When did eBay stop investigating shill bidding?
I remember that at one time buyers could report shill bidding. I recently bought an item where the fellow bidders had low feedback and 100% activity with the seller. I suspect shill bidding. I looked up the policy and was dismayed. They say not to worry that they have mechanisms in place. I feel this is yet another of many shameful ways that eBay buyers have been let down by the behemouth. I believe shill bidding is real and further that it actually increases eBay’s profit margins so their is no financial incentive for them to combat it. Just like the problem of fakes--their sales increase eBay’s bottom line all the while obliterating consumer confidence in the platform. That’s why the mechanisms in place to deter the problem fail flatly and fakery numbers continues to escalate. 🤑
pcobra93
·3 years agoShill bidding is nothing new. Nobody, including Ebay will ever convince me that they not only allowed it to happen but actively had their own "people" doing it....back when auctions were the majority. This kind of went away not that BIN is 90% of sales here. Do you remember when we could actually see items that id's were bidding on? It was not hard to spot a schill at all. I myself and many other I know turned people in. In fact, I personally knew people that were doing it. "friends" would bid up each others items. I doubt anything ever happened to them because ebay profited greatly from the practice. It is interesting though that at the height of it all, ebay chose to HIDE all the information that allowed anyone to see a schill....I am sure it still goes on some, but this practice is one reason why buyers prefer the BIN format....no games...no wait...
reallynicestamps
·3 years agoNobody, including Ebay will ever convince me that they not only allowed it to happen but actively had their own "people" doing it....back when auctions were the majority.
The problem with shilling is that the shill may win.
Then the seller has no sale, no payment, and still has to pay fees.
Not a great business plan.
I agree that buyers prefer Fixed Price listings. They know the price the seller wants, can haggle a little if Best Offer is in place, and the seller can even add Immediate Payment Required to avoid slowpokes and deadbeats.
And the purchase is in the mail the next day and sometimes in the customer's hands before the auction would have closed.
justsets
·3 years agoIf the seller wins their own auction, they just relist it. It doesn't matter to them. And if they pay for it first, the money goes to themselves anyways. It goes on over and over and over.