post #1
03 June 2006, 09:21 UTC#1
QUOTE
Bidding for the handbag used by Tana Umaga to hit a rugby team-mate was over $21,500 late this morning after online auctioneer Trade Me removed several false bids.
The auction, which closes at 7pm today, has been plagued by unrealistic bids of $1 million or more for the past couple of days and Trade Me has had to investigate and remove them where necessary.
While doubts remain over the legitimacy of recent bids in the tens of thousands of dollars, many have been from Trade Me members who have built up trusted trading profiles over the past couple of years.
Consumers Institute chief executive David Russell this morning said while some bids could be getting posted illegitimately, any money owed from a winning bid could be legally pursued.
"They're bound by the rules of Trade Me. If you make a bid and it's an open auction. . . you've got to pay it."
He said it was possible that people were managing to get in and bid on someone else's behalf, but Trade Me should be able to isolate and eliminate such problems.
But if a genuine member was fooling around and had the leading bid when the auction closed; "it's all theirs".
It would become a civil case if the bidder reneged and it would be up to Trade Me and the seller to pursue it, Mr Russell said.
The number of views on the auction had exceeded 650,000 late this morning and the seller, who appeared on Campbell Live last night, had had an offer of free legal help if a winning bidder didn't front up with the money.
The handbag became famous when Umaga hit Chris Masoe over the head with it at a Christchurch pub early on Sunday morning.
Masoe had hit a patron and was subsequently fined $3000 by the New Zealand Rugby Union and Umaga was said to be diffusing the situation. The handbag owner's cellphone was broken during the incident and later replaced by Umaga.
Mr Russell said he doubted that bids of a few thousand dollars for the handbag would be genuine, let alone the dozens of higher bids.
The auction, which closes at 7pm today, has been plagued by unrealistic bids of $1 million or more for the past couple of days and Trade Me has had to investigate and remove them where necessary.
While doubts remain over the legitimacy of recent bids in the tens of thousands of dollars, many have been from Trade Me members who have built up trusted trading profiles over the past couple of years.
Consumers Institute chief executive David Russell this morning said while some bids could be getting posted illegitimately, any money owed from a winning bid could be legally pursued.
"They're bound by the rules of Trade Me. If you make a bid and it's an open auction. . . you've got to pay it."
He said it was possible that people were managing to get in and bid on someone else's behalf, but Trade Me should be able to isolate and eliminate such problems.
But if a genuine member was fooling around and had the leading bid when the auction closed; "it's all theirs".
It would become a civil case if the bidder reneged and it would be up to Trade Me and the seller to pursue it, Mr Russell said.
The number of views on the auction had exceeded 650,000 late this morning and the seller, who appeared on Campbell Live last night, had had an offer of free legal help if a winning bidder didn't front up with the money.
The handbag became famous when Umaga hit Chris Masoe over the head with it at a Christchurch pub early on Sunday morning.
Masoe had hit a patron and was subsequently fined $3000 by the New Zealand Rugby Union and Umaga was said to be diffusing the situation. The handbag owner's cellphone was broken during the incident and later replaced by Umaga.
Mr Russell said he doubted that bids of a few thousand dollars for the handbag would be genuine, let alone the dozens of higher bids.
I think it went for around $40,00. I'm not sure. Image file not present in the recovered backup