I've never (to my knowledge) done business with the seller but I know people who have.
I don't think she shills at all. When she finds sellers she likes and trusts, she becomes a repeat customer. (Just so you know, not every seller who has repeat customers is a shill bidder.)
If you follow the PF forums, ebay boards or any of a number of other boards where handbag buyers and sellers post, you'll read about a lot of sellers who have been "banned" as resellers.
Coach and other designer companies dislike those who they consider to buy their items for resale and they restrict and ban those customers from shopping at their stores.
Thus, resellers search ebay (and other sites) for their inventory.
As for multiple IDs, there's nothing wrong with it and as long as those IDs don't interact with each other, ebay allows (and often encourages it).
In fact, most resellers use separate buying and selling IDs and for good reason. Although we all agree that any business's purpose is to make profits, for some reason, ebay buyers dislike when sellers make a profit.
So when buyers can look at their seller's bidding history and see that they purchased an item for $1 and they're reselling it for $3, buyers aren't happy that the seller is (presumably) tripling her investment.
By using a separate buying ID, the seller protects herself from buyers who might accuse her of "gouging."
You're welcome.
As far as shilling, I have only seen one seller who did it repeatedly and it was extremely obvious. The bidder had zero feedback and 100% of activity with the seller. I reported the seller and that seller has been removed.
I don't think there is anything wrong with people having more than one ebay ID. I have two myself. But as far as I know, no one can find out that they are connected to the same person, especially if you use separate paypal accounts. I just don't know how you know that someone has more than one account. If you look at this seller's ID history, you can see id's she has used in the past, but not any that she is currently using along with this ID.
I don't know how to get access to someone's bidding history. The only way I would know the seller was reselling something she bought on ebay would be to search her feedback. I have resold items at a profit using the same account, and no one has complained. I understand the reasoning to having more than one ID, but very few buyers would do the research (or know how to) to find out what the seller bought the item for.
As far as
ibitthesheriff I don't have any reason to believe she is doing anything wrong. She obviously buys a lot of items at Coach factory stores, and yet she hasn't been banned from them. I buy many of the items I sell at factory stores myself. The employees know people buy things there to resell and they don't try to stop them. They do have a daily limit - you can buy 5 leather and 5 signature items per visit. But you can come back the next day and do it again. Although I don't know if they still have this limit, because the last few times I went no one mentioned it. At Coach boutiques, they give customers who shop there often special offers, so I don't believe they ever discourage customers from buying a lot of their items. Do you know of anyone who has been banned from a Coach store?
I would like to make the point that a large percentage of new Coach items sell for less on ebay than you can buy them yourself at the factory store, even when you use the factory's 30% off coupon. I am more likely to make a profit on items I buy and resell on ebay, than on items I buy at the factory store. (So I am one of those resellers you refer to.) A seller is only likely to make a large profit on new items if they are rare or she is one of the first to list it. Look at all the Sophias listed now. They are selling for about the same price I paid at the factory store, with the 30% off coupon. Once I paid the fees on the sale, I would have lost money. When they were first listed they sold for much more. It is just the law of supply and demand. If anyone is thinking of getting into the business of selling Coach on ebay, unless you have some special connection, don't expect to make a huge profit. If you are a buyer, rest assured, most of the time you are getting a great deal. Ebay is fantastic for buyers.
As always, thank you for taking the time to address my issues. I really appreciate your help.
