Dodgy eBay bidding

[Guest briktf]

Someone bidding up Carolinasouls big ticket items on eBay d***c 0 feedback .. Bidding on lots of them.. 😮😮

[Guest briktf]

Grey imprint, Bob & gene, lost souls, brothers unique, ash soul inc , soul in press ions , James fountain , Larry laster , honey and the bees , Jean Carter  too name a few .. All bidder up by same bidder with 0 feedback😮😮 pretty blatant shill bidding or coincidence??

[Jnixon]

Not seen it but I doubt he would be so dumb. 

[Guest briktf]

Was bidding on a few myself and was getting outbid by same bidder d***c (0) checked a few others and saw the same pattern !! Was a bit shocked myself to be honest but something dodgy going on😮 they never won any of the items 

36 bids .. 57 percent with this seller today 

[Modularman]

I think if you have zero feedback you can only bid on three items at any one time. That said, if the item ends and they didn't win it or if they get outbid they could carry on bidding on other items. Could be completely innocent, bidder new to ebay? I wouldn't imagine such a high profile eBay seller would take the risk.

I know on a lot of reggae listings there are 'far right/white supremacist types who try to scupper sales by bidding ridiculous amounts and not paying. They need to get out more IMO 

[Guest briktf]

That's what I thought but if you check the highest price items from the seller right now  .. This bidder is either winning or has been bidding high on these items from the same seller but has hardly any bids with anyone else

[Modularman]

Just gone through the 20 highest priced completed items and they have  bid on four of them and not won one. One was the free jazz lp and the other three soul/funk. Obviously has deep pockets and eclectic taste! Think I need to get out more!!  

[Guest randy]

This kind of dodgy ebay bidding has been happening with US sellers for some time that's why you get second chance offers when the biddings been forced up and you come in second or third. I cant remember the last time i won a record auction on eBay

[Lambrettagp200]

I don't know about dodgy bidding, but that's at least the 5th copy of The Grey Imprint he's sold on eBay & it still made over £2k! 

[Dobber]

i suppose it's irrelevant in the end,just decide what you wanna pay for a record,and stick with your bid! so called dodgy bidding only matters to those who cant bear losing!

[Benji]

1 hour ago, dobber said:

i suppose it's irrelevant in the end,just decide what you wanna pay for a record,and stick with your bid! so called dodgy bidding only matters to those who cant bear losing!

That's not the right way to look at it. What you bid should be the max. amount you're willing to pay. Not what you'd pay anyway.

Example:

Bidder A $100 max

Bidder B (you) $300 max

Bidder c (shell) $350

you lose but you get 2nd chance offer at $300. Without the shell bidder you would have won at $102. That's $198 difference.

[Julianb]

Not just with Carolina Soul. A few I've been watching have been bid up by the 0 feedback person!

[Chess1458]

Have noticed that as well..Not just records im bidding on..but even in my own ebay auctions i have noticed bidders placing bids on my items with "0" feedback....i just block them as a buyer

[Modernsoulsucks]

Someone mentioned on the other thread that the seller takes records on consignment so I guess temptation is there to bid up items by third parties.

No idea if this is happening here as TZC and Briktf have both investigated and come to different conclusions.

And if Randy is reading, won a 45 for 29p with free postage the other day. Not from this seller though.

[Joesoul1958]

Looks like a scam to me, and not a very clever one at that, too transparent, seller could well have another party involved, and he gets someone to bid the record up, with the hope that someone else will put in an higher bid at the last minute, because at the end of the day, it doesn't cost the seller nothing, even if the accomplice wins the record, the seller can come to an agreement and cancel the sale, and either give a second chance offer, or keep it, and sell again at a later date, if you ask me, there's a lot of dodgy things going on there at the moment, stupid prices for records, keep well away from evilbay would be my advice, it's a very unscrupulous world we're living in I'm afraid.

[Modularman]

If the seller is listing 45s on someone else's behalf isn't it more likely the owners of the 45 are bidding them up?

[Frankie Crocker]

Shame this topic has arisen as the auctions from this dealer are amongst the best around. The aim of a shill bidder is to push the price up without winning it, either to assist the seller or the owner of records on consignment.

Second chance offers are not worth taking up as the price is determined by the winning bid as opposed to the maximum of the third highest bidder. You therefore overpay if you take up a second chance offer.

Bidders only need to check Popsike to realise there are multiple copies of some titles being offered auction after auction so it is vital to monitor sales patterns before diving in.

[givemesoul]

I know on a lot of reggae listings there are 'far right/white supremacist types who try to scupper sales by bidding ridiculous amounts and not paying. They need to get out more IMO  agreed the reggae listings have been stupid for years £5 records supposedly selling for £100's

[Bruv]

Talk about trying to milk every last penny out of us with the Big Sounds, on evilbay... 

[Jnixon]

I can't see that Jason has gone all out to rig his own auctions. Never had a bad deal with him over what now spans a few decades. Many people who sell good things regularly gain good prices.  

if anything it could be people who have given him tunes to sell on commission and that he will have no control over.  

Edited July 4, 2017 by JNixon

[Steve S 60]

40 minutes ago, JNixon said:

I can't see that Jason has gone all out to rig his own auctions. Never had a bad deal with him over what now spans a few decades. Many people who sell good things regularly gain good prices.  

if anything it could be people who have given him tunes to sell on commission and that he will have no control over.  

But by allowing them to bid on their own items, the seller would be complicit, unless he is totally unaware of their identity.

