Something Fishy on eBay?

[golfer2b2000]

I truly enjoy trying different drivers, putters, and even iron sets. I know this doesnt help my game, but I am at an age where I just enjoy trying different clubs. If I don't score with them oh well.

 Recently I have been in a driver crave, and what better place to look for them than EBAY. So here is the story...

 I find a brand new driver for sale. I bid on it. Not a lot, but an average amount I would say.I am watching the timer from like 3 minutes till the end of the auction.In the last 5 seconds while I am in the lead, all of a sudden the bids go crazy and I lose the item by a dollar and a half...No big deal right...

 So I get an email stating that I didnt win that paticular bid, but there are other items similar to the one I lost the bid on that if I am interested, I can bid on...Sooooo,

 I click on the item to see, and  this one is EXACTLY IDENTICAL to the one I just got outbid by. It's also by the same seller.

 So I being like I am, I bid on this new driver. Only this time I bid 25 dollars more. I watch the ticker like I am watching a Pittsburgh Penguins hockey game. I am on the edge of me seat...

 Once again, I am the high bidder until...

5 seconds before the end I again get outbid and lose the item by a measly buck and a half...

 I guess what I am getting at is I am wondering if this is purposely being done by a third party who just may be in contact with the seller, and if the seller does not get what he wants out of the club, or more, the third party bids the item up, but does not have to purchase it from the seller..

 Anyone else ever have any similar thigs happen???FISHY???:)

[Herkimer]

It does sound very suspicious to me and I wouldn't bid on anything from that seller ever.

[iacas]

That doesn't sound fishy to me. That's how eBay works. If a few people put in a maximum bid that's higher than yours at the end, it'll go to the person who put the highest max bid in.

And if the seller is a golf shop or something, it's quite feasible they'd have a few of the same item for sale.

[golfer2b2000]

But they do not disclose to you who the highest bidder is, so there is no way to contact them. You are right though. They may have a number of the same, identical items. But the thing is this. These are NEW items. Not used. Checking the "buy in now items", you will see that the number of different vendors are basically within 20 or 30 dollars of each other.

 On this paticular item I put in a bid of I believe 140 dollars. I was outbid and the item sold for 145 dollars. If you check the buy it now prices you cannot find this paticular item for less than 250 dollars. If this just happened once, I would not be as suspious as I am after this happened twice to me within a week...

[FLOG4]

If the item didn't have a reserve price, and the seller wanted a certain amount....yes he may have had a bud bidding. However for the item to be relisted and get to the point of another sale time would take like a week. How many feedbacks does the seller have? What is his rating?  I have at times been very active with buying clubs via eBay. Have dealt with the situation you have....I am that last minute bidder at times too....But prior to putting in my final bid in the last minute....I review the bidders and it is usually pretty easy to see what the real bid is at...Whether there is a max higher or the bid is near the max.....But what I do is bid the value I am comfortable with regardless of where the bid is at....So with your example...If the bids were at about 140...with a minute left...and the club was normally selling at 250.....I would go in with a 201 bid in the last minute and expect success somewhere in the mid range as other s jump in last second and try to be cute with a 141 or 146 bid...

[iacas]

44 minutes ago, golfer2b2000 said:

But they do not disclose to you who the highest bidder is, so there is no way to contact them.

Of course not. That'd be kinda goofy.

[MacDutch]

I have done the same many times. Wait until the last moment to make a bid, so the price goes up like mad the last two minutes. This is because others also use the same strategy.

Nothing fishy in my eyes. You did not get a bargain? And now the seller is wrong?

[dennyjones]

12 hours ago, iacas said:

That doesn't sound fishy to me. That's how eBay works. If a few people put in a maximum bid that's higher than yours at the end, it'll go to the person who put the highest max bid in.

And if the seller is a golf shop or something, it's quite feasible they'd have a few of the same item for sale.

this...

[billchao]

14 hours ago, golfer2b2000 said:

I guess what I am getting at is I am wondering if this is purposely being done by a third party who just may be in contact with the seller, and if the seller does not get what he wants out of the club, or more, the third party bids the item up, but does not have to purchase it from the seller.

What you're suggesting is shill bidding which is against eBay's TOS. Both accounts would be banned for life if this was in fact happening.

Likely what you're seeing is perfectly normal eBay use as @iacas described.

12 hours ago, golfer2b2000 said:

On this paticular item I put in a bid of I believe 140 dollars. I was outbid and the item sold for 145 dollars. If you check the buy it now prices you cannot find this paticular item for less than 250 dollars.

Buy It Now prices are often set above market price if an item went to auction. I only use that option if there's something I absolutely want and I can't get it any other way.

12 hours ago, golfer2b2000 said:

If this just happened once, I would not be as suspious as I am after this happened twice to me within a week...

