[ngrow9]

Originally Posted by bubblebathgirl

Rick, I think the reality is that once people consign something to you, they can then bid on it via themselves (or if you actually monitor that) via proxy.

Now at least on ebay people can semi-see who is bidding, analyze patterns, and try and sniff out the shills.

The reason why AHs offebay don't allow any transparency is because this same thing would happen, people would see some funny business and then call it out.

I submit that it's actually a good thing that people are as vigilante as they are with your auctions, and frankly I wish ebay would have FULL transparency like they used to.

The way things are now, I think it's up to the masses to police auctions they are interested in and to speak out if something seems off. Rick can't do that himself, and I don't think it's fair to expect that he does.

Furthermore, I think it's commendable that Rick takes the time to actually post on these forums and react to the concerns of people. That's more than many other big time sellers do, and I think it speaks volumes to his credibility and willingness to keep things as clean as he can.

Care to address my post from earlier?

Originally Posted by ngrow9

I realize this is probably a fruitless response, but one of the greatest downside risks of shilling in any auction system is that you outbid the field and get stuck with your own item. Should that happen on eBay, the actual out of pocket loss is rather minimal, basically just the listing fees (if any) and portion of the final price kept by eBay (around 9%). However, the odds of winning your own lot on eBay are quite low, because you can always retract a bid. So despite any transparency, there is little risk to shilling on eBay.

Conversely, should you outbid the field in an AH auction, your out-of-pocket loss will be much more significant, as you will owe both the hefty consignment fee as well as the bidder's premium. You could easily end up losing 1/3rd of the value of the item in the end. Moreover, it is much harder (if not impossible) to retract a bid.

Ergo, even though eBay may be a little more transparent, overall I believe the risk of shilling is greater on eBay than at an AH for the simple reasons that the risk of winning your own lot is much lower due to retraction, and the cost of winning your own lot is much lower than at an AH.