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Bidding on your own auction
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Started by BlackOut21,

177 posts in this topic

Lightning55

Lightning55

Posted
Posted
On 6/27/2024 at 2:03 PM, whisp said:

You shouldn't be bidding on your own auctions and in my mind that is manipulation and scamming.  You don't want to sell it under a certain price then put a reserve or just put a price on it and sell it straight up instead of playing games.  

 

How is this even a thread!

Some sites, like mycomicshop, start all auctions at $1, no reserves allowed to be placed. 

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shadroch

shadroch

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Posted
On 6/27/2024 at 12:49 PM, Lightning55 said:

This is common, and usually legit. Some people have a buying account and a selling account. Or multiple selling accounts because it has been observed that eBay likes to throttle sales if you are doing too well, spread the wealth type of thing. So to counter that, people open multiple stores.

And maybe each store sells stuff category-specific to that store, instead of a hodgepodge of goods in one store. Like specialty stores. Your eBay fees can be lower having multiple small stores than paying for an Anchor store.

There are many practical reasons to have multiple eBay identities. 

So it's okay to violate one eBay policy for practical reasons but a sin to violate another. 

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Darwination

Darwination

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Posted

I always look at bidding patterns when I'm considering bids on much watched comics at eBay.  Shill bidding happens A LOT, and it's barely concealed most of the time.  Very easy to see when there are bidders that have 80, 90, and 100 percent bids with one seller that are active early in an auction or at midpoints where it makes sense to drive the price up but the likelihood of getting stuck with the item is low. I've stopped bidding in auctions from some sellers with some of the best comics because of it (shrug)

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Lightning55

Lightning55

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Posted
On 6/27/2024 at 3:50 PM, shadroch said:

A fair contest has rules, correct?  If the rules of the auction site allow people to bid on their own products, is that fair or unfair?  If a bank was auctioning your car after repossessing it, wouldn't you bid on it if you could?  

You don't own the car at that point.

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Lightning55

Lightning55

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 6/27/2024 at 3:53 PM, shadroch said:

So it's okay to violate one eBay policy for practical reasons but a sin to violate another. 

There is no eBay policy regarding having multiple usernames to violate. The only caveat is that one of your usernames cannot bid on auctions placed by the other username.

Edited by Lightning55
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shadroch

shadroch

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 6/27/2024 at 12:59 PM, Darwination said:

I always look at bidding patterns when I'm considering bids on much watched comics at eBay.  Shill bidding happens A LOT, and it's barely concealed most of the time.  Very easy to see when there are bidders that have 80, 90, and 100 percent bids with one seller that are active early in an auction or at midpoints where it makes sense to drive the price up but the likelihood of getting stuck with the item is low. I've stopped bidding in auctions from some sellers with some of the best comics because of it (shrug)

Last year, an experienced eBay seller started selling some rather valuable European toy soldiers, but they were listed as toys for preschoolers or something. I stumbled upon him by accident and won a number of his auctions for the .99 cent opening.  In two weeks, I bid on every one of his hundreds of items and won about 75% of them.  I'm sure it looked like shill bidding.  He finally waken up, found the right listings and stuff I'd been winning for under $2 suddenly started getting $20 bids.

Edited by shadroch
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shadroch

shadroch

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Posted
On 6/27/2024 at 1:10 PM, wombat said:

That isn't even remotely a good analogy. You don't own the car at that point. You aren't bidding on your own item. 

 You can redeem your car right up to the moment of the auction, so you do still own the vehicle. The bank has a lien on it, but I believe it is still yours.  It is still registered to you, and you have a title.  All the bank has is a lien.

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Funnybooks

Funnybooks

Posted
Posted
On 6/27/2024 at 3:50 PM, shadroch said:

A fair contest has rules, correct?  If the rules of the auction site allow people to bid on their own products, is that fair or unfair?  If a bank was auctioning your car after repossessing it, wouldn't you bid on it if you could?  

TV gif. Gary Coleman as Arnold on Diff’rent Strokes looks baffled. He says, “What’chu talkin’ ‘bout, Willis?”

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Lightning55

Lightning55

Posted
Posted
On 6/27/2024 at 4:18 PM, shadroch said:

 You can redeem your car right up to the moment of the auction, so you do still own the vehicle. The bank has a lien on it, but I believe it is still yours.  It is still registered to you, and you have a title.  All the bank has is a lien.

Most of us don't know anything about this. We try not to have our car (maybe temporary home) repo'ed.

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shadroch

shadroch

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Posted
On 6/27/2024 at 1:20 PM, Lightning55 said:

Most of us don't know anything about this. We try not to have our car (maybe temporary home) repo'ed.

When you work for bankruptcy trustees, you learn the ins and outs of the game. For several years, I was David Maltz's go-to guy on collectibles when he was the most significant trustee on Long Island.  One of the responsibilities of a good Trustee is to seek out what are called Stalking Horses.  It's a widely accepted practice in the real world of business.

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Nick Furious

Nick Furious

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Posted
On 6/26/2024 at 8:02 PM, shadroch said:

I'm not sure what ethics has to do with it.  

Suppose I consign a book to Auctionsareus.  I agree to a 10% consignment fee. It's a $500 book but everyone is sleeping and it is at $50 with one minute left.  I bid $70 and no one tops it. I pay the $70, the auction house gets it's $7 commission and I don't lose hundreds on the sale.  I have a contract with the auction house and honored it.  What contract or obligation do I owe the other potential buyers?

Do you feel the other potential bidders should have knowledge that they may be bidding against the seller in the auction?  If that were stated up front, I could see it as acceptable, same as a reserve is acceptable.  But I would avoid that auction in the same way that I avoid reserve-price auctions.   

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Sigur Ros

Sigur Ros

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Posted
On 6/27/2024 at 12:45 AM, B2D327 said:

Good to see who to and to not do any business with by reading this thread. 

   You know the saying, "a tiger never changes it's stripes". :50849494_winkemoji:

 I don't do business here but feel free to add me to that fake list.  👍

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