Ebay Shill Bidding
in [Design]
|
Prev: BS from BS
Next: AC current sensors with interface...
From: TTman on 20 May 2010 02:33 "Bill Bowden" <wrongaddress(a)att.net> wrote in message news:def5cd9e-7839-4505-b1c0-e14f7b2464ca(a)40g2000vbr.googlegroups.com... >I have bought a few items on Ebay with good transactions, and was > recently looking at a true sinewave inverter (12 volt DC to 120 VAC) > 300 watt Continuous, 600 watt peak, and so I bid $60 maximum but was > outbid by $7 and lost the auction. I then noticed the same item was > for sale again in just a few hours (maybe 18) and so I bid again with > a limit of $60 and again lost the auction with a final bid of $65. And > so I bid again on the same item with same limit of $60 and was outbid > again at $61.12. And then bid again for the 4th time on the same item, > and again lost the auction for $61.00, just $1.00 more than my limit. > > The seller appears to have a good feedback record, but this auction > looks like somebody is bidding against me just to drive the price up, > and always wins the auction by bidding $1 more than my limit. > > I do understand the new 300 watt sinewave inverter is worth more than > $60, probably in the $200 range, so maybe this is just standard > practice to weed out the low bidders? > > But it still seems to be a violation of Ebay (shill) policies. > > -Bill > Sounds like maybe the seller is bidding ( with an alias) to avoid a low value sale....
From: Bart! on 20 May 2010 03:14 On Thu, 20 May 2010 07:33:42 +0100, "TTman" <someone.pc(a)ntlworld.com> wrote: > >"Bill Bowden" <wrongaddress(a)att.net> wrote in message >news:def5cd9e-7839-4505-b1c0-e14f7b2464ca(a)40g2000vbr.googlegroups.com... >>I have bought a few items on Ebay with good transactions, and was >> recently looking at a true sinewave inverter (12 volt DC to 120 VAC) >> 300 watt Continuous, 600 watt peak, and so I bid $60 maximum but was >> outbid by $7 and lost the auction. I then noticed the same item was >> for sale again in just a few hours (maybe 18) and so I bid again with >> a limit of $60 and again lost the auction with a final bid of $65. And >> so I bid again on the same item with same limit of $60 and was outbid >> again at $61.12. And then bid again for the 4th time on the same item, >> and again lost the auction for $61.00, just $1.00 more than my limit. >> >> The seller appears to have a good feedback record, but this auction >> looks like somebody is bidding against me just to drive the price up, >> and always wins the auction by bidding $1 more than my limit. >> >> I do understand the new 300 watt sinewave inverter is worth more than >> $60, probably in the $200 range, so maybe this is just standard >> practice to weed out the low bidders? >> >> But it still seems to be a violation of Ebay (shill) policies. >> >> -Bill >> > >Sounds like maybe the seller is bidding ( with an alias) to avoid a low >value sale.... > But, he would still owe ebay their commission for EACH sale. So, he is a complete and utter retard for bidding on his own item, and IF ebay allows him to "remove" the sale internally after it has already been "sold" from an online observation perspective, they are breaking their own rules. I would report the fact that the item went up 4 times over, and that the bidding/sale result looks quite suspicious since the item is listed as the only one he has to sell.
From: Sylvia Else on 20 May 2010 04:13 On 20/05/2010 5:14 PM, Bart! wrote: > On Thu, 20 May 2010 07:33:42 +0100, "TTman"<someone.pc(a)ntlworld.com> > wrote: > >> >> "Bill Bowden"<wrongaddress(a)att.net> wrote in message >> news:def5cd9e-7839-4505-b1c0-e14f7b2464ca(a)40g2000vbr.googlegroups.com... >>> I have bought a few items on Ebay with good transactions, and was >>> recently looking at a true sinewave inverter (12 volt DC to 120 VAC) >>> 300 watt Continuous, 600 watt peak, and so I bid $60 maximum but was >>> outbid by $7 and lost the auction. I then noticed the same item was >>> for sale again in just a few hours (maybe 18) and so I bid again with >>> a limit of $60 and again lost the auction with a final bid of $65. And >>> so I bid again on the same item with same limit of $60 and was outbid >>> again at $61.12. And then bid again for the 4th time on the same item, >>> and again lost the auction for $61.00, just $1.00 more than my limit. >>> >>> The seller appears to have a good feedback record, but this auction >>> looks like somebody is bidding against me just to drive the price up, >>> and always wins the auction by bidding $1 more than my limit. >>> >>> I do understand the new 300 watt sinewave inverter is worth more than >>> $60, probably in the $200 range, so maybe this is just standard >>> practice to weed out the low bidders? >>> >>> But it still seems to be a violation of Ebay (shill) policies. >>> >>> -Bill >>> >> >> Sounds like maybe the seller is bidding ( with an alias) to avoid a low >> value sale.... >> > > But, he would still owe ebay their commission for EACH sale. So, he is > a complete and utter retard for bidding on his own item, and IF ebay > allows him to "remove" the sale internally after it has already been > "sold" from an online observation perspective, they are breaking their > own rules. > > I would report the fact that the item went up 4 times over, and that the > bidding/sale result looks quite suspicious since the item is listed as > the only one he has to sell. The seller doesn't have to list multiple items in one auction if he doesn't want to. The fact that the OP is losing out by $1 each time just reflects the fact that the bid increment is $1. If someone wants several of these inverters, it makes sense for them to specify the maximum amount they're willing to pay as their maximum bid. Then provided no other bidder out bids them, their final automatic bid will be $1 more than the highest bid from anyone else. If it happens that there's only one other bidder, then that bidder will find himself outbid each time by $1. It's a natural outcome, and there's nothing iffy about it. Sylvia.
