It does work... and fast
A 4000USD auction offering 5ebay pts per dollar will result in fees of:
Ebay Anything Points Cost 200.00
Listing Fee 4.80
Sales Fee 73.12
PayPal 116.30
This will get you 20,000 ebay points that are doubled to 40,000. The person you send this to can then simply buy a separate item from you and send you your money back. If you so choose you could then simply ping the 4000 back and forth until you get bored while racking up points along the way.
The ebay points post in under 24 hours and are doubled immediately. Approximately 2 hours after your ebay anything points post you new balance will be reflected at points.com (except weekends for some reason). You can then transfer to the mileage program of your choice which in some cases is instant. Any special bonuses seem to run on a batch and seem to happen on a weekly basis. So from auction to points in a mileage program is under 28 hours.
Good luck but pay attention to the paypal warnings.
Rich