anybody ever bid on a car on ebay?

[scott540]

Anybody ever bid on a car on ebay? I was just waondering what is to prevent the seller of cars, a dealer for example, with no reserve to bid up his own car for sale?

[Mitch90535im]

Anybody ever bid on a car on ebay? I was just waondering what is to prevent the seller of cars, a dealer for example, with no reserve to bid up his own car for sale?

I bought mine via ebay and there is nothing (other than the seller's character and reputation) from running up his own bid. It is pretty common, but ebay supposedluy has some logic in place to help spot it. But... it also confuses that practice with a trader who buys often from the same seller.

[Bimmer Nut Ed]

I bought my car on Ebay. Had no problem, and I believe I got a real good deal at that time.

I don't think there is anything preventing someone from bidding up his Ebay sale item with a different ID. If they don't want to sell it, they can always take it off the auction block anyway.

[Dick Schneiders]

The car is nearly perfect in all respects and had a new engine with only 50,000 miles on it. The previous engine had overheated and was replaced under warranty. This was about 2 years ago.

I would not hesitate to buy another car on eBay if I found the right deal. However, it is important, at least to me, that I know that the car is in great condition. I need to either be able to look at it or have someone I trust look at it. This one was looked at by somebody else on this board and he loved it but decided he wanted a bimmer with a larger engine. He told me about it because I already had another 1991 525i.

There is the danger of sellers using shills to bid on their cars to get the price up, but if the price is right, what difference does it make? As someone else said, they can also stop the sale prematurely if the bidding isn't getting high enough for them. What I do on any item that is fairly expensive and I am concerned about this stuff, is to not bid at all until the last few seconds of the auction. I don't show any early interest in the item to the seller so that he can try to get me to bid more and more. I bookmark items that I am interested in and wait until the last few minutes of the time period. If the price is still at a reasonable level, then I decide how much I want to spend and wait until the last 10 or 15 seconds and place the bid. I usually bump up my "maximum" a bit on the bid because I won't have a 2nd chance to outbid others that might be practicing the same bit of trickery. If I win it, great - I got it at a decent price. If I don't, I just wait until the next one comes along.

There was only once that I bid on a large ticket item early in the auction. It was for a brand new BMW Z8!! The seller had a reserve on the item and I knew that it had to be way up there (or, at least, I hoped so). I saw the item when it first came on eBay and decided to be the first bidder. I wanted my name to be on the item as high bidder for awhile, but still be under the seller's reserve so that I really didn't have to purchase it. So, in a fit of extreme daring, I bid $105,000.00 for the car! I held my breath as the bid was processed and to my relief, it did come up as "Reserve not yet met". I was the high bidder for most of the auction, and the seller sent me several emails wanting to know what my best offer was. I think that his reserve was somewhere around $150,000, so I figured that I was fairly safe at my bid. My wife thought I was crazy for doing that, but it was fun feeling like a high roller for a few days. :-)

Dick Schneiders


Anybody ever bid on a car on ebay? I was just waondering what is to prevent the seller of cars, a dealer for example, with no reserve to bid up his own car for sale?

[Travelfeet]

I have bought 2 cars on Ebay. Keep it simple. Decide what you will pay for a car and bid that amount. You will be outbid or not. Any other approach is to get caught up in the fever of an auction, and spend more than you originally intended. If a shill (or the owner) bids up their own car, they risk being their own high bidder. I have heard that there is hacking software out there that will let the seller (or anyone else) see the highest bid amount available for the high bidder. I am sure that Ebay works against it, but you won’t hear Ebay admit they can’t stop it. Not that I know that such programs work, I just used to get a lot of spam about them. Best thing about Ebay is the selection….

[scott540]

I was just wondering because I see cars with no reserve worth at least $20K and the bid are at like $500 or $1000. It's fun to freak ou the wife and bid on them. I was just wondering if it's common practice for sellers to upbid their own items or if they just pull the car before the auction ends.

[tim s]

the only thing i am sorry about was that i was not thorough enough looking at the car before i purchased it. when i looked at the car i missed a couple of small dings, a leaking heater core, a small vacuum leak in the brake booster, & other minor things. other than that i am happy.

tim s.
1995 540i/a
1987 325e