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eBay put up millions of fake auctions to artificially boost numbers

gamehuntergamehunter Posts: 181
in Trading Cards & Memorabilia Forum
If anyone thinks the boycott and seller exodus didn't adversely affect eBay, read this gem of a thread:

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000527568

Comments

  • rube26105rube26105 Posts: 10,225 ✭✭
    is why i got this email from the yesterday,anybody else get it??



    Price drop on eBay listing upgrades, 2 days only!

    on auction-style and fixed price listings

    - Good for Value Pack, Gallery Plus, Featured Plus! and Picture Pack listing upgrades

    - Get people clicking and buying

    - List a bunch, pocket the savings

    2 days only · March 1-2


    id say they must be feeling the squish or something from peopleimage



  • KarbKarb Posts: 557 ✭✭✭
    Yeah I got that too.

    BTW Linky Dink
    Robert

    Hoarding silver and collecting history
  • stevekstevek Posts: 29,455 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Not to proclaim any "urban legends" because I don't believe that would happen with ebay generating their own false auctions, but while surfing ebay last week, there was a 0 feedback seller who had over 48,000, yes 48,000 listings - I checked out a few and the writing was filled with errors, glitches, and the auctions didn't make much sense. I didn't give it much thought but now I think this may have been a protest listing just spamming up the ebay site with no intentions of getting any bids.

    I'm not any expert on turbo listing techniques done on ebay, but perhaps it wouldn't take that long for someone to punch in some info on a computer, such as maybe some past ebay auctions, let the computer randomly generate more ebay auction numbers and copy auctions, and duplicate over 48,000 auctions.....but I really don't know.
  • samsgirl214samsgirl214 Posts: 2,074 ✭✭
    I'm in the process of moving my hundred thousand cards back to naxcom
  • LeiascardsLeiascards Posts: 3,233
    Well I can put about 50,000 listings into TL in about 10 minutes. Once I get one written just copy it 500 times then make 500 more copies so on and so on.

    The truth of the matter is more than likely the "boycott" did not work like some thought it would and now they are crying about it. I had one of my best weeks last week in a long time. Thanks for the boycott.
  • stevekstevek Posts: 29,455 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Not to proclaim any "urban legends" because I don't believe that would happen with ebay generating their own false auctions, but while surfing ebay last week, there was a 0 feedback seller who had over 48,000, yes 48,000 listings - I checked out a few and the writing was filled with errors, glitches, and the auctions didn't make much sense. I didn't give it much thought but now I think this may have been a protest listing just spamming up the ebay site with no intentions of getting any bids.

    I'm not any expert on turbo listing techniques done on ebay, but perhaps it wouldn't take that long for someone to punch in some info on a computer, such as maybe some past ebay auctions, let the computer randomly generate more ebay auction numbers and copy auctions, and duplicate over 48,000 auctions.....but I really don't know. >>



    I just checked - all 48,000 auctions...gone with the wind. LOL
  • MooseDogMooseDog Posts: 1,946 ✭✭✭
    I didn't post anything new during the "boycott" but kept my Store Listings going and like stevek said, I too had one of my best sales weeks in months.

  • stevekstevek Posts: 29,455 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Well I can put about 50,000 listings into TL in about 10 minutes. Once I get one written just copy it 500 times then make 500 more copies so on and so on.

    The truth of the matter is more than likely the "boycott" did not work like some thought it would and now they are crying about it. I had one of my best weeks last week in a long time. Thanks for the boycott. >>




    Frankly - So did I - it was a terrific week of sales for me. My feeling is if someone doesn't like ebay, then stay off of it permanently...a week boycott isn't going to do you any good, but just have your potential customers buy from someone else.
  • SDavidSDavid Posts: 1,584 ✭✭
    40,000 listings wouldn't be difficult. Paying the listing fees might be problematic, though, unless it was a hijacked account. I'm pretty sure you have to register a credit card or a checking account (can't remember the specifics) to sell on ebay.
  • LeiascardsLeiascards Posts: 3,233
    Actually if you link your Paypal account you don't have to have either in order to sell or get ID verified
  • SDavidSDavid Posts: 1,584 ✭✭
    Either way, they have a means to collect. Ebay/paypal also have a collection agency they use for people who default on charges related to chargebacks, fees, etc.
  • elsnortoelsnorto Posts: 2,012 ✭✭


