Does anyone else suspect Premiere Props of shill bidding on Ebay?

[Striker]

Sucks, things like this hurt the honest people that sell on ebay. I always hear about stay away and stuff but I am legit lol and put good quality into my work :/

 

[CMANavy]

I would say almost every big prop company shill bids. Just look at the history, way to many 0-5 feed back members bidding on everything.

 

[Prop Lord]

Great topic to bring to light. Thank you Aeris504, Rik1138 and others for the information and personal experiences. Aeris504 was right about this NOT being a case of "digging up a grave", I wasn't aware of all the controversy and I'm thankful you brought it up. It is very important to get the information out their to "alert" collectors to these shady practices. This hobby isn't cheap (but it's a great one) and to know there are people ripping off collectors or inflating auction prices is a shame and the information needs to get out there anytime it happens by naming names and prop houses. Thanks again gentlemen.:thumbsup

 

[The Prop Stop]

And if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. No one is going to sell a weapon from Star Wars for $500 no matter how 'badly they need some cash'...

Completely agree...but its the clever ones you have to be careful of. Not the stupid ones.

Aeris504 was right about this NOT being a case of "digging up a grave", I wasn't aware of all the controversy and I'm thankful you brought it up

My issue is that all this has been covered again and again in different threads. Use the search function. The same people talk bad about PP, the same people come forward and say I got this and that cheap etc.

The search function is your friend. Also instead of trying to get educated on dealer sites use places like this, the MPF, thepropstop (my site) and others to do that. There is a multitude of facts out there to sift thru. I have been just as critical of PP then as I am now trying to be more understanding.

Art in his article very siccinctly reviews some of those issues which are slowly being addressed I understand.

 

[aeris504]

And if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. No one is going to sell a weapon from Star Wars for $500 no matter how 'badly they need some cash'...

Completely agree...but its the clever ones you have to be careful of. Not the stupid ones.

Aeris504 was right about this NOT being a case of "digging up a grave", I wasn't aware of all the controversy and I'm thankful you brought it up

My issue is that all this has been covered again and again in different threads. Use the search function. The same people talk bad about PP, the same people come forward and say I got this and that cheap etc.

The search function is your friend. Also instead of trying to get educated on dealer sites use places like this, the MPF, thepropstop (my site) and others to do that. There is a multitude of facts out there to sift thru. I have been just as critical of PP then as I am now trying to be more understanding.

Art in his article very siccinctly reviews some of those issues which are slowly being addressed I understand.

I did use the search function before posting this. There was only one post in one forum that vaguely mentioned that PP might shill bid online, but I didn't see anything else in regards to PP and shill bidding on Ebay. I saw people mentioning many other issues with PP, but not Ebay + Premiere Props in particular.
There is no need to continuously attack me with statement such as "the search function is your friend" and "stop digging up old graves".

 

[The Prop Stop]

Im not attacking you. Im suggesting.

Your the one accusing PP of shillbidding on ebay. Im the one saying they are not, on ebay.

Its called a conversation.

 

[Stairstars]

Your the one accusing PP of shillbidding on ebay. Im the one saying they are not, on ebay.

No, he actually was just asking the question if anyone thought they might be and offered probative information which had made him became suspicious.

No one has proved anything definitive either way.

 

[trenchcoatpanda]

A way to tell if shillbidding is going on, is to bid on one of the scary movie 5, Movie 43, or Beautiful creatures items out in ebay right now. Heheh.

 

[Jack T Chance]

It is because of runaway bidding wars in which I suspected shill bidding was going on that I became a dedicated auction sniper! For roughly a decade now, I've lived by the creed "One Bid, One Win"! :thumbsup

But thanks for the heads up on this. I've only ever bid on one genuine production-made prop, because they usually go WAY out of my price range fairly quickly, but I WILL remember to avoid Premiere Props' auctions. I won't give my money to a company that engages in shill bidding to drive the price up. angry

 

[The Prop Stop]

it doesnt matter what you say mate...look at the guy above me. He's already jumped on the I'm not buying there stuff wagon...AND completely within his rights to do so.

I really don't mind. In fact the more people not bidding the cheaper I can win it.

But yes....one bid one win is how I do it...in last 3 seconds of the auction.

 

[Rik1138]

it doesnt matter what you say mate...look at the guy above me. He's already jumped on the I'm not buying there stuff wagon...AND completely within his rights to do so.

