CyberG
May 5th, 2007, 12:11 PM
Here is some interesting details on ebay's policy against shill bidding.
Our inquiries have established that Paraskevaides was one of a number of eBay sellers prepared to shill bid to drive up prices by asking friends or associates to bid on their goods.
The sites safeguards are so lax that it is often impossible to detect especially if bids are placed on separate computers using different eBay identities.
Many regular eBay users complain that the practice is widespread across the auction site. The Sunday Times has identified a number of businesses ranging from a car dealership to an overseas property agency that have bid on their own items.
One former eBay employee said last week that eBay never really bothered that much about customer service.
[...]
The reporter asked Paraskevaides for help in selling his relatives artefacts on eBay. Paraskevaides advised that he always sold goods starting at $1 without a reserve price.
He said: I would sell everything no reserve. Because there is this human thing. Human beings think theyre going to get something for nothing. It never happens.
The reporter asked how a seller could protect themselves from losing money on an item with no reserve price. Paraskevaides suggested shill bidding.
Reporter: Presumably you do it, do you?
Paraskevaides: Well if I put something really expensive [up for sale] and I was concerned that it was going for nothing, I would phone a friend of mine, even a client of mine who buys from me, and say: For Christs sake, I sell you a 100 quids worth of items a week. . . just put two grand on it, will you?
He added that if his friend won the item, the sale would never actually go through. But the device would have avoided the item being sold to a genuine buyer for less than he wanted.
There was another benefit: He doesnt pay. Just gives me feedback. Simple as that, he said. Sellers on eBay have a history displayed on the site that shows whether they have had a positive or negative endorsement from each buyer.
Source:http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/corporate/article1267580.ece
If you report BidAncient, my company, to eBay for shill bidding, eBay will say: What are we going to do? Well, this guys reported him. Weve got to be seen to do something. So the chances are you get an e-mail a week later saying: Dear sir, Thank you for your query. Weve investigated your allegations. We are pleased to inform you they are not true. . .
[...]
The Sunday Times last week sold an item on eBay and bid on it from the same computer. The shill was never picked up. Until recently, regular users say they were forced to police the site themselves and tell eBay of suspicious transactions. But last November eBay decided to conceal the identities of anyone bidding more than £100 except the winner.
The move was designed to stop other businesses e-mailing the bidders with similar items which could have deprived eBay of subsequent trades. It has been viewed suspiciously by eBays community of sellers. Richard Hartley, from Norfolk, wrote: (It) solves two problems for eBay: no reports of expected shilling to investigate and no need to tackle the thorny issue of powersellers.
This weekend eBay insisted that its changes to bidder IDs had made it a safer environment for users who had previously been bombarded with fake offers after bidding for items.
The company refused to comment on a number of issues raised by our investigation. It issued a statement saying: Shill bidding is strictly prohibited on eBay. If we become aware of suspicious activity on either an item or an account, then it is thoroughly investigated.
Source: http://users.telenet.be/african-shop/ebay_scam.htm
ebay forum uses comment on the new system.
There's way to many shill bidders out there. If you can see them, then you can "try" to AVOID THEM!! Even if Ebay "claims" they have a new system to catch shill bidders..... Well, they can't catch them all. I work hard for my money and I'm not going to take a chance of being taken advantage of, by a shill bidder.
Source: http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=2000298866&start=0
Due to a policy change, shill bid scanners like AuctionPix - Shill bidder Tool (http://auctionpix.co.uk/shill_bidding.php) have been limited to scaning for prices $199 or lower.
Seems like ebay has some personal interests in protecting it's power sellers.
Our inquiries have established that Paraskevaides was one of a number of eBay sellers prepared to shill bid to drive up prices by asking friends or associates to bid on their goods.
The sites safeguards are so lax that it is often impossible to detect especially if bids are placed on separate computers using different eBay identities.
Many regular eBay users complain that the practice is widespread across the auction site. The Sunday Times has identified a number of businesses ranging from a car dealership to an overseas property agency that have bid on their own items.
One former eBay employee said last week that eBay never really bothered that much about customer service.
[...]
The reporter asked Paraskevaides for help in selling his relatives artefacts on eBay. Paraskevaides advised that he always sold goods starting at $1 without a reserve price.
He said: I would sell everything no reserve. Because there is this human thing. Human beings think theyre going to get something for nothing. It never happens.
The reporter asked how a seller could protect themselves from losing money on an item with no reserve price. Paraskevaides suggested shill bidding.
Reporter: Presumably you do it, do you?
Paraskevaides: Well if I put something really expensive [up for sale] and I was concerned that it was going for nothing, I would phone a friend of mine, even a client of mine who buys from me, and say: For Christs sake, I sell you a 100 quids worth of items a week. . . just put two grand on it, will you?
He added that if his friend won the item, the sale would never actually go through. But the device would have avoided the item being sold to a genuine buyer for less than he wanted.
There was another benefit: He doesnt pay. Just gives me feedback. Simple as that, he said. Sellers on eBay have a history displayed on the site that shows whether they have had a positive or negative endorsement from each buyer.
Source:http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/corporate/article1267580.ece
If you report BidAncient, my company, to eBay for shill bidding, eBay will say: What are we going to do? Well, this guys reported him. Weve got to be seen to do something. So the chances are you get an e-mail a week later saying: Dear sir, Thank you for your query. Weve investigated your allegations. We are pleased to inform you they are not true. . .
[...]
The Sunday Times last week sold an item on eBay and bid on it from the same computer. The shill was never picked up. Until recently, regular users say they were forced to police the site themselves and tell eBay of suspicious transactions. But last November eBay decided to conceal the identities of anyone bidding more than £100 except the winner.
The move was designed to stop other businesses e-mailing the bidders with similar items which could have deprived eBay of subsequent trades. It has been viewed suspiciously by eBays community of sellers. Richard Hartley, from Norfolk, wrote: (It) solves two problems for eBay: no reports of expected shilling to investigate and no need to tackle the thorny issue of powersellers.
This weekend eBay insisted that its changes to bidder IDs had made it a safer environment for users who had previously been bombarded with fake offers after bidding for items.
The company refused to comment on a number of issues raised by our investigation. It issued a statement saying: Shill bidding is strictly prohibited on eBay. If we become aware of suspicious activity on either an item or an account, then it is thoroughly investigated.
Source: http://users.telenet.be/african-shop/ebay_scam.htm
ebay forum uses comment on the new system.
There's way to many shill bidders out there. If you can see them, then you can "try" to AVOID THEM!! Even if Ebay "claims" they have a new system to catch shill bidders..... Well, they can't catch them all. I work hard for my money and I'm not going to take a chance of being taken advantage of, by a shill bidder.
Source: http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=2000298866&start=0
Due to a policy change, shill bid scanners like AuctionPix - Shill bidder Tool (http://auctionpix.co.uk/shill_bidding.php) have been limited to scaning for prices $199 or lower.
Seems like ebay has some personal interests in protecting it's power sellers.