From: PeterD on 20 May 2010 06:33 On Thu, 20 May 2010 07:33:42 +0100, "TTman" <someone.pc(a)ntlworld.com> wrote: > >"Bill Bowden" <wrongaddress(a)att.net> wrote in message >news:def5cd9e-7839-4505-b1c0-e14f7b2464ca(a)40g2000vbr.googlegroups.com... >>I have bought a few items on Ebay with good transactions, and was >> recently looking at a true sinewave inverter (12 volt DC to 120 VAC) >> 300 watt Continuous, 600 watt peak, and so I bid $60 maximum but was >> outbid by $7 and lost the auction. I then noticed the same item was >> for sale again in just a few hours (maybe 18) and so I bid again with >> a limit of $60 and again lost the auction with a final bid of $65. And >> so I bid again on the same item with same limit of $60 and was outbid >> again at $61.12. And then bid again for the 4th time on the same item, >> and again lost the auction for $61.00, just $1.00 more than my limit. >> >> The seller appears to have a good feedback record, but this auction >> looks like somebody is bidding against me just to drive the price up, >> and always wins the auction by bidding $1 more than my limit. >> >> I do understand the new 300 watt sinewave inverter is worth more than >> $60, probably in the $200 range, so maybe this is just standard >> practice to weed out the low bidders? >> >> But it still seems to be a violation of Ebay (shill) policies. >> >> -Bill >> > >Sounds like maybe the seller is bidding ( with an alias) to avoid a low >value sale.... > Huh? Why would he do that? If he were shill bidding and winning, he would have to pay the (final value) fees which on a low dollar item like this would ruin his chances of ever making a profit. Shill bidding has only one purpose: drive up the bidding price WITHOUT WINNING! That is clearly not happening! Had the OP said "I bid a max of $60, and someone else bid $59 so I had to pay th e $60 I bid max..." there might (slim might!) be a case. But he lost, so there is likely no chance this is what happened. BTW, the seller does not know what your maximum bid is!
From: PeterD on 20 May 2010 06:35
On Thu, 20 May 2010 18:13:43 +1000, Sylvia Else <sylvia(a)not.at.this.address> wrote: >On 20/05/2010 5:14 PM, Bart! wrote: >> On Thu, 20 May 2010 07:33:42 +0100, "TTman"<someone.pc(a)ntlworld.com> >> wrote: >> >>> >>> "Bill Bowden"<wrongaddress(a)att.net> wrote in message >>> news:def5cd9e-7839-4505-b1c0-e14f7b2464ca(a)40g2000vbr.googlegroups.com... >>>> I have bought a few items on Ebay with good transactions, and was >>>> recently looking at a true sinewave inverter (12 volt DC to 120 VAC) >>>> 300 watt Continuous, 600 watt peak, and so I bid $60 maximum but was >>>> outbid by $7 and lost the auction. I then noticed the same item was >>>> for sale again in just a few hours (maybe 18) and so I bid again with >>>> a limit of $60 and again lost the auction with a final bid of $65. And >>>> so I bid again on the same item with same limit of $60 and was outbid >>>> again at $61.12. And then bid again for the 4th time on the same item, >>>> and again lost the auction for $61.00, just $1.00 more than my limit. >>>> >>>> The seller appears to have a good feedback record, but this auction >>>> looks like somebody is bidding against me just to drive the price up, >>>> and always wins the auction by bidding $1 more than my limit. >>>> >>>> I do understand the new 300 watt sinewave inverter is worth more than >>>> $60, probably in the $200 range, so maybe this is just standard >>>> practice to weed out the low bidders? >>>> >>>> But it still seems to be a violation of Ebay (shill) policies. >>>> >>>> -Bill >>>> >>> >>> Sounds like maybe the seller is bidding ( with an alias) to avoid a low >>> value sale.... >>> >> >> But, he would still owe ebay their commission for EACH sale. So, he is >> a complete and utter retard for bidding on his own item, and IF ebay >> allows him to "remove" the sale internally after it has already been >> "sold" from an online observation perspective, they are breaking their >> own rules. >> >> I would report the fact that the item went up 4 times over, and that the >> bidding/sale result looks quite suspicious since the item is listed as >> the only one he has to sell. > >The seller doesn't have to list multiple items in one auction if he >doesn't want to. > >The fact that the OP is losing out by $1 each time just reflects the >fact that the bid increment is $1. If someone wants several of these >inverters, it makes sense for them to specify the maximum amount they're >willing to pay as their maximum bid. Then provided no other bidder out >bids them, their final automatic bid will be $1 more than the highest >bid from anyone else. If it happens that there's only one other bidder, >then that bidder will find himself outbid each time by $1. It's a >natural outcome, and there's nothing iffy about it. > >Sylvia. Sylvia, actually he only lost two of the auctions by that dollar, the other two were lost by more. Picking a common value of $60 for a maximum really distorts things because other bidders will usually always be smart enough to bid an odd amount over a common value. (Smart bidders bid $61.99 for example, to allow outbidding those who bid an even $60!) |