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Bass for sale... I thought I knew my eBay


warwickhunt
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I followed a bass on eBay with interest last week as it is a Warwick and it's also fairly local to me.

It didn't meet his reserve (only bid up to £620) so I contacted him to find out if it was a million miles away; he wanted £850. Fair price but not my cup of tea at that price.

It got relisted and lo-and-behold bid straight up to £800.

[url="http://offer.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=200117905169"]http://offer.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?V...em=200117905169[/url]

I clicked to view the bids and can not get my head around how it is showing £800!

eBay works whereby it only shows the next step up from the previous high bid, by my reckoning it should be showing a max of £10. It's almost immaterial that I think the guy is shill bidding as the high bidder has an 84% bidding history with the seller!

My query is really about how is the price being displayed as £800 when the guy who is the highest bidder is bidding against himself... that shouldn't happen, should it?

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[quote name='warwickhunt' post='15112' date='Jun 10 2007, 03:28 PM']I followed a bass on eBay with interest last week as it is a Warwick and it's also fairly local to me.

It didn't meet his reserve (only bid up to £620) so I contacted him to find out if it was a million miles away; he wanted £850. Fair price but not my cup of tea at that price.

It got relisted and lo-and-behold bid straight up to £800.

[url="http://offer.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=200117905169"]http://offer.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?V...em=200117905169[/url]

I clicked to view the bids and can not get my head around how it is showing £800!

eBay works whereby it only shows the next step up from the previous high bid, by my reckoning it should be showing a max of £10. It's almost immaterial that I think the guy is shill bidding as the high bidder has an 84% bidding history with the seller!

My query is really about how is the price being displayed as £800 when the guy who is the highest bidder is bidding against himself... that shouldn't happen, should it?[/quote] That so typical of EBay--they dont care as they will get sale fees in due course or at least a fee if it fails to sell--ive tracked a few things lately and despite a low starting bid and low interest all of a sudden the price rises close to sale date due to bidders with history suddenly appearing--if the associated bidder doesnt flush out a genuine buyer then its back up a few weeks later.This getting a mate to bid up price is happening all the time--its impossible to really find abargain anymore.

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Ok it works like this........


bass goes on sale for 99p with £800 reserve..... biders 1,2+3 put small bids on say around £250

Bidder 4 actually loves it and on day 2 bids his max (as it says you SHOULD do) that he wants to pay which £810


eBay automaticaly takes his bid to the reserve @ £800 and NOT the next bid say £260 as its called validated bid (or something like that).


Thats how it ends up where it is now!

PS seems like a lot to me but I now squat about Warwick values!

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I think some are being a bit harsh here.

I've seen this pattern plenty of times, and I've seen little evidence that it's shill bidding - it's far too blatant for that.

Bidder 2 is clearly very inexperienced (look at his rating). He's put in three bids to reach £5.50 to beat Bidder 1's £5.00. He's now Highest Bidder but also Reserve Not Met. So he puts in five more bids with £10 increments to reach £50.

He's still Highest Bidder (of course) but also still Reserve Not Met. He knows it's worth way more than £50, and he's getting a bit carried away, so he chucks in a couple more bids to reach £200. Still no joy.

Then he goes to lunch (look at the times). I'm thinking, maybe a certain amount of ardent spirits were involved, or possibly quite a lot of brewery-related products. Anyhoo ...

He comes back two hours later, and he logs on again, and this time he goes for it. You can almost see him sitting there, gritting his teeth as he bids again and again in £100 increments until finally he reaches nirvana at £800.

He's now Highest Bidder and the Reserve is gone. The bass will be his ... erm ... assuming he's actually got the £800. Oh sh*t. Suddenly, it all goes quiet.

You'll see this bass re-listed in a couple of weeks. Not because it's some sort of con by the seller, but because a dodgy buyer has screwed up.

Any takers?

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[quote name='Happy Jack' post='15284' date='Jun 10 2007, 09:54 PM']I think some are being a bit harsh here.

I've seen this pattern plenty of times, and I've seen little evidence that it's shill bidding - it's far too blatant for that.

Bidder 2 is clearly very inexperienced (look at his rating). He's put in three bids to reach £5.50 to beat Bidder 1's £5.00. He's now Highest Bidder but also Reserve Not Met. So he puts in five more bids with £10 increments to reach £50.

He's still Highest Bidder (of course) but also still Reserve Not Met. He knows it's worth way more than £50, and he's getting a bit carried away, so he chucks in a couple more bids to reach £200. Still no joy.

Then he goes to lunch (look at the times). I'm thinking, maybe a certain amount of ardent spirits were involved, or possibly quite a lot of brewery-related products. Anyhoo ...

He comes back two hours later, and he logs on again, and this time he goes for it. You can almost see him sitting there, gritting his teeth as he bids again and again in £100 increments until finally he reaches nirvana at £800.

He's now Highest Bidder and the Reserve is gone. The bass will be his ... erm ... assuming he's actually got the £800. Oh sh*t. Suddenly, it all goes quiet.

You'll see this bass re-listed in a couple of weeks. Not because it's some sort of con by the seller, but because a dodgy buyer has screwed up.

Any takers?[/quote]


Bidder two is only inexperienced (rating) because the ID is only used for shill bidding. All the bids are to make it look very popular and desirable.

