New way to scam, auctions !

[yasuziro]

I am not reporting anyone in this thread, just trying to make everyone careful about how people scam in auctions, it may save you a big deal of PEDS. You should report them and make a list because some of them are regular players, not temporary avatars.

They list a high priced item, 500 ped for example, with a buy it now of 3000 and starting bid of 1 ped then they ask a friend or use another fake avatar to overbid you, artificially increasing the price.

More about this story and what happened to me you can read here:

https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=235179#post235179

Have a nice day !

 

[McCormick]

Yup, thats the way it is. Like eBay. Makes PE more realistic...

 

[Starfinder]

I fail to see the problem.. Surely you have decided before you place a bid, what the max price you want to give is...

If the seller's guy bids over that.. well.. then you just dont bid anymore on it..

I fail to see how it can be the sellers fault you bid more than you think is fair...

Just stop whining will you... This has nothing to do with scamming...

 

[CBB]

euhm sorry but this is old as hell.
I doubt its even scamming, it s ratehr working within the legal frame of auction. I fully agree that it isnt how it shoudl be, but i doubt if its illegal

i ll tell u a few more:
1. buy your own items through second avatar, therefor raising the prices in the pe player or PE ass (great tool btw to find real prizes), so u push the market
2. buy al litems of 1 kind a nd resell 1 by 1 at a higehr level, creating artigicial shortage
3. selling a 50 ped item thingie for 100.19 ped, it will look like 100.19% and sometimes do buy it.
4. selling quicky gsi s and put a genetic between them, the quick buyer will be fooled
5. remove items before final trade, (some use a autoclicker)
6. sell a armor set with a female part in it through pvp trading
7. normal scamming: GSI scam, armorupgrade, fake socs with entrance fees, mentors that ask tutor money, mentor only avatars, ped change scammers (claim to work with different currnecies to make a profit)
9. open of a item 139 bo 193 (wil look almost the same too a quick buyer)
10. Bb implants sellign for price of a Bd , the first costs tt, the second tt+140
11. sellign tt terminal items through auction (i cantbelieve it but i do notice they get sold)

there is a whole range of activities, and as this game exspands and cash becoems a bigegr issue u ll see more and more of it, resembling the real world

there is only a few things u can do:
1. THINK, use yoru brain
2. a good to be true deal is probalby a scammer deal
3. educate newcommers, dont stand idle when u see someone get scammed, yell out, file support case, post, aks the person why he scams
4. use pe assistant to check logn term prices

ps, why i know these thing? i sel lresell myself alot, to pay for my huntign, so i see alot of this

hope it will be usefull
gl and greetz
CBB

 

[yasuziro]

CBB please tell me the price for a katsuichi honor bp ? will you ? don't tell me to look at the auction history, I am doing that, I was willing to pay 1000 ped extra for that bp, and already realised that they are artificially increasing the price, but to THIS extent ! would you let 1500 ped slip thru your fingers ? That's why I was reporting it.

To Starfinder: I fail to see the reason of auctioning an item, because this is not anymore an auction, when you say 'auction' means legitimate business, not scam, which inflating the bids means: 'fake auction', 'scam auction'. We are talking about fake auctions here, not about the regular auctions where I would decide how high I would go. GO AWAY, don't tell me to stop whinning, I'm not whinning, I'm almost AMAZED by how far some people can go and do that. Some of them may be considered good members of societies, I just want people to know what's happening here, and to make their society mates aware about what they do in game.

If you fail to see the problem, then .. YOU HAVE A PROBLEM, Starfinder.

The problem is the market that allows that, I would introduce a high auction fee (% based) of the ending price and also ban any auctioning scammer if reported, confronted with reality and found guilty.

 

[Caveman]

I am not reporting anyone in this thread, just trying to make everyone careful about how people scam in auctions, it may save you a big deal of PEDS. You should report them and make a list because some of them are regular players, not temporary avatars.

They list a high priced item, 500 ped for example, with a buy it now of 3000 and starting bid of 1 ped then they ask a friend or use another fake avatar to overbid you, artificially increasing the price.

More about this story and what happened to me you can read here:

https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=235179#post235179

Have a nice day !

Has it occured to you that the other overbidding avatar actually wanted the BP too ???

 

[yasuziro]

Has it occured to you that the other overbidding avatar actually wanted the BP too ???

