Some absolutely crazy pricing for basic pens on eBay - what is going on?

[AmandaW]

That has happened to me. I was watching an auction finish in which I was the only bidder and saw someone bid over my maximum, then retract their bid, leaving me as the "winner" at my maximum... I complained to ebay and refused to buy the item. I think it was the seller bidding it up.

[inkstainedruth]

Auctions on eBay are just weird sometimes.  I got *massively* outbid on a demi-size Plum Parker 51 a number of years ago; but the next one that came up?  I ended up winning it for less than my intermediate "maximum" bid had been for; someone had bid the minimum and I didn't feel like playing the "nickel and dime" game, so bid a reasonable amount, then upped the maximum a couple of times as the price crept up over the week and I got nervous -- and ended up getting it for less than half of what the previous one had ended up selling for (less than $73 US when the the previous one ended up going for something like $192, and I'd dropped out of the bidding on that first one in the mid $70s...).  

Go figure....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[jebib111]

The question is just how much do I want it.  I have two approaches the try to "steal" it and how bad do I want it.  If I want it I try to guess what price if it went I'd be disappointed.  In that case I usually top off about $25 over that number.

[VacNut]

On 1/8/2026 at 3:54 PM, jebib111 said:

Regarding the David I have a question: does eBay a seller to bid on their own offering?  I could see this a a way to create a phoney bidding war until a fish bites.

Unless you have a good friend or have a very old account, it is difficult to bid on your own items. eBay  requires photo id and bank accounts. I speculate, they  have to know who to report to the government for taxes if you sell.

 

Why do you ask?🤔🤔🤔🫣

[Theroc]

On 1/8/2026 at 3:54 PM, jebib111 said:

Regarding the David I have a question: does eBay a seller to bid on their own offering?  I could see this a a way to create a phoney bidding war until a fish bites.

The seller can't bid on their own listing, but it's a simple matter of creating multiple accounts.

[VacNut]

Multiple accounts in the US and UK require photo ID and bank accounts. eBay links all accounts with the same ID and stops bidding. (Shill bidding). Unless a person has multiple identities, it is not a simple process to create multiple accounts. The only exception is if you have a very very old account when they didn’t ask for ID, but only a bank account number.

 

That said, sellers can also have close friends who bid up prices, but I suspect the EBay Algorithms will eventually find out.

 

It’s not a great way to earn a living. There are more lucrative ways to earn money easier.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/selling-practices-policy/shill-bidding-policy?id=4353

IMHO.

[Targa]

Auctions can have a strange psychological effect on some people.  They like the sense of "winning" more than getting something at a competitive price.

I will never forget, once upon a time when our children were teen agers, we went to a "Star Trek" convention.  One event was an auction of souvenirs.  The bidding got crazy, and even the sellers were trying to advise people that the exact same goods were for sale by non-auction vendors just in the next room, at half the price.  Yet the contest went on.  

Mind blowing.  And not even pens.  

[tommym]

I don't bother with eBay auctions anymore. Now, I only use "But It Now" and or "Accepts Offers." I've spent a lot less time and money on eBay in doing so. 

 

Tommy

[inkstainedruth]

Well, I ended up buying the mini Leatherman for the seller's offered price, which included free shipping.  I didn't take into account sales taxes, but it was still less expensive than some of the other listings were.  Mind you, I probably paid less for the one I already have (with the scissors) and the one I'd lost (with the pliers) combined.... 
Of course, when I went to pay, PayPal was doing the "Hey, why don't you link us to your bank account!" thing again.  And I was like "Oh no, [expletive deleted] no!"  

I have one credit card that is SPECIFICALLY (and ONLY) for online purchases -- including any and all PayPal purchases.  Because I'm NOT stupid....  But couldn't get past their stupee, poorly coded chatbot to get an actual person in the chat window to explain that to them.  I know, I could just call them -- it is a toll free #.  But of course then I'd have to probably block PayPal from calling me back.... 😡

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Theroc]

I still keep and eye on auctions, and sometimes I get a really great deal. But most of my purchases on ebay are Buy Now. And I almost never sell anything at auction. That said, I do hope that eBay never abandons the auction format. 