Sounds like your eBay-fu needs work 😀

But seriously, there are many times I watch items that end up selling for higher than I expect them to and higher than what I would have been willing to pay.

If you didn't win a few auctions, no big deal. If you were willing to pay more than you bid, you should have set your max bid higher to begin with.

The reason you lost with 5 seconds left is because that's when people bid when they're trying to win something so that others won't have time to increase their bids.

[Club Rat]

Many people use Snipe software which generates a final second bid where they set as a limit to buy.
Also, I believe there is Shill bidding going on by sellers.

While eBay has prevented or continues to protect these occurrences on their site, some always make work arounds
until they exhaust their means of creating new users to sell their items.

Years ago, eBay auctions would show the winning bidder by user name.
To protect user privacy, they now only show a generated number for bidders.

When I want to see who may have won certain auctions, I wait a week and visit the sellers feedback.
Most buyers generally leave feedback, if no feedback was made for certain items, that puts up a red flag, IMO.

Also, in the OP trying to purchase a certain club, he could look at the Sellers other items to see if they had multiple clubs listed.

[golfer2b2000]

I understand this fully. If I decide what my maximum bid is going to be, and I am dedicated that I will not go any higher, if I lose the bid it's no big deal. I did sit right there in the final seconds just to see what happens.Some people do get caught up in the competition of needing to win the big at any cost. That's why sometimes items go higher than what they really should.

 I shouldnt get upset if I set my highest bid at like 200 dollars and see that someone got it for 205. And I am not upset as to what has happened. I just feel like there may be third parties out there that are working with some sellers to bid the bids up to a price where the seller is willing to sell the item. Then the third party gets a small percentage.

 I can't believe that a new driver where these major selling companies are selling at "BUY IT NOW" prices at lets say around the 250 dollar mark, are selling in an actual auction for 100 dollars less. It doesnt make any sense.

[Bucki1968]

The same thing happened to me more than once. I never was able to win when trying to buy a set of irons for the wife. I finally found a "buy it now" at a reasonable price and got them there. 

[Vinsk]

52 minutes ago, golfer2b2000 said:

I can't believe that a new driver where these major selling companies are selling at "BUY IT NOW" prices at lets say around the 250 dollar mark, are selling in an actual auction for 100 dollars less. It doesnt make any sense.

Well that’s capitalism for ya. If one seller is ok with making less profit than another then so be it. Others are willing to pay $250 and don’t want to wait/go thru an auction so they just buy it. We don’t know what the seller paid for what is being sold so there is going to be some variance on these items.

[billchao]

1 hour ago, golfer2b2000 said:

I just feel like there may be third parties out there that are working with some sellers to bid the bids up to a price where the seller is willing to sell the item. Then the third party gets a small percentage.

If the third party wins the auction and the item doesn't get sold, nobody makes any money. Except eBay.

1 hour ago, golfer2b2000 said:

I can't believe that a new driver where these major selling companies are selling at "BUY IT NOW" prices at lets say around the 250 dollar mark, are selling in an actual auction for 100 dollars less. It doesnt make any sense.

Sure it does. You can list something at whatever price you want, doesn't mean someone is willing to pay it. If there are 20 identical drivers listed for $250 BIN and auction history shows they're being won at <$200, there's no way I'm paying the BIN price.

The market determines the price, not the seller.

[Foot Wedge]

16 hours ago, golfer2b2000 said:

In the last 5 seconds while I am in the lead, all of a sudden the bids go crazy and I lose the item by a dollar and a half

I call this swooping and it is the only way I bid.  Unless there are no bids at a ridiculously low price and I bid early so the seller can't pull the plug on the auction.  Lost an amplifier that way...seller cancelled the auction on the last day since there were no bids and then relisted at a starting bid $75 higher.

Anyways...yeah, swoop in last second and hope nobody else beats you, I thought that was standard operating for ebay auctions.  The Ping Putter in my signature was won that way.

[boogielicious]

FWIW, I just sold some stuff and the price doubled in the last hour before sale. It is typical.

[Double Mocha Man]

Last week I won a bid on a Lacoste golf shirt (think crocodile) and nobody else bid.  $85 shirt for 8 bucks.  After I won the seller cancelled the sale.  Fishy as hell.  Contacted the seller and he said he lost the shirt.  BS!  Had to wait a week but I posted a really negative review for him.

[golfer2b2000]

I just placed a bid on a set of irons, and again I was outbidded. These were used and identical to a set I missed out on yesterday that were brand new. The difference in the price between the new clubs, and the used ones were 40 dollars, plus the set of used ones that sold you had to pay an additional 20 dollars for shipping where the new ones were free shipping.

 I was also next to the highest bidder.

 I am not making rediculous bids either, but I am trying to get a nice set of clubs and save a few dollars.

 I have another set I will try tomorrow. Change my tactics, and bid a fair price. Lets see what happens...😁