Watch your bids on GW auctions, shills are bidding
#1
Super Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 8,091
Watch your bids on GW auctions, shills are bidding
A couple weeks ago I bid on a 15 clone on Good Will auctions. The machine had no light, case, or cord set / controller so I wasn't going to bid high.
What I wanted was the motor. It's a brand I have found to be very strong and torquey.
I bid the minimum bid the day before the end of the auction. Then just before the end a shill bidder bid just over my minimum bid. I told my wife this person just bought themselves a machine -- but we'd see it again because that bidder was a shill. I was right, it's back in today.
I've seen at least a half dozen machines go with only two bids only to show up a week or two later. So the shill bidders are bidding the GW auctions up.
Do not let yourself get drawn into a bidding war. Set your maximum bid amount and do not go over it.
I may, or may not go after that machine again. But if I do, I will only bid the minimum bid as close to the end of the auction as my slow dial up will allow.
Joe
What I wanted was the motor. It's a brand I have found to be very strong and torquey.
I bid the minimum bid the day before the end of the auction. Then just before the end a shill bidder bid just over my minimum bid. I told my wife this person just bought themselves a machine -- but we'd see it again because that bidder was a shill. I was right, it's back in today.
I've seen at least a half dozen machines go with only two bids only to show up a week or two later. So the shill bidders are bidding the GW auctions up.
Do not let yourself get drawn into a bidding war. Set your maximum bid amount and do not go over it.
I may, or may not go after that machine again. But if I do, I will only bid the minimum bid as close to the end of the auction as my slow dial up will allow.
Joe
#2
Power Poster
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Corpus Christi, Tx.
Posts: 16,105
I over heard a supervisor from Goodwill this past week talk about the auctions. From what I gathered the "shill bidders" are employees who try to get the bid risen. You were right not to go higher. In that same store was a sewing machine that had been there a few months back. I had taken a photo basically to see how long it would be on the shelf. They increased the price from $50-$75. This machine had nothing but a lot of rust and was once in a cabinet. No attachments. I just walked. I looked at the photo I took of it and the numbers match so I'm sure it was the same machine.
#3
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Texas, USA
Posts: 5,896
A couple weeks ago I bid on a 15 clone on Good Will auctions. The machine had no light, case, or cord set / controller so I wasn't going to bid high.
What I wanted was the motor. It's a brand I have found to be very strong and torquey.
I bid the minimum bid the day before the end of the auction. Then just before the end a shill bidder bid just over my minimum bid. I told my wife this person just bought themselves a machine -- but we'd see it again because that bidder was a shill. I was right, it's back in today.
I've seen at least a half dozen machines go with only two bids only to show up a week or two later. So the shill bidders are bidding the GW auctions up.
Do not let yourself get drawn into a bidding war. Set your maximum bid amount and do not go over it.
I may, or may not go after that machine again. But if I do, I will only bid the minimum bid as close to the end of the auction as my slow dial up will allow.
Joe
What I wanted was the motor. It's a brand I have found to be very strong and torquey.
I bid the minimum bid the day before the end of the auction. Then just before the end a shill bidder bid just over my minimum bid. I told my wife this person just bought themselves a machine -- but we'd see it again because that bidder was a shill. I was right, it's back in today.
I've seen at least a half dozen machines go with only two bids only to show up a week or two later. So the shill bidders are bidding the GW auctions up.
Do not let yourself get drawn into a bidding war. Set your maximum bid amount and do not go over it.
I may, or may not go after that machine again. But if I do, I will only bid the minimum bid as close to the end of the auction as my slow dial up will allow.
Joe
#6
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Millville, NJ
Posts: 1,835
I suppose shill bidding on Goodwill is for a good cause whereas ebay would be plain greed. Proving that these bids occur would be difficult due to the amount of dead beat bidders and those that don't read the terms (pick up only for instance) carefully.
Jon
Jon
#7
Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Denver Colorado
Posts: 232
That said there are a lot of things that aren't highly competitive where I do just toss a bid on it as close to closing as I can.
You can use Bidnapper for GW auctions as well but it's not as reliable. I recently had one on which my bid was never placed.
As for shill bids...yeah...no surprise. Since you place your highest bid - say $25 on a 9.99 opening bid item - if they bid $15 you'll automatically raise them. I'll bet it goes poorly for them a lot of the time.
Yeah - but it'a hard to imagine a hard charging young assistant D.A. looking to make a name for herself choosing to put the hammer of justice down on Goodwill.
Last edited by Lew Schiller; 11-26-2013 at 08:28 AM.
#8
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Outer Space
Posts: 9,319
This is interesting, Joe. I'd think about writing out a carefully worded letter with a few screen shots (if possible) of the "sold" items and them being relisted and send it off to HQ or at least the person in charge at your local facility?
#10
Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Denver Colorado
Posts: 232
I'll be watching to see what you come back with but my bet is that unless they're also doing it on high dollar items it wouldn't be worth pursuing over a $12 SM. If anything this is one of those Channel 9 Expose kind of things.
BTW - Congratulations to her! It's my understanding that there's always good money to be made running a bankruptcy mill :-)
Last edited by Lew Schiller; 11-26-2013 at 09:02 AM.
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