Rigged auctions
I know this has already been discussed but everyone seems to say that bids are in fact, NOT rigged and if if think it is you are just bad at it. But there is one thing that I reeeally dont understand how this could happen if it's not rigged. Let's say the item is at 3$ 30 seconds before end. I bid 4$, it says someone already has a higher bid, now I refresh and yes the item is at 4.30$ for exemple. I then crank the price up to 10$ and my bid is again already losing. I check the bidding history for the listing and those bids that looks like they came just at the same time as mine since the page was diplaying 4.30$ a second before, those bids that beat me, are written to having been made 1 or 2 DAYS AGO. But they just diplay (activate) if someone bids under them.
That really doesnt seems right to me and is definitly proof of rigged bidding. This happened multiple times and I did not take any screenshots but will be if it happens again.
mudshark61369
·1 year ago@jere3976,
You replied to @buyselljack2016 , writing:
"I should always be able to know what is the actual highest bid. It not being a secret doesnt make ir right. That's my opinion anyway".
If you were participating in an English outcry auction, you would know what the high bid is at all times, but on ebay you are participating in eBay's patented modified combination Sealed bid and Vickrey style auctions.
Sealed Bid auctions are like the ones you see at charity events. Where you write down your bid price and put it in a box between the fixed start and end times. You do not know what others have bid or who won until the bids are checked for the highest price.
A Vickrey auction, is another type of sealed bid auction, where the highest bid wins but pays the amount the second highest bidder bid. They too are fixed end time auctions that use time stamps. Look up the two types online.
When you go look at a bid history of an auction you described, Click on the Show Automatic bids tab. Then you can see the time stamp of when the automatic (proxy) bid was placed. Again as others have said, only as much of that bid is used to out bid you by 1 bid increment, until either the auction closes or the maximum price was exceeded. At the very end of an auction if the highest price is as little as one penny more than the 2nd highest bid, it wins, so we add a few odd cents to our bids. In case of a tie, the earlier time stamped bid wins.
Open the link below, that auction's history has examples of automatic bidding, nibble bidding, poor use of auto bidding, but not sniping.
https://www.ebay.com/bfl/viewbids/286207518735?item=286207518735&rt=nc&_trksid=p4429486.m145235.l2565
Most of us do not want to have the price run up by nibble bidders so we wait until the last seconds to place our automatic bids. That practice is known as Sniping.
bonjourami
·1 year agoYou dont have a clue on understanding bidding.
youn2240
·1 year agoDefinitely compile the pictures of this happening I would like to peruse it at my leisure at a later point. We need to get to the bottom of this. It's bigfootesque though very hard to gather the evidence and even though I have files upon files of this happening there will still be naysayers saying it is doctored or cgi. If you get the shots my organization would love to have them.
house*of*paws
·1 year agoHi @jere3976
eBay's bidding isn't rigged. If it were ... it would have made international news YEARS ago.
ALL of us were probably 'bad at bidding' when we first started, as most of us didn't really understand eBay's bidding system, which is patented. That means it isn't used anywhere else.
Here is eBay's description of it's bidding system ... called 'Automatic Bidding' OR 'Proxy Bidding':
https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/bidding/automatic-bidding?id=4014&st=3&pos=1&query=Automatic%20bidding&intent=proxy%20bidding&lucenceai=lucenceai&docId=HELP1022
Read the article ... and come back with any questions you might have. Not all aspects of the system are covered by the article.
monroe67
·1 year ago"Let's say the item is at 3$ 30 seconds before end. I bid 4$, it says someone already has a higher bid, now I refresh and yes the item is at 4.30$ for exemple. I then crank the price up to 10$ and my bid is again already losing. I check the bidding history for the listing and those bids that looks like they came just at the same time as mine since the page was diplaying 4.30$ a second before, those bids that beat me, are written to having been made 1 or 2 DAYS AGO. But they just diplay (activate) if someone bids under them."
What you're describing is known, on eBay, as placing your Maximum Bid.
Near the beginning of the bidding period, a bidder may choose to place his/her Maximum Bid. This allows all the bidding to proceed systematically, and all the Maximum Bids are, as you say, activated to bid the next higher increment when new bids are placed.
When another buyer bids more than my original Maximum Bid, I've been out-bid and I won't get to purchase the Thing unless I go back into the bidding screen and place a higher Maximum Bid.
It is not evidence of "rigged bidding." It is perfectly legal and allowed on eBay, even encouraged.
You can try it for yourself. You just have to decide the maximum amount that you are willing to pay for the Thing you bid on.
jere3976
OP1 year agoWell as I said, I might have been unclear in my first post, I didnt think I was 100% sure it was a scammy illegal thing going on. I'm aware that it could be just a normal ebay feature that I don't know of because I'm new to this. Doesnt change the fact that in an auction every party should always be able to know what is the actual highest bid. Like in a IRL auction. It being legal and an ebay feature doesnt make it right to me.
monroe67
·1 year ago"Doesnt change the fact that in an auction every party should always be able to know what is the actual highest bid."
