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Seller Uses Shills to Run Up bids, Cancels before Auction Ends, Invoices Highest Buyer

 
I have recently been victimized by a seller from India who uses various shills on his clothing/wedding handbag auctions. He usually starts them out at .99, hooks a REAL buyer, then in comes the "shill" (always the same one(s) to bid the item UP/PAST the true bid, and just before the auction ENDS, the seller CANCELS the shill bid and invoices the highest bidder. You can see that the shill accounts have 100% bid activity with him when you click on their "hidden" ids/feedback. I reported him, began opening cases on him to get refunded, then he posted a FAKE TRACKING number so I would have to wait until AFTER the FAKE DELIVERY DATE (30 + additional days) to open the rest.

 

It was terrible. When I notified ebay about it, all they did was tell me to wait til after the delivery date, then open a case...duh.. They did shut down some of the auctions I reported, but, guess what? HE IS STILL SELLING. He has a plethora of negatives from other buyers who are all saying the EXACT SAME THING I SAID. Oh, and another thing: Whenever he gets a NEGATIVE from a REAL BUYER, voila, he uses the shill accounts to give himself as many SHILL POSITIVES to help bring his rating right back up. At least I was able to get the account he used against me shut down, but he is still going strong...

 
 
"I mean what I say, and I say what I mean..."
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Re: Seller Uses Shills to Run Up bids, Cancels before Auction Ends, Invoices Highest Buyer


@deniece200909 wrote:

@deniece200909 wrote:
True, but reporting them does not help because ebay has been madeVERY aware of what is going on, and they are doing absolutely NOTHING,,,

Well I guess he must have special priviledges/is being protected, because ebay's so-called "rules" certainly are not being applied to him....hmmph...


Deniece  before  you ASSUMED shill  bidding  Ever again !!!  .  Keep In mined that seller  found  May have found  some transaction  issues  in that buyers feedback  current History That You and I can't  View  Or even know about ,That caused his or  her bell's to go off  about trouble   for bid cancelation. 

Message 46 of 73
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Re: Seller Uses Shills to Run Up bids, Cancels before Auction Ends, Invoices Highest Buyer


@godzilla_goose wrote:

deniece200909,

 

Reading your thread again, and posts and threads by other legitimate buyers who have had the misfortune of being shilled, I have an acute awareness of your frustration with eBay and how eBay deals or rather fails to deal with shilling sellers.

 

In your screen shot of the Bid History page of the auction you won way back in May, I can see a shill bidding ID was suspended.  From experience having reported shilled auctions to eBay (pre-2006), this is how eBay “appears” to show that it is dealing with shill bidding.  Suspending shill bidding IDs does NOT do ANYTHING for the aggrieved buyers when the shilling sellers selling ID is intact to continue shilling on eBay.  eBay can suspend shill bidding IDs and the shilling seller can easily register new shill bidding IDs.  The process is repeated over and over again.

 

I know that you have stated that the seller is using shill bidding IDs to post shill feedback, and to me, that shill feedback is evident.  Shill feedback is not that uncommon either among these shilling sellers in India.

 

What is more disheartening to me, is that there are legitimate eBay buyers who have had their bids shilled and they don’t even KNOW IT when they’ve posted positive feedback for the same shilling seller that you’ve dealt with.  I’ve seen this happen many times with other shilling sellers in India.  Many legitimate buyers simply don’t know when they’ve been robbed by thieving sellers through shilling which is ILLEGAL and eBay is facilitating it.

 

On October 10, 2017, eBay had an Executive Chat.  In message #77, I had asked Sarah Brubacher, “Why is it that when I do report listings to eBay, NOTHING is done to the shilling IDs?”

 

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Weekly-Chat-with-eBay-Staff/eBay-Executive-Chat-Oct-10th-1pm-PT-Sarah-...

 

Sarah’s response is in message #84.

