Fleabay 'private bidders'

[Welsh Yorkie]

What is the point of 'private bidder' when all bids are anonymous to other bidders? Am I missing something?

[Kim]

What is the point of 'private bidder' when all bids are anonymous to other bidders? Am I missing something?

 

Even though the bids are "anonymous", you can get an outline of their bidding practice ot at least find out what percentage of their bids are with this seller. If it is a high figure it can set the alarm bells off. You can't do that with a private bidder.

 

Dealers often used it in the past. They would put lots of low ball offers in and then resell. With the way the fees have gone up and the postage cost, it has tended to kill that.

 

Kim

[meil]

 

Shill bidding is prohibited by e-bay and those suspected of it should have their accounts closed.

 

 

Shill bidding is not simply prohibited by e-bay it is a criminal act in any auction for which you can have your collar felt.

[Welsh Yorkie]

 

 

Even though the bids are "anonymous", you can get an outline of their bidding practice ot at least find out what percentage of their bids are with this seller. If it is a high figure it can set the alarm bells off. You can't do that with a private bidder.

 

Dealers often used it in the past. They would put lots of low ball offers in and then resell. With the way the fees have gone up and the postage cost, it has tended to kill that.

 

Thanks for that. I'm a little surprised that eBay still allows private bidders, but hey ho!

 

Kim

[Kenton]

Probably depends on the snipe program. Both the ones I use accept the item number in the above example it is 290782477492 (currently on the right hand side of the listing. They also use the currency that you have logged in to your snipe program - so in my case I just enter say 10.01 and it is automatically in £ (GBP)

 

Do remember that the snipe bid still only works if it beats all other bids (and some of those may come in late).

Edited October 7, 2012 by Kenton

[Adams442T]

Well when you use a snipe program what numbers do I have to list from the item I want to bid for ie what is the ones from here http://www.ebay.co.u...84.m1438.l2649. Also do I need to use the £ for when I put in my bid with this method or not. I have tried on an item but it doesn't like it.

 

It won't accept currency prefixes as you are bidding in the currency that the item is listed in. I use a snipe programme a lot when bidding on US items as it means I don't have to stay up 'til 2am to bid!

It also means that if there are 'shill' bidders they don't have time to respond and ramp up the price. Not as big a problem as it used to be as mentioned above, but some people still try it on.

[Kenton]

It also means that if there are 'shill' bidders they don't have time to respond and ramp up the price. Not as big a problem as it used to be as mentioned above, but some people still try it on.

 

It is not so much the shill bids that are a problem, as the bidders who place multiple small increment bids to expose the realistic bids you may have made through ebay. An example is a DJH kit with a starter price of 0.99p You may place a very realistic bid of say £75 (I won some for less) and then over the early duration of the auction a bidder comes along bit up in £2 increments until your bid is exposed. Often the bid is overcome by a further higher bid but you often wonder if that would not have been the case had the bidding had not been so "active" - That is NOT shill bidding though. By hiding the bid until the last moment the prices seem to be more realistic.