Anyone know this eBay seller?

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Magic61983
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Anyone know this eBay seller?

Post by Magic61983 » Mon Jan 11, 2010 9:29 pm

mtgseller.cn

I have reason to believe they are shill bidding on all of there auctions so beware.
BGS 9+ Alpha set 282/295 (97.29%) Avg 9.41
BGS 9.5+ Beta set 283/302 (93.71%) Avg 9.58
BGS 9.5+ Arabian set 35/92 (38.04%) Avg 9.62
BGS 9.5+ Antiquities set 82/100 (82%) Avg 9.64
BGS 9.5+ Legends set 279/310 (90.00%) Avg 9.61

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berkumps
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Post by berkumps » Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:12 pm

Information for those that are curious and wish to search paypal for transactions they may have had with this seller in the past:

Sellers name: Lei Zhang
Ebay ID: mtgseller.cn
Email: 2231@vip.sina.com

I have purchased the following from this person in the past:

Mar '07
sealed JingHe Age token pack - $3.99

May '08
foil SC Worldgorger Dragon - $21.24
foil SC Fledgling Dragon - $8.48

Oct '08
foil SC Broodmate Dragon - $14.06
foil SC Predator Dragon - $10.50

the two Shards dragons were inflated in price as they were right after Shards release, and they were the first asian foil dragons from that set to hit ebay. Asian Angels and Dragons usually go for inflated price at the beginning, and drop soon after. If I was patient, I could've scooped them cheaper, but I suffered from the "I want it now!" syndrome.

As for the TC foil Desolation Angel you won, that price does seem out of hand. Sure TC is a tad harder than SC to find in foil Apocalypse, but not >2x harder (according to the 2 ending prices). Not to mention, the ending price for the SC one seems high aswell. Although, with its popularity in casual formats, perhaps there are still a few out there that are seeking

I can see why you suspect shill bidding, from the 1 feedback member. They have only ever bid on items from mtgseller.cn, and have bid on 56 different items offered by them. All of the their bids come 2 days before the end date of the item, and until recently, they have not won an item from the seller (but have been 2nd or 3rd quite often). The bidder seems to be interested mostly in Chinese cards, although I don't see an immediate pattern screaming out at me wrt which items might be shilled by the person (unless it is all Chinese auctions).

I guess if the items won by the 1 feedback person are conveniently reposted later, you'll have your answer. Would be less suspicious than bid retracting with the 1 feedback account.

Items won by 1-feedback bidder (unless noted)

End Jan.11
1 TC Rolling Earthquake - $51.99 (2nd highest bidder, $50.99)
1 Foil Trinisphere - $6.00
1 Foil 9th SC Blood Moon - $5.10
1 Foil SC Desolation Angel - $152.50
1 Foil Desolation Angel - $17.50
1 Seasons Beatings promo - $32.00 (4th highest bidder, $23.99)
4 SC Sphinx of the Steel Wind - $7.50
4 SC M10 Protean Hydra - $0.99
4 SC Desolation Angel - $8.00 (2nd highest bidder, $7.99)
4 Foil SC Crypt of Agadeem - $15.50
4 Foil SC Bloodbraid Elf - $44.99
4 Promo Obelisk of Alara - $3.59
4 Judge Promo Grim Lavamancer - $58.99 (2nd highest bidder, $57.99)
4 M10 Drowned Catacomb - $31.50
2 Foil SC Iona, Shield of Emeria - $59.00

End Dec.20
1 Foil SC Wake Thrasher - $12.49 (2nd highest bidder, $11.99)
4 SC Knight of the Reliquary - $31.00 (3rd highest bidder, $27.99)
1 Foil SC Aether Vial - $43.22 (4th highest bidder, $28.99)
4 SC Vendilion Clique - $17.49 (2nd highest bidder, $16.99)

End Dec.11
1 Foil SC Emeria Angel - $9.49 (2nd highest bidder, $8.99)
4 Foil SC Cephalid Coliseum - $46.99 (2nd highest bidder, $45.99)
1 SC Rolling Earthquake - $62.00 (3rd highest bidder, $48.99)
2 Foil SC Noble Hierarch - $66.00 (3rd highest bidder, $59.99)
4 JPN Promo Path to Exile - $46.00 (3rd highest bidder, $44.99)
4 Foil SC Nimble Mongoose - $81.00 (3rd highest bidder, $77.99)

End Nov.1

4 SC Great Stable Stag - $34.49 (2nd highest bidder, $33.49)

Hayden
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Post by Hayden » Tue Jan 12, 2010 5:57 am

Have you reported him as suspected Shiller? And if you do please let us know if they actually do anything about it (not that they would tell you but if you see the seller become "no longer registered" or something).

Although I doubt anything will be done even though it looks to be sloppy shill bidding at its finest. I have reported many shillers and have never seen anything done about it! It P's me O and makes it hard for honest sellers like me to keep using a sales system them supports corruption because they actually make more money off shillers then honest sellers.

:(

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pp
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Post by pp » Tue Jan 12, 2010 9:09 am

I reported several shill-bidder to ebay an NEVER ever got an answer >:-(

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l0qii
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Post by l0qii » Tue Jan 12, 2010 1:11 pm

They will not answer you even if they do something about it. It is their "policy". I have reported shill bidders before. The only evidence I have that anything was done about it was that I never paid for the items, and never got any bad feedback or open disputes about it.

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Magic61983
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Post by Magic61983 » Tue Jan 12, 2010 2:47 pm

I have reported the seller and will try to contact eBay directly this is getting out of hand with this seller.
BGS 9+ Alpha set 282/295 (97.29%) Avg 9.41
BGS 9.5+ Beta set 283/302 (93.71%) Avg 9.58
BGS 9.5+ Arabian set 35/92 (38.04%) Avg 9.62
BGS 9.5+ Antiquities set 82/100 (82%) Avg 9.64
BGS 9.5+ Legends set 279/310 (90.00%) Avg 9.61

ouallada
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Post by ouallada » Wed Jan 13, 2010 4:18 am

It's almost impossible to get eBay to do anything about it. It's a bit like download pirates -- once in a while, there will be a high profile bust in which a couple of people are hung out to dry as examples, but the vast, vast majority of offenders get away with it. eBay benefits financially from shilling, and you can sorta understand why they don't clamp down on it as hard as they can. Some of their recent changes, such as bidder aliases or bidder1, 2, 3 and so on, encourage shilling as well, regardless of whether it was eBay's original intention.

You should report it, but I don't think anything will be done. I say this as someone who has worked in eBay inc before. Great company to work for, but some of the practices are slightly dodgy.

Hayden
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Post by Hayden » Wed Jan 13, 2010 4:32 am

At least in the past you could send messages to other buyers that they were being shilled and spread the word around to hopefully steer a few customers clear... But that is not even possible any more.

Shillers love the anonymous bidder thing now and I fear we will see more of this type of thing in the future.

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