BTW, it may not be EASY to spot multiple user accounts all the time, but if you can at least click on the bidding history then on the bidders bid history you can see just how many other sellers he's bid on, and how long he's been signed up.
I've seen other auctions
(not cars) where a bidder with many bids on auctions has something like a 95% bid rate with that seller over many items
(and these are not like items which would naturally attract repeat
'business' because the seller in question sold random stuff from pushchairs to computers).
It really isn't about
'your max bid', yes on paper it is, but this is about how you feel paying ANY money to a dishonest seller, someone who has something to hide enough to hide his bidders, if he's not as open as possible for no good reason then it doesn't speak volumes about his ability to put the buyer's mind at rest.
If you want to feel like a mug knowing you were taken up to you
'max bid' by the seller's mate bidding with FULL KNOWLEDGE of the reserve price then go ahead, I think you won't find many who'd enjoy doing similar.
It's not even about
'bargains' it's about getting a car/item for the price it's worth, not cheaper not dearer.
That only happens when a group of bidders hang around and come to a virtual agreement of what it's worth to them as a group with the guy who really wants it placing that last final high bid, when you put fake bids into the picture competing buyers can easily be misled
(not me as I don't bid on private auctions or ones that seem strange in their bid history) into thinking
'just one more bid' will secure them the item, as much as you'd like to think all humans can act like robots it's not always easy, especially on something like a car that a buyer may have been looking for for months.
Also factor in that some bidders are led/guided by the prices they see auctions reaching, those who may not know the market so well but want to buy a car like the mk1 mr2.
Seeing reserves
@
£2500 being
'almost met' enough times can be used
(wrongly) for many people as a guide to what the cars
'must be worth'.
You see I'm not thinking about myself, I wouldn't touch that car at that price on ebay of all places, I have a limit on how much I'd spend upfront on a car
'unseen', what we were discussing was for the benifit of all buyers and some sellers, only you seem to have a problem with that where there really shouldn't be one.
I'm going to leave it at that, there is obviously more going on here than you NOT GETTING why we don't like auctions against anonymous bidders and why I for one thought I was free to discuss that using this obvious case as an example.
Feel free to continue to pay your absolute maximum price
(+ that last
£50 just to
'secure it') for the rest of your life.
Sellers will love you.
](./images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall"){kind=small}
