posted on October 22, 2000 09:53:42 AM
One unexpected result of ebay's decision to show all bids (vs. top bid by each bidder) rudely woke me up this morning.
Bidding on one of my auctions was very healthy all week, with the high bid about double my reserve. The bid was $100 poorer the morning, the result of the high bidder retracting in the wee hours.
What really jerked my eyes open was the explanation she left: "The price on this auction is being deliberately raised," implying that a shill was involved.
When I looked at the bids (told you guys I don't look at 'em very often), I immediately saw why she was alarmed. One bidder, a zero FB newbie w/sunglasses, had bid no less than a dozen times. There were 3, 4, 5 bids in a row at times, all placed by this bidder within minutes of each other.
I pulled the contact information for the newbie and gave him a call. Any doubts I may have had about his motivations quickly evaporated; he was quite obviously a legitimate bidder. I emailed the retractor and told her she was mistaken, invited her to contact me if she still had doubts, and told her she was still welcome to bid if she so chose. Then I put an addendum on the listing to dispell any worries her retraction might have caused. (All of the foregoing actions were undertaken with the hopes of enticing the retractor to rejoin the contest.)
Anyway, the point of all this is two weeks ago this situation wouldn't have happened. The bid history page would have only shown the list of bidders and the time of their last (real or proxy) bid.
Something to consider when you're scanning your current auctions. Those of you who are proactive may want to review the bid history for patterns that may appear suspicious to others.
posted on October 22, 2000 10:08:49 AM
I agree with you. While it is an interesting function that allows a bit more insight to the bidding habits, I think it has a negative effect on auction outcomes.
I'd like to throw out a question to those who are mainly buyers (i'm mostly a seller):
posted on October 22, 2000 10:21:41 AM
I have been buying for over 3 years on ebay and never look at the bid history on an item unless that little alarm goes off in my head and I want to check out a particular bidder - but that may have only happened once or twice in the past.
I agree in Fountainhouse's case the retracting bidder may have gotten an uneasy feeling and did a little checking only to be 'alarmed' by this 0 bidder's activity on that particular item. She might have thought the 0 bidder was playing cat and mouse with her.
So in that case...it makes a good argument for NOT having the detailed bid history viewable during the auction. Some bidders are paranoid enough without having another avenue/feature to feed their paranoia.
posted on October 22, 2000 10:24:44 AM
Since eBay changed the bid history, I've seen several of my bidders place repeated bids within a few minutes of each other- apparently an attempt to overcome another bidder's proxy bid. Nothing to do with shilling, but I can see where it might be of concern to an uninformed bidder.
posted on October 22, 2000 10:29:14 AM
Well since these are auctions I would hope the price on my item are being deliberately raised.
wouldnt this mean its a running auction ????
and that its getting bids
There is a class of auction buyers out there right now that are some how just not right or with it.
they think they know what it cost to ship they think they know what it cost to run a auction they think they know what a starting bid should be and they are claiming loss of profit due to these cost is all just the cost of doing business.
now there are bid retraction because items get more then one or two bid well to these people I not only say get real I say learn before you bid before sellers get so fed up the bronx cheer they give make a sound louder then you might hear if the world imploded
if you dont want to pay the Price Dont bid.
And remember once you bid and win an auction the Item is yours you are responcable for paying all cost of getting this Item actually shipped to you and you will only get the shipping quality you are willing to pay for.
and like I would tell my own teen age childeren in these cases of knowing everything for god sakes please do become an auction seller while you still know everything there is to know about it and running it and makeing money from it
posted on October 22, 2000 06:20:11 PM
As a buyer, I don't like being able to see how many times every individual is bidding. I watched an auction the other day that I was interested in bidding on, however, everyone that was bidding was new to Ebay and they just kept bidding on the item every time someone else outbid them. They raised the price so high on this item, I didn't bid on it. I'm sure the seller was happy, but the item wasn't worth it. They would also go in and outbid themselves in fear of being outbid by someone else, bringing the minimum bid up every time. They should have just put their maximum bid in and be done with it. If someone outbid their maximum, then go in and bid again if they want it that bad. But this bidding every few minutes or hours by the same people, it's ridiculous!
