Asians opening many accounts as one person to increase there bids.

[goldestate101]

I'm not sure if this is the place to post this and maybe someone can help.  I did my homework and have noticed that the Asians are opening many accounts for one person.  They will use these many accounts themselves to up the bid of a item on buyers.  Why is ebay not cracking down on such behaivor of these sellers.  I buy alot of jewerly and I go back and look at the people bidding on a item and notice they have very little feedback and all they bid on is the same sellers items.  They do this over and over.  Why can't ebay catch them at this?  It's maybe tuff to prove but I don't believe asians are going to be buying from other asians maybe in a rare case.  I FEEL this is a big problem.  Is ebay aware of this?  Is there anything we can do?   I'm fairly new at this.   But I'm very frustrated that the asians are pulling a fast one over on us.  Can anyone help?

[fuzzywiggler]

They can be successful only if you are placing multiple bids...it shows on the bid history, and they can keep bumping it up as long as you have a higher bid than your next lowest bid. If you're doing that, discontinue. In any case, bid only in the last 7 seconds or so, (depending on your internet speed) for the absolute Maximum you'll pay for an item. you'll either win it at your maximum, which should be OK for you since You decide the maximum, or it'll go higher, and that should be ok, too, since you had a Maximum, and "stuck to it"!! There is Never a reason to bid early, and keep out-bidding others. This only drives the price up...great for selers, (and Ebay) but lousy for buyers.

[fuzzywiggler]

Or, you might always of course get it for Less than your maximum, depending on what others have bid...

[affinal]

This practice has been around since auctions began.  Traveling tool auctions are well known for having "plants" in the audience driving up bidding.  Actually, the eBay auction process makes those who do this type of "schilling" sort of obsolete.  As fuzzy suggests, there is absolutely no reason to be bidding on an item until the very last possible moment.  Simply place that item on your watch list & wait.  As a matter of fact, I even remove an item that I am interested in from my watch some time before it's due to end.  Doing so makes other competing bidders think that at least I am no longer interested.  Because of this, their last minute bid might be lower & when I do place my bid, I try to anticipate their max bid & go high.  

As far as eBay getting involved and doing something about - don't hold your breath.  Their "policing" is pure overhead for them.  Of much more impotance is sellers who collect money & never send the item.  That's plain-out fraud.  It is specifically against the eBay user agreement.  I have certainly been victimized by a couple of fraudulent sellers.  Only after the seller's ratings drop will anything be done about it.  Needless to say, eBay's failure to enforce its own user agreement immediately, leaves other buyers being defrauded until the system catches up with these crooks.

Some sellers sell low priced items, collect the money and then don't send the item.  This necessitates complaining & quite often you will see the seller relist YOUR already purchased item - sometimes, these fraudulent sellers will hold your money for weeks.  After all, you want the item & give the seller the benefit of the doubt that there might just be situation that has arisen that is somewhat legitimate.  Then there is the eBay mandated time out period, before you can even draw your guns.  And, during this time, they are using your money.  So, let the buyer beware.

Feedback is a very important tool & you should definately take note of a seller's track record & feedbacks prior to buying anything. 

Thanks for joining in on the forum.  affinal