This is why I don't use E-bay
The crappy thing about fleabay is we will never know how many buddies were bidding him up and we will never know if the item truly sold.
I laugh when people say to look at Ebay to get a real world idea of stuff goes for.....:rofl:
You do realize that there is cheap software that is often is used, that allows them to enter a bid with a cap on it..or even unlimited cap and can be done to literally hundreds of auctions all at once.
The software monitors the auctions and places repeated bids up to the pre-determined cap. This is very different than the ebay bid submission process.
So, if a person wants an item really bad, and the listing ends next week when they are not around, are in bed because it ends at 3:15am or or what have you, the software will keep bidding for them, or simply snipe it near the end out of nowhere.
So, person enters a super high price cap, thinking no one will pay that cap amount and is then assured the win.
If you get several people using similar software, it will climb the price up well beyond the actual value of the item, to whatever cap is highest, often in the last few minutes.
People also will often bid up an item that they never intend to buy, to either screw the seller or to screw other buyers/bidders up / deny them the win/item.
Ebay & paypal has very specific software that guards against shill bidding.
If it detects a pattern in the sellers "winning" bidders & thier accounts, all associated accounts go to review and can be terminated if found to be shilling.
The days of having a second or third ebay account that sellers used to bid on their own stuff, or having friends do it, is pretty much over.
Sometimes something sells for way more than you think its worth, legitimately. Its just the way it is...maybe the winning bidder has been looking for it for years and will be damned if he doesnt get it now at all cost.