Have you entirely read my post there ? Please don't reply if you don't read completely.

The blueprint is now for sale by the same seller as before, it is the same bp with a QR of 21.1. Very hard to find that bp, what about the one with the same QR ? and both guys are from Poland, is there any coincidence ?

I was sure that this game has a crappy community (not referring to your reply without reading), i will probably leave if crafting will not go well.

 

[Starfinder]

yasurizuser.. something...

The general idea with an auction, correct me if im wrong, is that two or more persons bid for the same item.. The seller has a lowest price or no reserve..

Then the two or more people overbid each other to find the winner...
The general idea with this kind of sales is that the person's themselves decides what the item is worth...

If person 1 think its 1000 PED worth.. and person 2 think its 500 PED worth.. Then the winner will be person 1 because he is prepared to go to 1000 PED.. He will prolly win the item for 501 PED..(If the bids are increased by 1 PED)..

Can we all agree on this?

In this case you claim that its a scam when person 1 works with the seller.. This is not a scam in my point of view its mearly a shitty thing to do..

As the buyer it is your duty to KNOW what you want to pay for an item before the auction starts.. If you go into an auction saying: I want to buy this for 1000 PED and then the seller works with a bidder to outbid you, say to 1100 PED.. you cant bid 1200 PED and say it were a scam when you win the auction.. Thats basically what you are doing now... the key essence here, my friend, is that you need to KNOW what you are prepared to give for an item before you start bidding.. If the bid goes over what you want to give.. tough luck.. But then again.. you werent prepared to give that kind of money for the item.. Another aspect of the discussion here is the various auction sites... Those of you who has played PE for some time will know the word "PERC" and the auction site connected with PERC.. I made that site, with help from Dirk.. (I have actually forgotten what the name of the site were)..
We knew that in order to acurately show an average markup on items the top 20 and bottom 20 auctions had to be deleted.. since they would influence the average market price a lot.. What im trying to point out here is that you cant take the auction sites and use their average markups as true values.. Because they CAN be influenced by "seller-bidder" auctions where the seller and bidder works together... To estimate the market values of various items you need a PERSON to help you.. A system is just as good as the code.. and no code, except MA's own, can tell you the markup on items 100% accurate..

So to sum up.. What you need is to walk into an auction knowing what you are prepared to give for an item.. and you cant use auction sites for that.. you can roughly decide what ballpark the price should be in, for common traded items such as minerals.. But to truely know market prices you need an ingame trader to help you.. unless you are very fammiliar with the item prices in PE... And thats why I dont think you can call this a scam..

Obviously you dident know exactly what you wanted to pay for the item.. Or you got carried away with the auction.. Both of those senarios were something the seller were hoping for.. and that makes him a peice of shit.. but it dosent justify you calling him a scammer.. In PE as in real life the cleaver fools the less cleaver.. Just let it be a lesson to keep your cool while you are at the auctions..

 

[yasuziro]

Hey beer drinker

1. I knew that I would not pay more than what I had in the account (1200 PED + ores and enmatters that i sold in the last second. I never stated, I REPEAT, I never stated that I did not know what I wanted to pay for the item. I sold the ores and enmatters in the last second because i did not have the time to log on before and sell it.

2. The auction IS A SCAM, because if it was legit, the seller would have known what is the minimum that he wants for the item and list the damn price there, that's why the auction has a 'STARTING BID' if you understand these two words.

3. Scam: [n] a fraudulent business scheme
If you don't understand English, get a dictionary.

Did i know when I started the auction that the high bidder was the same person as the seller ? NO, The whole auction is a lie, then it is a scam.

He would profit more than the highest REAL maximum bid would go to, he would get more cash out of this 'scheme'.

I still consider it a scam, basically, you are trying to still call it an auction, I consider it a: 'fake auction', 'scam', 'rip off'. That bp sold before for TT+500, I was ready to pay TT+1500, he wants 3500 ped for it in fact, then what was the point of listing it with low starting price ? Wasn't there any small hidden reason ? like scamming someone by artificially increasing the bid ?

If you still consider this a LEGIT business, then all will point their fingers to you.

 

[yasuziro]

And I kind of know the prices of the market, I am a miner myself and a crafter, just developing in armors. I don't know why you tell me that i don't know the market prices, where did you get that from ? How do you know I need that ? If you answer, please do that when you wake up, not after few beers. If you continue to say that this way of auctioning is not a scam I will not bother answering you.

