Too many unscrupulous sellers in China

[rocklen60c7]

We used to bid on many items from Chinese sellers...not any longer.

I contend that they are bidding their  retail prices at the time their items become actively listed.  It just seems a bit strange that every single item opens with a bid and that you can never win any of them unless you pay retail or above.

This has taken our interest in Ebay away completely, because obviously they condone it.  I reported it numerous times  and am sure others have too, but nothing is ever done.

[mudshark61369]

@rocklen60c7,

  "I contend that they are bidding their retail prices at the time their items become actively listed. It just seems a bit strange that every single item opens with a bid and that you can never win any of them unless you pay retail or above".

I agree the chinese sellers are doing exactly that, having an automatic bid placed as soon as an auction starts, in hopes others will bid against it until the seller's price is achieved. If it gets close enough a retraction is done, or a bid cancelled so the second place bidder wins. Why eBay has done nothing about it is beyond me, unless they are artificially trying to create distrust in the auction system, or because they are afraid of losing so many of their pet sellers, the chinese ones if they get sanctioned for shill bidding.

Have you ever searched within the seller's other listings selecting BIN only items to see if what you are bidding on is listed that way as well?  I've found some do, do that.

[airsheep]

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@mudshark61369 wrote:

Have you ever searched within the seller's other listings selecting BIN only items to see if what you are bidding on is listed that way as well?  I've found some do, do that.

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That will give you an idea of what they consider their reserve price only.  By creating a secret reserve price, they give the illusion of running a fair auction, when it is no such thing.  Trying to figure out which sellers actually will honor a low winning bid is a headache, and more research than I want to do for items that ought to sell for around $10-15, but are artificially inflated to $35.