Following on from the announcement of the Safeguarding Member IDs Project due for adoption on eBay.co.uk next week, eBay are running a workshop on Friday this week at 2pm.
Whilst many eBayers are aghast at the possibility of increased shilling activity, it’s a fact that a buyers bids can only be shilled to a level they’d be willing to pay, whereas spoof second chance offers rob a buyer (and in some cases multiple buyers per auction) of their maximum bid without them even receiving any goods! It has to be a welcome move to protect unsuspecting buyers from sending their money to scammers so bids over £100.00 on auctions will have User IDs masked.
On the subject of shilling, eBay believe they are improving detection and sanction offending members.
In the last several years, we’ve invested heavily in shill detection systems that enable us to proactively detect and investigate possible shill bidding scenarios with a higher rate of accuracy than ever before. Our systems collect more information on selling and bidding activity than our Community has access to, so we can detect patterns and identify members much more accurately.
The workshop looks set to be lively with those who are plagued with fake second class offers to their buyers celebrating, whilst those concerned with shilling will be vociferously voicing their concerns.
For those who trade on ebay.com if the ebay.co.uk project proves a success they can expect the program to roll out early in 2007.