[bugsydog55]

I have also had more than my share of mystery bidders that will push an obscure item up in price and then disappear.  That used to work when I was silly and out of my mind.  Now I'm just silly.  You can see the number of bidders which is OK but that doesn't tell you much.  It's just a matter of caution.  Now, I have a general idea what I will pay regardless of where the auction goes.  Once it gets to that point, I'm a spectator.  It says a lot when I am contacted days later by the seller.  I have seen folks that seem to be new to the hobby, could be plants, just lose it and have bidding wars over things that just don't warrant the expense.  First order of business with Ebay: Don't ever get wrapped up in anything you can't walk away from.  Lots of folks don't understand that.

[inkstainedruth]

In addition to what @bugsydog55 said?  Even with the non-auctions on eBay, if a seller doesn't have 100% positive feedback ratings?  Look at the negative comments and see WHY (of course, I've noticed that in a lot of those cases there's finger-pointing between the seller and buyer as to who's at fault... ).  Of course, I once got screwed over by a seller who DID have 100% positive feedback but then reneged on the offer I'd made (which had, BTW, had been accepted by that seller).  And to this day?  I don't know why -- whether the seller got a "better" offer, or if it was a case where the seller never actually had it to BEGIN with (and it was the ONLY seller of that particular pen who DID had 100% positive ratings AND the only one who was in the US) -- but cancelled two days after accepting my offer (and I found out from PayPal BEFORE hearing from eBay at that)!  EBay's attitude was "Oh, you can't provide feedback on a 'cancelled' transaction!"  And MY response to THEM?  "I wasn't the one who cancelled -- the SELLER did!"  And more or less told eBay, "HOLD MY BEER!" and gave the seller the (richly deserved!) negative feedback ANYWAY!

Of course, I've also noticed (more and more) that when you do a search for something on eBay, you don't necessarily ONLY get shown the stuff in the search parameters -- even if it's in quotation marks.  Just yesterday, I had to contact a seller to say, "Hey, you might want to have a chat with eBay because your listing came up in the wrong category" (a couple of Parker Vector BPs) -- even when I was searching for "Parker Vector fountain pen" (and yes -- my search was completely in quotation marks).  And in the search for a replacement mini-Leatherman with the main tool being pliers (I'd lost the one I'd originally had, even though I still have the one with the scissors in my purse), I was shown brands I'd never heard of, so have NO idea of the quality.  

Not thrilled with the "offered" price for the Leatherman Squirt with the pliers -- but even with sales tax it was still less expensive than some other listings, and had free shipping, and the seller had 100% positive ratings.  And if all goes as planned, it should arrive sometime next week; although of course that may depend partly on the weather -- especially given that some places in Pittsburgh STILL haven't had their streets plowed!   But I also noticed that two local-ish estate sales (originally scheduled for this weekend) have been cancelled or postponed, and just a couple of days after the listings were posted.  Not, of course, that there was much I wanted to look at in EITHER of them anyway -- I'd dearly love to have a piano again, but have no place to put one (even an upright) at the moment.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

edited for a (just now noticed) typo

[VacNut]

“absolutely ridiculous price” is subjective and dependent on a persons financial means. Some people would balk at paying $7 for a cup of coffee while others would pay double the price to have it delivered.

 

As in all things, I am sure there are fraudsters and shill bidding on auction sites. It’s not perfect. Nothing is, but it’s always up to the buyer to determine the sale price. I am sure we all have stories of paying too much or getting a “steal” on auction sites.

 

[Theroc]

Since we've collectively dug a rabbit hole, I'm bringing a shovel.
Here's a PSA:
Sometimes you find something that you know is too good to be true, but also just enough to think it might be true, and eBay will eventually get you your money back anyway.
Beware!
The scam goes as follows:
The MB or Swatch or Benchmade that was offered for less than half it's going price, gets actually delivered. On careful inspection you find that the item is counterfeit.
You contact the seller and they offer you a discount. You Refuse.
The seller accepts your return and provides a return a shipping label. You ship the item and wait for your refund.
Well, I hope you kept a PDF of the shipping label. And the receipt from USPS.
The label is fake. The 9300-number printed on it does not match the 9200-number scanned by USPS on the receipt. USPS will not reject the label, but the numbers are untrackable.
If you kept the evidence eBay will rule in your favor and refund your money. Otherwise...

