Enicar SeaPearl 600 on eBay

[Dan S]

fibonacci

I don't understand how to interpret the bid history in the OP's image. It seems to indicate a bidder raising their own bid by some dollar amount at various intervals, but for no reason since there are no other bidders during this time. Why would you do that if you were trying to drive the price up on your own auction? Raising your maximum bid, when you are already the highest bidder, doesn't change the price of the item - it just means someone else will have to bid more to outbid you. Wouldn't it make much more sense to wait for someone to outbid you before trying to drive the price up?

My understanding is that 9**1 was gradually increasing his bid as a way to increase h**5's bid up toward his max. I think that h**5 made the mistake of putting in a max bid early, giving the shill the chance to bump it up.

 

[JwRosenthal]

My question is how do we know the seller is in on it? Looking at his history he is a picker who has a long history and positive feedback. Most of his sales are low dollar, he just lucked into a high dollar item. Perhaps the shill isn’t a shill but a troll.

 

[rincondeltiempo]

JwRosenthal

My question is how do we know the seller is in on it? Looking at his history he is a picker who has a long history and positive feedback. Most of his sales are low dollar, he just lucked into a high dollar item. Perhaps the shill isn’t a shill but a troll.

Wouldn't that doubt surge in any case of shilling? I believe our job as eBay users and watch collectors is to notify eBay, so they can study the case and reach a final decision. Not our job to be the judge!

 

[fibonacci]

Dan S

My understanding is that 9**1 was gradually increasing his bid as a way to increase h**5's bid up toward his max. I think that h**5 made the mistake of putting in a max bid early, giving the shill the chance to bump it up.

That would make sense if h***5 were the high bidder when 9***1 began their bidding campaign, but they don't appear to have been:



If this is to be taken at face value, then 9***1 took over as the high bidder from i***h and then just kept increasing their max bid untl h***5 entered the picture. I'm not actually sure how to interpret what happens at that point either since ebay is reporting them both as having the same bid. I'm still confused.

 

[rincondeltiempo]

fibonacci

I'm not actually sure how to interpret what happens at that point either since ebay is reporting them both as having the same bid. I'm still confused.

I believe this is because, as noted, h***5 first bid $700 on the 23th. Then 9***1 increased his bid, on the 24th, but he kept being overbid by h***5 until 9***1 reached $700.

*EDIT: a bit confusing as eBay sorts bids by amount, not date*

 

[fibonacci]

rincondeltiempo

I believe this is because, as noted, h***5 first bid $700 on the 23th. Then 9***1 increased his bid, on the 24th, but he kept being overbid by h***5 until 9***1 reached $700.

*EDIT: a bit confusing as eBay sorts bids by amount, not date*

Ah, yes, the date being out of order was throwing me. Your and Dan S's interpretation does fit then.

 

[wsfarrell]

JwRosenthal

My question is how do we know the seller is in on it? Looking at his history he is a picker who has a long history and positive feedback. Most of his sales are low dollar, he just lucked into a high dollar item. Perhaps the shill isn’t a shill but a troll.

People have been screaming "eBay shill" on OF for years. I'm guessing it's true maybe 5% of the time. (1) Given eBay's proxy bidding and the fact that bids can be made private, it's virtually impossible to look at a bidding history and decipher what actually took place. (2) eBay has mechanisms in place to detect shill bidding, and will take action if it is detected. (3) If someone is going to get into shilling, they're much more likely to do it on an expensive item. eBay is pretty much the only game in town for most of these watch sellers, and it just isn't worth being kicked out for a few hundred bucks.

 

[kippyk]

The solution would be to limit the amount a person can bid until he has 10 successful purchases. At least make the person work when building up the shill profile. Also, Ebay does not allow you to automatically refuse bids from people with zero feedback.

 

[Syrte]

wsfarrell

If someone is going to get into shilling, they're much more likely to do it on an expensive item..

Interesting to hear Ebay has systems to detect shill bidding, and we can only hope they will sort it out in a fair way.
However 900 dollars is very expensive for most normal people.

 

[Scarecrow Boat]

wsfarrell

eBay has mechanisms in place to detect shill bidding, and will take action if it is detected.

It’s actually really easy to skirt these mechanisms