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How eBay Sellers Fix Auctions

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the the-accussed-hereby-stand dept.

Boj writes "The Times online is carrying stories on fraud carried out on eBay using shill bidding. Citing eBay's changes to security as aiding the shill bidders and this fraud: "Last November eBay changed its rules to conceal bidders' identity — making it even more difficult for customers to see whether sellers are bidding on their own lots.""

4 of 556 comments (clear)

  1. Who cares, it only affects morons anyway by brunes69 · · Score: 0, Troll

    Shill bidding only affects morons who get caught up in the bidding frenzy and pay more than they wanted to for the item anyway. It doesn't affect anyone who knows what price they want to pay for what they're looking for.

    I buy a lot of stuff on eBay. But I don't do any sniping, or bid hunting, or anything else. I just add things to my eBay watch list, and wait until 5 minutes before auction close, when Unwired Buyer calls my cell phone. I then either bid a bit higher than the current price on the item if it's at the right price, otherwise, I just hang up.

    IMO this is the pinnacle of eBay services. No extra fees, and I can get the items *I* want with minimal hassle or worry.

  2. Re:Reserve Not Yet Met by spiritraveller · · Score: 0, Troll

    So the damage done is basically that someone somewhere on the internet is being dishonest.

    Are you that dense?

    The damage is an economic loss. Someone has lost money.

    Often this happens when someone has set a "Maximum bid," so even if they somehow know that it's happening, they cannot stop it. It's fraud.

    Holy fucking shit, call the president.

    Please go die, thank you.

  3. Re:yay ebay politics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    I guess what is equally as ridiculous is the fact that someone would go through so much time listing auctions for a measley 30 bucks, and having the possibility of getting charged for mail fraud and being under investigation by the IC3..
    What's most ridiculous is that you'd send a money order. What year is it again, sparky? There really is one born every minute.
  4. Re:Reserve Not Yet Met by LurkerXXX · · Score: 0, Troll

    An example of being a moron? Seriously, don't bid more than something is worth to you. If you get it for that price you said you were willing to bid to, don't bitch about it. I can't think of a more horrible example of trying to show something wrong with shill bidding.