Unchecked shill bidding but the occasional bargain.

I still shop on ebay for coins. I rarely buy a raw coin unless it is in mint packaging and I don't buy from overseas. I also don't chase my bids.

When I first started using ebay it was more honest and more auction oriented as opposed to the massive ebay stores and BIN items. So in the beginning it would be worth it to low ball bid something to have it on your watchlist and then try and snipe it with a late bid--it was part of the game and added a fun challenge.

Now there is no point. There is either massive collusion going on among the very big dealers/stores or these large Ebat dealers are running a half dozen or more accounts and bidding up their items.

There is no doubt of this. Even with eBay's attempts to block bidders ID's and history ( which gives appearance of complicity) a person can still check the limited information that is still available and be sure of what's going on.

Just this past week or 2 I have tried to buy a $2 Canadian 2016 coin for my set-already slabbed by NGC. All 3 coins that have appeared are by the same seller--each coin has had repeated bids ( 5 or 6 each per auction) by the same 2 or 3 bidders and the same bidder won both of the first 2 auctions.

Now granted, this is not enough to confirm the under-handed shenanigans, however there is more. The winning bidder, when clicked on his bidding history, has bid on over 300 bids this month with 97% of them for the same seller's items---dead giveaway. If this were not enough proof, the history also shows 39...yes 39 bid retractions in the last 30 days. Apparently, he bids up his own items and then retracts the highest bid if the value is enough. If it is not enough, then the item is just re-listed mysteriously ( and the seller is only charged the small FVF.)

Generally if you go through all of the auctions in the seller's ebay store, you'll notice dozens of bids from the same 10 to 12 accounts. Unfortunately, this seller is more of the norm among the larger ebay stores and not a dishonest exception. I would be stunned if TPTB at ebay are not fully aware but don't want to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.......

On the bright side, there are still thousands of coin auctions per week that are legit. Collectors liquidating, old family heirlooms, mint products at decent prices or old inventory from honest, larger ebay dealers still provide plenty of great coins at fair market prices.

One thing I love are the ebay bucks and the ebay "bonus buck days" of 5 to 10%. I usually even wait for these bonus days to buy that set or annual addition for a series to get that extra 10% off.

My latest edition--2016 Canada S$10 "Reflections of Wildlife" Grizzly Bear--and didn't cost a thing as my savings of ebay bucks covered the coin 100%.

So I guess the lesson is still buyer beware--but no sense in abandoning a useful resource because of some bad apples...as always, happy hunting everyone.

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