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(OT) eBay Shill Bidding
Bob Miller wrote:
Last night I came across an auction for a Ten Tec xcvr and the bidders were identified only as Bidder #1, Bidder #2, etc. Is that the same as shill bidding? bob k5qwg No, it's not. Shill bidding is when a friend or cohort of the seller (the "shill") bids on the seller's item with no intention of actually buying it; the point is for the shill to bump up the price that the actual, legitimate buyer will ultimately have to pay. As far as I know, a shill could use either their "real" eBay name or use the generic "Bidder 1" and still be a shill. The "Bidder #1, Bidder #2" that you are seeing was a new rule imposed by eBay. I believe part of the reason they did this is to prevent people other than the legitimate seller from contacting bidders 2 through n and offering them a similar item, thus doing an "end-run" around eBay and bypassing having to pay posting fees and commissions to eBay. BTW, you, as a *viewer* of the auction, see "Bidder 1, 2", etc. The *seller* still sees the real/actual bidder names and locations. 73, Carter K8VT |
#2
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(OT) eBay Shill Bidding
Carter-k8vt wrote: Bob Miller wrote: Last night I came across an auction for a Ten Tec xcvr and the bidders were identified only as Bidder #1, Bidder #2, etc. Is that the same as shill bidding? bob k5qwg No, it's not. Shill bidding is when a friend or cohort of the seller (the "shill") bids on the seller's item with no intention of actually buying it; the point is for the shill to bump up the price that the actual, legitimate buyer will ultimately have to pay. As far as I know, a shill could use either their "real" eBay name or use the generic "Bidder 1" and still be a shill. The "Bidder #1, Bidder #2" that you are seeing was a new rule imposed by eBay. I believe part of the reason they did this is to prevent people other than the legitimate seller from contacting bidders 2 through n and offering them a similar item, thus doing an "end-run" around eBay and bypassing having to pay posting fees and commissions to eBay. BTW, you, as a *viewer* of the auction, see "Bidder 1, 2", etc. The *seller* still sees the real/actual bidder names and locations. Only if the seller decides to keep the bidders identities private... Elsewise anybody can see who the bidders are. dxAce Michigan USA |
#3
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(OT) eBay Shill Bidding
dxAce wrote:
Carter-k8vt wrote: Bob Miller wrote: Last night I came across an auction for a Ten Tec xcvr and the bidders were identified only as Bidder #1, Bidder #2, etc. Is that the same as shill bidding? bob k5qwg No, it's not. Shill bidding is when a friend or cohort of the seller (the "shill") bids on the seller's item with no intention of actually buying it; the point is for the shill to bump up the price that the actual, legitimate buyer will ultimately have to pay. As far as I know, a shill could use either their "real" eBay name or use the generic "Bidder 1" and still be a shill. The "Bidder #1, Bidder #2" that you are seeing was a new rule imposed by eBay. I believe part of the reason they did this is to prevent people other than the legitimate seller from contacting bidders 2 through n and offering them a similar item, thus doing an "end-run" around eBay and bypassing having to pay posting fees and commissions to eBay. BTW, you, as a *viewer* of the auction, see "Bidder 1, 2", etc. The *seller* still sees the real/actual bidder names and locations. Only if the seller decides to keep the bidders identities private... Elsewise anybody can see who the bidders are. dxAce Michigan USA Beyond a certain value everything defaults to concealed identities (i.e. bidder1, bidder2, etc.) and I think that the breakpoint is $200. Here is the information from Ebay: "As the internet evolves, eBay continues to strike a balance between preserving transparency and protecting our Community of members. eBay has decided to change how bid history information is displayed so bad guys cannot target bidders with fake offers using this information. In certain cases, some bidders will no longer be able to view Bidder User IDs on the Bid History page. Your User ID will be shown only to you and the seller of the item you're bidding on. Other members will see an anonymous name, such as Bidder 1, applied consistently to the Bid History page". JB |
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(OT) eBay Shill Bidding
John Barnard wrote: dxAce wrote: Carter-k8vt wrote: Bob Miller wrote: Last night I came across an auction for a Ten Tec xcvr and the bidders were identified only as Bidder #1, Bidder #2, etc. Is that the same as shill bidding? bob k5qwg No, it's not. Shill bidding is when a friend or cohort of the seller (the "shill") bids on the seller's item with no intention of actually buying it; the point is for the shill to bump up the price that the actual, legitimate buyer will ultimately have to pay. As far as I know, a shill could use either their "real" eBay name or use the generic "Bidder 1" and still be a shill. The "Bidder #1, Bidder #2" that you are seeing was a new rule imposed by eBay. I believe part of the reason they did this is to prevent people other than the legitimate seller from contacting bidders 2 through n and offering them a similar item, thus doing an "end-run" around eBay and bypassing having to pay posting fees and commissions to eBay. BTW, you, as a *viewer* of the auction, see "Bidder 1, 2", etc. The *seller* still sees the real/actual bidder names and locations. Only if the seller decides to keep the bidders identities private... Elsewise anybody can see who the bidders are. dxAce Michigan USA Beyond a certain value everything defaults to concealed identities (i.e. bidder1, bidder2, etc.) and I think that the breakpoint is $200. Here is the information from Ebay: "As the internet evolves, eBay continues to strike a balance between preserving transparency and protecting our Community of members. eBay has decided to change how bid history information is displayed so bad guys cannot target bidders with fake offers using this information. In certain cases, some bidders will no longer be able to view Bidder User IDs on the Bid History page. Your User ID will be shown only to you and the seller of the item you're bidding on. Other members will see an anonymous name, such as Bidder 1, applied consistently to the Bid History page". Interesting. Shill bidding just got easier thanks to eBay itself. dxAce Michigan USA |
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