Careful in Ebay

[K C Muffin]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Brand-New-Sprint...QQcmdZViewItem

I was in searching for some accessories for my Sprint Pocket PC. I actually need another cradle, so I have one at work and one at home. The thing is, I found one just like mine, supposedly an unopened box, for significantly less than I paid for mine. While I was looking at it, there were 2 more bids. The thing is, this item doesn't close for another 10 or so hours. So I looked at the bidders just out of curiosity, since this appeared to be suddenly a hot item.

Most of the bidders on this item are new registrants to Ebay. Meaning to me that they're the seller himself who has signed up with another name in order to drive the price up.

The phone, if it's indeed unopened and has been legally obtained, is a good buy at the price - even anywhere under $300. But I wouldn't buy from this jerk anyway - he's not playing the game as it's supposed to be played.

Just food for thought!

[Tee]

I think you may be mistaken about this K C M.

It is not at all uncommon for people to sign up on eBay to buy just one select item that they are in dire need of. What you are suspecting is called shill bidding

I am an ebay junky and have been a registered user since it's inception. I am part of an (unofficial) eBay support group the investigates and assists other members with fraud issues. You can find me in the community forums as well.

My user page is located here:
http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...serid=timtrent

Shill bidding is usually obvious if you look at trends of the sellers past sales. I looked him over and while I did find one user that did bid on two items from this seller, I could not find any evidence of shill bidding. I have exposed many shill bidders/fraudulant sellers and this guys patterns do not seem to indicate that is the case.

The bids on this item are typical of nibblers (bidders that keep upping their bid in small increments so as to achieve top bidder status instead of entering the maximum they are wanting to pay and walking away)

On the contrary, the seller appears to be very honest. He leaves feedback first and has given more than he has received and the comments on his profile are stellar. I would not be afraid to purchase an item from this person.

[Detector]

Ebay has some strange goings on that just doesn't make sense. I often see a seller that will start an item really low, tell you what the reserve is, and bidders will nibble away at the bid knowing they are a long way from even making the reserve.

STRANGE!!

[wordsmythe]

I start everything at 99 cents with no reserve.

I hate reserves and will rarely bid on anything with one.

I never place a bid til the last 45 seconds and then I put in the VERY most I will pay for the item and see if it's enough.

[K C Muffin]

I appreciate your comments, Tee, cuz you obviously know what you're talking about here. I tend to mistrust and fire off ugly comments before I give anybody a chance to explain - but then I'm pretty gullible too, and knowing that makes it hard to trust people I don't know. I looked at his feedback as well and it was as you said, stellar. There actually wasn't much, but only 2 of his were buyers and the rest were sellers. I have a stellar feedback as well as a buyer - that wasn't too hard. I'm not a buying junkie - just a junkie.

I know first-time Ebayers often sign up to bid on one item, and I imagine you also checked out the bidders on this item. There was an unusually (I think anyway) number of bidders for this item who were bidding for the first time. I realize they have to bid on something as a first timer, but to have so many on one item just made me uneasy.

I have to admit that I fired off an email to the seller and told him I thought his practice was irresponsible. He sent back an email almost immediately and said everybody does it, what's wrong with it. Obviously, the guy's a nut.

Anyway - I agree and disagree, Tee. I love Ebay for the sheer pleasure of the bid process and the fun of trying to get something you need/want for less than you need/want to pay. But this seller won't be on my fave list.

[Bubba]

I noticed that he has good feedback from 4 people that have bought items from him, and the items were all Sprint items by the way. He must have a connection to get Sprint items. Anyway, 28 minutes left and it was at $356.

[K C Muffin]

Yeah, I saw that this morning. I noticed that it was bid up by "people" that were new to Ebay. I'd love to get into their ISP addresses. Almost looked like he wanted a certain price but wasn't getting it. And it looks like it went to a newbie for just over half the retail price, so congrats to somebody with some last-minute smarts! That's the beauty of Ebay, I guess.

[Detector]

Wordy has the key to making that last minute bid(sniping?). You have about 40-45 seconds to get that last bid in.

Myself I prefer the no reserve sale. You may end up spending a bit more for listing, but it give you a much better idea of which bidders are serious.

[Army_of_One]

I agree with the Wordster too.....And I LOVE EBAY! I have made a few sales/purchases and have never had a problem...knock on wood.