How is shill bidding policed on ebid?

[canuckbid]

Lately there has been a rash of corruption found on alot of auction sites where "shill" bidding has been taken place. How does ebid police the site? Lots of members are friends or have social groups.

How do you know that items are not being artificially bid up by friends bidding on each others items to draw in other potential buyers? A big domain auction site has admitted recently that one of their controllers has been doing it for over 5 years.

The lawsuits are going to be worth millions. Having a buy now price on your items is a good idea I think. The groups of people working together to make sales are going to ruin these auction sites I think. Its just too easy for corruption to take place.

Since joining Am*zon my sales have been way better over there. It is strictly buy now and no auctions. I think people trust sites without auctions more. My own opinion of course.

How can you be sure that shill bidding is not taking place here? Or is it impossible? Probally not a topic that some people like, but it needs to be addressed.

[raindropsies]

IMHO I would say that "shill" bidding is not very probable on here.

2 reasons behind this.
a) Not many bidding wars (outside ydc)
b) People know who is who on eBid and who their family & friends are.

[MagnetsAndHangers]

IMHO I would say that "shill" bidding is not very probable on here.

2 reasons behind this.
a) Not many bidding wars (outside ydc)
b) People know who is who on eBid and who their family & friends are.

They do?

I recognise about 50 sellers names from the forum - and that is it!

[papagran40]

I agree that we do not have the bidding wars here...but I also agree with magnets....I know some names....but I have no idea if they are friends , related , or what...so in truth , it could happen....but the FACT that the bidders name is shown...must help to avoid this type of thing......papa.

[FairMaiden]

Shill bidding on Ebid. Sorry but this made me giggle

I think its highly unlikely to happen here because for one, everytime an item gets more than a one bid someone posts in the KT to say they have a bidding war going on

[papagran40]

yes Fair , 1 bid is good...2 would start a , spate , land slide , cause millions of views......well members would not believe it so they would have to look ?....papa.

[canuckbid]

Yah right. I forgot there is no bidding wars here. Only the YDC. lol I still think its a problem that is hard to trace. I'm sure the other big sites are full of it. One buyer could have 3 computers at home and 3 different ID's with 3 different IP address. They could do it on their own without partners. It is a fact as there is some lawsuits happening right now over it. I was wondering how ebid can police for it? I think it's impossible in some cases. Just another form of crime syndicate.

[sidthelamp]

its is a problem that catches the "new to bidding on the internet" but as long as you stick to your max price then you can only be shilled up to what your willing to pay for a item

[mainlypostcards]

IMHO I would say that "shill" bidding is not very probable on here.

2 reasons behind this.
a) Not many bidding wars (outside ydc)
b) People know who is who on eBid and who their family & friends are.

I don't agree with your 2nd point Sarah.
My brother in law is a member of Ebid, but he has never set a foot on the forums and more likely then not I am the only person here who knows who he is or who can link that username to me.

[PoppyGrove]

To the best of my knowledge as eBid don't allow multiple id's for people living at the same address then that type of shill bidding would not be happening. As in if my hubby wanted his own eBid membership instead of a joint membership as we currently have, then I or he would need to apply to eBid management to request permission for his id. There are a couple of members here where relatives / hubby's partners etc have their own memberships - but from the understanding that I have, those second id accounts are set up with stricter rules than what would apply to the single household id. If that makes sense.

As others have said - eBid is a smaller site and doesn't have the bidding wars the same as happen on other sites - the only time really is when someone makes an announcement on the forums that they have placed a bid on an item so their friend will bid against them just for the fun of it - out of devilment - and usually the seller isn't a visitor of the forums anyway so I'd guess they're happier at the outcome.

And then as you mention - there's the YDC - when all is fair in bidding and listing - with the charities as the winners and each person placing a bid knows one of their friends will deliberately outbid just for fun.