Fraud Alert

So I have decided I need to purchase a vinyl cutter to use for my cornhole/beer pong table business. I have spent the past two weeks searching the 'net, trying to figure out where I'm going to get the most bang for my limited buck from an entry level vinyl cutter. I even broke down and went to Ebay to see what was there.

I found a company there called USCutter. They regularly post cutters with ridiculously low starting bids, leading folks to believe they might just get a deal. Too bad I spent my life as a cop and believe the old adage about things that are too good to be true.

A bit of research into the bid histories of the items sold by USCutter reveals they are engaging in a practice known as 'shill bidding'. It is fairly easy to determine a company is engaging in this practice even though Ebay now hides the names of bidders behind a mask. When you look at the bids on any given item take note of how many of the bidders have a very low number by their name. For those unfamiliar with Ebay, that number is a user's feedback indicator. I have been buying and selling on Ebay for a few years, but I'm low volume. I have a feedback rating of 150.

When you look at the majority of the bidders on USCutter's auctions they have feedback ratings of 5 and many have a zero next to their names. Sure, everyone new to Ebay starts out with a zero, but most volume sellers will not accept bids from the unproven, especially for high end electronic items. Thus, you can see the reason for my suspicions. I even took some screen shots to show you what I'm talking about.

Note the number of bids by "0" feedback bidders.

The zero feedback bidders are the company's shills. They work for the company and place bids that raise the price.

Here is another of their auctions.

On this bidder listing I have included the 'automatic' bids. For example, you want an item for sale so you can place a bid, then you can set your high bid amount. When another bidder bids less than your high bid amount, the system will automatically bid for you up to the high bid amount you set. Note that every time a legitimate Ebayer puts in a bid, one of the shills will then sign on and place a bid or two to drive the price up to the last bidder's high bid amount. You will notice the shills even bid against themselves when the price has gone stagnant for a while.

Now, according to Ebay this practice is not acceptable. According to federal law, it may even be illegal. Take note of this every time you use Ebay and click that little link that shows you the 'to date' bids on the auction you are interested in. I took the liberty of reporting this fraudulent company to Ebay, but don't expect much to be done. Folks are leaving Ebay in droves and 'power-sellers' like USCutter are how Ebay is making their money.