Ebay question

cspeier1

I know that people get upset when someone pulls a auction at the very end due to it no bringing enough money. Has any one just bid on there own auction? I know people did it back when Ebay first started. How would you feel if it happened to you. I think it's better than ending it. The fees are small compared to how much money you may lose.. Just curious

Chad

BrianHarper

Edited to stay out of any wars... .. back then, you still got darn near book price for what you were selling.. it was more like an online card show.. sellers made out good then compared to now.

AkbarClone

So let me get this straight--you are asking if anyone here "shill" bids on thier own auctions to get the price up?

and BrianHarper use to shill his auctions (at least a couple), but doesn't anymore?

Shilling is against eBay rules, and also against most person's moral and ethical codes.

If I misunderstood your posts I apologize.

cspeier1

I personally wasn't thinking to get the price up. I was thinking if a card is at $25.00 and it's worth $75.00 bidding $200 and letting yourself win it. But, your correct it's basically shill bidding. So I guess I'll do what everyone else does and just end the auction. Thanks for bringing the shill to my attention.

joker73

Not to be rude, but isn't this what a reserve is for?

funlover1974

It is also against Ebay rules to pull an auction early if the price does not reach a certain amount this is call reserve fee advoidance and is something Ebay is cracking down on.. It is hard to prove, but if it happens with the same seller over and over it becomes obvious.

Best bet is to put you minimum price as opening bid or use a reserve. If you get a history of pulling auctions early you will lose bidders in the long run, even if you are not reported to Ebay about it and slapped by them.

cspeier1

Sorry, if I list something I'll end the auction if I want. It's still my property. If Ebay was so worried about this they wouldn't let you end a auction. Oh but I forgot, "The auction wasn't listed properly" or "The auction is lost or damaged" or "The item is no longer for sale"

funlover1974

Here is the link to the page on Ebay about circumventing of fees.

Link

cspeier1

I agree, but I personally like line two.. It says to me "I started my auction to low!!" This is an ongoing debate, it's a no win

LINK

BrianHarper

hey now.. i just said what i did in 1997.. that was 7 years ago.. eBay is a different animal now than it was then.. but you are right.. shilling in WRONG. you should spend the extra money to put a reserve on your auction if you think it might sell below what you want for it.

cspeier1

BrianHarper..

One thing you'll learn on these forums is that EVERYONE is perfect or has never done anything wrong.. Don't sweat it, if you stick aroung long enough it'll get worse..

funlover1974

I have had it happen several times in the past to me and I have now black listed the seller. It is not fair to the high bidder that the item did not reach your price. They just entered in what they would have paid, and their max bid might have been higher than the price you wanted, but there was no other bidder to push the item up. So what happens to the interested bidder he moves to the next item.

Plus to close an auction early takes about 1 minute. I have had auctions jump big time in the last minute due to snipers. Had one once go from 120.00 to 300.00 in the last 30 seconds

TCC

<< <i>I agree, but I personally like line two.. It says to me "I started my auction to low!!" This is an ongoing debate, it's a no win >>



Read down a little further on the same page and you'll see the following:

"Note: Sellers are not permitted to cancel bids and end listings early in order to avoid selling an item that did not meet the desired sale price. This is considered to be reserve fee circumvention. Although there are legitimate reasons for ending a listing early, abuse of this option will be investigated."

In my opinion, an "error" is not that the seller did not think through details of the listing in the first place. If you only want to sell the card if it goes over some amount, make that the minimum bid or set a reserve. Don't set a low starting bid just because you think those type of auctions "go better" and then end it early when your approach ends up not working. To me, it's a lesson learned at that point and you should live with your initial decision and the end results.

-Bob

cspeier1

I've been down this road many times. I've had MAJOR Powersellers pull auctions on me. I've reported them, I've sent emails. Ebay does nothing because they protect the powerseller. I had one tell me that if I didn't like how they ran there auctions, don't bid on there stuff. Personally I AGREE WITH THAT....

TCC

<< <i>I've been down this road many times. I've had MAJOR Powersellers pull auctions on me. I've reported them, I've sent emails. Ebay does nothing because they protect the powerseller. I had one tell me that if I didn't like how they ran there auctions, don't bid on there stuff. Personally I AGREE WITH THAT.... >>



The "everyone else does it" defense usually is a losing one.

-Bob

EagleEyeKid

I had one tell me that if I didn't like how they ran there auctions, don't bid on there stuff. Personally I AGREE WITH THAT....

That's just it. Ebay does nothing. I have a list of sellers that constantly do it right next to my computer, and I stay clear. I never visit/bid on their auctions ever again. May they all rot in hell. And if you do it too; say hi to Satan for me.

Allen

Ebay doesn't really do anything to control the cards. Look how many fake and bootleg autos are on there. right now ebay is flooded with counterfeit wagners and mantles that are being shilled to trick buyers. I know alot of people bought the fake Jordan rookies a while back and ruined legit colectors with them. I mean just on this forum alone we have atlest 2-3 topics a day of fake, fradulent, scam, etc. type of listings and very seldom is anything done about them.
Just my $.02

envoy98

Auctions do tend to jump, sometimes tremendous amounts, in the waining moments. I was bidding on one guys auctions that were pretty low in price compared to what I thought they should go for, so I bid. 76T Payton RC ($45, 84 Fleer Updated Clemens RC $77) I bid on a couple others too. After 5 minutes went by I had won 1 auction and the other 2 didnt show up in my watch list, my "Items I won or Items I didn't win" columns...I was confused so I went and looked up the sellers ended auctions and there it was 0 bids 1.00 opening price (Item ended early because the item is no longer for sale" and just below it.... "This item, or one like has been relisted"

Wow, at 9 oclock at night? I did win the clemens for $160, I don't know if he just couldn't end them all fast enough or what...I did get it in the mail too, now we have to see if my fears of a trim job are correct. A little wave at the top right corner that concerns me. If it comes back trimmed, everyone will know his name.

I think ending auctions early is a crock. If you want a certain price, set a reserve. You'll know how much they're going for by looking at other ended auctions, if you aren't willing to sell it at the lowest price one ended at, then don't list it.

Now, that being said, I'm not saying I'm perfect. I have on one occassion sold a card at a local show that was running on ebay. I had 3 days left on the auction when I ended it however. So that makes me feel a little bit better about myself.

bowlking

If I'm not mistaken, many years ago ebay had it in their rules that a seller is "only allowed to bid on their own item once". Of course that was allowable "shill" bidding until it got out of control. Now ebay is pretty much just a free for all and as long as they collect the fees, they will hesitate to do much of anything about it.