PWCC & eBay - help us improve the hobby

[glchen]

Originally Posted by swarmee

Another recommendation: list a consignor's number/identifier on every card you list. That way bidding patterns from consignor's shill bidding accounts can be readily identified. If f****9 (258) is always bidding on consignor #456's cards but nobody elses, you have a very likely shill bidding account.

"Unlike proprietary auction software, eBay's platform is equally transparent to both the buyer and the seller."

This is copied from your listings. I disagree with your statement, since eBay is constantly finding ways to remove the ability to detect shill bidding accounts or problem bidders/sellers, first by removing full bidding identifiers, and secondly by replacing/improving negative feedback ratings for no reason.

I like the suggestion of providing the consigner number. About your second part, I think what Brent is saying is that ebay is still more transparent than major auction houses. At least you have a rough idea of the bidder id even if its mostly scrambled. You have no clue for major auction houses. It'd be nice if major auction houses also followed this, where they provide the consigner id with each lot, and then provide full bidder id for every one who bids on a lot with a % of how often the bidder bids with the same consigner. I doubt that will ever happen however.

For ideas to forward to ebay, I would ask them to unscramble the bidder and feedback id's so that it's easier to detect shilling. I'd also ask ebay to allow an option where you can ban bidders who have a over certain # of retractions. Then I would say PWCC should ban bidders who have over 5 retractions.

For detecting shilling, it's a lot of work, so I would say, don't look for it yourself. However, ask the community to look for shilling in your auctions, and then if someone thinks they see something then look into it. I think this would allow others to do a lot of the work for you. If a consigner is proven to have shilled, then ban the consigner.