auction snipers

[envoy98]

I don't shill. I don't need to. I list my items at a fair starting price and usually put a BIN at or close to what others have ended at. In fact, I probably sell close to 30% of my auctions in the first few hours of them being listed. If you take a look at the last 125 auctions I ran over the last few weeks, you will several cards that book well over $50 sell for my opening bid of 3.99-5.99 and I only charged $2 shipping and I took paypal and combined shipping. I lost money on most, if not all of those deals. But nobody else was willing to bid on the card at that price and I don't want or need it so I sell it for what someone is willing to pay. On very high dollar items or items that tend to ebb & flow a bit more in pricing, I will set a reserve or a very high opening bid instead, but that is the exception more than the rule. Shilling is cheating, it's against the law and it's against ebay policies. I've won cards from fellow dealers before, and guess what, I actually paid them. Sometimes I save on shipping because I pick them up at the next card show in town but I always expect to get the card if I won it.

[artofaggression]

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT and HAVE NOT shill bidded. My ebay feedback speaks otherwise (i.e. having your friends account won 75 different auctions) but I have decided to serve as a public defender for shill bidders:

Hey listen, shill bidding may be unethical, but its not illegal. I consider shill bidding a crafty way of avoiding ebays escalating listing fees. I dont want to have a card that books for $100 sell for just $8, but why in the hell should ebay profit off of me if I open the bidding at $24.99 instead of $.99? ebay is MORE unethical than I am being, so we're two peas in a pod. Shill bidding also assumes risk that you outbid the actual high bidders item and then your "friend" just won your item, where not only the listing fee, but the selling fee now becomes incurred. So shilling isnt all hunky dory, there are indeed inherent risks to be taken when having your item bid higher. But in the end its your item, you can do however you please with it.

I am just playing the devils advocate here, I could argue the other side as well, but being the prosecution is too cut and dry for me....

[tutall]

art... i really disagree... that is the same as going to a baseball game, paying for upper deck bleacher seats and sitting right behind the plate... if you arent willing to pay to list your item dont do it... and i believe according to the press release listed in the one post the shilling has been deemed illegal...

also to the guy who said no one would ever sell a card for a dollar if it booked 100... i have seen several cards worth much more than 100 sell for a few bucks.... there was a standard caramel card sell for 5 bucks plus 2 shipping and it booked 120... happens all the time... its called an Ebay Steal

[Greenbeans]

actually there have been people who have been arrested for this practice? dont believe me, read this....

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/200...040203_F.shtml

its considered wire fraud pal

[Greenbeans]

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y04/m03/i04/s01

this one is even better

[Greenbeans]

snipers, on the other hand, are totally fine with me, i dont use em, but i am stupid enough to stay up till 3 am to bid on something (LOL)

[S.A.M.]

I'm with tutall and greenbeans, shill bidding is more generally defined as FRAUD, which is widely known to be illegal.

[envoy98]

shilling is illegal, whether or not it gets reported or prosecuted is another story.

[arborwolf]

The dude in Greenbeans' second article is being prosecuted not just for the shill bidding, but for selling forged artwork. Granted, the shilling is illegal as well, but I doubt the penalties would be as severe if the artwork was genuine.

I must admit, however, I am just like Greenbeans ... 3 AM, 4 AM ... no matter! If it's something I want, I'll stay up all hours to acquire it. Who needs sleep?!

Speaking of which, anyone got any 2005 Earl Campbell FOTG #/78?
=P