Re: [MOPO] Shill or Real

[JR]

Cris,   I've bid on and won 20 or 30 posters in a single week or two. So what? You have to be very careful about throwing around accusations without researching them properly. True shills almost *never* win the posters they bid on -- the purpose of a shill is to drive the price up and then let someone else win it (and pay the high price). The marks of a shill are someone who is always in there, time after time, nudging the price up, but hardly every winning -- and even that is only cause for vague suspicion, particularly in the case of Bruce's auctions, where people have been known to place bids on 40... 50... 60... different posters during one of his major events. Plus, as P.J. pointed out, emovieposter.com offers free book incentives if you win "20 of my auctions this week" or whatever number Bruce picks out of his hat.   Another way to check for possibly shilling is the suspect's feedback. If goes back quite a way but also has current comments and they are from a lot of different sellers and shows the suspect has done a lot of actual purchasing, then the suspect is probably not a shill. If the feedback is from just one or two sellers, then than can be a warning sign. But again, nothing like proof positive.   A skillful shill is almost impossible to detect and even harder to pin down and prove. As for stopping them... forget about it. Shilling has been an integral element of auctions every since the first gavel fell. That's why you always have to have a price in mind that you are willing to pay and not let yourself be pushed to pay more than you want.   -- JR   ----- Original Message ----- From: cris anca To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Sent: Monday, July 17, 2006 16:53 Subject: [MOPO] Shill or Real Hello all,   Has anybody noticed this bidder:   jonesdog04   on ebay ?   He/she has won at least 8 pages of emovieposter.com items in the past week or two.   Does anybody think he/she is for real ?   Cris Do you Yahoo!? Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail Beta. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.