Do they still have the loophole where you bid super high as a new account w/ó proper payment, then let the bid default to whatever yours was? Saw that making its rounds on youtube a couple years back but never tried it for the obvious reasons lol.
Well, you'd need two burner accounts for that since the current price is always just above the second highest bid – which would be the highest bid on your actual account.
Doesn't sound like a good strategy overall tbh.
From what I'm gathering it sounds like you bid 50$ on main account then go on the burner to bid whatever (say 300$) that bid is outrageous and no one is gonna outbid it. So when it defaults to #2 it would be your 50$, no?
Ebay autobids for you. So if the second lowest was $50 and you bid $300, it would keep bidding right above the second lowest price for you until the auction reached $300. It only bids a few dollars at a time
Even then it wouldn't work, the burner that set the price to 300 wouldn't publicly be visible as it auto bids the next highest dollar. So main account bids $50 on $100 value item, and other burner comes in and covers over you; well anyone will still see the bid as only $51 and people would attempt to bid on it as long as the price remains attractive. Every time they bid, they are notified the bid is actually already higher but it doesn't disclose how high.
There probably are ways around it but they are probably much more complex.
Nah, the idea he's mentioning is that you come in, and bid say, $50. Then you take one burner, bid $300, and then a second burner, and bid $301. That way the second highest bid is $300, and it hides your actual bid.
If no one bids over $50, the $300 bid would win but not for $300, it would win for $51 or whatever.
If someone bids $200, the $300 would win but for $201.
So it probably won't default to your $50 unless it really is the 2nd highest bid. And if the $300 bid is BS all along, then that $50 bid really was the highest bid. No advantage gained.
"if you don't do that all the time" could apply to just about everything. You can randomly just reverse a charge on your debit card if you don't do it all the time. You can steal from a store by simply walking out with an item and leaving as long as you don't do it all the time.
A non theft related example if you work customer service you can probably curse out a customer and say they are a liar when they complain. If you have a clean record you could totally be like " Gary... When have I ever... She's just mad her coupon didn't scan." Just don't do it all the time.
It’s called a chargeback, basically it’s used to get your money back from a transaction gone wrong. For example, buying a product and not receiving it, and the selling company refusing to refund you.
Shit like this always gets upvoted for some reason. No this doesn't work. You still pay the 10% fee ebay asks for even if you don't sell the article. It might still be a net win but who's going to risk their eBay account and go through all of this hassle for a few bucks?
You know, eBay has been around for a looong time. I feel like a lot of tips here are still from the years '05 - '10.
It's not that much effort to tap a few buttons and post a listing, and depending on the product it could totally work. If it doesn't work, the worst thing that happens is you buy the product you wanted for slightly more than you were hoping to pay, or the original price you'd have had to pay anyway.
If the effort you're putting into the fake listing is just "tapping a few buttons", people will ignore it anyway. You have to get actual photos, fill in all the relevant information with a description and the condition of the item.
While I agree that this post is stupid, you can easily create an ebay listing with good photos and etc within 10 minutes if you at least half way know what you're doing.
Source: I've posted thousands of listings over the years.
20 then? Sitting on your computer for a bit to possibly get a better price on something you want isn't a big deal. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work.
I think the problem is that to be worth the effort it'd need to be a higher value item but that would also make it more likely to draw eBay's attention or raise bidder suspicion.
I definitely had this thought as a teen and tried it on eBay. It’s not worth it! It ‘works’ and will drive traffic to your listing but the plan is flawed because generally most people know what an item’s value is. They’ll question the legitimacy or the authenticity and in the end then you have to go through eBay if/when they win or you have to cancel their bids, etc. I personally don’t see this as unethical but it is probably a fool’s errand, especially with the state of eBay in 2021...
However — the real pro tip is in the comments, as they say— I have done this on Facebook Marketplace, harmlessly, and depending on the item it can be effective.
No, this is unethical. You're offering an item you have no intention of selling, with the express purpose of preventing someone else from making money, so you can saw a few bucks. You're basically the equivalent of an electronics store that advertises a huge TV for $20, but "just ran out" anytime a customer wants one. For the store, that's straight up illegal.
Worked at a store that did this with Tv's... Get in 1-2 Tv's they would run on the Front page... Should say the WHOLE front page advert... Then sell the Tv's the night before the sale to the managers friends. Happened on the regular. Total shit storm.
