On the subject of shill bidding on ebay, you can be sure that it happens more than ebay knows. There is no way that ebay KNOWS about EVERY case of shill bidding, but I also believe that shill bidding is not as prevelant as some think it is.
Before ebay anonomized the bidder identities, there was a seller that I was CONVINCED was using shill bidders, but I suspected it was a form of money laundering, not just trying to increase the auction final price.
I would watch many of the seller's auctions and he was getting entirely too many final prices on way too many auction that were just out of line with reality to be true, and on almost all of his auctions ther were 4-5 regular bidders, that consistently "Won" his auctions.
An example would be his Auctions for a Lionel Union Pacific 0-6-0T Docksider, the catalog MSRP was $109.99, with mail oRearder prices generally $89.99-$99.99, and often on the shelf at my LTS for $99.99.
I watched him sell them for $125.00-$309.00 PLUS $15.00 shipping, while it was still a current production item, and available either on the shelf or for ordering. I saw him sell at least 3 of them, Really he had three of them to sell, and HE found ALL the Elmers to buy HIS, and none of the other sellers with the identical item had any Elmers bid on their auctions? That was just one example of MANY MANY of his auctions, if you believe that all the Elmers just bid on HIS auctions only, I have some OCEAN FRONT property, for sale, Just outside of Phoenix, AZ, I'll make you a Great Deal, and if you have any money left, I also have a Nice Bridge for sale, You Interested?
Whith that seller, the common joke on the CTT forum was, "I need to take pics of my ebay items on a deck railing" there were many others besides myself, that seriously suspected something less than legitmate was going on, I haven't seen that seller now in several years, and if he was selling legitmately, WHY we he STOP? Heck the prices that he was getting, he could walk into an LTS buy a bunch of product at MSRP, go home and sell it on ebay, and at least DOUBLE his money even AFTER ebay's fees and shipping.
Doug
May your flanges always stay BETWEEN the rails
[quote user="cuyama"]
Truth seems less attractive than conspiracy theory, so I'll bow out.
... by the way, there are no alligators in the sewers in NYC, either.
Whatta ya mean, that shill biding on ebay doesn't happen, there's no alligators in the NYC sewer system, and I suppose that you're gonna tell me there is NO Santa Claus, or Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairey is a MYTH too?
Doug,
Yes, as the seller I did get the shippping charge, which I felt: 1) made me look like a liar, since I expressly stated $2.34 for shipping (not $6 +) and so told the buyer prior to shipping; and 2) misrepresented me (not to mention eBay itself) and my posting. I did end up refunding the buyer because it was simply unethical for eBay to change anything in my listing and it was the right thing to do. (He never thanked me though. ) In the end, FeeBay cheated the buyer; technically not theft, but like a hand gernade close enough.
So, changing the fee without my knowledge or permisson, plus the stubborn arrogance of the eBay rep, whose only known words in her vocabulary seemed to be that "the computer changed the shipping charge," turned me off to eBay.
Kerry
David,
You did the right thing, it's a shame the buyer didn't have the common courtesy to Thank you for doing it, there are plenty of sellers that would have just pocketed the extra shipping, Some people's Mommas, just didn't raise them right, then there are those of course that it didn't matter what Momma tried, they just turned out how they did
I will admit that ebay is far from perfect, but it has made some Hard to Find items, not so hard to find .
I have learned to use ebay, and know stratagies that work for me, sometimes I get something that I want for a price that I can live with, some times I just have to wait for the next one to come along.
I am Glad to have ebay as an option, even with the flaws that it does have
If any excess shipping cost - not expressly applied, willingly or not, by the seller - acrues to the seller and not eBay, just why then does eBay increase that shipping cost at all? Where's the benefit to eBay? It's unethical, a bait and switch and dishonest. It should by right piss off both seller and buyer.
Over the years, I've found much more of what I need on Amazon and very little on eBay, with no duplicitous or unethical actions on the part of Amazon or its sellers. This egregious move on eBay's part two years ago has soured me on the company.