3ballsgolf Shill Bidding on Feebay eBay

[kamtile]

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.

You completely miss the point. It is illegal and immoral.  I, for one am offended by grossly unethical business practices.

[rcain1us]

You completely miss the point. It is illegal and immoral.  I, for one am offended by grossly unethical business practices.

I didn't miss anything.

I just think it's funny how it is suddenly a bad deal because someone pointed out second and third-hand information that may or may not be proof that they used the system that is Ebay to get a little closer to your highest bid (which you were in no way coerced into placing in the first place).

Like I said, don't do business with them anymore if you believe everything you have read.

I was worried about dealing with people who were 100% truthful in business all the time I wouldn't own much (and I certainly wouldn't be shopping for anything online).

[cpanther1995]

I've ran across what I thought was shill bidding before, specifically several months ago when I was bidding on Purple Ice shafts on ebay from 1 seller.

They had several, and if "they" ran it up higher than I had bid, I let it go. I did that twice and the 3rd time I attempted to bid, no one ran up against me and I won the shafts with 1 bid. 

[slymer58]

I checked on some of the stuff I have bid on recently. After checking on a the bidders for dozen or so items I found nothing out of the ordinary. Then I started looking at 3ballsgolf items and looking at the bidders. It does look very suspicious. Almost any time you see a 3balls golf item that has a lot of bids on it you will find one or more shill bidders driving up the price. But not all items. You have to watch and see who the other bidders are and what they are doing.

[mr_divots]

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?

Put in a "maximum bid" on all of the auctions and let them ride. It will act like a reserve. When your sold items report comes in, disregard any of the "won" auctions with winning bids from your schill accounts. Easy.

[RickB]

Put in a "maximum bid" on all of the auctions and let them ride. It will act like a reserve. When your sold items report comes in, disregard any of the "won" auctions with winning bids from your schill accounts. Easy.

Doesn't that still leave 3Balls on the hook for the listing and final sales fees owed to ebay? They can certainly ignore the sale from their end without having to pay for and ship the item, but to ebay it's a completed sale. They can't possibly file non-paying bidder reports for every time a shill account accidentally wins.

[ShaneNZ]

maybe they consider that the fees for the times when the shill accounts win is cheaper to pay the odd time instead of having all the items sell for cheap

[mr_divots]

Doesn't that still leave 3Balls on the hook for the listing and final sales fees owed to ebay? They can certainly ignore the sale from their end without having to pay for and ship the item, but to ebay it's a completed sale. They can't possibly file non-paying bidder reports for every time a shill account accidentally wins.

I would have to believe that their 38 cent listing fee (or whatever it is) and final sales fee would be offset by the profit margin. Better to move it at a lesser profit or break even than to sit on inventory. The "3 balls" of the world might get a volume discount on such fees as compared to us??

[silver77]

there is corruption in every sector of this world. If there is money involved and profits to be made 99% of the time there is corruption.

[Pullmeister]

Its pretty obvious 3 Balls is doing shill bidding and its just as obvious Ebay could care less. Yes , its slimy, but it it bothers you dont bid on their stuff. Or, put in really low bids and if it doesnt win, at least 3 Balls will get charged with selling fees.

Thanks for the heads up, I wont bid on any of their stuff anymore( I rarely did anyways). There is tons of stuff out there and most of it is sold by honest sellers.

[scatpack71]

Yep, i'm with you Pullmeister. I for one will not purchase anything from 3balls again. Global Golf, is far superior anyways imo.

[slymer58]

I will bid but be more careful when bidding. If there is shill bidding going on I'll pull out. It's not right to get drawn into a bidding war only to find out it's being done by the seller.

[Mr.103]

I'd never even questioned a purchase because everything I've ever purchased from 3balls has been exactly as described.  However, I went back and looked at an iron set I purchased from them and the bidder who drove the price up looks a little suspect in hindsight.  The bidders I outbid all appear legit.  The net result (if in fact it was a shill) is that I paid $44 more than I would have. 

I obviously realize that no one forced my max bid on me.  If 3balls does utilize shill bidders then it would definitely lower my opinion of them as an eBay seller, but it would not necessarily cause me to quit bidding on their auctions.  It would just be another factor to consider along with the condition of the item.

[mr_divots]

I'd never even questioned a purchase because everything I've ever purchased from 3balls has been exactly as described.  However, I went back and looked at an iron set I purchased from them and the bidder who drove the price up looks a little suspect in hindsight.  The bidders I outbid all appear legit.  The net result (if in fact it was a shill) is that I paid $44 more than I would have. 

I obviously realize that no one forced my max bid on me.  If 3balls does utilize shill bidders then it would definitely lower my opinion of them as an eBay seller, but it would not necessarily cause me to quit bidding on their auctions.  It would just be another factor to consider along with the condition of the item.

Well said. I've always been happy with the condition of their items. This schill bidding is new to me, but I'll be on the lookout for it now with them and other sellers.

Ebay and paypal are such a mess now anyway, I'll likely just avoid them if I can anyway.

[ShaneNZ]

seems that the shill bidding is quite extensive !!!

[drewspin]

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?

That is a smoking gun as far as I am concerned. 

[alcap26]

seems that the shill bidding is quite extensive !!!

I have such a hard time reading your posts when you have those bouncy things to the left.  Those my friend are magnificent.  Please don't ever change your avatar.

[bcheeks]

I have such a hard time reading your posts when you have those bouncy things to the left.  Those my friend are magnificent.  Please don't ever change your avatar.

the @$$ slapping one is better

[ShaneNZ]

I have such a hard time reading your posts when you have those bouncy things to the left.  Those my friend are magnificent.  Please don't ever change your avatar.

the @$$ slapping one is better

it is always hard to decide between a nice a## and big t$%& 

[SC Golfer]

I would have to believe that their 38 cent listing fee (or whatever it is) and final sales fee would be offset by the profit margin. Better to move it at a lesser profit or break even than to sit on inventory. The "3 balls" of the world might get a volume discount on such fees as compared to us??

When you run an e-store there is a flat fee every month no matter how much you list.  That is unless eBay changed their policy again...and again... and again....

[ASK3L]

I have such a hard time reading your posts when you have those bouncy things to the left.  Those my friend are magnificent.  Please don't ever change your avatar.

it is always hard to decide between a nice a## and big t$%& 

Got to be big guns every day!
  Anyway, back to topic. Next time i see something on 3balls i want, I'll shoot them a message and ask if its being Shill bid, I'm sure they will tell the truth  

[LyleG]

I have such a hard time reading your posts when you have those bouncy things to the left.  Those my friend are magnificent.  Please don't ever change your avatar.

it is always hard to decide between a nice a## and big t$%& 

Your girlfriends have nice cans, but you always marry the nice ass. Thats my motto anyways.

[kamtile]

Your girlfriends have nice cans, but you always marry the nice ass. Thats my motto anyways.

My wife says she married a "complete" ass  So, I got that going for me.

[ShaneNZ]

My wife says she married a "complete" ass  So, I got that going for me.

we have that in common keith cause that is what my wife says too 

[mellow]

That is a smoking gun as far as I am concerned. 

I spent 1/2 hour looking through 3balls auctions last week and found 3 other shill bidding accounts that were just like the two posted above.

I just got a set of irons from 3balls. I paid around $400. Without the obvious shill bidding, I would have paid around $340. They are ripping off buyers, plain and simple, in flagrant violation of eBay's regulations.