| Author |
 Replies: 12 / Views: 1,414 |
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
870 Posts |
Heya folks! =) So I was watching this ebay auction today with great interest: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...TRK:MEWAX:ITIt's a neat coin, and I was curious to see what it sold for - it ended up selling for a great deal more than I expected. One thing I noticed while the auction was in its final phases, is that a certain bidder a****s was very quick to respond to bids to make sure he stayed on top. Now, it could be nothing, but this is a relatively big $ coin (sold for $6700, could be worth even more depending on how you look at it) and a*****s has (0) auction history. I know this coin was a consignment. I asked martyschmitt (the seller about it) and he was kind enough to reply. Obviously, in the end it didn't really seem to matter, the snipers knew what they were sniping and that's what won the coin. But is there anything that can be done? Is there any way to tell if a****s is a shill? Thanks! =) This is all interesting to me... |
|
|
|
Pillar of the Community
 United States
870 Posts |
HM.
So the $10 Gold Eagle that just finished (same seller) was WON by that certain a*****s. Something's wrotten in Denmark. (Or... just outside of Old New Amsterdam, in this case.)
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2049 Posts |
If you look at the time stamps of the bids, that guy you refered to placed bids of $1899, $2500, $2950, etc. The reason it looks like he bid very quickly is due to proxy bidding done by ebay from what I can tell. It doesn't mean it's not a shill, but the bidding pattern you described is how ebay proxy bidding works. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
870 Posts |
Right... gotcha. Okay. I just noticed he was quick to respond every time he was outbid and his reaction wasn't instantaneous. I watched him get outbid a couple of times and then less than 30 seconds later he would be back on top again. Perhaps it's nothing, but he's won nearly $15,000 in coins today. That seems like a lot for a person with a brand new account. =) (That hasn't used ebay before or has simply started a new account for whatever reason). |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2189 Posts |
The bidder you are talking about with 0 feedback has bid on 33 items.Every single one of his bids has been with this one seller.100% shill in my book
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2189 Posts |
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
870 Posts |
Hm. Thanks Jasper!
So... what (if anything) can be done? Is it worth doing anything?
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
870 Posts |
I've figured out the buyers' id and he has been a member since September of '08. Just bought his first items in the past two days from this seller, and nothing else, ever. Jasper is correct, 100% of his bids have been on this sellers items.
AND the seller has already left feedback for the buyer, even though the items clearly haven't shipped or been received.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
870 Posts |
And the buyer hasn't left feedback for the seller.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2189 Posts |
I went ahead and reported his shill bidding to ebay but I'm sure they're not going to do anything about it.He has over fifty thousand sales.He's making alot of money for ebay |
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
ebay is the only one that can tell if its a shill because they can check the ip address of both parties and see if they match or if they are close. The buyer being new and buying 15k worth of coins from this same seller makes me think you could be right though Quote:
the seller has already left feedback for the buyer, even though the items clearly haven't shipped or been received. Quote:
And the buyer hasn't left feedback for the seller. even though uncommon this is not unique. If the bidder paid for the items it is perfectly acceptable for the seller to leave feedback before he ships the item out or the buyer receives them, but if the buyer leaves feedback before there is any way for him to already receive the items, that is when a flag should be thrown on the field
|
|
Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
The only thing that doesn't fit is, martyschmitt doesn't need a shill. He has a huge, favorable record, sells a bazillion coins on ebay and has been doing so since 1998. My first thoughts regarding the bidder are, he's either a newbie with more money than brains and a fixation on the quality of this seller; a competing seller who has opened a buyer account and feels he can sneak in purchases at a price he can flip to his own benefit; or a former buying customer who has developed a grudge against this seller and is attacking him by appearing to be a shill bidder. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
870 Posts |
Those are all entirely plausible. The prices of the coins that sold were all well below market value. We shall see. =)
Anyway, not my problem, but I won't buy from a guy that does that.
|
| |
Replies: 12 / Views: 1,414 |
|
Posted 08/02/2011 8:28 pm
