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Have I violated ebay policies if I ask for a refund becasue of shill bidding?
I requested a refund for 2 items purchased after I discovered what had taken place. Was it wrong of me to do this?
10 comments
mr_lincoln
Mentor3 years ago@samspadey No, you cannot ask for a refund for something that you cannot prove. The only way to verify if Shill bidding happened is to contact eBay's Trust and Safety Department with the two IDs you think were the same person and ask them if the IDs are "associated". If they are then Shill bidding occurred but if they are not then it never happened. The problem of course is you probably can't get the ID of the other bidder ...
So, please share how you "discovered" this was happening?
an-57470
·3 years agoHow do you have any proof that there was Shill bidding?
samspadey
OP3 years ago0 feedback score. 100% bids on his items. 87 bids on 36 items. When the account was used to mistakenly win an auction on an item, it was reposted on his page the same day. When last night it was mistakenly the last bidder on a team for a card break, he resold the team on youtube before the break began.
mr_lincoln
Mentor3 years ago@samspadey How many IDs do you have from the Bid history on the item?
samspadey
OP3 years agoAre you refering to the 4 letter that has the middle 2 not shown?
mr_lincoln
Mentor3 years ago@samspadey Yep ... there in lies the problem, you would have to talk to the Trust and Safety Department and ask if the IDs on the bidding history AND the Seller's ID are "associated" ... meaning they share a common IP address, home address, name, etc.
Now, DOES shill bidding happen? Yes but the issue becomes proving it.
samspadey
OP3 years agoHow do I contact this Trust and Safety Department?
And I have argued 2 cases pro se in court and am confident that I could cover both a "preponderance of evidence" or "beyond a resonable doubt" burdens of proof.
samspadey
OP3 years agoAnd I forgot to thank you for your expertise. Thank you. It is much appreciated.
mr_lincoln
Mentor3 years ago@samspadey To speak with eBay you would need to use the Help & Contact links and request a call back.
Here is some other info:
-Sellers have a setting on their Auctions to have bidders remain anonymous to other members. eBay shows what you see on the auction when you click the bid number and get the bidding history.
-It is possible that two or more people (friends, family, business associates, etc) could be shill bidding for each other and the accounts could have nothing in common ... they could all live miles apart. If they understand how eBay works they could do this without getting caught. Would there be patterns? Oh sure, but eBay will not act on that information.
-You can check a Member's bid retraction history by going to their Feedback history, click the "Received as Buyer" tab at the top of the Feedback list and then look over on the right - they will show the number of bid retractions in the last 12 months. If there are a lot of retractions they may be part of a shill bidding ring and keep bidding until they are winning then retracting bids to be just below the winning bid so they get the highest price.
-You can certainly pursue whatever legal action you want to spend your money on, that is your choice. I wouldn't waste my time on it, I would just look for another Seller to purchase from
samspadey
OP3 years agoIf I am watching the number of bids on the 1 and only fake account, live, and rising with each bid, are the ID's then that are actually shown relevent? Regardless of what 2 letters are shown, it is still the same account.