Debate : 445


Off-Topic / Debate / 445

Re: CFD: e-bay (aka ranting and raving) —Christopher L. Weeks

(...) I have a question about this. Is using a shill illegal, or just evil? (26 years ago, 10-Feb-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

shills on eBay —Adam Yulish

(...) I think it depends on the auction format and location, but for the most part I believe it falls into the "just evil" category. For those of you that didn't know, if you run an eBay auction without a reserve price, you *are* allowed to bid on (...) (26 years ago, 10-Feb-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Re: shills on eBay —Todd Lehman

(...) I guess the question there (eBay) is -- if you bid on your own thing on eBay, does it show up as a bid from you, the seller? A seller bidding on his/her own item at eBay shouldn't be evil (still dumb, maybe, but not evil) -- *if* it's clear to (...) (26 years ago, 11-Feb-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Re: shills on eBay —Adam Yulish

<snip> (...) Honestly, I don't know, but I can't imagine it would be any other way. (...) <laughing> To me, that's the seller equivalent of the same problem I have with griping about being outbid at the last minute. Unless some really unusual (...) (26 years ago, 11-Feb-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Re: shills on eBay —Christopher Good

(...) Yes it does. I was researching a seller's previous items sold and noticed once that the seller was also the high bidder on an item. I questioned the seller and his reply was that a friend without Internet access wanted the item so he placed (...) (26 years ago, 11-Feb-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Re: shills on eBay —James Brown

(...) Don't jump to conclusions... I would be inclined to give the seller the benefit of the doubt. As a case in point, easily 1/3 of the items I bid on in Auczilla VIII were for 'off-line' friends, and that jumped to about 1/2 of my bids for (...) (26 years ago, 11-Feb-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Re: shills on eBay —Todd Lehman

(...) How is that a case in point? You didn't sell anything in AucZILLA VIII -- I did. (And I've never shilled, and never will.) --Todd (...) (26 years ago, 11-Feb-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Re: shills on eBay —James Brown

(...) benefit (...) The point I was illustrating (not clear enough, sorry) was not to assume the guy was lying about his off-line friend. James (URL) (26 years ago, 11-Feb-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Re: shills on eBay —Todd Lehman

(...) OK cool, that's what I thought you probably meant. It certainly was clear for anyone who's been around for a while. I just wanted to point out in no uncertain terms for the record (since there are always new people coming online and getting up (...) (26 years ago, 11-Feb-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Re: shills on eBay —Larry Pieniazek

I am not sure I'd call it a "shill" but I think it's reasonable, if you decide to run a joint RTL/eBay auction, to set up another id, post feedback stating that it is a proxy for the high RTL bidder and that you'll tell who if emailed (tough to do (...) (26 years ago, 15-Feb-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Re: shills on eBay —Mike Stanley

(...) I think that's a good idea. (26 years ago, 15-Feb-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Re: shills on eBay —Barry McFarland

(...) I think it is a fair idea (meaning that the process is a fair one). I don't believe that this is consistent with eBay's terms of use. Each ID must be a real person (not quoting the exact language of course). In fact eBay policy is changing on (...) (26 years ago, 21-Feb-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Re: shills on eBay —Mike Stanley

(...) I personally wouldn't care if it were consistent with the terms of use. In fact, I e-mailed people like this long before I ever created an active eBay user account, just because people used their e-mail addresses as their user-ids. Now that I (...) (26 years ago, 21-Feb-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Re: shills on eBay —Mike Stanley

(...) If he was the high bidder what difference does it make? It was his set, and he was the high bidder. He still had to pay the eBay fee, I bet, so if he did sell it to his offline friend things worked the same as if he had sold it to the second (...) (26 years ago, 11-Feb-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Re: shills on eBay —Steve Bliss

(...) Because adding bids increases demand for the item. So any bidding activity from the seller is suspect. It's a matter of trust. I have a friend who sells at craft fairs. She reports that the thing that increases her sales volume is to have (...) (26 years ago, 11-Feb-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Crowds & garage sales —Todd Lehman

In lugnet.off-topic.debate, blisses@worldnet.att.net (Steve Bliss) writes: [...] (...) [...] I've noticed that sort of thing too! Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd. :) Last summer, the nextdoor neighbors had a garage sale and asked us if we had (...) (26 years ago, 11-Feb-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Re: shills on eBay —Mike Stanley

(...) I would never shill. I did put a reserve price on the auction, though. Maybe one that is too high, given the slow bidding, but then again most eBay bidding takes place in the last few hours/minutes. I used to hate reserve prices, and I still (...) (26 years ago, 11-Feb-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

reserve prices on eBay —Adam Yulish

<snip> (...) That is precisely the kind of situation for which a reserve price is meant. I'm usually not a fan of reserve prices either, but they are indeed a good alternative to high minimum starting bids, as you pointed out. <snipped him pointing (...) (26 years ago, 11-Feb-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)