Selling on Ebay

Just was thinking about the way Ebay works.When some seller lists a item for sale what is stopping them from bidding up there own auction on a different computer. Is this a common practice? ken

Yes, it is quite common. Often difficult to detect, as well. The term is "shilling".

Good bidding involves checking the feedback profile of both the seller and the current bidders on the items.

Does the seller have a number of feedbacks from the current bidders on his items? This is not necessarilly a sign of tampering, but if a group of people work together it might stand out. However, since multiple feedbacks from the same bidder are not counted, the actual feedback rating will not be affected.

Do the current bidders have very low feedback ratings, or do they have "glasses" indicating that they are a new user? Again, not a red flag, but coupled with other information could be curious.

Look at the other items that the current bidders have bid on. Do they bid on items that are silimar to what is currently for sale, or do they bid on everything under the sun?

Do they bid on MANY of the current sellers auctions, and on very little else? Big red flag in my book.

These are just some hints. I am sure others will have other suggestions.

Not everyone is greedy and dishonest. I have bought quite a number of Ebay items and have never noticed "shilling". First off, the seller can list a starting price or put a reserve price on the item and assure themselves that their item won't be sold too cheap.

I recommend asking the seller as many questions about their item as you need to asertain exactly what it is that is being sold and to find out its condition.

Once you have all the details, the bottom line is: Only bid what it is worth to you !! Then you have a slim chance of being disappointed, regardless of any nefarious activities, real or imagined !! John

One other thing to keep in mind when bidding on ebay is shipping cost. Depending on the item that can add quite a bit, especially since a lot of stuff we're interested in can be quite heavy.

I have bought 1000's of items off ebay, and shilling doesn't matter. why, because I bid what something is worth to me, and if the reserve, other bidder, or a shill bid makes the item more than i will pay, i go on to the next item. If there was a shill bidder, it is very dishonest, but that is just a secret reserve, it is not like they got ahold of your credit card, and stole your money. never bid more than something is worth, and the few shill bidders will not get to you.

The kicker on shilling has to do with the integrity of the seller. If I find that a seller shill bids, then I don't want to deal with him regardless of the price.

Bill's right, you've gotta know when to stop.

I've bought the better part of 200 items on ebay, and for the most part have been well satisfied. If you bid what the item is worth to you, and don't get it, there is no harm done to you, and another item like it usually comes up soon. For the ones playing games, and having friends, etc., bid the item up, unless there is someone dumb enough to out-bid their shill bid, they would be stuck with the ebay seller's fees after not making an actual sale. No one can screw you on an auction... you have to do it to yourself, whether it is by not checking out the seller, or by getting caught up in the auction and bidding more than the item is actually worth!

I have bought and sold a number of items on eBay. If I ever was the victim of a shill I wouldn't know as I quit bidding after my definition of worth is reached. NOW--if one shills their own auction THEY might wind up with the high bid and still have to pay photo hosting fees and commissions. No different than a "plant" at a REAL auction where this happens all the time. Right?? No way. All I know is I can sleep like a log 'cause I don't have any such misdeeds working on me!! :-) Craig

Buying stuff off ebay is to risky

I recently paid a jerk 4 bucks shipping for a paper he dropped into an envelope. He paid 45 cents to mail. Thats how this ebay pro rips you off as he doesnt advertise the shipping charges in the ad. No one leaves a complaint on him since he responds with a complaint back. Ebay has some problems, for sure.

Ebay isn't the only place shipping charge gouging occurrs. I just got a tractor part from Carter & Gruenwald in a Priority Mail box with $4.30 postage on the box. The sumbiches invoiced Postage $8.00, and refuse to even respond to my request for correction. Those kind of people can walk under a snake without bending.

WHAT WE'RE SEEING IS ANOTHER WAY TO ADD TO THE PROFIT. $4.30 SHIPPING, AND $3.70 HANDLING. THE SHIPPING WE CAN USUALLY SEE WHEN WE GET A PACKAGE. (not sure about unit.parcel, or fed-x, never paid much attention) THAT HANDLING CHARGE IS THE MYSTERY VARIABLE. $3.70 TO PUT IT IN A BOX, TAPE IT, AND PUT ON THE ADDRESS. THEIR CHARGING NOW FOR WHAT THEY USED TO CALL THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS...........CHUCK

I'm like a lot of folks here in that I decide what maximum price I'm willing to pay and either using a standard "proxy bid" on E bay and letting it do the bidding for me or using a snipe program to not show my hand until the last few seconds. I use the snipe bidding if I am bidding on an item that is one of the type I usually bid on and don't want to tip other bidders off to my interest. I know there are a lot of folks here on Harry's that have complained about snipe bidding but if I know what I'll pay and don't want to make my intentions known, what's the difference from standing at a live auction and not bidding until the auctioneer is at the "going, going, gone" point?

I've watched a lot of people "pretend bid" and bid up items a couple of bucks at a time and never have any intention of staying in until the fair price is reached. I collect one particular vintage toy series and there is one guy that bids up every one of them that comes along. I doubt that he has ever bought anything, just picky bid after picky bid and then out before he "gets caught" and has to buy. I'd a lot rather snipe bid the item and leave folks like him to guess if I'm "lurking around" with a hidden bid until the last moment.

I agree that there are folks that have a lot of money to play with and if they "play" where I want to be and out bid me, just like in "cards" I don't chase the money, and I'll just move on to the next one. I never spend much time worrying if someone's spending habits are not like mine. It's their money and their business.

I've never had a problem finding things to buy and don't feel I often overpay. I've had both great luck and bad dealings on E Bay just like I've had in swap meets and parts exchanges. On E Bay you usually can't see the item unless it's close by so I'm really leery of folks that are hesitant to send extra pictures of a higher dollar item. As always, let the buyer beware.

