[sdiy] ebay internal shill bidding?

[Bob Weigel]

On 1/5/2011 4:12 PM, Ben Lincoln wrote:
>
> I've seen the same thing happen at real-world auctions. I went to the
> University of Washington's surplus auction once, and it was a huge waste
> of time. Virtually everything was bid up so high that in many cases it
> would have been cheaper to go out and buy the same thing new, instead of
> having been through 5-20 years of abuse by students and staff. That's
> great for the seller, but not for encouraging repeat business from the
> buyers.
>
> I know there's a whole argument here that the inflated value is actually
> the "fair market value" because at least one person was willing to pay it,
>    

Yup.  They can determine this 'fair market value' on someone else's 
time. lol.
>
> eBay's model has its problems, but I like the balance it strikes. If
> someone is willing (with a clear mind, not in the last minute of the
> auction) to spend $400 on something that is currently only sitting at $15,
> and I try to snipe it in the last ten seconds for $250, they'll still end
> up winning. Most likely, I won't even have a chance to revise my snipe
> attempt, because the auction will have ended. The seller still ends up
> getting a fair price, even if they don't extract the maximum theoretical
> value from the auction.
>    

It's a great system for causing both sellers and buyers to learn some 
things.  Those who won't learn can continue listing poorly and getting 
marginal returns.  I think it's a character building tool.  The only 
thing that would make it better would be 1) return to the disclosure of 
who is bidding, which would rid the potential for this type of 
corruption..and 2) Allow buyers to dictate reasonable terms when sellers 
defraud them.

eg. the Split 8 sitting on my bench.  The guy sold it 'as is for parts' 
but didn't DESCRIBE the parts....ie. the front panel was a RUST BUCKET 
and you can't tell in the photo.  This happened with 'GRLDY' (the 
funniest interaction I've ever had with an ebay buyer. The whole 
conversation is documented on my 'bad vender' list from the global synth 
page. lol.  He said "Very idiot user" as a reply to my feedback! ").. 
same deal.  Happens every now and then.  Another Delta lately..the guy 
used a phony pic!  Sent me a synth with big slider caps rather than the 
originals showing in photo..and a big crack in the cheek that was 
already done before it shipped obviously.

Anyway in situations like that ebay should say 'send it back at your 
expense'.  Rather they should force the seller to either send a call tag 
AND pay for your packing time OR pay you the amount the repair costs. -Bob