Possibe shill bid warning (Emergency Call Ambulance) eBay

teknomedic

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Possibe shill bid warning (Emergency Call Ambulance) eBay

OK, maybe I'm a little paranoid, but I've got a strange feeling about this one.

This is the 3rd time (that I know of) that this "Emergency Call Ambulance" has been listed on eBay. I first found this on it's "second" listing. I did a completed auction search and found the same machine that was WON. I then contacted the seller and asked if this was the same machine. They said "yes" and that it was relisted due to non-paying bidder.

I then followed the machine and asked some further questions (I posted some questions on KLOV about the "Cabinet Over Heat" error being displayed). Due to that error message I let the machine go. It's a few days later now and the machine is back again.

Now, I can't view the "first" listing anymore, but the second listing is still shows up on completed search and I see someone with a 213 feedback rating won the auction. I then searched the seller's feedback and found a user with 213 feedback that left POSITIVE feedback for the ECA machine. Hmmmmm......

I also see a lot of feedback for this "seller/buyer" combo and they seem to leave the same "copy and paste" of the feedback each time. Mostly just an FYI, but I would LOVE it if someone here could ask if this is the same machine from the previous auction. I'd ask again, but I would think they'd get worried about me asking this yet again.

Current Listing:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330475630649&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Old Listing:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Sega-Emergency-...337?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f02cc45f9

Seller:
chillycheap

buyer:
auctionguy777


What do you all think?... am I way off or is this a little too "interesting"?
 
Just sent them a question asking if this was the same machine that sold on the 8th. I will let you know...
 
awesome thanks... I'm interested in hearing what they say. :)

I know the first auction ended around the same $125-$150 mark as the second listing did. I wish I could still see the first auction as I'd like to compare the winning bidder stuff again.
 
Last edited:
Must be a pain in the ass to pay the listing/final auction fee every time. He'll just keep nickel and diming himself.
 
someotherguy said:
The point of shilling is moot; you bid the amount you're comfortable paying and no higher. If you don't win it, wait for another example to come up. Or, wait for him to get tired of relisting and shilling it so high; maybe he'll eventually drop the amount he expects down and you'll win.

I'd avoid that auction more on the basis that the seller is a dirtbag. Joe Palmentere (chillycheap) is well-known in the pin community for poor representation of his junk and unwillingness to do anything about it once the deal is done. There's a few people on there that are kissing his ass but they're just the lucky ones.

He's changed his ebay ID at least once to cover up his past, more ammo for the argument.

Richard
Click to expand...

lol yup local scumbag
they have a nasty rep and i have some great stories on repairs i have done for coustmers on games that were purchased from joey "three months ago and it only worked for a week"
i have tried to bid on a few items of his and they actually use one of thoes sniping apps
you bid and are instantly out bid by 1$
 
Good to know. Makes me feel all the better that I avoided his auction.

I'm not really in the "know" much on who are good/bad sellers. I'd ask more about a seller here, but of course don't want to raise the price of a possible purchase by spreading around what I've found either, lol. I'm sure if I called dibs, no one would try to out bid me from here right? ;)
 
I just reported him and that auctionguy777 for shill bidding. Hopefully they do something, but probably not, so I went and bid $15.... just put a reserve on it....
 
funny. I've been wanting an ECA, but I really don't want to deal with that "cabinet over heat" error. Plus it looks to be in a little rougher shape than I'd like. Plus with all the new info I have about the seller, I don't want to help him sell anything at this point.
 
I have bought about 7 games from them in the last 11 months. 3 of them where dead by the time I got home. Another had the screen go out in about 20 minutes. I can say one thing that is cool with them is if someone has not paid for a game from eBay they will sell it to me for the last winning bid.
 
Ok received 2 responses from the seller...first one...

We have mulitple units


- chillycheap

Second one....

The customer ran into financial difficulty and could not pay us. The machine is back up for auction, good luck.

Thanks,
Nate

You be the judge...
 
lol... multiple units, but no new pictures of the other units OR a picture showing several units in it. hmmm...

When I was asking about the "cabinet over heat" issue, I called down there and spoke with a guy named Nate. I'm not sure of his story, but he at least "seemed" willing to check into the problem. He's the one that later told me that they put a tech on it and they couldn't figure it out (which is I why I passed on the auction). Nate also sent me a couple extra pics of the unit when I had requested them... so I guess I give Nate about 5% more cred than the general "chillycheap" reply.

If Nate is by chance just an honest guy working at a bad place I could see him being told by the boss that the bidder didn't pay again and to list it once more.

...but they've now had non-paying bidders twice in a row (as far as I can see). They've got some bad luck.
 
teknomedic said:
so as long as you assume the machine will be DOA when you get it and bid accordingly, you're golden. :D
Click to expand...

EXACTLY! People should be doing that anyways, instead of trusting these people. When they say something works, it's going to need work to be right. It'll need the monitor rebuilt, the power supply probably wont' be right, etc.
 
It was a tekken 2 machine that had the screen die. It played fine for a bit then all of sudden the picture curved to one side then went black.

I asked about Emergency Call machine over a month ago, it has screen burn. I was going to part it out to fix a candy cab I have.

They are always very nice to me, and they load the games for me.
The only weird thing is they sell coffins there also.
 
LyonsArcade said:
Yeah, I agree. I've never been burnt by shill bidding, because I don't bid more than I want to pay. So what's it matter? I don't get the obsession with snuffing out shill bidders, who cares?
Click to expand...

While I agree in part... it still matters.

You may only bid what your willing to pay, but at the same time you could have gotten "example machine" for $25 instead of having your bid shilled to nearly your max of say $150.

If they had played "fair", you would have saved yourself $125. They basically stole that money from you and you're OK with that??

I'm fine if they want to ensure their machine sells for a certain price, but then put a reserve on the auction so you can walk into the deal knowing the min price.
 
someotherguy said:
How is it stealing when you're free to bid the amount you choose, and can walk away from it at any point beyond that? Choice was involved here. You make your choice and live with it. The machine is worth (x) or not. Bid (x) or not.

Richard
Click to expand...

How is it not stealing?
If you sent an employee to an auction, and told him to bid up to $100 for an item and he won the auction for 20.00, but came back and told you he won the auction for 95.00 and gave you 5.00 change back. Did he steal from you?
Yes he did. That is exactly how proxy bidding works. By shill bidding the auction the seller did exactly the same thing as your "employee" did in the previous example.
 
someotherguy said:
How is it stealing when you're free to bid the amount you choose, and can walk away from it at any point beyond that? Choice was involved here. You make your choice and live with it. The machine is worth (x) or not. Bid (x) or not.

Richard
Click to expand...

It's not stealing, but it's fraudulent. The whole point of an auction is to determine fair market value. That can't be done when there is a fake bidder involved who doesn't get stuck with the bill if he/she is the highest bidder. This is why there are reserves. Shill bidding is dishonest because it falsely inflates fair market value.
 
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