 

[Kedzior]

There is an easy explanation of this auction.

I think he has just thought that he would get the higher price than you offered. He put 0 open bid and 3.5k bo so imo he expected to get about 2-2.5k ped bid at last. So when there was close to end of the auction and he realized that the bid was only 500-700 ped he just asked his friend to bid because he didnt want to sell the bp so cheap (and look at fact that he couldnt remove the auction due to your bid). Maybe he wanted to inflate the price a bid but i thnk the main reason was that he expected to get the higher price.

Regards

 

[Morg]

And I kind of know the prices of the market, I am a miner myself and a crafter, just developing in armors. I don't know why you tell me that i don't know the market prices, where did you get that from ? How do you know I need that ? If you answer, please do that when you wake up, not after few beers. If you continue to say that this way of auctioning is not a scam I will not bother answering you.

dont bother explaining it, even the seller admitted it may be a scamm, that says it all.

 

[Starfinder]

Beer drinker.. hehe.. Your rep. speaks for it self.. anyway.. I wont lower my self to your level.. Just saying that if you see an item at 500 PED and you want to bid on it.. you should say "cool... im prepared to buy that for 600 PED.. I think ill put a bid in for 501".. if the next bid is 650 PED.. then you just dont bid anymore..

You on the other hand starts screaming about it.. well.. dude.. sorry.. but I fair to see the problem you have... You obviously wanted the item.. and the seller wanted more than you were prepared to give... so he boosted his own sale.. tough luck.. but I dont think its a scam.. Obiously he started at 1 PED because he wanted people to bid on his auction.. And obviously he wanted a lot more than people were prepared to give.. but thats the end of the story.... I think the closest I can think of is bad marketing.. he markets things for 1 PED.. but in fact its 100 times that.. or more... hey.. I know where I have seen this before... Phone companies.. "Come buy our phone.. only 1$.. Then you also have to buy this and that.. and the price is now 399$"... Dont see anyone running arround screaming "scammers" to the phone companies..

Anyways.. I tried to see how you can see its a scam.. There is a scam where a person works with another guy to get something sold..
Picture this..
A seller (Scammer) is standing in a dark alley-way with a small table where there is a lot of jewlery on (fake jewlery).. He then puts notes on it with real prices.. A group of guys walks in.. They see the items.. and the seller says "I will sell them to you for a low price..".. The guys dont wanna buy.. now the second scammer comes in and buys a couple.. So now the innocent guys think its a fair deal.. and buys a lot... Thats a scam..

The problem here is that the item you are buying is the real deal... You just need to know when the price is too high..


Anyway.. You think its a scam when someone is selling you a legit item for an overprice.. I dont think its a scam.. I just think its a shitty seller.. or a stupid customer.. Thats our diffrence..

And.. A little early for a beer my friend.. but ill have one tonight and think of you

 

[wanda]

+rep for starfinder for staying so cool and polite in the face of such anger

 

[dbelinfante]

+rep for starfinder for staying so cool and polite in the face of such anger

Ermmm... He was the one who started dissing Yasuziro by pretending he couldn't properly spell his name, when a simple cut&paste would do.

 

[Starfinder]

kove in reply to your rep which i think needs to be public.
You say what im saying isent a just system.. I have never said it is.. im just saying thats what the buyer has anticipate.. I do say the seller is a shitface..

 

[SKULL]

this happens at auctions in real life also
not nice yes
scamming no

the problem is just this many new players now in MA
but the drop rate of the items is not keeping up with
the new players
when i started for instance a year ago
loudmouth could easily be bought for +600
they go for +2k or so now
thats more then 300% increase in a year
if more items in game then the reselling gets a lot less
interesting

 

[yasuziro]

Well, beerdrinker, I don't care as much as you about reputation, I will prolly build it or not. You can follow me and give me bad rep, or ask friends to do it, i don't care.

I don't even understand what you want to say (and why you're saying it), first time you tried to explain in some way that this way of auction is such a nice thing to do by sellers, now you're trying to say the same but in another way. I did not ask your opinion mate, I was just making sure that people will find out about this way of cheating (scamming), on high priced items. Oh, sorry, this is not a scam, it is the way to go when you auction stuff, it's something very nice to do, you should make a goal in your life to be successful using these methods.

