AC Dickson: eBay Power Seller

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I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine -- eBay style
by acdickson

One of the first things clever would be sellers wonder aloud after I've taught them the basics of eBay selling is why you can't bid up your own auctions artificially. The wheels start turning along these lines. Say you list a rare Lighting Bolt CD-R (as I have) and a bidder with the user name punkassnoisefreak puts in a bid for the starting price of $5. You do a little research and discover that this person wins EVERYTHING having anything to do with the band Lighting Bolt and pays top dollar to boot. The last day of the auction comes and no one else had bid. So this super fan is going to walk away with your rare disc for only $5 when you know for damn sure they'll pay at least ten times that.

So, the argument goes, why not get a friend to bid this CD up. Have them put in a bid of $50. If noisefreak bids it up to $51, you've just made an extra $46. Maybe you'll press your luck up to $75, or $100. Why not see how much they're willing to pay. Because if noisefreak gets outbid by your buddy, you can have your friend retract their bid minutes before the auction is over and get the most money possible from your mark. Even if noisefreak doesn't end up winning the auction, you can wait a few days then email them with your sob story, "the high bidder never sent me the money, I'll sell it to you for $35"

I've seen the realization of this simple ploy light up the face of many an eBay disciple. It's like discovering the wheel all on your own. It's the "I'm going to be rich and have fun doing it" grin. Folks, the answer is, you can. The eBay gods will not strike you down. But I'm strongly suggest you don't.

First off it's bad form. It's cheating. Are you interested in selling on eBay because the used car lot wasn't hiring or because you want to be part of a world wide community of good people interested in sharing and communication? Secondly, it's time consuming. If you've read my first post, you've already internalized my maxim that time is money. So, rather then emailing friends with how much money you want to them to artificially bid up your auctions, you should be using your precious eBay time (never more than 20 hours a week, but that's another subject all together) for preparing more auctions.

But the most important reason not to do it is that the feds might hunt you down. Last week eight eBay sellers were ordered to pay $90,000 in restitution and fines after admitting they bid up each others eBay auctions. Two were in the sports memorabilia biz, three were in the car racket, and three hocked pricey art. In all three cases it was a "you bid up my auctions I'll bid up yours" scenario. I can't imagine they'll be the only ones to be taken down in this surprisingly common scheme. Folks, you probably won't get nailed for milking $40 off some hipster who loves obscure discordant punk music, but you'll certainly get bad karma. And as this occasional indiscretion becomes an addiction, you'll likely be under the watchful eye of the law long before you know it.

Slow and steady pays the rent, race fans. Your job is to put good stuff up on eBay and post auctions so that these auctions find the most eyeballs possible. After that it's in the hands of the free market. Manipulation will eventually bite you in the ass, one way or another.

Homework: Find something crazy for sale on eBay and email me the link. Best item found wins a vintage postcard from your hometown. Yes this will give me something interesting to post about on my next entry, but in the search for weird stuff you will be forced (if you have any hopes of winning) to utilize the eBay search engine in new ways. As with all things in the eBay universe, it's a two way street. Class dismissed.

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