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Very Dissapointing News On Ebay's Shill Bidding Policy.

I emailed ebay on a seller that I watched beat my bid every minute I put a bid in on a coin for 3 days, Did this seller do this? How can a honest ebayer tell if a seller that has a PRIVATE AUCTION is not bidding on their own auction?

I emailed ebay about this excact question and they told me its hard to prove because, a bid for a bidder cannot be checked for alike ebay Id's Same address for the same seller. SO on, so anyone out here with knowledge of this problem please write your concerns. ty G
Hey Ralphey Boy, I Got Gold Fever!

Comments

  • krankykranky Posts: 8,709 ✭✭✭
    There is no way to know if a seller is shill bidding his own auctions, if they are private auctions.

    Isn't it possible the high bidder had entered a proxy bid that was higher than all the bids you placed? If that was true, each time you bid, the system would automatically raise the proxy bid of the other person to outbid you.

    New collectors, please educate yourself before spending money on coins; there are people who believe that using numismatic knowledge to rip the naïve is what this hobby is all about.

  • In the past, when I found something on eBay that I wanted, I would bid the highest amount that I wanted to pay. Now, I do not even bid until the last minute or two.
    imageimage
  • TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 44,442 ✭✭✭✭✭
    What are you bidding on ? If it's that good, I might want in on the action image


    LINK ?
  • Has anyone ever heard of someone actually getting caught and disciplined or kicked off E-bay for shill bidding? I do not think there is any enforcement of their shill bidding policy. It is difficult to prove for sure, but does E-bay have any incentive whatsoever in preventing shill bidding?
  • jonathanbjonathanb Posts: 3,648 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Actually, I've reported several folks for shill bidding, and eBay has been very quick to terminate both the seller's and the bidder's accounts in all instances.
  • Actually, I've reported several folks for shill bidding, and eBay has been very quick to terminate both the seller's and the bidder's accounts in all instances.

    I'm glad to hear that! By what criteria do they determine if someone is shill bidding? I turned in what appeared to be a two seller "team" which bid on each others auctions all the time--they both sell rolls of coins. They each bid up the auctions quite high and bid quite frequently and even once in awhile win an auction or two from the other (perhaps that's how they keep from getting caught). Ebay didn't hardly give it five minutes from the time I sent the complaint in until they determined there was no "shill bidding." Since then, I've wondered if anyone gets caught.

    The other thing suspicious about these sellers is that one always has obw rolls which look like they've been opened on one end and carefully re-wrapped; the other seller looks like they have a bonafide coin wrapping machine--their rolls always look the same--same colors--no bank stamps, nice and clean with no wear. I think they are passing off as original rolls stuff they've already cherry-picked and then wrapped or re-wrapped.
  • BoomBoom Posts: 10,165


    << <i> I think they are passing off as original rolls stuff they've already cherry-picked and then wrapped or re-wrapped. >>



    Awh, come on....ya think? imageimage
  • 291fifth291fifth Posts: 24,425 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Why are you even considering bidding in "private" auctions. You should know better.
    All glory is fleeting.

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