Editorial: eBay & Blue Mountain Pottery

For the past number of months, two particular eBay users have been creating some unusual bid history results on Blue Mountain Pottery.  Since this is a rather thinly traded market to begin with, any aberration quickly stands out. The two players do use various ID's, so a scorecard may be necessary for your complete enjoyment of the game.  In the near future, we will add a near-complete list of eBay ID's for each of the two players in question.  (Thanks again to all the various eBay sellers and other users who are contributing to this list).

The basic scenario is that the two players involved, we'll just call them B and L for clarity, bid at simultaneous times, with 16, 19, 21, etc. seconds remaining in the available bid time.  The suggestion of sniping is somewhat negated since no serious sniper bids earlier than 4 or 5 seconds early - certainly not 16 or 21 seconds early.  The mere coordination of the simultaneous 'snipe' times in itself gives the impression of collusion, and the end results often suggest  bid price manipulation, tauting a potential third bidder, shilling, and even creating a false idea of market place Blue Mountain Pottery prices.

In an auction format, any auction format, the slightest hint of bid rigging can have a chilling effect on buyers - especially in such a thinly traded narrow market such as Blue Mountain Pottery.

Update: 2/1/2008

Since writing this editorial a few days ago, we have heard in email from two eBay users who apparently think they are the two particular eBay users in question. Veiled and not so veiled threats have been written - one even mentions the S word, sue. Various *explanations* have been passed along through 3rd parties - none of which appear to hold water.

We stand by all of the above comments in the original editorial, and plan to follow through as mentioned.