I hadn't looked in Ebay's Weird Stuff category for quite a while. I went there because of a thread in another section. I noticed something unusual, to me, at least. I clicked on maybe 5 auctions and 3 of them said anything else the seller sent besides the item was a gift from the seller to the buyer. Now, this seems to mean something more than what it says on the surface but I have no idea what. Can anybody explain?

Did you check the seller's feedback to see if it said anything anywhere about a second item? This does seem strange to me.

Maybe they send along something really weird... like a used piece of chewing gum or something. :P

Was this for Mystery Auctions? Those are boxes (or envelopes) that people sell. According to Ebay rules, you have to state that you are just selling the actual box or envelope, and anything else inside it is a gift. It is just legal mumbo jumbo covering the seller's butt if a buyer decided they don't like the "mystery" item that they got.

That sounds totally random to me!

I thought one was, because the seller kept referring to how much fun a mystery was. When I finally scrolled to the bottom of her longish page she was selling a purse. The other person was selling an item, too, and just mentioned the other in passing. But it does sound like they're adding the mystery piece to maybe get a little more out of the item.

I saw those, too! My guess is that the seller might be trying to get a higher bid for the item. They probably think people would be willing to bid higher and keep bidding if they think they are getting a 'surprise'. Just like opening a gift on Christmas morning!

There's no way I would do it. No telling what the 'gift' would be!

I dunno... in this case, if I liked the purse and the price was good, and there was another purse without a gift that was about equivilant, I'd go for the purse with the mystery gift. I love surprises, even stupid ones (I'm one of those people who tells their husband to bring them a surprise when they go to the store), and something like this would be just enough to make me lean in the direction of one purse over another.

However, I don't think I'd bid more. Just choose it over another, gift-less purse.

Though I'd be really annoyed if it DID turn out to be used chewing gum. :p

Well, if it was used chewing gum, the person would get some negative feedback and not be in business long.

Oh wow, an addition to my collection! hehe Not really! But I'd never trust a mystery auction, I guess I'm just too cautious... or maybe just cautious enough.

I tend to agree that I wouldn't pay more for something like that, but I would probably choose mystery over same non-mystery.