[TPIN] Ebay Question

[DBH]

Bidding on your own auctions to create a reserve price is fraud, plain and
simple. Frankly I don't care what civil laws exist or don't exist; anyone
doing this is a cheat.

Ebay already has a mechanism in place to auction material with a reserve
price. If you're too cheap to pay those extre fees, that's your problem.
Commiting fraud to circumvent the system in place is inexcusable.

Just my 7 cents...

-Dan


On 11/3/06, Thomas Meacham <tmeacham at gci.net> wrote:
>
> Technically speaking, bidding on your own item to raise the price may
> be common-law fraud, even if there is not a specific  civil statute
> against it,   If the amount of money involved were high enough, and the
> evidence clear, a lawsuit could probably be brought against the seller
> for doing it, if the winning  bidder found out about the shill bidding.
>
> I have seen one instance on eBay where an antique keyed bugle was bid
> into the stratosphere by two friends acting in collusion with the
> seller.  Complaints were filed with eBay, and I believe eBay took
> action against the seller by suspending his auction privileges.
>
> It is so easy for a seller to simply cancel his auction, saying the
> item is no longer for sale.  Why risk some complicated scheme that will
> only lead to deception and possible eBay sanctions?
>
> Tom Meacham
> Anchorage, Alaska
>
> ++
>
> ++
>
> On Nov 3, 2006, at 10:10 AM, William Graham wrote:
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Larry Cipriani"
> <lvcipriani at yahoo.com>
> To: "Andy Del" <trumpetplayer at optusnet.com.au>; "'William Graham'"
> <weg9 at comcast.net>; <cmh25 at aol.com>; <tpin at tpin.okcu.edu>
> Sent: Friday, November 03, 2006 3:41 AM
> Subject: RE: [TPIN] Ebay Question
>
>
> >
> > Not only is shill bidding and bidding on your own auction items
> > dishonest and a violation of eBay rules, but it is ILLEGAL and has been
> > decades before eBay existed.  Don't do it.
> >
> > You should just terminate the auction saying the item is no longer for
> > sale.
> >
> > Larry
> >
> By, "illegal", I assume you mean that there is a civil law against it?
> - I really don't think so.
>     Perhaps you can tell me exactly who would be hurt by bidding some
> minimum acceptable amount on your own item in order to establish a
> reserve? Also, as the eBay guys must know, it is an unenforceable law.
> there is no way they can tell if one of the bidders is a friend of the
> seller.
>     Sure. You can terminate the auction. (I guess you can do this, but I
> don't really know) And then you can go through the whole process of
> resetting it up with a reserve. But, other than it being, "against the
> law" what is wrong with doing it my, (much simpler) way?
>
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