eBay

password9019 · ‎03-08-2022

donsdetour · ‎03-08-2022

@password9019 wrote:
Been here for over 20 years...this is not new to me. Why would you think, with a dollar bill being really worth 30 or 40 cents today, that this activity wouldn't be going on constantly nowadays???? 18 months ago, your dollar was worth guess what...practically a whole dollar. Now it's not worth hardly HALF a dollar. lol

It's common sense that it is happening more than EVER....if you don't agree, that is fine...we can agree to not.

Agree to disagree; LOL

I usually have a very good idea what an Item will sell for with auction before I list it.

A lot of sellers may not.

Such fools can and will get caught bidding up their own item due to such: yet eBay is very very good at caching such behavior...

trixnot_81 · ‎03-08-2022

@password9019 wrote:
I don't need to do any such thing. When you test out the waters, and bid on dozens of items in a week (variety of locations, categories and item conditions), and notice that in 70% of the auctions, your bid is being outbid within minutes (if not seconds) - with each bid you place - over and over and over, it is common sense what is going on.

In most cases, it is someone known to the seller, and probably not far away from the seller, either. It can even be the seller him or herself, operating from another account on another system. A tell-tale sign, is being outbid almost immediately...and over and over in succession throughout the day.

Seeing this a WHOLE lot, lately. What would you expect otherwise, in a world where the economy has your dollar worth nothing?

If it’s not the seller, or someone acting with the seller, it’s not shill bidding.

Another “sky is falling” thread.

7606dennis · ‎03-08-2022

Do you have any concrete evidence to support you accusation of criminal activity?

"It is an intelligent man that is aware of his own ignorance."

house*of*paws · ‎03-08-2022

@7606dennis wrote:
Do you have any concrete evidence to support you accusation of criminal activity?

@7606dennis

Why ask for ‘evidence’ when you can just ‘see it ‘?

That was NOT the emoji I intended … but I can’t seem to delete it. LOL. But maybe a ‘purple unicorn’ is a fitting symbol for the spirit of this thread after all.

hkfever456 · ‎03-08-2022

i hear you. but you cant convince the sellers that it happens. it crushes their dreams of marking up their junk for premium prices because they saw in the sold listings a vhs tape sold for 10k. well i have a few of the alleged high 'selling' vhs tapes and NOBODY wants them. but you cant convince anybody of that because...ebay has the listed as 'sold' for 10k. whatever. shill bidding and bots are a combination of why so many people get tricked into thinking that stuff is worth more than it actually is. The truth is the ebay fees are higher and people are trying all kinds of tactics to sell the stuff people dont really want. the vhs tapes just was the evidence anybody needs. nobody cares about vhs tapes, but they are just clamoring for them. give me a break.

gas is up, groceries are up and the sellers profits are shrinking, they have to keep up appearances. but dont say anything to the sellers, they will tell you how you lost and auction, or someone snipped bid you and you are just mad about it. they dont want to see the truth, because the truth is most of their stuff is just non essential junk.

some people say that they left feedback. guess what? its not hard to vpn or have a buddy/spouse leave feed back. The sellers just get green eyes and WANT their worthless stuff to be worth something and just wont see the truth.

kathiec · ‎03-08-2022

And yet you're still here....

albertabrightalberta · ‎03-08-2022

@password9019

What you are describing is being outbid by high proxy bids. And just bidding on items and immediately being outbid is NOT indicative of shilling.

To identify shill bidding, you need to look at the item's bids and click on each bidder's bidding history. When you find one or more bidders who only bids on that seller's items, you'll recognize shill bidding.

This is an example of shill bidding. I've had this particular seller on my "watch" list since 2015 and tonight, checked their auctions again and the same bidder is still shilling.

albertabrightalberta
Volunteer Community Mentor

hkfever456 · ‎03-08-2022

glad someone mentioned that. that is one way i look for shilling too. some people get wise and try to play with the percentages here and there. or have multiple accounts to make it seem as if there is a lot of interest. sometimes its exhausting to keep track of.

albertabrightalberta · ‎03-08-2022

This is another shill being used by the same seller as the listing I posted above.

