Need someway to report shill bots...

[siman_ugf]

Found this listing using a shill bot to increment the price of the item up... Bots users are trying to make this look like normal biding... There are only 3 legit people biding on this, thought ebay was supposed to stop stuff like this...

https://www.ebay.com/bfl/viewbids/284181058075

[1tuna]

OK...........I will bite on this

the auction shows it has 4 bids.are you suggesting that the high bidder is a bot .

how much activity is the high bidder involved with in prior auctions

have you seen this bot bidding before.........do you think the high bidder will end up canceling ?

[siman_ugf]

No the manual bids between the actual bidders is a bot artificially increasing the bid price to the max... you can see the bids are also seconds between one another...

[aproudparent2010]

Uh that is kind of how it works when you set a max bid...LOL


Here is an example of an auction I recently won...look at the bids


https://www.ebay.com/bfl/viewbids/363283782901?item=363283782901&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2565&showau...

[siman_ugf]

Then there is something wrong with the bid reporting system or your claiming to use a bot: Only actual bids (not automatic bids generated up to a bidder's maximum) are shown.

If you hide auto bids that is.

[aproudparent2010]

There isn't anything wrong. The person I was bidding against and I both had set max bids.

[mudshark61369]

@siman_ugf,

First click on the Show Automatic Bids button, then check the time stamps for the other bidder you've been bidding against.  You both seem to be placing automatic bids of a few increments at a time, which is really nibble bidding. 

There are no bots involved just poor bidding strategy, which may end up costing you both the auction at the very end, if someone places a last second bid for the most they are willing to pay. 

The way you are bidding mirrors the way the other bidder is bidding. I wonder if they think you are a shill running up the price? maybe reading the info in the link below will help.

https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/bidding/bidding?id=4003

[releasethekraken_1]

That bidder has placed bids on five different items, from five different sellers, in the past 30 days. Unless they're a "shill for hire", it looks like they just don't understand the concept of placing a max bid.

But based on the available evidence, it doesn't look at all like a shill.

[woodland_gnome]

Why would you think this is a "bot"?  A newbie is nibbling.  In person.  One bid at a time.  That's what they do.  S/he is slightly possibly a shill, but probably not (this is the only item of this seller's s/he has bid on in the last 30 days,  having bid on 4 other lenses from 4 other sellers with no retractions).  The only reason for any suspicion is that s/he stopped nibbling before taking the lead twice (and only the second time was it after the hidden max of the leader was revealed), but again newbies (and some oldies) tend to have some strange "strategies" to their bidding.  If this is a shilling seller s/he is definitely not using any kind of "bot" but rather is devoting much time and effort to disguise it.

You can report suspected shilling using the "Report Item" link on the right end of the tabs for Description etc.   This does NOT excuse you from paying if you win unless eBay removes the listing before you pay.  Otherwise your suspicion is not a valid reason to not honor your promise to pay or take any other action inconsistent with the rules and User Agreement.

The single best defense against shilling is to wait until the very end to place your single true maximum bid that you calculated without regard to what others appear or don't appear to be bidding, preferably well in advance.  If you don't let your  bid amount be influenced by prior possible shilling and don't give the shillers time to probe your hidden maximum, the price you pay if you win will be based on a legitimate second valuation of the item (by the next highest legitimate bidder or the seller's true minimum if s/he places a bid for that amount in lieu of paying for a Reserve Price).  I recommend using a "snipe service" to place your bid (that you have to  set up, and therefore calculate, in advance as I recommend doing) in the last few seconds using a more reliable eBay API than the glitchy user interfaces eBay provides to the public and likely more reliable devices and connections and timing hardware and software than most users have (and don't forget the glitchy user who forgets or falls asleep or gets a phone call etc.).

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@siman_ugf wrote:

No the manual bids between the actual bidders is a bot artificially increasing the bid price to the max... you can see the bids are also seconds between one another...

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When you're outbid by an earlier proxy bid, eBay immediately suggests that you bid again and makes it easy to submit that next bid quickly. I don't see anything wrong with this bid history.

The bidder with 10 feedback is apparently the one you suspect. Yet he has bid on a total of 5 auctions for lenses, from 5 different sellers, placing multiple bids on all of them. It looks to me like "nibble bidding" is just his style. It's not uncommon among newbie bidders.  Some don't even realize that they can bid more than the minimum required increment.

The one thing that IS odd is that he stopped bidding when he was within one bid increment of becoming the high bidder: His final bid of $347 is just $3 below the highest bid, and the bid increment in this price range is $5.00.  If he knows about the bid increments, then he also knows that he is less than one bid away from becoming high bidder. Perhaps he will come back at the very end, knowing how much he needs to bid to become the winner.

This is a 7-day auction with more than 4 days left, so the bidding so far probably will have no effect on the final selling price.

[farmall57200]

had same issue item is on for a day no bids I decide to bid and 1 hr later another person bids wait another put another bid on again hr later other person or bot bids on it I look at sellers other sale same person has bids on many items like hes trying to hook someone then I look at sellers completed sales and this bidder never wins at the end so someone is playing games 

[releasethekraken_1]

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@farmall57200 wrote:

had same issue item is on for a day no bids I decide to bid and 1 hr later another person bids wait another put another bid on again hr later other person or bot bids on it I look at sellers other sale same person has bids on many items like hes trying to hook someone then I look at sellers completed sales and this bidder never wins at the end so someone is playing games 

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Your issue doesn't sound anything like what the person who started this thread is asking about.

[7606dennis]

Actually, as an auctioneer I would love to see system used by eBay to be the same as that used in an outcry auction with the price going up by the amount of each bid.  It would obviously advance the selling price quickly.  However, it would probably have to shorten the bidding period to mere minutes as one would have to be actively online during the bidding since things would change rapidly.  For example:  my normal actual bidding period for an item when calling bids is less than one minute.  

Of course, it would probably cause bidders from other time zones to refrain from bidding on auctions that would cause them to have to be online at inconvenient hours.  Frankly, I can't imagine someone crawling out of bed at 3 AM to bid on something.  Neither can I see someone staying awake for a 7 day period in order to keep abreast of the bidding.