Shill Bidding?

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Benbradstock

·Apr 12, 2020

I can’t help noticing that one particular eBay watch seller in South Korea (https://ebay.com/usr/mostoh) consistently has very active bidding on their vintage watch auctions, even as auctions of very similar watches have no bidding at all.

I have no evidence of any wrongdoing on mostoh’s part, but after at least a year of seeing this trend, I can’t help but wonder if something fishy is going on. Thoughts?

PS If I’m totally off the mark here, I’m happy to delete this post.

 

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JimInOz

·Apr 13, 2020·Melbourne Australia

Maybe it's just the "Oooooh look, shiny" effect where a bunch of newbies have found a "vintage" watch and they see these as perfect examples, and they want to get it, as a result, the pool of bidders is huge.

On the other hand, a dirty old 2990-1 would only attract serious collectors who knew what it was (and probably wouldn't bid until the last 4 seconds).

 

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STANDY

·Apr 13, 2020·schizophrenic pizza orderer and watch collector

As @JimInOz mentions above, large pool of bidders that don’t cross over to all watches.
It would be a full time job to self create them all.

 

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Benbradstock

·Apr 13, 2020

Well I suppose it could just be as Jim suggested; shiny objects attracting more bidders. If it was only occasional I wouldn’t have posted about it, but I am on eBay every day and their auctions generate very active bidding almost every time. The attention to their auctions vis-à-vis their competition is stark.

 

J

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joe band

·Apr 13, 2020

the cosmic listed looks sharp

 

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·Apr 13, 2020·schizophrenic pizza orderer and watch collector

J joe band

the cosmic listed looks sharp

A very nice looking specimen.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-OM...ELS-DATE-ANALOG-DRESS-MENS-WATCH/254564474873
I have the no date version the same as this, and these wear nice for a vintage watch.

 

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tyrantlizardrex

·Apr 13, 2020

All of the redials. 🤔

 

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gatorcpa

·Apr 13, 2020·ΩF InvestiGator

It has been my experience that in South Korea, they like their vintage watches in “like new” condition.

That means high quality redials and shiny. This seller knows his market.

Different strokes for different folks...
gatorcpa

 

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sonicosa

·Apr 27, 2020

gatorcpa

It has been my experience that in South Korea, they like their vintage watches in “like new” condition.

That means high quality redials and shiny.

Different strokes for different folks...

gatorcpa

My wife is 1st generation Korean-American. Today, I was trying to explain how I found the patina on the watch I was wearing beautiful. Her response was basically, "But it looks worn, aged, and damaged."

Different strokes for different folks indeed.

The watch, for reference (it’s not like it’s got a case of dial rot):

 

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timecube

·Apr 27, 2020

sonicosa

My wife is 1st generation Korean-American. Today, I was trying to explain how I found the patina on the watch I was wearing beautiful. Her response was basically, "But it looks worn, aged, and damaged."

Different strokes for different folks indeed.

The watch, for reference (it’s not like it’s got a case of dial rot):

It looks worn...... on your wrist.

(nicely worn!)

 

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JacksonPollock

·Apr 28, 2020

Based on their bidder histories, it does look suspicious. I generally don't see people bidding on two items of the same seller and there are numerous bidders bidding on multiple items of the same seller. It doesn't bother me too much that it occurs on ebay but there are auction sites that will know your max bid and have the gall to bid up to it. Or there is another format where you submit your best offer and another guy has suspiciously placed a bid right up to your offer amount. I had one lady yell at me over the phone when I asked her show me the competing bids. I admittedly place a very bid ($200 above market) and she started seeing dollar signs.

Auction people can be great(Robert Slawinski) but some can be very slimy.

 

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blueteg

·Dec 3, 2020

I made a couple bids on a vintage Seamaster earlier this week and unfortunately didn't win the auction.
Surprisingly, I got a "2nd chance" offer message from Ebay yesterday. "The seller, ******, is making this Second Chance Offer because the high bidder was unable to complete the transaction".

I was a bit suspicious about the offer being a result of a shill bid from the Seller to maximize the auction price. So I did a quick search on the forum for shill bidding and came across this thread. To my surprise the Seller of the Seamaster that I was bidding on this week is the same seller referenced by the OP in this thread.

I've attached the bidding history for the auction that I didn't win on Monday. Curious if, based on the bidding history, and the winning bidder suddenly not being able to perform, if this appears to be just a selling tactic for this seller or if I got "lucky" and should take my tinfoil hat off and buy the damn watch.

 

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blueteg

·Dec 3, 2020

Pictures of the Seamaster....for what it's worth. I absolutely love the design and color combo used on this one. The stainless steel Omega bracelet was also a nice add on for me.
At $800, am I way out in the weeds on this one?

 

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Iceter

·Dec 3, 2020

If I’m reading that bidding history correctly, the winning “bidder” actually bid against himself several times during the auction. Why would a real bidder do that?

 

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Iceter

·Dec 3, 2020

I am always suspicious of second chance offers. I don’t think I’ve ever bought an item in that situation.

 

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janice&fred

·Dec 3, 2020

Iceter

If I’m reading that bidding history correctly, the winning “bidder” actually bid against himself several times during the auction. Why would a real bidder do that?

I forgot I bid 5 minutes earlier so I made 4 more bids but then decided the watch was not for me. Don't call me a shill. That's not nice!

 

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TDBK

·Dec 3, 2020

They weren't always winning the auction when they upped their bid, even if they have adjacent rows in this table, look at the timestamps.

For example:
A. 9***9 bid $592 at 4:38pm
B. 7***a bid $650 at 5:45pm [at this point, the "next bid" visible to other bidders would be one bid increment up, $602 or something]
C. 9***9 bid $636 at 6:39pm [but then 7***a's bid was still winning since they already had bid to $650; the visible winning price would have been the lower of 7***a's bid or one bid increment above 9***9's bid, $646 or $650; I'm not going to look up the bid increments right now]

But since the table is ordered by bid amount, you see them in order A, C, B (reading upwards) and it looks like 9***9 bid when they were already winning.

 

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TDBK

·Dec 3, 2020

Also, if you click "Show Automatic Bids", you'll get a view which gives a clearer perspective of what happened here. I found the auction in question, the bids are here: https://www.ebay.com/bfl/viewbids/2...90&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2565&showauto=true

and here's a screenshot which includes the relevant part of the bidding above:

For what it's worth, the watch has been relisted: https://www.ebay.com/itm/264962211367?ViewItem=&item=264962211367

And as to why this seller gets a lot of bids: I think there's a number of alternate explanations to shill bidding. They may be good at promoting their auctions; they're certainly a well-known seller with reliable inventory, may pay for promotion on eBay, and the fact that they start their auctions cheap means they get a lot of bids from people who hope to score a bargain.

 

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blueteg

·Dec 3, 2020

TDBK

For what it's worth, the watch has been relisted: https://www.ebay.com/itm/264962211367?ViewItem=&item=264962211367

I saw that. My 'Buy It Now' option from my '2nd chance offer' still shows as valid until this evening for $800. Curious what some of the more experienced guys on here think about this piece for $800?

Edited: Dec 3, 2020

 

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apsm100

·Dec 3, 2020·Noob taxpayer

blueteg

I saw that. My 'Buy It Now' option from my '2nd chance offer' still shows as valid until this evening for $800. Curious what some of the more experienced guys on here think about this piece for $800?

Considering this one on OF sold for around $500USD and was serviced and unpolished, $800 seems pretty high.