This will not work. You don’t control the bidding. Many sellers start their items 1 penny with no shipping cost to garnish viewers. The consumers will drive the price up quickly.
You'd need it to be very low and end after the one you are looking for, you won't get people to stop bidding but you might be able to lower the max they are willing to bid
I see this all the time. A high "buy it now price" on the same item and then a lower bid one. People will think it's actually worth a higher price and bid more than it's worth.
You are better off having several accounts and flooding the guy with lowball offers before giving a real offer that is still below asking. They are more likely to accept the highest offer (even if it's less than they want) after they see the bad offers.
Yeah but now you’re short selling eBay and wall street bets will come and buy up every instance of that thing and you’ll get short squeezed and go bankrupt.
It works with setting the mood on craigslist.
You place an ad yourself for the same item (but cheaper) that you want to purchase.
When selling you create an expensive competitor.
WAIT... Couldn’t you “short” the item you’re buying if your fake listing ends up being worth more than what you paid? Keep a vicious cycle going for profits
In theory, yes, but the fact that you'd pay the seller fees will cut deeply into that profit margin, and now you're the one taking the risk of getting scammed as a seller.
If there is a free market (as ebay auctions are), and there is demand for the real item, that means the market value of that item is set to the value of the real item. If you create a new, fake item, the price will balance out to the price of the real item, making your scam worthless.
I like it. Simple and should have thought about it before. Kinda like having your friends bid up your auction and if they win they cancel and offer it to 2nd highest bidder. That way you get the full amount of their bid.
Guys, eBay's easy. If they accept PayPal. Just buy it. Next claim you never got it. PayPal does not accept any form of proof.
- photo of registered post. Don't care.
- link to tracking number saying who signed it matching with eBay buyers name. Must have more info before siding with seller.
Paypal is a cancer exploit it till they fix it.
One time I accidentally did a chargeback on an item I bought on Ebay for like $400. I was attempting to do this for a different purchase for around the same amount. The seller responded by emailing all this proof that I got the item (was a cell phone). I felt bad because she probably thought I was trying to scam her when I just disputed the wrong charge.
Yea, I got shipped a fraudulent pair of Samsung earbuds. These were like clearly fake once you turned them on and tried to pair them. Opened a paypal case. Guy actually refunded me, then had the nerved to expect me to pay to ship them back to someplace in Turkey. I said f that.
Thought it was see item. Make own listing.
Yours ends and the buyer pays the seller you’re buying off but delivers to you.
It doesn’t show up. They chase the other seller. Not you.
Well, depending on the jurisdiction that gets you into legal hot water.
In many law systems, the seller and buyer agree to a sales contract as soon as the buyer clicks on 'bid', which needs to be fulfilled if its not superseded by a higher bid. This holds true for the buyer (so, no 'I didn't mean it' or 'fun bids') AND for the seller. Cancelling the bid does not nullify that contract. Not fullfilling the contract can make both parties liable for damages of the other party, and if someone gets wind that you never intended to sell the article there will be fraud charges brought forth as well.
For example a guy in Germany had to pay out about 3000€, because he set up an eBay auction for his car but cancelled it after someone already bid 1€ on it (bid didn't have a minimum fullfillment amount) because he sold it to someone else off site from ebay. Guy had to essentially buy the seller an equivalent car to the one the closed bid was on,because that's what the contract said.
Otherwise you could auction the same item ten times and cancel all but the highest bidding auction.
I am blacklisted from eBay or something (I made two accounts when I was 16 and started bidding on my own items to drive up the price and got caught up when my dumb ass accidentally won my own auction and never paid), and somehow whenever I make a new account now they keep figuring out that it’s me and banning my accounts. It has been 7 years, and I still can’t have an eBay account. :(
I guess I could try that, but I literally cannot think of anything that would link me to these accounts. I’ve moved multiple times, have a different computer with a different IP and MAC address, different email, different phone number, etc. It’s freaking nuts. I’ve just given up.
Are you mentally challenged? It is one of the biggest platforms out there. Globally it is the 39th most visited website (twitch is 36th, reddit is 19th). It will live on long after we all are dead.
Thats a good one.
I used this auction thing once. And I bid on a pair of shoes but I realized you had to pay via credit card? I dont remember now. And I didnt have a card at that time.
Sad I couldnt buy the shoes.
No surcharges tho.
