Recently (like maybe yesterday) eBay announced they were cracking down
on shill bidding. This is where the seller's friends and relatives make
bids to jack up the price on a hot buyer.

I have noticed this happens in the eBay tool auctions quite a bit, and I
have been stung by this practice more than once.

Let's say you see something really nice that you actually need. The
practical worth of the item is $50.00 (just for the sake of example),
and it has been sitting there with a $1.00 start and no bids for a few
days. So you think, "What the heck," and you put in a $75.00 dollar bid,
believing it can never go that high.

Wham. The minute you bid, an identity with no stars or numbers next to
his handle bids you straight up to your maximum, in increments, and then
disappears.

Or, to make matters worse, somebody running an "eBay Sniper" program
whacks you out at the last minute with fifty cents.

I have been to enough auctions (actual and virtual) to be able to
distinguish a legitimate bidder from a shill bidder (they exist in both
venues). Everybody goes to auctions believing they are going to steal
something, not realizing the opposite is the case. By the time something
reaches auction, appraisals have already been done and assessments have
already been made. It is ridiculous to think you are going to get a
bargain. The auction gives you a shot at immediate possession...nothing
more, nothing less.

I collect Asian antiquities of a particular sort, and I used to go over
to London, to Christies and a few other well known auction houses like
Sothebys. These used to be very civilized affairs, with catalogues
published well in advance, and you pretty knew every other legitimate
collector or museum you were bidding against. That particular field of
collecting is rather specialized and small. But, ultimately, things just
didn't feel right. I started seeing the same people at all the auctions,
yet I knew they weren't collectors. I also knew they didn't have the
resources to call some of the prices. More to the point, they didn't
know much about what the were bidding on. So I started going elsewhere.
Well, come to find out, they were all charged with bid rigging and price
fixing...a sort of industry-wide scandal that spoke volumes about
exploitation.

Any electronic auction venue that can be "beat" with an after-market
"sniper service," which predicates its success rate on eBay's server
hang time of six seconds (the difference between when eBay says an
auction closes and when eBay's server actually closes) is an inherently
unfair venue.

Speaking personally, I would rather have the opportunity to purchase old
tools from people who actually care about old tools, know about old
tools, use old tools, and believe in honest business practices.

Just my two rupees. I lost my cents (sense) years ago.

"The world around you is a reflection of your reaction to the world
around you."

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