In some of the research I have been doing in the wholesale lists category on ebay, I came across a seller that I thought was doing a great job. This guy had made nearly $10,000 in a 30 day period selling nothing but digital information.

Well it turns out he was being very deceptive - not in his auctions - but with his feedback.

I managed to buy one of his wholesale lists for only a penny, it took me a while, but I was persistant in my bidding on his new auctions when I was outbid. The list was nothing but a handful of quick links he gathered from a Google search, and then the listings of the IMASD wholesale list emailed to subscribers who sign up for their free list.

So … when I saw that some buyers paid nearly $500 for one of these lists I knew they must have been deceived in some way.

One thing I noticed … when I tried to look for feedback related to the wholesale list he was selling, I couldn’t find any. In fact I went as far back as I could see auctions, and that is where this seller had several negatives on his wholesale list, but this guy was a Powerseller, and had 99.5% positive feedback.

The killer here was in his practice of feedback manipulation, he was using a one cent auction in some way to inflate his feedback (to the tune of 1200 in 24 hours) which was masking his negatives. This is more than just automated feeback, there was something fishy here and it appeared when you clicked to become an approved bidder there was something that happened related to the feedback. This guy even admitted to manipulating feedback when I contacted him. (yes I turned him into eBay, and he has since been suspended)

Here’s why I think this was deceiving buyers …

When a buyer looked at his wholesale list auctions, they weren’t missleading, but when a buyer saw that he had such high feedback, and the feedback appeared to come from buyers if the lists, and the fact that he was a Powersellers instilled trust, therefore the buyers were more apt to pay a higher price for the information.

I’m pleased this guy is now shut down, but that doesn’t mean he’s done, I have seen many sellers get NARU’d and pop up again under a new user ID.

That’s why it’s important for anyone using eBay to report sellers they find who are in violation of the eBay policies, or if you suspect something that just isn’t right.

For some more information on issues with eBay’s feedback be sure to check out Michael Donahue’s latest eAuction Air episode.

Feedback farms are a plague on eBay; one cent BIN, free shipping…but something else is up. Listen in as I begin my investigation.

eAuction Air - Michael Danahue

Michael also has more great information in this episode.

Enjoy . . . Scott