eBay Shill Bidders Selling Their Services

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Reason #3,551,097 why it sucks to use eBay anymore. Need an alternative? Use the forums to sell your stuff.

Despite stated policies against the practice of shill bidding on auctions, the problem still persists. Worse for buyers, it isn't at all difficult to find people online willing to engage in shill bidding to nudge prices up for sellers - for a price. That's right, you can "buy" shill bids.
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While I have never doubted that this practice exists ever since eBay opened, what I don't understand is the logistics of it.

If your "fake" bidder drives up the price too high and the real bidders back off then what happens when the fake bidder ends up winning? Can the seller cancel the auction after it has ended, or do they end it right before it finalizes? If the auction does end and the two parties don't actually exchange any funds, doesn't eBay still get a cut of the final sell?
 
I only go with Buy It Now items since I hate dealing with the crazy bidding process. This type of crappy practice just keeps me away from bidding at all.

I do like buying, selling, & trading here a whole lot more than ebay though.
 
westrock2000 said:
If your "fake" bidder drives up the price too high and the real bidders back off then what happens when the fake bidder ends up winning?
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Most likely the seller says there was no payment, and the shill bidder is punished with negative reputation and perhaps eventually a ban. But since its just a fake buyer account, it doesn't matter to the shill bidder, and he's paid for the trouble.
 
Meh, buy it now and forget about bidding which is annoying and lame anyhow except for the gambler-addicted sorts of people for which the idea of "winning" the obligation to pay for something makes them feel better.
 
westrock2000 said:
While I have never doubted that this practice exists ever since eBay opened, what I don't understand is the logistics of it.

If your "fake" bidder drives up the price too high and the real bidders back off then what happens when the fake bidder ends up winning? Can the seller cancel the auction after it has ended, or do they end it right before it finalizes? If the auction does end and the two parties don't actually exchange any funds, doesn't eBay still get a cut of the final sell?
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my thoughts exactly.

Not to mention, it would have to be a fairly expensive item to even make it worth your while if you have to pay the bidders, on top of ebay and it's fees.

I sort of doubt that it's a major/widespread issue
 
This is the least of my worries. When I sold a titan video card. People were emailing me asking to sell it to them for less than it was worth. Said no, I ended up making a good price on it. But emails asking to sell off ebay is very annoying.
 
Ducman69 said:
Most likely the seller says there was no payment, and the shill bidder is punished with negative reputation and perhaps eventually a ban. But since its just a fake buyer account, it doesn't matter to the shill bidder, and he's paid for the trouble.
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Ebay also has a "Second Chance Offer" where another buyer can purchase the item for their bid amount.
 
eBay still does auctions? :D Literally everything I've bought in the past 5 years from there has been "buy it now" type stuff, which I just see as a type of store front.

Actually nevermind I do take that back, when the Avengers movie came out I managed to snatch up 1 of each of the 4 "special" 3d glasses I got from a sneak preview, unopened, threw them up before all the nerds realized how common they were, and $80 later shipped off to a "happy" person 4 sets of 3d glasses "mint" :D
 
It is in the best interest of auction companies to have shill bidders operating. I don't see why Ebay would be an exception (and it isn't)
This especially goes for auto auctions, estate auctions, property auctions etc.
You can usually forget getting a fair deal on something this way.
 
Ebay is a hole. If you are buying anything other than "buy it now" items you are likely getting hosed one way or another. Be it shills, or sniper bidding (of which there are countless programs), you are getting screwed.
 
I've seen people list auctions starting at a penny, then once a few people get interested and start bidding, they'll have another account to bump the price up to what they actually want for it, or get into a bidding war at the last seconds to squeeze a couple bucks extra. If it goes for more money, it's just more in their pocket. If not, they (cause they were buyer and seller) mutually agree to cancel the transaction and no fees are charged and the item can be relisted for free, or you can offer a second chance to the second highest bidder. Least that's how it used to work. I knew a few people who had multiple accounts and used them for that.
 
