http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221791687290? ... EBIDX%3AIT

I was interested but I think £20 is way too much.

Good evening daro2096,

£5 would be tops that I would pay for such content, but that's me.

Kind Regards

If you are really eager to own that one? I'd say YES

Try justifying it for yourself, whatever makes you comfortable is what it's worth in the end.... don't really matters what others would pay IMHO

Not that eager.

The seller - mikem9755 - is an ebay seller who uses various shill bidding techniques, he uses other accounts to bid buy & sell on.

An account he may still have access to is - jagsmanuk - which is an account held by someone else that Mike uses, there is a lot of activity between both accounts.

If the shill bids go too high (simple greed?!?) then the discs get second chance offers if the genuine bids went high enough for him, if not they are listed again.

It took a bit of time but checking back this has gone on for a few years & his mikem9755 account had restrictions placed on it about two years ago, he told me that he had fallen behind in sending items out & some buyers wanted their discs or the payment back so he could only bid & buy on this account - not able to sell on it.

The jagsmanuk account is not held by Mike but the registered user let him have full access to the account where he (Mike) was selling his discs from & he was shill bidding from his mikem9755 account - he may have access to other accounts or have others willing to bid on his listings.

He is very manipulative, deceptive & tells a convincing story & now must have made quite a sum of money from his cross account bidding buying & selling activity.

He seems to think that he is owed for "all the hard work" buying collections & reselling on ebay - at one time he told me that he was "sick of selling lasers for nothing" which was not the case but he appears to think many laserdiscs are much more valuable than they actually are.

Not all his listings are shill bid on, the very low value discs are left to run but anything a little bit collectable or tasty is more than likely to be "bid up" as he put it.

I was a customer of his who got to know him a bit (I fell for one of his sob stories actually, feel a bit of a mug now) but I would not deal with him or buy anything from him now.

His ebay profile details are not correct as he is not based in Ayrshire as listed but in Paisley which makes it rather difficult to get hold of him & he does tend to ignore any form of communication.

I have tried very hard to get hold of him without success & my last message to him via ebay messages has not been responded to.....
New message to: mikem9755

Mike,

are you going to respond to any messages?

Are you still using other accounts to, as you put it "bid up" your items - also called shill bidding or fraud?

I tried to help you, you lied, were very manipulative & deceptive but you have been found out.

Don't forget I was in your flat when you were using the account of jagsmanuk to bid on items & you were listing your items to sell on the jagsmanuk account. You were bidding from your mikem9755 account on your own items that you had listed on the jagsmanuk account. Remember the comment "I suspect shill bidding was involved jagsmanuk was the seller" so how many of your numerous customers on various accounts have you done this to?

As you are clearly not acting in the spirit of ebay or in the spirit of an auction. You are now completely ignoring all calls at your door, at your work, by email, by phone & you are not replying to messages via the ebay message service - why is this? Respond/reply please. John

I have also sent a message to the registered holder of the jagsmanuk account enquiring as to whither Mike still has access to the account & asking a couple of other questions re the activity between the accounts but as yet have had no reply - a few days have passed now.

I am sure we are all quite happy to bid against other genuine bidders & buyers but finding out you have been bidding against the seller of an item is not much fun.

A real pity as I thought he was a nice guy but my dealing with him had turned rather toxic a while ago.

Over the last few years he has sold discs to many users of this site so if any here feel that your sales or auctions with him have been manipulated perhaps enquiring through ebay messages may prompt a reply from him but I would not hold your breath.

To answer the original OPs question - it is only worth what genuine bidders & buyers want to pay, not what an enthusiastic buyer bids & a shill bidding seller wants for it.

BTW I picked mine up for less than £5 (£4 & a few pence) but the Doctor Who discs can go a bit high sometimes. mikem9755 & jagsmanuk have both sold similar discs & they always appear to go much higher then the norm. mikem9755 does have a number of followers now & they all may be high bidders all looking for the same discs at the same time but how can we be sure?

