Questionable Ebay bidding on E-Bay 300SD
 

Something just doesn't smell right . . . Check out bidders' feedback ratings.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4551996583&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

So, there are two bidders who have never been on e-bay before and one with a feedback rating of 5.

This means something is amiss?? :confused:

If you notice how they bid, in $500.00 increments, they look exactly like first time e-bay buyers.

I'm with Brian on this one - nothing there seems particularly damning.

I think some of the low- or zero-feedback bidders we see in car auctions on eBay aren't habitual "eBayers" to begin with, but instead are individuals who have come there specifically seeking a car of a particular make, model, vintage, condition, price, etc. that may be very hard to come by in their local areas.

You can search to see what auctions, if any, an eBay user has bid on in the last 30 days. Of the two zero-feedback bidders in that auction, one of them has bid on one other M-B. The other has bid on 4 Mercedes-Benz, 3 Chevy Suburbans, and one Bentley!

Both of them show up in the bidder list for this '85 300D (purty!).

It requires people new to ebay to start bidding that kind of money without probably having car checked out. Vendor quotes everything perfect pretty well but noticed when somone asked if power headrests worked their response was drivers side only. I asked another vendor this week if he had any documentation of 62k claim even if only the oil change book. Responce no but you will see how good the car is after you buy it. Ebay is too dangerous in my opinion unless you get to the car first or have some trustworthy knowledgable person really check it out. Noticed one vendor this week would not even let bidders look at car before end of auction as he quoted it would be an unfair advantage to other bidders. Really sad for legitimate vendors if they make a serious attempt to describe all the true faults the bids are very small. Came to the conclusion that a lot of people are just buying the adds in their minds and are far too optomistic. Friends placing bids for the vendors are commonplace as well to drive it up. Seems to be getting worst all the time. Too bad for the straight guy.

The car does look nice but for $7500 a car should really be just about rust free. This car is from CT - I bet there's a lot more than these bidders are aware of.

Look deeper: The bidder with a 5 rating has been a member since January 2004, but earned it all 5 rating points in May 05 on Movies under $25. The two 0 rated bidders have been members since 2001 and 2003 with no bidding history whatsoever. Although, the point about the $500 steps is well taken.

All the same, it is just too much. IMHO

I did look deeper, and saw the same information you did. I just don't find any of it to be compelling evidence that anything funny is going on.

I'm not saying that shill bidding never happens; I firmly believe it does sometimes. As an outside observer, though, I think that most cases of shill bidding (especially if done with any care) would be indistinguishable from ordinary bidding activity.

My point in my earlier post is that, if a person comes to eBay specifically to hunt for a particular sort of car, it can make complete sense that he might not have any feedback rating. Such a person is not an experienced eBayer "working his way up" from smaller items to cars. He's a prospective car buyer who has come to eBay because that's where some of (or even one of) the cars he's looking for can be found.

When it regards a prospective buyer, lack of feedback history just doesn't mean that much.

I wanted to bid on that car but found out thru Auto Check it was wrecked in 1992 in Ohio. The seller claimed to know nothing about wreck. I wanted to know what part of the car was damaged and the amount of the damage. I asked the seller what his explanation was of the reported wreck in 1992. I received no response. I did not bid.

I find it hard to believe that car is anywhere's nice as represented. Also, that same car was on ebay a few week earlier and was removed before the end of the auction, don't know why.

And finally my friend was going to buy another 300 Turbodiesel from that buyer. The car was on ebay and my friend offered to buy the car for $5000 if the seller took it off ebay and a PPI showed that the car was as represented. The PPI showed the car had more problems than the seller had let on to so my friend did not buy that car.

I agree with Barry123400