subject: Ebay: New Members Learn to Spot Trends [print this page] Ebay: New Members Learn to Spot Trends Ebay: New Members Learn to Spot Trends
Ebay is known for facilitating fantastic deals for buyers.Clearly, savings are existent throughout Ebay. But this fairy tale is meant only for those who are educated on Ebay. Ebay is home to "Shill Bidders" who boost prices illegally, tricking uneducated shoppers out of their savings. Everyone can see the red flags of these kinds of shill bid' online auctions with a few general online training from a fantastic tutorial(s) and the information from this article.
Items to know:
Reserve Price Auctions: An option of the normal auction, a reserve price sets the minimum price you are willing to sell your item, relinquishing responsibility if the auction does not reach your desired price level on an item and bids must exceed this reserve price in order to be considered.
Shill Bidder: Someone who creates fake accounts or employs friend to bid against their own item, inflating the price.
Shill System: The organization of false accounts and real friend accounts that intermingle bids with true bidders to inflate the price.
Shill Bidder Motive:
First you must realize the objective powering a shill bidder. Each time a Shill Bidder goes to produce an auction, they'll almost always generate the auction with out a reserve value, commencing with a surprisingly low cost (e.g A XBOX for $1.00 beginning bid). This in turn draws in a lot of customers, who feel they will be able to win the XBOX for possibly... $30.00. These types of buyers will then start bidding against each other in a craze.
The System:
Even when the craze of bidding has commenced, the price may not hit the desired level, and the shill bidder will create false accounts to bid against real users. The Shill Bidder will then bid (or have his friend bid) on his own product, while other bidders bid against someone who has nothing to lose (or in fact does not exist). The Shill Bidder simply hopes that a real bidder ends up winning the auction and paying the ultimate price.
Spotting Shill Auctions:
Now you may be asking... "How do I spot this?". Beginning at a rudimentary level, one can spot this trend of shill bidding' by seeing who the winners were from past auctions. If the winners are all typically new or had very low feedback, it is likely that they are false accounts. At a more professional level (which is tougher to spot) the Shill Bidder will have friends bid on their items, making it increasingly hard to pin point (as there are many factors that go into this). Or worst, they may have created accounts that have a high level of feedback specifically done to dupe the bidders (Professional level). Ebay training and help websites are a great place to begin your beginner or in depth knowledge on Ebay.
Here are some tips to spot shill bidders on eBay:
The vendors account has existed for less than one year.
The vendor has gained little or no feedback whatsoever.
The vendor has constant good feedback from 1 user in particular, correlating to a suspiciously broad range of items, like a plasma Tv in one deal and a stuffed animal in the next. Be sure to learn how to better sell items on ebay with a variety of training sites out there.