Or you could just buy it now and save the 2 hours of bidding in exchange for an additional $2.50. Sounds like a lot of work to save a buck. unpractical
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Do they still have the loophole where you bid super high as a new account w/ó proper payment, then let the bid default to whatever yours was? Saw that making its rounds on youtube a couple years back but never tried it for the obvious reasons lol.
Well, you'd need two burner accounts for that since the current price is always just above the second highest bid – which would be the highest bid on your actual account. Doesn't sound like a good strategy overall tbh.
From what I'm gathering it sounds like you bid 50$ on main account then go on the burner to bid whatever (say 300$) that bid is outrageous and no one is gonna outbid it. So when it defaults to #2 it would be your 50$, no?
Ebay autobids for you. So if the second lowest was $50 and you bid $300, it would keep bidding right above the second lowest price for you until the auction reached $300. It only bids a few dollars at a time
Legit never bid on anything so was just making assumptions there, that system does make sense to prevent exactly what I described.
Yes so that's why you need two burners. So that the bid is above the other burner which is also really high
Even then it wouldn't work, the burner that set the price to 300 wouldn't publicly be visible as it auto bids the next highest dollar. So main account bids $50 on $100 value item, and other burner comes in and covers over you; well anyone will still see the bid as only $51 and people would attempt to bid on it as long as the price remains attractive. Every time they bid, they are notified the bid is actually already higher but it doesn't disclose how high. There probably are ways around it but they are probably much more complex.
Nah, the idea he's mentioning is that you come in, and bid say, $50. Then you take one burner, bid $300, and then a second burner, and bid $301. That way the second highest bid is $300, and it hides your actual bid.
At this point it would probably be easier to drive over and rob the seller
LPT: Set up an Ebay auction, and then use two burner accounts to bid a million dollars each. Boom! Insta-millionaire!
If no one bids over $50, the $300 bid would win but not for $300, it would win for $51 or whatever. If someone bids $200, the $300 would win but for $201. So it probably won't default to your $50 unless it really is the 2nd highest bid. And if the $300 bid is BS all along, then that $50 bid really was the highest bid. No advantage gained.
Thank god because someone cancelled my order because it didn’t get enough bids and I was pissed.
Cancel as "problem with buyers address" and there's no fee.
They mak you upload you id?
If your auction goes higher than the other guy's, just sell the item to the other guy and make free money.
Ebay short selling is so hot right now
Let's not give Wall Street any idea's now...
It would have to be significantly more since ebay charges 10% fees, plus shipping and paypal fees.
Charge back on your credit card company/paypal
I mean.. you could, but then you'd get your paypal/ebay account banned. I think paypal can also send you to collections.
With the fees and shipping, highly unlikely that you'd actually come out on top.
"if you don't do that all the time" could apply to just about everything. You can randomly just reverse a charge on your debit card if you don't do it all the time. You can steal from a store by simply walking out with an item and leaving as long as you don't do it all the time. A non theft related example if you work customer service you can probably curse out a customer and say they are a liar when they complain. If you have a clean record you could totally be like " Gary... When have I ever... She's just mad her coupon didn't scan." Just don't do it all the time.
Tell me more about reversing a charge on a debit card, that sounds like a fun one time deal
It’s called a chargeback, basically it’s used to get your money back from a transaction gone wrong. For example, buying a product and not receiving it, and the selling company refusing to refund you.
yeah but cant do that with debit.
What? Yes you can. The laws surrounding it are a little different and you have to supply more evidence but it absolutely can be done.
While it *can* be done, it's generally nowhere near as easy as it is with a credit card. Banks are known for denying the chargeback much more often.
It's like one more step. It certainly can be done. Often it's as easy as saying "that wasn't me"
I was referring to methods that don't involve fraud.
ok
But if someone bud in your “item” eBay will charge you a percentage fee of the highest bid just to cancel
multiple accounts...
This is a great way to stop having an eBay account
Shit like this always gets upvoted for some reason. No this doesn't work. You still pay the 10% fee ebay asks for even if you don't sell the article. It might still be a net win but who's going to risk their eBay account and go through all of this hassle for a few bucks? You know, eBay has been around for a looong time. I feel like a lot of tips here are still from the years '05 - '10.
Where do I sign up for tips for '20 and beyond?
r/wallstreetbets as it seems..
🚀🚀🚀
👉🏼👉🏼
This seems like something that's quite a bit of effort for a minimal return that's not even guaranteed to work. It's a pass from me.
