Does pool do shill bidding?

[ShytKicker]

The question of the thread should be "Does Pool NOT do shill bidding?".

In the industry, these types of question should be approached from reverse.

[dn-101]

Pool uses a shill soft based on AI (Artificial Intelligence)

[Pool.com]

dn-101 that is a very serious accusation. I can assure you Pool.com does not participate in shill bidding and we certainly do not have a software tool of any kind (let alone one based on AI) that would conduct shill bidding. You may be confused by the way our system automatically bids proxy bids for customers but that behaviour is the same in every auction house I know of.

If you have specific auciton examples that you would like me to look into, I would be happy to do that. Email me directly richard@pool.com. In all cases of a complaint we investigate and are often able to put the winning bidder directly in touch with the second place bidder personally.

[Doc Com]

Nope, nothing out of the ordinary with Pool.com being the auction platform for .asia prime domains and the auctioneer being the winner of many hotly contested auctions.

[sdsinc]

When you think of it, auction houses are like unregulated casinos

[dn-101]

Does a bear shit in the woods?

Pool:
If you have specific auciton examples that you would like me to look into, I would be happy to do that.

BS. It should be the SEC who should keep an eye on your industry

[sdsinc]

Originally Posted by dn-101

BS. It should be the SEC who should keep an eye on your industry

Madoff wouldn't disagree with that

[Pool.com]

Doc_Com, you are again misinformed. You state "the auctioneer being the winner of many hotly contested auctions." I can prove to you unequivically that the auctioneer (i.e. Pool.com nor any affiliation of Pool.com nor any affiliated company of our parent Momeomtous.ca) did not win ANY auctions in the .asia release. You really need to get your facts straight. If you are willing to make accusations then back them up with real facts not conjecture.

dn-101, I would be happy if the SEC were to oversee the industry. And, as I indicated I would be happy to investigate any issue and indeed, as mentioned, have done so previsouly even to the point where I was able to introduce the second place bidder (suggested to be a Pool shill) to the winning bidder.

[Credit]

Originally Posted by Pool.com

Doc_Com, you are again misinformed. You state "the auctioneer being the winner of many hotly contested auctions." I can prove to you unequivically that the auctioneer (i.e. Pool.com nor any affiliation of Pool.com nor any affiliated company of our parent Momeomtous.ca) did not win ANY auctions in the .asia release. You really need to get your facts straight. If you are willing to make accusations then back them up with real facts not conjecture.

dn-101, I would be happy if the SEC were to oversee the industry. And, as I indicated I would be happy to investigate any issue and indeed, as mentioned, have done so previsouly even to the point where I was able to introduce the second place bidder (suggested to be a Pool shill) to the winning bidder.

The question is, if Pool was involved in shill bidding, would your answers be any different?

I'm not accusing you of anything, just referencing to the fact that snapnames had the same answers for years.

[Pool.com]

Credit, you bring up a really interesting point. I think the difference is that I am willing to stand behind my claim and make the attempt to prove that a suspected "shill bidder" is in fact a real person acting in good faith. Is it possible that other real bidders will try to bid another person up? Yes, I've seen it happen.

But proving a bidder is not a shill is something I have been asked to do and I will do that again. I don't believe in "claims" or "conjecture" or "supposition", I do my best to deal with the facts. And ifI don't know what the facts are I am committed to finding them out.

[FormerDnForumer]

Originally Posted by Credit

The question is, if Pool was involved in shill bidding, would your answers be any different?

I'm not accusing you of anything, just referencing to the fact that snapnames had the same answers for years.

I think this is the bottom line. It's almost impossible to prove shill bidding and impossible to prove it's not happening. Shill bidding went on for years at Afternic (the old one, not the current ownership) ten years ago and in the end nothing was done about it and the owners cashed out handsomely. Can anything be proven? Were they involved? Who knows, but everybody knew it was going on day in and day out.

I've seen too much to let anyone off the hook. I'm sure for the next six months all the services will be on their best behaviour, so debating who's shilling and who's not is almost pointless.

[Pool.com]

FormerDnForumer, I don't agree the discussion is pointless, either about the past, present or future. I don't think it's fair for the industry to get broadly tarnished because of the actions of one party. I don't believe all domainers, for example, should be labeled as cybersquaters simply because some domainers chose to capitalize on trademark domains. Nor do I think all registrars should be defamed because a few choose to harvest names for sale when expired as opposed to allowing them to complete their natural cycle through RGP and deletion. And there are many more similar examples that you could use as specific situations that could be applied unfairly to the industry in general.

I believe that improper behaviour can be found out and indeed recent events confirm that even years later the industry has a way of finding things out. My point all along is I encourage people to ask the questions and get satisfactory answers. And ultimately I would hope that any participant in this industry in whatever context be they an auction house, a domainer, a registrar or whatever is innocent until proven guilty.

[BobDiGiTaL]

Originally Posted by Richard@pool.com

Is it possible that other real bidders will try to bid another person up? Yes, I've seen it happen.

So "real bidders", not Pool employees are bidding each other up?
do you really watch the auctions live? whats the purpose?
why would you be interested in knowing the bid amount(s) in real time? hmmmmmmm

[Pool.com]

BobDiGiTal, I very rarely watch auctions in real time but I can review full auction history after the fact. And I have had customers ask me about the final result of an auction they won where they thought "Pool" might be bidding against them. I was able to put them in touch with the legitimate second place bidder (a well known domainer) who had "bid them up".