Quite a few sellers on eBay have found a new gold mine. So much so that eBay has a whole category dedicated to this new type of auction.

Mystery auctions, which now reside in the “Everything Else” parent category, are getting bids in the thousands of dollars. And buyers don’t even know what they’re getting!

The basic premise behind a mystery auction is to create some virtual or imaginary object to “sell” to buyers. To follow eBay’s TOS, sellers must list this item for sale, whether it’s a virtual dandelion or a Wonka Bar, and suggest that:

Anything else you receive is a gift from me to you.

Those magic words are making buyers flock to these auctions. A “tube of sunscreen” recently sold for over $4,500, but I’ll talk more about that later.

There are two major types of mystery auctions.

First is the multiple-item raffle type auction. This is a dutch auction, with each item ranging from $0.99 to $50. Many of these auctions are as simple as the seller sending cash back to the buyer’s paypal accounts. This is a “gift” in addition to the virtual item they actually bought. Some buyers get less than the sale price, some get more. The seller gets to keep the rest.

People love to gamble. As long as the cash remains “a gift from the seller”, it’s ok by eBay.

All you have to do is write an interesting auction, and you don’t even have to have an actual product.

The second type of mystery auction involves offering a silly item, such as Cheez Whiz, or a 7-year old hamburger, as the “item”. Then irresistible gifts are implied for winning the auction. Once a reputation is built up that the seller offers valuable items, bidders just can’t stop bidding.

Not only that, buyers are more than happy with what they receive. Another “tube of sunscreen” sold for $3,500 recently, and buyer feedback reads:

EZ IS THE MAN!100%Genuine&Trustworthy!Amazing GIFTS & MORE!Beyond SATISFIED!:-D

Figure out how to break into the mystery auction market and you’ve got a license to print money. And judging by the best selling items, anything you ever learned about building good looking websites is out the window. These auctions look terrible. Big flashing text, terrible music playing in the background, animated gifs, the whole bit.

Make it as ugly as possible, and rake in the cash. I’m gonna go write one right now.