| General > General Technical Chat |
| Is Ebay rigging bids? |
| << < (4/7) > >> |
| Deni:
Yes, it seems that there's incorrect time display. According to NIST 12AM and 12PM should not be used, since they are ambiguous : https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/times-day-faqs. Sequence of bids looks like this: r***r placed auto-bid of $50 at 12:29 (24-hour format). This outbid 6***3's bid and when reached $50 triggered 6***4's autobid (set to $200) and stopped with 6***4's bid to $51. But when did 6***4 placed his initial bid that caused r***r's bid to hit $50? Still does not make sense or e-bay nevertheless does not show all bids... I was always wondering - now when everything is run automatically and you can't see your opponents, it looks like playing poker with a machine... :) |
| sleemanj:
It's not that complicated. 09/02 03:11 7***l places an auto bid for $10, it sits at $9.99 12/02 10:31 6***3 places a bid for $10.50, this maxes out the previous bidder at $10 12/02 12:29 r***r places an auto bid for $50, it sits at $11 12/02 17:43 6***4 places an auto bid for $200, this maxes out the previous at $50 and sits at $51 13/02 09:26:22 you place a bid for $55, 6***4's auto increases to $56 13/02 09:26:06 you place a bid for $202.50, this maxes out 6***4 at $200 and you now lead the bidding |
| Deni:
--- Quote from: sleemanj on February 14, 2020, 10:15:04 pm ---It's not that complicated. 09/02 03:11 7***l places an auto bid for $10, it sits at $9.99 12/02 10:31 6***3 places a bid for $10.50, this maxes out the previous bidder at $10 12/02 12:29 r***r places an auto bid for $50, it sits at $11 12/02 17:43 6***4 places an auto bid for $200, this maxes out the previous at $50 and sits at $51 13/02 09:26:22 you place a bid for $55, 6***4's auto increases to $56 13/02 09:26:06 you place a bid for $202.50, this maxes out 6***4 at $200 and you now lead the bidding --- End quote --- Yes, you are right - AM/PM thing messed it up, but that's correct sequence... It would be too obvious - but now when I think of it - since e-bay charges a percentage of sale, it's in their interest to get the highest price possible. When you enter auto-bid value, it's pretty easy to manipulate bidding process, since you can't see actual account names (and links can point to basically anything). Say, you enter $500 as your maximum bid, algorithm can decide to create a few fake bids and pump out more money from you than you should actually pay as long as the final amount is less or equal to $500. You do it randomly, with various end-price differences and at various times, so there won't be visible pattern. Randomize the whole process good enough and buyers would not be able to spot it, sellers does not care since they will get more money for their stuff and everybody is happy... Best of all - you can't be caught ! Of course, if buyer is not using auto-bid then the whole scheme falls apart, but I guess there's a lot users using auto-bid, as you normally cant' spend the whole day looking at e-bay. Or I am just paranoid? |
| nctnico:
--- Quote from: sleemanj on February 14, 2020, 08:47:52 pm ---Looks normal to me... --- End quote --- I agree. This looks like a normal bid history to me. It is Ebay's auto-bidder at work just like it should. The only thing is that the auto-bidder shows the bid time as the time the original bid was entered and not when the auto-bid was made. |
| I wanted a rude username:
--- Quote from: Deni on February 14, 2020, 10:01:57 pm ---12AM and 12PM should not be used, since they are ambiguous --- End quote --- They are unambiguous. They are just illogical to us, because we are aware of the concept of zero. If you keep in mind that PM is post meridiem (after noon), it almost makes sense (12:00:00 is technically not after noon). Anyway, another example of the supremacy of 24 hour time. --- Quote from: Deni on February 14, 2020, 10:25:59 pm ---Or I am just paranoid? --- End quote --- Yes. ;) |
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