fake bidders running up auctions

[allwarden64]

I have had an item run up by apparent false accounts to way higher than the value of the item.  Has anyone else had this problem lately.  the first time it happened i was able to cancel the bid and relist the item.  I blocked the id of the false bidder (they did not pay for the item).  THen the same thing happened again with a slightly different user name (just changed the numbers after the name).  This is very frustrating and besides making all listing "buy it now" is there a way to stop this?  I feel bad for the legitimate bidders who want these items (selling collectibles from my collection that i no longer want).  I'm ready to give up on e-bay for selling if this continues.  The locations of these buyers is russia but it seems that they may list a US address for shipping since i have blocked international shipping on my listings.  Any ideas???

[1tuna]

when you cancel a malicous bid you are charged a FVF

there is not much you can do about bad bidders except to file an unpaid item

try to stay away from the cancel button

[lagarto_electronico]

Yes, I have had the same thing happen to me.

Most of the users in these forums are trolls that will mock you and tell you that you are imagining it.

Many of the fake bidders have used dictionary list attacks to access old, inactive accounts and are logging in from foreign countries.  This is likely an elaborate attempt to brute force a vulnerability in the payment system.

Report the users and ask Trust & Safety to look at the IP address of the shill accounts.

[soh.maryl]

"Most of the users in these forums are trolls that will mock you and tell you that you are imagining it."

I (and thousands of others, probably) resent your implication.

We are a very large group of people, mostly experienced buyers and sellers who volunteer our time to help others and answer questions.  

You are one of the users in these forums.  Does that mean you're a troll? 

Or are you the only one of us who isn't?  

[1tuna]

the majority of the posters on here are on the money.....you can look at the top 100 posters in each category

I see the same faces here all the time and usually its a quibble over the approach to something

the majority of the posters know the MBG inside and out and can tell you the outcome of most situations

some sellers like to come up with off the wall reasons for all kinds of things

take returns for example...do you put up a fight or go with the flow

 dig you heels in or become a pushover and relent to the return

facts are facts and strategies are just opinions

keep on ebaying

[jonathankirkland]

OP I understand your frustration, I see this ALL the time.

I suppose for you the auctions must be fun.

But I suspect you'd be much more successful if you can pinpoint a price each of your items is worth and sell it for that. If you want, you can even do something similar to what I do. I mark up the price 10-20% above what I'd be happy to get for an item, then accept 'best offers' with immediate payment required. So for example: if I would be happy with $200 for an item I will list it at maybe $220-230 with best offer and auto-accept any offer above $200.

Best of luck to you.

[releasethekraken_1]

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@allwarden64 wrote:

I have had an item run up by apparent false accounts to way higher than the value of the item. 

---

This indicates that you have a pretty good idea of what the item is worth. In that case, stop using the auction format and switch to Fixed Price, and be sure to use the Immediate Payment Required option.

And don't use the Best Offer option.

[21thegreatone]

Methinks it is time to return to the days of old where sellers SHARED the good ol "Blocked Bidder Lists" between each other.  Does Ebay like it when we do that?  NO.  Do we care? NO.    THEY make money off of the SELLER (not the buyer), so they don't care if "bogus bidders are abound".   But SELLERS do.  

Fair market value and price is the key.  Be it "auction style or fixed price"...no matter.   

There definitely SHOULD be a "level of proven/aka: track record"  (truly...all EBAY gotta do to weed out these "bogey bidding fakers" is to charge a USER FEE for BUYERS wishing to access the site.    This way the $49 dollar per year "fee to use" will help "shake out the fakers" and they can go waste their time (and yours) elsewhere.   But this is a LONG-ONGOING headache of Ebay.  And one they definitely should be targeting.   Rather than seek "sheer volume of users" of the site...how about the QUALITY of the users of the site?"  

There should be a level in the preferences section added to indicate the TYPE of buyer you wish to attract.  

Otherwise?  BLOCK EM.  This isnt 2001 anymore.  Where "everyone starts with 0 feedback" and doesn't know what EBAY is anymore.  (That could at least be justified if not condoned back then.)  Nowadays?  it is a pile of timewasting fakers with nothing better to do, whom are taking away from QUALITY buyers who have been doing this for a long time.   

Hey EBAY....take care of this will ya?   Time to clean up the site.

