Anyone know what the deal is with having multiple Dominion Republic bidders on one item?

[gator08041971]

I mean, some even have similar names, and all of them are fairly recently created with little to no feedback.  It smells fishy.  And they were bidding against themselves from the same country!

Or something.

On top of that, I have my listings set to only allow US shipping.  So....  ok?   It appears to be shipping to the southern tip of Florida however however their country of origin is the Dominion Republic...  lol

Just wanted to ask, it doesn't look legit for some reason and I don't want to be scammed.  They haven't paid yet but who knows.  Its just...  Odd.

[joseh1445]

Are you referring to Dominican Republic?  

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@gator08041971 

Oh hun nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to human behavior.  If they pay, you ship as the auction is completed.

[gator08041971]

Yes.... 

Anything more helpful to add than pointing out spelling errors?   And apparently I can't fix it now either.  Ugh.

[soh.maryl]

If these buyers are located in the Dominican Republic, but are using a freight forwarder located in the US (Florida), you ARE shipping to an address in the United States.  

[gator08041971]

Thank you.   That part I understand of course.

What I don't understand is why are the only bidders on the item from there?   And all with 0 or only a few feedback scores and recently created?  Or why some of them have similar names?  All bidding against each other?

As I said, it sounded fishy to me.

[gator08041971]

I guess I'm just being wary.  Something seemed off about it, and I don't want it biting me in the **bleep** later.  lol

[soh.maryl]

You have no way to know why they are your only bidders and why they are new bidders with similar names.

If/when one or several win, and pay, you will, of course, be shipping the item to the address shown.  

[gator08041971]

Well, as I said, I was just being cautious.

As of now, they haven't paid yet, but when they do, I will ship.  I always ship as soon as its paid.  But since this was odd to me (hadn't seen this sort of thing before) I wanted to be sure it wasn't something else going on.  Been a while since I had last done some selling on here.

I mean the only advantage I can think of to have multiple accounts bidding on the same item would be to have the first few back out and leave me to offer it to next highest bidders, but then, why bid it up in the first place?  lol

Thanks for taking time to answer.  Appreciate it.

[a_c_green]

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@gator08041971 wrote:

I mean the only advantage I can think of to have multiple accounts bidding on the same item would be to have the first few back out and leave me to offer it to next highest bidders, but then, why bid it up in the first place?  lol

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You're thinking of bid shielding, where two accounts are used to push the selling price up to something ridiculous, and then one bidder retracts at the last moment, letting the auction price collapse to where the other account can snatch it for less than what it otherwise might have sold for (if legitimate bidders had not been discouraged from placing their bids).

But if you're already past the end of the auction without noticing any sillybuggers like that, and are just waiting on payment, then it does not sound like bid shielding occurred. It may be that your newbie accounts were bidding on multiple examples of your item, planning to pay for the cheapest win and walk away from the others.

If Day 5 from end of auction arrives and your buyer still has not paid, cancel with the reason of Buyer Did Not Pay (that reason will appear on your cancel menu after Day 4), add the deadbeat to your Blocked Buyer List (here), and either move on to relist, or try a Second Chance Offer to the second-place bidder.

[gator08041971]

Sounds like the best way.  Although since all the bidders were from the same place with similar characteristics, I would probably relist and be done with it.  Not sure what you meant by multiple examples, but still.  This was one item with one listing for it, no variations.

Thanks.   I guess I have 5 days to wait and see.   lol

[monica0102009]

Just remember one thing if there address is in the Dominion Republic and the shipping address is in the usa
e-bay may charge you an extra 1.65% currency conversation fee
that happened to me even though my listings are for the us only
being their shipping address is in Florida they pay with the currency of their country

e-bay should block them being their address in not in the usa

[gator08041971]

Good to know, thanks!

[chapeau-noir]

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@gator08041971 wrote:

Well, as I said, I was just being cautious.

As of now, they haven't paid yet, but when they do, I will ship.  I always ship as soon as its paid.  But since this was odd to me (hadn't seen this sort of thing before) I wanted to be sure it wasn't something else going on.  Been a while since I had last done some selling on here.

I mean the only advantage I can think of to have multiple accounts bidding on the same item would be to have the first few back out and leave me to offer it to next highest bidders, but then, why bid it up in the first place?  lol

Thanks for taking time to answer.  Appreciate it.

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I don't blame you for being cautious - that bidding pattern is a head scratcher.  

[a_c_green]

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@gator08041971 wrote:

Sounds like the best way.  Although since all the bidders were from the same place with similar characteristics, I would probably relist and be done with it.  Not sure what you meant by multiple examples, but still.  This was one item with one listing for it, no variations.

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By "multiple examples," I mean that they find other sellers with the same item as yours, bid on all the auctions, and just pay for whichever one they won at the lowest price. They then ignore any other auctions that they won at a higher price.

My buyers generally pay for things right away, although sometimes a winner will drag his feet on paying for a while. I have automatic cancellations set up (here) to close as Unpaid any item that goes 96 hours without payment, although the slow payers usually pay before the deadline. (eBay sends reminders so it's not as if they've forgotten their win.) Some will win earlier in the week but not pay until Friday when their paycheck arrives. I had one of those just today, in fact.