I really don't mind. In fact the more people not bidding the cheaper I can win it.

Um, that's kind of the point of the conversation, if they are shill bidding, no, you can't get it cheaper... They will shill the same price no matter who bids on it and how many times... And you don't think that PP can snipe a shill bid? Seriously?

But, do you really want to give money to a company that does this? Is your desire to have a collectible really worth supporting a company that you KNOW screws people over in many ways?

Wasn't it you complaining about the eBay trinket and underwear sellers? You know why they keep doing it? BECAUSE PEOPLE KEEP GIVING THEM MONEY! If people would stop buying from them (PP) rather than thinking 'Well, I can get it cheaper of a lot more people aren't buying from them' then they would HAVE to go away (or seriously change their business practices)... But they continuously sell stuff at auction (and a few weeks later people are continuously complaining about something with them, as they prepare to bid on the next auction.) Why should PP change anything about the way they do business? They aren't loosing money doing it the way they are no (yet)...

People keep saying things like "I'll never buy from that company!" (any company, just an example), then the next auction comes up with something they want, and they 'secretly' buy it anyway... (Secretly so they won't look like a hypocrite.) Then it shows up a few months later on their YP account, or they are trying to sell/trade it, whatever... Yeah, way to stick to your guns... :rolleyes

 

[voice in the crowd]

Ebay do not care less about shill bidding as long as they get their cut.

Last year a new seller put on a pile of items that interested me (non prop related) so I bid on them. 2 brand new (0) feedback users kept bidding on the auctions. It was so obviously fake accounts set up by the seller.

If you click on the bidders it tells you how many different sellers they are bidding on and these new bidders were bidding on bids on every single item this guy was selling - and no bids on any other sellers. The shill bidders put up the price of ever item significantly. The all sold - none to the fake accounts.


I contacted the seller and told him I would have actually have bid more on some of his items had he not but bids in from fake accounts (which was 100% true I would have bid more if the auctions had been fair) and he basically cut his own throat by being dishonest.

He mailed me back and told me he did bid up his own auctions and he was sorry I found that off putting :facepalm

I placed complaints for every item and Ebay done nothing. The same trader still sells away to his hearts content - even after admitting in writing he is a shill bidder.

 

[jdebord]

Im not attacking you. Im suggesting.

Your the one accusing PP of shillbidding on ebay. Im the one saying they are not, on ebay.

Its called a conversation.

Mark, with all due respect, it sounds like you are suggesting that the OP not have a conversation...

There appears to be a variety of different opinions on the matter, the OP is talking about current auctions, and therefore it is not a settled matter, so it seems to be an appropriate discussion to have (regardless of any past discussions on the same topic).

You yourself have raised examples of bidding issues with Premiere Props that "seriously concern[ed]" you, and that "need[ed] to be examined very closely by potential bidders", yet now you are telling someone that he or she shouldn't do the same examination on other Premiere Props auctions?

Maybe you should start a new topic about people not openly questioning Premiere Props and their business practices, and let the OP and others discuss his concerns here, as these are two separate topics, in my opinion.

If you feel strongly about different forms of fraud being perpetrated on eBay (completely unrelated to Premiere Props), who are you to suggest to the OP that he or she instead start topics about these unrelated things that are of interest you?

If your intention is to defend Premiere Props, it would seem more appropriate for you to make a case on the actual topic, rather than trying to change the subject or close down the discussion.

You say that they are not shill bidding on eBay, so why not prove that to the OP and put his or her concerns to rest, rather than shutting down the topic?

I haven't looked at the auctions described in the original post, so at this point I have no opinion on the matter either way.

Jason

 

[jdebord]

I am relatively new to prop collecting and Ebay, so I'm most likely wrong here...but does anyone else suspect that Premiere Props partakes in shill bidding on their own items under their ebay account premiereprops7?
I've purchased several items from them so far.
One thing I noticed is that usually when I click on the Bid History Details of the person who is in a bidding war with me, their account shows that 80-100% of their bids go to just PP, they won 4 or less items overall, yet bid about 75-100 times in the past month.
Is this indicative of shill bidding or are they just dedicated prop collectors who uses Ebay for nothing other than prop collecting?

Here is one example of one of the Bid History Details of another bidder on a PP Auction:


Bidding Details

Bidder Information Bidder:

o***o

( 7 )

Feedback:

100%

Positive

30-Day Summary
Total bids:

77
Items bid on:

31
Bid activity (%) with this seller:

84%

Can you post a link to the auction you describe?

