Re: Just curious pro's if you could shed some light....
I will use my mother as an example
She has never used eBay, has no idea that just because you put in a bid of £50 when the item is on £10 it will go to £10.50 (or the equivalent), so she always leaves it to the last seconds to put in a winning big just over the required amount. I have tried time and time again to explain that is no how it works, but this falls on deaf ears. I always assume that a lot of buyers new to eBay also assume that this is how it all works (much more in line with a traditional auction house, when you can put your hand in the air and shout out a certain amount and then then bidding jumps to that amount)
It will of course also sometimes be that the seller is shilling their own items if they have not got what they feel they ought to as a selling price.
Another tactic sometimes I have noticed when I get outbid by a 0/1/2 (or generally other low feedback buyers) is that not soon after the auction the buyer will offer me the item saying that they winner changed their minds. In my mind 90% of the time this is the seller shilling their own items in order to maximise its selling price, and then offer it to the second highest bidder, often trying to invoice though PayPal to cut out eBay fees all together
My 2 pence and slightly cynical view on it anyway |