 

In part, Sarah wrote:

 

Re: Shill Bidding. By nature of the issue and to protect the security and privacy of our members, investigations need to be conducted in private and we cannot provide the outcome of any investigation. If you are looking to report suspected shill bidding, please contact us via social media:

Twitter: Https://twitter.com/AskeBay

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eBay 

CS: https://ocsnext.ebay.com/ocs/cuhome 

We will ensure it is routed to the appropriate team. I agree with you that shill bidding is something we need to take very seriously. Thank you for raising the question. Sarah

===========

 

Now, I am going to make this abundantly clear:  I do NOT hold Sarah Brubacher responsible for the way that eBay is taking the matter of shill bidding “very seriously” because this is NOT her area of responsibility.  I DON’T KNOW who IS responsible for eBay Trust & Safety on eBay because I would hold THAT person accountable.

 

As far as I am concerned, I have no intention of registering and I am not about to register social media accounts on Twitter or Facebook in order to contact eBay about eBay shill bidding matters.  I have already reported several hundred blatantly shilled auctions since February, 2017 to eBay via the eBay listings’ report link and NOTHING has happened to the shilling IDs.

 

You, deniece200909, are an ACTUAL eBay shill bidding victim and if you were to call eBay Customer service, and depending on who you talk to, I surmise they may be more considerate about your legitimate concerns.  Personally, I don’t waste MY valuable time with eBay Customer Service since they don’t understand the mechanics of shill bidding to even know what the HELL I’m talking about.

 

When other legitimate bidders posted their concerns on this discussion board, I knew by what they were posting about bid retraction notices they received, that something was not above board.  Looking into the bid history pages of those auctions in which there were these bid cancellations (and not retractions) proved that their bids were being manipulated by shilling sellers.

 

 

On or about March 18, 2018, eBay changed its policy about reporting shill bidding to this:

 

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/selling-practices-policy/shill-bidding-policy?id...

 

How do I report shill bidding?

If you think that another member is shill bidding, you don't need to report it to us. eBay has a number of systems in place to detect and monitor bidding patterns and practices. If we identify any malicious behavior, we'll take steps to prevent it.

============

 

Your shilled bids happened in May, 2018 after eBay posted its current policy page with eBay’s OWN WORDS:  eBay has a number of systems in place to detect and monitor bidding patterns and practices. If we identify any malicious behavior, we'll take steps to prevent it.

 

Well, it appears to me that eBay’s “systems in place” aren’t able to detect the shill bidding nor is eBay able to “monitor bidding patterns and practices”, therefore, eBay can’t identify malicious behaviour, so eBay can’t take steps to prevent it.

 

As an eBay shill bidding victim, deniece200909, you can’t possibly trust eBay to look out for your (financial) interests since eBay’s interests are in conflict with yours.  eBay makes more money on higher final value fees on shilled auctions and the shilled buyers are paying for it.  eBay assesses the seller fees, but the MONEY comes from the buyers through the sellers.

 

Caveat Emptor on eBay.

 

Enough said.  I am done.


Goose  There is  no dam proof in the bid history of Shill bidder  , Where in the hell did you spot one!  If ebay nailed one they will not make it public for you ,me and the OP.     When I was bidding  on a auction I though  there was one  in  it  based  on bidding going  on  which  I had not proof  to build on since I could check the buyers history because ebay hid's .  there was another auction i was going to bid on last day which I went go bid on and didn't based on the odd bidding going between two bidders . And one bider sure had the shill action  But again I have no proof  because once again ebays hids bidders history so it hard file the claim with ebay.

Message 47 of 73
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Re: Seller Uses Shills to Run Up bids, Cancels before Auction Ends, Invoices Highest Buyer


@missjen831 wrote:

@deniece200909 wrote:
A LEGITIMATE Buyer who was SHILLED on (five) 5 "auctions" (that ended 19Jul 2018), left this SHILL SELLER FIVE (5) LEGITIMATE, WELL-DESERVED NEGATIVES (We have screen shots showing the negative comment(s) from this Buyer, but, unfortunately, we cannot post w/out receiving unjust retaliation), HOWEVER:

WHY????? HAVE ALL OF THOSE 5 (FIVE) NEGATIVES BEEN REMOVED?????

Probably because they never paid and the seller filed unpaid item cases. Automatic feedback removal when that happens. 


Jen  I can see OP is not happy  and thinks  a shill bidder  was involed . But  In the old days  before ebay hid buyers history  it  was not hard to catch shill bidder  working with the seller. 

