1964 topps tatoos shill bidding galore bassik and morris

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by bnorth

I do agree shill accounts are hard to spot because there are several reasons(excuses) that could make them a real bidder with strange bidding habits. Here are a few random bidding histories off eBay that seem strange that could be real accounts. I only copied one side so they can not be traced back to the high volume sellers they were copied from.

I also think shilling with the high volume low eBay fee sellers does not need to be done in the same way as regular sellers. With regular sellers the eBay fees would add up quick and make shilling not as profitable without bidding up to the max and retracting bids. Now the high volume sellers have very low eBay fees and any increase in the bidding is a win for them. So shilling up the to the max and retracting the bid is not the only way shilling is done.

I'd like to know what these "very low Ebay fees" you are referring to are, beyond the standard 20% discount TRS sellers get.

What I see are these guys working on very tiny margins, compared to what most auction houses have to work with. I don't know how they do it without going into the red, to be honest, especially after the last Ebay fee increase that drove a few guys out of consignments entirely.