ConsumerWatch: Saint-Like Spud Runs Student Into eBay Problems

UPDATED: 5:34 pm CDT May 3, 2007

OMAHA, Neb. -- A local college student said his potato looks like a saint, but his attempt to capitalize and help out a charity at the same time has apparantly backfired.Aaron Lotz spotted something in his potato."It looks like the Virgin Mary," Lotz said.  The University of Nebraska graduate student put the spud up for sale on the online auction site eBay. With a friend in mind, he promised 60 percent of the sale price would go to cancer research.

"I felt like it was a good thing at the beginning, and now, I don't know," he said.

On eBay, Lotz elected the buy-it-now option, which allows someone to purchase immediately for a set price. Lotz set the price at $10,000 and got a buyer."

So, the auction closed and I was quite ecstatic, because $6,000 was going to go to the ovarian cancer research fund," Lotz said.At least, that's what he thought. Lotz called the listed buyer."

They didn't know what I was talking about," he said.

Apparently, the original bidder used someone else's name, address and phone number. No money is being sent.

Still, eBay is billing Lotz almost $170 in transaction fees, and MissionFish.org -- the Web site that enables eBay sellers to give proceeds from their sales to favorite nonprofits -- sent an e-mail telling Lotz that his credit card will be billed $6,000 in a couple of weeks."

You think they would have solved this type of fraud, where someone just could easily create an account," he said, explaining why he called 7 Can Help.


   MissionFish.org told ConsumerWatch it will not pursue the money. A representative said it's something that does happen from time to time.

  eBay would not respond to questions specific to the incident but does allow sellers to file an unpaid item dispute. If the buyer fails to respond, the seller can still close the dispute to receive a final value fee credit. What's not clear for Lotz is whether that will be a refund, or $170 he can use toward an eBay purchase, for example.

To prevent this type of fraud, PayPal might be a good solution. It will guarantee the first $4,000 of any buy-it-now transaction.


Lotz did not chose PayPpal since his buy-it-now figure was $10,000.