Comet, Shill bidding??

FirstClassMale

A couple of weeks ago, I started a thread on here asking where I could get discounted electricals, ex display, shop returns, cosmetic damaged etc. I got a very good response and several leads as to where to get these so let me thank those of you once again.

One site I was directed to was https://www.clearance-comet.co.uk This is the site that Comet use to sell off their ex display items and such. It is an auction site with items ending about five days apart and you must register before bidding.

We were keen on a Samsung American style fridge freezer as it was a huge saving off the in store price but when my OH looked up the bidding history, she found there had been three bids from the same user name within minutes of each other. They had bid something like £200, £250 and £301, All in the space of a few minutes and with no sign of being outbid in between. We started looking at the other items on the site and found that the vast majority have someone in the middle of the auction who puts in multiple bids. I thought at first that this was people trying to get through the reserve that is sometimes set on items but it seems that some items have more than one of these multiple bidders in the list pushing up the final auction price.

The terms and conditions of the site clearly say that the employees of the owners of the site are entitled to bid but are they possibly bidding with the sole intention of pushing the final price up? A practice that as affected Ebay for some time now known, I believe, as Shill bidding.

Have a look on the site and let me know your thoughts

FirstClassMale

Board moderators, feel free to move this thread to the warnings board if you feel it is more appropriate. The reason I posted in this board is because it was as a follow up to a previous thread on discount electricals

loadsacash

I have used Comet before and I think that it is just that the first person put in a large bid and the second person tried to outbid them without spending too much money.

I bought a gas hob from them last week and on a couple of occasions somebody put in about 3 bids, I then outbid them.

I do look at the site and sometimes I do bid but what does surprise me is that sometimes you may have an item that cost 50.00 in the shop and somebody is bidding 35.00. After they pay for that plus carriage charges it is no longer a bargain!

trace-j

I'm intrigued now! I've had a look at the Samsung fridge you were on about and see what you mean, the bids were also made during office hours 10am- not that means much.

Have you got links to all the other items you were on about, I'm struggling to see where these other examples are?

Shill bidding happens all the time on ebay, nothing would surprise me than Comet having it's own employees bid on the auctions to make them more money. Or the staff having a bit of a laugh cos they've got nothing better to do.

On the other hand re the Samsung fridge, Comet wouldn't have gained anything by shill bidding to about half way before the reserve, I could understand it if they did it to just below the reserve when the next bidder would then meet the reserve.