Ebay Dealers Auction Price Fixing

Education is the primary approach that Stamp Smarter uses, try to get the word out on what to look for to make better informed online buying decisions. We have just recently added a new article which lists out 'things to watch for' with online listings. This is based upon our first 5 months of compiling Review of over 500 online listings. You can access this article 'Online Buying Tips' from the opening page of Stamp Smarter. http://www.stampsmarter.com/ Note, the article is a bit of a 'wall of text' but contains some good information.

We have also just updated quite a few of the 'View and Reports' section, making it a bit easier to see the compiled data from the database of all Reviews. Free membership gives you the advantage of being able to download the entire database in one of several formats if you wish to filter/sort or work with the data yourself.
Don

The only thing worse than losing to a shill bidder is winning. Not only will the final bid end up higher than it would have been, it is likely that the stamp will have other problems like alterations or faults intentionally not mentioned by the seller. The stamp marketplace is based on trust. If shill bidding is detected it should be reported, even if it appears that ebay is not responding. Also, a complaint to www.theswedishtiger.com, www.scads.org and Don's site will help illuminate the problem. If a seller is involved in shill bidding, it is almost certain that every other aspect of his business will be shoddy and corrupt.

Stick with sellers who have better than glowing feedback. Positive feedback comes in all flavors from barely passing to the best seller on the planet. Stick with the latter. Unfortunately, most buyers are not able to spot subtle flaws or alterations, so it is necessary to read several pages of feedback to try to understand how a seller operates.

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Clark

Clark,

I agree with everything you've said and this is a very informative thread, but your advice to "report it" to ebay is useless as there is no way to successfully do so now that the SCW and EMR Programs are abandoned by ebay. There are only TWO options. You can click on the "Report Item" link on every selling page and follow the drop-down choices. There is no way to add specific information, so that method is useless. I have used it many times and ebay has *NEVER* removed any item I've reported that way.

The second choice is to use the "Contact Us" function, which will allow you to contact ebay by telephone, but what you will find is that the representative you are speaking to is in India or the Philippines, and he is one of about 1,000 reps doing this job, so you can supply him with your complaint. He will take it graciously, assure you it will be investigated, and wish you a fine day. Then you will realize that it took a half hour of your time (or more) to make the phone connection and explain your complaint. And then the topper - nothing will get done about it.

I hate to be a party pooper, but at this point in time there is absolutely nothing that can be accomplished by contacting ebay about these awful fraudulent activities in the Stamps Category. Not long ago I contacted the person who was once the Stamps Reviewer and was once very helpful. Not any more. She bluntly told me that her position was eliminated, she is doing a different unrelated job and there is nothing she can do to help. And she ended by saying "and that's just the way it is". End of story.

I echo Clark's sentiments. I honestly do not understand the reasoning of ebayers (both buyers and sellers) who condemn sniping. I wouldn't participate in ebay auctions without it.

While sniping does not prevent disreputable sellers from shilling, withholding your bid until the last possible second does not tip your hand to either competitors or to shilling sellers wanting to "find your maximum" by gradually running up the current bid.

Shilling is one the reasons that the vast majority of my purchases are Buy-It-Now or Best Offer purchases.

That's the very reason I always offer Buy It Now pricing on all of my auctions. So many Ebayers would rather not participate in the final second flurry. For just a few bucks more, get what you want and be done with it. Of course the real secret is to price your items fairly.

I couldn't count the number of times someone only bids the miniumum, taking the Buy It Now down, and the item ends up selling for more than the original BIN.