A classic scam has hit eBay buyers eager to score the latest popular, sold-out product: some sellers are listing photos of sold-out Stanley cups, tricking buyers into thinking they're buying the product itself. After all, why would someone pay exorbitant prices for a picture of a product, no matter how popular the product might be.
As 9news.com reported, Stanley has been issuing special edition stainless steel water tumblers and making them for sale exclusively at Starbucks locations inside Target stores. "The cups launched Jan. 3 and have already sold out in many locations," the news site reported - "Some are already listed on resale sites like eBay for $200 or more."
One of the "suspect" listings we reviewed had the title:
"STANLEY x STARBUCKS Exclusive Tumbler 40oz PINK NEW 2024 (Read Description)."
It was listed for $149.99 with free shipping and had 92 watchers, and the listing included the following description:
"Starbucks x Stanley (Pink) 40oz Limited Edition Cup. This was extremely popular and off the shelves in seconds to minutes. So you can get the best thing to it, a picture! Yes! A picture of this stunning cup with free shipping. You won't regret purchasing a photo of a beauty like this. If anything is wrong with your purchase, please reach out. No refunds post-purchase as I just want them gone."
It wasn't long before the listing was taken down, though it isn't clear if eBay suspended the seller since there was no NARU designation next to the seller's ID.
The "eBay photo" scam is nearly as old as eBay itself and is the cousin of another classic scam - the empty product box scam. In 2005, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper reported:
"Capitalizing on shortages of Microsoft's new video-game console, several people have attracted bids as high as $600 or more on eBay this week by offering Xbox 360 boxes -- just empty boxes -- in ways that made it seem, without reading closely, that the items for sale were actually consoles.
"The common approach: Acknowledging that the item was merely a box, but surrounding that disclosure with so many pictures and descriptions of the real console and accessories that someone merely skimming the listings might not notice."
In 2020, IGN reported on the eBay photo scam when sellers listed photos of PlayStation 5 consoles. "In a statement to Eurogamer, eBay said: "We condemn these opportunistic sellers who are attempting to mislead other users. We are in the process of removing all listings for photos of PS5s from our marketplace and will be taking appropriate action against the sellers," IGN reported, and it published the following video about the scam:
Sellers may fool themselves into thinking they're not doing anything wrong when creating such listings since they put a disclaimer in the title advising shoppers to read the description, and in the description they include the disclaimer they're selling a photograph, not the item itself.
We know from industry threads that the eBay listing we reviewed wasn't the only troublesome listing of a Stanley cup photograph. It's unclear how effective eBay has been at removing them or whether eBay is proactively refunding buyers who fall victim to the scams.
Classic Scam Hits eBay Buyers Thirsty for Stanley Cups
by: Rexford
Sun Jan 7 17:51:03 2024
People really are like sheep.
Save your money people. They'll be on the shelves of your local charity shop in a year. I do believe that the media could hype a cow puck and folks would be lined up to get one. What is that saying? A fool and his money are soon parted?
Classic Scam Hits eBay Buyers Thirsty for Stanley Cups
by: Fruitylovesyou
Sun Jan 7 22:52:32 2024
That's because marketplaces get to record those sales as revenue. They'll of course get on their moral high road and condemn those sellers. How about a company that has no ability to flag those when they are listed? They'll bury ur butt if you use certain keywords in next to no time, maybe condemn the gatekeepers by neglecting to be proactive in protecting shoppers. but of course... Loss of revenue
Classic Scam Hits eBay Buyers Thirsty for Stanley Cups
by: comments
Mon Jan 8 02:59:49 2024
The reason is very simple. When you click "report item" and send the report you get an auto response from ebay that says something to the effect of We looked into the report and their artificial intelligence found the listing was not in violation of their policies.
Since the site relies on user reporting but will not allow a report to be sent to a human then the reason these listings are still up is pretty clear.
That said though to anyone that receives a picture (first made popular on the Judge Judy show forever ago), ebay seller protection would easily protect you and refund your money so this scam is pretty pointless to the perpetrator.
Classic Scam Hits eBay Buyers Thirsty for Stanley Cups
by: Snapped
Mon Jan 8 05:12:37 2024
Perhaps, maybe, IDK, it would be a little easier for buyers to avoid being ‘fooled’ if the descriptions were not so obscured?
If eBay REALLY cared, that is.
Classic Scam Hits eBay Buyers Thirsty for Stanley Cups
by: GetAGrip
Mon Jan 8 05:19:58 2024
Just another problem where buyers are to stupid to read descriptions. No sympathy for any of the slugs.
Classic Scam Hits eBay Buyers Thirsty for Stanley Cups
by: Chicago48
Mon Jan 8 05:47:44 2024
Save your money people. They'll be on the shelves of your local charity shop in a year. ^^ This. Consumers are such sheep. I remember when Target was collaborating with designers like Missoni. Women went in and bought 5-6 dresses and resold them online. They made some money, but over time the value went down and some of those dresses sat in closets for months.
Classic Scam Hits eBay Buyers Thirsty for Stanley Cups
by: AddyUp
Mon Jan 8 11:03:42 2024
eBay are ripe for these sort of scams, more than they have ever been.
After all you can put whatever you like in the description, but if no one can find it.
Classic Scam Hits eBay Buyers Thirsty for Stanley Cups
by: COVID-19
Mon Jan 8 23:42:58 2024
Oh! THAT kind of "Stanley Cups". Thought you was talkin' 'bout them ice hockey championships.
Classic Scam Hits eBay Buyers Thirsty for Stanley Cups
by: CT Bay
Tue Jan 9 08:22:59 2024
They can make elaborate systems to count obvious buyer scams against sellers but they can’t police these very simple seller scams. What a bunch of dopes.
Classic Scam Hits eBay Buyers Thirsty for Stanley Cups
by: Snapped
Wed Jan 10 08:59:52 2024
“ Oh! THAT kind of "Stanley Cups". Thought you was talkin' 'bout them ice hockey championships.”
Jimmy Fallon was doing a Mean Girls ‘Burn Book’ bit on his show last night, and one of the ‘entries’ was how Wayne Gretzky was trying to trade ‘his’ Stanley Cup for one of those pink treasures. Funny stuff.
There was a similar craze about a decade ago for a full sized plastic molded wine cup (one-piece molded inside a clear tube) with either white, pink, or red cap (to match wine), suitable for beach or poolside. It was quite desired.
They normally retailed at all the box stores for about $7.95. IF one could be found. But we had a consignor who somehow obtained about 10 dozen at mfg cost, and we wound up selling out all of them in less than two weeks for prices ranging from $25 to up to $40 each, (had to put a limit of 3 each buy)’, not including shipping. For what was essentially a plastic cup.
About a few months later…. Nothing. Nobody cared anymore. Stores caught up on stock and they sat unsold. Fad over.
This too, shall pass.
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Classic Scam Hits eBay Buyers Thirsty for Stanley Cups
by: Rexford 
by: COVID-19