could this be a shill?

[techvoodoo]

I've been watching this auction haven't bid yet. 2 people are in a bidding war, 1 of them has 4 feedback.

 

sparklecitycomics wouldn't have a shill would they?

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wolverine-Limited-Series-2-CGC-9-8-WHITE-Frank-Miller-Marvel-Bronze-Age-Comic-/350588855999?pt=US_Comic_Books&hash=item51a0b966bf

[thirdgreenham]

could this be a shill?

 

Yes, it could be.

[techvoodoo]

I guess i worded my question wrong. I kinda already thought it could be. What I was wanting to know was does anyone have any personal/first hand experience with that seller.

 

They do have a ton of good feeback but the 4 feedback bidder that has bid on several of their auctions seemed a little fishy. Probably nothing but who knows.

[thirdgreenham]

Probably nothing, yes.

 

That seller has a very good reputation and I, personally, wouldn't expect them or suggest that they would shill their own auctions. They have such a following now that they certainly don't need to. (thumbs u

 

Andy

[batman_fan]

One thing I think people should keep in mind is SparkleCity consigns a lot of the material they have. It could be done by the consigner without SparkleCity's knowledge. This, of course, assumes there is shill bidding going on.

[Mmehdy]

stick to the major auction houses if you are gonna spend bucks on any book, ha has software to determine shill bidding.....

[SparkleCityComics]

NO... this is not a shill... Sparkle City Comics does not shill.

 

We do take books on consignment, but only books of a certain value and we do make sure our bidders are aware that they MUST not bid on their books. We do watch our consignment auctions. However, the possibility that a consignor attempts to bid on their own books exists in EVERY auction environment, whether done directly or by proxy. eBay is one of the more fair playing fields and unlike other auction venues, it does not allow the seller (or anyone else) to see a bidder's max bid.. It is not true that other auction houses are impervious to these kinds of shenanigans... In fact in some cases it is quite the contrary.

 

As for the bidder in question... There are bidders on eBay with low feedback due to many reasons (infrequent bidding, new accounts, etc...) This (4) feedback bidder which is in question just joined eBay on June 24 2012... I checked his feedback and there is feedback from other comic sellers, including mycomicshop where he won a Wolverine #1 CGC.. This would make sense given he is bidding on a Wolverine #2 CGC... This bidder was not bidding on "several" of our auctions, he was bidding on two of our auctions, the other being Wolverine #4 CGC..

 

There are also people on eBay who exhibit "odd" bidding patterns.. For example, one bidder on this auction placed about 25 bids (I always wonder why these folks just don't snipe or enter their max)..

 

I certainly understand people being cautious, but the constant tossing around of "shilling" implications or accusations gets pretty frustrating, I ask people to really consider the facts and ramifications before throwing out such a heated accusation.. If over 45,000 positive feedback isn't assurance enough then a search on the boards of "Sparkle City" should give some good insight into who we are.

 

Unfortunately these kinds of questions often come across on the boards more as accusations or implications to readers...

 

We do not shill. Our entire business model is structured on the belief that buyers crave and deserve full access and fair auctions. This is why we sell everything on eBay via no reserve auctions.. I look forward to the day when Sparkle City gets the benefit of the doubt.

 

 

[brendanb438]

Defamation—also called calumny, vilification, traducement, slander (for transitory statements), and libel (for written, broadcast, or otherwise published words)—is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, religion, or nation a negative or inferior image. This can be also any disparaging statement made by one person about another, which is communicated or published, whether true or false, depending on legal state. In Common Law it is usually a requirement that this claim be false and that the publication is communicated to someone other than the person defamed (the claimant).[1]

 

 

 

You may want to delete this thread or ask a MOD to because you are close to crossing that line.

 

It is eBay, people do stupid things all the time on there. Also shilling is sadly part of the game that is eBay and since eBay has done nothing but make it harder and harder to tell who the shady bidders are you don't gain anything by starting a thread like this other than opening yourself up for receiving a friendly letter or two from a law firm.

 

 

Sparkle City Auctions any chance you have some near mint copies of Swamp Thing #37 from 1985 in high grade raw or slabbed for sale? Or some minty fresh Infinity Gauntlet #1s, Superman #1 DC New 52s or finally some high grade Steranko SA books for sale? Would love to become a customer for life if you could find me especially some of those Swamp Things.

 

PM me if you have any of the above for sale sir.

[techvoodoo]

hi sparklecity, thanks for taking the time to reply to this thread. i didn't know you were on this board.

 

i wanted to point out i gave you the benefit of the doubt twice saying "it was probably nothing" and noting your massive feedback, but the auction had an inordinate number of bids and odd bidding patterns as you pointed out, and it looked fishy, you can't dispute that.

 

i'm just doing my due diligence to ask around since i've never heard of you before. i'm sorry to offend.

 

i gave you the benefit of the doubt a third time actually, i bid on the auction, so there's that.

[thehumantorch]

I've been watching this auction haven't bid yet. 2 people are in a bidding war, 1 of them has 4 feedback.

 

sparklecitycomics wouldn't have a shill would they?

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wolverine-Limited-Series-2-CGC-9-8-WHITE-Frank-Miller-Marvel-Bronze-Age-Comic-/350588855999?pt=US_Comic_Books&hash=item51a0b966bf

 

I'm not sure why you believe he is a shill. He's made 10 bids on 4 items and 60% with Sparkle City in 30 days, 3 on this item. That would suggest that he has bid on a couple of Sparkle City items and a couple items not auctioned by Sparkle - hardly unusual.