Message 48 of 73
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Re: Seller Uses Shills to Run Up bids, Cancels before Auction Ends, Invoices Highest Buyer


@carlmarxx wrote:

@deniece200909 wrote:

 



Deniece  before  you ASSUMED shill  bidding  Ever again !!!  .  Keep In mined that seller  found  May have found  some transaction  issues  in that buyers feedback  current History That You and I can't  View  Or even know about ,That caused his or  her bell's to go off  about trouble   for bid cancelation. 


shill bidding, kids playing games or just bad luck, who wants to be in an auction where your bid is run up to max while other parties just cancel and walk away? ANY reason taints the auction!

Message 49 of 73
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Re: Seller Uses Shills to Run Up bids, Cancels before Auction Ends, Invoices Highest Buyer


@carlmarxx wrote:

@missjen831 wrote:

@deniece200909 wrote:
A LEGITIMATE Buyer who was SHILLED on (five) 5 "auctions" (that ended 19Jul 2018), left this SHILL SELLER FIVE (5) LEGITIMATE, WELL-DESERVED NEGATIVES (We have screen shots showing the negative comment(s) from this Buyer, but, unfortunately, we cannot post w/out receiving unjust retaliation), HOWEVER:

WHY????? HAVE ALL OF THOSE 5 (FIVE) NEGATIVES BEEN REMOVED?????

Probably because they never paid and the seller filed unpaid item cases. Automatic feedback removal when that happens. 


Jen  I can see OP is not happy  and thinks  a shill bidder  was involed . But  In the old days  before ebay hid buyers history  it  was not hard to catch shill bidder  working with the seller. 


Agreed Carl.

 

I still think non-payment is the reason the feedback was removed though. Probably safe to say the legit bidder didn’t pay and was intentionally interfering in the auction and had no plans to pay. Even if the seller didn’t file UID, the seller could have simply called customer service and pointed out that the buyer didn’t pay. 



One life is all we have to live
Love is all we have to give

**Formerly known as MissJen316**
Message 50 of 73
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Re: Seller Uses Shills to Run Up bids, Cancels before Auction Ends, Invoices Highest Buyer

Que sera sera
"I mean what I say, and I say what I mean..."
Message 51 of 73
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Re: Seller Uses Shills to Run Up bids, Cancels before Auction Ends, Invoices Highest Buyer


@godzilla_goose wrote:

deniece200909,

 

Reading your thread again, and posts and threads by other legitimate buyers who have had the misfortune of being shilled, I have an acute awareness of your frustration with eBay and how eBay deals or rather fails to deal with shilling sellers.

 

In your screen shot of the Bid History page of the auction you won way back in May, I can see a shill bidding ID was suspended.  From experience having reported shilled auctions to eBay (pre-2006), this is how eBay “appears” to show that it is dealing with shill bidding.  Suspending shill bidding IDs does NOT do ANYTHING for the aggrieved buyers when the shilling sellers selling ID is intact to continue shilling on eBay.  eBay can suspend shill bidding IDs and the shilling seller can easily register new shill bidding IDs.  The process is repeated over and over again.

 

I know that you have stated that the seller is using shill bidding IDs to post shill feedback, and to me, that shill feedback is evident.  Shill feedback is not that uncommon either among these shilling sellers in India.

 

What is more disheartening to me, is that there are legitimate eBay buyers who have had their bids shilled and they don’t even KNOW IT when they’ve posted positive feedback for the same shilling seller that you’ve dealt with.  I’ve seen this happen many times with other shilling sellers in India.  Many legitimate buyers simply don’t know when they’ve been robbed by thieving sellers through shilling which is ILLEGAL and eBay is facilitating it.

 

On October 10, 2017, eBay had an Executive Chat.  In message #77, I had asked Sarah Brubacher, “Why is it that when I do report listings to eBay, NOTHING is done to the shilling IDs?”

 

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Weekly-Chat-with-eBay-Staff/eBay-Executive-Chat-Oct-10th-1pm-PT-Sarah-...

 

Sarah’s response is in message #84.

