Shill bidders ?

[trader220]

Sorry but this price is just off the charts if you asked me.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Special-California-1983-Porsche-911-SC-Cabriolet-MINT_W0QQitemZ220139706198QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item 220139706198

[jjflash]

And it's "Reserve Not Met"! I wonder where that is set?

The bid history looks odd also. Bidders 1-5, 7 & 8 look legit. Bidders 6 & 9 have taken it way beyond comprehension; yet they both have eBay histories of over 5 years. And #9 is 100% positive with 500-999 feedback ratings!

Maybe they just can't resist trying to find out what the reserve is Maybe they're just impressed with all the pix! Strange.

[techweenie]

But Bidder 9 has "60%" of his 10 bids with this particular seller. Smells like a shill to me.

[Rot 911]

Maybe a schill, but that is one nice looking SC!

[trader220]

Sure its a nice looking SC but the price is well above the market if you asked me

[mic]

I think someone cant read the odometer and believe it is only 11kmiles.

[aigel]

I have had my own auctions and have had (unknown to me bidders) step in at the oddest times to raise the price with strange bidding behavior. Sometimes I think folks just like to f*ck with the people that are serious about buying and they try to raise the price without having to buy the item. Auctions like this are great for your bottom line but it was also embarrassing, as I thought it may start look like shill bidding to people.

So, in summary, unless there is a strong correlation between accounts, I wouldn't point my finger too quickly ...

George

[trader220]

Ive had that kind of stuff go on with things I have sold too. It works like this... two bidders emerge from what seems like NO WHERE and they bid your item through the roof well past what you would dream to get for it.

Whats really going on according to Ebay is that 1 person who is trying to sell a similar item has started to bid your item to the moon with 2 other names in order to take your item out of consideration by those who looking at both your item and theirs

[competentone]

Originally Posted by trader220

Ive had that kind of stuff go on with things I have sold too. It works like this... two bidders emerge from what seems like NO WHERE and they bid your item through the roof well past what you would dream to get for it.

Whats really going on according to Ebay is that 1 person who is trying to sell a similar item has started to bid your item to the moon with 2 other names in order to take your item out of consideration by those who looking at both your item and theirs

Or maybe eBay is "cheating" to increase their revenue and keep sellers happy? They can see the maximum bid a bidder has placed; they could run the auto-bid system so that "fiction bidders" bid to bring the price near the limit the real bidder has placed.

Considering how un-helpful they are to a buyer when the buyer has been scammed, and how they "turn a blind eye" to much of the stolen merchandise on their site, (and knowing that those running the company operate with a "relativistic" moral philosophy -- the position of "there is no 'right or wrong' it is all just 'opinion'") it wouldn't surprise me if they cheated in such a way.

They could "justify" it by telling themselves, "After all, the buyer was willing to pay that price he put in our system, we just helped our seller to realize that price."

[trader220]

I would doubt that happens becasue if they ever got caught that would be the end of eBay

[competentone]

Originally Posted by trader220

I would doubt that happens because if they ever got caught that would be the end of eBay

You are assuming "long-term" thinking -- that is not always present in the business world -- especially the tech business world.

It would also be extremely difficult to catch, without someone involved in the fraud (if it was happening) spilling the beans -- even then, the company could easily claim it was a "false accusation by a disgruntled employee" as a defense.

I just do not see eBay's explanation as plausible -- a seller would have to use multiple computers, with multiple IP's, with multiple identities to engage in "shill bidding" in an attempt to harm other sellers with competing items. It would just be too easy for eBay to catch and shut down such activities before they ever affect anyone else.

I have personally experienced eBay shutting down a seller's account (probably because eBay had not been paid their fees) and NOT bothering to notify the winning bidders of that seller's auctions of the action they had taken! They even re-instated one of those sellers (I assume after he paid eBay) and let him post negative feedback on the buyer (my wife, in this case) because she chose not to complete the transaction after she learned -- on her own -- that eBay had suspended the seller's account!

EBay operates from the philosophy that "there will always be another bidder, so we don't have to care much about the buyers" -- it would not surprise me at all if they had their own "internal system" of shill bidding.

[gtc]

ROFL, where's the tinfoil hat smiley when I need it?

The guy who put in 6 bids on the car didn't look suspicious to me, but the bidder listed as 2***v (651*) does. He's made 493 bids (on 357 different items) in the last month alone!!!

[trader220]

Originally Posted by trader220

I would doubt that happens becasue if they ever got caught that would be the end of eBay

+1 on this one again eBay DOES NOT have internal shill bidders my, but I am sure they have people watching you