I still think you drank some beers, I see so many ... .. ya know ... .. ... ..... hic ... ... hic... .... ... stamming ? Maybe Marek is your friend ? looks like you're defending this way of auctioning items.

Why the hell would i point this out if it's a nice thing to have, it's almost an asset to the PE auctions ?

Maybe I should start a thread saying:

Hey guys, look how you can earn more by auctioning expensive items and IT IS NOT SCAMMING because I say so.

I repeat, my thread started just to make some people aware about how they are trying to rip some of your extra cash when buying rare items. Not to whin how I was ripped, I wasn't even ripped, I did not lose any money, I am not complaining of being ripped. I would have paid for the item 1500 ped, all I had, I don't mind to pay a high price for an item if I want it.

You're not making a point if you still continue to say to me that I need to know the market prices or describe this as a 'non scam' and as a legit way to make business.

I did the same as I would do in real life. First I submitted the abuse report to MA and then let people know about some new method of scamming, also reported the avatar names in scammers list.

If a business would cheat my business here, I would report to authorities (Police, Chamber of commerce) and then publish it's name in the blacklists.

I would never cry on community shoulders that I've been scammed, I don't expect people to encourage me to go over this. Your posts sound like I was doing that.

Go ahead, write again a message with some hundreds of dots explaining how good is to do business this way (scamming), or telling me that I need to know the price of items, or 'my friend, is that you need to KNOW what you are prepared to give for an item before you start bidding.. '. Again, you are probably not even reading my post and replying with something that got NOTHING to do with the thread.

1. I was prepared to pay all I had for that bp
2. I know the current market prices.
3. I thought it's good to let people know about this way to scam, I don't know if it was described before.
4. Some of society mates were watching that auction and also thought he might be inflating the price, it was confirmed when I saw the item listed next day.

I see no anger here, but I see there some impetuous desire of beerdrinker to type something, maybe just because he got nothing else better to do.

 

[yasuziro]

Lol Starfinder, you really look like after few beers in your last post.

 

[yasuziro]

I insist to not call him a 'shitface'. Scammer is better.

I remember some scam taking place in my country where foreign currency exchanging between people is forbidden. There were two people needed to scam you and looks like this auction scam.
They were sitting around exchange houses which were having a low currency exchange rate. Scammers were accosting and offering to people outside a better exchange rate. While changing the foreign currency, the scammer would take the foreign money from your hand and fold them while giving you the local currency, in the same moment, a second scammer would come near and scream 'police, run away', first scammer handing back the folded foreign exchange (but a smaller paper currency which he had in his sleeve), at the same time the mark (victim) would be tempted to hand back the local currency and fly away, receiving what he thinks it is the original cash.

In this case, as in the fake auction, the mark (real bidder) is the victim of a confidence game which will leave him short of some cash. These confidence games where victims will be short of some cash can be described as a scam by mostly anyone.

Well, have a nice day and many beers !

 

[Crusader]

Was also bidding on this BP when Marciols friend raised the bid from 250 to 750 ped.

Luckily I realized/suspected that this was the doing of a second avatar/friend and droped out before selling anything to be able to place a higher bid.

To you market manipulators: If your not willing to accept the marketprice then set a price that you find ok!!!

This behavior is fraudulent in my eyes!!!

The only way I can deal with this situation is to never buy anything from Marciols auctions again-which I never will from now on. Fellow Entropians I urge you to do the same. This is the only way to drive these "scammers" out of business.

+rep to you Yasuziro for bringing this up!

 

[Manhunt]

Yasuziro, u didn't lose money wright or did u? U just have to be aware of those kind of sellers or u it can really get messy a few weeks ago two guys were bidding on each others A103 amps for more than tt+5 when there worth close to tt and there were lots of them with much smaller buyouts next time check the real price before buying

 

[Starfinder]

Right.. Enough of this silly-ness..

Dear yasuziro.
You sound like you are very new to PE so let me introduce you to some basic facts. You say you arent worried about reputation.. Well let me assure you rep is a very big part of PE.

Well, beerdrinker, I don't care as much as you about reputation, I will prolly build it or not.

And whats up with the "beer drinker".. just because you dont like the fact that I dont praise you for letting us know something that has been posted about millions of times before you go ahead and use slures to address me?

I don't even understand what you want to say (and why you're saying it),

Then I will explain it once again so the slow ones also understand..

It is not a scam to boost auction prices artificially.. Its a shitty thing to do.. But it has nothing to do with a scam..

