Why ebay scares me

[keeneye]

I was reading this article about people who place fake bids to make the price of the auctions sell for more than they are worth. Is this a common thing and is there a way to tell if people are doing this? It seems like it would be a very easy thing to do.

[moneyrant]

More widespread than ebay will ever tell <A HREF="http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBZY5BK91E.html">LINK</A>

[terry1156]

Yes, I think that this type of manipulation does occur much more than Ebay admits. it would be very simple to do since multiple Ebay accounts can be made very easily. I think that is why it is important to have a maximum price set in your mind when you bid and not get drawn into a bidding war in the heat of the auction.

[vendigirl]

This actually used to be an allowable practice. The concept was that if an auction was not making the money it "should" the seller could "buy" it back. Good for the seller, no loss on the auction- good for Ebay- they got their cut from the sale plus the listing fees. It is no longer allowed and if a seller is suspected to be running up the price artificially they can be kicked off of Ebay.
As the P.P. said, it is vital that a bidder know in advance what the item is worth and only bid accordingly. Personally, I like auction snipers. I decide the amount I would pay for an item, program it into the auction sniper and forget about it until I get an email stating that I have won the auction- or not.

[glomax56]

I have been buying and selling on EBay for about a year and a half now and while I think this practice does go on some, I also believe there are still alot of honest sellers out there. When you bid on an item, you just have to have a price in mind that is the top price you will pay for that item. If the bids go above that, wait for another auction of the same item. EBay is alot like garage-saling. If you watch it regularly, you can get some unbelievable deals. It's worth the time!

[keeneye]

Originally Posted by vendigirl

I decide the amount I would pay for an item, program it into the auction sniper and forget about it until I get an email stating that I have won the auction- or not.

Are auction sniper programs free or do they charge a fee to use them?

[vendigirl]

Most sniper programs offer a certain number of uses for free and then charge thereafter. There are a few of them out there so I've never paid to use them, but I'm not a huge Ebay buyer anymore.

[2moretrees]

I have bid on auctions that seem suspicious to me. Especially when I see a person bidding multiple times with just a little bit until it reaches right under my price and then stops. It's very frustrating. You really do need to have a price set in your mind and keep it to avoid things like this.

[keeneye]

Originally Posted by vendigirl

Most sniper programs offer a certain number of uses for free and then charge thereafter. There are a few of them out there so I've never paid to use them, but I'm not a huge Ebay buyer anymore.

Thank you. Are they all basically the same or are there differences that I should be aware of with them? Have you had any problems where they haven't gotten your bid in on time?

[vendigirl]

I've never had trouble with the ones I've used. Some snipers bid closer to the closing time than other, but those are the ones that offer fewer free uses. Good luck.

[keeneye]

Thanks again. I signed up with one that offers a number of free tries and I will see how it works.