am i right to hold onto my cash?

starlite_2

hoping someone will know what sort of operation i am talking about here..

a new 'shop' has opened in my high street, the windows are plastered with A4 signs saying 'ipod £35' slimline ps2 '£30' gameboy advance '£3' etc etc...
inside the shop is bare apart from a raised table at one end stacked with boxes for posh electrical goods, and there is a guy there who goes on about a product then shouts some auction type stuff '' usually £90 in the shops, but forget that, forget £80 forget £70 etc etc..i'm gonna give you this for just £3'' he then asks people to raise their hands if they are interested says its so cheap as its ex display and we are free to test the goods before we leave the shop.
i have gone in twice and its usually full of bemused looking people, but ive never seen anyone buy anything, or even get their hands on something to test it, he just keeps going on and on and says we can look later.
another thing is it is open on really random days, most of the time it is closed.
there is a note from trading standards on the wall saying to beware as this is 'barely legal'
i can't help but think that, say £3, isn't much to lose, on the off chance i may get a fully working gameboy advance
how do these places work?how can he legally be selling things at this price?
and am i right to be suspicious?

soolin

Gosh, I didn't know that these fly auctions were still around, I remember them when I was a kid many many years ago.

Yes, its a scam run a mile.

Easy to fool the public though which is why I suppsoe they are still going. Plants in the audience buy items and open them and see they are genuine so other punters bid as well and get empty boxes or broken goods.

I'm sure if you do a Google search you'll get lots of hits on these fly auctions.

Soo

starlite_2

so how on earth can they be operating from a shop on the high street? my mum says shes seen similar things at markets..but i just don't get why they haven't been closed down

soolin

imported_ami wrote:

so how on earth can they be operating from a shop on the high street? my mum says shes seen similar things at markets..but i just don't get why they haven't been closed down

They squat in empty shops, the law can't act quick enough to get them out so they have several days (sometimes weeks) before they get evicted and move to another empty store.

Soo

fluffy-duck_2

Yes i agree total rip off. we had one here a couple of weeks ago advertising ipods, laptops and ps2's cheap. Same kind of thing with the auction but did not see any ipods or the latest stuff they had advertised. Stay well clear.

starlite_2

yeh..i knew it was dodgy but thought it might be worth a slight risk....but i now know not to bother
thanks guys!

kazzy

There was one of these shops in Bournemouth last year and I wondered what it was.What I want to know is surely it must get a bit riotous when people open their boxes and realise it's a load of c*ap inside.What happens then????

saff_2

I have been to one of these...i would advise to stay well clear as i have seen people being ripped off with broken goods...or goods that are not worth half of what they paid for it!!!! As they dont know what is inside the box!

starlite_2

can you not open the box before you hand over your cash though? the one near me had extention cables and batteries laid out supposedly for people to test the goods, but i never saw an opportunity to do so..don't get me wrong, i still have no intention of buying them but as said before, wouldnt there be a riot? and wouldn't the police be allowed to close them down if they were ripping people off

jen_jen_2

I saw one of these once and in order to be a "preferred buyer" you had to buy the mystery gift for £5 this was glasses worth about 50p and they you had preference to buy the broken goods.

Worth going to watch and keeping your hands in your pockets.

gremlin

kazzy wrote:

There was one of these shops in Bournemouth last year and I wondered what it was.What I want to know is surely it must get a bit riotous when people open their boxes and realise it's a load of c*ap inside.What happens then????

Next time you see one of these - have a look at the size of the blokes standing around near the doors! And theres a usually a few hanging around outside and in the back. They arent the kind of people i'd want to confront. But usually with electrical items, you cant try them till you get home - by then its too late.

Avoid like the plague.