Private bidding

[cynthimors-0]

Has anyone else noticed "private bidders"  running up the bids and then retracting once the bid gets quite high? I am sensing a particular seller is using someone to run up bids. I may be wrong but I've seen it happen twice with the same seller and same item.  

[7606dennis]

Actually, if I had my way there would be no such thing as a bid retraction allowed.  I'm not sure that what you are describing, shilling, is more prevalent on Private Auctions.  Being that user names are, for the most part, fictitious names anyway.

Of course, shilling is a crime, albeit a very hard to prove one.  Of course, there are bidders that, while not actually shilling, use the technique you described as a means of discovering a rival bidder's max bid.  This can give them an idea of how much the item will sell for and thus they obtain an advantage similar to insider trading.  While not shilling, the practice is just as despicable.

[ted_200]

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@cynthimors-0 wrote:

Has anyone else noticed "private bidders"  running up the bids and then retracting once the bid gets quite high? I am sensing a particular seller is using someone to run up bids. I may be wrong but I've seen it happen twice with the same seller and same item.  

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Do you mean "Private" listings?  All bidders are "private" anyhow, essentially, since eBay anonymizes them on standard listings.  But if this is happening, and they are in fact retracting the bids, that is a good indication of shill bidding. 

[cynthimors-0]

It appears that the private bidder  (the only other  b idder by the way)  makes a very high maximum bid and once I raise my bid in an attempt to win the item, a few minutes before ending they retract the bid.  I bid on identical items days apart (same seller) both time the private bidder retracted after jacking the price up. 

[bigdeals.etc]

Yea the seller is linked to that bidder account that outbids you to see what your max bid is. Another trick they do is for instance if the listing is ending soon and you have max bid of $20 but the listing is sitting at you winning at $10... the seller will have another account to bid like $500 so they will be winning at $21. They just discovered your max bid is $20. They will retract that $500 bid and at the very last second place a bid of $20. You will win the listing with your $20 since your bid was first.

The seller just made 10 extra dollars.