| athar_sheikh | 09-06-2010 12:54 PM |
Shill Bidding or not...
I used to sell tickets on Ebay, and often times, I would have a set of tickets that were not in high demand, and I would try to get what I could for them. (i.e. a no reserve auction starting at $0.49 with a high "Buy it now" price) Now I can list the same tickets on sites other than Ebay (stubhub, tickets now, or razor gator for example) as well. If the tickets sold on another site, I would cancel the auction and there wouldnt be a problem. In some cases the tickets would sell during the last 12 hours of the auction so I couldnt cancel the listing. In that case, I would take advantage of something I read on the shill bidding tutorial. I could log in from another account and buy my item being auctioned by using the buy-it-now price. (With tickets, the Buy-it-now option doesnt disappear until the bidding reaches half the BIN price). I was suspended multiple times for this but always had it overturned when I pointed out it wasnt a bid but a purchase using the Buy-it-now optionOne day I received a warning for Reserve fee avoidance violation. The rep who called me said I wouldnt be able to do this anymore and that conversations I have had with Ebay reps in the past have all been incorrect. Now I dont know who to believe, so I continued the practice with one change. I started using a reserve price. That didnt resolve the need to buy my own item in the last 12 hours though, and the next time I did it, I was suspended outright for fee avoidance. I called in to get some info on this, such as what rule I broke, or to point out that what I am being suspended for is a process outlined in the shill bidding tutorial as being acceptable. I sent them a letter as well but no response. I tried calling in and requesting that a different agent review the case. When I called to follow up, I was told by the person answering that my account has notes on it for whoever takes my call to hang up on me.
I have created a new stealth account, but it would be ideal if I could get back my old account as i had over 1000 positive feedbacks. (With tickets it's hard to get feedback as buyers wait till the event to make sure they didnt get ripped off and often times by then the feedback responsibility is often forgotten or no longer available. For my new account, I started listing a few items, but ran into seller limitations as I have reached the limit of items I can list in one month. They have given me an option to call in and they will review my business plan to ensure that I meet their buyers' expectations. I am hesitant to do this because I have a forwarding phone number but I dont know how to keep my blacklisted phone number from appearing on their caller IDs.
Any suggestions? | 