    << <i>Frankly - So did I - it was a terrific week of sales for me. My feeling is if someone doesn't like ebay, then stay off of it permanently...a week boycott isn't going to do you any good, but just have your potential customers buy from someone else. >>



    image

    Bravo! I understand most people's frustration with the perpetual changes at eBay and, often times, share in them. But the sense of entitlement some seller in particularly have with regards to eBay is ridiculous to me.

    Snorto~
  • MeteoriteGuyMeteoriteGuy Posts: 7,140 ✭✭
    I have done good the last couple weeks, but to be honest I should have.

    Things die quite a bit after Christmas and we are usually in a lull into tax time, after tax time things will get in another lull, better then the after Christmas lull, into Christmas season again. Of course what you sell makes a difference in your "season" but having played in about all collectibles the above seems pretty true.

    Clear Skies,
    Mark
    Collecting PSA graded Steve Young, Marcus Allen, Bret Saberhagen and 1980s Topps Cards.
    Raw: Tony Gonzalez (low #'d cards, and especially 1/1's) and Steve Young.
  • SDavidSDavid Posts: 1,584 ✭✭
    The party line is that a technical glitch caused shopping.com listings to show up on ebay. Interesting timing!
  • rube26105rube26105 Posts: 10,225 ✭✭
    Frankly - So did I - it was a terrific week of sales for me


    me tooimage
  • kingraider75kingraider75 Posts: 1,500 ✭✭
    I just list when I can. No real method to my madness. It probably costs me a few dollars in the long run, but with all the snipe thingees not so sure anymore.
    Running an Ebay store sure takes a lot more time than a person would think!
  • BlackborderBlackborder Posts: 2,797 ✭
    The thread is gone.
  • LeiascardsLeiascards Posts: 3,233
    I bet the OP is as well..
  • storm888storm888 Posts: 11,701 ✭✭✭
    "The thread is gone. "

    //////////////////////////////////////////////

    MOST poofed threads from the EBAY boards can be retrieved at

    boardreader.com

    image
    Folks Who Bite Get Bitten. Folks Who Don't Bite Get Eaten.
  • christopherkingchristopherking Posts: 73
    Looks like the crap is about to hit the fan! eBay deleted that thread, but there are others springing up. Here is one on the central seller board:

    http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000527614&tstart=0&mod=1204489951151

    and another news story on Auction Bytes:

    http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/comments/2008/3/1204379814.html

    Fox News, CNN and The Wall Street Journal will be running stories about it
    Monday morning and the SEC has been notified also. Wouldn't be surprised to
    see a class action suit against them. This is basically fraud since they
    are a publicly traded company. Purposely reporting false numbers has severe
    penalties.
    Our listings were buried under a pile of fake listings that ebay put there.
    This made it harder for people to find our listings and resulted in a drop
    in sales for us. They took money from us so we could list our items and then
    they buried them with phony listings that competed against us. Bad-faith
    dealings.

    Here is one of many live recorded screenshots on YouTube of the fraud. They
    listed millions of fake auctions with NARUd user IDs and zero feedback user
    Ids.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mePI-UWDGOE

    Ummm....something ain't quite right on eBay. Check out this seller - has
    been on ebay 10 years with a feedback rating of only 558 - but he currently
    has 90,721 items listed! Something smells funny and it's not my sneakers.
    The seller's 1-800 number belongs to an airline! Wonder how many other
    "sellers" have 100,000 items listed?

    http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcollect2000

    Here is a zero feedbacker with 10,000 listings. None of them had any bids:

    http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=ViewListedItems&since=30&userid=sdc_prod_9074_35&include=0&rows=50&sort=3&completed=1

    New boycott scheduled for May 1 to coincide with the new improved feedback
    policy. I wonder if Ebay will list a bunch of bogus auctions again?

    http://seekingalpha.com/article/66733-ebay-bares-its-ugly-new-face
  • storm888storm888 Posts: 11,701 ✭✭✭
    Once an EBAY thread has been crawled, it can usually be found at

    www.boardreader.com

    EVEN after it has been poofed.
    Folks Who Bite Get Bitten. Folks Who Don't Bite Get Eaten.
  • swartz1swartz1 Posts: 4,911 ✭✭✭
    What were the bogus auctions selling? How can you have an auction with no product - Tell me what I am missing here...


