I've been an ebay user for many years now and have always considered myself (maybe stupidly) as a fair player. I mainly buy, but sometimes sell. I've bought stuff both cheap and expenive, sold stuff cheap and expensive etc etc; I don't snipe, but don't really have a problem with this practice for those that have the time and energy. For the first time today I had a bid retracted on me. This was clearly a price sniffing ramp, and on checking the guy's feedback he seems to be a serial offender. I'm ok with people making mistakes (entering wrong amount), but this guy has done it 4 times in the last year, so I would say he's adept at using the tactic. My only response has been to block him. Some may say I'm cutting my nose off to spite my face, but I'm ok with that. This guy's clearly a guitar related buyer, so i was wondering if there was any appetite on here to maintain a blacklist of dodgy buyers/sellers that we can all block in order to discourage such dastardly deeds?...
Comments
Ebay should tighten up on that. I don't think Christie's or Sotheby's would stand for that.
For buyers, I'm thinking it's the biggest reason NOT to bid early. What if the price sniffer is the seller with a second username? Price sniffing can, it seems, unfairly commit the bidder to his highest bid, especially if done in a way that takes their bidding to just under your max.
I treat purchases off Ebay like I do Amazon - straight purchase price, and no silly bidding wars.
a corrupt seller will have a stalking bidder bid against you to flush out your maximum bid. The stalker will win the auction but then retract, allowing the seller to make a second chance offer to you at your maximum bid - ensuring that you pay the highest price for the item.
a corrupt buyer will work in a similar way but this time will use the process to try to get the item (via one or more partner bidders) for the lowest price from an unsuspecting seller, as @Moe_Zambeek explained
Bandcamp
i_will_snip_u121
i_will_snip_u212
i_will_snip_u112
and finally,
i_will_snip_u211
No they're legitimate.
They're all Rabbis.