Bogus Bronko's on ebay

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by powderfinger

Seller also had a 1957 Topps Bill Russell card that ended on November 12. He received positive feedback from "the buyer" but when you click on that transaction, eBay shows that the item had been listted at $600 and had been relisted. The photos that accompanied the initial listing showed close-ups of the four corners and the full back of the card. No front photos. The card was, in fact, relisted, for $675 with only front and back photos and is currently active. So many red flags here, not to mentiononly 11 feedbacks, the second of which declares him the best eBay seller ever.

eBay has become a snakepit for buying vintage cards. Between sellers like this selling reprints as originals and others manipulating final bid prices, I'm glad I only have four cards to go to complete my 1935 Chicle football set.

Yuck. VCP would do us all a service if they not only tracked the final price of items and the seller/buyer but also:

1. a list of all bidders on the item (and their bids)
2. what percentage of bids a buyer puts toward a particular seller's auctions

More and more I've had to look beyond the price to determine whether I believe the price is legitimate or has been "doctored". More and more things I see make me wonder whether the price was manipulated. Here is one scenario I've seen again and again.

1) Buyer lists very high BIN.
2) Friendly shiller "buys" item and gives a glowing review
3) Buyer waits a bit and relists item as BIN/Best Offer
4) Unsuspecting new buyer looks at VCP and makes a Best Offer lower than first BIN but much higher than what the market value is of the item. If asked, seller says buyer reneged.
5) Buyer accepts Best Offer and makes additional $$$.
6) Now there are two inflated purchases in VCP for this item.

jeff