"I know there are a lot of folks here on Harry's that have complained about snipe bidding but if I know what I'll pay and don't want to make my intentions known, what's the difference from standing at a live auction and not bidding until the auctioneer is at the "going, going, gone" point? "

The difference is , in a live auction, a person is still able to bid. When you are sniped, it is done with 5 seconds left and you don`t have time to make another bid!!

Don`t take me as being upset about this, I`m not as I have been sniped many a time! Pissed me off then, but I finally figured out that if I bid one time what I want to spend, then if I get overbid,oh well, It`s all I was wanted to spend!! But then again, the darn snipers always get these things for the next higher bid amount!! Damn, that does kinda piss me off!! Oh well, if you can`t beat em, join em, right?

oldenginejim

Chuck and Franz-You got it all figured out, but you should be on the other side for a while so you can tell the whole story. Handling includes a lot of catch alls, price of help just to pack shipments, price of material (boxes, tape, labels, etc.), extra payroll taxes, insurance, trips to post office (twice a day for us), UPS pickup charge, office help to take and write up orders, credit card charges (banks soak the customer and the merchant), printer paper, computor's, etc. etc. Handling charges certainly don't relate to profit and believe it or not but at times even if doubling the actual freight you can still lose a little on shipping. Also keep in mind some companies (us included) don't have mininum orders. We do have a mininum shipping and handling of $2.25. So if we sell a 1.50 pamplet we should have $2.25 to take the order, write it up, put it on the manifest, take to PO. Guess what-many times if I write the order I wing it and charge what I'm comfortable with like $.75. The secretary has to have some rules to go by and will charge the $2.25 (per our catalog on literature s&h). If someone does call with a bonifide complaint on shipping I check it out and if I feel there was an overcharge I check it out. Kind of a long winded response but I felt it was necessary so folks get the whole story. I also feel it's a shame how some of you use smokstaks to try to make others look bad without knowing all the facts. Enough said-Ed

There are a ton of "sniping" programs available to everyone for no initial cost. You only pay if you win the bid and it's a very small amount. If your bid isn't enough to win there is no charge. You can designate the amount of time before the close of bidding for the program to place your bid. There is no guarantee that the program will bid for you if the lines are busy or if E bay or the snipe system is down, so you may simply lose out all together using the snipe programs. It's only a tool. I guess a lot of different kinds of cases being made to make things more equitable like sellers being more "fair" by only putting things on that end when people are awake and can bid "live".....and so on but if a person simply decides the maximum amomunt and doesn't chase the bid, I see no problem with it. As I said, it's available to everyone.

ED: What we are talking about is buying something on e-BAY. If a guy sells a 4oz. WIDGET on e-BAY for $6.00, and want $9.00 shipping would'nt you say something is amiss? I don't know where you missed the topic to become defensive. I've never heard of anyone ever complaining about you or your business. In fact everything I have ever heard about you and your business is GREAT. Even the times I have gotten something from you it was great. There still is no reason to defend everyone elses practices if they're gouging extra with that handling clause. It's a standard thing in the sales business to make a price as atractive as you can. EXAMPLE: I buy a WIDGET wholesale from company X for $15.00...there is freight etc. $3.00 that's a total of $18.00 when I want to sell it retail I want want my keystone mark so it becomes $36.00 then there's the pac. It's a little fee that covers expenses. trips to the post office, help, Xerox, whatever, usually about 3% so now our WIDGET is $37.08 retail. plus $3.00 shipping. Well that dose'nt look like such a bargain, so lets get creative. I'll drop the price the price to $29.99 plus $8.00 shipping and handleing and there you have it. I'm not saying this is what you do. I bought a YAMAHA keyboard off of e-BAY $505.00 plus $40 shipping and handling. When I got it I noticed it had been packaged at the factory, the only thing added was a lable. I ask the UPS guy who lives in the same town I do How much would it cost to ship this thing from Calif. to Kansas. he said regular ground for that weight about $18.00. So there's $22.00 extra for putting on a lable. In the guys pocket. I feel I have a good grasp of the facts, we're talking e-EBAY here mainly, Nobody is using SMOKSTAK to try to make you look bad. You look great...........CHUCK

Ed, I have no problem with people who state their charges up front, I can decide if I want to pay the handling charge on find another vendor. What pissed me off with C&G was that after I paid $33- for a friction disk and spring, the sneaky sumbiches stuck me with an $8- postage charge on the invoice, and shipped in a government provided Priority Mail box with $4.30 postage on it. I'm fairly conversant with the costs of doing business, since I sign the checks, but I flat refuse to go sneaky on a customer. I eliminated the EV-102-IE $28.67 part that went on every service invoice the former owner generated. An EV-102-IE was the charge for generating the order and handling the paperwork, EVIE was the girl who took the order and her extension was 102. The minimum service fee was just increased by $28.67, and the customer can make his own decision. As far as Ebay sniping goes, that stuff is pure crap. It's just a way of screwing the seller out of a fair price as well as cheating other bidders. When I sell stuff on Ebay I have a final line in the description, "I will end this auction early if there are no bids to prevent snipers". I'm damn sick of snipers and equally sick of having to pay Epay for a reserve price. Way I see it if folks don't want to do business, that's fine, but sniping is bullsnott.

The $29.99 WIDGET I ment to say would then have a $10.00 shipping and handling Making a grand total of $39.99 delivered. Instead of $36.99 plus $3.00 shipping they made the sales price look more inviting. It still costs the same. I bought a decal from a guy up north of me. $3.00 for the decal $3.00 for shipping. It came in an envelope. postage $.34 go figure, so now instead of having a cost of doing business, we have a cost of making purchases......CHUCK