Ebay will most likely use systems to detect suspicious actions, likely using neural networks, banks use similar for finding odd transactions and detecting debt risk assessment, among many other things of course.

if you feed a neural net a series of parameters in the form of training data of know fraudlent transactions then you will be able to produce a network capable of monitoring in real time potential or likely actions such as these you have encountered. I've implemented similar systems in my work.

This scam could of course just be a quick way to make $14,000, but I would hedge my bets that is is more than likely a means of money laudering.

I see no problem with trading through ebay, its the use of commonsense and the use of hard measures with a fall back (I.E. a cheque you can cancel, or picking up in cash), Auctions have always been a places rampent with money laundering,

Paypal is Swiss centric, so I see no means by which the UK goverment can have any means of preventing it, if you know anything about swiss banking laws - but I could be wrong of course!

Anyway good luck.

i2c