Always keep a PDF of the provided return label.
Always handover ANY package to the carrier in person and always request a receipt.
 

[boilermaker1975]

This discussion reminds me of the Dollar Auction Game,

 

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dollar-auction.asp

[bugsydog55]

Yikes!   We seem to have entered a stream where we can relive all those Ebay auction horror stories everyone has run into over the course of time.  It doesn't seem to matter how well things are going, sooner or later, your ship of dreams is going to hit a rock and sink.  There is no feeling that compares to unboxing your latest treasure and a tiny little "uh-oh" pops out.  Who says that fountain pens can't possibly have a sense of drama and heartbreaking tragedy?

[inkstainedruth]

And yet, most of the time I've had GOOD experiences on eBay with sellers.  There's a couple of people that if they had what I wanted, and the price was decent?  I wouldn't HESITATE to hit the buy button (at one point one of them didn't have 100% positive feedback, and I was just going, "How is that POSSIBLE?"  I did have issues a couple of times, but in both instances I *KNOW* it wasn't the seller's fault -- one time it was eBay's lousy IT; and the other time there was some screwup with the delivery (somehow it got delivered to an address which is like mine EXCEPT for the last 2 digits of the zip code -- and got a frantic PM from the seller when it was returned as "undeliverable".   And I just, "Not the first time this has happened with stuff supposed to go to me OR to the other people" and gave him my full address and got the pen in under a week, from Europe.

But after getting jerked around by a vendor who had literally 10s of thousands of transactions (but NOT a 100% positive rating?) I'm REALLY minded to someday make a trip to their B&M store and spend time wasting some employee's time; then buy NOTHING and then, as I'm leaving, go into "choir projection mode" and stand in the doorway and say, "Maybe you shouldn't jerk around your customers on eBay..." and say it LOUDLY enough that every customer in the store can hear me....

My mother would be so proud....   After all, she once got sent flowers for being "The lady who screamed"....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[AmandaW]

And how about outlawing or dismissing discussion of the bad experiences? (Ebay does that when it won't allow a review of a bad transaction.) Then everyone can learn the hard lessons firsthand. The scammers will love it.

[inkstainedruth]

Yeah.  When I filed a dispute about that one seller, I was able to keep what I'd bought and get my money back -- but NOT allowed to provide feedback(!) about the experience.  So when that other seller CANCELLED the transaction for NO reason (and I heard from PayPal BEFORE I'd heard from eBay!) and eBay was like "You can't provide feedback on a cancelled transaction" I did it ANYWAY.  Because *I* wasn't the one who cancelled -- the SELLER did that -- and to this day I don't know the reason why.  But was PO'd as all get out....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[bugsydog55]

Ruth is right.  Almost all of my transactions have been fine and the majority of the stinkers were my fault or a misunderstanding.  Then there are those that scream naughty words into the night.  I recently had a nightmare scenario with a site with "too good to be true" pricing for products most folks in the hobby could only dream about.  I figured it was a stinker but thought I could bunker up my defenses, set up a brick wall on my end and take a chance at a inexpensive "purchase".  Well, that didn't turn out like I expected.  In the space of 30 seconds, my funds evaporated, the object I thought I was purchasing was an illusion, I was charged almost 1000.00 dollars for merchandise that was delivered to an address 1000 miles away months before.  PayPal rolled over and played dead and my firewalls were swept away in a flash.  All of this in the space of less than one minute.  I went from the buy now screen to a PayPal confirmation of the mystery monster charge.  It got even more outrageous because I filed the complaint in minutes after this happened and while talking to the rep from PayPal they found out that supposedly the merchandise I was being billed for just now was reported confirmed months ago.  It did go through their process and worked out in my favor but why should it have had to do that when it was so blatant and in your face.  I did complain to everybody that I could get on the phone to no avail.  I have slowed down my PayPal interactions as a result.  Getting back to the thread topic, overpriced pens driven up in auctions?  Yeah, I know where you're coming from.  You also have to be careful of that "Buy Now" button.