You can't bid on your own item.

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-- source

You're kidding, aren't you?

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I don't know what you're saying. Can I make up a fake eBay name and bid on my item? Yes. Can I bid on the item I'm selling with the same username for both? I would hope eBay has a policy in place that disallows that.

_________________
-- source

Guys bidding their own items in is rampant on ebay. And in every vendue you might find anywhere in the world.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Ok, JORR.

_________________
-- source

Okay what? Is it possible you are really that naive?

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

No, JORR, I am not naive. I've bid on thousands of items over the years. I just do not believe, like IMU supported, that this activity is "rampant" on eBay. I absolutely believe that it goes on, but not nearly to the extent that you're implying.

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-- source

i don't think so either. At least not the stuff I'm looking at.

Exactly. You should have a general idea of what the "market" dictates for a given item you're bidding on. You also know how much you are willing to spend on it. If the seller bidding on his/her own items is so rampant, his/her bidding would either exceed what you're willing to spend (which is why I say no to second chance offers), or the seller would eventually be outed by eBay.

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-- source

I don't know the exact extent. But I am sure it happens often. I've done it myself. And I've attended countless live auctions and it happened there when it was much trickier. I don't see why ebay would be any different.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Or more likely, the seller's shill would simply win the auction and the seller would have to eat the fees.

But clearly, if you know what you're willing to pay for something and you're comfortable with it, the practice has no effect on you.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

How would you know?

An auction is an auction. There are sharks and there are dupes. ebay is just the biggest vendue.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Just bid what you're willing to pay. Often I will put a low bid in if I am mildly interested in something. That way I can keep track of the bidding and think about how much I want the item.

I've actually had a pretty good track record with eBay. I've won like 50 auctions and only one time do I think the seller kind of screwed me. I won't bid on anything from a seller with less than a 99.8% rating.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

So the seller will re-list. Then what? Do the same thing and risk eating the fees twice?

And to your last sentence, exactly. I will usually watch 3-4 of the same item I'm bidding on before I do, so I have a general idea of how much it's "worth."

I think the true answer is somewhere in the middle. I do believe that it happens. Just not as much as you were saying before.

_________________
-- source

If you really think a guy bidding in an item is outlandish, I would suggest you are seriously inexperienced within the world of live auctions.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I'm sure in live auctions this thing happens all the time. If I was running an auction house, I would always have a few plants in the audience to drive up the price on items. If one my guys would get stuck with an item, I would just re-sell it again at the next auction.

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But if you had a regular customer base that came to all of Douchebag's Auctions and they noticed that the same childs small Kerry Kittles jersey was coming up to bid again and again and again they might start to get suspicious.

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I'm sure he meant the "rampant" comment was outlandish, not the actual act.

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-- source

Absolutely. And it's that much easier to do in a large mostly anonymous vendue like ebay. At a horse auction, I generally know everyone there. I imagine it's the same in fine art, etc. Everyone knows the players. It doesn't take much to have your buddy bid a few extra bucks on an ebay item. The only risk is you get stuck with it. But that isn't that much risk since you can always tell the underbidder the winner fell through and offer him a second chance.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

That's a semantic argument. What is "rampant"? I'm just saying it happens all the time.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

That's not a semantic argument. Those are two very different things. I usually like your stuff, JORR, but it's as if you forgot to take your Thursday meds.

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-- source

Yeah, I used it. I stand by it. But it isn't a precise measurement. None of us have any idea how often it actually occurs, but we do know it happens. I've done it myself. And while I may be the smartest guy on this board, I highly doubt I'm the smartest guy on ebay.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

_________________

Probably should all just agree to disagree on everything you've said.

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-- source

I like bobble heads.

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We can agree on something!

I think I started following you on Twitter today. Don't let me down.

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-- source

Aw crap. I don't do well under pressure.

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JORR, what items do you have in mind? I think I use it differently. It's like a big garage sale for me. I'm trying to get what I think of as a deal and nothing I buy is really expensive. Most of the time I'm trying to pay under retail price. Maybe you could do it for some items more than others though.

It happens on collectibles, rarities, and musical equipment. Of that I am sure...

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@audioidkid