192 retractions and bidding strong
 

Mistake prone, I guess.

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d..._None_ViewLink

30-Day Summary
Total bids: 1033
Items bid on: 713
Bid activity (%) with this seller: 15% Help
Bid retractions: 7
Bid retractions (6 months): 192

It's just amazing to me that Ebay allows this, they truly don't give a s***. They just want to figure out how they can charge more money....

I just realized I can't tell when someone is cussing or giving an ebay ID anymore. :p

That many bid retractions isn't good for anyone. If they are shilling than it isn't good for the buyers. If they are not shilling than it isn't good for the sellers. So why would this be allowed by ebay?

That might be the most egregious bidding I have ever seen on ebay. It is the most bid retractions I have ever seen from one user id...

+++++

Agreed and I'll add that it should not be tolerated. Someone should report it to eBay.

Peter, please don't post my eBay ID on here without my ok in the future please.

How bad are you all going to feel if the bidder is Michael J. Fox?

Without even clicking on the link in the original post, why do I know for certain that it's a Probstein auction?

Because this site is vicious?:p

That was just wrong.

Is there a way to find out how many of the retractions are with probstein?

That one doesn't even make sense.

Well played, sir.

I felt it was my duty to out you. :D

Even with all the shilling in his auctions. His shilling partners are just beginners compared to this guy. http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d..._None_ViewLink

Holy fill-in-the-blank!

Awesomeness.


30-Day Summary
Total bids: 256
Items bid on: 94
Bid activity (%) with this seller: 100% Help
Bid retractions: 21
Bid retractions (6 months): 5278

or Rainman?

Holy mother of.....5,278 retractions in 6 months?????? :eek:

I must have had too much coffee that day . " SHAKY "

You're going to make Rick jealous!

That is the most ridiculous bidder history I have ever seen.

Trying to find shilling by looking at bid history is s slippery slope.

I know people with a very high bidding percentage with 1 seller because they trust that seller and think eBay is full of con artists(kind of is).

Also I have noticed a high % of the younger(under 30) crowd think shilling is ok because they say it is the same as using a reserve.

Then there are the people that use retractions on reserve auctions to find out the reserve. Retractions are also used to find out what the highest bidders actual bid is.

I personally think shilling and bid retractions are bad but some see them as extra tools ebay provides to increase profit.

Now lets be honest the #1 reason to use a consigner on ebay is to be able to shill your items. It is not only a problem with Rick Probstien who gets all the crap on this site but BigBoyd and PWCC are right up there with him as far as complaints about shilling on other forums.

JMHO and I have been wrong before.

Or to paraphrase your avatar:

Jim: "Look at my hand"
Bart: "Steady as a rock"
Jim: [raises his other hand, which is violently trembling] "Yeah, but I bid with this one."

Do you guys seriously think it's okay to make fun of Parkinson's disease?

I was actually making fun of a fictional alcoholic from Blazing Saddles. :D

Given that eBay doesn't care about shill bidding, I am still shocked that they don't just eliminate showing how many retractions a bidder has. I would think that change will come eventually.

Daryl, my grandfather died of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s great combo…and yes a little humor never hurt anyone lighten up.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/WM6fJyRomW8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I have two members of my family going through this right now. John, I'm one of your biggest fans, but there's a time and place for everything (Ecclesiastes 3, The Byrds).

Daryl, sorry to hear that. With that said folks can’t walk on eggshells on the odd chance it might offend someone everybody is effected by something. Humor is one of the most powerful ways to deal with things that are beyond ones control sometimes all you can do is laugh because there’s not much else that can be done.

I agree - no harm done.

Jack Buck joked about his Parkinson's quite a bit.

"I can't go to auctions anymore, I have a whole basement full of stuff"

We're only going to see more and more of this, as regular bidders use it as a bidding strategy to create the appearance of shilling.

I hate it, wish Ebay would do away with serial retractors or start giving warnings out when they reach a certain threshold at least...............like 3......in a year or so.

What sucks now, is I can't even block that guy with 5000 retractions (though it looks like he's a straight up shiller), because Ebay has blocked his ID from view.

So Ebay won't protect me from him (as a buyer OR a seller), and I can't protect myself from him either until he actually affects me.

:mad:

It will end when Ebay realizes they can charge for retracting a bid.
Maybe five cents for each retraction beyond the first 3 a month?

ARE YOU LISTENING EBAY?

I'll take a .05% royalty, thanks.

Steve B

John,

This is so true. One of my signposts is: "It is easy to find offense where none is intended." Unfortunately, it can be difficult to try to inject a little humor into a discussion without ruffling some feathers. How many people would have been offended if you had used Muhammad Ali, Stephen Hawking or Marty Feldman? I do not envy anyone who has a physical or mental disability. My wife fights severe anxiety every day. The only way to deal with it is to occasionally call some of her concerns silly.

You are also right there about humor. In any attempt at intellectual discourse humor becomes akin to cleansing the palette while eating a fine meal. The distraction allows you to refocus and it abates the intensity for a moment.

I once heard a radio host refer to Stephen Hawking on air as "a plate of vegetable lasagna." I for one was offended. 0_o

Jeff,

I would also be offended by that. That sounds like someone who stands erect merely to hold up the chip on their shoulder and speaks merely to convince themselves and others they are not brain dead. Not to make light of anyone recently in the news who was declared brain dead. The person who made that comment was just being cruel. If you watch 'Big Bang Theory' they poke fun at Hawking all of the time and he was even on the show. I would like to believe the intelligent members of the board are able to distinguish between the two. If you are not one of the intelligent members, I will use smaller words........... (Sorry, I do not like emoticons or IMbreviations)

I guess he must get a lot of thrills and when he shills... -_-

Ricky Y

"Comedy is not pretty"
-Steve Martin

He really couldn't make his mind up :)

Looks like a record price for a PSA 9 Gretzky rookie

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1979-O-Pee-C...vip=true&rt=nc

I have to give the underbidder credit, he was all in. He raised his bid 67% in a last ditch attempt to bring it home.

...and the underbidder -- whose bids with Probstein make up 96% of all his bids -- drove the price up $1800 by himself. Rick did tell me on the phone that he would never allow such a bidder to shill an auction so I'm sure this one is coming back.

LOL!

You noticed that too?

humor...
 

"a little humor never hurt anyone lighten up".

Wonka, I agree 100%...my father passed away from renal (kidney) failure, and while it was no laughing matter, I can still recall his appreciation for my "gallows humor" when I commented that "there was too much urine in his blood" when he was asked to piss into a plastic bottle for the docs...

apologies for the (implied) visual, but it helped to lighten the seriousness of the situation at the moment, and I wouldn't trade the memory of his smile at the time for anything...

I am tired of all this blantanly obvious shill bidding. Shill bidding is illegal in NJ, so I have sent an email to the NJ Consumer Affairs Department.
http://www.NJConsumerAffairs.gov
If Rick Probstein has nothing to hide, then this shouldn't bother him.
I encourage all members of this hobby who find examples of any shilling by any consignor, anywhere, to contact authorities in that state. The more people who contact them, the more likely authorities are to investigate.