Bidding on your own auction

[atx840]

It's been mentioned before, this guy is highly suspicious. He's bid on every T206 and any other card type.


Bidding Details


Bidder Information
Bidder: s***s( 442)
Feedback: 100%Positive
Item description: T206 Miller Huggins Portrait Cincinnati HOF PSA 2 GOOD
Bids on this item: 3

30-Day Summary
Total bids: 1041
Items bid on: 469
Bid activity (%) with this seller: 78%
Bid retractions: 3
Bid retractions (6 months): 42

[ScottFandango]

78% of all his bids are with that seller?

is that correct?

[Edwolf1963]

I have contacted Probstein to advise as suggested, he may indeed not be aware - that's why I didn't just report it as shilling (as that may suggest he's aware, instigating, etc).

FYI - y***y (private) seller/bidder is "myboydannyroy67"

[honus94566]

Seems quite possible that this account is a shill account, it "accidentally" won for him the first time, so now he is re-listing the card.

"30-Day Summary
Total bids: 1041
Items bid on: 469
Bid activity (%) with this seller: 78%
Bid retractions: 3
Bid retractions (6 months): 42"

This is not a normal ebay account. At least from what I can see.

[Republicaninmass]

Originally Posted by Edwolf1963

I have contacted Probstein to advise as suggested, he may indeed not be aware - that's why I didn't just report it as shilling (as that may suggest he's aware, instigating, etc).

FYI - y***y (private) seller/bidder is "myboydannyroy67"

Didnt do a very good job as he still lost a few hundred on the sale no?

edited I see it has NOT yet ended

[ScottFandango]

looks like Y****Y is bidding on many Probsteins 1914's...usually one of the early bidders...

why would someone bid 69.99 or 89.99? does this person like losing by .01
?
i have been on ebay many many years and never bid this amount (.99) when trying to win a card, i cant figure it out...

[Republicaninmass]

never have seen a different masked id for one particular buyer, and it is the sames ones who keep outbidding me!

[ullmandds]

Hmmm...this isn't looking so good?! Time will reveal all!

[smtjoy]

lol I have also never bid adding a .99, it does make a lot of sense if you were to shill you would want to bid just under whole numbers as most are probably like me bidding whats easy- $70 or 90

[iwantitiwinit]

In my mind there is only one reason for someone to consistently bid .01 lower than a round figure and that is because in most situations someone else has bid an exact amount and you want to extract maximum value. As mentioned you bid 89.99 because more than likely someone has bid $90.00. If you are a true buyer and want to win a card you bid $90.01 not 89.99. It would be interesting to see if this pattern occurred with other sales from that same seller. Hope we don't find out this is another "black eye" for an ebay seller.

[probstein123]

Bidding on your own auction
I don't understand this, unless to drive up the bid prices..? Look at this Probstein123 listing which ends tonight...

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=380538844655

y***y (private) bid $189 on 12/18 - - only issue is y***y (private) won this very card on 12/2/12 for $355! (see below link)

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=251189941256

So he winds winning the card, consigns with Rick - and bids on his own card to drive more bids/up the price..?

==> hey ed, how are you ? I went back and looked at that auction...the winning bidder is not one of active 300 consignors...

[TNP777]

If you're referring to the winning bidder of the recently-ended auction, then you're not answering the question, Rick. The concern is that the person who won the first auction then consigned the card with you and subsequently ended up as one of the underbidders, more popularly known as a shill bidder.

See, this is your pattern. When there is a thread praising you, you're Johnny-on-the-spot. When there is a thread (and there have been many) that call into question sketchy bidding activity on your auctions, or your blatant spamming of the SC&MF on CU, or anything else negative, well then it's crickets. When you do bother to respond, you give some nebulous answer that's not an answer at all. Usually you give an answer that had nothing to do with the question. Heck, why respond when there's a darn good chance then thread will be locked, or posts selectively deleted, or best yet the whole thread disappears? Duck the tough but fair questions and wait for the Moderator-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named to simply delete the offending question and ban the asker.

[cincyredlegs]

Originally Posted by TNP777

If you're referring to the winning bidder of the recently-ended auction, then you're not answering the question, Rick. The concern is that the person who won the first auction then consigned the card with you and subsequently ended up as one of the underbidders, more popularly known as a shill bidder.

See, this is your pattern. When there is a thread praising you, you're Johnny-on-the-spot. When there is a thread (and there have been many) that call into question sketchy bidding activity on your auctions, or your blatant spamming of the SC&MF on CU, or anything else negative, well then it's crickets. When you do bother to respond, you give some nebulous answer that's not an answer at all. Usually you give an answer that had nothing to do with the question. Heck, why respond when there's a darn good chance then thread will be locked, or posts selectively deleted, or best yet the whole thread disappears? Duck the tough but fair questions and wait for the Moderator-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named to simply delete the offending question and ban the asker.

I guess I have figured out how he gets 20%-35% over VCP for alot of auctions.....just consign and bid your stuff up. There are to many smoking guns that have been uncovered on the boards to convince me otherwise.

Geordie you are right though, whenever we uncover shilling on Rick's auctions, you never hear from him or he doesn't answer your question. That speaks volumes to me.

Also to add, this seems like the next generation of selling. Send your stuff to consigment houses (whether ebay or auction houses) and bid your stuff up.

This is why I much rather prefer to buy off the boards or in person vs ebay if I can help it.

Mark

[Edwolf1963]

Hello all,

My question/issue in starting this thread was simply noting that the person who had recently won that card - y***y (private) or eBay ID "myboydannyroy67", appeared to have consigned that same card with Rick shortly thereafter and was then bidding on it - presumably to drive up bids.

I reported it to eBay and sent Rick a message at the time with the assumption he was unaware.