What if no one on the forums wants to buy my junk, but folks on ebay will fight for it??? ;)
 
What's the alternative? Craigslist? Hardforum FS/T?

I guess ebay's crazy fee structure can be looked at as offsetting any premiums you may get from selling lower via a forum but sometimes ebay is the only way to get your shit sold :(
 
^ true that. eBay has a WAY larger user base than any forum. There are some items that are just a tough sell on most forums and craigslist... but you can usually always get it sold on ebay. The downside is dealing with shitty buyers and crazy fees
 
Draax said:
Ebay is a hole. If you are buying anything other than "buy it now" items you are likely getting hosed one way or another. Be it shills, or sniper bidding (of which there are countless programs), you are getting screwed.
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If you are "getting screwed" due to sniping, you're doing it wrong. I snipe everything that isn't BIN - it avoids bidding wars and thus allows me to pay less for items I want and for which I know what I am prepared to pay. It fails if people genuinely put in the maximum they are willing to pay - which I always do and which those complaining generally don't. Sniping is an entirely different (and legitimate) kettle of fish to shill bidding.
 
I've been a member of eBay since 1994. I have a rating of 372 and I've had exactly one bad transaction in those 20 years.

Lucky me? I'll continue to use eBay.
 
westrock2000 said:
While I have never doubted that this practice exists ever since eBay opened, what I don't understand is the logistics of it.

If your "fake" bidder drives up the price too high and the real bidders back off then what happens when the fake bidder ends up winning? Can the seller cancel the auction after it has ended, or do they end it right before it finalizes? If the auction does end and the two parties don't actually exchange any funds, doesn't eBay still get a cut of the final sell?
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If the fake bidder drives up the price above what the other bidders bid, it then allows the seller to give a "second chance" offer to the person under the fake bidder.

It is a great way for sellers to get the maximum coin for their wares.

If you ever are bidding on something and see a bunch of bids by newer accounts that have no or little feedback, then the price is probably being pushed up by a shill bidder.

Pretty easy to tell when this is happening for the most part.

If I were Ebay, I would monitor seller accounts and watch for repeat activity such as this. And then ban the seller as well as the fake bidder(s) from ever buying or selling on Ebay again.
 
unless your selling dozens of items at a time that you have a infinite supply from China.
Or selling stuff that is expensive that will actually make you money. Ebay is a chronic trip to the overpriced post office. While waiting for people to pay you by paypal which takes people oh sometimes they don't pay that is always fun.....
 
Hard forum should have a general section for selling non electronics TAKE OVER EBAY you can do it [H] forum....
 
I stopped selling on ebay when I realized I was paying as much as 25% in fees. I stopped buying when they made it impossible to search. Why do people list the same incorrectly described product 1000 times?
 
MrSneis said:
What's the alternative? Craigslist? Hardforum FS/T?

I guess ebay's crazy fee structure can be looked at as offsetting any premiums you may get from selling lower via a forum but sometimes ebay is the only way to get your shit sold :(
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Craigslist is sort of a scary thing to use when you have to meet an unknown person face-to-face. I've actually asked people to come along with me during the few times I've used it just to be safe since you never know what kind of weirdo you're going to meet. You also should ALWAYS meet in a busy place where there are a lot of potential witnesses and help. Though, since I've moved someplace rural, I don't use Craigslist at all since there are a lot more...um...people of the earth with less education and more tendency to have guns. It's just not worth the risk when you can have something mailed or shipped to you instead.
 
Kinda reminds me of the [H] member selling $2 for the price of $1, and ask people to rate him on ebay, cant find the thread (believe he had two threads) in the sale forum.

[H] members happily jumped on it, because, it's OK when it's yourself. ;)
 
on the [H] forums. Oh the good old days..

Ebay stopped being relevant years ago. Fee's are way too high and it's just filled with re sellers.

When it used to be a place for people to sell used goods, it was great.
 
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