eBay DOES Watch for, Catch, and Ban Sellers Who Use Shill Bidding

[smabrouk]

So many bidders complain about shill bidding and, then, claim that eBay does not care. Well, I found EVIDENCE to the contrary.  eBay does care about shill bidding: eBay monitors auctions for shill bidding, catches sellers who use shill bidding, and bans sellers who use shill bidding just as stated on the eBay help pages!

What evidence do I have? I found a video on YouTube of a former seller on eBay Motors (he states that he was a Power Seller) who recounts his misdeeds, his being caught by eBay, and his being banned by eBay. He also states that he recently tried to create a new eBay account and that eBay caught him and immediately closed the account. Yeah, eBay!!! Great Job, eBay!!!

 He gives an account of his creation/use of multiple accounts, his use of shill bidding, and his being banned from eBay starting at time-stamp 6:50. Before that, he recounts his start in selling cars, his start on eBay, and his becoming a Power Seller.

So, shill-bidding sellers BEWARE! eBay will catch you and you will be banned from eBay as you deserve! : )

To everyone else, I say, if you suspect shill bidding then you should report it, not stand by and complain about it. Everyone needs to do her/his part to keep the eBay Community an honest and fair marketplace.

[femmefan1946]

@xonicc

You negged a seller for shilling, and then attempted to bid with him again?

Gosh.

I'm with the OP @smabrouk  on this.

That only one shiller has gone public with his confession doesn't surprise me.

It's a truism that there are no guilty men in jail.

The bad guys don't think they are doing any thing wrong. They think they are being smart.

Like the guy who boasts about not paying taxes. Is he really so poor he doesn't have to pay them? Or is he cheating?

If they were not NARU, we'd see a lot of them whining and moaning on the Seller Boards about how unfair eBay was to ban them when they were only trying to protect themselves from cheapskate buyers.

Ihave no idea how to interpret it, but with over 3500 FB since 2003 on this account, I went back and looked at the early FB. Fully 1/3 of those bidders are NARU.  About 2/3 of those do not have a "name" ID but something like "4107873@deleted ".

Are those accounts cancelled by the seller? Closed by eBay for misconduct? Was hijacking of an abandoned account discovered?

[xonicc]

femmefan1946 I don´t mind being banned, as I wouldn´t buy from such seller again. I win more than 1,000 auctions per year and can´t remember every seller I buy from, so what I mind is wasting time by seeing auctions I am blocked from. If the seller select to block me, I should also be blocked from wasting time seeing this sellers auctions.

[7606dennis]

While eBay has protocols in place to deal with shilling, it is not very likely that they will be able to catch every one.  Shilling is hard to prove in most cases.  Frankly, many posts on these boards claiming shilling do not actually show evidence of it.

With regard to the U-Tube video, it reminds me of some of those dumb criminal clips that some county sheriff departments like to air.  Of course, not all criminals are Professor Moriarty, are they?! 

[castlemagicmemories]

eBay DOES Watch for, Catch, and Ban Sellers Who Use Shill Bidding

As they should!  Thank you for posting this.

[fossil_diver]

I saw that video. That is one sleazy car salesman. 

[ears2youdisney]

Baloney, if they were serious about that they wouldn't hide bidders I.D.. They make money on this practice, just like allowing counterfeit items to be sold.  

[mudshark61369]

@ears2youdisney,

    "if they were serious about that they wouldn't hide bidders I.D.".

Bidder's IDs maybe scrambled into the a***b format, but you can click on the coded ID from a bid history page, and be taken to the member's bid history for the last 30 days, and see their percentage of bids placed on the seller's items, and the number of bid retractions they have.  Even then the info can be misunderstood.

  "They make money on this practice, just like allowing counterfeit items to be sold".

While shill bidding may make them some extra money, it also causes distrust in eBay's auction system.  That has a longer term affect that costs them money.  Suspecting shill bidding is one thing, proving it is another.  eBay only has a few tools they can use to ferret out the use of shills and because they would be accusing a seller of a crime, they have to be absolutely sure of their information before they can take action. 

  The same thing is true of counterfeit items. Given the number of new items listed daily on the site, there is no way eBay can vet each listing. eBay does have a VErified  RightsOwner (VERO) program a Mfr. can join and report rights violations. However, many Mfrs. of highly counterfeited items have not taken the opportunity to join the program.  Even if they do join, they would have to cull new listings daily to report the rights violations.  Beyond that there are some people who knowingly buy knock off or counterfeit items, because of their lower cost, so they can impress others. 

[kh-stanley1]

Hi everyone,

Due to the length of time that has passed since this thread began, we have locked it from future replies. If this is still an issue that warrants discussion, don't hesitate to begin a new thread here.

Thanks.