Shill Bidding on eBay

[Neil]

seems to me this thread isn't so much about "the spirit of a 'trading community'" and more about illegal behaviour. That's a tad more damning than merely not being a good sport.

In that case going to Ebay or the Police would be a better route than Retrobike.

I don't think they necessarily posted here, purely for resolution / closure...

Same conclusion though, I'd wager.

Oh, I dunno. I doubt Gene Genie would fire up the quattro, but I have more than a sneaking suspicion ebay would do something about it.

Shill bidding is as old as auctions.

So has fraud, theft, assault, murder etc... your point? Nobody should do anything about it? Isn't that precisely why some things do go on for so long - because so many don't or can't do anything about it.

 

[technodup]

Oh, I dunno. I doubt Gene Genie would fire up the quattro, but I have more than a sneaking suspicion ebay would do something about it.

Aye- warn them and/or ban them. A new account/PC solves this easy. They've been trying to cut it out for 15 years and haven't succeeded.

Shill bidding is as old as auctions.

So has fraud, theft, assault, murder etc... your point? Nobody should do anything about it? Isn't that precisely why some things do go on for so long - because so many don't or can't do anything about it.

If people followed a few simple rules when bidding then it wouldn't be an issue. Trouble is buyers are as stupid as the shills are greedy. Not sure your comparisons are as straightforward to negate.

 

[sylus]

Be prepared to do some homework on the seller...Ebay is very much caveat emptor this as well as never bid more than you want to and you should be okay
Ultimately no matter what the seller is doing only you will push the bid/buy button

 

[ishaw]

I did try and test out the shill bidding theory on something the seller had listed. It had one bid on it and was still at the starting price. I watched until the dying seconds and there was no movement. I put in a cheeky low bid with 10 seconds to go, and didn't meet the original bid so the seat post went cheap as chips. I would have expected that if there was some shill bidding going on, the price of the controltech seat post would not have stayed at the 0.99p start price until I chipped in. The other controltech post they had up for sale didn't actually sell - my connection failed in the middle of me bidding at the last (teach me to use a mobile), so maybe they aren't shill bidding, or they feel they have been rumbled?

For what it is worth, and trying not to ignite the arguement. A max price is the worst I would like to pay, and who wouldn't like to get something for less than that? The fact that you could lose out in a bidding war with the seller and end up paying your top price is of course the issue and would certainly leave me feeling ripped off had I been on the receiving end.

 

[Neil]

Oh, I dunno. I doubt Gene Genie would fire up the quattro, but I have more than a sneaking suspicion ebay would do something about it.

Aye- warn them and/or ban them. A new account/PC solves this easy. They've been trying to cut it out for 15 years and haven't succeeded.

How would a new PC help?

And fair point it's never likely to be ever totally eradicated, that said I'm not seeing the downside of reporting where you see / suspect it.

Shill bidding is as old as auctions.

So has fraud, theft, assault, murder etc... your point? Nobody should do anything about it? Isn't that precisely why some things do go on for so long - because so many don't or can't do anything about it.

If people followed a few simple rules when bidding then it wouldn't be an issue. Trouble is buyers are as stupid as the shills are greedy. Not sure your comparisons are as straightforward to negate.

Still not getting the downside of reporting it. Maybe some aren't bothered. I'm not writing this as a call to arms, just not getting why somebody wouldn't report it when they notice it - it's not like it would be time consuming or make you invested in the result.

 

[markwoo]

Good to see there is still a healthy debate going...

In the meantime, I have been to meet aforementioned shill bidder extraordinaire to pick up my inflated bike bits. The chap isn't half as shady looking as I expected, although there was a decidedly dodgy looking hoop earring protruding from under his beanie...

He professed his innocence right to the end and continued with attempted coverup stories by simply layering more lies on top of the ones already told. Apparently, he has just dug all this stuff out of his loft and is having a fire-sale. His wife has been on his case blah blah blah...

However, having checked out his more recent items - he seems to be stepping things up if anything... his stock certainly appears to not be dwindling as he frees up space for his wife's shoe collection...

If indeed he does have a bike shop then more local investigative work is needed...update to follow

 

[sandmangts]

Ebay could easily resolve this by not charging for reserve auctions or making the fee for a reserve auction more reasonable.

 

[technodup]

How would a new PC help?

Different PC rather than new. Friend, work, library etc.

And fair point it's never likely to be ever totally eradicated, that said I'm not seeing the downside of reporting where you see / suspect it.

I didn't say don't report it. I said reporting it to Ebay would be better than telling Retrobike.

But I'd bet millions have been reported over the years and yet it still goes on.

 

[Neil]

How would a new PC help?

Different PC rather than new. Friend, work, library etc.

Ah, you see that's where you misled me by writing something different. Had you written different location, with different IP address, I would have got what you meant.

Even that isn't foolproof, though - patterns may be spotted - either by the person who's decided to report, or by ebay.

And fair point it's never likely to be ever totally eradicated, that said I'm not seeing the downside of reporting where you see / suspect it.

I didn't say don't report it. I said reporting it to Ebay would be better than telling Retrobike.

Or perhaps both - perhaps the OP just wanted to rant a bit - why not, it's not the most off-topic thread in off-topic, and nobody is forced to discuss it that doesn't want to.

Sometimes people just vent and want to discuss because they're annoyed - nothing wrong in that, different strokes an' all. I don't think anybody was suggesting or implying that merely discussing it here would likely change anything.

But I'd bet millions have been reported over the years and yet it still goes on.

So?

So it's a problem that's maybe difficult, and perhaps impossible to totally eradicate - like shoplifting or other such petty crimes - doesn't mean we lose anything by reporting it, or we should abandon reporting it. People doing so, may make it more of a nuisance to ebay, such that it worries them from a reputation point of view, or an unnecessary drain. It wouldn't be the first type of similar subject, where very clever analytic web software might be deployed to make it a more automated net for catching it.

 

[Neil]

Ebay could easily resolve this by not charging for reserve auctions or making the fee for a reserve auction more reasonable.

Here's the thing, though - listing costs aren't the only reason people don't like setting reserves. Results, and books / articles on the matter, inform sellers that they're most likely to garner the most interest by low starting prices with no reserves.