Shilling - What do I do?

frivolous_fay

I'm afraid I can't see it Moglex's way at all.

Look at it this way: say I want to go and buy the latest Muse CD. I expect to pay about £15. I go into HMV and find a copy for £14.99 and buy it.

A friend tells me later that day that there was a sale rack at the back of the store with copies for £9.99.

Just because I was EXPECTING to pay £14.99, it doesn't make it RIGHT that I was charged £14.99 when I could have had it for £9.99!

Moglex - the reason I disagree with you is that your 'end of story' is a 's*** happens' story. My story is a legal, moral story where people do things by the book and aren't greedy, moneygrubbing rip-off merchants.

I don't condone illegal, immoral shilling and I will fight it at every opportunity. You are perfectly at liberty to accept it. I won't be agreeing with you any time soon. (Me, I don't like getting screwed by sellers.) End of MY story.

dmg24

Davilown,

The shill bids were under two different ID's, and literally took the price from £30 to £65. I did bid at the last minute (about ten seconds left!), which is lucky or it would most likely have gone much higher.

I completely agree with you, ebay is about getting a bargain, I didn't get a bargain because of the shill bids. Due to the two ID's being used, the shill bidding was pretty covert, and these had only been used on odd items before (so rarely that they could have been coincidence). However, since then this seller has gone into overdrive (and shot herself in the foot) by using these ID's numerous times.

Your comments are constructive, so thank you!

Moglex,

Your items are wholly unconstructive. I asked for advice, and am very grateful to those who have given it. I don't imagine anyone who posts on MSE expects responses from those who just want to pick fault in other people's misfortune.

To all those that have helped,

Thank you ... I'll let you know what happens! x

bleugh

frivolous_fay wrote:

I want to go and buy the latest Muse CD. I expect to pay about £15. I go into HMV and find a copy for £14.99 and buy it.

A friend tells me later that day that there was a sale rack at the back of the store with copies for £9.99.

Just because I was EXPECTING to pay £14.99, it doesn't make it RIGHT that I was charged £14.99 when I could have had it for £9.99!

erm, that's why tesco R+R ers have so much fun!, find the lowest price :-)


BUT, the point here is that you WANTED to pay £14.99 so you paid it, don't whine because you could have paid less but didn't look


let us know the item number of the auction if you can

i certainly don't condone shill bidding, but someone that kicks up a huge stink because they won an item for 1p more than the next bidder down then realised that at the beginning the item was 'shill bidded' a bit, even though market forces dictate that regardless of the shill bidding or not, it'd have fetched the same price:eek:

dmg24

Bleugh,

Thanks for your reply, but my first post notes that I paid double the price due to shill bidding, not just 1p more! Market forces were definitely influenced by the shill bidding, which was done right up until the end of the auction.

I don't think it's a good idea to post the item number until the issue is resolved, for all I know the shiller could be on here ... or one of her other guises!

Newtonlot

Let me put this to you all then.

If the op had proxy bid of £65. Expecting to only pay £65 if it went up to that amount 'legally', and the auction was won for £30 would anyone complain? No

If the op had a proxy bid of£65 and the seller bumped the bid from £30 to £65 is this ethically right? No I don't think so.

Some are saying it is the buyers fault as he was prepared to pay £65. Well I think it is the sellers fault, surely if they didn't want it to go for less than £65 they should have put a reserve price on it.

Moglex

frivolous_fay wrote:

Moglex - the reason I disagree with you is that your 'end of story' is a 's*** happens' story. My story is a legal, moral story where people do things by the book and aren't greedy, moneygrubbing rip-off merchants.

I don't condone illegal, immoral shilling and I will fight it at every opportunity. You are perfectly at liberty to accept it. I won't be agreeing with you any time soon. (Me, I don't like getting screwed by sellers.) End of MY story.

Well, we're obviously never going to agree on this.

From my point of view, no merdre has happened, and I have not been screwed by a seller.

I'm a responsible (occasionally) adult who is capable of making up his mind how much he's prepared to pay for somthing and is also prepared to take responsibility for his decisions.

If someone is prepared to sell me what I want for what I want to pay, or less, then I'm happy.

Who gives a toss if one of the previous bidders happened to be the sellers second cousin three times removed? I decided what I was prepared to pay, and I got the bargain I contracted for - so I'm happy.

Moglex

Newtonlot wrote:

Some are saying it is the buyers fault as he was prepared to pay £65. Well I think it is the sellers fault, surely if they didn't want it to go for less than £65 they should have put a reserve price on it.

By the same token, if the buyer only wanted to pay £30, then that's what she should have bid.

At the end of the day, there is no coercion on either side.

The contract was freely entered into.

davilown

Newtonlot wrote:

Let me put this to you all then.

If the op had proxy bid of £65. Expecting to only pay £65 if it went up to that amount 'legally', and the auction was won for £30 would anyone complain? No

If the op had a proxy bid of£65 and the seller bumped the bid from £30 to £65 is this ethically right? No I don't think so.

Some are saying it is the buyers fault as he was prepared to pay £65. Well I think it is the sellers fault, surely if they didn't want it to go for less than £65 they should have put a reserve price on it.

I'm certainly not blaming the buyer, just trying to explain the reality of ebay as it has evolved so greatly in the last few years that it will soon be just enother shop. at least 80% of items sold on ebay are shop items. No bargains (well maybe a few!).

Regards

:beer: monster

humancoin

Moglex wrote:

I don't understand.

You made a decision that an item was worth a certain amount of money, bid that amount, won the item, paid for it and got it.

Where is the problem?

It was entirely up to you to determine what you thought the item was worth. Nobody forced you to bid the amount you did.

You are so right.

Wow, i can't believe you are annoyed with this. Yes shilling should not happen, it does. But you bit that maximum you were willing to pay. End of story.

As for HMV etc story, not the same, auction vs. shop, very different. Money saving yes, but complaining at every little thing, come on!

dmg24

I agree with Davilown, eBay has just turned into another shop. Very sad because it used to be a valuable resource.

Moglex, as stated earlier, your comments really are not appreciated. I am grateful to all those who have offered constructive comments to the discussion. Furthermore, the contract was not freely entered into, as there was fraudulent misrepresentation on the part of the seller.