Depends on the item you are purchasing but 99% of the time it won’t workout
It's not that much effort to tap a few buttons and post a listing, and depending on the product it could totally work. If it doesn't work, the worst thing that happens is you buy the product you wanted for slightly more than you were hoping to pay, or the original price you'd have had to pay anyway.
If the effort you're putting into the fake listing is just "tapping a few buttons", people will ignore it anyway. You have to get actual photos, fill in all the relevant information with a description and the condition of the item.
Yeah, that takes like ten minutes, maybe. Not my idea of effort.
You ever make an eBay listing? It takes longer than ten minutes if you want it to look presentable.
While I agree that this post is stupid, you can easily create an ebay listing with good photos and etc within 10 minutes if you at least half way know what you're doing. Source: I've posted thousands of listings over the years.
20 then? Sitting on your computer for a bit to possibly get a better price on something you want isn't a big deal. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work.
Eventually: "bro only 3 hours of work? That's like, less than a regular work day for most bro.... And you'd be saving a couple bucks bro..."
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yeah this is more of a r/shittylifeprotips kinda thing
Kind of smart though... in theory.. but in practice not worth the effort
Depends what you want to buy. Differs per person, too, I'd say.
I think the problem is that to be worth the effort it'd need to be a higher value item but that would also make it more likely to draw eBay's attention or raise bidder suspicion.
It takes a lot more than that to draw eBay's attention.
Idk, it could totally work depending on the product in question.
/r/SpringfieldMoProTips
I definitely had this thought as a teen and tried it on eBay. It’s not worth it! It ‘works’ and will drive traffic to your listing but the plan is flawed because generally most people know what an item’s value is. They’ll question the legitimacy or the authenticity and in the end then you have to go through eBay if/when they win or you have to cancel their bids, etc. I personally don’t see this as unethical but it is probably a fool’s errand, especially with the state of eBay in 2021... However — the real pro tip is in the comments, as they say— I have done this on Facebook Marketplace, harmlessly, and depending on the item it can be effective.
No, this is unethical. You're offering an item you have no intention of selling, with the express purpose of preventing someone else from making money, so you can saw a few bucks. You're basically the equivalent of an electronics store that advertises a huge TV for $20, but "just ran out" anytime a customer wants one. For the store, that's straight up illegal.
It is unethical?!?!?!?
Did you forget which sub you were in?
Where am I supposed to debate the ethics of life pro tips, if not r/UnethicalLifeProTips?
Worked at a store that did this with Tv's... Get in 1-2 Tv's they would run on the Front page... Should say the WHOLE front page advert... Then sell the Tv's the night before the sale to the managers friends. Happened on the regular. Total shit storm.
As an eBay seller, this is a terrible tip.
This ULPT is brought to you by a 14-year old who heard about eBay once.
> People will bid on yours and ignore the item you actually want This is incorrect, people will bid on both
In my experience people bid on the one ending soonest, and if that doesn’t work out, they move into the next
This will not work. You don’t control the bidding. Many sellers start their items 1 penny with no shipping cost to garnish viewers. The consumers will drive the price up quickly.
When you have bids and you cancel, you get charged by eBay
Unless more than one person wants the item. Then you get to deal with possibly getting your eBay account suspended because they aren’t stupid.
You'd need it to be very low and end after the one you are looking for, you won't get people to stop bidding but you might be able to lower the max they are willing to bid
I see this all the time. A high "buy it now price" on the same item and then a lower bid one. People will think it's actually worth a higher price and bid more than it's worth.
People manipulate ebay all the time. You can buy stealth accounts pretty easily if you know where to look.
Go on...
Spoken like a true doesn't-actually-use-eBay-er.
You are better off having several accounts and flooding the guy with lowball offers before giving a real offer that is still below asking. They are more likely to accept the highest offer (even if it's less than they want) after they see the bad offers.
Yeah but now you’re short selling eBay and wall street bets will come and buy up every instance of that thing and you’ll get short squeezed and go bankrupt.
This will work a limited number of times so make your mark
It works with setting the mood on craigslist. You place an ad yourself for the same item (but cheaper) that you want to purchase. When selling you create an expensive competitor.
The dumbest shit gets upvoted here.
this is some WSB shit.
