Watch your bids on GW auctions, shills are bidding

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11-26-2013, 10:05 AM

#11

J Miller

Super Member

Thread Starter

Join Date: Feb 2012

Posts: 8,091

Good Will is not in the same league as Salvation Army and The Red Cross. They are making money hand over fist to the point of simply throwing out many of the items donated due to various silly reasons. My wife worked for them recently for several days and saw a lot of good items tossed. Employees are prohibited from buying or rescuing anything during their shifts or for two hours afterwords. The stuff tossed went into a compactor 40' long.

I consider the use of shill bidding as dishonorable and dishonest. That is why I posted this. What ever GW gets, it's free money for them. The items are donated and cost them nothing. So there is no need to employ shill bidders.

Year before last we saw the same shill bidder at work. We outed him to GW corporate and of course they denied it was possible. But strangely enough that bidder disappeared and we've never seen them since. Coincidence?

That said, I'll continue to bid on things I want, but I'll post one bid as close to the end of the auction as my computer can.

11-26-2013, 10:15 AM

#12

wilburness

Senior Member

Join Date: Sep 2012

Location: Delavan

Posts: 468

Great information Joe. I do bid on GW. For some reason I bid on an item in California. It cost me over $11 to ship a $5 item. Never again. I will watch a little closer now. Thank you

11-26-2013, 10:17 AM

#13

path49

Senior Member

Join Date: Apr 2012

Location: Illinois...near St. Louis

Posts: 392

Quote:

Originally Posted by neenee586

I use those services all the time for Ebay, GW however has it's own auction service so they can allow shill bidding.

Shill bidding is illegal...so no auction service can allow it!

11-26-2013, 10:38 AM

#14

Rodney

Super Member

Join Date: Oct 2013

Location: Centralia, WA, USA

Posts: 4,890

Joe, do you think it's one individual store on the auction site or do you think it's someone at the auction headquarters?
If it's one store using the site, it's easy enough to just not bid on those machines. Chances are the same bidder is shilling other items they're auctioning too.
It's a real shame the people at Goodwill are using those tactics. I think Goodwill will put a stop to it (again) if you let them know, they're not going to want their reputation damaged.
I snipe on all online auctions just for these kind of reasons.

Steve, congratulations on your daughter passing her bar.

Rodney

11-26-2013, 10:59 AM

#15

J Miller

Super Member

Thread Starter

Join Date: Feb 2012

Posts: 8,091

Rodney,

I don't know. I'm watching them and will make notes and keep a folder for those I think are shills. It might be interesting to see .

Joe

11-26-2013, 11:05 AM

#16

Jassinc6

Member

Join Date: Sep 2013

Posts: 30

It's really worse on the auctions for featherweights. I noticed at one point that one particular person seemed to be the high bidder on about 5 machines that were all ending the same day. Maybe I only think that's odd because I wouldn't be able to buy more than one at a time. I consistently get run up to my max on these and in a matter of minutes; doesn't matter if it's 2 minutes or 7 days away from the auction end. They just run up immediately.

11-26-2013, 11:50 AM

#17

Sheluma

Senior Member

Join Date: Jul 2013

Posts: 476

On ebay it's a serious offense and they suspend or terminate the accounts of shill bidders. A while back I reported someone that I suspected of shill bidding and they terminated the accounts of both the seller and the bidder. (The bidder was bidding on many auctions of just one seller. He didn't buy from anyone else. That could legitimately happen but there were some other things that made me suspicious, and I just figured I would let ebay decide.) I know of another person (from an ebay board) who bid on her daughter's item because the item had been damaged during the auction and it was close to the end and they couldn't cancel it. Ebay suspended both of them. They figured it out from the IP adresses -- evidently they monitor them.

But when it comes to Goodwill, are the shill bidders getting money in their pockets for doing this? Even though the dollar amounts may be low it is definitely worth prosecuting because they're scamming *everyone*. Petty shoplifters get prosecuted -- why not Goodwill. I've never bid on any GW items but I might in the future so thanks for the heads up.

11-26-2013, 12:47 PM

#18

vmaniqui

Senior Member

Join Date: Nov 2013

Location: SF Bay Area

Posts: 586

Quote:

Originally Posted by tessagin

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.

and to think that all this goods are donations. yet they're jacking up the prices. i went to my local goodwill store just to peruse and was totally surprised at how absurd their prices are. an old belt for $6.99 (come one guys) i was looking to get the buckle for my leather bag project.

11-26-2013, 03:59 PM

#19

mom-6

Super Member

Join Date: Feb 2010

Location: Texas

Posts: 6,395

I've noticed the pricing at certain GW stores is very erratic. What amazed me was seeing a vase I had just purchased new for $1.69 at a $ store priced as $3.99 at GW the next day. Yet I also see very good value on other items such as the Isotoner gloves I got for $1.99.