Shill Bidding on Ebay

[rbattelle]

This morning I learned what "shill" bidding is. It's when a person bids on their own items in order to increase the value. I've always wondered whether this goes on at Ebay... looks like it does.



Check this out.



HUGE thread (I haven't read all of it). Very interesting.



Ryan

 

[HEMI®Dart]

They should ban the shillers IP address at minimum.

 

[ACoyle]

Banning an IP would not be fair (Other users of the same computer), nor effective, since so many people have dynamic IP.



It would be no owrk at all for ebay to discern the same bidding patterns that so many people have found manually. Stopping shills could be automatic. There is matter of lost revenue, shills help the seller and ebay. I have never recieved a satisfactory reply as a buyer. In my opinion their buyer protections are hollow and ineffective.



AC

 

[CSnyder]

I know a guy that used an account in his wifes name to run up his auctions on Ebay and when he got reported he was suspended from Ebay for a year. I always let best bid win unless I set a reserve. If these people want something to bring a minimum why arent they just starting it out at that price like I do? It makes things easy!

 

[TnLRacing]

I think most people set a reserve , and start the bidding off low, to get some action and interest in an item. I know personally I am more likely to bid on something that has a reserve, rather than something that the opening bid is say $200. That being said I am also a member of the shill bidding club, but before you tear my head off, I never have done it to get more money for an item. I will usually have a friend bid on an item and bring it right to the reserve then stop.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

On one item I was watching on Ebay, the SAME idiot shiller ran up HIS OWN BID about 6 times consecutively - talk about stupid AND blatant...

 

[jwilliams3]

Gary,

I dont think thats possible.

For one you can't bid on your own items (with your own account).

Two a bidder cannot bid against one self. . ebay's software does not allow it.

 

[TowPro]

another problem I feel with Ebay is people waiting until the last second to bid. There are even places you can join and let there servers bid for you at the last second. In a real auction, if you make a bid the auction is extended to allow others to out bid you. Ebay should do the same thing. I have emailed them about it but there to big to listen to the little guy. They say just bid what you want to spend and let Ebay bid it up for you.

 

[SMolteberg]

When you see how the big powersellers can bend rules you can get sick. Big money talks, but ordinary people are getting their eyes open now. Hopefully Ebay will recognize that and take proper action.



I used to shop a lot on ebay, but I have found out it's not so much to save these days when you have to pay inflated shipping rates. Today I mostly use it as a place to check prices and usualy I end up buying in an ordinary shop.

My latest was a new digital camera, monitored ebay for a few days, checked the different online stores, the big chainstores, but ended up buying over the counter in an old fashioned camerashop. They had experienced people that could actually tell me something about the different features of the camera. Same price as the big chainstores, much better service. I also feel certain they will take good care of me if something happens during warranty. Most of this you loose shopping on ebay.

 

[ACoyle]

TnlRacing - Interresting thought on reserves. I usually will not bid on an item with a reserve. To me it is kind of wasting my time. People bid around to see how close to the reserve that they can get and not go over it very much. For the seller, they do not have to sell for less than the reserve. They are really just getting names for second chance offers. At least, that is how it looks to me. I had not considered the interest, but, it still won't sell for less than the reserve.



SMolterberg - Since eBay rides along for a percentage of whatever is sold, they most likely will not do anything that reduces their profits. The people that meke them the most money will get the best treatment. Bidding at the very end of the auction is called sniping. It is about the only advantage that a buyer has. If you bid early, you drive up the price for the seller. Finally, you are right, I do not see any real bargains there. Especially since eBay really does nothing to protect the buyer.



I bought a copy of Windows XP that was supposed to be genuine. The listing stated that as per Microsoft's regulations a piece of hardware would be included with the package. It did state that the hardware may not be functional. I cot a copy of a CD, a serial number printed on a piece of paper and a screw. I complained to eBay, they did nothing. I then had to go buy a copy of XP.



AC

 

[TowPro]

TnlRacing - Interresting thought on reserves. They are really just getting names for second chance offers.

AC

I have used this to my advantage serveral times. I found an ebay store that would second chance offer anything you bid on. I was biding on an auto/inflate life vest, I quit bidding around $50. 00, it sold for $75. 00. Next think I know I had a second chance offer at the $50. 00 I bid. Being a "smart consumer" I tried it again, but this time stopped bidding at $15. 00. Everytime he turned around and sold me one 2nd chance for the $15. 00 I bid. I ended up buying 3 more that way!

 

[Bob Wagner]

another problem I feel with Ebay is people waiting until the last second to bid. There are even places you can join and let there servers bid for you at the last second. In a real auction, if you make a bid the auction is extended to allow others to out bid you. Ebay should do the same thing. I have emailed them about it but there to big to listen to the little guy. They say just bid what you want to spend and let Ebay bid it up for you.

sniping works well :-laf

 

[jwilliams3]

Ebay is great. I have saved money and have lucked into bargains countless times.



Most people that sell on ebay are pretty good if not better than people you would deal with outside of the internet (feedback says it all).

 

[rbattelle]

I do tend to wait until the last 30 minutes or so before placing a bid on things (I've only ever bought 4 or 5 things on Ebay). For some reason, I don't want to show "too much interest" in things too early.



Ryan

 

[SMolteberg]

Oh yeah, sniping is the only thing that works on e-bay, it took me only a few auctions to figure that one out. But you have to do it manually, using sniping software are cheating I need the rush to be the last who update and place that bid. I have seen items that had zero bids until 30 seconds, and then 10 different people leave their bids. Lost that one



What I meant that ebay will have to live up to their rules also for powersellers are if not they will loose revenue when people turn against them. A lot of people I know in the different classic car clubs have mostly stopped using Ebay. First of inflated prices and second that rules only apply for small time sellers and buyers.

 

[Headshot zod]

I'm a sniper... ... . I usually bid in the last 10 seconds.

 

[rbattelle]

Fortunately for me, the few things I bid on are usually things no one else wants.



Ryan

 

[TowPro]

sniping works well :-laf

I could not remember the name . I do it also, since you can do it, its the only way to keep things cheep. I decide how much I am willing to pay, then bid that amount with around 5 seconds left and let Ebay bid for me.

 

[CumminsAholic]

How about the items that are "listed for sale locally" that when they look like they're going to sell cheap the seller removes them. That's a bunch of bs. Isn't that a buy it now price? If you don't want it to sell cheap, put a reserve on it. You shouldn't be able to end an auction once it starts. That and all the phony actions "e-mail me for the buy it now price $3200" for a $9000 sea doo rxp... . yeah right. I guess if you're that stupid to believe it's a real auction you maybe deserve to be scammed? I've had pretty good luck on ebay though only 1 problem and it only cost me a few dollars. I won an auction then the guy sent me the shipping cost. $50 for a $5 item. It would have maybe cost him $6 to send it thru usps. But it sold too cheap and he wanted to make money on it somehow. I told him to keep it and paid the $5 to keep my 100% positive feedback. Now I always ask on shipping first.

Corey

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Here's an excellent example of "buyers" bidding against themselves - check out the bidding history, and see what Bidder #4 was doing:



http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1932...97QQihZ001QQcategoryZ6221QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem



I see Ebay has a new (to me) policy of identifying bidders by #'s rather than name - supposedly to protect them from unscrupulous lurkers - I wonder who protects the general bidding public from unscrupulous bidders?



For sure, it pays to be VERY careful when buying on Ebay - lots of questionable "buys" on their pages.



As to "sniping", if a guy isn't physically able to be in front of his PC at the item's closing time, it makes a great way to place the absolute maximum you are willing to pay, and still get the item you want - I use it too...