mzinski
·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.
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.