I did not ask your opinion mate, I was just making sure that people will find out about this way of cheating (scamming),

Im sure with your mighty brain power you are aware there is a search function on this forum.. As previously mentioned there has been a lot of posts about this topic..

Oh, sorry, this is not a scam, it is the way to go when you auction stuff, it's something very nice to do, you should make a goal in your life to be successful using these methods.

I dont know where you get the idea that I think its a fine thing to do.. I have stated in all my posts that I think its a bad thing to do.. Its just not a scam..

I still think you drank some beers, I see so many ... .. ya know ... .. ... ..... hic ... ... hic... .... ... stamming ? Maybe Marek is your friend ? looks like you're defending this way of auctioning items.

Again.. Im not defending the way of trading.. Im saying its a shitty thing to do.. But not a scam.. And whats up with the personal attacks ?

Why the hell would i point this out if it's a nice thing to have, it's almost an asset to the PE auctions ?

I dont understand what you are saying here.. Can you please explain?

Hey guys, look how you can earn more by auctioning expensive items and IT IS NOT SCAMMING because I say so.

Its a free country.. You can do as you whish.. But I dont think you will get very far with it..

I repeat, my thread started just to make some people aware about how they are trying to rip some of your extra cash when buying rare items.

Again.. search function.. This has been stated a lot of times.. If you had any insight into PE you would know this issue has been raised a lot of times before..

You're not making a point if you still continue to say to me that I need to know the market prices or describe this as a 'non scam' and as a legit way to make business.

I using "you" as the general public.. The general public needs to know prices before they start buying items.. And I stand by my statement that its not a scam..

I did the same as I would do in real life. First I submitted the abuse report to MA and then let people know about some new method of scamming, also reported the avatar names in scammers list.

Its not a new thing.. But I apreciate that you filed a support case to MA.. Because I seriously think it will be the first time ever they have heard about it.. And as far as I know, correct me if im wrong here, no one has ever been banned from PE for making auctions and having their friends bid on the items to boost prices.. A shitty thing to do, yes.. but not illigal..

If a business would cheat my business here, I would report to authorities (Police, Chamber of commerce) and then publish it's name in the blacklists.

They arent exactly cheating you.. Have will always know what you have to pay at the end of the auction...

I would never cry on community shoulders that I've been scammed, I don't expect people to encourage me to go over this. Your posts sound like I was doing that.

Fair enought.. I initially thought you had bought the item just to realize that the seller and other bidder had worked together..

Go ahead, write again a message with some hundreds of dots explaining how good is to do business this way (scamming), or telling me that I need to know the price of items, or 'my friend, is that you need to KNOW what you are prepared to give for an item before you start bidding.. '. Again, you are probably not even reading my post and replying with something that got NOTHING to do with the thread.

I dont understand what you are trying to say here..
As mentioned I dont think its a good way of doing buisness but I dont think its a scam either..

1. I was prepared to pay all I had for that bp
2. I know the current market prices.
3. I thought it's good to let people know about this way to scam, I don't know if it was described before.
4. Some of society mates were watching that auction and also thought he might be inflating the price, it was confirmed when I saw the item listed next day.

1 and 2.. Good for you
3 A lot of posts about this has already been posted.. No need for more.. Use the search..
4 -Seems like you dont read my posts.. What did I say about auction sites..

I see no anger here, but I see there some impetuous desire of beerdrinker to type something, maybe just because he got nothing else better to do.

Yay more personal attacks... How nice of you.. Im sure you make friends easily.. Especially if they dont agree with you..

 

[Teilk]

I dont see it as a scam, just someone who wanted more than you were willing to pay, hence the relist @ the original bo. If I listed one of my bp's, and wanted a lot of attention drawn to it, I would start it @ 1 ped. If I did not get the response I hoped for, I would bid on my own bp, or have a soc mate do it if I couldnt. Never tried that before, dont really know if it will let you bid on your own item...That is not a scam, it is protecting your assets. Now, while I personally list starting at the minimum I am willing to accept, some people like to draw attention to their auctions. I/E....Last calls....you see a bp with 78 bids...you think "wow, this is an in demand bp"....this would even draw in people who werent even looking for that particular bp. It is simple marketing, and if the seller thinks they will get say, 3500 for that bp, and the highest bid is 1600, then by all means the seller should do what they can to prevent the potential loss of 1900 ped.

