Iceberg.
I don't trust Ebay, and won't use it; it's a carney's dream.
I've shopped on Ebay for years and am a very savy shopper. I know the value of things and what the maximum is that I'm willing to pay for an item.
I've gotten some terrific buys on Ebay and have found items that are either no longer available or can't find locally. I've decorated most of my home (knicknacks, books, hard to find CD's) with stuff that I've purchased from them.
Have I gotten ripped off there? Yes, a couple of times and fortunately it wasn't for more a than a few dollars.
Buyers simply have to be careful and not go beyond what they are willing and able to pay.
The blame should not be on Ebay. The blame is on the abusers.
DUH
The other big scam on eBay are the PHONY Motorola Bluetooths being sold there. At least 90% of them are lower quality counterfeits. If you see a Bluetooth being sold for $20 to $30 I guarantee it is a fake. Actually MOST of the "Motorola" bluetooths out on the marketplace are fake.
"Last November eBay changed its rules to conceal bidders’ identity"
Not any more.
I just checked three auctions with bids on them and the bidders I.D. shows.
I have bought on Ebay. I learned early to never bid. I prefer to snipe. It keeps the price down and competitors don't have enough time to respond.
Shill bidding is as old as auctions themselves. And I don't mean online auctions, I mean any form of auctions. It's difficult to spot and almost impossible to stop. eBay set up measures to control the crudest forms -- people creating sock-puppet accounts to bid up their own wares -- but they haven't managed to stop two actual people from colluding outside of eBay, and I doubt they ever can.
There's a mental process in auctions that's similar to gambling -- it's easy to get caught up in the emotion of trying to "win" an auction that you lose sight of the economics.
My mom never set foot into a casino until she was in her 40s. She taught me this, and I've stuck with it -- Set a budget and stick to it. Take your cash and leave the ATM card back at the hotel or up in the room.
You're there to have fun -- it really is fun -- and if you do well, you can have fun for longer. If you happen to make money, that's a bonus, but if that's your goal, they've sucked you in. There is no such thing as a streak, and there is no such thing as being "due." Those are the superstitions the casinos play on.
Online auctions are like that. They play on folks who get the bit in their teeth and hate to "lose," even when folding a weak hand is the rational choice.
Computer parts and consumer electronics are especially vulnerable to this. Most of the time, if I search the price-comparison sites or even go to Amazon, I can find what I want for less than the leading bid on eBay. You should never bid on anything without first knowing what it's worth and establishing what you're willing to pay. And don't get hooked on "winning."
Don't get me wrong; I'm not slamming eBay. For old, rare items, they're the best source on Earth. If I need a Wedgewood demitasse to complete my set or a SCSI-Ethernet adapter so I can put my ancient Mac Plus on the Internet, I could find in a day what I might not find locally in ten years. But like any auction,yard sale or bazaar, if you walk in without a clue, a plan and a budget, you're meat.
Shill bidding occurs, no doubt. I think a snow blower that sold for $13,000 last week was bid up by a shill. It was a strange, strange auction.
But what is described in the column doesn't look like shill bidding, it's real people really buying the stuff. Granted, they're buying it as a favor, but buying it none the less.
I always have a set price I want to bid at, and bid just once (usually sniping in the last ten seconds), so 'shilling' is never really a problem I worry about. I win the auction, or I don't. I never look back in regret.
But I echo the sentiment that the biggest problem with ebay sellers is the poor packing. One time I got a salt-and-pepper set (in the shape of dachshunds) for my sister, for a little birthday gift. The seller just put these two very breakable figurines together in a box, without ANY padding or stuffing whatsoever. They arrived in pieces, naturally.
That said, I don't think it's that big a problem. Maybe you need to watch out with those megadealers, but most of the time I just buy old books for $5 or $10 and probably 60% of the time I'm the only bidder. I've been there since 1999 and never once have I thought that someone was crookedly running up the price on me.
Snipe it! you get it or you dont.
I used to buy on Ebay but rarely do so now. I collect Revolutionary War/Civil War items and the number of counterfeits and outright fakes on Ebay has become astounding.
Ebay has facilitated the sale of bogus material by allowing private auctions and hidden feedback. There are several sellers on Ebay who are known to serious collectors as purveyors of "nothing but fakes". They have been selling on Ebay for awhile and have conned unknowing collectors out of untold thousands of dollars. Despite attempts to alert Ebay about this situation, they allow these people to operate with virtual impunity.
Ebay is also very liberal.
They allow the sales of adult material but forbid the sales of all firearms and ammunition including pre-1898 antique firearms (which are legal to buy and sell without a permit).
I know that in the past Ebay has yanked numerous auctions of excavated Civil War artifacts, explaining to the sellers that they needed to prove that the artifacts were not looted from National Parks. 99.99% of such artifacts are found on private property but Ebay dealt with the sellers in a "guilty until proven innocent" fashion.
I've known this simply because of the "second chance" offers I have received right after the auction closes. I have a policy of never accepting them. What I do is to shop ebay to see what something is going for; the realistic and reasonable price and then I wait until the last hour or minutes and put in my maximum bid. That way the "snipers" can't get me in the last few seconds. I have a timer by my computer to remind me when to place the bid. Works well and I have gotten some very good deals. And always check the reputation of the sellers and read the comments. And I'll give another clue as to getting the best price. Check the model # of various items and see if a cross referenced part is selling for less money. I purchased an identical cordless phone battery for a camera that was exactly the same and had a buy it now price $2 less than the cordless phone battery by the same seller. Guess which one I bought; actually two so I would have a spare. Working just fine in my phone. Got it yesterday. The thing that get my goat most of all are these crooks with their outrageous shipping costs. I give them the one finger salute and I understand that ebay if finally cracking down on that racket. Having said all this I use ebay frequently and have yet to be ripped off and maintain a 100% reputation that I value and treasure.
> He claimed eBay would never follow up a complaint
> against him for shill bidding because he generated
> about £15,000 a month in commission for the company.
> “Are they going to ban somebody who’s making them
> the best part of 15 grand a month? No,” he said.
They might if you brag about it to the media.
Reportedly, eBay has moved against this seller.
If their user ID was "bidancient", in the last
48 hours they went "NARU" in eBay parlance.
Perhaps the seller knew this NARU was pending.
We may see eBay claim that their new shill-sniffing
codes caught this seller (since most of bidancient's
stuff closed about US$200, and bidder IDs are
hidden, it surely wasn't a buyer dropping a
dime on them).