Sellers on eBay selling items they have already sold over and over and over.

[hawk_874]

Can anyone tell me, in a coherent fashion, how certain sellers on eBay can sell their items over and over and over?

I’ve seen multiple (many) sellers do this. At least one has sold the same item over seven times and still counting.

All bids, from these sellers, are listed as: (private listing - bidders' identities protected). In this way, bidders cannot see who the high bidder truly is but there is only one conclusion. The sellers are bidding on their own items. In this way they assure themselves that they will sell their items for the prices they want. If a legitimate bidder does not outbid the seller’s bid, the seller just relists the item and this goes on, over and over and over.

The sellers could list their items with a reserve price but do not.

Can anyone explain to me how this is fair and legal?

[dhbookds]

Why do you think they may not have more than one of an item? 

Reserve costs a seller upfront and they don't get the fee back if it doesn't sell. 

sellers can't bid or buy on their own items.......they risk being thrown off ebay if they use other id's to bid.....

[stainlessenginecovers]

Assuming the item is a used 1-of-kind and that seller does not have multiples...it's not fair and legal. 

Neither is breaking into cars and stealing your $200 Ray-Bans'. But it happens. 

They are having to 'cancel' and will get caught eventually (unless they are paying FV Fees?) 

[luckythewinner]

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@stainlessenginecovers wrote:

Assuming the item is a used 1-of-kind and that seller does not have multiples...it's not fair and legal. 

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But assuming that might be a mistake.

I sold a rare 60-year-old vinyl LP for $200-$300 for years.

It was a rare record that few collectors have been able to find.

I had 150 of them.

[donsdetour]

Hmm rare is a relative term; a rare token that I acquired and the amount took them to being common. Did make a buck or two before the price dropped.. So yes one can have a quantity of so called rare items....

Yet the private listing thing tend to get my attention from the OP.

I must state saying sold does not mean they got payed.

Saying sold does not mean the buyer got what they ordered.

With the zipcode scam so prevalent today, one wonders.

To the OP: when in doubt avoid.

[a_c_green]

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@hawk_874 wrote:

Can anyone tell me, in a coherent fashion, how certain sellers on eBay can sell their items over and over and over?

I’ve seen multiple (many) sellers do this. At least one has sold the same item over seven times and still counting.

All bids, from these sellers, are listed as: (private listing - bidders' identities protected). In this way, bidders cannot see who the high bidder truly is but there is only one conclusion.

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eBay does have ways of tying a selling account to a supposed bidding account. Beyond that, any seller that's continually bidding on their own items and then cancelling either with or without payment (as they are on the hook for Final Value Fees following a successful auction unless they do something about it) is going to eventually attract a bot somewhere that's looking for that pattern of fee avoidance.

Aside from that, you can get a pretty good picture of each bidder (even with disguised IDs) by looking at the bid history page for the auction and clicking on each bidder's disguised ID. That will bring up a whole lot of statistics about that bidder, in particular including what percentage of bids have been for that seller vs. others.

As for the over-and-over part, that may or may not be the same item. I sell in a niche market in which I have sold certain items hundreds of times over the years. The listings look the same because there aren't a whole lot of different ways to sell hundreds of examples of something (and in fact I generally put "(This is a new auction, not a relisting!)" at the top of the description), although because they're vintage items and usually used ones, each gets its own photographs. I keep the images in numbered folders so I know how many of each I've sold over the past 12-15 years or so that I have been dealing in that category.

[soh.maryl]

And do you believe the sellers who you believe are bidding on their own items then pay themselves when they win? And, since sellers pay FVF, wouldn't that be a losing proposition?

It costs 7.5% with a minimum (I think) of $5 to list with a reserve and the seller pays that fee whether or not the item sells.

[deltilogical]

"I had 150 of them"

That is awesome!   

[luckythewinner]

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@deltilogical wrote:

"I had 150 of them"

That is awesome!   

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It was fun while it lasted.

If I could find stuff like that once a month instead of once a decade, I'd be all set 🙂

[hawk_874 · Accepted solution]

The items I am referring to are rocks and minerals. Each is unique. Each have a weight, composition, size and shape that is as unique as a fingerprint. In addition, the sellers are using the exact same photos with each subsequence listings.

I do not understand how they work out their selling fees with eBay.

I have contacted eBay many times about this. Their only response to me was not to go to these sellers' sites.

[redmodelt]

I looked at a sellers listings that was selling gem stones etc. I saw the same "natural polished crystal" listed multiple times. Sometimes with the same description some times different. The only way they all could be the same is if they came from a mold, then they would not be as described. They would have to be fake. In this case I was looking at the sellers page not a general search.

[wrong66]

I wouldn't spend so much time worrying about what other sellers are selling.

[ryno6944]

Speak for yourself. You might be upset as well if you wastes a lot of your time watching and bidding on items just to keep losing by 1 bid just above your's only to find the seller put it back up for sale bidding again or for a buy it now for a lot more money. I found this post looking for a way to report these guys. They give Ebay a bad name. Allow them to continue though because you say we shouldn't worry about it, but you had to worry to put your not even 1 cents in here. We are trying to help make Ebay legit what are you doing ?

[ryno6944]

I just figured out the same thing and was looking on how to report the listings and sellers. Obviously most of these people who replied here just like to hear themselves talk and think they actually have knowledge that is valuable. Some of us want to hold people accountable and help make Ebay a better and legit place like it use to be. Obviously they don't undstertand unique as a fingerprint. With these rocks and minerals a lot of them you can absolutely tell they are selling the same ones that already supposedly sold. For some reason I just keep on losing by a buck and then the next day there it is back for sale for bidding or as a buy it now for way more money than it sold for previously. I don't know how they they are doing it with the fees and everything, but to the person who said they can't because Ebay would catch it they are doing it and Ebay is not catching it or doesn't care. Ebay always states they take stuff like this seriously, but from my dealings with reporting it doesn't seem like they care anymore. All of them selling these rocks and minerals are using the private listing setting so you can't see bidders. I wouldn't be surprised if all were the same people and they use all the different selling accounts to also do the bidding for each of them to prevent the low selling and get the price up. 

[kh-jean]

Hi everyone,



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Thank you for understanding.