Am I Missing Something On This Ebay Auction ?

The 3 high value Prexies, lightly hinged and the bid is up to $180.00 ?
I see it's 2 bidders going at it and one has a 39% buy rate from the seller. Anyone see something I don't ?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USA-Classic...em2c76a03a45

Another one gone over the top...but it looks as if the same bidder is involved. What gives ?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MINT-NH-Lar...em4acbf90a19

I've seen stacks of plate blocks going for way too much for several years, off and on. Hard to say if it's inexperienced buyers or shill bidders or something else, but often only 2 or 3 people bidding up the price. Sellers (or same seller multi accounts?) usually have low feedback number.

I emailed one of these sellers 2 years ago, and asked the same question. Am I missing something? Didn't get a response.

stallzer.....
looking at the 2nd link....
bidder with 284 feedback has 68 bid retractions in last 6 months.
This is a shill account....using to find out how high someones bid is, that retracts his.

Smart and very useful. I never thought to check bid retractions.

I know ebay wants to make money and it's hard to monitor millions of auctions, but I'm surprised ebay doesn't somehow flag and monitor a suspect account like this.

ebay couldn't care less about shilling. The higher the price goes, the more fees they get. The shilling in the sports card hobby is ridiculous. Not surprised to see it in stamps too

This all is why I go "buy it now or best offer." But I have to know what I want and have a customized hunting strategy.


-IBFS

I bid on one of her lots back in August and won. The price and shipping were both very fair and she shipped it out right away. I always return to dealers that I believe are fair. After that lot in August I couldn't get close to winning again. I felt like I was being "played", so I quit bidding with the seller. I have no proof of anything going on other than a feeling I got. I never thought to check retracted bids. I just moved on as I wasn't winning anything.
Jeff, don't give up on "real" auctions. There are a lot of sellers that run a straight and honest show.

I'm Jeff...lol I love auctions, BIN's and Best offers!

I just make sure I have a budget for a particular stamp or lot and don't go above it. I'll usually snipe at the end and if my budget isn't high enough, too bad and try again. I always end up finding what I want at the price I want, it's just a matter of time. I have other strategies I learned from when I collected movie collectibles, but everything starts with a budget that doesn't budge ;)

Sorry I also wanted to mention something. Unfortunately many sellers on ebay that offer great deals and great lots become very popular over time and get large followings and build up their newsletter lists etc. So over time, the seller just has WAY more eyes on the auctions and the final bid prices tend to go up. Most of the great deals I get are with smaller sellers that don't have 8000 feedbacks or more.

Dan