 

In part, Sarah wrote:

 

Re: Shill Bidding. By nature of the issue and to protect the security and privacy of our members, investigations need to be conducted in private and we cannot provide the outcome of any investigation. If you are looking to report suspected shill bidding, please contact us via social media:

Twitter: Https://twitter.com/AskeBay

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eBay 

CS: https://ocsnext.ebay.com/ocs/cuhome 

We will ensure it is routed to the appropriate team. I agree with you that shill bidding is something we need to take very seriously. Thank you for raising the question. Sarah

===========

 

Now, I am going to make this abundantly clear:  I do NOT hold Sarah Brubacher responsible for the way that eBay is taking the matter of shill bidding “very seriously” because this is NOT her area of responsibility.  I DON’T KNOW who IS responsible for eBay Trust & Safety on eBay because I would hold THAT person accountable.

 

As far as I am concerned, I have no intention of registering and I am not about to register social media accounts on Twitter or Facebook in order to contact eBay about eBay shill bidding matters.  I have already reported several hundred blatantly shilled auctions since February, 2017 to eBay via the eBay listings’ report link and NOTHING has happened to the shilling IDs.

 

You, deniece200909, are an ACTUAL eBay shill bidding victim and if you were to call eBay Customer service, and depending on who you talk to, I surmise they may be more considerate about your legitimate concerns.  Personally, I don’t waste MY valuable time with eBay Customer Service since they don’t understand the mechanics of shill bidding to even know what the HELL I’m talking about.

 

When other legitimate bidders posted their concerns on this discussion board, I knew by what they were posting about bid retraction notices they received, that something was not above board.  Looking into the bid history pages of those auctions in which there were these bid cancellations (and not retractions) proved that their bids were being manipulated by shilling sellers.

 

 

On or about March 18, 2018, eBay changed its policy about reporting shill bidding to this:

 

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/selling-practices-policy/shill-bidding-policy?id...

 

How do I report shill bidding?

If you think that another member is shill bidding, you don't need to report it to us. eBay has a number of systems in place to detect and monitor bidding patterns and practices. If we identify any malicious behavior, we'll take steps to prevent it.

============

 

Your shilled bids happened in May, 2018 after eBay posted its current policy page with eBay’s OWN WORDS:  eBay has a number of systems in place to detect and monitor bidding patterns and practices. If we identify any malicious behavior, we'll take steps to prevent it.

 

Well, it appears to me that eBay’s “systems in place” aren’t able to detect the shill bidding nor is eBay able to “monitor bidding patterns and practices”, therefore, eBay can’t identify malicious behaviour, so eBay can’t take steps to prevent it.

 

As an eBay shill bidding victim, deniece200909, you can’t possibly trust eBay to look out for your (financial) interests since eBay’s interests are in conflict with yours.  eBay makes more money on higher final value fees on shilled auctions and the shilled buyers are paying for it.  eBay assesses the seller fees, but the MONEY comes from the buyers through the sellers.

 

Caveat Emptor on eBay.

 

Enough said.  I am done.


Goose,

Thanks for taking the time to leave yet another detailed, informative, INTELLIGENT comment.

"I mean what I say, and I say what I mean..."
Message 52 of 73
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Re: Seller Uses Shills to Run Up bids, Cancels before Auction Ends, Invoices Highest Buyer


@deniece200909 wrote:
It is very evident that this SHILL SELLER is definitely being protected, and legitimate attempts to expose him/his shill accounts are being interfered with.

Shilling is ILLEGAL, and PUNISHABLE BY LAW.

Shameful.

"I mean what I say, and I say what I mean..."
Message 53 of 73
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Re: Seller Uses Shills to Run Up bids, Cancels before Auction Ends, Invoices Highest Buyer


@deniece200909 wrote:

@deniece200909 wrote:
It is very evident that this SHILL SELLER is definitely being protected, and legitimate attempts to expose him/his shill accounts are being interfered with.

Shilling is ILLEGAL, and PUNISHABLE BY LAW.

Shameful.


I thought you left.      In the Old days it was easyer to catch the shill bidder and seller they are working with.   Ebay has made hard to catch them in last few years .   Also keep in mined that seller can  cancel  bidder from their auction  at any time they want .  lot times sellers have canceled bidders that left  high number negative feedbacks and other sellers will cancel newbie bidder  if bid's get into high amount of money and feel that the newbie is a UPI risk.      

