30 days ago, I began performing an analysis of eBay seller *stoneark* (AKA stonark, AKA Corner Collectibles, AKA Cornner Collectibles) and bid participation patterns on his listings of “guaranteed authentic” wardrobe attributed to various classic Hollywood stars. As a result, I identified 8 accounts that share not only some remarkable coincidences, but nearly each one has transacted with all of the rest, in addition to buying from *stoneark*.
6 of the 8 were very active participants in approximately 250 *stoneark* eBay listings that ended earlier this month – in fact, *stoneark* auctions are the only listings those 6 eBay members bid on in the past 120 days.
eBay, Lack of Transparency, & Identification of “Anonymous” Bids in Bid Histories
Though eBay has recently changed its website to “anonymize” both bidder and buyer identities – see eBay Announces More “Progress”, Less Transparency – it is still possible to search on buyer usernames to see what they have bid on, and the buyers are still identifiable by the feedback score and inclusion of the same alpha/numeric characters seen in the eBay-assigned anonymous monikers.
As an example, from a recent *stoneark* eBay listing, buyer apnj with a feedback score of 464 is shown in the eBay listing Bid History as p***j with the same feedback score of 464 with the “p” and “j” serving as bookends to the three asterisk (***) characters, borrowed from the root username “apnj“:
Mutual Transaction “Buyer/Bidder Network”
Last month, in reviewing the eBay feedback for Anthony Shkutnick’s *stoneark* account, I noticed some interesting patterns.
A handful of eBay members that left *stoneark* feedback as buyers also appeared to have transacted with one another.
I identified a list of 6 *stoneark* buyers that had transactions with each and every other eBay member on the list, and 2 more that had transacted with nearly all of the 8 in total (click each for links to eBay feedback):
Below is a chart reflecting the minimum number of transactions conducted between these eBay members (taking the higher of the two mutual feedback comments each party left for the other, per a Toolhaus search):
NOTE: t_hunter1995 is a suspended, “No Longer A Registered User” (NARU) account, and appears to have been in this status since mid-2004.
NOTE: toycollies2 did a high number of transactions with *stoneark* from mid-2000 through the end of 2006, and none since.
Below is a Toolhaus mutual feedback archive between toycollies2 and *stoneark*:
“Buyer/Bidder Network” Matching Feedback Comments
In addition to the pattern of these 8 eBay members serving as customers of *stoneark* as well as transacting with one another, almost universally, I have found that many of these eBay members also leave the exact same highly customized eBay feedback remarks for *stoneark*.
As an example, the following comment (matching character for character) was left for *stoneark* by the following members of the identified “Buyer/Bidder Network” on the following dates (2001-2008):
Friendly & Punctual EBAY Citizen of Impeccable Integrity !!
Buyer: b1966
Nov-05-08 09:01
Buyer: o-my-starz
Sep-20-08 08:18
Buyer: my-imac
Aug-21-08 08:48
Buyer: my-imac
Aug-21-08 08:45
Buyer: toycollies2
Oct-23-06 12:13
Buyer: toycollies2
Oct-23-06 12:13
Buyer: toycollies2
Oct-23-06 12:13
Buyer: toycollies2
Dec-16-05 05:33
Buyer: toycollies2
Dec-16-05 05:33
Buyer: toycollies2
Jul-30-05 06:43
Buyer: toycollies2
Jul-30-05 06:44
Seller: toycollies2
Aug-02-01 16:09
As another example, the following comment (matching character for character) was left for *stoneark* by the following members of the “Buyer/Bidder Network” on the following dates (2002-2008):
EXCELLENT! Would be glad to recommend this seller ANYTIME!! 5 STARS!
Buyer: o-my-starz
Sep-20-08 08:18
Buyer: my-imac
Aug-21-08 08:53
Buyer: my-imac
Aug-21-08 08:52
Buyer: toycollies2
Dec-16-05 05:33
Buyer: toycollies2
May-31-05 19:55
Buyer: o-my-starz
Apr-01-02 23:47
“Buyer/Bidder Network” eBay Bidding, eBay Records, Past 31 Days
Of those 8 members identified in the “Buyer/Bidder Network”, 6 placed bids on eBay auctions in the past 31 days, per eBay records (and again, 1 of the 8 has long been suspended/NARU status, so cannot bid).
All of the 6 who bid on items on eBay in the past 31 day participated exclusively in *stoneark* eBay listings. eBay records only show activity for those items won:
“Buyer/Bidder Network” eBay Bidding, eBay Records per Goofbay, Past 120 Days
Goofbay records go back 120 days and show items won as well as bid on and not won.
Of the 6 active members identified in the *stoneark* “Buyer/Bidder Network”, all 6 bid exclusively on *stoneark* listings and *stoneark* listings only in the past 120 days per Goof bay records.
Below are summaries of the number of *stoneark* listings bid on and individual Goofbay eBay bidding archives for the past 120 days:
- apnj – Placed one or more bids on 7 different *stoneark* listings
- b1966 – Placed one or more bids on 10 different *stoneark* listings
- chynadolls – Placed one or more bids on 16 different *stoneark* listings
- c-ingstarz – Placed one or more bids on 6 different *stoneark* listings
- my-imac – Placed one or more bids on 11 different *stoneark* listings
- o-my-starz – Placed one or more bids on 8 different *stoneark* listings
*stoneark* eBay Listing “Buyer/Bidder Network” Case Study
This case study looks at one example of a *stoneark* item listed on eBay, in which 5 of the 6 active participants in the “Buyer/Bidder Network” all placed bids. As noted in the opening, the “hidden” eBay bidder ID’s can be identified by the overall feedback score displayed. This is also cross-referenced and verified per the eBay and Goofbay public records above (searching on bids by username reveals the specific public auctions in which they participated)
Below are the eBay usernames of the 6 active participants in the *stoneark* “Buyer/Bidder Network” alongside the eBay-assigned anonymous monikers employed in the most recent wave of over 250 items listed on eBay by *stoneark*:
- apnj (464) = p***j (464)
- b1966 (11) = 6***b (11)
- chynadolls (28) = c***a (28)
- c-ingstarz (25) = n***n (25)
- my-imac (192) = y***i (192)
- o-my-starz (372) = a***r (372)
Note: The eBay feedback summary is always a match and the eBay-assigned anonymous monikers always contain characters (alpha and/or numeric) that are found in the true, root username.
The following is one example of one listing of the 250+ offered for sale on eBay in December 2008 by Anthony Shkutnick’s *stoneark*, all starting at $99.99, with all of the bidders (5 bidders with 17 bids) coming from 5 of the 6 noted above as participants in the *stoneark* “Buyer/Bidder Network”:
ACTOR CLARK GABLE OWNED VINTAGE TUXEDO
eBay Item #120344004287
Below is an annotated version of the eBay Bid History for this auction, illustrating that all 5 bidders are participants in the *stoneark* “Buyer/Bidder Network”:
There are a number of other examples such as this in the December offerings from *stoneark*.
I have also noted a number of interesting coincidences – the chynadolls account being created 05/23/98 and my-imac being created the very next day on 05/24/98, the username similarity between c-ingstarz and o-my-starz, the eBay feedback for b1966 being left entirely by *stoneark* “Buyer/Bidder Network” participants with just one exception – and more.
For More Information: Market Watch | stonark/*stoneark* (Corner Collectibles / Cornner Collectibles)
Jason De Bord