I saw that when I was selling silver on ebay. People bid it up higher than what you could buy it at apmex for. Occasionally though, you do get a good deal, but it is almost always an item that is something that others are not looking for, like a not so popular video game might go for 50% what it goes for in the store. Whereas a BROKEN itouch will sometimes sell for $120 or so(when they are $225 brand new and working in the store)
I dont know how much this factor plays into it, but 10 years I had a business selling electronics on ebay and about 5% of my business was from people using stolen credit cards (basically 1 out of every 20 orders) I dont think ebay notifies sellers anymore if their buyer used a stolen credit card or not, but I know back before they bought paypal, I would get the notices. I dont sell much on ebay now, but I have not gotten one of those notices since I stopped selling large quantities of items.
