Once a month I check on Ebay the value of my collection.
The first card I searched, PSA 10 Red’s Pikachu 270/SM-P, resulted in a listing which was US$1000 (5x the average price) with 509 watchers…
Had a look at his other listings, and the majority are Kitchen utensils / toys / DVDs, etc, the majority of which have between 25 to 30 watchers… He, tradertomsince1982, put up a $15 listing today for button pins, already has 15 watchers, yet says “1 viewer per hour”.
www.ebay.com.au/itm/PSA-10-GEM-MINT-JAPANESE-2018-Reds-Pikachu-Pokemon-Card-270-SM-P-20th-Ann-Rare/233321006985?hash=item3653040789:g:TCYAAOSwH2ldX1cz
This is an example of bot watchers, right?
Using watch bots is against Ebays Terms of Service, right?
From my experience, fixed price listings last for 30 days and the seller can chose to get them relisted automatically.
As an ebay seller, I always got the impression that both the watch count and view count are transferred over into newly re-listed items, but to be honest never paid much attention to it.
@kaldoverde , true, but I’m certain this seller is using bots to inflate the watch number.
I found an advert on reddit, $5 for 500 views and 25 watchers… so it bot inflation services do exist.
Also some of the sellers listings say, for example, 10 sold… so you click on the $200 listing and find one ID has bought 10 @ $1 each, on multiple items.
www.ebay.com.au/itm/Funko-Pop-Disney-Superhero-Stitch-506-Pop-In-A-Box-Exclusive-Rare-Mint-A/233312760795?hash=item36528633db:g:wvAAAOSwwbdfZEDo
Just dirty tactics and the watch bots are against the TOS I believe.
This can also be answered by good til cancelled listings. I’m not sure if it violated policy but I’ve seen stuff like this done.
Good til cancelled listing on a cheap item. Sell say 50 $5 cards. Then you can totally revise the item to a $5,000 card that is completely unrelated to what was previously sold. Sold history, watchers, views etc. And all that will still be there from the original items.
I didnt click the link to look at this specific instance, but just wanted to share another possibility.
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@gottaketchumall , that is definately a tactic, but in this case, I’m certain he is using bots. He has 300 items for sale most with 25+ watchers. And all the items which have ‘10 sold’ for example are all purchased by him for $1. There no way he is getting 15 or 25 watchers on a random house products and toys in less than a day after listing.
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