[southern*sweet*tea]

I gave up auctions over a decade ago. I only run them now for stuff I just want gone, and even then most of the time they don't work.  I have the opposite problem you do - nobody bids lol

Set a high fixed price and accept best offers. This gives you the chance to screen your buyers. If you're concerned about lowballers, set a minimum decline amount.  You'd be surprised at the amount of people who will buy at the asking price, and that's always nice.

[coolections]

How do you know they are fake bidders ? Are you sure the item might just be in high demand. Lots of people out there with money and willing to spend.

[21thegreatone]

VERY good and sound advice there Sweet Tea!

As this "Ebay World Turns"...it seems they are moving towards exactly what you stated.  "Pick a price, list a gazillion items and take the best offer".  And while that yep...does work, it is totally NOT what "Ebay" was meant to be long ago.  Where DID those days go?  "Ya offered something...they bid.  they paid.  ya left feedback and all was right with the world...AUCTION style."   Now?  seems like they wish to become the dusted-off version of "let's resell it" and make our own Goodwill Store.

Makes NO sense to me at all.   

May as well simply re-open the ol AUCTION COMPANY myself again.   

But I totally agree with you.  Why waste time with a company that 1) doesn't CARE to fix the known problems, and 2) wants it all to be listed "Amazon style".   May as well simply all bite the bullet and go to AMAZON if that were the case.   

What made "Ebay" unique...was AUCTION FORMAT/SELLER RESPECTED/BUYER RESPECTED in the era of 2001-2013.  Since then? They suck.

[21thegreatone]

Good question.

How do we know?

Because we DO.

A quality seller NEVER wants to "overcharge" for an item.  we KNOW the value of it.  As does the "buying collector" of it.  EACH must be respected with equal-hand. 

However, when ZERO (or less than 10 Feedbackers" come along) and waste their time and ours with questions a MONKEY could answer?  Well...EBAY needs to act upon that crapola like ASAP, before their site becomes even bore of a **bleep** Bogey batch of **bleep** than Facebook.

[21thegreatone]

ALSO...when ya get a bogey buyer...simply HOLD DOWN and send them 600 INVOICES in a row, while listing something anew.   Does Ebay want us to do that?  no.  Do I care? No. Sould you?  no.    UNTIL THEY DO SOMETHING ABOUT THESE BOGUS JAGOFFS who are wasting the world's time?   Then do what you gotta do.  That is YOUR business my friend and I respect it.  As should every other seller.   

When I get a bull4h1+ "fake bidder" (I immediately cancel their bid), and IF by some chance they "sneak thru"...i will simply sell it to the backup bidder (who IS legit).   Then, I will hold down the INVOICE SEND BUTTON and bombard em with invoices until it either 1) drives them OFF ebay or 2) they simply go away.

For lack of a better term....this is is the "$h1=$how" that EBAY has become. very sad too.

Wasn't always that way.  There was a time when Ebay did care. 

Now?  They don't

[allwarden64]

they were a russian address with 0 experience and went to ridculous prices.  both times it happended they said "cancel the bid" after i reached out.  some kind of Bot i suspect.  now i am left without selling my items and have to relist again.  i think i have to do as suggested above i guess but very disappointing.

[21thegreatone]

I feel ya there my friend.  I block em IMMEDIATELY upon "suspicion".  21 years now and it hasn't failed me yet.

"If it SMELLS ROTTEN?  BLOCK IT".

It is time Sellers RECLAIMED the grounds WE founded.  These bogey bidders (as Ebay has NO CARE whatsoever about it...just got off the horn with those folks.  They dont care.  Just so long as "we SELLERS pay THEM on time/every time"...they make some lame excuse that "they can't control it".

**bleep**-OLA.   This is 2021.  Absolutely they can "control it".  They simply care not to. 

Thusly...as sellers, WE must cater to our customers who are good and true and always do right by them. 

As for those "bogus bidders?"   To Hell with them.   Once sellers COME TOGETHER on this, as we are all in the same proverbial "boat"...(I want YOU to be successful as much as I wanna be successful, and all other sellers of reputable integrity)...too.

But UNTIL WE DO...(come together)?  Then all "Ebay gonna do" is "announce the next VP in charge of Pencil Pushing or how they can "give 8 million characters of available space to a feedback that takes 80 MAX."

Big changes?  Nah.  they are "coasting now".  Riding the wave of what once was and LAZY to the core.   

Won't be long before AMAZON swallows em up.   

Hey EBAY...hows about yinz like err, ummm  WAKE UP and fix the BASICS, huh?

Aint that hard.