SAME BIDDER STARTS AND IS TOP ON OVER 100 ITEMS

[glasseyoz]

I have been dealing with a stamp and coin company in the U.S. for some time. Lately I have found the prices on auctions getting too high for me.

I started to check a few bidders on items I was interested in and ALL had the same Highest Bidder and even on some 1 cent start Auctions they were the starting bid. I checked 25 different lots.

That to me sounds like the company has got an autobid program that jacks up prices. Most items start at 1cent and then jump in some cases within 6 bids to over $500. No wonder a guy misses out on a decent win if the company, who advertise as NO RESERVE AUCTIONS end up with such high numbers.

How can I verify they are upping the bids themselves? the top and new bidder is only shown as f****r with a feedback of (166).

[lyndal1838]

There is no way you can verify if the seller is upping the bids and frankly it is most unlikely that they are doing it if it is as open as you say it is.

If the seller is selling popular items with very low starting prices it is probably because he knows they will very quickly reach much higher prices.

What you are probably seeing is somebody buying at low prices with the intention of reselling.

If you can post the full title of one of the auctions in question we can have a look for you.

[glasseyoz]

Seems I had a wrong number. The latest is f***r 186.

 NobleSpirit~No Reserve ~ COLOSSAL SAFE DEPOSIT CASH BOX DISCOVERY TONS OF SILVER

Is that what you need or the item number?

Cheers

[lyndal1838]

There does not seem to be anything suspicious.  The buyer seems to win items regularly from that seller at various prices ($31 to over $500) and leaves feedback.

I suspect he is a buyer like you....finds a seller with items he is interested in so comes back regularly.

If the seller were bidding on his own items he would be silly to actually win them and even sillier to leave feedback.

[glasseyoz]

Thanks for that. I was rather suspicious. I suppose I should have checked the feedback. Didn't even cross my mind.

Looks like I need to up the bids.

Thanks again.

Cheers

[lyndal1838]

You are only going to increase the prices if you up your bids now....and you are going to give other bidders a chance to outbid you again.

Just wait till the auction is about to end and place your best bid at the last minute.  With a bit of practice you can place a bid in the last 5 seconds and it does not give others a chance to up the prices.

[go-tazz]

You do realize that they have postage set to the US only which means they generally will not post overseas.

[lyndal1838]

Are we looking at the same seller Tazz?  That listing states Worldwide, as do each of the others that I looked at randomly. The OP has already dealt with the seller several times.

[austeam]

"Estimated NET final auction hammer price
is expected to be in the region of: $20,000-$25,000"

If you are serious about this auction then decide how much you are prepared to spend and set up a snipe bid in the last few secs.

There are a number of free snipers available.

e.g. https://www.goofbid.com/free_ebay_sniper.html