3ballsgolf Shill Bidding on Feebay eBay

[RexWrx]

So- it's come up on other forums before, with some jumping to 3Balls defense, and others that have seen it happen many times with 3Balls in the past. I was watching this Cleveland VP2 Milled putter, missed the auction end, and was surprised to see the $$ value it sold for. Opened up the bidding history to have a look and:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110311796638

r***y( 17)
30-Day Summary
Total bids:   1056
Items bid on:   632
Bid activity (%) with this seller:   99%   
Bid retractions:   0
Bid retractions (6 months):   0

p***s( 15)
30-Day Summary
Total bids:   990
Items bid on:   675
Bid activity (%) with this seller:   100%   
Bid retractions:   0
Bid retractions (6 months):   0

Clearly these are 3Balls Shill Bidding accounts to prop up the prices- and I made a Shill Bidder report with Feebay. To clarify, I've bought many times from 3Balls in the past, and find them VERY trustworthy in terms of stated condition and authenticity of your purchase.

But, Shill Bidding really p****s me off.

Thoughts?

[scatpack71]

That's really unfortunate, because of 3balls reputation. I was sure this was going on, but i've never really looked for it. Thanks for sharing that info.

[putt4doh]

I've personally lost a few 3balls items in the final seconds under very similar circumstances.  Although I'm not ready to shout 'GUILTY', the circumstantial evidence is certainly stacking up.  I'll be very curious to see the results of FeeBay's 'investigation'.

[RexWrx]

I'm sure 3Balls generates HUGE fees for eBay. I can't imagine they would take any action against them anyways...unfortunately.

[RickB]

I've personally lost a few 3balls items in the final seconds under very similar circumstances.  Although I'm not ready to shout 'GUILTY', the circumstantial evidence is certainly stacking up.  I'll be very curious to see the results of FeeBay's 'investigation'.

I'm ready to shout 'GUILTY'. 990 bids ALL on items from a single seller?? There's no way on earth that's not a shill account.

[johnsy14]

Don't scare me - I've won 2 sticks so far and bidding on a couple more at 3Balls now. Maybe they don't have any lefty late bidders....

[SVonhof]

I'm sure 3Balls generates HUGE fees for eBay. I can't imagine they would take any action against them anyways...unfortunately.

Plus, even if they are shill bidders, EBay is still getting the listing fees for these items, so do they really care?

[nobogeys59]

Plus, even if they are shill bidders, EBay is still getting the listing fees for these items, so do they really care?

Exactly why Ebay don't care.

[RexWrx]

Exactly why Ebay don't care.

Just another conflict of interest for Feebay.

Speaking of which- Why the f**k does Paypal (an eBay subisidiary) charge fees on the shipping portion of the transaction? That's always rubbed me the wrong way...

[RickB]

Speaking of which- Why the f**k does Paypal (an eBay subisidiary) charge fees on the shipping portion of the transaction? That's always rubbed me the wrong way...

The same reason that the credit cards charge merchants for the shipping portion of the transactions. The fact that you don't see it doesn't mean it isn't there. If PayPal is fronting X dollars why should it matter if it's $1 for the item and $99 shipping or a $99 item with $1 shipping. They're paying the same either way, they should be entitled to their cut either way.

[bcheeks]

i read part of the post about this on another forum. i have been trying to win an airmuscle from 3balls on ebay recently and noticed the same bidders driving the price up on all of them.  pretty much the same as your examples above.  i also say guilty.  luckily i found someone to trade with and got the club i wanted elsewhere.

[gwlee7]

This is most interesting to me as I have been trying to score my wife a decent set of irons on the cheap from them and I just keep barely losing .....

[RexWrx]

i read part of the post about this on another forum. i have been trying to win an airmuscle from 3balls on ebay recently and noticed the same bidders driving the price up on all of them.  pretty much the same as your examples above.  i also say guilty.  luckily i found someone to trade with and got the club i wanted elsewhere.

Feel free to file a Shill Bidding Report here for your item in question- hit the Report link

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/seller-Shill-bidding.html

[RexWrx]

Looking back on my last two 3balls purchases- it appears I was Shilled on both of them. 

