International Aroid Society

A bot is simply a program that is set to do something automatically. The best known example is a harvester bot, which automatically searches the web for email addresses, which it compiles and delivers to a spammer to use in mailing lists. So the putative "bidding bot" on eBay would be a program set to up the bid automatically every time a real person makes a bid. It happens to me almost every time I deal with sellers in Asia.

Message: 3
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2012 01:49:04 -0800 (PST)
From: DAVID LEEDY <djleedy@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: [Aroid-l] Off-Topic ebay question
To: Discussion of aroids <aroid-l@www.gizmoworks.com>
Message-ID: <1329990544.6378.YahooMailRC@web181404.mail.ne1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=3D"iso-8859-1"

Jason,

I am not sure what you mean by a "bot."

As a buyer, I think the only way?is to bid the highest price you would be
willing to pay within the last 10 seconds of the auction on ebay.? If you don't
want to watch the clock tick away, you can engage "Snipe," which will
automatically place the bid for you.? By bidding before that, you encourage
higher prices and, sometimes, get into a bidding war which becomes a macho thing
(as a seller, I love when this happens).

As a seller, when the auction for my item is over, I have an opportunity to
offer a?second (same) item?to the second highest bidder.? I purchased
fifty?commerative medals at an estate sale and have been selling them on ebay
for a minimum bid of $5.? When the bidding gets over $15 (and it has gotten as
high as $30), I usually offer the losing bidder a second chance to buy the same
coin at his last bid.

David Leedy

________________________________
From: Jason Hernandez <jason.hernandez74@yahoo.com>
To: "aroid-l@www.gizmoworks.com" <aroid-l@www.gizmoworks.com>
Sent: Wed, February 22, 2012 11:13:19 AM
Subject: Re: [Aroid-l] Off-Topic ebay question

Has anyone else but me noticed the "bidding bot"?? I can bid on an item that has
seen no bids in days, and in a matter of seconds, I receive an email saying I
have been outbid.? The first time it happened, I wet back to bid again, only to
get the email again in a matter of seconds.? I didn't feel like upping my bid
again, so I let it go.? Lo and behold, as soon as the auction expired, I got a
different email, this one saying I had a second chance to buy the item at the
price of my last bid.? I did.? So after that, I took a different approach: bid
once, and ignore the notice saying I had been outbid.? Sure enough, as soon as
the auction expires, I always get the notice of my "second chance" to buy at the
price I bid.

Now, I cannot prove there is a bot involved -- certainly don't know the name of
any such bot -- but I can think of no other explanation.? Also, it seems to be
used mainly by sellers located in Asia (selling things other than plants).

Jason Hernandez
Naturalist-at-Large

________________________________
?
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:57:51 -0500 (EST)
From: The Silent Seed <santoury@aol.com>
Subject: Re: [Aroid-l] Off-Topic ebay question
To: aroid-l@www.gizmoworks.com
Message-ID: <8CEBF91DDBA8C60-1D34-4C375@webmail-d029.sysops.aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=3D"us-ascii"

Some sellers list an item with "other" names, just so that their item shows up
in your search. It bugs me, but it's a way to get more people to "walk by" your
item.

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-----Original Message-----
From: Susan B <honeybunny442@yahoo.com>
To: Discussion of aroids <aroid-l@www.gizmoworks.com>
Sent: Wed, Feb 22, 2012 10:53 am
Subject: Re: [Aroid-l] Off-Topic ebay question

Just like the person that sells Naked Ladies Amaryllis but lists them as
Amorphophallus, probably not much you can do, or ebay will ignore you if you
complain.

?
? From: Ken Mosher <ken@spatulacity.com>
To: Aroid list <aroid-l@gizmoworks.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2012 12:26 AM
Subject: [Aroid-l] Off-Topic ebay question
?

I wanted to ask this group a somewhat OT question because there are lots
of heavy eBay users here.? I discovered this seller
(http://stores.ebay.com/7servant7/) who has so very many questionable,
if not outright fraudulent listings. (See the rainbow rose seeds as an
example of the worst offense, item 160733406329).? I've investigated
eBay's listing policies and there doesn't seem to be any way to report
her; I can't find any specific rule she's breaking.? It shows a real
flaw in the eBay system that I had never discovered - I can list a
"left-handed skyhook" for sale and there's not much anyone can do about it!

I would like to make it my life's work to shut this woman down if
someone has a clue as to how it can be done.? eBay simply doesn't seem
to have a procedure for something like this.? I feel myself starting a
rant so I'll just hit send before I lose it completely...

-Ken
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