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Suspect a bot upbid my item

It's my very first ebay purchase and I'm suspicious that a bot was used to arbitrarily increase the price of my item. This is my bid history. I won the bid. Can someone tell me if the bidder right below me is authentic? Thanks so much

 

presencegirl22 ( 1 )   US $325.20
14-Jan-18 22:23:28 EST
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  private listing - bidders' identities protected   US $323.98
14-Jan-18 22:23:50 EST
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  presencegirl22 ( 1 )     US $290.00
14-Jan-18 22:23:28 EST
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  private listing - bidders' identities protected   US $285.00
14-Jan-18 21:33:54 EST
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  presencegirl22 ( 1 )     US $285.00
14-Jan-18 22:23:28 EST
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  private listing - bidders' identities protected   US $280.00
14-Jan-18 21:33:23 EST
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  private listing - bidders' identities protected   US $261.99
14-Jan-18 21:33:23 EST
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  private listing - bidders' identities protected   US $256.99
14-Jan-18 21:27:43 EST
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Message 1 of 12
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Suspect a bot upbid my item

There is absolutely no evidence of anything wrong in that bid history. 

 

Sellers can choose to set up their listings as private, which is why you can't see any information about the other bidder(s).  Only you and the seller can see your actual ID.

Message 2 of 12
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Suspect a bot upbid my item

Thanks! The only bid that makes me feel like something was strange is US $323.98. This bid feels like the person thought that my maximum would be 325.00 and so they bid just under it to make me to get to my maximum. The .98 also seems to imply that they don't want to genuinely win the bid because most bidders who want to win use .01 or .05 etc.

 

Can you let me know what you think? Thanks!

Message 3 of 12
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Suspect a bot upbid my item

@presencegirl22,

 

There is nothing suspicious about the .98 cents at all.  Many people know to bid an odd amount over an even dollar, and bid .01, - .05, -.19, - .39 etc..  That bidder used .98 as their way of preventing a tie. 

Further if you notice the time stamp for all of the other person's bids is basically the same 14 January 18, 21:33:23  the difference of a few seconds is computer reading differences. 

 

If you think about it, to the other person you may look like a shill for the seller. 

"THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FOOLPROOF, BECAUSE FOOLS ARE SO DARNED INGENIOUS!" (unknown)
Message 4 of 12
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Suspect a bot upbid my item

whats a bot
Message 5 of 12
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Suspect a bot upbid my item

A bot is a computer program - like a robot. They do automated things for you so that you don't need a human to do them.

Message 6 of 12
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Suspect a bot upbid my item

never heard tell of dat.....
Message 7 of 12
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Suspect a bot upbid my item

@savwillsell09,

 

What's a bot...

 Never heard of a Bot eh?

 

If you want a quick way to see how a bot works, just write something in an ebay message that even remotely resembles and email address. 

 

@presencegirl22,

 

That reminds me to say you were partially right a bot was at work, placing automatic bids to keep the other bidder in the lead, until you out bid their maximum bid.

"THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FOOLPROOF, BECAUSE FOOLS ARE SO DARNED INGENIOUS!" (unknown)
Message 8 of 12
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Suspect a bot upbid my item

The use of the word bot is way overplayed IMHO. Much of what you are all talking about are simple software programs, not something that requires any level of intelligence. I think we should be cautious about thinking about "bots" being out there doing nefarious things. Mostly they're just computer programs running and the nefarious party is the people who run them.

 

So could a person be running up your bids? Could be but outside of some categories like cell phones and currency, shilling is much less common than some would think.

 

Message 9 of 12
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Suspect a bot upbid my item

Some people use the 1-click bid which is quicker than typing in your bid, and it goes up by specific increments. It doesn't always mean a bot or a shill bidder was watching your listing.

Message 10 of 12
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Suspect a bot upbid my item


@kentuckygamer23 wrote:

Some people use the 1-click bid which is quicker than typing in your bid, and it goes up by specific increments. It doesn't always mean a bot or a shill bidder was watching your listing.


I thought 1-click was dead.

Message 11 of 12
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Suspect a bot upbid my item


@thatsallfolks wrote:

@kentuckygamer23 wrote:

Some people use the 1-click bid which is quicker than typing in your bid, and it goes up by specific increments. It doesn't always mean a bot or a shill bidder was watching your listing.


I thought 1-click was dead.


"One Click Bidding" that was announced several years ago to great fanfare from eBay that it would help you beat snipers (and of course those of us who knew how things work know that it would not, and when it was rolled out it was worse than we imagined it could be) was retired a couple of years ago, but before it was its replacement was already in place:  the 3 single click buttons in the bid popup where the left one rounds up from the minimum and then adds an increment or two for the other two, that have the same unreasonably dangerous defect as 1-Click had (the amount for the button can change as you go to click it leaving you with an much higher bid than you thought you were bidding).

Message 12 of 12
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