Did I just get taken? Help needed please.

artistlost

Well here's the story. I have been looking for a modern PSA graded copy of a 2002 Cole Hamels Bowman Chrome Refractor RC for a while now. (this kids is doing great). Anyway, 7 days ago one pops up on Ebay. I contact the seller asking if he is interested in a buy it now price. He kindly replies back no thanks but please bid. I reply with thanks and if you change your mind I would pay $175.00 for the card (which is graded a 9 by the way). He never replies...no biggie.

Well the auction just ended and I had my snipe set at 175.00. The snipe goes off and I am the high bidder with 6 seconds left at 102.50. Then one new bidder enters and the auction ends at 170.02. I'm a happy man.

well...i start to think...if he knew i wanted the card and they are rare to find would he shill the price up knowing i was willing to pay 175? So i do a bit of digging and see that the underbidder at 168.02 has bid on only 3 other baseball cards in the last 30 days (and a handfull of other now collectable items). All 3 items are from this seller that I won the card from. I then check to see that the underbidder is not a baseball card seller either. Something seems fishy here.

I am glad to have won the card but if I was just shilled for 70 then I am not a happy camper as I could use that money to buy my next card a 1961 Billy Williams RC for my HOF registry set.

well what do you think i should do?


oh and as I was typing this the seller has emailed me which tells me that they were online watch there auction close.

thanks for the help.

mathew

tennesseebanker

I would say since you were willing to pay $175, Pay him and be happy you won it cheaper.
In the future learn not to disclose what price you are willing to pay for a card.

gregmo32

I think you were definitely shilled. Not sure what recourse you have because I have heard ebay does not help much with such things. Definitely is a reason to play things a little closer to your chest though...

artistlost

Ya I kicked my self for stating a price I was willing to pay in advance. But still...if it is schilling it's schilling...regardless of what i was willing to pay.

baseballfanatic

Looks like it was the sellers wife.
The only other "card" purchased by bidder number 2 was a card from the same seller, all of the rest of the feedback is for womens clothing.......

Edited to add that both are from the same area in Texas

MorrellMan

<< <i>Ya I kicked my self for stating a price I was willing to pay in advance. But still...if it is schilling it's schilling...regardless of what i was willing to pay. >>



Well you're right. If it's shilling it's shilling - shilling is against ebay rules. So is negotiating a buy it now price while an auction is up. People in glass houses and all that rot....

artistlost

I should clarify. I asked to do it ON EBAY with a buy it now price. Parts of my house are glass but not all of it. :>

2dueces

If he thought he had to shill it to get $170, wouldn't he just sell it to you for $175? Or was he being greedy and hoping a last minute snipe hit for over $200? Wouldn't he shill it much higher? If he shilled, it really doesn't make sense that he didn't just sell it to you and take the sure money. Joe

2dueces

But let me add, there are some goofy people running around out there. Anything is possible.

artistlost

Good point. He might have been hoping that he had a brilliant outing and picked up some more than what I offered.

baseballfanatic

The shill guaranteed him an extra 70 bucks. Anything over that would have been icing on the cake....

MorrellMan

yep, if there were no bids, he could have changed it to include your BIN. My guess is he knew you were high, he was fretting thinking he should have taken your offer, he had someone bump the price to get you up to your range. He might have even made sure that the bump was below $170, not wanting to take the chance that you reduced your max bid too much. I'll bet if he ended up with the card, you would have seen it listed sometime in the future with $175 BIN, saying that the buyer reneged.

mandeld

That's absolutely a shill. But I don't think you got taken. Like the others said, you definitely can't disclose the price you are willing to pay. But at the same time, you've been waiting for that card and you got it for less than your max, so I think you should just be happy with the card and the fact that you didn't get burned too bad considering you got a card you've been looking for. Just think how you'd feel if yesterday he said, "No, thanks, that's a bit high. Give me $5 less and you've got a deal." Net result is the same, still $170 for the card. Enjoy it.

-Dan

storm888

This story seems to disprove the old maxim,
"You can't cheat an honest man."

I guess it is never good to let someone know in advance
what you are willing to pay.

All that said: The evidence of shilling is fairly thin. Not much
better than 50/50.

I dunno.