I appreciate your input very much. Some people misunderstand how business is conducted on eBay. What are SEED BIDS, TRACKING BIDS, PROTECT BIDS & SHILL BIDS ? ? ?
We who list chips on eBay make very little money for the time and effort involved. In fact the biggest reward we get is from sharing the hobby we enjoy with others.
When we list a chip of good value, sometimes it is to the advantage of the serious buyers if the listing price is low. That way they can put a "TRACKING BID" on it to be able to check on the status of the sell by simply doing a bidder search and not have to wade through the sea of listings. (65 pages) Keep in mind that by eBay's own admissions, people tend to shy away from "reserve bid" auctions.
At some time during the auction, if the bid amount is far below the value of the chip, it must be protected. We all have friends, customers & family with User-ID's who are willing to place a bid on the chip for us. If you don't, you are taking a big risk listing on eBay. I call this a protect bid. Taking a loss from one high value chip could possibly offset the profit from several other sales.
I have no intention of deceiving anyone or wanting to make them bid more than they are willing to pay for an item. In fact, that is the wonderful thing about eBay "The buyer sets the price". I've never held a gun to someones head and made them bid more than they wanted to pay for an item.
The practice of the "PROTECT BID" is not to the advantage of the vultures who cruise eBay looking to steal something at far below its worth. If these guys were to prevail, soon there would be no sellers (profit gone)and those collectors in remote areas would not have access to chips. The values of the chips in our collections would go back to what they were pre-eBay.
SEED BIDDING is the practice of putting synthetic bids on an item to attract the attention of other bidders. No seller wants to end up being the high bidder on their own auction. They have to eat the item plus pay the listing fee & commission. Not smart business at all.
Understanding this, if some one elects not to bid on my auctions, so be it ! ! !
My recommendations are "Never bid more on an item than you are willing to pay for it". Plus, use the feedback program to research the integrity of the people you are doing to do Bids-ness with.
Thank you; Dave a/k/a: mackeral R-3858