ebay

[scuzzfink85]

I found member 915 bids in 30 days?
oops some body has problem.
He's bidding on everything .
Kinda sad.

[Tim Casey]

I went to a live auction once to see if we could get some video and audio equipment cheap from a production house that had gone under.

Two nutcakes bid on EVERYTHING - they were paying like $90 for a $30 mic stand. It was pathetic, and everyone else was pissed at them.

[griffin]

Ebay like vegas has subtle and some not so subtle methods to make you spend more than you planned. When I gamble or do ebay I set a limit and stick to it. I have always wondered if or how ebay stops shill bidding?

[btbrush]

Seems like there are a lot of people with more dollars than sense.

[kitator]

Shill bidding,the reason I snipe bid...

[beaveren]

What I have found to be a more and more common practice is that you will be a winning bidder with the highest bid up until the last minute when you will get outbid by someone working with the seller (if not the seller on a different account) and lose the auction. A few days later you will receive a second chance offer with the explanation that the winning "bidder" has backed out and you can "luckily" have a chance to buy the item but not at your previous high bid but the highest bid before the shill bidder out bid you. I usually offer to purchase the item at the original high bid before the winning "bidder" got involved. They usually decline and then I report the activity to eBay and let them deal with it. This is an easy way to identify that this activity has taken place.

B

[Heavy Metal Spike]

On balance, eBay has been great for me.

If you don't like it - don't use it.

If you use it - know HOW to use it

.

[kevtk135]

What I have found to be a more and more common practice is that you will be a winning bidder with the highest bid up until the last minute when you will get outbid by someone working with the seller (if not the seller on a different account) and lose the auction. A few days later you will receive a second chance offer with the explanation that the winning "bidder" has backed out and you can "luckily" have a chance to buy the item but not at your previous high bid but the highest bid before the shill bidder out bid you. I usually offer to purchase the item at the original high bid before the winning "bidder" got involved. They usually decline and then I report the activity to eBay and let them deal with it. This is an easy way to identify that this activity has taken place.

B

Sounds like a snipe program. When I was more into eBay than now I used Auctionsniper.com after losing out of something I really wanted with seconds to go. You basically put your highest bid in to the program with all the other info about the auction and then the time you want the bid to go thru - IIRC 5 seconds was the default. Then you don't even have to watch. It'll just do it for you, and let you know if you won or not (I lost once b/c my snipe bid wasn't high enuff). You used to get like 4 or 5 for free and then they charged some little fee per auction won.

[btbrush]

A man should never gamble more than he's prepared to lose. I put in a max. bid and let 'er go. If I really want it I bid high, but still no more than I can lose. High max. bids will usually scare people off. If I don't win, I take what I saved and buy myself a drink.