International sellers will not use them due to the high duties and shipping so they could not be bidding them up since they are frugal in their purchases. However since they added the submission of the autobid, it will tell you the bid was not high enough but if no one else bid they may provide a second chance offer. They may have more than one of the item but probably not. Their prices used to be less than Ebay prices and now they are higher by 1000s of dollars. Like the live sellers that were busted in New York by attorney general for bid rigging (via ex employee) for Ebay Live Auction bid rigging, it could be years before they get caught and it is an FCC crime that could get them kicked off the internet.
There is some evidence that all their items cannot be selling for the huge end prices that they are showing.
-they used to have one day auctions, now the high high end items show have huge bids in the thousands yet they keep the item there for 10 days. This indicates that they want more to see it and are not getting that top dollar otherwise they would take their money and run after one day.
-they raised the shipping for uninsured items to ridiculous levels. They used to permit priority mail for all items however now they limit this to item totals under 1,000 and have 40 and 50 minimum to Los Angeles Fed EX for over 1000 however Fed Ex does not insure jewelry over $500.
-they added a per item transaction fee out of nowhere.
-they also have mini appraisals that are not by any GIA or recognized appraisal society but some other quasi organization American International Gemologist which has a Pre-sale estimate report appraisal or something of that nature. I believe this is a method of recouping dollars.
I think that they have begun to set a floor like Roger but he has proof and I don't. All I know is that this organization is now publicly traded so it should be scrutinized by the SEC in addition to the CA State Attorney General for bid rigging practices.
I also agree with another post about their retails for items. These are double the actual retail with the exception of designer items by renown designers.
Bid rigging is also a problem on Ebay but Ebay is a venue and does have software that detects patterns in bidding and have become more aggressive. Bidz.com is controlling their own auctions which of course many losing money would get someone to bid in the competitive online jewelry business from another country or computer. Shareholders anyone could be doing it. The former owners are original USA, Iran (Persian), India and China. A few had been losing money as sellers on Ebay and opened bidz. It is not a bad concept but they should not make money on shipping uninsured items (they do require signatures). These factors tell me that they are trying to recoup the lost funds by add ons and shipping. It is suspicious in any event.
In their defense generally speaking the jewelry is new and in good condition. Sometimes it is not as nice as it looked and hollow gold. They package well so a signature is probably sufficient but they should not charge that much for shipping. On the contrary, heavy buyers are usually given discounts on shipping.
I think that they should be monitored however it could all be a coincidence and they good be selling more than Ebay is for higher prices. They are trading at $8 a share vs Ebay's over $37 share.
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