Sealed Amiga Castlevania on Ebay already $200+

[Andre81]

I've stopped to bid on items from Peter Olafson. Prices were always way above normal market prices. There was always a crazy "reserve price" by the same bidder.

 

[+Psionic]

As someone who has been collecting computer games for a very long time, I have to agree that Peter Olafson's auctions are a puzzle to me. Much of what he is selling is not particularly rare, nor is it in very nice shape. I have generally avoided his stuff as a result and while I don't think fraud is involved, there is a lot of odd bidding activity and one buyer in particular that seems to be spending thousands of dollars a week on his stuff, including stuff that is available from other sellers on Ebay in better condition for far less money.

I don't like it when I see zero-feedback bidders winning auctions for hundreds (much less thousands) of dollars, and this seems to be happening often with this seller's items. There is one bidder in particular that has won several of these auctions (and lost several more) over the last couple of months but has not received any feedback for any purchases from peterolafson or any other seller (i.e. the bidder still has zero feedback). This is quite suspicious, and when combined with the incredibly inflated prices that some of these items are selling for, it seems hard to believe that these auctions are completely on-the-level.

 

Does anyone know the seller? I've seen this guy before, but always buying not selling. Now he suddenly seems to be liquidating tons of stuff for nearly every platform imaginable. That kind of turnaround usually comes from a person who needs money badly, and needing money badly would certainly add to the case for funny business going on here.

[bojay1997]

I don't like it when I see zero-feedback bidders winning auctions for hundreds (much less thousands) of dollars, and this seems to be happening often with this seller's items. There is one bidder in particular that has won several of these auctions (and lost several more) over the last couple of months but has not received any feedback for any purchases from peterolafson or any other seller (i.e. the bidder still has zero feedback). This is quite suspicious, and when combined with the incredibly inflated prices that some of these items are selling for, it seems hard to believe that these auctions are completely on-the-level.

 

Does anyone know the seller? I've seen this guy before, but always buying not selling. Now he suddenly seems to be liquidating tons of stuff for nearly every platform imaginable. That kind of turnaround usually comes from a person who needs money badly, and needing money badly would certainly add to the case for funny business going on here.

I don't know the seller personally, but I know he used to be a pretty prominent video game guide and book author. Over the past two years he has spent tens of thousands of dollars on computer games as I used to see him bid crazy amounts on a regular basis. Many of the items he has purchased in the past few years are now being listed by him on Ebay. From what I have gathered, he bought the games originally to do some kind of pictoral collector's guide. Given how much he spent and the fact that the computer game market is pretty unstable from auction to auction, I wouldn't be shocked if there was something shady going on. With the amounts he spent, I can imagine the possibility of him running into some very serious financial problems if he doesn't get close to what he paid, especially since he paid well above top of market to begin with.

[+Psionic]

Given how much he spent and the fact that the computer game market is pretty unstable from auction to auction, I wouldn't be shocked if there was something shady going on.

Well, to be fair, it turns out I was wrong about the zero-feedback bidder I mentioned in my last post. I was looking at eBay Mobile using my phone last night and the bidder appeared to have no feedback, but taking a second look today using the eBay website it seems the bidder in question actually has private feedback, so feedback actually was left for the auctions under scrutiny. I also have found other auctions from other sellers that the bidder has won, so it seems that bidder is indeed legit.

 

While I don't have any concrete evidence of any shill bidding going on, these auctions still leave me wondering. As you said, the computer market is very unstable, yet somehow this seller seems to be getting top dollar for nearly everything he's selling, with no real bargains to be had. I've won two of his recent auctions myself, and I ended up paying close to my maximum bid on both of them. Beyond that, there were numerous auctions of his that I had on my watch list that I ended up passing on entirely without even bothering to place a bid because the price was already so far beyond the normal range.

 

He is selling some very rare pieces, including some things I haven't seen in a long time (and some I've never seen before). But as you stated earlier, not every item he's selling is rare, yet he's still getting huge money for many of them. Auctions like this one for instance, just don't make any sense to me.

[Atari_Bill]

Well, to be fair, it turns out I was wrong about the zero-feedback bidder I mentioned in my last post. I was looking at eBay Mobile using my phone last night and the bidder appeared to have no feedback, but taking a second look today using the eBay website it seems the bidder in question actually has private feedback, so feedback actually was left for the auctions under scrutiny. I also have found other auctions from other sellers that the bidder has won, so it seems that bidder is indeed legit.

 

While I don't have any concrete evidence of any shill bidding going on, these auctions still leave me wondering. As you said, the computer market is very unstable, yet somehow this seller seems to be getting top dollar for nearly everything he's selling, with no real bargains to be had. I've won two of his recent auctions myself, and I ended up paying close to my maximum bid on both of them. Beyond that, there were numerous auctions of his that I had on my watch list that I ended up passing on entirely without even bothering to place a bid because the price was already so far beyond the normal range.

 

He is selling some very rare pieces, including some things I haven't seen in a long time (and some I've never seen before). But as you stated earlier, not every item he's selling is rare, yet he's still getting huge money for many of them. Auctions like this one for instance, just don't make any sense to me.

 

Private feedback in my eyes is the same as zero or negative. I don't trust anyone that blocks their feedback score. Why do that unless you have something to hide?

[+Psionic]

Private feedback in my eyes is the same as zero or negative. I don't trust anyone that blocks their feedback score. Why do that unless you have something to hide?

I'm not a fan of bidders with private feedback either. I just wanted to clarify that the bidder I mentioned earlier was not actually a zero-feedback bidder as I had previously claimed. The bidder in question appears to be legit, but who knows? I don't understand why anyone would really need to make their feedback private either, especially nowadays when your user ID is scrambled anyway and the bidders identities are hidden.

 

In any event, I doubt I'll be bidding any more serious coin on any of these auctions since I'm generally a bargain shopper and I've ended up paying through the nose on one big ticket item already.