Bolt bags; ebay ripoff?

[Hummer]

I've been keeping my eye on these and was hoping to get in on the bidding this evening, but it looks like it might be a scam.

Item #200496118888

The same bidder doubled the price and then outbid himself shortly after. Maybe a mistake, but enough to throw me off the trail. Bid at your own risk!

 

[aaronbuell]

Sellers get people they know to drive up the prices when they aren't getting the amount they want. It's a stupid way to get the price up. They need to just list it for what they want and stop trying to screw people. I've seen this alot over the years since most of the parts for my 98 S3 come from e-bay.

 

[Alfatango1]

Looks like bull **** to me. The seller has zero feedback and the person who doubled the bid has 45,000 plus! Since when would an experienced seller double their bid? Like Aaron says just put flippin reserve on it for god sakes.

 

[Hummer]

The replies to any of the questions I asked were pretty minimal and very generic so I was suspicious to begin with. I'm kind of glad the bidding went haywire - at least this way I'm not going out on a limb with my own bid.

Too bad though - I'd really like to get my hands on a set of those saddlebags.

 

[ophawk]

Aaron I'm with you. I too get nearly all my Parts from eBay, but I use a proxy bidder, they put a bid in for me with 5 seconds before the end of the auction that way all the hinky stuff is done with the other bidders, then if it still looks like a good deal I'll proxy bid what I'll pay, which is usually 1/2 of list, if it new and adjusted accordingly from there if it is Used or Very Difficult to Locate, depending on my need or Want at the time.

If anyone wants a invite to the proxy bidder i use send me a pm with your email, and i'll get them right back out to you.

Later,
Dale

 

[Hummer]

Ha! $350 final price with 4 bids in a row by the same bidder to get it up to the $300 range. What a joke!

 

[SMDUB1]

I was watching those as well. Did not bid though.. Hack city...

 

[ophawk]

What you guys are seeing as 4 bids in a row by the same bidder is the way that eBay does the actual bid system.
Say for an item you put in a max bid of $300, but the current bid is $150, your bid will show as 1 increment above the max bid of the highest bidder, if your max is not above his, it will show his as another bid. in this case $305, 1 increment above your max. If you then continue to try to out bid the leading bidder each time you raise your max it will show him with another bid, until you exceed his max then you are shown as the highest bidder.

I Hope that Helps explain how that happens.

The other thing that does happen is if the current leader has another bidder bid his max, both the same, the 1st bidder is considered the leader until he is outbid.
Later
Dale