Well, all you doubters were right–the bid that set an eBay record last week proved to be a hoax. In a previous blog I wrote about the nearly $10 million dollar eBay bid some guy named William Fischer put up to purchase the car made famous by “The Dukes of Hazzard.”
The bright orange 1969 Dodge Charger emblazoned with a Confederate flag and the No.1 garnered a winning bid of $9,900,500 just a few days ago. General Lee’s owner – actor John Schneider, who played blond hottie Bo Duke in the 1980s television series– is reportedly livid that the bid appears to be a hoax.
Actually, it was Schneider’s estate manager who put the car up on eBay in an effort to earn money for the actor’s next project. Allen Stockman told news reporters that he has sold several of Schneider’s personal items on eBay and has always had success. Now Stockman says he plans to list the car with an auction firm that screens all buyers, and he says he may file a lawsuit against the bidder.
“If this guy was just doing it as a prank or to ruin someone else’s chances, he deserves to be hit in the pocketbook,” said Stockman, who also revealed that he gave the winning bidder a negative rating in eBay’s feedback forum.
At the risk of sounding like a finger wagging, “Told-You-So” you had to wonder about the authenticity of the bid. After all, who has $10 million lying around? And, of those who do, how many of them spend it on eBay? What’s more, had Schneider done some research he would have found that eBay is riddled with fraudulent bidding incidents (which is not to say that the integrity of the site is compromised because of it, it simply means that buyers and sellers must beware):
Five months ago, a Montreal man listed a 40-year-old acetate of “The Velvet Underground & Nico” by Andy Warhol on eBay. The bidding started at 99 cents, but after 10 days, 253 bids and major publicity given to the item by various media outlets, the piece of art received a final bid of $155,401. However, within hours, the bid was determined to be a hoax and the item was relisted.
And just a few weeks ago a gas grill said to be owned by Red Sox slugger Manny Ramirez reached $99,999,999, the highest bid eBay was technically capable of listing. Shortly after that bid came in executives at the online site pulled the listing after they couldn’t verify the authenticity of the grill.
In the case of Schneider’s listing, you’ll recall that I mentioned in my previous blog that an eBay customer service agent called Stockman and recommended that he only accept pre-qualified bidders who could prove that they had secured financing. But according to eBay, Stockman said he didn’t have the time for credit or background checks.
It seems that proved to be a costly error.
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