Think about it this way....Say you listed a Valor {since this is what you were talking about} for 1 ped start. Say it went to +35 and was on last calls. Now the valor has an avg sale of what, around +100-+130 right? Dont even pretend that you would not try to get at least what your percieved market value of the valor was. You would be calling you soc mates saying "please bid this up, I cant afford to sell it for that....they cost more than that to make...".

In the case of the bp you mentioned, it is a rare thing to see on the auction anyway, so it is an item that you can pretty much name your price on it. We may not like the price named, but that is the sellers decision.

Again, while I am of the opinion that you should just list items starting at the minimum one is willing to accept for said items, that is just an opinion, and not a law. I think that you use the term "scammer" very freely, and should consider your words more carefully.

 

[Wot]

Yasuziro, you a shake too many thing in one mix and named it 'scam'.

Auction is open trade. Anyone can take a look over item and give a real PEDs for that. No faking, no lies. I personally hate resellers, because they try to rise prices up. But the system as is.

Anybody can bid more then I. And I am free to answer or not. I hate to people who try to win by rebidding, but lost and I am buying by little bit overpricing, but it my personal choice - it is imaging of my readiness to have this item.
Otherwise when auction has the same item with buyout I keep in my mind that it is a max price for. And time to time people bidding more then buyout for the same. It is his choice, may be the choice to be in ignorance, or the choice to try get more - doesn't matter.

And I still hasn't unlocked telephaty to understand more then people has

 

[Starfinder]

+rep to teilik

 

[dbelinfante]

I dont see it as a scam, just someone who wanted more than you were willing to pay, hence the relist @ the original bo. If I listed one of my bp's, and wanted a lot of attention drawn to it, I would start it @ 1 ped. If I did not get the response I hoped for, I would bid on my own bp, or have a soc mate do it if I couldnt.

That would be the reason for a startbid of 1? When you know you don't intend to sell it below a certain price, and may be "forced" to resort to a practice that is technically not scamming, but comes pretty close, and is certainly frowned upon by most players?

Why not start with a realistic startbid? In your example, the only reason for bidding on your own item would be preventing a too low sales price. That may be dumb(you should have just opened with a realistic startbid), but it's not immoral. But it also comes very close to a set-up to try and artificially drive up prices. Still not technically scamming, but I wouldn't want the persons doing it on my FL.

Starfinder is correct. It is not technically scamming. But to me it is also pretty clear that the persons doing it probably were and still are scammers in other respects. It takes a sleazy kind of mentality that I'm sure doesn't limit itself to the auction.

 

[Teilk]

Again, while I am of the opinion that you should just list items starting at the minimum one is willing to accept for said items, that is just an opinion, and not a law. I think that you use the term "scammer" very freely, and should consider your words more carefully.

I stated that I did not agree with the concept, but it is not a scam.

 

[Trigger]

The practice of have a 'friend' bid on an item just to inflate the price is known as shill bidding, and is illegal in most countries.
And since the person who created the auction actually stated that he had a friend bid to see how much it might be worth, in rl he would be guilty of commiting a crime.
Just because yasuziro decided not to keep bidding doesn't make it an less wrong.

The normal way an auction is supposed to work is the seller determines what he thinks the value of his item is worth, and places it up for auction for that starting price.
Having friends come buy and place bids to make it look like it's a 'hot' item, or look more valuable than it is worth is at the very least morally objectionable, and should be grounds for a temporary suspension of their account.

 

[Starfinder]

Here's the thing..
When I played a lot of PE arround 1.0 to 7.x I numerous times placed items in auctions for start bid of 1 PED.. Why.. Because I wanted attention to the item..

Some items sold at a good price.. and the items that just recived 1 or so bids (of 10 PED for a 100 PED item) I had soc mates bid up to 90-100 PED..

Is that a scam ?

The diffrence here is that the seller overbidded the market price.. Thus you could call it a scam.. OR.. he decided he wouldent sell anyway because the market werent as good as he thought...

In any case I dont think its a scam since the buyer always know what he has to pay for the item..

The only true way of scamming in PE imo is person to person trade where the seller switches items after a price has been negotiated.. as Y. (sry cant spell it) mentioned with the money exchangers in his country.. Thats a scam .. clearly.. but here you get the item you have paied for.. and you know what you have to pay... That is not a scam in my book...