Woo Hoo, I got a shiller kicked off ebay!!

sonofagunk

Here's one of his auction

He was a power seller, had three fake accounts and he won some of his own and then relisted them and won then a 2nd time under another fake account.

It happened less then TWO DAYS after reporting him. So I guess ebay is getting off their butts.

ER

You sonofa-gunk.

BTW, SOG, did you know that your user ID is a forbidden word?

zkcoins

lol, nice. He was with ebay since 1996? lol, what an idiot!

pines

Wow! A Power Seller with a huge user rating. What was this person thinking??? What a screw-up! Good job tracking this person down!

K6AZ

Before you celebrate too much, be aware that most of the time in this situation, eBay will NARU the shill accounts permanently, but only give a 30 day suspension to the main account.

Boom

Bottom line is MONEY. Power Sellers, especially high volume Power Sellers, equate to more money for eBay via insertion fees, picture fees, final value fees and last but certainly not least, PayPal fees (Pay Pal is owned by eBay.....Old News but relevant).

He'll be back....guaranteed. Pisses me off along with other Power Sellers that play it straight but are stereoyped because of Monkeys like him. My feedback speaks for itself because my personal values and integrity mean a hell of a lot more to me than money.

Spiffy469

HOORAY!!!


Jeff

MAD4MORGANS

WAY TO GO!!!

BowTieCoins2

Here, here Boom!

BowTieCoins2

I don't mind so much if they get a warnings or what not first, but there should be guidelines, like three strikes and your out or whatever.
Lets not forget people will make mistakes, (mistakes are about learning in my opinion) it just gets tirer some when someone gets away with making the same one over and over again.

Hence, was it a honest mistake or ...... not.....

kranky

Good job, though K6AZ is right that the Powersellers typically get only a suspension.

What I don't understand is why ebay, as fee-hungry as they are, doesn't just raise the fees for sellers who get caught breaking the rules, and then aggressively look for violators. It's not like the Powersellers are going to move to Yahoo.

Steve27

Super job!!!


" Before you celebrate too much, be aware that most of the time in this situation, eBay will NARU the shill accounts permanently, but only give a 30 day suspension to the main account."

That sucks!

wayneherndon

A permanent suspension would likely not accomplish anything more than a 30-day suspension. Most would simply open another account (perhaps in the name of a spouse, employee, or even fictitious) and be going again in a day or two. Four or five years ago, I got a high-volume seller completely kicked off of ebay for shilling. He went to Yahoo for a few months. But, his volume there was a small fraction of what he'd been doing on eBay. Apparently, the lure of big sales on eBay was too tempting as I saw him back on eBay under a new username a month or two later. I brought this to eBay's attention but because he had used a different name for his account eBay did not remove him again. I showed them several items that he had for sale under the old name, on Yahoo and now back on eBay under the new name and enough other information to establish that it was essentially the same operation. I carefully watched his auctions and the bidders for over a year. I was looking for evidence of shilling under the new account but never found it. Apparently, the loss of a few months business was enough to keep him straight. Had he gone to a little more effort to hide himself (new listing style, terms, etc.) I would have never noticed his return and he could have been back to his old ways with no one the wiser.

At least, with a 30-day suspension, they come back with the same name and are easier to watch (both for eBay itself and other users). They also come back with a record of having been warned once about shilling. This makes the risks higher if caught again. With a new account, they start over with a clean slate. I think the best thing would be for eBay to closely review the accounts of people that have previously been caught. Focus efforts on known violators and work to clean them up.

One step might be to require a deposit from shillers who get a 30-day suspension before allowing their return. The deposit would be forfeited if they are caught shilling again and the funds used to compensate victims for increased cost of an item due to shilling.

For permanently suspended members, they should compare IP addresses of suspended members to new members (and what ever other more sophisticated tracking can be done). Most people who sign up again won't think to change ISPs or go through other measures to change an IP address.

WH

jdp2

What makes you think that is a shill bidder?

joeyuk

Here is part of his bid history.

mr1931S

The most effective way to deal with shilling on ebay is to know what you are willing to spend on an item, at the most, and do a snipe bid for that amount in the closing seconds of the auction.

Look at the 1894 dime auction. This coin is described by the seller as follows:

1894 XF45 Barber Dime - Key Date. See the pic. The coin is sharply struck, with the details of an AU coin. The luster is lacking a bit; hence the grade of XF45. Excellent eye appeal!!! Grading is strict Photograde plus my 33 years numismatic experience. Greysheet Ask is $135.00 in XF and $160.00 in AU. No reserve.

IMO, this coin has strong claim to XF40. It's a nice looking coin but XF45, no. Now, if I'm interested in acquiring this coin at MY price, which is the MOST I'm willing to pay, I will try to snipe it in the closing seconds of the auction. If I suspect that some shilling has been going on, I may not place my max bid in the closing seconds but rather in the closing minutes giving the shill time to make a critical decision. The question to be answered for the shill, in short time, is this:

Is this bid high enough for me to let the item go or am I going to try for a few more dollars?

Say the decision is made to try for a few more dollars. Fine. Shill makes bid with no response from me, wins his own auction, and gets to pay ebay even higher final value fees than he would if he'd not been so greedy and just left the auction alone.

I may not have won the battle but I'm thinking I won the war.

tlhoy

Conder101

<< <i>Say the decision is made to try for a few more dollars. Fine. Shill makes bid with no response from me, wins his own auction, and gets to pay ebay even higher final value fees than he would if he'd not been so greedy and just left the auction alone. >>


Or reports that sale didn't go through, pays no final value fees, and tries again.

UncleJoe

Or reports that sale didn't go through, pays no final value fees, and tries again.

I always wondered about that.

It seems to me that these shill accounts "win" an awful amount of auctions. Shouldn't eBay be very suspicious of an account that seems to have too many incompleted sales and especially if they are mostly from the same "buyer"?

Joe.

JadeRareCoin

mr1931S

"Shouldn't eBay be very suspicious of an account that seems to have too many incompleted sales and especially if they are mostly from the same "buyer"?"

If I was ebay, I certainly would be suspicious of a member who has too many uncompleted sales. A spanking would definitely be in order for using extra time and space, above the norm, on my server without paying me for it.

I'm of the opinion that ebay really doesn't care about, and actually allows for in their business model, a modest amount of shilling activity. A little bit of auction shilling, is after all, not a crime against humanity. Coming down harshly on ones who they believe might do a bit of the shilling from time-to-time, doesn't make good business sense. Coming down on the blatant shiller does make good business sense for ebay if it looks like the shiller is adversely affecting the bottom line.

It looks like the seller who is the topic of this thread is currently taking a well-deserved crash course in business ethics delivered ebay style.

morgannut2

I thought most web sights at one time paid a set fee of $200, unless they were porn sites-- where the fee was $600? Why not just raise his fee appropriate to his morals?