Blocking Buyers with 0 Feedback or New Accounts

[karim99]

I have had several auctions where someone creates a fake account to bid up my item to reveal another bidders max bid.  Then they cancel their bid.  What is Ebay doing to prevent this from happening.  Nothing happens to the fake buyer whatsoever.  This is unfair to everyone involved.

[sam9876]

Nothing.

[futuretomorrow]

I would call eBay and report it. They say they can trace IP's, not that I personally believe they're on top of penalizing buyers, even the fraudlent ones but who knows. 

[missjen831]

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@futuretomorrow wrote:

I would call eBay and report it. They say they can trace IP's, not that I personally believe they're on top of penalizing buyers, even the fraudlent ones but who knows. 

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They can't trace everyones IPs. They also said this doesn't need to be reported because of their super secret measures that they use to detect this kind of thing.

[smileytown18]

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@missjen831 wrote:

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They can't trace everyones IPs. They also said this doesn't need to be reported because of their super secret measures that they use to detect this kind of thing.

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They CAN trace IP's if they want to. But they dont seem inclined to do so. Especially ifno fraudelant purchase took place. They don't have the amount of manpower needed to hunt down every bad guy. nor the willpower

[missjen831]

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@smileytown18 wrote:

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@missjen831 wrote:

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They can't trace everyones IPs. They also said this doesn't need to be reported because of their super secret measures that they use to detect this kind of thing.

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They CAN trace IP's if they want to. But they dont seem inclined to do so. Especially ifno fraudelant purchase took place. They don't have the amount of manpower needed to hunt down every bad guy. nor the willpower

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I never said they CAN’T trace IPs. I said they can’t trace EVERYONES IP and the reason I said that is because some countries do not allow it. China for example. 

[fashunu4eeuh]

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@karim99 wrote:

I have had several auctions where someone creates a fake account to bid up my item to reveal another bidders max bid.  Then they cancel their bid.  What is Ebay doing to prevent this from happening.  Nothing happens to the fake buyer whatsoever.  This is unfair to everyone involved.

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Hi, in reference to the post title, it is not feasible to block new or zero feedback buyers. Having such a block would prevent healthy growth of the buyer base. Ebay is actively courting new buyers—it would be self defeating to deny them access to listings.

 I wonder if it is the same person doing this to your auctions, some crazed Bears fan? Never heard of a seller having this issue on multiple auctions over time. I think a call to eBay wouldn’t hurt. They would be able to see if the same person is behind each fake account. Best of luck to you moving forward.

[sin-n-dex]

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@karim99 wrote:

I have had several auctions where someone creates a fake account to bid up my item to reveal another bidders max bid.  Then they cancel their bid.  What is Ebay doing to prevent this from happening.  Nothing happens to the fake buyer whatsoever.  This is unfair to everyone involved.

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I've had something similar happen (but I don't believe the zero account was intending to reveal the maximum, that's just what ended up happening).

As a seller, when items are a little bit expensive... I do not like the high bidder's maximum being revealed and then cancelled, because if the next buyer comes along and bids up the high bidder, then that high bidder knows I am aware of the maximum and might suspect a shill. (eBay would know there's no shill if they did their homework, but the winning bidder who feels cheated will have a "bad buyer experience".)

I understand your frustration, but I think there's just some things that shouldn't be auctioned for this exact reason.

Cheers, C.

[karim99]

Exactly! I've had a buyer accuse ME of doing that which is completely untrue...I don't need to cheat people to make a few extra bucks.  I have contacted Ebay about it before, and of course they were useless.  Supposedly they have received numerous requests to block 0 feedback buyers, and "management" is aware of this.

I don't sell a lot of stuff, but find it absurd that Ebay does not do more to protect their sellers...

[luckythewinner]

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@missjen831 wrote:

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I never said they CAN’T trace IPs. I said they can’t trace EVERYONES IP and the reason I said that is because some countries do not allow it. China for example. 

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And some ISP's share or recycle IP addresses.

My ISP recycles IP addresses, and they will generally change my IP address if I power down the cable model and leave it off overnight. I do this intentionally about once a week.

[danikad28]

eBay will never allow the blocking of 0 feedback buyers, nor should they.

The fact is, eBay is losing buyers. Allowing sellers to block 0 feedback buyers, would just drive more money away from the site.

[karim99]

And sellers could likely stop listing their items here as well...they need to find a happy medium.  To give buyers basically a free pass to create fake accounts at their whim and free reign to bid on any auction they want without repurcussion when the cancel is extremely biased to one side.

[castlemagicmemories]

New buyers=growth and more sales.  

So it is not desirable to block 0 feedback buyers; everyone started with zero.

But new buyers often have little to no idea of how the site works and while some may know, they may not care.

I recall a thread where the OP said all "professional" buyers bid to uncover max bids, and then retract.  He said he would not apologize for doing what Ebay allows and they should change the rules.  It was gently pointed out to him that the limited reasons ebay allows for retraction do not cover his scenario.  He had to be choosing an inapplicable reason each time he retracted.

[karim99]

I've only seen one reason posted: "entered wrong amount".  Yeah, sure you did @sshole.

And in a shocking coincedence the account was created today....

[futuretomorrow]

@karim99

While eBay may find a conundrum in how to grow a user base but better manage 0 feedback users it most definitely can be done and they have enough users to run endless split tests on what solution creates the least amount of new buyer friction. They're simply lazy and inept. It's also easier to just let a buyer get away with anything since they need buyers as the organic motivation as to why sellers list their items for sale.

Within my last line in sentence 1, we shortly realize why it's not that absurd in the mind of eBay to not better protect sellers.