Ebay helps seller scam with private listing

[ffra-ch-8wubdybxe]

There is just way too many loopholes exploited by seller, but nothing makes me more upset with the use of private listing.  Ebay used to be great, protecting buyers everywhere, now they don't even bother replying you with issues like this. Notice most of the seller with private listings either have many bad reviews and or just no real bid at all. 

Coincidence? I think not! 

[ed8108]

EBay still has manny great sellers who have excellent feedback.

I guess that it may be best for you to then stay away from the private listings.

Are you familar with ebay's money back guarantee for buyers ?

[anthonym!]

What? Why would a listing not be public? This isn't even logical. Is it excluding nations that are labeled terrorists by the government?

[anthonym!]

What do you mean by "still"?

[anthonym!]

Isn't almost over yet, I want to buy a gpu that isn't bios flashed to lie about what it actually is.

[cheerindigo]

I'd agree, I think the idea behind it is good, but I've seen too many sellers that seem to use it to hide their own misbehavior, bidding up their own items, etc. ... the transparency of the process goes away.  They don't even show the partially-****'d username in the bid history, there's nothing there at all.  I'm not sure why that is.

Ebay should require a good reason to use it in the first place, and then have staff monitor the sellers that choose to use it, looking for irregular bid activity.  But like you say, they don't seem as on top of things as they used to be.

[7606dennis]

Actually, there is nothing inherently wrong with private listings.  All a private listing does is not permit the other bidders from seeing the identity of the other bidders.  If you attend a live auction, you would not be furnished with the identities of the other registered bidders.  So unless you were personally acquainted with the individual and knew him by sight all you would know is his bidder number.

Here on eBay, even if the auction isn't set to private, you would not be any wiser to the identities of the other bidders since eBay camouflage those ID's as well.  Of course, even if they didn't do that many user names are fictitious names made up by the user and not their legal name.

[cheerindigo]

It's not about the name of the person, it's about whether they're actually the seller bidding their own item up; it doesn't matter what their name is.

Even the partially-camoflaged names can help guard against this, as you can see patterns at least, both within one item's bid history, and comparing across items from the same seller.  This is why eBay shows the 30-day bid history if you click on a camo'd name in the bidder list, with "Seller1", "Seller2", etc. ... so you can spot unlikely or suspicious patterns between sellers and "buyers".

There are no patterns to look at, with an auction set to Private.

[7606dennis]

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@cheerindigo wrote:

It's not about the name of the person, it's about whether they're actually the seller bidding their own item up; it doesn't matter what their name is.

Even the partially-camoflaged names can help guard against this, as you can see patterns at least, both within one item's bid history, and comparing across items from the same seller.  This is why eBay shows the 30-day bid history if you click on a camo'd name in the bidder list, with "Seller1", "Seller2", etc. ... so you can spot unlikely or suspicious patterns between sellers and "buyers".

There are no patterns to look at, with an auction set to Private.

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So it is actually criminal activity which concerns you.  Frankly, I've found that most of the posts about suspected shilling, when examined, are groundless.  However, there is no real way for the ordinary eBay member to prove shilling with the access to the data permitted by eBay.  If eBay is to be believed, they have the technology in place to detect such things as sellers bidding on there own items.  Which, by the way, isn't shilling in some circumstances in the eyes of the law.

Of course, if, as the title of this thread indicates, eBay is complicit in such criminal activity, why would anyone continue to shop on eBay?  It would, in my opinion, be just as easy for eBay to be complicit in such criminal activity regardless of whether the listing was a private one or not.

[mudshark61369]

@cheerindigo,

 "Ebay should require a good reason to use it in the first place, and then have staff monitor the sellers that choose to use it, looking for irregular bid activity.  But like you say, they don't seem as on top of things as they used to be".

I agree the use of private auctions should be limited.  Not because the sellers who use the feature are all using shills, but because wide spread use of the feature does lead to the Belief  those sellers are using shills, which is damaging to the auction format as a whole.

  Some things ebay coud require of Private auction listings are,  not to allow 2nd chance offers, and to charge a hefty relisting fee if the winner does not pay, and the seller wants to relist the item less than say 45 days from the end of the original auction.

[ctoos_17]

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@anthonym! wrote:
What? Why would a listing not be public? This isn't even logical. Is it excluding nations that are labeled terrorists by the government?

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Maybe the seller is selling adult items and wants to protect the buyers privacy

[myangelandmyprincess]

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@ctoos_17 wrote:

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@anthonym! wrote:
What? Why would a listing not be public? This isn't even logical. Is it excluding nations that are labeled terrorists by the government?

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Maybe the seller is selling adult items and wants to protect the buyers privacy

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Or items that likely be purchased as presents 

[sly_kitten2018]

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@mudshark61369 wrote:

@cheerindigo,

  Some things ebay coud require of Private auction listings are,  not to allow 2nd chance offers, and to charge a hefty relisting fee if the winner does not pay, and the seller wants to relist the item less than say 45 days from the end of the original auction.

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Good thing that will NEVER happen because no seller should ever be punished because a winning bidder did not pay!

[sly_kitten2018]

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@ctoos_17 wrote:

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@anthonym! wrote:
What? Why would a listing not be public? This isn't even logical. Is it excluding nations that are labeled terrorists by the government?

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Maybe the seller is selling adult items and wants to protect the buyers privacy

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Exactly. Private listings are common in the adult categories.

[southern*sweet*tea]

Seems like your problem could easily be solved by not bidding on auctions from sketchy sellers.

Buy fixed price listings from good sellers from whom you've vetted feedback.