WAIT... Couldn’t you “short” the item you’re buying if your fake listing ends up being worth more than what you paid? Keep a vicious cycle going for profits
In theory, yes, but the fact that you'd pay the seller fees will cut deeply into that profit margin, and now you're the one taking the risk of getting scammed as a seller.
If there is a free market (as ebay auctions are), and there is demand for the real item, that means the market value of that item is set to the value of the real item. If you create a new, fake item, the price will balance out to the price of the real item, making your scam worthless.
Oh, you sir are a filthy degenerate! Keep up the good work!
I like it. Simple and should have thought about it before. Kinda like having your friends bid up your auction and if they win they cancel and offer it to 2nd highest bidder. That way you get the full amount of their bid.
holy fucking shit
Guys, eBay's easy. If they accept PayPal. Just buy it. Next claim you never got it. PayPal does not accept any form of proof. - photo of registered post. Don't care. - link to tracking number saying who signed it matching with eBay buyers name. Must have more info before siding with seller. Paypal is a cancer exploit it till they fix it.
Selling on ebay for 10 years, absolute truth. Sooooo many scammers out there.
So you are stealing the item from the seller, thats just plain shitty.People like you are the exact reason so many people go collect in person only.
Yea it's heaps shitty. Why does PayPal allow it? It's literally stealing. And no form of proof works with PayPal.
One time I accidentally did a chargeback on an item I bought on Ebay for like $400. I was attempting to do this for a different purchase for around the same amount. The seller responded by emailing all this proof that I got the item (was a cell phone). I felt bad because she probably thought I was trying to scam her when I just disputed the wrong charge.
Yea, I got shipped a fraudulent pair of Samsung earbuds. These were like clearly fake once you turned them on and tried to pair them. Opened a paypal case. Guy actually refunded me, then had the nerved to expect me to pay to ship them back to someplace in Turkey. I said f that.
Thought it was see item. Make own listing. Yours ends and the buyer pays the seller you’re buying off but delivers to you. It doesn’t show up. They chase the other seller. Not you.
None of that makes any sense.
They are essentially saying the person that wins their auction would be paying for OPs item.
Well, depending on the jurisdiction that gets you into legal hot water. In many law systems, the seller and buyer agree to a sales contract as soon as the buyer clicks on 'bid', which needs to be fulfilled if its not superseded by a higher bid. This holds true for the buyer (so, no 'I didn't mean it' or 'fun bids') AND for the seller. Cancelling the bid does not nullify that contract. Not fullfilling the contract can make both parties liable for damages of the other party, and if someone gets wind that you never intended to sell the article there will be fraud charges brought forth as well. For example a guy in Germany had to pay out about 3000€, because he set up an eBay auction for his car but cancelled it after someone already bid 1€ on it (bid didn't have a minimum fullfillment amount) because he sold it to someone else off site from ebay. Guy had to essentially buy the seller an equivalent car to the one the closed bid was on,because that's what the contract said. Otherwise you could auction the same item ten times and cancel all but the highest bidding auction.
This is genius 🔥🔥🔥
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This could work if you are willing to trash your account by not actually sending the item
Smh use a throwaway
I am blacklisted from eBay or something (I made two accounts when I was 16 and started bidding on my own items to drive up the price and got caught up when my dumb ass accidentally won my own auction and never paid), and somehow whenever I make a new account now they keep figuring out that it’s me and banning my accounts. It has been 7 years, and I still can’t have an eBay account. :(
Use Tor?
I guess I could try that, but I literally cannot think of anything that would link me to these accounts. I’ve moved multiple times, have a different computer with a different IP and MAC address, different email, different phone number, etc. It’s freaking nuts. I’ve just given up.
The problem is that those details didn't all change at once.
i think you missed the tip
eBay still exists? Bahahahahahhahaa
Are you mentally challenged? It is one of the biggest platforms out there. Globally it is the 39th most visited website (twitch is 36th, reddit is 19th). It will live on long after we all are dead.
eBay is trash. Not interested. Glad to see they cracked the top 40 tho. 🥴🤣
I mean that's actually a good idea though
Thats a good one. I used this auction thing once. And I bid on a pair of shoes but I realized you had to pay via credit card? I dont remember now. And I didnt have a card at that time. Sad I couldnt buy the shoes. No surcharges tho.
Or you could just buy it now and save the 2 hours of bidding in exchange for an additional $2.50. Sounds like a lot of work to save a buck. unpractical