An eBay buyer using the ID "Bleastwood" went on a bidding spree on Thursday, purchasing 16,000 items, and apparently paying for none. The buyer's feedback rating plummeted throughout the day as complaints grew, and Bleastwood is no longer a registered user on the site.

Bleastwood used eBay's Buy It Now option to end the auctions. Items ranged from a one-cent "War of the Worlds CD" to a $798,886.86 airplane.

There was speculation from victims that the account might have been hijacked. On Bleastwood's About Me page, it reads, "Just an honest guy looking for what he needs, and to clear out some room in the house." Before Thursday's buying spree, Bleastwood, a registered user since 1999, had accumulated 28 positive feedback points in the previous 12 months, but incurred 51 negative feedback points on Thursday before eBay suspended the user.

Bleastwood started bidding at 6:55 am, and activity stopped at 5:35 pm. One seller who was victimized said, "eBay didn't even notice. At 4pm, I called powerseller support, impossible to get anything other than an automated message directing me to their "help" pages online,... I did the online trust & safety chat, it took over a half hour to connect due to "unusually high volume" of chats, I finally reported him and they shut him down."

eBay has an anti fraud system called FADE that is meant to detect fraudulent activity, but for 10 hours Thursday the Bleastwood account ran rampant. It's unknown how often malicious bidding occurs on the site, nor is it known whether eBay automatically reimburses seller fees when they are victimized.

The highest price item Bleastwood bought last week was an airplane, which had received bids from nine bidders, raising the price to $350,000 before Bleastwood struck with his $798,886.86 Buy It Now bid. This was the second time the seller had listed it. The first time the plane was listed, that auction was also ended by a malicious bidder.

The auction description reads, somewhat ironically, "This is a relisting due to a hacker thief type hitting Buy It Now and destroyed at least six different aircraft auctions...eBay is investigating."

As of Sunday night, the seller had not listed it for a third time.

http://digbig.com/4bsce

Update, 9/20/04: It appears Bleastwood purchased 1,611 items using eBay's Buy It Now feature, not 16,000.