Outing my own auction lot.

[Brian Van Horn]

Guys, this is not self-promotion. Just check the bid history. Weird:

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d...p2047675.l2565

[packs]

I have always theorized that this is a simple intimidation technique. It makes other potential bidders think they're in for a fight on the item when they see X number of bids placed. But it's just one guy.

[vintagetoppsguy]

When I clicked on your listing, there was a Froot Loops ad.

That bidder is a Froot Loop

[timn1]

Obviously a gomer with way too much time on his hands.

[D. Bergin]

All you have to do is keep on hitting next bid increment each time. Takes about 15 seconds to place that many bids.

[TanksAndSpartans]

It could be a strategy - scare away bidders by posing as a schill?

[glchen]

Brian, can you unscramble the bidder_id for the 484 feedback bidder?

[OldEnglishD]

Could the bidder be trying to sniff out the reserve price?

[Brian Van Horn]

Originally Posted by glchen

Brian, can you unscramble the bidder_id for the 484 feedback bidder?

Gary,

From my end I can see the handle/user name of the bidder. Where it puts me in a weird position is if I give out the name because the guy could simply have a method of behavior. I do not know if this is a shill, but if it is it is not on my end. I'm outing my auction which is within my power, but outing that guy brings up a very gray area.

[packs]

I don't think it raises the bid every time you bid if you're bidding against yourself. Basically you're just increasing your max bid, unless I'm wrong. He's just trying to up the bid numbers in an attempt to scare away bidders, at least that's my theory.

[bobbyw8469]

Either way, the reserve is not met. If this was a regular, for real .99 cent auction then that would be one thing. Seeing as how this is a reserve auction, then all bets are off.

[Brian Van Horn]

Same guy on another one of my lots. Is the guy a Yankees fan?

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d...p2047675.l2565

[glchen]

Originally Posted by Brian Van Horn

Gary,

From my end I can see the handle/user name of the bidder. Where it puts me in a weird position is if I give out the name because the guy could simply have a method of behavior. I do not know if this is a shill, but if it is it is not on my end. I'm outing my auction which is within my power, but outing that guy brings up a very gray area.

Why is it a gray area? If this were a PWCC auction, we would be requesting that the bidder id's be outed. If we know the bidder id, we can see if this is a common action that this bidder does in case other sellers have seen this same bidder id in their auctions.

[glchen]

To add on to my previous post, there was a time when ebay did not scramble the bidder ids at all in the past. And I thought that most agreed that it was a bad thing when ebay decided to start this id scrambling. So, I don't know why it's an issue to out these id's.

[Brian Van Horn]

The gray area is his privacy. I out him and I may have repercussions. One other note: he is also high bidder on my 1932 US Caramel Cochrane lot.

[Peter_Spaeth]

He has bid on 787 items with 1680 bids. Just a guy who bids a lot I guess. I wouldn't out him either.

[Brian Van Horn]

The only thing I will say about him is that he has 100% feedback. No, I am not endorsing him. I am simply stating a fact.

[Jay Wolt]

Originally Posted by Brian Van Horn

The only thing I will say about him is that he has 100% feedback. No, I am not endorsing him. I am simply stating a fact.

All bidders have 100% feedback, only sellers can get neutrals & negatives.

[chernieto]

Originally Posted by Brian Van Horn

Gary,

From my end I can see the handle/user name of the bidder. Where it puts me in a weird position is if I give out the name because the guy could simply have a method of behavior. I do not know if this is a shill, but if it is it is not on my end. I'm outing my auction which is within my power, but outing that guy brings up a very gray area.

I think it shows by simply looking at the bidder activity it is very difficult
( Impossible) to correctly out an auction as shilled. If you didn't shill the auction- then nobody did.....but if this was someone else's ( PWCC )auction the cries of Shill bidding would be loud......hmmm! If I was selling I would be happy with this bidder...

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by glchen

If this were a PWCC auction, we would be requesting that the bidder id's be outed.

Requesting to whom? Brent? I wasn't aware that PWCC provided the identities of its bidders to the Net 54 community.

[glchen]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Requesting to whom? Brent? I wasn't aware that PWCC provided the identities of its bidders to the Net 54 community.

Jeff, if you remember a while back, you won an Exhibit Cobb from a PWCC auction that you believed was shilled. I was the consignor for that lot, and I asked Brent for the bidder id. He gave it to me, and I PM'ed it to you.

[Jewish-collector]

Brian - I bet this bidder is a member of Net54. Maybe he will come on & say hello.

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by glchen

Jeff, if you remember a while back, you won an Exhibit Cobb from a PWCC auction that you believed was shilled. I was the consignor for that lot, and I asked Brent for the bidder id. He gave it to me, and I PM'ed it to you.

Isn't that a bit different than Net 54 members calling out Brent publicly to provide us the identities of suspected shill bidders? Why would he have a problem with a consignor having the ebay identity of someone who won his lot?