[Brummie]

Ebay don't care or wont do anything about it the more money the records sell for the more money they make

[Pete S]

10 hours ago, givemesoul said:

I know on a lot of reggae listings there are 'far right/white supremacist types who try to scupper sales by bidding ridiculous amounts and not paying. They need to get out more IMO  agreed the reggae listings have been stupid for years £5 records supposedly selling for £100's

As far as I know, this stopped 4 years ago.  Just don't take any notice of Popsike prices between 2009 and 2013

[Jnixon]

23 minutes ago, Steve S 60 said:

But by allowing them to bid on their own items, the seller would be complicit, unless he is totally unaware of their identity.

Take your point but you'd never know for sure.  Would you start accusing your customers of fraud without much evidence? 

24 minutes ago, Steve S 60 said:

 

[Steve S 60]

2 minutes ago, JNixon said:

Take your point but you'd never know for sure.  Would you start accusing your customers of fraud without much evidence? 

Only if they were stupid enough to bid exclusively on their own items.

[Kjw]

13 hours ago, Benji said:

That's not the right way to look at it. What you bid should be the max. amount you're willing to pay. Not what you'd pay anyway.

Example:

Bidder A $100 max

Bidder B (you) $300 max

Bidder c (shell) $350

you lose but you get 2nd chance offer at $300. Without the shell bidder you would have won at $102. That's $198 difference.

If you get a 2nd chance offer then offer to pay one bid increment over the figure of the 3rd highest bidder. That's what you would have won it for if the highest bidder hadn't been taking part in the auction.

[Dylan]

10 minutes ago, kjw said:

If you get a 2nd chance offer then offer to pay one bid increment over the figure of the 3rd highest bidder. That's what you would have won it for if the highest bidder hadn't been taking part in the auction.

its not even that simple the third bidder could have also been affected by shill bidding.

 

the whole bidding from the first shill changes what would have been the outcome.

[Dylan]

12 minutes ago, kjw said:

If you get a 2nd chance offer then offer to pay one bid increment over the figure of the 3rd highest bidder. That's what you would have won it for if the highest bidder hadn't been taking part in the auction.

if there were no shill bids below the third highest you are right.

 

I think....

[Chalky]

Has anyone reported the suspicious activity?

[Mouldy Old Soul]

Someone needs to speak to Jason regarding these concerns 

[Brummie]

Another thing if you have a IOS device iPhone or iPad and a listing is private so you cannot see who is bidding and it says  something like your ID is protected from others seeing just look at the same item on your IOS device and look at the bidding history  

[Raremusicdirect]

I think as Jason is a reliable and respected Seller and Soulsource a respected Forum, someone needs to point Jason here and let him comment / investigate.

It does look very unusual.  I doubt EvilBay give a  - more for them and long since lost their credibility.

[Pete S]

Who is Carolinasoul anyway?  I don't follow eBay USA at all.

[Derek Pearson]

18 hours ago, givemesoul said:

I know on a lot of reggae listings there are 'far right/white supremacist types who try to scupper sales by bidding ridiculous amounts and not paying. Agreed the reggae listings have been stupid for years £5 records supposedly selling for £100's

 

8 hours ago, Pete S said:

As far as I know, this stopped 4 years ago.  Just don't take any notice of Popsike prices between 2009 and 2013

Thanks for mentioning this reggae sales side thread as for the last couple o' years I always kept meaning to see if there had been an update on this subject but kept forgetting.....(doh)

At the time I joined the Pama forum to keep up to date with it as even I had been bubbled by this mystery bidder on several reggae 45s I was selling via Ebay (bear in mind none them I had were particularly rare, desireable or even expensive) all sub £15 stuff in excellent condition.

Seem to recall at the time some inventive person had knocked up a cartoon sketch type thing and posted it on Youtube.

I'm sure Pete will know far more about this subject than me - so it all stopped 4 years ago? That's good.

Dx

[Mouldy Old Soul]

13 hours ago, Pete S said:

Who is Carolinasoul anyway?  I don't follow eBay USA at all.

Pete, Its Jason Perlmutter 

[Pete S]

1 hour ago, Mouldy Old Soul said:

Pete, Its Jason Perlmutter 

Thanks - don't think I know him

[Jnixon]

On 04/07/2017 at 12:19, Steve S 60 said:

Only if they were stupid enough to bid exclusively on their own items.

 its a snake eating a snake. 

[Ncfc]

I won the 45 i bid on well below my max bid

[Modularman]

16 minutes ago, NCFC said:

I won the 45 i bid on well below my max bid

Me n'all!! 

[Guest jmperlmu]

Hi everyone, Jason here. A few friends have pointed to me to this thread, enough that I thought it would be appropriate to post a reply. Carolina Soul has been selling records for seven years now, and our reputation is more important to us than anything else. While eBay ultimately runs the show when it comes to our auctions, we do everything within our power to maintain their integrity. We never place shill bids, do not allow them from others, and block any bidders that we suspect to be illegitimate. As collectors long before we started Carolina Soul, we continue to approach business through our customers' eyes, knowing the experience we would want for ourselves. Regarding the zero-feedback bidder in question, we do not have any idea who this is or what their intention was when placing their bids. All we can see is that their account was registered in Sweden on May 25, 2017. As a precautionary measure, we have blocked them so that they cannot bid in the future. If you have any questions about this matter, do not hesitate to contact me directly. Thanks to all for your support. Best regards.