Let the Shill Bidding Begin!

[vintagebrett]

I'm sure you all received this message from eBay regarding their new policy. I find it funny that they say that the policy they are using has cut down on phishing schemes for items over $200 because all of the auctions I have bid on over that amount in the last couple months, are the ones I get the junk emails from. It was nice to be able to see who was bidding on something so if it was someone I knew, I would likely stay away. So I apologize in advance if I outbid any of you guys.


Important new buyer identity protection


Keeping eBay your trusted source for great deals and truly unique finds is important to all of us. Toward this end, we're making an important change:

Soon we will no longer display the complete user IDs of people bidding on any auction-style listing. Instead, we'll use asterisks such as x***y to protect our members' identities. Sellers will continue to see complete user IDs on their listings and the winning bidder's ID will be visible to everyone after the auction ends.

We haven't provided this information on listings of $200 or higher for some time and it's been a very effective fraud deterrent for those items. For safety reasons, we're now expanding this protection to all auction-style listings.

We know many of you like to see who you're bidding against. But displaying this information makes it too easy for scammers to send out fake offers that include convincing details of your actual bidding activity on a specific listing, such as the item number, description and exact amount you bid.

In recent weeks fraudulent email offers targeting listings under $200 has surged unacceptably. To keep eBay a top shopping destination we must choose safety over visibility and nip this in the bud. We recognize for some of you this may be an unwelcome limitation but we hope you'll support our putting more muscle into fraud prevention.

If you have any questions please call Customer Service at 1-800-717-eBay (800-717-3229) or read our executive announcement.

Sincerely,

eBay Global Trust & Safety Team

[spedrunr]

i wonder how ebay plans to keep track of suspected shill bidders. i would think that the members would be the best in helping police the schill bidding. conspiracy theory says that ebay actually benefits from shill bidding (higher final value fees?)

[vintagebrett]

i highly doubt eBay has plans to keep track of shill bidders because they benefit like you said. instead of hiding names why not educate people on the phishing messages and how to spot them - if they don't show up in your mailbox in your eBay account, they aren't legit.

[spedrunr]

i remember suspecting that a glove seller was shill bidding a couple of years ago when he re-listed his glove immediately after the glove "sold". i decided to check his feedback and the "winners" feedback and that same person was bidding on the sellers other stuff and winning. they would leave feedback for each other for items like oxygen tanks, welding equipment etc.

that seller still sells on ebay to this day

brilliant

[cubsrno1]

Very nice glove, but there is some serious shill bidding on this auction!
Bidder 7***1 appears in all his other auctions.

http://cgi.ebay.com/RAWLINGS-Bill-Doak- ... dZViewItem

[spedrunr]

haha, it's not rocket science now that ebay's new policy shields the bidders

[hal barth]

How can anyone bid over $300 for this glove with only 2 sorry photos to show the condition and signature on this item? I usually have 6 photos even for a $10 piece of leather.

[vintagebrett]

Because it's a Doak 3 finger that is why. I would rate say these gloves are in the top 10 of most desirable gloves and you don't see them too often (but there are 2 up in one week, go figure). I wouldn't be surprised to see this eclipse $1000.