[glchen]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Isn't that a bit different than Net 54 members calling out Brent publicly to provide us the identities of suspected shill bidders? Why would he have a problem with a consignor having the ebay identity of someone who won his lot?

Well, you won that lot, Jeff, and I asked Brent for the bidder id for an underbidder who you thought may have shilled you up. When I asked Brent for the bidder id, I told him that I would be providing this to you, which you may decide to make public. In this case, since this is Brian's auction, he's technically the consignor here, so it's up to him whether or not to divulge his bidders. His argument here is that divulging bidder identities may result in repercussions, which I would assume means these same bidders not bidding in his future auctions or perhaps even negging him.

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by glchen

Well, you won that lot, Jeff, and I asked Brent for the bidder id for an underbidder who you thought may have shilled you up. When I asked Brent for the bidder id, I told him that I would be providing this to you, which you may decide to make public. In this case, since this is Brian's auction, he's technically the consignor here, so it's up to him whether or not to divulge his bidders. His argument here is that divulging bidder identities may result in repercussions, which I would assume means these same bidders not bidding in his future auctions or perhaps even negging him.

Right. So because you unilaterally decided to ask Brent for the identity of the winner of the lot you consigned to him -- and he agreed -- that means that Brian should give up the identity of his bidder in a yet to be completed auction? You've lost me here.

[glchen]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Right. So because you unilaterally decided to ask Brent for the identity of the winner of the lot you consigned to him -- and he agreed -- that means that Brian should give up the identity of his bidder in a yet to be completed auction? You've lost me here.

Jeff, you posted a publicly in this forum that you believed that auction was shilled (Link). So I asked Brent "unilaterally" for the bidder id to try to prove that auction was not shilled. I did not have to make it known that I was the consignor for that auction, and I did, and neither did I have to unilaterally decide to provide the bidder id to you. In Brian's case, here I do understand his situation. If ebay did not mask all bidder id's, he would not be here.

[TanksAndSpartans]

I actually had this happen to me, but the bidder with 20+ bids didn't win and the card sold around market price - but when I saw all the bids long before auction end, I kind of shook my head and said people will think this is suspicious. It may not actually be a bad strategy for the buyer if it scares away bidders. But that actually doesn't help with a reservation price on the auction since its not possible to bid yourself up, the auction could just end as "reserve not met." It's also a good argument for sniping given how small the bid increments are on eBay - say someone puts a bid in and forgets about it - someone could come along and slightly outbid them by just "nibbling" them up time after time until they get ahead.

[earlywynnfan]

I've had a couple bidders like this, too. None won my auctions, and I actually emailed a regular buyer just to let him know I had no idea what the guy was doing.

[bdk1976]

Originally Posted by OldEnglishD

Could the bidder be trying to sniff out the reserve price?

My thoughts as well...

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by glchen

Jeff, you posted a publicly in this forum that you believed that auction was shilled (Link). So I asked Brent "unilaterally" for the bidder id to try to prove that auction was not shilled. I did not have to make it known that I was the consignor for that auction, and I did, and neither did I have to unilaterally decide to provide the bidder id to you. In Brian's case, here I do understand his situation. If ebay did not mask all bidder id's, he would not be here.

So Brent is willing to give out the names of the bidders in his auctions? Because unlike Brian, Brent has been caught lying on Net 54, used misleading scans in his auctions and his auctions are filled with bad bidders. If he's willing to provide the ebay identities of the bidders in his auctions I'm willing to review them.

[Peter_Spaeth]

On the other hand, Brian has questionable DNA.

[glchen]

Originally Posted by calvindog

So Brent is willing to give out the names of the bidders in his auctions? Because unlike Brian, Brent has been caught lying on Net 54, used misleading scans in his auctions and his auctions are filled with bad bidders. If he's willing to provide the ebay identities of the bidders in his auctions I'm willing to review them.

I can't speak for Brent, obviously, but next time, shilling is suspected in one of his auctions, I would ask him for the bidder id's and see what he says, if he is willing to give up the bidder id's like he did to me that time, or not.

Again, I'm not picking on Brian at all here. Obviously, these auctions are clean since he brought them up himself and Brian has pointed out plenty of problematic auction listings in the past. Nothing against Brian at all.

[Brian Van Horn]

Gary,

I knew you weren't picking on me and just wanted clarification.

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by glchen

I can't speak for Brent, obviously, but next time, shilling is suspected in one of his auctions, I would ask him for the bidder id's and see what he says, if he is willing to give up the bidder id's like he did to me that time, or not.

Shilling is suspected in hundreds of his auctions. I'll get you a list.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by Jay Wolt

All bidders have 100% feedback, only sellers can get neutrals & negatives.

Touche!! A buyer having 100% feedback means absolute squat!! I have had non paying bidders, etc, and they have 100% feedback as well. All we can do is block to eliminate headaches and move on.