Obvious price collusion on ebay.
 

Seller is snipertoy15. If you look at ALL of his Marvel items, the same two people..bid on all of his items, multiple 3packs, new Cap figures. Its blatently obvious.

If this person is an 'Arker, I make no apologies..

Marvel Universe X Force Set, Deadpool,Wolverine,Warpath | eBay

If youre bored, check out his other items bid history...

It's useing a "sock puppett" to boost the selling price- useing fake bidders to drive up the slling price and jack up his positive feedback numbers.

Ooh? The 3pack is out in the US? awesome. Wonder how long till FF 3pack comes out.

As for the collusion, I was just the victim of that with a text book. I could tell, because it was a single bid, and I was still winning, and it wasnt anywhere near the end date. And guess what, the book wasnt what was listed on the Ebay! I'm trying to contact the guy now for a full refund and I'll ship him back the book.

Sneaky bastards. I noticed the seller is from LA. Its either he swooped up on these or bought it oversees. I got this on preorder from bbts for the same price though, $25.
On a good note, at least we know to expect the 3 packs should hit retail in a couple of weeks. Still don't know what stores will carry them yet.

I hate almost as much as that as the people who charge 3 times more for shipping as the item iteself. I hate having to check shipping costs before I consider the item itself... because nothing worse then finding a sick figure for dirt cheap $3-4 starting price and near end of auction only for the shipping to be $20-50.

How did you manage to figure that out? It happens more often than most people realize.

the practice is called "shill bidding" and there's not much you can do about it other than report the seller and the other bidders. good luck with that, ebay is really not a place i like to do business on anymore because of this kind of stuff and the piss poor seller support. try and leave a negative feedback as a seller i dare you.

If you just report it, he will have his listings cancelled.. trust me.. I did it ONCE with my dad so my item didn't sell for a loss of over 30 bucks and got a warning. Do it on several items and he's gone!

I just reported every single one. :P

That happens because ebay charges a mint on each sale- but they dont get apercentage of shipping costs: so you'll see sellers offering a X-Men box set for $10...plus $50 in shipping! That way the seller only has o pay the ebay fee on the $10, not on the $50 plus shipping he really wants for the item.
Gotta be creful, my boyos!

To be fair, ebay and paypal make a KILLING off of higher cost stuff now. It sucks to have to lose the shipping cost (yes the buyer pays for shipping, but they factor that into what they WOULD have spent otherwise) and then lose a huge chunk of change on top of it. I know because I recently sold loads of Marvel Legends stuff and lost near 40 bucks off my lot that sold for 200. After shipping costs and paypal fee, I walked away with under 150.. :(

And ebay justifies their higher costs because now if an item doesn't sell, you lose nothing. And to list an item is completely free now. But it's rough making anything on ebay any more unless you get stuff to sell at a huge discount to begin with.

nice work brotha!! I did on a couple..

Just saw the pattern, you know? It was like..hey wait that feedback score looks familiar..and then I saw it on all of them..including a Boba Fett! So OK, the same dude that "wants" to buy 3 each of the Mavel 3 packs...ALSO put in a bid for Boba Fett.

Douchebag.

You win some you lose some. I have gotten nothing but good/fair deals on ebay because I choose what I would want to pay for that item. I am more than sure a lot of you do. Patience is key, let the seller waste his or her time trying to make a few extra dollars. As a buyer we all have a limit on what we are willing to spend. So in conclusion it doesn't make me mad that people do this, everyone just wants to make an extra dollar, if some one wants that item so bad to pay that price, then good on the seller, if not, then that's that. =D

True that tiberius. The watch button works well when monitoring how much a particular figure goes for. It helps get a gauge what the market is for certain figures.

I do that all the time Symbiote. Like it floods my mailbox with ending sales its that bad lol

how did they know your dad bidded for you? is it because he has his own ebay login and its listed at the same address as you??? i dont see how they can directly find out if its different accounts unless someone reports them.

i know this shill bidding or whatever they call it is illegal. not just on ebay but in the actual law. i cant remember what it was for but this guy a year or 2 back got a serious fine, like $50,000 type fine and may have even gotten jail time, he was doing it on very high priced items though not just the odd toy for a few dollars more.

and that thing with the postage, i often see international shipping as a stupid price (i know it can be expensive but even taking that into account)

but in england im sure they changed it so you have to offer a reasonable shipping price to stop people doing that with the shipping, the chinese were the worst lol. i bought an MP3 player from china once for 1p and it was £30 postage. classic.

Agree with Tiberius; if you pay the prices you are:
a. Impatient
b. Full of money
c. Dumb
d. In the right to do it

And don't get me wrong, I love my figures, but could live without one if the price is not reasonable. Luckily for me, this set and Fantastic 3 (snifff, sniff :( ) is shipping from my retailer this thursday for $21 each.
Sometimes it's just a matter of prioritizing what you really need in your life. (ie paying debts vs figures)

First, I have dealt with Snipertoy15 a few times now and his stuff is pricey sometimes but, not all the time. I found him to be good to deal with.
Second, lets be clear I am not defending him because IF he is "shill bidding" then thats shitty.
Tiberius you are wise beyond your years. I agree with Symbiote too on the watch button. I learned very early to be patient with ebay. If your not it can be costly.

Also, sometimes, I have no choice but to pay out the nose. I ordered myself a DCUC Guy Gardner figure for 18.00 USD with shipping. Being from Canada, my DCUC figures go for 19.99. I waited since the release of that Walmart pack to get myself a Guy Gardner and got it for cheaper than I would pay for at retail! Also got a Dark Hawkeye for 5 bucks which was awsome! That too, also took me some time to find a good deal. But now that I feel that I have established myself as a regular Arker, I will be doing most if not all of my buying/trading with all of you here. =3

The Real Issue: These shill bid items count towards said median. If enough are out there, other buyers start believing that is the price, and then they bid up to that amount on an entirely separate auction for the same item. Other buyers then see this and begin doing the same. The next thing you know, the economy of a particular item (and sometimes then the entire wave/line) domino effect into an overpriced pile of crap.

Now yes, smart people can watch ended items and see what they go for and use them as a deterrent from bidding on overpriced items, but again, if the market raises overall before you find another item at the "real price" in time, you will end up with empty hands (or an empty wallet if you cave). It's better overall to click "completed listings" and find a median early and never get caught in the cycle (I use this daily as a former powerseller). But sometimes, as I said above, the cycle catches up to you either way.. and you're suddenly thinking about that "cheaper" $60 original Warpath.. ><

I don't think its bad. Just be mindful to clean up your inbox. I constantly compare prices from all sources (ebay, bbts, amazon which usually shows the highest prices). Patience is very key here. You can also set what your max reserve price is and if someone else wins the auction, o well there will be others. For example, I was monitoring a clear vision on multiple auctions and ended up getting him for 13 bucks w/ shipping.

Great point.