Although my experiences on e-bay were not shell-related, the ruses which I
encountered
may be used frequently so I'll share them, briefly...

Shill bidding... the seller and/or his/her cohorts keep pushing the bid
higher and higher.
It is important to know the true value of what you are bidding on.

Often, when you (the bidder) are wise the above ruse, you let the item go to
some other
bidder. After the auction ends, you get an e-mail from the seller that they
have another
item just like the one that you were bidding on... and they'll let you have
it at the price of
your last high bid. This is where many people have been taken for money.
Since this action
is outside of the e-bay system, none of their safeguards apply.

Worst of all is the backdoor out-bid. You win the bid on the item, you send
your payment
to the seller and he/she says that the item has been shipped to you.
However, the person
you were bidding against e-mailed the seller and offered enough get the item
anyway
(or the seller contacted the losing buyer and made the deal the other way
around). You
wait, and wait, and wait,... and nothing arrives. You complain and the
seller says he/she
will return your money, which they are glad to do. Your only defense here is
to insist the
item be shipped insured and the seller should e-mail you the receipt number
so that you
can track the package from your end.

All of the above could be encountered by someone buying shells e-Bay There
are some tricks
to bidding the Dutch auctions but this isn't the place for telling them.

If the deal looks too good to be true, it very likely IS too good to be
true.

Aloha,

makuabob (Bob Dayle)
http://www.cowrys.org

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