# eBay question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 20, 2003, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-question/156290 "2003-02-20T07:44:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SoulSearching](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@SoulSearching](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulSearching)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2003, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-question/156290/1 "2003-02-20T07:44:26Z")
I am trying to buy an Xbox console. After doing a search, I get about 99% results on auctions selling “info on how to get xbox for $25” etc… I was curious as to what these auctions are actually trying to accomplish. if someone could buy xboxs for $25 and thus resell them and make a huge profit, then why are they trying to sell the info for a measely $5 or so… I have heard that the seller merely emails you a few links to some wholesale sites but some of the auctions I come across explicitly says “…NOT some wholesale list” "…“this is real info that lets you buy an xbox for $25 guaranteed!” Whats the deal? ---
**Author:** ![Mikahw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Mikahw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikahw)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2003, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-question/156290/2 "2003-02-20T07:49:08Z")
Well, there is a website for retail employees that lets you get Xbox stuff for cheap. All you have to do is say you’re a retail employee, and take a bunch of quizzes and get the questions right. I guess they want the employees to know a bit about the Xbox. I forgot the URL, and I can’t remember if one of the items available is an Xbox. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2003, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-question/156290/3 "2003-02-20T16:57:31Z")
That ‘free info’ selling info auctions are usually links to a site like say, [globalmarketing.com](http://globalmarketing.com) which I think is just a spam site to sell more stuff for [globalmarketing.com](http://globalmarketing.com), which are probably the people who put that stuff on [ebay.com](http://ebay.com) in the first place. I heard from people who got stuff cheap that way but just like a controller or an adapter. As you can imagine, after they got 100,000 requests for free stuff, they would learn to not give it out, eh? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bongmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Bongmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongmaster)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2003, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-question/156290/4 "2003-02-20T20:35:20Z")
I have read that this is a sort of scam. You basically claim to be a reviewer from a magazine and they send you free stuff to write about. I don’t know how wide-spread this is though.