Author Topic: Series I on Ebay (Read 285 times)

David Houck · « **on:** November 18, 2005, 01:24:54 PM »

I thought this new listing looked familiar. The same bass was listed one month ago. Last time it was listed with a starting bid of $3,000 and the reserve was not met. This time the starting bid is $1,500 and there is no reserve. There is a different seller's username this time, a new account with zero feedback. And it's a private listing where you can't email the bidders. The pictures and description are identical to the previous listing. The location of the bass has changed. This listing has enough questionable aspects that anyone interested in this bass should proceed with caution. It is, by the way, a very nice bass; a late model Series I with a master volume.

lbpesq · « **Reply #1 on:** November 18, 2005, 05:29:16 PM »

Even more amazing is that this bass changed location from New Jersey to Ohio, but both residences have an identical living room! What are the odds? Remember, truth is stranger than friction! (and no, that's not a typo).

Bill, tgo

lothartu · « **Reply #2 on:** November 18, 2005, 07:28:59 PM »

You mean everyones living room doesn't look like that?

No scam there, nope, none at all.

Mike Monsalve · « **Reply #3 on:** November 18, 2005, 08:28:02 PM »

I'm so off of purchasing things on EBAY, unless the person is local and I can hand them the cash as they hand me the object. Human nature strikes again.

richbass939 · « **Reply #4 on:** November 19, 2005, 10:01:11 AM »

Just curious. Does the seller control the bidder ID is private part or does each bidder have that option. The reason I'm asking is that there are now 2 bids on this bass. Both are private. If a sale is bogus (this one sure does look suspicious) could the seller set it up so that all bidders are private and then do a few bids him/herself for the appearance of legitimacy, not allowing any of us to see that the bidders may look as suspicious as the seller?
Rich

David Houck · « **Reply #5 on:** November 19, 2005, 10:17:22 AM »

Rich; the seller creates the private listing. From Ebay: When a seller creates a private listing, a buyer's User ID does not appear in the listing or in the listing's bid history. Only the seller is authorized to view the buyer User IDs associated with that listing. Thus the bidders can't be warned by others who recognized a fraudulent listing. And yes, the bids could be from zero feedback accounts setup by the seller and we wouldn't be able to tell.

Has anyone emailed this seller for info on the bass?

richbass939 · « **Reply #6 on:** November 19, 2005, 12:54:48 PM »

It now has 4 bids on it. It's interesting that bid #3 was for $1581 and a few minutes later #4 was for $1581. I thought you had to go up by $10 or so. Also interesting is that if this is a scam and all the bidders are really the seller, then why wouldn't it go up by a bigger $ figure? Why nickel and dime it up? No e-bay expert here but I don't really get what's going on.
Rich

David Houck · « **Reply #7 on:** November 19, 2005, 01:26:14 PM »

This is of course speculation; we still don't know for sure whether or not the listing is legit.

If the bidder is really the seller, then if the seller actually ends up with the high bid, he will pay Ebay a percentage of the final sale price. So he wants to generate interest, but he doesn't want to run the bid price up past the point he can get someone else to commit. So at the moment, for someone who has just run across the listing, perhaps it looks like a lot of early interest, with the price still fairly low, and worth placing a bid of $1,600 on a bass that's clearly worth $3,000 or more.

speicky · « **Reply #8 on:** November 19, 2005, 02:15:49 PM »

Hello, Rich & Dave,

I also find this auction interesting, to say the least. Bid #5 was placed in the meantime, and still there are two high bidders with exactly the same bid. The only possibility for that is, as far as I do know about eBay rules, both of the high bidders carry the same name.

I did that once when I got my '83 Spoiler via eBay. At the end of the auction when I was the high bidder and my maximum bid was nearly reached by opponents, I placed another maximum bid, so I twice appeared as high bidder with identical figures. You do not see the maximum bid, only the $25-step away from the second bidder...

At this stage of the auction, I do not understand why one person places two maximum bids... Anyway, I'll stay out of this bidding battle :-))

Have a nice weekend,

Christian (the faker)

David Houck · « **Reply #9 on:** November 19, 2005, 02:32:04 PM »

Thanks for the explanation Christian!

jahnahisti · « **Reply #10 on:** November 19, 2005, 03:02:28 PM »

There are two ways to get two bids that have the same values.
The first is to have two bidders with identical bids. If I bid $50 and the auction is only at $24.50, and then you bid $50, the bid will go to $50 and no more, but the first bid will take precedence and I'll win the auction if it ends during that even though you would've paid $50 also.

The second way would be that I bid $50, and then I raise my higher maximum bid. That would increase the bid count, but until somebody bids $51, the two bids will both appear as $50 as highest maximum bids aren't displayed unless necessary to outbid somebody. For example, you can bid $1000 on an item, and still only have to pay $2.50 for it if the second highest bidder was only willing to go $2.

kmh364 · « **Reply #11 on:** November 21, 2005, 11:45:46 AM »

It's gone...auction removed.

David Houck · « **Reply #12 on:** November 21, 2005, 01:40:26 PM »

Interesting.