Comments on: eBay Sellers: Have you considered ‘Shill Buying’?

By: ebuster

ebuster — Wed, 12 May 2010 11:39:10 +0000

Good news that the trading standards made it’s first conviction against Paul Barrett for shill bidding on ebay and to think it only took them 12 years so you never know they might just manage one fraud conviction this year and this makes you ask just what are we paying taxes when the trading standards is allowed to provide such a poor level of service.

eBuster has been asked to find members of the public that live in the UK who would like to take part in a live debate with ebay about shill bidding and can be contacted on the ‘Contact us’ page on eBuster,co,uk

By: Philip Cohen

Philip Cohen — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 04:36:09 +0000

I don’t see anything wrong with your concept of “shill buying” on BIN items to improve your chances of being seen on eBay, and I am absolutely sure that eBay would have no objection to taking the fees, as they have been quite prepared to do so with shill bidding; though, knowing eBay, if they became aware of the practice they would no doubt attempt to place a minimum value of such shill buying to make sure that it is worth their while to let you jump the search queue.

Your idea would appear to be simply a necessary “strategy” not a crime. “Shill” activity is only a crime if the intention is to defraud; there is nothing unethical about “shill buying”: there is no intention to defraud. eBay’s “Shill bidding” rules don’t apply, indeed eBay’s rules specifically say that related parties may buy BIN listed items, although why anyone would otherwise wish to do so I could not imagine.

And, don’t kid yourself about eBay being against “shill bidding”. eBay are only against that shill blatant bidding that they have not been game to obscure and that bidders can still detect, otherwise, sophisticated shillers have a free reign under the “hidden bidders” regime.

Shill Bidding on eBay: A Case Study

For anyone who buys on eBay, a detailed case study of another classic instance of blatant shill bidding and the abuse of eBay’s proxy bidding system—all exacerbated by eBay’s introduction of “hidden bidders”—and a detailed comment on eBay’s disingenuous attitude thereto, at http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=24033

By: “Shill Buying” - Das Kaufen der eigenen Festpreisangebote | eBay blog

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:38:09 +0000

[...] http://www.wilsondan.co.uk by Dan Wilson Geschrieben von Sven SchrÃ¶er, Amboseller ___________________ Webseite besuchen Email [...]

By: Brian Mitchinson

Brian Mitchinson — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:30:23 +0000

Well, eBay will love to read that, won’t they? Putting that in the shop window will surely mean no-one tries it on now. Job done.Is the writer on eBay staff – if not wait for an offer????

By: The Whine Seller » Blog Archive » Week in Review (November 13th through November 17th)

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:01:49 +0000

[...] eBay Sellers: Have you considered ‘Shill Buying’? : Dan Wilson : eBay expert, social net… – This seems like a terrible idea to me. The basis of this is to buy your own items with another account to raise your own Best Match rating. (November 17th) [...]

By: Dan Wilson

Dan Wilson — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:20:12 +0000

Well, Andy:what does your example mean?

a) That some people may slip through the net.
b) That they are aren’t shill bidders.
c) That clever people can evade detection (which is the crux of my blog post).

A single example doesn’t really knowledge/shake my confidence that eBay are actually pretty hot on shill bidding.

What people seem to forget is sheer scale of eBay, it’s like a country. Just because one person gets away with speeding it doesn’t mean millions of points and fines aren’t being issued every day.

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 09:58:17 +0000

Dan, if you think ebay are good at stopping shill buying have a look at justdeals-uk and byb3618… see if you can spot their other shill bidding accounts… not that good then?
And these accounts have been reported by me and others over and over and over to ebay.

By: eBay Elsewhere : Links for 16th November 2008 : TameBay : eBay news blog and forum

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 09:34:37 +0000

[...] “And finally”, Dan has a very naughty suggestion on how to beat Best Match. [...]

By: Dan Wilson

Dan Wilson — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:28:07 +0000

randy2timejr: I respect comments so much more when they come from a source we can all check out.

That said, re your links. There’s an old phrase from the British House of Commons that seems cogent.

“I refer the honourable member to the answer I gave some moments ago.”

http://www.wilsondan.co.uk/2008/10/24/home-truths-for-ebay-sellers/

By: randy2timejr

randy2timejr — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:06:05 +0000

I’d rather have the biggest thieves of ebay go to jail for their exploits, rather than become one of them!

FIRE DONAHOE!

http://www.petitiononline.com/jdonohoe/petition.html

Share your ebay/Paypal horror stories:

http://www.myblogutopia.com/2008/11/looking-for-more-dolphin-stories.html

See what ebay employees are saying:
http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/eBay-Reviews-E7853.htm