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How eBay Sellers Fix Auctions
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.""
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.
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.
Where's the economic loss? You paid an amount within the bid range you specified.
Ohh, the 'loss' is the difference between what you paid and what you *might* have paid without the shill bidding? Well that loss exactly equals the gain by the seller, meaning it's a wash in the big picture so there's no macro consequence so *I DON'T CARE*.
Quit being a pathetic dweeb.
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.
This is a recent IM conversation with a coworker. Emailed to you because (1) it tells another sad story about my upstairs roommate, and (2) it's kinda entertaining
Worker Bee 1 dang my farts stink today
Worker Bee 2 lol
Worker Bee 1 its gonna be a looong day
Worker Bee 2 marinatin' in your own farts
Worker Bee 2 yuck
Worker Bee 1 if you stand up and look, you can see a shimmering haze over my cube
Worker Bee 2 you mean that green cloud?
Worker Bee 1 yes
Worker Bee 1 quite noxious
Worker Bee 2 the ceiling tiles are gonna be stained over your cube
Worker Bee 1 already are
Worker Bee 1 building isnt even a year old
Worker Bee 1 pity
Worker Bee 2 maybe they'll start to corrode
Worker Bee 1 mebbe it'll warm the place up. its frickin cold in here
Worker Bee 2 there'll be a hole in your chair
Worker Bee 2 Aliens style
Worker Bee 1 lol
Worker Bee 1 wait, wtf part of aliens are u talking about?!???!
Worker Bee 2 the acid blood
Worker Bee 1 ahhhh
Worker Bee 2 but with gas
Worker Bee 1 lol, i was trying to remember when and where an alien ever came up out of a chair and ripped someone a new asshole
Worker Bee 2 lol
Worker Bee 1 different wavelengths....
Worker Bee 1 lol
Worker Bee 2 that was Dreamcatcher
Worker Bee 1 yeah, thats true
Worker Bee 1 horrible movie
Worker Bee 2 yeah
Worker Bee 1 but that scene was creepy
Worker Bee 2 in the bathroom?
Worker Bee 1 yeah
Worker Bee 2 no shit
Worker Bee 1 made me involuntarily clench my cheeks
Worker Bee 2 hee hee
Worker Bee 1 lol
Worker Bee 1 so one of my roommates wanted to "borrow" my toilet plunger saturday
Worker Bee 2 keep it
Worker Bee 1 i was like, "uh, no." I dont want your shit all over my plunger
Worker Bee 2 the nerve
Worker Bee 1 thats what i told him. "you can use it, but i dont want it back. You'll have to buy me aa new one
Worker Bee 2 i'm not sure we even have one at my house
Worker Bee 2 you've either got bad plumbing or a serious health issue, my friend
Worker Bee 1 then he sees mine (which was like $12 i think). it comes with a little plastic bowl it sits in. he says "oh man, nevermind. i didnt realize you had the high falutin' plunger. You're living the high life huh?"
Worker Bee 2 lol
Worker Bee 1 so then he says "i'll try something else"
Worker Bee 1 I'm thinking "good god man"
Worker Bee 2 lol
Worker Bee 1 what "else" r u going to try?
Worker Bee 1 its the plunger, and thats it. There is NO "something else"
Worker Bee 2 spatula?
Worker Bee 1 lol
Worker Bee 2 an M-80?
Worker Bee 1 now here's the kicker:
Worker Bee 1 i got home at 11 am on saturday from errands. he's in the kitchen, just waking up
Worker Bee 2 he woke up in the kitchen?
Worker Bee 2 nevermind
Worker Bee 1 i go to my room, and about 10 minutes later is when he asks if i have a plunger
Worker Bee 1 ok, so you know the rest. he says nevermind, and goes off to try something else
Worker Bee 1 so i hop on my bike for some exercise (stationary bike)
Worker Bee 1 an hour later, he comes back down. "hey can i take you up that offer?"
Worker Bee 2 haha
Worker Bee 1 wtf?! dude, its been an hour. u could have run down to Giant, spent $3 on the cheap version, been back home by now
Worker Bee 1 He goes, "yeah, but i gotta take a crap"
Worker Bee 1 at this point it dawns on me
Worker Bee 1 i'm thinking to myself... "wait a minute. either 1 of 2 things has happened here..."
Worker Bee 1 (1) you woke up and immediately took a crap. and flooded your bowl. Then only 15 minutes later, you have to take another crap already? No , i think something else happened, like
Worker Bee 1 (2) you crapped your bowl and filled it LAST NIGHT. The