Comments on: eBay Fraud Primer: Shill Bidding

By: HomeAndBodyEssence

HomeAndBodyEssence — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:39:28 +0000

I guess one of the best ways to avoid becoming a victim of shill bidding is that you can always submit your max bid (the price that you’re willing to pay for that particular item plus S&H if any) then walk away from the bidding war.

By: bg

bg — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:03:57 +0000

Of course eBay allows shill bidding. Ebays sole purpose is to make money. They collect a fee for each item listed. The more sophistcated the listing the highr the fee. They collect another fee for each item sold. The higher the ending price, the higher the fee. You get the idea. The higher the volume of listed and/or sold items, the higher their income. The more restrictive the rules, the lower overall profits. I have noticed, tracked and provided concrete proof of shill bidding to eBay with no action taken against offenders. Not because I search them out. I just come across them once in awhile. Ebay has become a giant in the online auction world. Nothing wrong with that. More power to them. They have two choices to make: 1) crack down on unethical sellers thereby cutting their own throats financially speaking. 2) Turning a blind eye and amassing huge profits. However, it seems eBay has opened its doors to the current trend. This is not our great grandparents America anymore where the commonplace business practice was pride derived from providing an honest product/service for an honest price. Nowadays, a common business practice is to make a large profit by providing the cheapest product/service or none at all for the highest possible price with utmost pride. “Hey, look what I did and look at how many suckers bought into it!”

By: Philip Cohen

Philip Cohen — Sun, 31 May 2009 22:51:40 +0000

For anyone interested, a case study of a classic, blatant shill bidder on eBay, and a comment on eBay’s attitude thereto at http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=24033

By: know the truth

know the truth — Sun, 31 May 2009 09:38:18 +0000

why do you folks think ebay started blocking bidder id’s? you think this is to protect someone? it is to protect the shill bidders ebay employs through consulting firms.