How common is shill bidding?

gamejunkie

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I swear the seller I'm watching is doing some crooked shit. He has 3 auctions each with very expensive electronic equipment, and all three have been raised by zero feedback members registered in the last 5 or so days...
 

jro

Gonna take a lot
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Sounds like shill bidding to me.

I'd say fuck that guy and find a better seller.
 

kobylka68

Basara's Blade Keeper
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3,666
you can report it to ebay, it sounds like shill bidding to me.
 

Superfamifreak

Kula's Diamond
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Anything with a high value = shill bidding :(

Too common a practice, although I have done it occasionally myself :p
 

Steve

The Wonder Years,
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Mar 4, 2001
Posts
3,493
Superfamifreak said:
Too common a practice, although I have done it occasionally myself :p

That's not something I'd admit to, if I ever did it myself.

Shill bidding is low-class
 

Mark of the Wolves

mullet bullet
Joined
Apr 7, 2002
Posts
6,984
I don't understand why people shill. It really defeats the purpose of auctioning it off. If that's the case just put it up there as Buy It Now.
 

Shino

Ninja Combat Warrior
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Nov 30, 2001
Posts
542
shill bidding, is really a cheap alternative to setting a high reserve, the funny thing

is sometime you end up winning your own auction, now what you gonna do?
 

Ely13

Sultan of Slugs
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Mar 23, 2005
Posts
2,585
If you arrange the shill bidding in a skillful way (like near the end if there's a lot of interest in your auction) you can potentially get a desperate buyer to pay a bit more than they originally intended. I see it happen time to time. If I suspect that there's shill bidding, I either drop a high bid early or stop bidding on the item immediately.

Once the auction is done? Just leave positive feedback for each other and pretend you paid by money order or some other way eBay can't verify payment.
 

galfordo

Analinguist of the Year
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Mar 14, 2003
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gamejunkie said:
I swear the seller I'm watching is doing some crooked shit. He has 3 auctions each with very expensive electronic equipment, and all three have been raised by zero feedback members registered in the last 5 or so days...

Definitely bullshit - this guy apparently can't even make it look plausible. Oh, and if they're sleezy enough to do shit like that, you can bet that they're also sleezy enough to totally fuck you over.
 

gamejunkie

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I missed my chance now I'm never getting an X850XT PE for under $350. :crying:
 

daybona

Juz,
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Jul 4, 2002
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Shill bidding is especially high among people who are selling bubble gum blue porsches.
 

SonGohan

Made of Wood
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Aug 22, 2001
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The thing is that you'll never know when shill bidding is happening, unless it's really obvious like it's the same 0 feedback bidder over a dozen of the same seller's auctions. I know I've had up multiple high dollar auctions and had 0 feedback bidders over several of them.
 
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