image in the listing. Now follow the link for "Seller's other items" and you will find thousands of other scam listings (over 74,000 in this case) across most all categories.

Needless to say, if you do follow the offsite payment link, your money will be gone and no item will ever arrive.

[jfpendley8uqq]

If you look this person has 66,000 auctions all starting at $1.00.

[redmodelt · Accepted solution]

Try reporting using the following: Listing practices, Links, Logos and videos, Links encouraging outside bids or purchases. 

Dialog box will open when you can add details. 

[albertabrightalberta]

It's not in the body of the listing. Seller uploads and image. 

My belief is that the account is hijacked. The following picture (with contact information redacted by me) is from a listing with a Coach bag with a price in the description showing that the BIN is $5400. 

[aramatic]

Yes, and all the 99.7% positive feedback is for items of no great value sold under a different name in the UK.