AUTOMATED BIDS WORTHLESS?

They would have to do it manually on eBay themselves. It's unlikely they would.

They just say that to scare people and to encourage earlier and higher bidding.

You could look though their past auction feedback and look at each auction to see if they have ended any early.

How would a seller know that a bid was automated?

Here's the Auction(s):
#110071563448

Let's all ask the seller New-Yorks-Edge what he hopes to achieve by his conditions?

R2

Check out his FAQs:

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Q: What is your return policy?

A: All items are sold in as is whatever is as pictured condition. There are no returns whatsoever.

Q: Do you combine shipping?

A: Combined shipping defines only the way to which items are shipped not at all referring to any sort of extra discount whatsoever. Items are already shipped at discount and it would not be a fair practice to provide preference to anyone over another.

Q: When can I expect my order to arrive?

A: All items are shipped daily directly after payment. To speed up your order, provide prompt payment, printed auction sheet and make sure your correct name, updated address, auction number, item description, correct emailing address, connected phone number, are given as well as checked in your eBay account.

Q: How much is the Shipping and Handling Charge?

A: All charges will be clearly noted on the auction.

Q: Do you ship internationally?

A: Yes. International and non standard shipping charges will be noted on invoice. Please be aware that international and non standard shipping is expensive, therefore bid with your budget, not over your head.

Q: Should I email questions?

A: NO EMAILS!!! We do not like emails from anyone within the U.S. We have a phone and our communication skills are adequate. We can be contacted seven days a week from 8:00am - 7:00pm EST. seven days a week at (718) 447-1949

Q: I reserve the right to refuse any sale and why have you banned me from bidding on your auction?

A: We do not deal with nonsense and some people are just more of a headache than anything else.

Q: I live in New York can pick it up to save on extra charges?

A: No.

Feedback Received!

Feedback left! (check out the 3rd one!)

Talk about an attitude - I certainly wouldn't want to shop with this guy!!!

R2

Well she figured out one way to keep out the snipers, she ended the auction early!

I guess s/he had enough money already!

R2

Why wait? I sent him/her the following message through Ebay messenging:

"Do me a favor and add me to your banned list so I dont ever accidentally try to buy something from you."

Sounds just like the sterotypical NY'er

One of the reasons I use AS (or any sniping system) is because I got tired of the shill bidders bidding against me. Trust me on this, it happens a lot and I provided all my information to ebay only for them to do nothing. In fact, shill bidding is so prevalent on ebay (see http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=shill+bidding+ebay) there are sites that offer shill bidding searches.

Anyway, when a seller "encourages" bidders to bid early and bid high, that's a sure tipoff that they are using shill bids to artificially inflate the price of the item.

Oh, I just noticed this in that aution:

quote:

All slow payers, it is disclosed that I reserve the right to relist within 10 “anydays” and when you do send payment, you will be charged a service charge of no less than 14.9% of the auctions closing price which will be holding area until fee is paid in complete total notwithstanding space rental fees charged taken off the top of any payment you sent. Item will then be placed and held in escrow auction accordingly.

I'm not an attorney, but I think that is illegal to do. If Spitzer was still AG I'd bet his office would have something to say about it.