The auto co

All their one dollar listings have gone! They had very good feedback.

They were shill bidders.Looked at one Ipsum that sold on there a couple of times and kept getting relisted - wihtout either winning bidder or seller getting/giving any feedback.

When I asked a very pointed question on it third time around, the question was removed about 5 minutes before the auction ended.So can't rule out that they had/have friends within TradeMe as well.

+1 they were shill bidders. Im suprised TM finally did something about them, considering TM is well known to turn a blind eye to large customers breaking the rules as long as the $$$ is flowing in

they were good in the start , but when the fancy flags went up so did the prices.

Which begs the question, how are they allowed to continue being complicit with an illegal activity!When it's so blatantly obvious and they have been made aware of it, is there no legal requirement for them to act!Is that the reason my question conveniently 'disappeared' just before auction's end to avoid an incriminating trail!

Or are we getting into the 'advertising medium' vs 'legal auction' area again!

IN FAIRNESS-- Autoco have been around for a fair few years but were mostly wholesaling to the trade. The $1.00 reserve auction thing was the efforts of the new owner/manager to generate turnover.

As an out of town (potential) buyer, fairness would have been Trade Me responding to community reports in a positive way - banning them a looong time ago.Once I realised what was happening I started searching through old listings, and yep, the same guys outbidding and not following through.And I know I'm not the only one who was aware of it.

I don't think shill bidding is a particularly fair way of generating turnover, and I know that's not what you are trying to imply.Happy to see them gone to be honest - there are enough scuzzy people out there without having Trade Me prop them up.

TRADE ME SHOULD ALSO BAN ANY COMPANY THAT APPEARS ON FAIR GO

umm.yeah.because they're such fine examples of impartial reporting and investigative journalism.while we have them, we don't need the disputes tribunal or CGA etc

Seen anything Brian Edwards has had to say about them recently!

Nathan-What I can't understand is why a trader on TM with proven shill bidding doesn't have their account suspended untill they can prove they AREN'T shill bidding. My earler point was that autoco have been around a fair few years and the issues came from the new owner (about 18 months)

I became aware of it about 4 months ago and when I started searching a bit of background, found a few people had raised concerns.At that point I stopped considering their vehicles too.

So next time we have a 'dealers vs civilians' debate on here, you'll realise it's guys like the Auto Co that jerk the rug out from under the rest of your guyses feet.But seriously, the lack of response from TradeMe has been shocking, and if it really has been going on for 18 months then it's worse than I thought.

It's one thing to be all sanctimonious on TV about how responsible TM are appearing to be on any number of issues, but when you see them supporting such a blatant shill bidder, it begs more than a few questions.

An alleged shill bidding case is the biggest yet - with hundreds of auctions under review.
The record of $1-auction dealers on TradeMe took another big hit this week, with the site again dumping its biggest automotive trader for alleged shill bidding.
Japanese-owned Auckland wholesaler and dealer, Auto Co, which traded under the main account 'theautoco' has been pulled from the site.
In a case that TradeMe head of trust and safety, Jon Duffy, confirms that, according to initial inquiries, isbigger than their two other recent major cases - Online Vehicle Auctions Limited and Repo Cars.
TradeMe says it was a complaint from another member that lead to the investigation.
Duffy says the complaint was received on Monday night, and the account suspended on Tuesday.
Investigations show shill bids were allegedly being made from a number of accounts, with the suspect accounts often ending up buying the cars, which were then relisted or shifted on to classified listings.
Duffy says their investigation shows the number of trades affected by alleged shill bidding could be in the hundreds.
"We are still tallying them up, but it is in the hundreds," Duffy says.
That tally is with the site restricting its investigations so far into just auctions run in the last year.
' the autoco' and six other accounts have been suspended. All of the firm's listings have also now been removed from the Autobase system.
Duffy says they have been in talks with the company. Duffy spoke to the director, Masashi Umeoka, this morning, but would not go into the nature of the conversation.
TradeMe has had an investigator on the case and a complaint and evidence has now been filed with the Commerce Commission.
"We will be making a complaint to the commission," says Duffy. "It will be interesting to see if it is picked up."
Duffy acknowledged the case could ultimately end up in the hands of the police.
"It is arguably 'accessing a computer system for dishonest purpose'."
"At this stage it is unclear if it is a rogue employee or a company wide issue," Duffy says.
Duffy says TradeMe does not have the ability to unwind deals that have been affected by the shill bidding, but will be making information available on how it changed prices to all parties.
"We are compiling a list of affected members, and the amount the purchase price has been effected by the shill bidding, and we will be suppling that information to the commission, the trader and the members."
He says TradeMe will be contacting affected members, and would prefer they waited rather than using customer service lines.
Duffy says they are also working with Auto Co's lawyers to have a 'trusted trader' panel removed from the dealers' site which they did not have the right to use.

when was this published!

Today in industry website

I hope they look into disappearing questions too - pretty sure that doesn't just happen without someone from TM removing it with good reason!!

rogue employee. Yeah right . welcome to TUI LAND .

The original story:

http://autotalk.co.nz/index.php!option=com_content&view=article&id=2049:autotalk-exclusive-trade-me-boots-top-dealer&catid=47:products&Itemid=53

I went to there car yard a while back and was looking at mazdas and 1 of there cars said only 60000 ks and the driver seat was worn out on the entry side and the foot pedals were also worn so needless to say got out of there.

What's the latest on this!I've been a bit pre-occupied with some things closer to home lately so may have missed an update!Thought it might have attracted some mainstream attention. well except through Fairfax outlets.