 

Sparkle has been auctioning off high $$ items for a while on ebay and I haven't heard anything bad said about them. They're reputation is great and their items sell for good money for that reason.

 

[SparkleCityComics]

hi sparklecity, thanks for taking the time to reply to this thread. i didn't know you were on this board.

 

i wanted to point out i gave you the benefit of the doubt twice saying "it was probably nothing" and noting your massive feedback, but the auction had an inordinate number of bids and odd bidding patterns as you pointed out, and it looked fishy, you can't dispute that.

 

i'm just doing my due diligence to ask around since i've never heard of you before. i'm sorry to offend.

 

actually, i gave you the benefit of the doubt a third time actually, i bid on the auction, so there's that.

 

I don't believe you intended to smear us with your post, but it is important to point out that the manner in which these "questions" are posed on the boards often comes across to readers as accusations and can potentially have negative impact on legitimate sellers such as myself.

 

After a quick look into the bidder in question, there really was nothing fishy about his bids. It was actually pretty consistent.

 

I appreciate your comments and please know that there are no hard feelings or offense taken. I certainly respect a buyer doing his research and making an informed decision. That's the kind of buyer we love! However, if you did a search on the boards for Sparkle City, it probably would have answered your question without inadvertently casting aspersions.

 

I'm thankful that ultimately you decided to give us the benefit of the doubt and place your bid. We would love to have your business and surely you would have been satisfied with your experience. Hopefully next time!

[techvoodoo]

hi humantorch, i never said i thought it was a shill i just asked if others thought it might be. i never made claim i thought it was,infact i said it was probably nothing.

 

but the 40+ tiny bids that kept raising the price up and up, a low feedback bidder on the auction, and pretty high price for that paticular book, all looked odd to me. so i didn't think there was any harm in doing my due diligence and asking what others more experienced than me thought.

 

that's all.

[techvoodoo]

I don't believe you intended to smear us with your post, but it is important to point out that the manner in which these "questions" are posed on the boards often comes across to readers as accusations and can potentially have negative impact on legitimate sellers such as myself.

 

After a quick look into the bidder in question, there really was nothing fishy about his bids. It was actually pretty consistent.

 

I appreciate your comments and please know that there are no hard feelings or offense taken. I certainly respect a buyer doing his research and making an informed decision. That's the kind of buyer we love! However, if you did a search on the boards for Sparkle City, it probably would have answered your question without inadvertently casting aspersions.

 

I'm thankful that ultimately you decided to give us the benefit of the doubt and place your bid. We would love to have your business and surely you would have been satisfied with your experience. Hopefully next time!

 

no was never my intention to make you look bad. i've honestly never heard of your company and i'm relatively new to collecting/buying CGC books and I just wanted to see what others thought.

 

I had only a few minutes till the auction was ending to make a decision which is why i didn't search for you, it didn't really occur to me.

 

anyway i'm sorry for the confusion and thanks for taking the time to make me feel confident that i made the right decision bidding on and buying from you. that's appreciated.

[Bomber-Bob]

Personally, as an auction house, I think Sparklecity is as good as they get.

I have the utmost confidence in their integrity. Besides, it wouldn't make sense for any auction house to risk their reputation by bidding up a relatively cheap book like this.

It's always possible the consignor managed to arrange bidding on his books but no way

did Sparklecity participate.

[thehumantorch]

hi humantorch, i never said i thought it was a shill i just asked if others thought it might be. i never made claim i thought it was,infact i said it was probably nothing.

 

but the 40+ tiny bids that kept raising the price up and up, a low feedback bidder on the auction, and pretty high price for that paticular book, all looked odd to me. so i didn't think there was any harm in doing my due diligence and asking what others more experienced than me thought.

 

that's all.

 

Fair enough, you said he might be a shill and while it's possible I don't see anything unusual in his bids. Probably a new guy to the hobby who loves Wolverine.

 

The other bidder with many bids is a bit unusual in that he advances the bidding one bid increment at a time. I'd just pick my highest number and use snipping softwear to bid at the last moment but we all bid differently. If this bidder bid it up bit by bit and then retracted his bid when he was in the lead we'd know he was fishing for the max bid of the other guy.

 

And honestly, if you keep buying books and building your collection this auction amount will seem relatively small. It's the curse of collecting that we get more comfortable with bigger amounts.

 

And yes, no harm asking about this or any other potential issue, it's how we learn.

[Gotham Kid]

Probably nothing, yes.

 

That seller has a very good reputation and I, personally, wouldn't expect them or suggest that they would shill their own auctions. They have such a following now that they certainly don't need to. (thumbs u

 

 

[The-Collector]

That type of bidding is indicative of a shill but also of new eBay users who don't understand the bidding system so hard to tell.

[chrisco37]

i gave you the benefit of the doubt a third time actually, i bid on the auction, so there's that.

 

If you win, you better not start a thread saying you think you got hosed.

[Chespirito]

i gave you the benefit of the doubt a third time actually, i bid on the auction, so there's that.

 

If you win, you better not start a thread saying you think you got hosed.

I honestly don't see why this thread is alive....