In article ,
Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:


On Sat, 20 Nov 2004 03:47:27 GMT, "Calif Bill"
wrote:


"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
. ..
On Fri, 19 Nov 2004 15:39:50 GMT, "QL" wrote:

I recently bid on three different four wheelers on Ebay. Each time I was
outbid in the last few seconds and then received a "2nd chance offer"
from
each of these sellers which can only make me think that the seller was
bidding against me as long as I would continue to bid and then contacting
me
as though the winning bidder had reneged. Hell!, I bought a new 2005
Rancher for only $500 more than a used 2004. Boats can still be bought
at
a good price on Ebay but buyer beware.

I know for a fact that this is a standard practice on eBay and can
introduce you to several folks who practice this on a regular basis.
I know a "purchaser" who has one of those quadruple bizzillion highest
quality buyer rating who hasn't bought anything from or on eBay in
three or four years.

Consider this. I bid on some red Cajun line, 8 lb test and I put a
price on it equal to what I can buy it from Bass Pro Shops plus
shipping and handling. The same person over bid against me raising
the price to a ridiculous level, won the "auction" and I get an email
from the seller saying he's willing to knock off a couple of bucks off
the highest bid - did I want the line? At twice the price (when
shipping/handling was included) of Bass Pro Shops.

Yeah right.

eBay was great for a while, but if you want to buy something, get it
on sale at a retailers web site or just go to a store - eBay sucks.

I heard on the radio EBAY has just clamped down on some big dealers that
were doing exactly that.

They are trying, but the problem is pandemic. All you need to do is
have a couple of your friends bid on things you put up.

The reason eBay is just now getting around to clamping down is that
it's hurting the bottom line - the overall amount of bidding has
slowed and thus, revenue has dropped.

Later,

Tom

Yep.

This is basically impossible to stop.

The other problem eBAY is having that has reached pandemic proportions is
deadbeats. Bidders who have no intention of paying, and never do pay.

eBAY makes you jump through hoops when this happens (and it happens a LOT)
to get your "final value fee" back, and if you screw up, you get screwed
(literally) out of the FVF. Even if you DON'T screw up they get your money
for close to a month - and the float on it - before they refund it.

That's a hell of a racket.

Bid rigging works to eBAY's ADVANTAGE if people actually buy on the second
chance offers, as their FVF collections are HIGHER - in some cases DOUBLE
or more what they would otherwise get.

They have zero economic incentive to actually stop it so long as people keep
using eBAY.

--
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