On eBay, you are always able to know what the actual highest bid is.
You said it yourself: The Maximum/Automatic/Proxy bids are not activated until another bidder surpasses the current bid.
"Like in a IRL auction."
You may have noticed that bidding on eBay is NOT a live, in-person auction.
Even in many live, in-person auctions, bidders are allowed to bid by proxy.
Maximum Bids on eBay function like proxy bidders in live auctions.
"It being legal and an ebay feature doesnt make it right to me."
Ain't nobody forcing you to look at anything on eBay, let alone bid or buy.
BTW, eBay sellers have an option to block any individual bidder for any reason whatsoever. Even for NO reason.
buyselljack2016
·1 year ago@jere3976
as nobody*s posted..... automatic proxy bid
I make a $20 bid on that item on Sunday, and it only uses enough of my $20 as needed to beat whoever had bid before me. You start bidding on Monday and then each time you "nibble bid" to attempt to be the high bidder you are beaten by me because I already bid more than you did, 2 days ago. I should complain that some "shill" bidder is trying to drive my cost up from the $3 where I was the high bidder. If you had bid over $20 you would have beaten my proxy bid.
eta: save your screenshots. Nothing there to see.
You can click to see the automatic bidding results, and compare the "time stamp" info as to when the bids were made.
jere3976
OP1 year agoOkay you have more knowledge than me on the subject but the fact you know how it works doesnt change the fact that it's dumb and really shouldnt be a thing. I should always be able to know what is the actual highest bid. It not being a secret doesnt make ir right. That's my opinion anyway.
kathiec
·1 year agoIf you think it's dumb and really shouldn't be a thing then I would gently suggest the site isn't for you. I've been on eBay for 28 years, and this is how the site has always worked. When you learn to use the proxy bid system wisely it actually works quite well. And it's not going to change.
buyselljack2016
·1 year ago@jere3976
It's not a live outcry auction, so it makes perfect sense to be done as such without having to be at the computer from start to finish.
It could be compared to an outcry auction. It's just that eBay is doing the bid yelling (or holding up the placard) for the "proxy" bidder.
Absolutely no reason for you to know how much I want to bid (have bid)
No reason for you to see (and would not want to see) what is in my head.
gosimus
·1 year ago@jere3976
< I should always be able to know what is the actual highest bid >
Newbies always find something they want to change. You don't even need to know what other bids are, except insofar as if the showing bid is already more than you're willing to pay. The sensible way to bid is to determine what is the most* the item is worth to you, then bid that amount. If you eventually win, good for you. If your bid isn't enough to win, then at least you have the consolation of knowing the other schmuck paid too much.
* Place your bid as near the end of the auction as you can manage. You want to leave as little time as possible, ideally none at all, for others to react to your bid, either to bid against you, or to peck at your bid a nickel at a time, nibbling it up probing for your max.
Also, don't bid an even amount. Add a few odd cents to your bid, as a tie breaker. Since you'll be bidding late in the auction, if there is a tie, the other one will naturally have come in before yours, and in case of a tie the earliest bid wins. So add 17¢ or some other few cents to break a possible tie.
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 year agoMany bidders do not waste any more time than they have to on auctions,
They bid the maximum they wish to pay and Ebay bids for them so that they are one bid ahead of their competition until their maximum is met.
Bidders who nibble at the bidding, waste a lot of time and become frustrated because their stingy bid is always exceeded by a sane bidder or a sniper.
dryophelia
·1 year ago@jere3976
Once bidding has started, there is no reason to bid until the moments just before the listing ends.
If one bids late enough, there is no time for anyone to react to that bid.
Savvy bidders bid in the last few seconds. They aren’t staring at the bid counter and reacting with another bid every time someone places a bid.
Bid once.
Bid your maximum.
Bid as late as you can.
stainlessenginecovers
·1 year agoIt's NOT just a 'saying'.
Bids are NOT rigged.
Bid higher the first time (max you are willing to pay)..then
If you win; good
If you lose- you don't care.
No rigging.
nobody*s_perfect
·1 year agoThe bid history is arranged by bid amount, not by the time that the bid was placed.
The high bid showing in an auction will always be just one bid increment above the second-highest bid, no matter the amount of the lead bider's actual full proxy bid.
When a new bid comes in, eBay compares that bid to the full amount of the current high bidder's full proxy bid. Whoever has the higher bid becomes the new high bidder, at one bid increment above the second highest bid. Sometimes a very high bid is placed early in the auction and it just stays at the top no matter how many other bids come in, always just one bid increment above the second-highest bid.
Here is some more information about how Automatic Bidding works on eBay:
https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/bidding/automatic-bidding?id=4014