Possible shell bidding

[perlman9]

Don't want to make assumptions, but for those who have noticed the Giants game worn helmets on eBay, if you look at every helmet sold and selling, there is a bidder with 0 feedback that has bid up every helmet. Don't want so assume the worst but seems odd for sure they they have never one one helmet or any item on eBay but bid on every helmet and even the Chiefs jersey.

[Phil316]

Can you post a link.

It is called shill bidding not shell bidding. Either way would be interesting to see.

[perlman9]

Here are the sold items if you look at any of their bid history there is Member Id: z***g( 0 ) that has bids on all the items. May just be coincidence but just seems odd to me.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Game-Used-Me...d=1&_ssn=cap91

And just for the record I did bid on both Plaxico helmets and lost, so wanted to be upfront about my bidding with this seller although both helmets were lost to someone other than the bidder in question. Just curious if helmets would have gone for same amount otherwise.

[helmets]

Yes, I noticed the same thing prior to bidding. In the past 30 days, that bidder has placed well over 150 bids, 97% (according to eBay) of the bids placed with that seller. Each bid is in $5 increments. Zero feedback and that many bids.

It also appears that there are some other user names that are also placing shill bids with this seller.

I have bought three helmets over the past months with this seller, and wanted the Tuck today, but after seeing over 50 bids on the Shockey with 10 mins left, I did some investigating and found the same thing that Jason posted. Turned me off so I didn't bid.

Probably some funny business on the three I bought but didn't notice at the time.

[onlyalbert]

This happens all the time and ebay does nothing about it. I've been buying some baby clothes and formula and notice tons of shill bidding even on these. I think the fees are lower if they start the auctions at $.99 then you see 50 bids in the first 5 minutes of the auction usually going at $1-5 increments until it is run up high enough for them. Sometimes they even bid later then when they win it, they just relist it and do the same thing. I've reported a few to ebay but can you imagine the millions of auctions each day it occurs in? I mean, really, baby formula is a hot item??!!

[both-teams-played-hard]

Just curious. It seems the prices for these GIANTS helmets are very reasonable, if not great deals. How does the seller benefit with shill bids?

[Phil316]

I am not really convinced it is shill bidding as the bidder was also bidding on a few other items from other sellers. Who knows though. Report it to ebay and see if anything happens. I would call them direct though and make the complaint. The online thing is useless.

[onlyalbert]

Just curious. It seems the prices for these GIANTS helmets are very reasonable, if not great deals. How does the seller benefit with shill bids?

If the seller starts an item at $.99 and only gets a few bids a couple hundred dollar item could sell for $3. The fees are higher if you start an item with a higher price and more fees to put in a reserve I believe. I could be wrong.

[icollectDCsports]

This happens all the time and ebay does nothing about it. I've been buying some baby clothes and formula and notice tons of shill bidding even on these. I think the fees are lower if they start the auctions at $.99 then you see 50 bids in the first 5 minutes of the auction usually going at $1-5 increments until it is run up high enough for them. Sometimes they even bid later then when they win it, they just relist it and do the same thing. I've reported a few to ebay but can you imagine the millions of auctions each day it occurs in? I mean, really, baby formula is a hot item??!!

I've read that you have to be very careful buying baby formula on sites like eBay because, unless you have total confidence in the seller, you run the real risk that it hasn't been stored properly, and could be spoiled. Baby formula is one of the items most frequently stolen from retail stores (either from the shelves or warehouses) for resale by crooks. The thieves don't take care to store it properly, and sometimes are actually able to change "sell by" dates.

[perlman9]

I really was just more curious of what others thought, how common, etc. It seems the bids are more to maybe avoid the fees other talked about since they seem to stop bidding but also these helmets seem to get a ton of action last second so maybe more of a safety net to not have to pay reserve fees as well. As I said, I was outbid but some last minute buyers so didn't lose to shill bidder, but just was researching to see if the same person won both Plaxico helmets (hoping he may want to flip one) and saw that bidder ID and then noticed it on every item. Just something I saw and thought I would share more than feel the need to try and stop. As was pointed out below, helmets still went for a very fair price