Shill Bidding accusation

[benjli-43]

I received a message from ebay that reads as follows:

"We noticed some unusual bidding activity and wanted to let you know that using another account to inflate an item’s price or popularity (known as shill bidding) isn’t allowed on eBay. This includes bids from family, friends, roommates, employees, or other online connections.

You may not have been aware of this, or it may simply have been an oversight, but it’s important to understand our policy around shill bidding. Please be sure to follow these guidelines, as shill bidding can lead to listings being removed or your account being restricted from selling. "

Now this is nothing I have ever done nor would I ever because its kind of messed up. I am concerned now that as newer seller ~3 months,  ebay's algo will somehow penalize my store and wont show my listings as frequently. Can someone please explain if they do this. I come from a world of Facebook Paid Advertising where Facebook's will penalize your ads if they dont like the ads or something youve done in your account and not show them as much, so that is where my paranoia is stemming from

Thnaks

[soh.maryl]

Something not quite right here.  Looked at about 20 of your listings which are all FP, BIN.

What are they talking about?  And you're sure this message came from eBay? 

[dhaga]

Yeah, that is a bit weird. I do not understand not being able to legitimately sell to family and friends, at all. 

It is a good way for them to start up with ebay and get some feedback ratings going. 

[simba6]

If it's a real message from eBay. There will be a copy of in  messages on your my eBay page upper left of the page.

[donsdetour]

ever log in on some one else's system?? Let some one log into your system??

If so are they bidding on your items??? Have you bid on any of the winners auctions???

A fast look I don't see such, but ebay has the info internet addys etc to find such...

Eted to add: using buy in know (fixed price would protect you from such accusations by the way..

[benjli-43]

Yes it is from ebay as it is in my ebay inbox on ebay.com, I had an auction for a rarer coin in the past month and it saw a lot of bidding activity, so maybe from that? I only list auctions for very in demand items

[benjli-43]

There is

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@soh.maryl wrote:

Something not quite right here.  Looked at about 20 of your listings which are all FP, BIN.

What are they talking about?  And you're sure this message came from eBay? 

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OP has a few active auction-format listings. And out of their 106 Sold listings, there were 26 in auction format, some of which got multiple bidders. Still, there doesn't seem to be any evidence of shill bidding here.

[benjli-43]

I mostly use BIN listings. I had an auction for a rarer coin in the past month and it saw a lot of bidding activity, so maybe from that? I only list auctions for very in demand items that I know will sell well and quickly. I only login to ebay from my phone and my personal laptop. 

[donsdetour]

You sure the message was from ebay?? They do not normal warn folks for such.

[benjli-43]

Yes! https://www.screencast.com/t/zlnvdWVQW

[lacemaker3]

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@benjli-43 wrote:

I mostly use BIN listings. I had an auction for a rarer coin in the past month and it saw a lot of bidding activity, so maybe from that? I only list auctions for very in demand items that I know will sell well and quickly. I only login to ebay from my phone and my personal laptop. 

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@benjli-43,

Is there any chance that one of your family members, friends or colleagues might have checked on your auction or bid on it?

Someone who might potentially have logged on with the same wifi system or internet connection as you might have used at one point?

[benjli-43]

My gf has checked the store out to give me suggestions and her opinion, but not bid on stuff. Also as far as my home wifi, anything is possible but I have a dynamic IP from my isp so could be that someone the ip was previously assigned to had bid on something. 

[house*of*paws]

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@dhaga wrote:

Yeah, that is a bit weird. I do not understand not being able to legitimately sell to family and friends, at all. 

It is a good way for them to start up with ebay and get some feedback ratings going. 

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Hi @dhaga 

It's fine to sell to friends and family on Fixed Price listings.  The problem is with people you know bidding on auctions ... where it can look like you are using them for the purpose of driving up the price.  That's called 'shill bidding' ... and is a violation of eBay policy, as well as against the law.

[espresso_warehouse]

Are you using a VPN or spending a lot of time on the same IP as a lot of other users?