Recently I've been on the lookout for a stationary spin bike and came across a vendor on Trademe who sold a particular model that interested me. This vendor had a number of auctions listed at the time for this model, 4 of which were $1 reserves and another 3 with a Buy Now for $599 each.

So naturally I added all 4 of the $1 reserve auctions to my watchlist and kept an eye on each one hoping to score a bargain. But thats when the funny business started... Each auction was "won" with winning bids of no more than $350. But within seconds of each auction closing, they were then "offered" for a fixed price of $599.

I'm by no means a TradeMe expert, but my understanding of this process is that as they were all $1 reserve auctions, whoever placed the final bid should have won the auction. Only if they were unable to complete the sale would the vendor then have the option of offering the item for a fixed price to anyone else that was involved in the auction.

But what I can't understand:
1) Why were the fixed offers sent out so quickly? If the auction winner was unable to complete the sale, wouldnt this take a few days at least to ascertain?
2) What were the chances of the same thing happening on 4 different auctions, all within a week of each other, all with different buyers?

My original feeling is that the vendor was bidding on their own auctions and when they are unsuccesful in ramping up the price to a level they are happy with, they tried their luck with a fixed offer. Anyone elese have a take on this, maybe another explanation that I'm missing?

If they are indeed bidding on their own auction, I'm certainly not naive enough to think this isnt a common occurence, but if so, has anyone seen a case so blatant? And from a vendor apparently established as a TradeMe store as well?