Art of Shill Bidding ?

[nbacardDOTnet]

Just want to share. I came across this auction during ebaying.





Of course, I can be wrong.



But looks really suspicious.



Why that over 10,000 feedback user bid like that?



eBay.com Item Bid History

[Zacky1053]

I don't think there's anything wrong with that. With eTopps cards, there's an unwritten price that the buyers want the card at. Nothing suspicious IMO...

[gizmo675675]

Whats wrong????

[ohiomike]

Only 1% of that buyers bids are with that seller. Doesn't seem likely he's a shill bidder to me.

[mwheeler27]

What I find strange about it too is that he was winning this card with his very first bid. Why then did he continue to bid within seconds of his previous bid 6 more times? I can see doing it a time or two, but not 6. Can anybody explain with good reason why he would have done this?

I don't think shill bidding is the reason either. I just have no clue why he'd do it unless he was panicking after each bid immediately thinking it wouldn't be enough.

[otmack2o]

Originally Posted by mwheeler27

What I find strange about it too is that he was winning this card with his very first bid. Why then did he continue to bid within seconds of his previous bid 6 more times? I can see doing it a time or two, but not 6. Can anybody explain with good reason why he would have done this?

I don't think shill bidding is the reason either. I just have no clue why he'd do it unless he was panicking after each bid immediately thinking it wouldn't be enough.

I can give you an explanation, but some people may not like it. However, I honestly believe this does happen...

A buyer on eBay who wants a card may bid in an erratic manner such as this in hopes of scaring away other potential buyers. There are a lot of people out there scared of "being shilled" so they will steer clear of an item with a "suspicious" bid history. In the end, the buyer with the odd bids can potentially pickup the card for a cheaper price.

[hockeyjunkie99]

Originally Posted by otmack2o

I can give you an explanation, but some people may not like it. However, I honestly believe this does happen...

A buyer on eBay who wants a card may bid in an erratic manner such as this in hopes of scaring away other potential buyers. There are a lot of people out there scared of "being shilled" so they will steer clear of an item with a "suspicious" bid history. In the end, the buyer with the odd bids can potentially pickup the card for a cheaper price.

I agree. I think some bidders "increase" their maximum bids to scare people off.

[JohnfromtheBay]

Originally Posted by otmack2o

I can give you an explanation, but some people may not like it. However, I honestly believe this does happen...

A buyer on eBay who wants a card may bid in an erratic manner such as this in hopes of scaring away other potential buyers. There are a lot of people out there scared of "being shilled" so they will steer clear of an item with a "suspicious" bid history. In the end, the buyer with the odd bids can potentially pickup the card for a cheaper price.

I agree also and i seen this tactic used to the extreme. I wanted to bid on a game worn cleats of Patrick Willis and when i looked at the bid history there was a buyer with around 18 or so consecutive bids to increase his maximum bid amount, which probably was used to scare others off. I still bid on the item and lost, so i guess the tactic worked

[Zacky1053]

I never really thought of that but that was a good point. It clearly didn't work for the bidder, but oh well.