[bcheeks]

just looking through their feedback you can pick some out.  bidder e***. has about 110 bids, all on 3 balls auctions.  i reported them.  i figure if nothing else hopefully it will piss ebay off the way they've pissed everyone else off with their new holding money for 21 days policy. 

hey ebay and 3balls, if you're out there this is for you - 

[hipsterdufus]

wow I'm currently bidding and wish i had read  this earlier.
 Bidder Information
Bidder: u***u ( private ) 
Feedback: 100%Positive 
Item description: COBRA SPEED PRO D 8.5* DRIVER ALDILA VS PROTO 65 STIFF
Bids on this item: 1
  30-Day Summary
Total bids: 521
Items bid on: 494
Bid activity (%) with this seller: 100%   
Bid retractions: 0
Bid retractions (6 months): 0
 

 
 Bidder Information
Bidder: u***r( 100) 
Feedback: 100%Positive 
Item description: COBRA SPEED PRO D 8.5* DRIVER ALDILA VS PROTO 65 STIFF
Bids on this item: 1
  30-Day Summary
Total bids: 880
Items bid on: 874
Bid activity (%) with this seller: 100%   
Bid retractions: 0
Bid retractions (6 months): 0
 

now what do i do???

[RexWrx]

You could do a Bid Retraction and state you're voiding your bids due to Shill Accounts bidding against you.

[Richard Nixon]

Has anybody tried contacting 3Balls?

[garygolf]

Let me state I have met the owners of 3balls and on occasion have purchased product from them on Ebay, at the annual warehouse sale and at the brick and mortar pro shop they own.

Before reading this post I had never heard of shilling, seems to be a reasonable concern. 

Another possability for some (not all) of the bidding issues is fear over ebay counterfitting.  Buying from a known single vendor helps mitigate risk and improves confidence that the item is legitimate. 

Just another option to consider

[ND fan]

Damn I hate to hear stuff like this.

I've won a few things on ebay 3 ball auctions and wondered the same thing the evidence you present here is basically proof of cheating.
No one has or should have 600+ bids to only one company.

[Richard Nixon]

Do they have guys dedicated to just shill bidding? They've always got so much for sale at one time; how could anybody track it all?

[scatpack71]

Let me state I have met the owners of 3balls and on occasion have purchased product from them on Ebay, at the annual warehouse sale and at the brick and mortar pro shop they own.

Before reading this post I had never heard of shilling, seems to be a reasonable concern. 

Another possability for some (not all) of the bidding issues is fear over ebay counterfitting.  Buying from a known single vendor helps mitigate risk and improves confidence that the item is legitimate. 

Just another option to consider

The problem is you don't big on 1000+ items in 30 days and only have 17 feedback. That's ridiculous!

[rcain1us]

Let me state I have met the owners of 3balls and on occasion have purchased product from them on Ebay, at the annual warehouse sale and at the brick and mortar pro shop they own.

Before reading this post I had never heard of shilling, seems to be a reasonable concern. 

Another possability for some (not all) of the bidding issues is fear over ebay counterfitting.  Buying from a known single vendor helps mitigate risk and improves confidence that the item is legitimate. 

Just another option to consider

I have also met the owners of 3balls and have gotten some great deals from them on ebay without experiencing any shill bidding or any problems.

A few years ago I bought a driver that I was not happy with condition wise and they took it back no questions asked.

Not saying the above posts are un-true, just adding my experiences with this seller.

[kamtile]

I just filed a complaint against them. I won a Titty 3 wood a few days ago and after reading this thread, I checked the bid history and sure enough, 2 bids before my winning bid.



bidder 2***-
179 total bids
bids with this seller 100%
8 items won

Who bids 179 time and wins 8 items?  So, I asked for my money back.  I dont need to do bussiness with thieves.  Times are hard but thats not an excuse to become criminals.

[rcain1us]

I just filed a complaint against them. I won a Titty 3 wood a few days ago and after reading this thread, I checked the bid history and sure enough, 2 bids before my winning bid.



bidder 2***-
179 total bids
bids with this seller 100%
8 items won

Who bids 179 time and wins 8 items?  So, I asked for my money back.  I dont need to do bussiness with thieves.  Times are hard but thats not an excuse to become criminals.

By all means, cancel you order if that makes you feel better. But they didn't hold you down and force you to place a bid. And if you didn't think the club was worth what you bid you wouldn't have placed it.