I bought the Star Wars faces trilogy lds from jagsmanuk. Star Wars and Return of the Jedi went cheap but for some reason there were last hour bids on Empire. I suspected shill bidding but still paid. Think I paid about £23 for all three.

Thanks for the head up there. I won't be putting in a bid for this one.

Hmmm, just checked the bidding history for this Doctor Who ld and all the bidders are private. I wonder why.
I have reported this listing for possible shill bidding though.

Its now at £64

That's quite a story about Ebay users mikem9755 & jagsmanuk.
I don't think I've ever bought anything from either which was lucky for me.

I've also always been very wary of second chance offers on Ebay.
They always seem to only occur when the price was sky high.

The ebay seller confirmed he knew Jagsmanuk.

Dear daro2096 ,

you actually got a reply, I have sent many messages & emails with no response at all, thanks for letting us all know.

Any info would help here & if any users have bought from either account at so called "high" prices & think anything may be amiss contact ebay - they surely will be able to tell the IP addresses etcetera that the listing & bid exchanges came from.

Not all will be , as the seller put it, "bid-up" & some will go high with genuine bids from genuine buyers but any of the nicer (scarcer) music discs, box sets, Japanese imports & the ones that always attract healthy bids (late issues & the usual suspects that most collectors would be pleased to add to a collection) will more than likely be shill bid on between the accounts run by the holder of the mikem9755 account. The holder of the jagsmanuk account told me that Mike had no access to his account & he was the seller of the items listed but when I informed him that I was with Mike when he was bidding, buying & selling on the jagsmanuk account - he logged on, entered the jagsmanuk id name, entered the access password & started listing discs that were sitting by the computer as he was entering the detail for the sales listings. These were the same discs that jagsmanuk was telling me he had listed as his home, a couple of exchanges later then nothing. Silence may be golden but not here, Shill bidding, bidding up, bumping up, ensuring a good price... call it what you will it is plain fraud & the number of listings involved does come to quite a sum all told. On lots of his listings in the past (he does regularly list 50 to 100+ items at a time) the shill bids have generated hundreds of pounds more than if the listings had run without the shill bids. Over the time he has been/is doing this the total sum will now be considerable.

I got to know him as a few years ago as I had bought about half a dozen discs from his mikem9755 account & received a message stating that as he stayed in Paisley & it was only a few minutes drive he could drop them off & it would save me the postage costs, kind & helpful I thought. He dropped off the discs, was paid & we had a cuppa & a chat & he did appear to be a nice chap. I had a box of about 50 or 60 discs (the usual ones you end up with multiple copies of when buying collections) which were of no use to me & told him he was welcome to them if they were of any use - my wife was pleased to see the back of them!!! I did buy more discs off of him which he did drop off for me. On one of the visits he did say that he was having (financial) problems & was "sick of selling good lasers for nothing" so advised him not to start all his listings at 99 pence or £1, not have them ending in the morning or early afternoon - the usual things when selling on ebay. After a while his mikem9755 account had restrictions placed on it - I was told that he had got "snowed under" & had fallen behind & buyers were wanting their discs or refunds but he did not have funds to cover the refunds to the buyers who wanted their money back. This is where I do now feel a bit of a mug (fell for one of his sob stories) & tried to help but that proved rather costly. Not long after I sent him a message letting him know that a chap in Paisley ( jagsmanuk ) was selling some nice discs that if he picked up for a cheap price would be quick flippers & would perhaps help him out of his financial hole (if the stories were true) & got a message back telling me that it was Mike himself selling on the jagsmanuk account with the registered holder letting him use the account to bid buy & sell on. The deal was what Mike was giving the account holder 10% of total sales for the use of the account (again if what he was telling me was true) so perhaps that is true but again who knows? In any case he had control of the accounts & was shill bidding on his own discs.

