Ebay Treasure Hunt (1 Viewer)

[Scott L]

http://pages.ebay.com/treasurehunt/

Just started. Find one of the hidden auctions and win a grand.

http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.js...=1108543479835

I know I won't win but good luck to those who try.

 

[Steve Felix]

Wow... these clues are so absurdly obscure. I'm not playing, I'm just watching the forums, which are HILARIOUS.

The hidden auction for the clue "Big dish or big game" was "Canon Powershot Telephoto Lens." And right now outraged people who spent hours researching every possible lead can't figure out what the connection is! So, the winner is almost certainly someone who was just looking for camera equipment!

Plus, the method of winning isn't obvious -- it takes some digging on the forum to find it. Apparently somebody bid 20K on a Lincoln Town Car this morning thinking they might have found the winning auction. And naturally, there are people trying to scam searchers by faking winning auctions. Not too hard to do considering the real way to win is to find the auction (which will have a big "winner" graphic in place of a description), click on "buy it now," and then confirm the "buy it now!" A pretty dangererous game, I'd say.

This thread encapsulates the hilarity pretty well:
http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.js...015908&start=0

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

Some of the responses from people who didn't win are priceless. I like the guy who complains of how much time he wasted at work without winning.


And I love how people are so obsessed with the Superbowl -- all the responses that say "WTF does this lens have to do with the Superbowl" -- when the clue doesn't mention the Superbowl.

The internet is full of wonderful people.

 

[MarkHastings]

Wasn't Canon the official camera of the Superbowl? I saw an ad in Sports Illustrated (for Canon) and they showed all the photographers (with telephoto lenses) on the side lines.

Big Dish = Super BOWL

The clue makes perfect sense to me.

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

I don't know if they paid the money to the NFL to be the Official Camera, but I know that for large events Canon offer all kinds of free service and support (including sometimes free rentals of exotic lenses) to pro photographers so that their gear is seen as the choice of professionals.

 

[MarkHastings]

I don't remember what the add said (I don't have SI), but all of the lenses (on the sidelines) were Canon.

EDIT: Canon is the official Sponsor of the NFL

 

[Steve Felix]

Canon is one of many official sponsors of the NFL. You'd think big dish -> Super Bowl -> sponsors -> Canon?? Nobody could figure that out before the fact. It's just a matter of six degrees of separation. A better connection is that a lens is a dish of sorts that could be used to photograph "big game" but that doesn't quite hold up either. Who knows? Ebay isn't telling.

Either way I am convinced a random searcher found it. And as I mentioned before, it would be so easy to trick someone into completing a sale on a fake winner that I wouldn't bother to play. The contest is poorly thought out.

 

[SethH]

I disagree that the contest is poorly thought out. The rules are very simple and clear. Unfortunately, the people complaining on the forums have not read the rules for the most part. I agree that the clues are difficult, but what did you expect? They had to make it difficult enough that it would take millions of people looking several minutes to find it . . . otherwise it would simply be a race by millions of people to the same place and whoever got there first would get it instead of actually having to figure things out.

The crap about people bidding on things that aren't really winners is ridiculous. If you find the correct auction it tells you BEFORE you place a bid. People bidding on other auctions are just ignorant of the rules of the promotion.

 

[MarkHastings]

But these people were still clueless AFTER they knew the answer. That's what I meant by "The clue makes perfect sense to me."

 

[Steve Felix]

Yes, but I have a copy of the official "congratulations" graphic on my hard drive right now. It contains the instructions to use Buy it Now. What stops me from making a fake auction and putting that picture in? Obviously eBay would ban me and the buyer wouldn't have to pay, but it would be a hassle and disappointment for the buyer. If eBay has a secret weapon against this, I can't figure out what it is.

The fatal flaw is that it's necessary to confirm the buy to win. That should be easy to fix.

The clues have been much more reasonable since the lens fiasco, though.