Quote from: bikefront on Today at 06:09:12 AM

I was thinking that perhaps it could be classified as same buyer and seller in attempt to generate extra feedback. Or as associate. Your evidence of them having been purchased quickly and resold from another seller from the same place was suspicious and thus they may do something about it.

I used to sell a lot on eBay and under their seller rules, annoyingly, MA is doing nothing wrong.

He is not defrauding eBay, he is conning his audience.

I also find it unlikely he is using the same IP for both eBay accounts, or might not manage the pseudonym account just to cover his ass. Instead, based on the item location, it is someone local to him. Or he might be using his (rented) office laptop for one account and home laptop for the other.

Regardless, quite how someone who is not MA has 130+ copies of his much "sought" after book is curious. Would someone really spend $13,000+ plus buying $95 priced copies to then resell for $300? How did they buy so many when the chance to purchase the book is so unlikely? This is all part of the scam.

It seems VERY far fetched, and a lot of risk and effort for such a random item that also requires physical handling. We know from MAs non-stop content he clearly has a lot of time on his hands, so put two and two together...

I quote Cialdini's book Influence to get further insight into the person MA is - a charlatan who uses confidence tricks that exploit the known flaws in the human psyche - and all to line his own pockets:

"Advertisers love to inform us when a product is the “fastest-growing” or “largest-selling” because they don’t have to convince us directly that the product is good, they need only say that many others think so, which seems proof enough... The message being communicated to the holdouts is clear: “Look at all the people who have decided to give. It must be the correct thing to do.”

"Since that encounter with the scarcity principle—that opportunities seem more valuable to us when their availability is limited..."

"A variant of the deadline tactic is much favored by some face-to-face, high-pressure sellers because it carries the purest form of decision deadline: right now. Customers are often told that unless they make an immediate decision to buy, they will have to purchase the item at a higher price or they will be unable to purchase it at all."
Cialdini PhD, Robert B.. Influence

Why the sold out book though? That is also simple to understand, where it is used to build on his authority, credibility and so make it easier to upsell more expensive products, like the WECs.

"The reason people aspire to call themselves “bestselling author” is because it dramatically increases your credibility and “personal brand.” It can establish you as a thought leader. You’re able to show that you not only wrote a book, but that the market has judged it to be better than other books out there. It’s a status symbol, one of that cashes in on the prestige of one of man’s oldest past-times. At last, I had acquired this coveted title for myself."
https://medium.com/the-mission/behind-the-scam-what-does-it-take-to-be-a-best-selling-author-3-and-5-minutes-ec05cee1749a