eBay

vrwood · ‎09-21-2023

I placed a bid on an item 3 days before the auction ended. I put in my highest bid amount of $51.00. Later that same day another buyer put in a higher bid, and immediately it was retracted. And sure enough right before the auction ended another buyer placed a bid for exactly the same amount as my highest bid, which means I won the auction. I looked up the bid history for both these accounts and it shows these buyers as having 90% bid activity with this seller and all bids were retracted. Each account showed 10 bids with this seller and 10 retractions within 30 days. Both buyers have exactly 25 feedbacks.

I foolishly contacted the seller and said I felt they used shill bidding and they of course denied it. After researching I learned that Ebay loves shill bidders not honest sellers because it gets them higher fees.

So what should I do?

soh.maryl · ‎09-21-2023

What kind of further research led you to the conclusion that eBay loves shill bidders?

klhmdg · ‎09-21-2023

eBay does not "love" shill bidding.

IF a seller is caught doing this they are shut down.

Here are your choices -

1) pay for the item.

2) dont pay and get an unpaid item strike.

klhmdg • Volunteer Community Mentor

huemobe0 · ‎09-21-2023

More money... more money... more money...

vrwood · ‎09-21-2023

Does anyone else think this was shill bidding? Isn't it odd that the other two bidders have 90% activity with this seller and all the bids were retracted? And both have the same feedback score of 25?

Here's what both bidders showed under Bid History: Bidder Details

Total bids: 10
Items bid on: 10
Bid activity (%) with this seller: 90%
Bid retractions: 10
Bid retractions (12 months): 15

vrwood · ‎09-21-2023

Just do a little online digging outside of the "Ebay community" you'll find plenty of credible information on how prevalent this problem is. There's even websites that explain how to do shill bidding.

vrwood · ‎09-21-2023

And other choices not mention...

I can send seller a request to cancel order

I can file a complaint with ebay and report shilling

I think it's important that anyone reading this understands there's more than just those 2 options of paying or not paying and getting a strike.

dryophelia · ‎09-21-2023

@vrwood

When I bid, I like to bid ONCE, as late as possible and at the highest amount I am willing to pay plus 17 cents.

Bidding days ahead gives time for people to seek out my maximum.

Bid in the last minute or even the last seconds, prevents any reaction to my bid.
Adding random cents to my bid gives me a chance to outbid those who bid in even dollar amounts.

I once was outbid by a penny when someone bid with an 18 cent cushion. That’s the game and, for me, what makes it fun.

eburtonlab · ‎09-21-2023

Another possible option to effectively deal with potential shill bidding:

Wait until the end of the auction to place your bid. This minimizes the amount of time a potential shill bidder has to bid you up and retract or rebid.

Snipers rarely think about shill bids.

lovepackards · ‎09-21-2023

I no longer use Ebay for anything other than Buy-It-Now items that I use everyday, and don't need right away in case my purchase gets lost/stuck in shipping. And I do quite a bit of shopping on Ebay (or Amazon!) I can't remember the last time I bid on anything. Its just not worth the chance or hassle. Scams are just so darn prevalent now days, it takes the fun out of everything you do!

joliztoyco · ‎09-21-2023

Of course it's shill bidding. Hard to draw any other conclusion by the bid history.
But here's the problem.
eBay doesn't care. As long as they get their money, they're not interested in spending either the manpower or resources to enforce THEIR OWN RULES.
It is what it is.

stephenmorgan · ‎09-21-2023

@vrwood wrote:
Just do a little online digging outside of the "Ebay community" you'll find plenty of credible information on how prevalent this problem is. There's even websites that explain how to do shill bidding.

There is a post a few months ago where a person who had multiple accounts got caught and suspended for shill bidding their own items.

khetzel · ‎09-21-2023

@vrwood wrote:

So what should I do?

Simple. Prove your case to eBay and get the seller and shill accounts suspended.

stephenmorgan · ‎09-21-2023

Shill bidding is all the place.

There are two I suspect that I am watching that end tomorrow. The bids are at $122.50 and $275.00, same seller. The bidder bid high enough to expose that the high bidders max bids are $350 and $420 and then the this bidder cancelled their bid a short time later. This bidder shows they have a lot of canceled bids.

When the bid ends tomorrow I will check to see if there is a bid just below the $350 and $420. Of course if you want to keep a clean looking auction someone else could bid just below the max and it would not be tied to the bid that uncovered the max bids.

Another thing with discovering the max bids is that anyone else who looks at the bid history and sees the canceled bids will know what they need to bid to beat the current high bidder. I would bid $375 on the one but since I know the max bid is $420 I seen no need to bid.

If it is not a shill bidder then knowing the max bids could stop anyone else from bidding on the items because it may be more than they had intended to bid.

Anyway shill bidding or retracting bids often is not good.