DISQUS

I've had the exact same experience - twice - when trying to sell a laptop. First, lots of junk/spam emails, to which I do not respond, but instead dutifully report to eBay (not that it seems to make a difference.) Then the auction proceeds normally until, during the last minute of bidding, the item is bid up to an astronomical amount. (Like $4000 for a $400 laptop.)

I tried to cancel the bids, but eBay's bid cancellation process is cumbersome, involving collecting the id of the bidder, the number of the item being sold, and submitting both on a separate page from the auction. (Hello? How about a simple button next to each bid - the seller can just click it to cancel the bid and block future bids from that user id.)

These bids were apparently placed by longtime eBay members with good feedback, but they were obviously fakes. In the end, the entire auction was cancelled and I was refunded all of my listing fees. Obviously I'm glad for that, but I seriously doubt I'll try to sell anything on eBay again.