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dannno
07-11-2013, 04:36 PM
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/11/19417447-baby-buys-car-on-ebay-using-her-dads-phone



Baby buys car on eBay using her dad's phone

Letting your kids play with your smartphone could be a costly mistake, as shown when a toddler accidently bought a car using the eBay app. Her father said he plans to keep it for her 16th birthday.

By Sophia Rosenbaum, NBC News

Paul Stoute’s 14-month-old daughter has been drawn to technology throughout her short life, but he underestimated her tech savvy.

Last month, Stoute received an email from eBay that he had the winning bid for a 1962 Austin Healey Sprite. Trouble was, he never knew about the car and certainly didn't bid on it.

Stoute, who lives in Portland, Ore., with his wife and daughter, said on his website he initially thought it was a phishing scam. But he quickly learned he was, in fact, the winner after logging onto eBay.

Then it dawned on him. His daughter Sorella constantly plays with his Android phone (which is now password protected). She had ordered the car while she was pushing buttons on his phone.

Stoute immediately contacted the seller.

“Hey, I think my 13 month old placed a bid on this through the mobile app when she was supposed to be playing a game on my phone,” he wrote.

The seller said he would try to contact the previous highest bidder, but noted Stoute’s daughter’s good eye for a nice car.

“Your kid is obviously a car aficionada with superlative taste, and this would make a great father-kid project that you might just finish in time for them to drive as a first car!” the seller wrote to Stoute.

Stoute took the seller’s idea and is running with it. He agreed to buy the car, which he bought with money he said he borrowed from his family, and picked up the car in Tualatin, Ore. Final price: $202.

Stoute has set up a website that tells the story of how his daughter purchased her first car before she turned 2, and set up a way for people to donate to help him fix up the car, which needs a new engine and transmission, brakes and roof. He noted that there is “almost zero rust” on the car.

He hopes to give the working car to Sorella on her 16th birthday.

VoluntaryAmerican
07-11-2013, 04:42 PM
Good thing she bought a cheap one! :D good dad right there.

Icymudpuppy
07-11-2013, 04:49 PM
$202. A small price for the mistake. Guy got lucky. Most vehicle bids would have been over a thousand.

angelatc
07-11-2013, 07:33 PM
We've been discussing this at length on the ebay board i frequent, and the majority of us think it's bull. It isn't easy to log on to ebay and accidentally bid. And there is no way to make a buyer pay. Auto auctions are really more like classified ads - people on both sides back out of the transactions all the time.



Stoute has set up a website that tells the story of how his daughter purchased her first car before she turned 2, and set up a way for people to donate to help him fix up the car, which needs a new engine and transmission, brakes and roof. He noted that there is “almost zero rust” on the car.


This is a publicity stunt.

Feeding the Abscess
07-11-2013, 07:39 PM
We've been discussing this at length on the ebay board i frequent, and the majority of us think it's bull. It isn't easy to log on to ebay and accidentally bid. And there is no way to make a buyer pay. Auto auctions are really more like classified ads - people on both sides back out of the transactions all the time.




This is a publicity stunt.

Exactly. I've had this 'excuse' used on a number of video game and video game-related items. 'oh my daughter accidentally got into my account and somehow bought this i dont want the item'

I<3Liberty
07-11-2013, 09:31 PM
Like angelatc, I was also pretty suspicious about this because you have to 1) be logged into your account, 2) fill in then confirm your bid, and the whole bidding process itself isn't just random button pressing. A kid this girl's age going through with the whole process just sounds kind of sketchy.

Anyways, if anything, this is just another reason why you should never remain logged in or save passwords. While kids accidentally buying things is a rarity, people hack into and compromise accounts all the time (especially through insecure networks.) Never, never, never log into eBay or paypal via an insecure network!

Back to this Most eBay sellers (errr... most eBay sellers that are truly committed to customer satisfaction) would cancel the sale and have the customer refund the seller's insertion fees. I sell on eBay and while I do not sell cars, I would be more than willing to simply cancel the sale and have the customer cover my insertion fees (which would be much, much less than $202.)

amy31416
07-11-2013, 10:01 PM
We've been discussing this at length on the ebay board i frequent, and the majority of us think it's bull. It isn't easy to log on to ebay and accidentally bid. And there is no way to make a buyer pay. Auto auctions are really more like classified ads - people on both sides back out of the transactions all the time.




This is a publicity stunt.

I've sold cars on Ebay, and I have to agree.

kcchiefs6465
07-11-2013, 10:04 PM
A lot of storm clouds in this particular thread.

Haters gonna hate I guess. :D

juleswin
07-11-2013, 10:15 PM
This is a publicity stunt.

What she said. Lately I have been very weary of stories like this, from the Cheerios interracial commercial thing to the latest one about the lady who was dumped by her boyfriend getting an uplifting message from a restaurant on her take out box. It's the new kind of marketing in an advertisement saturated world.

What I cant figure out is what this stunt is trying to sell me.

Pericles
07-11-2013, 10:20 PM
What she said. Lately I have been very weary of stories like this, from the Cheerios interracial commercial thing to the latest one about the lady who was dumped by her boyfriend getting an uplifting message from a restaurant on her take out box. It's the new kind of marketing in an advertisement saturated world.

What I cant figure out is what this stunt is trying to sell me.

15 minutes of fame

devil21
07-12-2013, 02:51 AM
Wow! $200 for a car on ebay? Where do I sign up? :eyeroll

Obvious attention grab is obvious. If a 14 month old actually can buy a car on Ebay then something is very wrong with Ebay.

kathy88
07-12-2013, 04:47 AM
Dude can't afford 202 bucks for a car but has a smart phone. And a child. Welcome to'Murika.

brandon
07-12-2013, 05:01 AM
Definitely a load of shit. My first thought was that he was black out drunk, but intentional publicity stunt makes more sense.

69360
07-12-2013, 05:08 AM
nice scam to get others to fund his car hobby

V3n
07-12-2013, 06:22 AM
yeah - I'm calling shenanigans on this one. How does a story like this even get into the news? I do stupid crap all the time, but I never think "NBC really needs to know about this!"

Anyway - cool car (this is not the actual car, just same type):

http://s1.ibtimes.com/sites/www.ibtimes.com/files/styles/v2_article_large/public/2013/07/11/austin-healey-sprite.jpg