You're going to play Plinko . . .

[Mike Tennant]

This is certainly one of the most interesting--and also one of the most suspicious--game show items on eBay.  Plunk down $1.50 and this guy will drop a chip down his very own Plinko board (with no zeros!) and then send you whatever you've won.

The guy has a ton of positive feedback, apparently for lots of similar auctions.

Give him credit for showing the Plinko sign (and some of the former TPIR models), anyway.  I wonder whose site unwittingly supplied those screen grabs.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Mike Tennant\' date=\'Nov 11 2005, 12:21 PM\']This is certainly one of the most interesting--and also one of the most suspicious--game show items on eBay.  Plunk down $1.50 and this guy will drop a chip down his very own Plinko board (with no zeros!) and then send you whatever you've won.
[/quote]
This totally looks like something Chartier would do. (No, it's not him, I don't think, but it's sure something he would do.)

Auctions like this do wonders for Ebay's reputation.

[Robert Hutchinson]

There's nothing I like more than gambling.

Unless it's online gambling.

With unspecified prizes.

And someone else actually playing the game for me.

[Dbacksfan12]

Funny...you don't get an enlarged picture of the game, while everything else is huge.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Modor\' date=\'Nov 11 2005, 04:00 PM\']Funny...you don't get an enlarged picture of the game, while everything else is huge.

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[/quote]
You actually think he's gonna show you the slots at the bottom? The ones that alternate "BOX TOP" and "SUCKER"?

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Nov 11 2005, 07:03 PM\']You actually think he's gonna show you the slots at the bottom? The ones that alternate "BOX TOP" and "SUCKER"?
[/quote]
Of course not.  I noticed he has an equallly as suspicious "Pop a balloon" game.
Say; isn't Plinko a copyrighted name?

[Steve Gavazzi]

I'll give the guy credit for exactly one thing -- he's not leeching bandwidth from any of the sites he stole the pictures from.

Other than that...good Lord.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Modor\' date=\'Nov 11 2005, 04:08 PM\']Of course not.  I noticed he has an equallly as suspicious "Pop a balloon" game.
Say; isn't Plinko a copyrighted name?

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[/quote]
Oh hells yes. There are so many things in that auction that violate the Ebay TOS that it's not even funny.

Which is why I think it speaks volumes about how much Ebay cares about providing a quality service when they haven't shut this idiot down yet.

[rugrats1]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Nov 11 2005, 07:27 PM\']...I think it speaks volumes about how much Ebay cares about providing a quality service when they haven't shut this idiot down yet.
[/quote]

Is he the same guy who offered his version of "Let's Make A Deal" on eBay earlier this year (he sells a box, and you get what's inside)?

[Dbacksfan12]

He has another one for $5.00 (I was not able to discern a difference)...with a picture ripped directly from Brad Francinni's site...I think I may curtail any business I do on Ebay until they correct the issues they seemingly don't care about.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Modor\' date=\'Nov 12 2005, 04:51 AM\']He has another one for $5.00 (I was not able to discern a difference)...with a picture ripped directly from Brad Francinni's site...I think I may curtail any business I do on Ebay until they correct the issues they seemingly don't care about.

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[/quote]
Then I hope you've done all of your Ebaying you're going to, because this is not a situation that is going to change anytime soon.

[Robert Hutchinson]

I'm going to presume that someone in this thread has complained about this auction, or auctions similar, to eBay in the past, and no action was taken.

(I think it's a pretty safe presumption, actually, but I want to be sure everyone isn't just assuming that everyone else is bringing these things to eBay's attention.)

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' date=\'Nov 12 2005, 12:48 PM\']I'm going to presume that someone in this thread has complained about this auction, or auctions similar, to eBay in the past, and no action was taken.

(I think it's a pretty safe presumption, actually, but I want to be sure everyone isn't just assuming that everyone else is bringing these things to eBay's attention.)

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[/quote]
Doesn't really matter, I don't think. Ebay's TOS does not say "when someone complains". It says that crap like this is NOT PERMITTED. Anytime. It's not my job to police their site for them, it's theirs.

(But yeah, considering we have people here who run like little babies to the moderators pretty much whenever I post, I think it's a safe bet someone wrote an indignant complaint to Ebay about this.

(No, I'm not hopping from one foot to the other about this. I'm just pointing out a glaring problem with the Ebay model. It's been there since Day One, and they really don't care about fixing it. And why should they? Even if everyone who was pissed off about this walked, they would STILL be making more money than God.)

[Robert Hutchinson]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Nov 12 2005, 04:00 PM\']Doesn't really matter, I don't think. Ebay's TOS does not say "when someone complains". It says that crap like this is NOT PERMITTED. Anytime. It's not my job to police their site for them, it's theirs.[/quote]

You read that a lot differently than I do--eBay is telling the bad lister "dont do that or you'll be shut down and/or punished", not the unfortunate buyer "you will never see a bad auction on our site 'cause we stop 'em all". I wouldn't expect eBay to check the validity of every one of the millions of auctions they currently have running, any more than I would expect an ISP to read through millions of e-mails/Usenet posts/personal webpages to find the guy plotting to steal the Plinko board.

I know that eBay is able and willing to shut down at least *some* auctions, some of which (that I know about) were awfully similar to this one. So, I'm left trying to determine whether eBay is inconsistent, or just hasn't been notified.

[WilliamPorygon]

[quote name=\'"eBay ToS"\']eBay does not permit listings that promote giveaways, random drawings, raffles, or prizes, because these promotions are highly regulated and may be unlawful in many states. eBay itself may run such promotions on the site, and may grant authorization to its partners or third party companies to run promotions that comply with applicable laws.

eBay does not permit bonus listings in which the seller does not state the exact amount at which the bonus will apply, or Multiple Item Listings in which the exact same bonus is not offered to all buyers.[/quote]

Yet what's screwy is they have a whole category that's nothing but this type of crap.  They sure care about it, all right.