What am I missing here?

[Danneaux]

Hi All!

Looking through eBay's listings last night, I spotted a seller offering ~0.5l aluminum fuel bottles, ordinary in every way but price and made by Highlander of Scotland. I have no connection to the seller, who seems honorable.

According to the listing, 3 are available and 62 have sold on BuyItNow.  The seller has 99.9% positive feedback based on nearly 64,000 transactions. Tagline is "FANTASTIC VALUE FOR LIMITED TIME ONLY AT THIS BARGAIN PRICE".

So...what's the price each, per bottle? £556.89 *plus* shipping of £5.75 (!).   For 'Merkins, this is roughly USD $821.25 plus USD $8.48 for shipping.  

Here's the listing:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ALUMINIUM-HIGHLANDER-FUEL-BOTTLE-568ml-METHS-ALCOLHOL-CAMP-STOVE-HEXI-TRANGIA-/121111483139?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item1c32ce9303

What am I missing?    Elsewhere online, these bottles sell for £7.99...could 62 people really have paid so much for these things? The listing price is for singles, rather than a lot. I would be inclined to put it down to a misprint, but I don't see any signs of error beyond the unbelievably high asking price.

Best,

Dan (...who is occasionally puzzled by similar high-priced eBay listings for common items that sell for reasonable prices elsewhere)

[Relayer]

In the main item description it says ...

"OUT OF STOCK - BACK in 4-8 WEEKS @ £5.89 + P&P"

it looks to me as though an extra 56 has slipped into the Buy it Now price. Coincidentally the capacity of the bottle in ml is 568 which is vaguely similar to the offending price of 556.89

I would guess there has been some cutting and pasting gone slightly awry here.

Jim

[leftpoole]

I think to keep the main listing 'live' the seller who is now out of stock simply puts price up to deter purchasers. In the meantime garners interest (!) and keeps viwers watching. Then when stock arrives back to correct price?
John

[Danneaux]

Thanks, fellows; both views make sense: The listing is likely a placeholder with deliberately high price to keep the listing going till replacement stock arrives...and the imaginary price is likely drawn from the bottle size triggering some figure in the seller's mind.

It'll be fun to watch this over time...

All the best,

Dan.