DO WE USE BOTS TO PLACE FAKE BIDS?
WE DO NOT USE BOTS!
Consignment auctions like ours have no reason to use a BOT however some new product auctions in Ontario are now using software that has a “BUY BACK BOT” auto bidder feature in the software. No way to prove the company is using this or not but we assure you WE DO NOT use anything like that here! We find it damaging to all online auctions to even know this software is available and being used.
What is a BOT?
A BOT also known as web robot, is a software application that runs automated tasks (Artificial Intelligence) typically pretending to be a HUMAN. Bots perform tasks that are both simple and structurally repetitive, at a much higher rate than would be possible for a human alone. Search engines use BOTS to index websites, many Dating sites us bots to pretend to be ladies responding to guys so the guys pay for memberships, etc… etc… lots of applications for bots but they are complex and very expensive to create and only the top programmers can make good AI bots and they don’t come cheap.
Why do penny auctions and some regular looking auctions use bots you ask??
They own ALL the items (or) they are drop shipping items. These fake auction sites give you the illusion you are getting outbid to run up your bid to a amount that is preset as the goal sale amount. If the items sell to a BOT they just get relisted at a later date and keep selling the same items till someone bids high enough to reach the sales goal. Some of these sites even charge customers for each bid placed so they are very unethical.
Bots would not work on a consignment auction unless you allowed your customers to set reserves and have the bots bidding up the lots till the reserves were met (some live auctions have ghost bidders or plants in the audience placing bids so I could see why someone would wonder if online auctions did this). We DO NOT and it would only be a matter of time before a consignor spilled the beans and everyone would know that we allowed consignors to bid up items or set reserves. We assure everyone that WE DO NOT ALLOW THIS. Sure someone’s friend could make an account and place bids without anyone ever knowing but what if that person’s friend ends up being the winning bidder? It could happen, in fact we have caught people doing it and banned them for it but we do NOT allow it.
If you sell anything with us you know very well we DO NOT allow this. Your items start at 5.00 with NO RESERVES (unless the item is a bank not, coins, stamps or a Vehicle and we have allowed a face value or higher start price on that item – not a hidden reserve)
It is ridiculous to accuse us of running BOTS. We run an HONEST business, we promote the site as best we can for our consignors and we get fair market value for the items. If an item sells too cheap… oh well the bidder gets a great deal and something in the same auction will probably perform better then we expected and compensate for the under valued item… that is how an auction should be!
DO YOU SUSPECT SOMEONE IS “Bidding you up” HERE IS SOME INFO AND SUGGESTIONS
- If you think a consignor or family member was bidding on there own item we can review the logs in more detail to ensure this was not happening. We have software in place to flag this as well incase it happens. We do NOT allow this and really it rarely happens and when it does we usually catch it right away.
- We do not allow sellers to bid on items they own nor do we run the bidding price up.
We rarely sell something these days that we purchased for sale in the auction. 99% of the items are consignment sales (meaning we do not own the items we sell the items for other people) we do have “filler items” we add when consignments are slow that we do own but lately we have not needed to add these as we have a steady flow of consignments each week.
We work for both the sellers and the buyers. We do now own 99% of the items and any item we do own is filler used to benefit the website when consignments are low to keep the bidders happy and keep the site running. We would rather see a bidder get a few great deals and keep coming back so No logical reason exists for us to “out bid” someone trying to get them to bid more for an item, We do not allow consignors to have reserves or higher starting prices either.
Some people in the past have suggested this happens but if you think about it…. that would be pointless and is silly. If you think about it you can just imagine what a mess things would be and how bad of a reputation we would get from allowing anything like this. There is a reason we have so many dedicated bidders and consignors. It is years and years of ethical trustworthy sales and happy customers.
We do not have any extra sensory physic capabilities to know how much someone will spend on an item, we would have a warehouse of unsold goods if we did that. Seriously people suggest that like its a thing. It is utter nonsense to think that. It just does not make any sense and same with the consignors, since we do not allow consignors to bid on there own items or can they pickup there own items for “someone else” it makes it very difficult for a consignor to “run up” someone on an item. Yes some consignors get nervous when a 500.00 item has a 5.00 starting bid but who would not. Just have to trust that our bidders will also see the sale value in the item
With 1000’s of bidders logged in each month on our platform the natural course of a sale determines fair market value for both the bidder and the seller.