CU Thread on Shilling Dealer

[Bosox Blair]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

(1) Are these alleged shills winning these lots? If so it doesn't make sense because Kruk would have to pay Ebay their share every time this happened and risk taking another loss each time they relisted the same item they are allegedly shilling.

(2) Makes me defensive every time I read somebody make the broad stroke argument that ALL sellers must be shilling because they couldn't possibly sell something on Ebay at below market value..........which is crap. I've sold plenty of stuff at supposed below market value. It comes with the territory that an item on Ebay with a 7-10 day window is usually going to sell for less then what somebody has it priced in a store setting and has it sitting there for months or years on end, waiting for the "right" buyer to come along.

Regarding point #1, I think the scam is that if the shill actually wins (not what the seller is going for ideally) then the seller can try a couple things. First, he can contact the underbidder to offer a "second chance" saying that the winner has bailed out. Since the shill has flushed out the very top limit of the underbidder, the seller can try to get the absolute max out of the card. If nobody will bite, the seller reports it to Ebay as a non-paying buyer, and I believe then pays no fees on the listing.

Regarding point #2, I don't think the hunt for shills involved looking for sales below the real market value - quite the opposite. On the other hand, there is the prospect that for certain cards with a limited number of transactions, a fake high bid recorded distorts what people view as the market price, making a subsequent sale of the same or similar card possible at a higher price (even if it is still below the shill price recorded).

Cheers,
Blair