Hi

I have been trying to put together a home lab for my CCIE and I have noticed a pattern with certain sellers and buyers for popular equipment.

Cisco 2600XM
Cisco WIC-1T
Cisco C3550 switches

The same seller/bidder combo comes up time and time again and unfortunatley I cannot give the names,  Some of these people must have bought hundreds of these devices from each other, I recently raised a case of shill bidding with eBay Trust & Safety report number KMM20360694V58900L0KM and have received no response which indicates to me that eBay are not concerned about this type of behaviour. In fact I think they are now turning a blind eye to it as the weight of the profits gained must be silencing any morals that were remaining.

The typical scenario is that one item offered and the bid goes beyond what you want to pay, A second chance offer arrives!!. You question the price because if the first bidder drops out you know that the price is inflated. The seller then says he has more than one for sale and that the first buyer did not drop out. JUST SAY NO TO THE OFFER AS THEY HAVE LOTS OF THESE ITEMS, just wait for the next one and bid as late as you can.

View the bid and sell history for the seller and look for frequently occurring  names, if they  have frequent matches be careful with how much you bid.  Lots of sellers seem to think that behaviour like this is ok and it is not.

Finally I would not trust anyone who hides the bidder ID, There is no reason that I can think of for doing this other than the seller has something to hide. IF THE BIDDER ID IS KEPT PRIVATE DO NOT BID!!

Mark