Jason

 

[The Prop Stop]

First up I'm reading the new site on my phone. It's pretty neat Art. Nice job.

Second up if you think I have power to shut down a thread then so be it. I'm simply saying all the information is available in older threads plus the stickies one at top. There's also stuff on mpf, rpf , better business bureau, etched etc

Next up pp isn't going away since they have 5,000 feedback on eBay and most of it glowing. People on boards will continue to buy and continue to list the stuff.

By coming on a forum as I forgot and going against the grain you open yourself up. I just thought after listening to employees there tell me they are trying to turn it around to just give them a chance.

So as usual my ideas and opinions over time has changed, and what I saw originally with there auctions has disappointed me and personally effected my bidding. I just choose to buy from them still on the pieces I want and set a figure and don't go over it. I've seen nothing to suggest that they are shill bidding.

There u go. The lesson learned here... As usual don't get in front of rhino when charging.

He will run up your credit card bill.

 

[jdebord]

So as usual my ideas and opinions over time has changed, and what I saw originally with there auctions has disappointed me and personally effected my bidding. I just choose to buy from them still on the pieces I want and set a figure and don't go over it. I've seen nothing to suggest that they are shill bidding.

Mark, you had raised issues about Premiere Props and bidding your site here:

Premiereprops auction 24th March 2012: Thoughts and facts…..

In this article, you wrote, in part:

Unfortuantely during the “Galaxy quest” items something that I have witnessed a number of times during the auctions happened again, this time caught on video. As you can clearly see the lot is bid up from $600 (a French bidder) only to be bid to $900 and then when the auctioneer asks if he can sell it the price is dumped down to the last bid of the $800. It is worth noting the estimate was $1000-1400.

Some auctioneers I have spoken to have said this is the responsibility of the auctioneer to know if they can sell this item at the price they have it at. It would seem Premiere has Dan Levin decide if it can be sold.

I guess the argument is this. If no body knows on this side of the fence what the item can be sold for apart from Mr Levin then he can decide what the item sells for. To the eye of myself and those watching the auction around me it looks like the items are being bid up to as much as the buyer will pay and then once he is done then the price “dropped” to the price the bidder is willing to pay…and of the five of us three have never attended an auction before…and every one of them made the comment that the price just dropped down.

Have your opinions/questions expressed last year changed?

Jason

 

[The Prop Stop]

Well that's brilliant. I wrote a huge thoughtful reply and the new site deleted it before posting.

Rolls eyes. Here is the truncated version from memory...

No my ideas haven't changed about eBay PP. This is another subject entirely. Proud to bring it up the time. I don't agree with bid dropping (whole other topic) but all auction companies bid items up to meet reserve unless your screenused.com it seems.

As for eBay I routinely bid against people I know on certain movies. Nothing I've seen has given me pause there at all (the original topic) and you can ID people by amount of feedback crossed with bidder names against the current bids. Not easy but there's not that many bidders for certain movies.
It's also true that some people don't buy from other companies.
I only buy props on eBay really so if you looked at my bidding it would appear all I do is bid on props too...laughs....

I see there is alot people have to get off there chest so ill admit I was wrong on this one to the original poster and they were roght to ask a question. Asking questions is what got both Jason and I to write stuff in the first place.

The only person who should really be answering here is PP. I can't make them do that. They have a forum here to do it. Make use of it.

Shame... That original response was so much better....

 

[Rik1138]

By coming on a forum as I forgot and going against the grain you open yourself up. I just thought after listening to employees there tell me they are trying to turn it around to just give them a chance.

Problem is, it's the _OWNERS_ that are doing the shill bidding (in the live auctions, at least)... It's the _OWNERS_ that had a movie producer reported to the police for stealing his own property when he pulled his items from the company after being disgusted by they way they work... If it's still owned by the same people, it's going to take a lot more than 'talk' from the people on their payroll to convince me they want to 'turn it around'. It got turned the wrong way by them in the first place...

 

[Feezle-Nuts]

I have had a seller suspended for 30 days for shill bidding. Ebay does care and they do investigate.

 

[The Terminator]

He mailed me back and told me he did bid up his own auctions and he was sorry I found that off putting :facepalm

I placed complaints for every item and Ebay done nothing. The same trader still sells away to his hearts content - even after admitting in writing he is a shill bidder.

:facepalm "some people"