Shill bidders at it again...

bribrian

Been trying to buy a crazy frog doll for my daughter & came across this blatent piece of bumping up the price..
The bidder 'strongbow270' even sells this product & look at the history of his bidding on nickwarpaint2zn3 's items !!!!!!! Very interesting..................

GRrrrrr

bribrian

And the plot thickens!!!!! take a look at '3chippies' bidding history....Mmmmm

Now if that's not shill bidding then Martin Lewis is not trustworthy.. he, he..

Hintza

I was about to say that you can't tell...and that I often bid on competitors items either to sneak a cheap win or ensure price integrity in the market I'm selling in.


But this guy is taking the mickey!!!!

bribrian

Hintza wrote:

I often bid on competitors items either to sneak a cheap win or ensure price integrity in the market I'm selling in.

Does that not count as a form of shill bidding as your artifically inflating the price of an item which someone could win at a bargain price????

gromituk

Hintza wrote:

"ensure price integrity in the market I'm selling in."

What on earth do you mean by that? You are behaving no better than a shill bidder, and would deserve just as much to get NARUd for it.

jaffa30

gromituk wrote:

What on earth do you mean by that? You are behaving no better than a shill bidder, and would deserve just as much to get NARUd for it.

I have to agree with you on that one.

Jaffa

Hintza

In what way is it shill bidding?


If I win it I pay for it and then relist it and sell it at a profit (or loss). Why should I be NARUD for it? If I believe something is too cheap I can bid on it as well as anyone else!! What you are really moaning about is that someone is stoping you buying something at an artficially low price!! I make a reasonable amount of money each month buying on EBay and reselling on EBay.

You too could do the same!!

I would love to see a coherent argument against it!! Is that not how commerce works buy cheap and sell expensive? I take the risks involved, goods not as described, broken goods on arrival or selling for less than I paid.

There are too many folk on EBay who expect a free lunch!!

I can see this being an interesting thread!!

shelly

The seller says in the auction that he's been told that these are hard to get hold of. I was in Kings Lynn at the weekend and saw shelves upon shelves of the annoying little things! They were under £10. Also they had the dragons and the yellow chicks.

gromituk

Hintza wrote:

In what way is it shill bidding?

It is artificially raising the price of the products you are trying to sell. The very definition of shill bidding.

If I win it I pay for it and then relist it and sell it at a profit (or loss).

So do shill bidders who !!!! up.

Why should I be NARUD for it? If I believe something is too cheap I can bid on it as well as anyone else!!

But you've admitted that that is not your only motive: "I often bid on competitors items either to sneak a cheap win or to ensure price integrity in the market I'm selling in." In other words, you are interfering with your own auctions.

What you are really moaning about is that someone is stoping you buying something at an artficially low price!!

Not in the slightest. I am pointing out that you are breaking eBay's rules by ensuring things sell for an artificially high price, by bidding on things sold by other people in order to increase the price of the same goods being sold by you.

The fact that you believe that there is an "artificially low price" shows, I think, a misunderstanding of the auction process.

I make a reasonable amount of money each month buying on EBay and reselling on EBay.

So do criminals robbing banks, but that hardly justifies it

I would love to see a coherent argument against it!!

"Shill Bidding is bidding that artificially increases an item's price or apparent desirability" - eBay

Is that not how commerce works buy cheap and sell expensive?

I'm not expecting you to buy expensive and sell cheap - please don't try to cloud the argument. There are mechanisms to prevent that in the shape of starting prices and reserves. Why don't you use these?

There are too many folk on EBay who expect a free lunch!!

It's nothing to do with free lunches. Bidding on items in order to "ensure price integrity in the market" is simply distorting the market.

I can see this being an interesting thread!!

Too right!

bribrian

Hintza wrote:

What you are really moaning about is that someone is stoping you buying something at an artficially low price!!

There are too many folk on EBay who expect a free lunch!!

There is no such thing as an artifically low price on an auction, what you are doing is a blatent form of price fixing & if it was some large corporate, you & everyone else on here would take exception to it & quite rightly so..
I thought the bad old days of the RRP 'old boys club' had gone forever but i see some folks still live in the past.........

Hintza

At the end of the day I have the right to bid on any item I wish to bid on. Except items that I am selling or if I am bidding in cahoots with a seller.


Neither of those apply. I therfore break no EBay rules!!

I do not bid on my own auctions. And as people know on here, I start my auctions at the minimum price I am prepared to accept and set a BIN price that should be acheivable.

Why is it setting artificially high prices? I bid what I am willing to pay that will also allow me to make a profit at a later time. That is not setting an artificially high price that is ensuring the object reaches a fairer price. And in most instances that price is at least 35% below what I think is acheivable in optimum conditions.

If competitor x has a poorly worded auction and I see the item selling for 60% of the value I reckon I can sell it for; am I not now allowed to bid?

You are also questioning the morals of buying on EBay to make a profit....how can you liken this to bank robbery..thats fatuous!!

There is absolutely no market distortion...if I bid the item is TOOOOO cheap.

I might just add that my EBay purchases have been £3,301.62 since the start of December. I have managed to get a fair few buyers a hell of a better price than they would have acheived if I was not active. I will then resell those items through a number of outlets including EBay and hopefully acheive a net profit of between 10% and 20%. I work part time in training but a fair proportion of my income comes from buying and selling on EBay. I have a family to feed as I imagine do most folk. If making a profit is wrong then I am in the wrong but I will not apologise for my perfectly legal and within EBay rules trading style.

To counter the last comment...there is NO price fixing or RRP style activity here. I see a bargain and I will bid, I obviously think it is worth more to me than to the others who are also bidding on it otherwise I would not win it....