You mean you're not going to get your free 20 acres ... or are you like me, holding out for 40 acres and a mule:-)

First, I've looked at the auction and you won't find my email name in the bid column.

I checked a little more and this seller has offered this product before. Email addresses of those who bought are in the file and if I were interested in the product, I would not hesistate to post them and ask them about the offer.

A review of the record appears to show that none of these previous buyers posted either negative or positive feedback regarding this seller or his offer. If it were an absolute ripoff, I would expect at least one (or more) negative feedback report. If it were a wonderful value, I would also expect at least one positive rating. (BTW: You couldn't do this on eBay as old auctions are sent to the bit bucket in 30 days -- our old auction records remain, down to buyers and current feedback. If you are committing fraud, you don't want this type of record around.)

If the offer were, as you suggest, the BLM program and did not allow most, if not all of the uses claimed by the seller in his auction description, then his auction could be deceptive. I honestly don't know the BLM rules or his product and frankly I'm not going to pay the $12.75 to find out.

That is because the sale of information is, prima facia, a legitimate undertaking. Thousands of books -- the banana diet, "Lose 50 pounds using the sweet roll diet, or how to make a million in the stock market are all legal. We as an online auction house are not about to begin passing judgement and EXERTING PRIOR RESTRAINT on information products sold through our site.

We will investigate formal concerns of users who make their specific concerns about any particular auction known through [email protected]. (Not through this board.)

Still, you make the case for our BidSafe program. Assuming both seller and buyer were members, any buyer, if presented with deceptive information in an auction description would have the right to return the information item and obtain a full refund (save shipping.)

I do think that legitimate sellers of information will sign up and be bound by the money back guarantee provisions of BidSafe. Those whose aim is to cheat, would never consent to a moneyback guarantee enforced by a third party.

One more point. Yes, there are those who sell information products on credit repair and a host of other subjects. Buyers are conditioned to beware and there are very few folks who'd bite on this type of information product.

That means to make good money with those types of products, the seller needs the largest possible audience. Ebay makes that broad audience available with their featured auctions for $49.95.

Our closest equivalent is our front page showcase auctions. BTW, our's cost double the price of Ebay -- $100.

Why do we charge double? Count the number of offers of this type on our site and on Ebay and you figure it out.

G. Patton Hughes
[email protected]

BTW: if you are convinced or have absolute proof this offer is deceptive, email [email protected] and state your proof. Know that we always encourage sellers to be truthful in their advertising.
 

I think the featured auctions such as Ebay has degrade the site. I think the lurid titles etc. turn a lot of people off if the first thing they see about Ebay is that home page. It's kinda like thinking that everything the Washington Post is is represented by its personals ads!

I also like the idea that your records stay around a lot longer.

Talk to you later!
 

You know you've put me in a very peculiar position... that position being the defense of an ad for a product that I wouldn't personally buy.

I did go back and read the ad for the free land and noted that you said there was no mention of any "obligations." That is incorrect. I found at least two references.

Specifically the seller mentions a "claim maintenance fee -- presumably an annual fee -- and states "Your obligation will be to perform a minimum amount of labor or make improvements worth $100 each year on your 20 acres."

He doesn't say you can camp on it, build a house on it or use it for recreation. He also doesn't say that you can't and that may be a sin of ommission.

Upon closer reading, I think that this seller has parsed his words more carefully, than President Clinton did in denying his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

We all know that in most cases there is a catch.

The point is you know the catch to the free land and why one ought not buy it. That knowledge has value. I figured it saved you $12.75 and everyone who reads your posts here, $12.75.

But there may be a burnt-out programmer somewhere in cyberspace who, with the $12.75 in forms and step-by-step directions sold on AU, will avoid a trip to the funny farm by instead turning to prospecting in the great outdoors with the aid of this book/pamphlet.

But as you point out, the BLM guy is supposed to tell you all you need to know.

And, let me see, the postman is supposed to deliver me my mail, not my neighbors mail. All cops are honest, government leaders (politicians) never lie and Military Intelligence is not an oxymoron. And, since the paperwork reduction act of 1972, anyone with an eighth grade education can complete a long form 1040.

Bottom line, information products are, prima facia, legitimate offerings.

A book that promises to teach you how to make a widget, is legitimate if, at the end of the process, you have a widget that works. I suspect that if you bought this book and followed its instructions, you would have a 20-acre mining claim that you could lease, sell or bequeath.

Neomax

Run up the flagpole and saluted, I'd say:-)

Neomax