Message 54 of 73
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Re: Seller Uses Shills to Run Up bids, Cancels before Auction Ends, Invoices Highest Buyer

Nibblers are the reason I snipe.  One shot, all in, last 5 seconds of the Auction.  Win or lose I wont play the did he do this to me.

Wherever you go, there you are. Please remember, when you are asked if you are a god, you say yes.
Message 55 of 73
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Re: Seller Uses Shills to Run Up bids, Cancels before Auction Ends, Invoices Highest Buyer

You need to be speaking with the Fraud department at eBay when dealing with these types of issues. They will not only cancel listings, but also after an investigation, suspend the account. Also, if this was through PayPal, you can contact their Fraud dept and do the same.

Message 56 of 73
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Re: Seller Uses Shills to Run Up bids, Cancels before Auction Ends, Invoices Highest Buyer


@twobearstrekking wrote:

You need to be speaking with the Fraud department at eBay when dealing with these types of issues. They will not only cancel listings, but also after an investigation, suspend the account. Also, if this was through PayPal, you can contact their Fraud dept and do the same.


Nothing was through PayPal. You have to actually pay....and nobody paid. This isn’t even something PayPal will investigate. 



One life is all we have to live
Love is all we have to give

**Formerly known as MissJen316**
Message 57 of 73
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Re: Seller Uses Shills to Run Up bids, Cancels before Auction Ends, Invoices Highest Buyer


@twobearstrekking wrote:

You need to be speaking with the Fraud department at eBay when dealing with these types of issues. They will not only cancel listings, but also after an investigation, suspend the account. Also, if this was through PayPal, you can contact their Fraud dept and do the same.


Update:

To date, he has received many additional NEGATIVES, rating has nosedived to 66.2 (and steadily dropping), and it appears his auctions/store may have been shut down/closed (last auction/sale ended 7 Jan 19). He went from copying other sellers LEGITIMATE clothing auctions to copying living/dining room sets/chairs/copper decanter sets/coat auctions. He had NONE of those items to sell, and has shipped NOTHING. His feedback tells THE TRUTH, and it is rapidly becoming a SAD REALITY for the buyers he duped.

 

I tried to warn everyone about him back in July 2018, but, unfortunately, he has been allowed to continue to shill/scam more innocent ebay buyers out of thousands of $$ before finally performing his recent disappearing act. I was RIGHT.

 

He is not responding to any emails, but since his account is STILL OPEN, there may be a Part 2 to this, so stay tuned. 

"I mean what I say, and I say what I mean..."
Message 58 of 73
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Re: Seller Uses Shills to Run Up bids, Cancels before Auction Ends, Invoices Highest Buyer


@deniece200909 wrote:

@twobearstrekking wrote:

You need to be speaking with the Fraud department at eBay when dealing with these types of issues. They will not only cancel listings, but also after an investigation, suspend the account. Also, if this was through PayPal, you can contact their Fraud dept and do the same.


Update:

To date, he has received many additional NEGATIVES, rating has nosedived to 66.2 (and steadily dropping), and it appears his auctions/store may have been shut down/closed (last auction/sale ended 7 Jan 19). He went from copying other sellers LEGITIMATE clothing auctions to copying living/dining room sets/chairs/copper decanter sets/coat auctions. He had NONE of those items to sell, and has shipped NOTHING. His feedback tells THE TRUTH, and it is rapidly becoming a SAD REALITY for the buyers he duped.

 

I tried to warn everyone about him back in July 2018, but, unfortunately, he has been allowed to continue to shill/scam more innocent ebay buyers out of thousands of $$ before finally performing his recent disappearing act. I was RIGHT.

 

He is not responding to any emails, but since his account is STILL OPEN, there may be a Part 2 to this, so stay tuned. 


Why are you letting him hold your mind hostage? Please, let him go. He doesn’t have much longer with this ID but for every one of him there are thousands more you haven’t stumbled upon. You did your part, and we thank you. Don’t let there be a “part 2”, please take back the power you gave him and use it to enrich your own life instead of concentrating on someone not worth your time or energy. 

Message 59 of 73
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Re: Seller Uses Shills to Run Up bids, Cancels before Auction Ends, Invoices Highest Buyer

Nah, no "hostage" here, sweetheart. but thanks for your concern.

"I mean what I say, and I say what I mean..."
Message 60 of 73
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