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The only things I've bid for recently on EBay are Fenn traps and a Gibson style pickup switch! I decided at an early age that I would stay away from gambling or become an addict and loser - and luckily I managed to stay away. I have to say I have much the same attitude to EBay. It seems to be full of people operating various scams, especially on the more expensive items like basses. I'm not smart enough to join in!

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I paid £900 for the same bass used, and it was worth every penny! If I had £800 spare I'd snap it up and use it in conjunction with my current SSII. They really are brilliant basses, if you do decide to bite the bullet and go for it, it will be worth it mate.

PS - I'm not the seller just in case you're wondering :)

Danny

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[quote name='paul, the' post='15298' date='Jun 10 2007, 10:09 PM']Bidder two is only inexperienced (rating) because the ID is only used for shill bidding. All the bids are to make it look very popular and desirable.[/quote]

How can you tell that from the information available? All we know about Bidder 2 is that he (or she, of course) has completed between 10 and 49 transactions, having signed up to eBay sometime between June'05 and June'06.

Worst-case scenario: He has bought 10 cheap CDs so as to get some feedback rating.
Alternative scenario: He has bought 25 vintage Fender Ps and Js, and sold 24 of them.

We just don't know, do we?

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Tis a difficult one to judge, if that was me i would probably be putting my bid on in
the last 15mins or so to test what reaction i would get from other bidders before i
would start doing that. But we all have our tried & tested formulas of winning auctions.
I know i wouldn't be reaching for the reserve price so early on in the auction though
even if i really wanted to win it.

But like others have said it could be a friend of his pushing the bidding along
to get it upto market value which is what it is nearly at now.

Tough call really !!

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[quote name='Happy Jack' post='15416' date='Jun 11 2007, 08:26 AM']How can you tell that from the information available? All we know about Bidder 2 is that he (or she, of course) has completed between 10 and 49 transactions, having signed up to eBay sometime between June'05 and June'06.
Worst-case scenario: He has bought 10 cheap CDs so as to get some feedback rating.
Alternative scenario: He has bought 25 vintage Fender Ps and Js, and sold 24 of them.

We just don't know, do we?[/quote]

Of course I can't be certain, maybe I'm just being cynical. Although I'm quite sure of myself in this situation.

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[quote name='The Burpster' post='15235' date='Jun 10 2007, 08:01 PM']Ok it works like this........
bass goes on sale for 99p with £800 reserve..... biders 1,2+3 put small bids on say around £250

Bidder 4 actually loves it and on day 2 bids his max (as it says you SHOULD do) that he wants to pay which £810
eBay automaticaly takes his bid to the reserve @ £800 and NOT the next bid say £260 as its called validated bid (or something like that).
Thats how it ends up where it is now!

PS seems like a lot to me but I now squat about Warwick values![/quote]


When I've wanted to increase my max bid (when I can't be near a pc at the end of the auction), the actual bid doesn't increase until someone else bids - have you any info about this validated bid malarky?
I'd have expected it to sit at £5.50 until someone else put in a higher and pushed up the price.
I've never seen someone (like bidder 2) be able to outbid themselves - increase their max bid but not force the actual price up.

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[quote name='ZPQ' post='15757' date='Jun 11 2007, 05:20 PM']When I've wanted to increase my max bid (when I can't be near a pc at the end of the auction), the actual bid doesn't increase until someone else bids - have you any info about this validated bid malarky?
I'd have expected it to sit at £5.50 until someone else put in a higher and pushed up the price.
I've never seen someone (like bidder 2) be able to outbid themselves - increase their max bid but not force the actual price up.[/quote]

Oh yea. :) - I'm confused then, I don't have much experience with private bidding so I'm too ignorant to debate.


Was there a reserve that he took off after bidding?

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Did the bass have a reserve? This is why I originally asked if anyone had any experience of how a bidder could bid himself up!

I've watched enough eBay sales to think that this one is fishy. As has been pointed out it could be an inexperienced eBayer or someone bidding post drinky-poos. At the end of the day if it is shill bidding and that's the way that the seller wants to market his bass then that's up to him.

Though £800 isn't an unreasonable amount, I won't be taking the bidding up higher.

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[quote name='warwickhunt' post='15781' date='Jun 11 2007, 06:01 PM']Did the bass have a reserve? This is why I originally asked if anyone had any experience of how a bidder could bid himself up!

I've watched enough eBay sales to think that this one is fishy. As has been pointed out it could be an inexperienced eBayer or someone bidding post drinky-poos. At the end of the day if it is shill bidding and that's the way that the seller wants to market his bass then that's up to him.

Though £800 isn't an unreasonable amount, I won't be taking the bidding up higher.[/quote]

If it had a reserve it would say 'reserve met'. Perhaps he took it off after bids were placed - although I'm not sure you can do this. - But I suspect this is what he's done. That way you can reach a price of £800 with only one bidder when the reserve may have been about £810

[quote name='paul, the' post='15134' date='Jun 10 2007, 04:34 PM']That's a beaut' of a bass from a 'wat of a seller.

He's not good enough for your money.

I've seen a few of those basses, another will come up soon.[/quote]


And I stick by it.

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