Does CoPart bid against its own members?
Posted by Hot-Shift8235@reddit | askcarguys | View on Reddit | 9 comments
Not sure if this is the right subreddit but I'll go ahead and post anyways.
I've just won my 2nd bid on CoPart through a broker. Both times someone bid against me exactly up to my max pre-bid, then when I hit bid one more time, they stopped bidding and I won. I understand that this could just be a huge coincidence, but how likely is it that someone at CoPart knows my max bid and is bidding against me to ensure they get most out of their vehicles? On my most recent bid, I put in my pre-bid the day before the auction when the bid was still at zero. The next morning, I checked and the bid was exactly at my pre-bid amount. Do you think this could be some sort of scheme? Or am I just being salty for no reason?
salvage814@reddit
They legally can't bid against themselves cause that is shell bidding and is an illegal practice. But the other guy is a broker as well. Copart is going to be a broker only site soon anyway to get people to just stop being scummy.
Tight_Cat_80@reddit
I used to work there for 10 years. They had a department that’s sole job was to bid up on the auctions. Illegal as hell but they didn’t care.
Hot-Shift8235@reddit (OP)
I understand that this is most likely illegal but maybe they could do it under the radar like having a third party bidder so it isn't traced back to them?
salvage814@reddit
That is even more shady.
Professional_Split84@reddit
This happened to me twice. I was bidding on a truck, stopped bidding cause it was more than what i was willing to pay. 2 days later I get a email stating the truck was moved to be auctioned at another date, wtf happened. So when this day came around I bid on it once again and lost the auction by $50 (the next bid would have been the buy it now price) the next day I get another email stating the same, that the truck had been moved to be autioned at another time and date and the buy it now price is at my last bid. Coincidence, maybe.
Dedward5@reddit
Lots of folk lore about auction sites in general. If you out in the maximum you are prepared to pay you will either “win” it or someone else who was prepared to pay more will. Lots of people still bid specific round numbers like “think this is 5k” and surprisingly everyone else thinks that too, bid 5.1k and you might get it. But just bid what you’re happy to spend, no more lo less.
Hot-Shift8235@reddit (OP)
I honestly believe that this is what happened and I'm more than happy to pay what I bid on the car, I wouldn't have bid that much if I wasn't. But obviously it would be nice if I didn't have to spend exactly how much I budgeted for it so I'm just curious to see if this is even a possibility or if anyone else has similar experiences.
IAmAThug101@reddit
You can try out theory by letting the other guy win.
AnemosMaximus@reddit
I believe they use the algorithm against everyone to get the max target for everything. I see it all the time.