Ebay needs to crack down on Shill Bidding

[bats*in*the*belfry*again]

Really I buy a lot on ebay and shill bidding is tricky and easy for sellers to do when in moderation But some of these sellers are OUT OF HAND they are so obviously shill bidding it is so so in your face..

Clues of shill bidding .. a bid on every single item and they are automatic bids 

bids at same time like they will go down the line and bid on 200 items no matter what it is to set their price

Turn around and relist it if they did not get the price they wanted! This is easy to see when it is a one of a kind stone!

Please if you see this REPORT IT... I can not name these sellers but they are in India and these sellers with Fraudulent listing activities are giving the good sellers in India a bad rep and they waste your time ..

And for the ones that will write they are not shill bidding because they would not want to get in trouble!

lol please No  

[newleaflady]

shills are enabled to do that bit about winning thier own item and paying the selling fees, since Stores have limits on how much selling fees they will pay. For the medium size stores, it's cut off at $350. For the biggest stores, it's cut off at $250. So, NO selling fee! and maybe no listing fee, as they get 1000-2500/mo free for auctions and 10,000-100,000 a month free fixed price listings per month for the 2 biggest store levels.

[newleaflady]

hey ShillHunter, what an awesome ebay ID it would be for you eh????!!!!

[rvqueen02]

And what about those who cancel bids on every sale. I had bid on several rings from India, Was outbid by the same guy on every single one of them. In researching the pictures I could see flaws and defects that lead me to think they were fake stones. So, I was glad at that point that I was out bid. One half hour before the sale ended he canceled his bids.. On 5 rings. I was now responsible for 5 rings that I no longer wanted. So if you are thinking that ebay ruled do not allow for canceled bids that late in the sale, you are correct. He did it anyway because ebay still gets paid no matter what. On all the sales where the shill bidder wins the sale. Well ebay still gets the final value fee. Or they are overlooking it because they know what is going on.

[rvqueen02]

So, that is how they avoid the final value fees when they are the high bidder? That answers a lot of questions for me.

[hoffmej]

Aha! So _that's_ how they do it! I see this all the time in Chinese "jade" (so-called) auctions. A piece is offered (Chinese seller, natch), it "sells," and then a week or so later it's up for sale again. The identical same piece. There's no mistaking the unique marks in the stone. Truly awful, and a poor reflection on eBay.

[consideritsoldllc]

Hey! Thanks for liking my post. I thought I was alone in here! I called Ebay and asked them a different kind of question that will hopefully shed a little light on what these guys are pulling. I asked them to make sure that my identity was left un-private by my request. I told them that I wanted my name to show on every single auction that I bid on. I'm not sure but I think that this will make it harder for these **bleep**s to use a blanket Private auction listing on their software programs that they are using. If we can't beat them we can at least make them work for it!! As soon as I get the chance to see the bidding history I snap a photo of the Item, the bidder, their bidding history, the progression of their bidding, and the winner. They're not pulling the whole cancel the listing **bleep** anymore, too many of them were getting caught. Now it's hiding behind private listings..

[fossil_diver]

@consideritsoldllc ebay can't/won't unprivate your id. 

[consideritsoldllc]

That is incorrect. I called and asked them to do it and they did it immediately. Now when I bid I can see where I fit into the whole group of bidders easier plus it makes it easier to track shill bidding if I bid several times. I caught 4 this week and turned them in with screenshots of the front page, the bidding page, and the bidders history if they accidentally left it un privatized... But in answer to your answer to my comment... Yes, they do let you... all you have to do is ask..

[consideritsoldllc]

That is incorrect. I called and asked them to do it and they did it immediately. Now when I bid I can see where I fit into the whole group of bidders easier plus it makes it easier to track shill bidding if I bid several times. I caught 4 this week and turned them in with screenshots of the front page, the bidding page, and the bidders history if they accidentally left it un privatized... But in answer to your answer to my comment... Yes, they do let you... all you have to do is ask..

[wilbur1philly]

Update on shill bidder:

Despite contacting ebay many times, the shill bidder from China is still at it.

He bids on Zippo lighters from many different sellers. He bids until he exposes the highest bid. Once he becomes the highest bidder, he retracts his bid.

Since Ebay seems to have not taken appropriate action against him, I have resorted to contacting the sellers whenever I see him doing it on their auctions. Many sellers thank me and block him from bidding on their auctions. Hopefully, enough sellers from USA will block this bidder from China and help restore the integrity of Zippo auctions again. 

His latest Stats: 

6 Month total Items bid on: 2765

30 day total of bid retractions: 106

6 month Total Bid Retractions: 1574

[wilbur1philly]

Correction 6 Month Total Bid Retractions is now at 1586.

[fossil_diver]

What I meant was they won't make your id visible to other bidders. Also you shouldn't be able to see other bidders id's. If you can then something has changed on ebay and I want in on it too.

One of the reasons ebay stopped letting people see other bidders id's was to stop bidders from harassing other bidders.

[fossil_diver]

@little.font.lord.leroy 

Hypothetically speaking, if I had my old buddy from the navy that lives half way around the world from me shill bid on my items how could ebay prove it? They have to be able to physically connect the two accounts to prove shill bidding. It may look suspicious but unless they can link accounts there is no way to prove I even know the person let alone conspiring to shill bid with them. Ebay is not going to close an account on suspicion of shill bidding no matter how many bid retractions they have or if they only bid on items from one seller. 

[7606dennis]

---

@newleaflady wrote:

"The purpose of bidding on an item being sold at auction is to be able to purchase it for what one is willing to pay for it."

lol, nothing like ignoring the fact someone is making you pay MORE FOR IT  than you should have to, due to illegal and unscrupulous fraud. Or just plain wasting your PRICELESS time WHILE THEY ARE COMMITTING FRAUD against you. 

how could that not be of concern??? it's a crime for a reason.

---

Actually, I believe the purpose of bidding is to determine the selling price of the item being offered by allowing those interested in purchasing it to compete among themselves to determine that price.  Until the bidding has ended there is no "more for it than you should have to" because the selling price hasn't been determined until then.

Yes, to artificially inflate the selling price is illegal.  However, the determination if illegal activity is taking place is dependent upon evidence.

I'm afraid that I must question your "... wasting your PRICELESS time..." comment.  Many people put a dollar value on their time, such as doctors and lawyers, etc. and they bill their clients for it at that rate.  Thus, I'm not sure the term "PRICELESS" is altogether appropriate.  Might I suggest the use of word "precious" instead? 

[7606dennis]

---

@newleaflady wrote:

oh yes that's another clue, a bidder who always bids and often wins but THERE IS LITTLE TO NO FEEDBACK AT ALL on thier feedback page. Not from that seller either, even though they won a ton of their auctions.

---

Actually, since feedback is voluntary and since 2008 many sellers have opted to simply not leave it, I'm not sure how you could use that as proof if the commission of a crime.