Ebay Question For Those In The Know! ! ! ! !

[BIGKAHUNA]

I got an ebay question for those in the know......whenever I run across a bike that is over priced......seems most of the bidding is with users with the shades beside their user name. Could it be because the seller is eiter bidding on the item his self to drive the price up or having his friends do this? I posed an ebay question similar to this a while back and yall told me that havin your friends bid to get the price close is common. What yall think?

I dont think the "shades" have anything to do with it....i think thats just what they use for a New Person.....but i have heard alot of peoples friends bidding on stuff (what is called shell bidding) and if caught, they get suspended for 30 days i believe....if you suspect it, report it i guess!!!

[inland_atv]

Anytime you change your user id, or when you first sign up, you get the shades next to your user ID for 30 days. There is no negative aspect, it just means a new user ID. Sometimes hot items will cause alot of people to register and bid for the first time. Some of them could be friends of the seller(shill bidding), but I think that would be hard to prove. Personally, I don't really care if people use shills, as long as no one gets screwed. Although it would be more "legal" to sell with a reserve.
Mike

[ATCnut]

I understand that the seller has to pay the commision on the final price. So if a seller has friends bid up the price, and they win, the seller has to pay ebay even if they do not actually sell the item.

[BIGKAHUNA]

What if they set the reserve high and use their friends to get the bidding close to the reserve? Playin on the competitive spirit kinda. I see bikes on ebay come and go and the bidding for the decent ones that are priced right is reasonable. The over priced ones with high reserve prices it seems that the bidding goes up to the reserve fast and then goes stagnant for days.

[Full-Bore-2003]

Tecate is not a common bike. It's the same people wanting to buy parts.