Notice the same bidding pattern - all bidding from only this seller.

albertabrightalberta
Volunteer Community Mentor

mudshark61369 · ‎03-09-2022

@password9019,

You replied to @donsdetour :

"while shill bidding is hard to prove, it's rather obvious when the bidding is constantly elevating right after a last bid - with days left to go in an auction. Smart bidders and snipe bidders who are experienced in winning auctions DO NOT bid this way". They wait until the end, try to keep the prices a low as possible". But constantly being outbid in minutes or seconds over and over - especially with days left, is not an experienced auction buyer NOR a person willing to pay more....It is most likely a shill"

Yet here you are a 20 year member, complaining because you seem to be nibble bidding yourself like a newbie early in auctions. Have you considered that to others, your bidding pattern might look like you are the shill working for the seller? Being outbid right away means someone has placed an early automatic/proxy bid. Could that person be shilling for the seller? Possibly, but you are playing right into their hands, by not waiting until the end of an auction to bid.

Experienced bidders who bid late or snipe, bid only once for the most an item is worth to them. They do not complain if an earlier proxy bid causes them to lose, or brings the cost close to their highest bid.

.

"THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FOOLPROOF, BECAUSE FOOLS ARE SO DARNED INGENIOUS!" (unknown)

mudshark61369 · ‎03-09-2022

@albertabrightalberta,

The two screen shots you have posted are proof of nothing on their own!! Especially since there are no bid retractions. That bidder may like the odds of bidding on that particular seller's auctions, if they start them at a low price. Possibly, they are a reseller hoping to win the items at a low price. They may bid like the example w/(5) items bid on. Because the seller ends groups their auctions at just about the same time, so there is not much chance of bidding on one late and moving on to the next item if they do not win. Maybe they bid early so they do not forget to bid later. Those histories are only 30 day histories after all and only indicate how many items they have bid on in that time frame. It doesn't mean that they have not used BIN to buy other items.

I sometimes use ebay to get inventory for the live model train and hobby shows I set up at. Back in December 2019 I had 3 shows that were very successful, and my stock of some items was low. So from January to March of 2020 just before the Covid shut down. I found a seller who listed auctions for both new and used items all starting at $0.99cents. He listed on average 30 - 40 items a week all ending within 30 seconds of one another on Wednesdays from around noon to about 12:20pm. That prevented me from sniping like I usually do on auctions.

I would go to my watch list around 10am and place early proxy bids on most of the things I hoped to win, sometimes being outbid right away. The ones I really wanted to win I waited as long as I could before bidding, sometimes having time to snipe a couple of his auctions, but remember I was bidding to resell not for my personal use, so I often lost more auctions than I won, a few weeks not winning anything at all. For those months my bid history with that seller probably looked a lot like the screen shots you posted, since I wasn't doing much personal buying at the time, and what little I was buying were BIN items.

"THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FOOLPROOF, BECAUSE FOOLS ARE SO DARNED INGENIOUS!" (unknown)

7606dennis · ‎03-09-2022

@house*of*paws wrote:
@7606dennis wrote:
Do you have any concrete evidence to support you accusation of criminal activity?
@7606dennis
Why ask for ‘evidence’ when you can just ‘see it ‘?
That was NOT the emoji I intended … but I can’t seem to delete it. LOL. But maybe a ‘purple unicorn’ is a fitting symbol for the spirit of this thread after all.

Since the OP is accusing eBay of being overrun with criminal activity but has failed to furnish any details of how they arrived at this conclusion, I thought I'd ask the OP it. Of course, in cases of criminal activity it is evidence that is needed to prove such potentially libelous accusations.

"It is an intelligent man that is aware of his own ignorance."