eBay disingenuousness (some classic examples)

Who knows what the real reason was for eBay’s introduction of absolute anonymity of bidding (“Bidder N”). I would maintain that it has nothing to do with fraudulent “second chance offers”: that supposed problem was solved with the blocking of access to underbidders’ direct email addresses. There never was any good reason for absolute anonymity except to make otherwise blatant and obvious shill bidding “disappear” which means that genuine bidders can no longer be on the lookout for and thereby protect themselves from such activity and as a consequence eBay does not have to waste any of their valuable resources doing anything about it. Full story

It appears that eBay will not tolerate any detailed critical discussion on the matter of absolute anonymity of bidders, that further increase in the level of anonymity that they have recently introduced (at least) to their Australian and UK sites and which serves no other purpose than to further obscure bidder IDs to the point that genuine bidders have got absolutely no chance of detecting and thereby protecting themselves from shill bidders. This is a reprehensible action that serves only to deceive consumers. Full story

The Sunday Times says its investigation has revealed that the practice of artificially driving up prices — known as shill bidding — is widespread across the site.

An undercover reporter last week taped one of the UK's biggest eBay sellers admitting that he was prepared to use business associates to bid on his goods for him.

The Sunday Times said it found evidence that a number of businesses — from overseas property agencies to car dealerships — have placed bids on their own items using fake identities.

The cases raise questions about whether eBay, the world's biggest auction site, is doing enough to protect consumers.

Shill bidding is against eBay rules and is illegal under the 2006 Fraud Act. However, the resulting higher prices on the site boost the value of eBay's share of the sales.

Last November eBay changed its rules to conceal bidders' identity — making it even more difficult for customers to see whether sellers are bidding on their own lots.

Since its launch seven years ago, eBay's UK website has attracted more than 15m customers. It sells more than 10m items at any given time. Full story