I stumbled onto a new film on HBO the other day, Fake Famous: https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/fake-famous
It was good, not great, well put together, maybe the thesis obvious and slanted to the authors perspective - but nonetheless I enjoyed watching. If you have a spare 90 minutes, give it a go.
But what struck me was one of the passing facts about the kinds of bots you can buy. I always knew there were bots for social media but this movie enlightened me to eBay bots.
One can purchase three kinds of eBay bots: viewers, watchers, and bidders. The first two help a seller gain traction within eBay’s algo (pretending to be hip with abbv’s but really can’t remember how to spell it) while the third pushes a selling price up.
Based on recent experience, it all makes a lot of sense. I bought a lot of vintage toys for one particular piece out of 10. It was a part to my son’s favorite space toy, Alpha Star. Alone it sells for $5-$10. I couldn’t find one by its self so hence purchasing the lot. I ended up paying $27 for the lot figuring I could at least recoup $15(ish). I mean the auction had lots of views, watchers, and like 17 bids.
I list mine 30 days later, auction, no reserve, similar in every way to the auction I purchased. It sold for $2. Barely any views, 2 watchers, 3 bids.
Ever wonder who’s bidding on junk on eBay??? I think bots are taking over the world.

 

Yes, that was certainly enlightening - watched it a couple of weeks ago.

 

I have to wonder if that is what is going on with this "Rolex" that was mentioned in another thread by @X350 XJR . In the screen shot there are 83 watchers, and it's bid up to $880 for watch that is faker than a three dollar bill:

 

Thanks for the recommendation, I need all I can get. I'm to the point where my Netflix what-to-watch-next says "try Amazon?"

And ebay fascinates me, or the psychology of auctions in general, add a few 'bots and it sounds like good viewing. I am sure it is all over ebay and I am just naive as to its scope and impact. The modern way to shill bid...

 

Thanks mzinski, watched it yesterday and definitely can recommend. I knew IG is fugazi but did not know it is so huge fugazi.

"The Great Hack" (Netflix 2019) is another good one.
It is not that entertaining like Fake Famous. Facebook–Cambridge Analytica, UK Brexit, US election and M. Zuckerberg testify in Congress.
Harvesting data on your social media, big data misuse, and whether your choices still are your choices or social medias simply are influencing your choices, real ones - like choices on politics?