Obviously, whether or not myboydannyroy67 won the card was not the issue.

[probstein123]

whats the item # ? I'd like to go back and look at the bidders on that auction
thanks
rick

[thehoodedcoder]

hi,

i will honestly say, i have bought a ton of cards from this guy. i have always felt i was over paying for the cards. all high grade t206s 5 and higher.

after reading this i just don't know how i can buy anything from this seller again. i actually would not want to bid on anything this seller may be consigning to someone else.

there were some higher dollar cards that went off at REA which are coming into question. im aware that they were owned by the seller prior to making their way into that auction.

is there any good way to determine that?

kevin

[probstein123]

hi, guys, I did research on this bidder's name and this bidder is not one of my 300+ consignors...just some guy from Mississippi bidding....please feel free to contact me anytime if you think inappropriate bids are happening....we actively block bidders when things are brought to my attention...we are on pace to sell 100,000 items this year, averaging over 10,000 sales a month recently, so I am not actively reviewing every bid...ebay auctions ( especially mine ) are watched closely by " trust and safety " and often, people send us outside info as well....

best to call me, I'm not online all the time...
thanks
rick
973 747 6304

[atx840]

It's okay guys, Rick did his research...move along.

[gnaz01]

Originally Posted by atx840

It's okay guys, Rick did his research...move along.

[Bpm0014]

9,999 a month....

I personally will never bid on anything he sells again. Mainly because he seems unapologetic and has not once addressed the big picture.

[thehoodedcoder]

Originally Posted by probstein123

hi, guys, I did research on this bidder's name and this bidder is not one of my 300+ consignors...just some guy from Mississippi bidding....please feel free to contact me anytime if you think inappropriate bids are happening....we actively block bidders when things are brought to my attention...we are on pace to sell 100,000 items this year, averaging over 10,000 sales a month recently, so I am not actively reviewing every bid...ebay auctions ( especially mine ) are watched closely by " trust and safety " and often, people send us outside info as well....

best to call me, I'm not online all the time...
thanks
rick
973 747 6304

how am the only person who is understanding this concept?:

everything is ok? we looked, we are not in on it, neither is anyone else. trust me when i tell you nothing is wrong.

are you serious? let me continue this: his name was bob jumbolaya. he sounded like he was 29 years old-ish when we spoke on the phone and he typed with a overseas z to s replacement even though he was from the greater mississippi area. do you believe me now that i have told you all of this? of course not. you could be a compulsive liar for all we know.

when someone questions your level of trust with evidence you need to refute with evidence.

you are fighting a trust and evidence issue with only a rquest to trust? that is a falacy. i feel bad enough for anyone who believes what you just said without evidence that you are in fact 1) telliing the truth and 2) you did the diligence people are assuming you did.

add real proof. take a screen shot. trust someone on here to examine the evidence and testify you are giving accurate statements.

kevin

[ScottFandango]

the recent drama had me thinking...and i searched some old threads...

my head is spinning! seems like once a month there is a thread about Probstien and his alleged schilling...its thread after thread...

why is this guy always involved in some alleged wrongful activity...

why is it the "biggest" sellers always seem to have the most potential issues

now his association with JOE....i thought he was not gonna do business with this guy Joe anymore.....

mr Probstien, WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE?

[Sean]

Originally Posted by atx840

It's been mentioned before, this guy is highly suspicious. He's bid on every T206 and any other card type.


Bidding Details


Bidder Information
Bidder: s***s( 442)
Feedback: 100%Positive
Item description: T206 Miller Huggins Portrait Cincinnati HOF PSA 2 GOOD
Bids on this item: 3

30-Day Summary
Total bids: 1041
Items bid on: 469
Bid activity (%) with this seller: 78%
Bid retractions: 3
Bid retractions (6 months): 42

He has retracted 42 bids in the last 6 months. How is this allowed?

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by Sean

He has retracted 42 bids in the last 6 months. How is this allowed?

I don't know. Seems to me, all bids are good bids according to Ebay.

Does anybody think it's a coincidence that about the same time Ebay made bidding accounts largely anonymous, they also lifted restrictions on bid retractions?

When a bidder has that many retractions it means one of two things. They are shilling auctions or they are tampering with auctions. Not good for buyers or sellers in the overall scheme of things.

I don't mind making bidders names anonymous, because many bidders prefer to stay anonymous if possible...........that generally holds for any type of auction.

However, to make the habitual act of retracting bids an accepted part of the auction process, strikes me as Ebay putting their head in the sand as a way of defending themselves by telling people "we didn't know these types of practices were going on." It's their way of not having to deal with the problem.

Sure, they have rules against "shilling" and "tampering with auctions", but they rarely ever acknowledge it, except in very extreme and blatant circumstances.

[Butch7999]

Trivia, just for the record:

-- "masked" eBay IDs do not always come up the same for the same bidder (although they're consistent within any single auction).
Our eBay ID has shown up masked a couple of different ways.

-- a "masked" ID can represent any number of eBay bidders -- there are only about 1,600 possible two-character combinations.

[smtjoy]

Well all I can say is mine show up the same and have so for a long time (and I checked about 20 more purchases too) -


2/4/10 eBay Image macbruce11 y***t 12 $261.00

11/28/10 eBay Image davidbvintage y***t 1 $22.00

10/23/11 eBay Image cardsandbrowns y***t 9 $47.00

12/8/12 eBay Auction | Image dslsports y***t 9 $5.50

[MW1]

Originally Posted by Butch7999

Trivia, just for the record:

-- "masked" eBay IDs do not always come up the same for the same bidder (although they're consistent within any single auction).
Our eBay ID has shown up masked a couple of different ways.

-- a "masked" ID can represent any number of eBay bidders -- there are only about 1,600 possible two-character combinations.

Butch,

Can you provide an example?