[ebay.com] Cook Stem

[GoldenEraMTB]

There should be a viable auction alternative to ebay. Between ebay/paypal (one and the same), they get 10% of the sale, for doing less and less.

Ebay had to start somewhere, nothing stopping an enterprising individual starting a rival site (well there is for me, a lack of knowledge). Though bear in mind if it wasn't for ebay there may not be the revenue available to make this place free for us.

Having been involved in buying and selling through some of the big auction houses in London, Ebay doesn't do such a bad job. With an auctioneer you still have to watch bids coming off the walls etc.

I imagine it's no small undertaking, plus I'm sure ebay has certain intellectual property rights that work best for this kind of auction, which a startup might need a legal team to defend itself, from certain legal action that might come from "improving" upon the ebay system. Ebay does a good job, but I'm sure there is a way to close certain loopholes and bring back certain transparencies that would help restore some checks and balance to the ebay system.

Does anyone know if it is against federal law to shill bid on ebay?

I know in 'real' auctions people have been prosecuted for doing it. I think in the US the Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction over this kind of practice.

See: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consume ... tec07.shtm

I wonder if or why no one has brought a class action lawsuit against them. Might be fun to see the outcome.

Absolutely. Class action law suits have been filed against ebay, many times. Just don't know how successfully. Also, law suits have been filed by one seller against another. I imagine ebay/paypal has a really strong legal department, and our well protected by their TOS and other agreements. This is a website with some info:
http://www.43things.com/things/view/193 ... and-paypal

same here; it's obvious ebay doesn't care much about integrity or fairness, so long as their profits increase. Shill bidders are good for final price of auction, and therefore good for ebay's final cut.

That's true when the seller is pushing the price up, but this tandem bidder/retraction scam actually yields less revenue for ebay since the auction items end up selling for much less than they're worth (unless the seller re-lists of course).

The seller will always relist. Worst case scenario, the seller simply relists the item, best case- the seller gets more than a natural market would yield. Ebay wins either way, as most sellers won't give up on ebay for exposure.