Are there Phantom buyers on Ebay???

[brooke.munro]

Have you ever bidded on an item and a member has bidded against you making the sale go up in price higher and higher... until you either stop bidding or you win the auction?

I have been wondering if Ebay purposely set up Phantom buyers to increase their profits in the buying and selling of auctions.

Think about it. A typical example is a member that bids against you, they win the auction but never pay up. Therefore say if it was a phantom buyer, Ebay then deducts the sales fee but keeps the success fee. Maybe a way to make more money from people? 

This is my theory anyhow. I feel like this is something people should consider.. 

Also, funny how you can't view a bidders account and history but you can with the seller??? Seems a bit dodgey to me.

Thoughts? 

[brooke.munro]

Does Ebay not take a percentage off the seller of the final sale fee? Curious to know this, as I am new to Ebay. Thanks 🙂

[*crikey*mate*]

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@brooke.munro wrote:
'Sounds believable until you read the rules and realize that when a buyer doesn't pay, the seller gets a refund of their Final Value Fees by simply going to the resolution centre, opening up an UID after 4 days, and then if no payment is received the seller can close the case in 4 days and receive a credit for their FVF's."

It's good to know this. I wonder how many people go through with this process to get their money back? I guess some people may not bother if they're only losing a few dollars...

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all good sellers do, because not only do they get their fees back, simply by pushing a few buttons but it also means the non payer is issued with a strike and this in turn allows them to be blocked from bidding on other items when the seller has their blocks in place, as the rules advise us all to do.

there is also the legal obligation to do this as it is the most cost effective way to end a contract and be legally allowed to relist your item or offer it for sale to someone else.

[*crikey*mate*]

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@brooke.munro wrote:
Does Ebay not take a percentage off the seller of the final sale fee? Curious to know this, as I am new to Ebay. Thanks 🙂

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yes.

ummm, did you read the terms and conditions of the site when you joined?

Have you perused the site map?

How about customer support?

I hope so, at least the sections relevant to being a buyer as you have already started that, but make sure you do before you start selling, as well.

Also, are you familiar with the policies for safe payment and seller and buyer protection?

[lyndal1838]

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@brooke.munro wrote:
 I don't really care to know what a person is buying, I'm not snooping around, was just wondering if there is a way to check that the person is a genuine member and has been active on the site. When you can't see those things it just makes you wonder.

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There is actually a way for experienced members to see what others have bought recently but just to get an idea if a bidder is active on the site you only need to look at the number in brackets after their ID.  Your number is (3) which indicates that you have not much experience on ebay...my number is (5000) which tells you I have been around the traps for a while.

It is not a foolproof method for posters on the boards though as many posters are using posting IDs and only have enough feedback to allow them to post on the boards with no restriction.

[brooke.munro]

Thank you for your input. Potentially none, I'm sure there's a few good computer programmers / code writers out there.

[brooke.munro]

Yes.

[lyndal1838]

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@brooke.munro wrote:
Thank you for your input. Potentially none, I'm sure there's a few good computer programmers / code writers out there.

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What exactly have computer programmers/code writers got to do with anything being discussed here?

[*crikey*mate*]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

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@brooke.munro wrote:
 I don't really care to know what a person is buying, I'm not snooping around, was just wondering if there is a way to check that the person is a genuine member and has been active on the site. When you can't see those things it just makes you wonder.

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There is actually a way for experienced members to see what others have bought recently but just to get an idea if a bidder is active on the site you only need to look at the number in brackets after their ID.  Your number is (3) which indicates that you have not much experience on ebay...my number is (5000) which tells you I have been around the traps for a while.

It is not a foolproof method for posters on the boards though as many posters are using posting IDs and only have enough feedback to allow them to post on the boards with no restriction.

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I still can't believe that you surrenderred your red star! The travesty!

*shakes head*

*cries a little*

Spoiler

did ya get a certificate to print off and frame and hang in the pool room? oh and the congratulatory letter for all your hard work? LOL - that cracked me up.

[*crikey*mate*]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

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@brooke.munro wrote:
Thank you for your input. Potentially none, I'm sure there's a few good computer programmers / code writers out there.

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What exactly have computer programmers/code writers got to do with anything being discussed here?

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brooke is implying that this is how eBay could be participating in shill bidding

i.e. they don't have physical people doing the shilling, but rather either programmers who create such software which eBay then uses - kinda like they use the Lithium software or that eBay employs people specifically to create the programs -

[brooke.munro]

That's exactly it!! Thank you.