jimmy jackson
OzCardTrader
Shilling seems to be a dirty term around this forum and anyone who is a "shiller" is seen as scummy. Fair enough... everyone is entitled to their opinion, including me. 
I used to have a big problem with shilling, way back in the day when I was just starting out. Come to think of it, I used to think that gambling, drugs, and debauchery were evil things but that's another matter.
However, having been through the trials and tribulations of being an eBay seller, I no longer have an issue with proxy bidding.
eBay is far too biased in favour of the buyer. Included in their arsenal:
* Buyers can place unusual small increment bids, making the auction look shilled and thereby scare other buyers away
* Buyers can contact other bidders and make up stories/lies about the authenticity of the item or reputation of the seller, thereby scaring other buyers away
* Buyers can use auction sniper to bid in the last second to grab a bargain
* Buyers can take advantage of mispelled words or accidental bad category listings
* Buyers can pretend to not receive an item and initiate chargebacks via Paypal
* Buyers have the power to leave negative feedback for no particular reason and thereby can often get away with not paying for items or attempting to negotiate after the auction.
The way I see it, shilling is just one of the very few tools that a seller has in order to maximise their sale.
I think it's fair to say that most sellers who shill their items are not greedy evil people who are trying to exploit others. Moreso, they are every day people who are just trying to get a fair market price for their item. In other words, the proxy bids are simply reserves.
Given that eBay Australia no longer allows reserves to be set (this is a disgrace), what is wrong with members setting their own reserves through proxy bids? You might say, "why not simply start the item at the price you want!?" Well, good point but there's two problems with that. First we all know that items tend to be much harder to sell when the starting bid is high. It just "looks bad" that there is an item sitting there with no bids on it. The buyer mindset is that "Wow must be a rip-off, no-one has bid". But if they were to actually do a completed item search, they would find that the item is indeed selling for a fair market price. Of course most people won't bother, they will just flick through for the next one that is cheaper... Second, it costs a lot more to list an item at a fair market price than it does to list it at a buck and have someone place a proxy bid.
In summary, shill bidding is not unethical or intrinsically bad. It is however illegal according to eBay's policies. Ebay ONLY care about the bottom line and that's cold hard cash. If shilling genuinely inflated the value of items right across the marketplace, there is no way in the world that eBay would outlaw it - since they miss out on a boatload of money. The only reason why it is illegal is because the majority of people who shill are using it as a reserve bid. Ebay hate this because they lose a lot of money from listing fees.
Until such time that eBay reinstates reserves or drastically reduces listing fees, I have no problem with people "shilling".
I used to have a big problem with shilling, way back in the day when I was just starting out. Come to think of it, I used to think that gambling, drugs, and debauchery were evil things but that's another matter.
However, having been through the trials and tribulations of being an eBay seller, I no longer have an issue with proxy bidding.
eBay is far too biased in favour of the buyer. Included in their arsenal:
* Buyers can place unusual small increment bids, making the auction look shilled and thereby scare other buyers away
* Buyers can contact other bidders and make up stories/lies about the authenticity of the item or reputation of the seller, thereby scaring other buyers away
* Buyers can use auction sniper to bid in the last second to grab a bargain
* Buyers can take advantage of mispelled words or accidental bad category listings
* Buyers can pretend to not receive an item and initiate chargebacks via Paypal
* Buyers have the power to leave negative feedback for no particular reason and thereby can often get away with not paying for items or attempting to negotiate after the auction.
The way I see it, shilling is just one of the very few tools that a seller has in order to maximise their sale.
I think it's fair to say that most sellers who shill their items are not greedy evil people who are trying to exploit others. Moreso, they are every day people who are just trying to get a fair market price for their item. In other words, the proxy bids are simply reserves.
Given that eBay Australia no longer allows reserves to be set (this is a disgrace), what is wrong with members setting their own reserves through proxy bids? You might say, "why not simply start the item at the price you want!?" Well, good point but there's two problems with that. First we all know that items tend to be much harder to sell when the starting bid is high. It just "looks bad" that there is an item sitting there with no bids on it. The buyer mindset is that "Wow must be a rip-off, no-one has bid". But if they were to actually do a completed item search, they would find that the item is indeed selling for a fair market price. Of course most people won't bother, they will just flick through for the next one that is cheaper... Second, it costs a lot more to list an item at a fair market price than it does to list it at a buck and have someone place a proxy bid.
In summary, shill bidding is not unethical or intrinsically bad. It is however illegal according to eBay's policies. Ebay ONLY care about the bottom line and that's cold hard cash. If shilling genuinely inflated the value of items right across the marketplace, there is no way in the world that eBay would outlaw it - since they miss out on a boatload of money. The only reason why it is illegal is because the majority of people who shill are using it as a reserve bid. Ebay hate this because they lose a lot of money from listing fees.
Until such time that eBay reinstates reserves or drastically reduces listing fees, I have no problem with people "shilling".
