Mystery Segways go up for eBay bidding

NEWS Consumers are once again bidding big bucks for a Segway Human Transporter -- but this time the auction is on eBay, and it's being conducted without participation from Segway. An organisation called the "AI Foundation" has listed two Segway scooters on eBay. The auction for one of the devices has already received 19 bids, the highest for $10,100 (£7,070). Despite the bids, Tobe Cohen, director of marketing for Segway, raised questions about the auctions. Segway did not supply any HTs to the AI Foundation and doesn't know of any devices that have been customised for the organisation, Cohen said. "We have pretty good accounting for all of our machines," he said. "I'd be very surprised if they had units to auction." Segway has alerted eBay about the auctions and the auction giant has begun investigating them, Cohen said. EBay representatives did not return repeated calls seeking comment. A representative for AI Foundation also did not return calls seeking comment. But the seller, contacted via eBay's email system, said companies involved in the manufacture of the devices donated the HTs. "All your questions will be addressed in the upcoming joint press release (with eBay)," the seller said. "Thanks for your interest in the Foundation and our eBay auction." The hype surrounding the Segway scooters has been intense since the first details on the devices leaked out in late 2000. Segway unveiled the scooters late last year and in February put three of the devices up for auction on Amazon.com. Bidding on all three scooters topped $100,000, with one selling for a whopping $160,000. Segway has said that the commercial version of its HT sells for about $8,000. Segway has said that it will introduce a consumer version of the HT, like those auctioned on Amazon and eBay, later this year for about $3,000 each. The AI Foundation is marketing its Segway HTs as special "AI Edition" scooters that it has customised. The foundation and says that proceeds will help fund its "research into the next generation of interactive human devices". AI Foundation started one of its Segway auctions Monday with a minimum opening bid of $89,000; that auction has not yet drawn any bids. The foundation launched the other auction Tuesday. The organisation's auctions raised as many questions as answers. A search on Google for "AI Foundation" doesn't turn up any sites. Meanwhile, the seller changed his eBay user ID earlier this week and has made his feedback "private" meaning that bidders can't see any previous feedback comments or his feedback rating. The auction ads mention a mysterious "Project X" that the AI Foundation plans to unveil next year at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. The winners of the Segway auctions will be invited to attend the unveiling as well as the international debut of Project X the following year in Geneva, Switzerland. Additionally, the wording of the ads appeared very similar to the wording of the previous auctions on Amazon. "The Segway HT is available to the public for the first time through this eBay.com auction," the ads say, neglecting the previous auctions on Amazon. Meanwhile, the AI Foundation promises to laser engrave the winner's name and the name of Collin Mallory, the foundation's "chief innovator and visionary". The official Segway auctions on Amazon promised to engrave the winner's name and that of Dean Kamen, the inventor of the HT. But the auctions could turn out to be legitimate. Despite his doubts about the auctions, Segway's Cohen said it's possible that the AI Foundation was able to acquire a couple of HTs. Fraud has been a persistent problem on eBay, but has drawn increased scrutiny in recent months. Earlier this year, the company saw a number of fraudulent auctions set up by scam artists posing as legitimate members. Although the company has said that less than one one-hundredth of one percent of auctions end in fraud, because of the sheer number of auctions on the site, potentially hundreds of auctions each day are fraudulent. At eBay's annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday, eBay chief executive Meg Whitman said the company had put in place new antifraud software that was helping the company make major strides against fraud. EBay bidder John Zuccarino sure hopes so. Zuccarino has the top bid on the second HT auction and after losing out on the HT auctions on Amazon is prepared to bid more for it. Zuccarino would like to use the devices to help draw visitors to his winery near New York's Lake Seneca. Zuccarino said he's got his eyes open for a hoax and won't believe it isn't until he gets the device in his hands. "Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and I'll be scooting around on this thing," he said.

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