[sdiy] ebay internal shill bidding?

[Mike Pepper]

I think a very real problem with ebay is that it is not a real auction. It
is more akin to a game of 'chicken', with everyone holding off until the
last minute to bid or 'swerve'. This has the effect of keeping prices down,
and inciting shill attempts to get them up, usually from sellers.

I heard of one on-line small scale system, that only closed the auction
after a preset end time, when there had been no more bids for (say) 30
seconds. Pity ebay can't trial/option something like that.

||\/||ike


> I was gonna say this is OT bit that's the other list. Regardless, I used
to always bid last moment as I thought that was the only real way to gauge a
deal.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jan 4, 2011, at 5:34 PM, Paul Cunningham <paul at cometway.com> wrote:
>
> > I've done a ton of ebay buying and selling (synths) and can tell you
that unless you really have the evidence that it's fraud, its not unusual
that only one other person is bidding on your item of interest at the last
second.
> >
> > More than anything else, I've seen a lot of popular items go to a single
bidder, or no bidder at all. If you are in competition for an item with one
*other* person, that's not unusual (the market isn't that huge), and anyone
who wins on eBay knows you have to bid at the very last second if you want
to win.
> >
> > I often don't bid until 15s or so, and often I am not the only bidder at
the end of it. I try to bid what I think is a reasonable price for the item,
and sometimes I don't win, but usually I do. So the 10$ item turns out being
45$ (but worth $100), and frankly there's really nothing keeping the seller
(or one of his friends) from bidding against me as long as they low-ball.
> >
> > I did win a calculator watch for $10 with no competition, so it's not
happening all the time at least.
> >
> > I've also been watching for a Korg Micro X and did not bid on one that
was $200 (!). It did not sell. Twice. Seriously? A $450+ synth with 100%
seller feedback went unnoticed? It happens, and happened more than once this
week. Sometimes there just isn't a market for even the best deal.
> >
> > So if you have the hard evidence, go find a lawyer who wants to take on
ebay. Although I'm always disappointed to end up paying more than the
current bidding price, I haven't felt that I have ever paid more than the
product was worth. If ebay is benefitting off inflated sellers fees, and you
have the proof that the other bidder is an ebay employee, sounds like you
have a case. Doubt you can destroy them, and frankly I hope you don't.
> >
> > How do you know the other bidder is really willing to spend the amount
they are bidding? You don't. That's part of the auction game, and as long as
everyone is playing by ebay's terms and policies, nobody is doing anything
wrong. -pc
> >
> >
> >
> > On Jan 4, 2011, at 6:07 PM, Bob Weigel wrote:
> >
> >> However..the raw number of times it's been..just...one... person.
Something seems strange.  We're talking a worldwide thing here.  And it's
always (except on really popular items of course like Prophet 5's or
whatever...where there are mass numbers of people bidding within 100 dollars
of each other at the end. lol.  Yeah in those cases if there is a shill
bidder they're kinda lost in the mix.) just one person.
What..are..the....freaking odds of that?  It's just too consistent.  It's up
to a 1 in 1000's odds scenario at least at this point without a doubt
minimally.
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