
Sellers who opted to cash in on Microsoft Corp.’s new Xbox 360 Elite now have to cut their losses due to fraudulent bids on auction site Ebay.
The Elite was released on Apr. 29 to U.S. retail and sells for $479.
More than a handful of Xbox 360 Elite auctions ending on May 1 were purchased by new Ebay account holders that are now listed as unregistered users.
One seller who holds a 100% feedback rating offered a “Buy It Now” price of $1,500 for the new console. The winning bidder, martinscholes20, also ended another Xbox 360 Elite auction at $619.99.
An auction listed at a Buy It Now price of $899 was purchased buy a new registered user named adamscholess020, now also listed as, “Not a registered user”.
In addition, several other Buy It Now auctions listed for $850 and $1500 ended early to now unregistered users.
Ebay allows sellers to set restrictions on buyers, including disallowing bids from buyers with negative feedback and blacklisting select buyers.
However, the auction site does not allow sellers to turn away newly registered users with zero feedback that could allow for the aforementioned types of fraud.
Ebay has become a popular source for in-demand video game consoles. In Nov. numerous pre-sales for Sony Corp.’s Playstation 3 commanded prices upwards of $1,000. Nintendo Co.’s Wii still commands a slight premium over its $249 retail price.
Prior to its release, the Xbox 360 Elite fetched premiums near $200 on select auctions. The new console, which includes HDMI and a 120GB hard drive has sold out at several online retailers, including Amazon.com and Walmart.com.
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