eBay Bidder Buys $600 Xbox 360 Photo

The hot holiday item, if one believes the media hype, is the Xbox 360. Short supply and high demand have left many holiday shoppers looking for the console empty-handed. While the thought of parents looking into the teary eyes of children left without an Xbox 360 this Christmas is saddening, imagine the same scenario with said parents paying upwards of $800 for a worthless photo of the gaming system.

Recently a New York woman was the winning bidder of an eBay auction for a new Xbox 360…at least that’s what she thought. According to Web site TechWeb.com, the buyer inquired about the description of the item up for grabs–"Photo of picture of Xbox." The seller responded that it was a typo, and shipped out the winning item. Days later, an envelope arrived with a picture of an Xbox 360–that’s it, just a piece of paper.

GameSpot – 360 photo scam still going

New York media reported that the shopper, who believed she was actually purchasing the real thing as a holiday gift, cried when she received a piece of paper instead of a gaming console. It’s not the first time a scammer has capitalized on the shortage of the prized game consoles through the online auction site.

eBay did not immediately respond to inquiries about the matter. The company has been removing Xbox scam listings when it determines the descriptions are misleading or deceptive.

TechWeb – Xbox Photos X-pensive on eBay

An unwary eBayer appears to have paid £470 [US$850] for what he or she obviously thought was an "XBOX 360 PREMIUM PACKAGE." Yup, we sincerely hope it’s a really nice picture of an Xbox because 470 quid is an awful lot of wonga. The moral? Caveat emptor. And there’s more. How much would you pay for two Xbox hotmail addresses? 481 quid? No, us neither.

The Register – eBayer pays £470 for photo of Xbox 360