Bid Shilling Message

[antiquestrainstoys]

We recently received a bid shilling email and are a little confused. We actually have received them before too.  We checked our bidders and can't find any user names that we know. They are all strangers. Is this an email that they send out occasionally, or do they actually detect this? I'm wondering if it has to do with the fact there's two accounts connected to the same physical address but under two different names?

For example, I have my own personal ebay account under my own name and username that I sell things on. However, there's another account under my brother-in-laws name (this one I'm using now)  and it uses the same physical shipping address. He is also my landlord and we are in business together. The money from this account goes to his bank, and then we figure how much I make from it. But both accounts use the same physical shipping and receiving address. I'm the one who usually creates the listings and so there's a ton of logging in and out of both accounts and wondering if ebay finds it suspicious? 

Funny enough my sister also received the same message, and she hasn't used her account in months. Probably last fall.

Sorry for any confusion.

[redmodelt]

"same physical address but under two different names"

That could be why.

Also, if you or the other person gets their account removed by eBay both account will be gone. 

[albertabrightalberta]

Sellers don't have to shill if they have fixed priced listings. 

Sellers don't have to shill if they start their auction listings at the lowest amount they're willing to accept if the listing only gets one bid. 

If you have more than one account bidding on and/or selling the same items and especially when those IDs have the same IP, ebay sees red flags. 

Again, remove any question by having FP listings. If you don't mind waiting for payment or dealing with non-payers, include a best offer option in those FP listings. 

[antiquestrainstoys]

Interesting. The reason we did this is because our eBay "office" is located at my address but he owns all the property. That's why there's two names associated with the address. So should he just change his ebay address to his home address?  That might correct the issue?

[sin-n-dex]

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@antiquestrainstoys wrote:

Interesting. The reason we did this is because our eBay "office" is located at my address but he owns all the property. That's why there's two names associated with the address. So should he just change his ebay address to his home address?  That might correct the issue?

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Are you running auctions? If you have someone that's bidding on only your stuff, bidding on a lot of it, and not winning any of it, that's the red flag. Doesn't mean it's a shill, but that's more likely the case than having the two accounts associated with the same address, so long as the two accounts aren't interacting.

I have a tenant/roommate that has an eBay account. I have no idea what the user ID is, but it's registered to this address and I never got any warnings about shill bidding. (He knows who I am, I don't know what account he's using because he doesn't want me to find out what he's into on eBay, like buying women's underwear and stuff like that). If I ever find out what the account is I'm going to block it to make sure there's no interaction.

C.

[antiquestrainstoys]

Yes they both use the same IP address as the wifi used is located here at my house. But we never sell the same items. He sells his own stuff. I help him take pictures and list the items. I get a cut of whatever he makes. Usually just takes it off my rent. I have my own separate listings on my own account that he doesn't care about. But it's all the same physical shipping address because we use the same building to list, pack, and ship. I've had my ebay account for about 12 years. Our joint account is only 2 years old.

[slippinjimmy]

eBay might think you are shill bidding if an associated account actually bids on one of your listings, just being associated isn't enough.

Are you 100% certain that your brother in law or someone using their account did not ever bid on one of your listings?

I once had a 30 day suspension because one of my employees thought he would do me a favour and place a "starter" bid on one of my listings. A few months later he decided to bid on a bunch of Auctions (not mine) and failed to pay, he got suspended for non-payments and my account was suspended again for being associated.

eBay associated the accounts because he used our business address as well as using the same internet connection.

It's not logging in with multiple accounts, when eBay gives a shill bidding warning it's because an associated account placed a bid on your listing.

[a_c_green]

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@antiquestrainstoys wrote:

Interesting. The reason we did this is because our eBay "office" is located at my address but he owns all the property. That's why there's two names associated with the address. So should he just change his ebay address to his home address?  That might correct the issue?

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I don't think the address is the key here. I have no fewer than three different selling accounts that have all used the same address over the years, despite different account info, name, etc. There must be more overlap in your case that's causing red flags in eBay's eyes. While avoiding auctions would of course eliminate the suspicion of shill bidding, again I've had multiple auctions running through separate accounts here for many years and eBay has not uttered a peep.

I would suggest, though, that if you're using the same computer for more than one active selling account, you should have separate user logins to your machine for each one, and maintain a strict separation that way.

[antiquestrainstoys]

I usually run auctions on 99 percent of my stuff and it always sells. I start at low but fair starting bids. Sometimes I'll have one or two buy it now listings. Also I don't sell a whole lot. Sometimes I'll have as much as 10 auctions going at once, and I'll usually have at least two items up for sale (buy it now) just to keep the account active. 

Our joint account is always auctions usually starting at $9.95 or $19.95 or a little more if we know it has a higher value. Quite often we get items don't get any interest so we'll relist them up to 3 times. If it still doesn't sell, we'll just throw it out, sell it at a yard sale or sometimes take it to an actual auction house.

[antiquestrainstoys]

When we first started out, one of his coworkers would like to bid on items on our account. We told him to stop and mentioned how it was illegal. Well, we ended up banning him. Hasn't happened since.  When we list items on our account I will frequently go into my personal account and then select "Watch" so I can see how they're doing without having to log in and out each time. Also I do ALL listings through my phone since I use it to take pictures. In the office we haveva laptop, but only use it when we need to ship items because it's linked to the printer.

[gamersbaystore]

All it takes is for someone who lives near you to bid on your listing and ebay will flip out and accuse you of shill bidding, its happened to me in the past. The rest you stated has nothing to do with it and will not cause you to get flagged.

[antiquestrainstoys]

Oh I forgot to say, I have NEVER received this message on my personal account in the entire 12 years of my account. Only the joint account.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@antiquestrainstoys wrote:

Yes they both use the same IP address as the wifi used is located here at my house. But we never sell the same items. He sells his own stuff. I help him take pictures and list the items. I get a cut of whatever he makes. Usually just takes it off my rent. I have my own separate listings on my own account that he doesn't care about. But it's all the same physical shipping address because we use the same building to list, pack, and ship. I've had my ebay account for about 12 years. Our joint account is only 2 years old.

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Helping him list the items is a problem.

[antiquestrainstoys]

So when I use my phone to take the pictures and create the listings while logged into the joint account it is detecting the activity as unusual?

[simba6]

While extreme, you might want to switch to fixed price / buy it now listings.   That will stop that.  I would be worried at some point you could be banned from selling if it keeps happening.

You are sure those are real emails from eBay?  You can send them to spoof@ebay.com  

And they will let you know.  If they are real, it could be serious.