shill bidding

handyman · Post by **handyman** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 3:51 pm

no, i had never heard the name of it before now. I have been trying to get an item (should cost about £130ish) off ebay second hand for a week or so, and noticed every time i bid, the price towards the end went up, and i was outbid............nothing new there.

But, after looking into 3 seperate items i lost on, it was obvious friends were bidding it up, then if it didnt get the money they wanted, friend left feedback and the next day the very same item was on sale again.

Reported them all. this was whan i found out its called shill bidding. The email i got from ebay gives you no closure on the matter as they will not tell you what happend

Ebay email.............
Hello, Thank you for taking the time to report a suspected case of Shill Bidding. We take Shill Bidding very seriously and we'll investigate yourreport as soon as possible, usually within 24-48 hours. We'll look at the information you provided and compare it to our recordsof bidding patterns and other activity involving the reported accounts.

We'll then take any appropriate action (such as warnings or account suspensions) against the involved accounts to ensure eBay remains a safeand reputable place to buy and sell. Sometimes, what appears to be Shill Bidding may actually be legitimate. For example, a bidder may bid almost exclusively on one or two sellers whom they have come to trust. If we find there's not enough evidence of Shill Bidding, we may not take action against any of the reported accounts.

Please be aware that as it's important that eBay maintains member privacy, we can't share details of the action we take. We know your time is valuable and we appreciate you taking a moment to express your concern to us. Thank you for helping to keep eBay a safe, fun place to shop.

Regards, eBay Trust and Safety

The whole thing pisses me off.

Bludall · Post by **Bludall** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 3:55 pm

Handyman,

That explains a few of our Ebay bids.
Thanks for that.

I've never heard of it before.

handyman · Post by **handyman** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 4:06 pm

report the barstuards............its the only way.

Surely its really obvious if they put it back on sale the next day

I think in this case, ebay are just letting it happen.

Hoovie · Post by **Hoovie** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 4:10 pm

very common practice, ebay don't care, end of story

....in fact, ebay has made it easier to do this by allowing the bidders ID to be hidden on an auction if the seller wants to do that.

Bludall · Post by **Bludall** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 4:12 pm

Why would you really want your bidder's Id hidden? I always thought that was dodgy.

handyman · Post by **handyman** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 4:12 pm

yes i did notice this on some of the items, but positive feedback was left, then the item went straight back on sale again.

I notice that every item is still on sale (second time round) and thats been 3-4 days from when the item was relisted, and according to ebay, it should have been sorted by now

handyman · Post by **handyman** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 4:14 pm

Bigbird wrote:Why would you really want your bidder's Id hidden? I always thought that was dodgy.

I got an email about that, its to do with higher value items, you are outbid, and someone contacts you to say its for sale at your bid you lost with, due to the higher bidder pulling out.............and you get fleeced for the cash

I'm sure they have a catchy name for that as well

Bludall · Post by **Bludall** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 4:16 pm

We've had a few 'second chance' offers after someone pulled out but by then we've usually found what ever we were bidding on cheaper anyway.

Welsh Decorator · Post by **Welsh Decorator** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 5:03 pm

Post by **ultimatehandyman** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 5:15 pm

Hoovie wrote:very common practice, ebay don't care, end of story

....in fact, ebay has made it easier to do this by allowing the bidders ID to be hidden on an auction if the seller wants to do that.

Very true, ebay don't give a sh*t as it means they get more money from the final value fee.

They could easily stop this automatically by using software to check the ip address of the bidders, but they do not do it because they do not care!

Then you always get people bidding on items for friends, from another computer- which is much harder to proove and stop.

There are lots of muppets on ebay and some of them do not have a clue. I used to sell shed loads of stuff about 5-6 years ago and I got sick of paying £300 per month in sellers fees, then when there is a problem ebay do not want to know.

Hoovie · Post by **Hoovie** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 5:32 pm

on the second chance stuff and similar, handyman is right - watch out for the "I've got one of these as well - interested?" emails.

And NEVER pay by Western Union - guaranteed to be a rip-off!! got personal experience of that as well, sad to say

Hoovie · Post by **Hoovie** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 5:36 pm

And NEVER assume coz it is on ebay, it is cheaper!

I did a minor bid of selling on ebay a few years ago - when there was still money to be made from computer hardware - and I used to buy stuff from a trade counter and put it ebay. Some items sold for five times the price I paid!

Post by **ultimatehandyman** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 6:08 pm

Hoovie wrote:And NEVER assume coz it is on ebay, it is cheaper!

I did a minor bid of selling on ebay a few years ago - when there was still money to be made from computer hardware - and I used to buy stuff from a trade counter and put it ebay. Some items sold for five times the price I paid!

You see this all the time!

I used to sell coins etc. and the Iraq war broke out- hmmm, I thought

I found someone selling Iraqi dinar in Isreal and so I bought a load and put them on ebay. A week later CNN reported that the Iraq dinar could be a very valuable currency- I made a mint

Then it turned out that the Iraq dinar was worthless- One guy e-mailed me to complain that he had bought a worthless piece of currency

WTF did you bid on it for then

handyman · Post by **handyman** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 6:17 pm

i would have thought that story was so unbelievable that its made up, then i seen who posted it

If he can sell a set of used boxer shorts for £40, then he can sell anything

handyman · Post by **handyman** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 2:22 pm

I was outbid when it was originally listed, and his shill bidding 'friend' bought it for £132, then he re listed it.

Its just gone for £130, but it doesnt appear to have had any dodgy bidding on it