To confirm I placed bids on quite a few of his ( mikem9755 ) discs at prices so high they would not be beaten even with perhaps the highest shill bid placed. I did "win" all that I had bid on, I am now a "blocked" bidder so can do this no longer. Sure some may be genuine buyers but a win at £77 for the UK PAL edition of PLMPA 00911 All About US is a bit rich - a £5ish or so disc on most with copies listed regularly. The listing may have been genuine & two bidders may have got caught up in a bidding fever but how can we be sure? I got an invoice with the total for all the discs I had "won", sent a number of questions/messages but no response at all to any ebay messages & emails. The listings ended on the 31st of May & I would have expected some form of communication by now - the last message I received was via an email a while ago asking me not to send any messages or questions via the ebay message service... why? By now a non paying bidder notice would be expected, none received to date for a total order of £342.12 & if I had an outstanding invoice of that total I would be asking what is happening but nothing, why?

I am sure there are many happy buyers of his discs but not if you have been conned surely.

Sorry that thing went so bad but I cannot get a response from Mike so can not give his side of events.

I do not think his account activity is fair to genuine bidders & buyers.

Regards

Here is his reply to me:

New message from: mikem9755 (964Purple Star)
Hi There ,
I know who that would have been but we are not the same seller .I do know him and I have dealt with him a few times .
Regards Mike

Thanks daro96 & his last message to me via email on 7th June'15 was only after I placed the "winning" bids...

Good Morning John ,

I am off on Wednesday so feel free to give me a call at any time during the day in the meantime please do not bid on any of my Laser Discs unless you intend to pay for them and no more messages via Ebay .

Regards Mike

... and this was only sent I believe because I had placed the bids & with another request asking me to send no further messages via the ebay members message service.

He has not answered any of the questions, his "friend" (workmate) will not respond to any emails or ebay messages on his jagsmanuk account. Perhaps he has been fooled or let down or lied to or been left with debts on ebay due to Mikes activity & is too embarrassed to get back to me but I did tell him to take great care in any dealings with Mike. Would anyone here really hand an ebay account they were responsible for to someone else with full access to the account then lie about it?

At least there is some communication from him now, even though it is not very helpful.

I have had no reply my message via ebay to the jagsmanuk account which was...

New message to: jagsmanuk

Hello Douglas,
if you can please ask Mike McGinty - mikem9755 - to make some form of contact, that would be much appreciated. Will he be using your account again in the future or will he now be selling on the account registered in his name?
I hope you are better now & the health issues are being resolved. Yours,
John

perhaps some of his former customers may get a response.

Buying & selling laserdiscs should be fun & friendly, this is anything but.

It is people like that that ruin eBay for everyone. I wish the old eBay was still around when it was place for people like you and me to sell their stuff similar to a car boot sale or a flea market. It was much cheaper too.

Thanks & below is my latest message via ebay...


New message to: mikem9755
I got your email again asking me not to contact you through the ebay members message service, why are you asking this?

I have tried to get you to make contact for a long time & it appears the only way of getting any response is to bid on your items, why is this?

Why will you not answer or reply to the messages here?

You know of my mobility issues & you are taking advantage. I have travelled to yours a number of times & you are ignoring me at your door, when I phone, emails ignored till now & no response to messages here.

What are you going to do with the discs won, you can drop them off here if you want like you used to do in the past when I purchased discs from you - that way we can have a chat & you can perhaps clarify quite a number of things.

John

I will let you know if I get any response.

Regards

I wouldn't think they'd be rare. They were amongst the disks that were available very cheaply when Empire Direct sold off their laserdisc stock in the early 2000s. I've got that set, I'd imagine that anyone who was interested in Dr. Who at all and buying from them ended up with a copy.

Now another seller is selling all three EE Doctor Who discs for £19.99 each. Again I think it is too much.

Day of the Daleks and Terror of the Zygons being the other two? They were all dumped cheaply when Empire Direct sold out. I'd be very surprised if they were rare.