    Looking for 1970 MLB Photostamps
    - uncut


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  • calaban7calaban7 Posts: 3,012 ✭✭✭
    go to You Tube.com-- list Ebay in the search and the 1st video that pops up is an eye opener.
    " In a time of universal deceit , telling the truth is a revolutionary act " --- George Orwell
  • LeiascardsLeiascards Posts: 3,233
    Really and truthfully who cares its their site that can do what they want. You eiter play by their rules or you leave its that simple.

    What it boils down to is that some sellers are upset because not every seller participated in the boycott and those who did list had better than average sales. Mine were up over 500.00 last week. I got three emails from sellers calling me a scab and everything else accusing me of being an Ebay employee etc..

    I would guess the more than likely culprit are sellers who were mad at those who continued to list so they created dummy accounts and listed thousands of auctions with no intent of ever paying. Once I have a template set up I can multiply it by 50000 in about 10 minutes and about an hour load time. Get a hundred "sellers" doing that guess what you got the scabs buried in lots of different categories.
  • storm888storm888 Posts: 11,701 ✭✭✭
    "Get a hundred "sellers" doing that guess what you got the scabs buried in lots of different categories. "

    ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

    BUT, that would not demonstrate that the boycott reduced
    the number of listings.

    The WSJ is doing another story on the whole thing, this week.

    Folks Who Bite Get Bitten. Folks Who Don't Bite Get Eaten.
  • LeiascardsLeiascards Posts: 3,233
    It would though be an effort to punish the sellers who did not participate in the boycott by burying their listings under tons of junk..
  • wolfbearwolfbear Posts: 2,759 ✭✭✭

    Any publicity is good publicity.
    Sounds like a heck of a time to start putting up a bunch of auctions on eBay.

    Hope all those boycotters
    with all their .99 sales of junk with a 5.99 shipping fee just end up going away forever.
    Pix of 'My Kids'

    "How about a little fire Scarecrow ?"
  • stevekstevek Posts: 29,455 ✭✭✭✭✭
    <<< I would guess the more than likely culprit are sellers who were mad at those who continued to list so they created dummy accounts and listed thousands of auctions with no intent of ever paying. >>>

    I agree that is what happened. They just listed the auctions under their pet dog's account and doghouse address so they wouldn't possibly get barred from ebay.
  • 70chip70chip Posts: 797


    << <i>Really and truthfully who cares its their site that can do what they want. You eiter play by their rules or you leave its that simple. - NOT GOING TO QUOTE THE REST OF YOUR POST BECAUSE OF SPACE AND YOUR MESSAGE IS CLEAR >>



    I guess I would feel the same way if ebay wasn't a NASDAQ traded stock at $26.36 per share. If they were a private entity then who cares, inflate the numbers like a boob job for all I care. But at $26+ per share and a huge mover on the NASDAQ boards..............ummmmmm, I smell Enron, get the drift?
    Collecting Interests:
    Ripken, Brooks & Frank Robinson, Old Orioles, Sweet Spot Autos, older Redskins - Riggins, Sonny, Baugh etc and anything that catches my eye. image

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  • SDavidSDavid Posts: 1,584 ✭✭
    If this was caused by ebay sellers, they would have said so.

    Straight from their system announcements page:

    March 02, 2008 | 02:32PM PST/PT


    Some Shopping.com listings appeared accidentally on eBay.com over the
    past two days. This system issue has been resolved. We apologize for
    any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused.


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