ebay seller MILBRAVES44

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Posted By: Judge Dred (Fred)

Does anyone know the seller MILBRAVES44 on ebay? This seller has a lot of interesting 19th century material for sale on ebay. Can anyone provide a good reference for this seller?

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Posted By: identify7

I've been wondering that too.

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Posted By: Bryan Long

Been watching the items, but never heard of the guy before.

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Posted By: Keith O'Leary

seems legit but ya never know.

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Posted By: Kevin Cummings

In my mind he seems a little less legit than he did a day or so ago. Looks like some shill bidding going on.

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Posted By: Mike McGrail

... there is some serious shill action happening with his auctions. Listing indicates a certain Kevin Kauffman. Anyone know him?

The shiller janicea8161 (joined eBay on 8 March 2006!) has placed 63 bids recently. All on MILBRAVES44 auctions.

Proceed with caution

Ciao for now,

Mike

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Posted By: John S

I have been watching the auctions as well. I was hoping that the individual was a forum member. A great selection of 19th century but the shill bidding makes one doubt the legitimacy of the seller. Has anyone communicated with him/her?

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Posted By: travis

What exactly does shill bidding mean? I love ebay auctions but have never heard that term! Hoping someone would be kind enough to fill me in! Does any suspect any of these items arent authentic? thanks !

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Posted By: davidcycleback

Shilling means the seller is bidding on his own item to artificially raise the price.

It originally took me a while to figure out what 'juice' was. I figured Mastro included a juice box with your package.

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Posted By: Anonymous

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Posted By: Josh K.

I would add, in case its not clear from David's explanation, that shill bidding is very much against ebay's rules.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

Beyond that, I think shilling is illegal.

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Posted By: Mike

Shilling doesn't just happen on eBay. At the last show I was at a dealer and a guy were talking right in front of me about how he won his own lot (a high value card) at the last major auction and had to pay the juice just to get his own card back.

There is a fine line between shilling and "having a friend bid" on your auctions. No matter where you are buying I'd be careful and know what you are willing to spend before bidding.

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Posted By: Steve M.

If its a reserve auction any bidding over the reserve by the consignor or his buddy would certainly be improper. If it has not met the reserve I think anyone can bid including the buddy.

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Posted By: Mark

Assuming buyers are knowlegable about the value of an item (which is often not the case), then it seems to me like shilling is not any more harmful to a buyer than is a reserve. Both establish minimum bid amounts needed to win an item. Shilling tells buyers that someone else thinks the card is worth x whereas a reserve implies that the seller thinks the card is worth x. If I am sniping a card for which I know the value, I'm not sure why I'd prefer a reserve (legal) to shilling (illegal).

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Posted By: Chad

Shilling, in and of itself, doesn't bother me much because I'm not going to pay what I'm not going to pay. It does, however, make me think of the seller as a jackass and not someone I'd want to do business with. What if I never go the card or was dissatisfied in some other way? My prejudice about a seller that shills is that they're not going to be very helpful after the sell. There are enough good sellers that I don't need to waste my time with sellers who get cute.

--Chad

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Posted By: davidcycleback

Shilling is dishonest and a good indication that a dealer is dishonest in other areas as well. Shilling says, 'Here is a person who will be dishonest in order to get more money from you.' With a shiller, the collector has to ask, 'In what other areas is he willing to be dishonest to get more money? Authenticity? Grading? Overstating rarity or quality?'