posted on April 26, 2002 01:45:16 PM new
Earlier this week, I sent a seller an email about an item they had up for auction. We had a short email exchange, in which I determined that the item he had up for auction was not the item I was looking for. At all times, he was totally professional; I have no complaints.
In the course of our exchange, the original auction ended and another auction for the same item started, with the "this item has been relisted" notice on the original auction. I noticed that the current high bidder on the new auction was the same one that won the previous auction. This seemed kind of strange to me; this item is not something that one buyer would ordinarily need two of.
I also noticed that the bidder in question had a single-digit feedback number, and guessed this was an over-anxious newbie or a deadbeat who was spite-bidding. Out of idle curiousity, I clicked on the buyer's feedback. Come to find out the buyer's single-digit rating actually represented dozens of positive feedbacks from four different sellers. Two-thirds of them were from this seller - including not one, but two, previous purchases of this particular item.
Every single item (50+) that this buyer has bid on over the last month was listed by this seller. And we're talking many duplicate items, and a totally illogical assortment of stuff. On duplicate items, this bidder entered the same exact bid on every auction and never re-bid.
I did a little more checking, and found at least two instances where an identical item listed by another seller at the same time closed at a lower bid than the one this buyer entered.
A bit more information: The buyer has been registered for nearly three years, but almost all their bids were placed in the past few months. In addition to the current spree, there are a handful of bids on one other seller - and guess what? That seller and the seller I'm looking at are in the same state and their auction terms, grammar and style are identical.
My best guess is that this "bidder" doesn't exist; that the seller is using a fictitious identity to bid on his own auctions (knowing that "bids draw bids." The fake bidder's bid acts as a reserve, guaranteeing that the auction will go at least that high.
But in so many cases, this bidder ended up winning! And that's what's confusing to me. Could this strategy ever be worth it, given the fact that the seller would (presumably) have to pay listing and FVF for all these auctions? There were some auctions closing over $1,000.
On the other hand, it strains credulity that this bidder would legitimately need all the stuff they bid on, and that they would ignore other sellers with good feedback and identical items closing at a lower price.
What do you think? I really have no dog in this fight, I'm just a curious person.
posted on April 26, 2002 03:22:11 PM new
I agree with you that there is something very fishy about the relationship this buyer and seller have.
It sure sounds like a case of price fixing, bidding to me. Even if a buyer really like to do business with a seller, he still bids on other sellers items too.
Can you give us any clues to help us look at this seller/buyer deal? That would be very interesting and might help get to some other conclusion.
It should probably be turned into safe harbour to investigate.
posted on April 26, 2002 03:27:03 PM new
Right, and you should do it now before SafeHarbor closes down completely. Good luck and let us know what the result is.
posted on April 26, 2002 04:53:30 PM newEven if a buyer really like to do business with a seller, he still bids on other sellers items too.
Au contraire, Pierre.
I have bidders who have never purchased from anyone else. Of course, I also have bidders who do purchase from other people.
[i]I noticed that the current high bidder on the new auction was the same one that won
the previous auction. This seemed kind of strange to me; this item is not something that one buyer would ordinarily need two of. [/i]
The fake bidder's bid acts as a reserve, guaranteeing that the auction will go at least that high.