PWCC – Announcing Formal Policy Concerning eBay Bidder & Buyer Integrity

[Leon]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

I like string bidding as well....I mean...Ebay is allowing you to bid that minimum. That almost reminds me of the scene on the movie Office Space. Do you really want just the bare minimum of 15 pins? Or do you want to be like Brian and wear 47 pins?? If you want me to wear 47 pins, just make 47 pins the minimum.

My guess is that string bidding will be analysed and dealt with accordingly. I doubt Brent and Team will prohibit any legitimate bidding. This policy is a great start to helping the hobby rid itself of some of ebay's ills...

[pbspelly]

I don't really understand the string bid theory (not to be confused with string theory).

Is the theory that a sham string bidder is trying to drive the price up but then quit just before he becomes the high bidder?

Or that the sham string bidder will drive the price up until they actually become the high bidder, but hope someone else will then outbid their last incremental bid?

Or is it that they drive the price up and then retract their last winning bid?

Or maybe some combination of the three?

I always just thought string bidders were inexperienced with eBay and didn't know what they were doing.

[bobbyw8469]

String bidders bid like $1 at a time. About 20 times in a row....rather than just one bid that is $20 higher.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by pbspelly

I don't really understand the string bid theory (not to be confused with string theory).

Is the theory that a sham string bidder is trying to drive the price up but then quit just before he becomes the high bidder?

Or that the sham string bidder will drive the price up until they actually become the high bidder, but hope someone else will then outbid their last incremental bid?

Or is it that they drive the price up and then retract their last winning bid?

Or maybe some combination of the three?

I always just thought string bidders were inexperienced with eBay and didn't know what they were doing.

What we saw over the early half of the year was the same guys trying to drive up the price without winning.

[irv]

Originally Posted by D.P.Johnson

No Dale. What you're doing isn't "string" bidding. "String" bidding is when someone is "fishing" to see if they can find out where the maximum bid is by continuously bidding with minimum increments. When someone does that, they can sometimes see what the high bid is before they actually reach it because the incremental bid amount will suddenly change. Hope that makes sense. It's kinda hard to explain...
That being said, I always snipe...

Thanks for the reply, Daniel. I appreciate it.

[icollectDCsports]

Originally Posted by irv

Thanks for the reply, Daniel. I appreciate it.

I see, so a string bidder who's not really intending to win knows when to stop. That's the part that I was not understanding before this explanation.

[Snapolit1]

If a string bidder knows to stop at $1499, why does he want to waste his time bidding in dollar intervals to jack the price up? If it's sitting at $1000, just bid once at $1499 and go to bed. Why bother wasting time with interim bids.

[Luke]

Because if the leading bidder entered an odd amount like $1475.85, the string bidder might find that out $1 at a time.

He bids $1471, the high bid goes to $1472

He then bids $1473, and the high bid goes to $1474

He then bids $1475 and the high bid goes to $1475.85.

Now he knows to stop.

[pokerplyr80]

Originally Posted by Leon

My guess is that string bidding will be analysed and dealt with accordingly. I doubt Brent and Team will prohibit any legitimate bidding. This policy is a great start to helping the hobby rid itself of some of ebay's ills...

Agreed. This is a significant change that many members here have been suggesting for quite a while. The fact that those who retract bids in pwcc auctions will be banned from their auctions and Ebay all together should go a long way towards improving auction integrity. I think this is a great step and hope to see others follow.