Sunday Times exposes Titanium Powerseller shill bidder

kriss_boy

People probably only shill bid because reserve prices are such a rip off.

pinkgem

kriss_boy wrote:

People probably only shill bid because reserve prices are such a rip off.

from march 1st ebay will no longer be refunding reserve fees if an item sells, which i think will mean less people putting reserves on items and more shill bidding

kriss_boy

pinkgem wrote:

from march 1st ebay will no longer be refunding reserve fees if an item sells, which i think will mean less people putting reserves on items and more shill bidding

Thats absolutely ridiculous. So it will now cost double to put a reserve on.

Soon theyll think of a way of ripping us off via buy it nows. Because listing something expensive is only a couple of quid so if it doesnt sell its not too bad at the moment.

frivolous_fay

Glad to see all the usual suspects are out and about defending shilling.

I'm not going to waste my energy arguing with them.

rizla01

And I take it that no-one sees anything wrong with buyers that go on Ebay and bid low with the intention of 'Stealing' an item to later re-list it for more money. Perhaps taking advantage of some poor sod that listed the item incorrectly or in the wrong section.

Or is it always the seller that is in the wrong?

Shill bidding goes on in Auctions, even today.

The auctioneer often takes a bid 'Off the wall' which is exactly the same concept.

Can someone explain to me what is so wrong with the following.?

Someone puts their maximum bid on of say £200.00.

The item is only showing £90 and would go to that buyer for that price without anyone else bidding.

So the seller 'Bumps' the price by shilling and gets what the item is worth???

Or is he expected to sell at a loss because on that day, no-other interested persons have spotted his listing?

Or pay Extra to Ebay!!

Even more watering down of profits.

And as mentioned before shill bidding is the SAME as putting a reserve on an item without having to pay Ebay for the priviledge. Ebay have the Monopoly on online auctions and they should have more controls imposed on them.

They are the true crooks, especially when you look at PayPal charges.

pinkgem

radio 1 news is running a story about ebay shill bidding today, asking people to text/email their experiences and telling people what to look out for like:

bidders bidding on only 1 or 2 peoples auctions

items being relisted soon after "selling" because the shill bidder has accidentally won their own item - although this could be due to a seller having multiple items and only listing 1 at a time

people who bid for example £19.99 instead of £20 are likely to be shill bidding because they aren't bidding to win - i have had newbies bid xx.99 on my auctions before, if this happens again i might get reported for shill bidding!

well done radio 1

frivolous_fay

pinkgem wrote:

items being relisted soon after "selling" because the shill bidder has accidentally won their own item - although this could be due to a seller having multiple items and only listing 1 at a time

If the reason for a 2nd chance offer is plausible (Dear buyer, I have two of these so I'm sending you a 2nd chance offer) I'm happy to go for it.

It's where I'm buying something collectible, or unusual, so I know there's likely to be one, yet somehow the winner backs out within 20 minutes of the auction end, for unspecified reasons. You have to be able to judge when you're being fed a line, or not.

pinkgem wrote:

people who bid for example £19.99 instead of £20 are likely to be shill bidding because they aren't bidding to win - i have had newbies bid xx.99 on my auctions before, if this happens again i might get reported for shill bidding!

I don't know why they said this, it sounds like bollards to me.

wendym

But at least he's not being a gynaecologist any more!

motorguy

codger wrote:

Just as you appear to agree that fraud and deceit are A Good Thing.

Nope. never said that. having been at the receiving end of a £400 paypal fraud (paypal revoked a transaction THREE WEEKS after the fraudster had paid for it leaving me down £400), all i am saying is there are worse things happen in ebay that ebay are doing sod all about, and there are worse things happening in the world, yet the times took the time to report on someone bumping up the price of their own items..

I don't really see what the absolute crime is with shill bidding. Consider these two examples - one with a reserve price of £70 on the item, the other with a little shill bidding...

EXAMPLE 1

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The reserve has been set at £70 by the seller as thats the lowest price its worthwhile selling the item at.

item is bid up to £60 by bidder A though he has a max bid of £80 on the item, no one else bids it any further. The bidder would have been happy to pay up to £80 but noone else bids, it doesnt meet reserve and the auction ends. Result :-

Ebay get their fees and a reserve price fee too.
The seller doesnt get a sale.
The buyer doesnt get the item he would have happily paid up to £80 for.


EXAMPLE 2

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Ok, example two, no reserve, just a shill bidder.

Item at £60, same buyer, who has a max bid set at £80. Shill bidder bids it to £69, the buyer bid auto increases to £70. Auction ends. Result :-

Ebay get their fees
The seller gets a sale
The buyer gets the item and at £10 less than their max bid.

It happens all the time at auctions. i have stood in a car auction of a national chain of auctioneers, been the only one THERE - and the auction price was still going up!!

Not saying shill bidding is Big, not saying its Smart but IS THERE REALLY NO WORSE THINGS HAPPENING IN THE WORLD THAT WE SHOULD BE WORRYING ABOUT??

motorguy

If ebay wants to stop shill bidding, then stop charging large fees for reserve price auctions, and allow listings that end without meeting reserve to be relisted for FREE.