lot of time on our hands, been noticing alot of high end sellers using "shills" to drive up bidding

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

Ok, I must admit been searching very advanced high end buyers who sell about the same category such as vintage signage, notice one who apparently uses a "shill" bidder to drive the prices up, she or they are making an absolute killing on ebay and are advanced sellers, their neg. feedback is less than desired, lots of unhappy buyers. Been looking at their bidding records and the same (for exp. starts out as Y.....K) he is almost on every item offered to bump the price up then jump up to (for exp. N......N) he bumps it up to another 30 or 50 bucks, same thing, something isn't right here, the lady pictured in all of the photos doesn't look like she has 2 dimes to rub together, how can this many signs come from this home? There is a scam here...there just is to many unhappy buyers here for her to continue to sell the way she does, she must by my estimates be making at least 20K a month, not even the American Pickers run across this many signs???? I don't know but something is not right, must be the Teamster Union Steward in me and investigation reporter, I thought using a shill was against Ebay rules? any thoughts?

[this*old*attic]

EBay randomizes bidders’ IDs now, so how do you know they are the same person or shills?

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

There is no doubt in mind, this is a shill, that "Y.....K" is always the 1st bidder on these listings, and keep in mind I am using this Y...K as an exp. There is just something fishy here and it isn't just China and their junk!

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

And in my topic I meant to say sellers not buyers, having trouble with my eyesight and my doctor is closed right now, sorry

[coolections]

You're guessing and assuming it's a shill because people are willing to pay more than you. All bidder I.D.'s start with a K......L or whatever letter Ebay assigns them. There is no proof. If you are really that serious about winning then snipe bid at the last 5 seconds.

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

actually you are wrong, I wouldn't bid on anything she has based on the neg feedbacks she has recieved, she has alot of bidders that are the same I.Ds thru out her bidding process with the same feedback numbers attached to their IDs, like over 200? that my friend is not random, that is using shills to increase bidding.

[a_c_green]

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@silverstatetreasureboxes wrote:

any thoughts?

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Click on the disguised bidder ID in the Bid History page of the auction you are following, and you will get a 30-day history showing how much bidding from that ID has occurred, how many different auctions, and how many different sellers. You will also see whether the suspect bidder has any bid retractions, and how many.

You may find that the suspect bidder is actually bidding in auctions from multiple sellers. Shill bidders don't bid to take the lead, so if they're bidding back and forth against a rival, that's what you will see happening.

Finally, just bid your single, best price as close to the end of the auction has you can, such as 5 seconds from the end. That way, no one else will have time to bid against you, and if you don't win at that point, someone else wanted it more than you did. There is no point in bidding on Tuesday in an auction that doesn't end until Thursday. That just gives someone with deeper pockets more time to bid against you.

[7606dennis]

Shilling is a crime and accusing someone of it is serious business.  Unless you have hard evidence that would stand up in court, I would advise caution regarding posting accusations in a published forum such as this.

[picknparley]

Shill bidding DOES occur. If you do your homework checking their bid histories and you're confident you're correct in your assumptions, then go to any of the listings for this seller and click report seller (report item?)  Have your info handy to enter into the comments (if applicable). 

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

It sounds like you could be right . However I don’t understand how finding one shilling seller becomes the “alot” you used in your title?

[pburn]

@silverstatetreasureboxes 

@picknparley 

From eBay's help page:

Shill bidding policy 

How do I report shill bidding?

If you think that another member is shill bidding, you don't need to report it to us. eBay has a number of systems in place to detect and monitor bidding patterns and practices. If we identify any malicious behavior, we'll take steps to prevent it.

[luckythewinner]

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@silverstatetreasureboxes wrote:

 Been looking at their bidding records and the same (for exp. starts out as Y.....K) he is almost on every item offered to bump the price up 

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When you click on the bidding history for the item and and then the buyer in question, it will show you his "Bid activity (%) with this seller". 

What is the percentage shown?

I'm looking at a random collectible auction in my watch list, and the first five bidders I checked had bid activity percentages of 14%, 11%, 38%, 20%, and 22%.  Seems like the seller I checked had a loyal clientele for his items. 

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

I did just that, I checked the bidding history, I have no desire to turn them in, I just feel bad for some of the bidders and past buyers that they don't take care of as some of their purchases were very expensive and arrived broken etc. They have way to many neg feedbacks and it appears that they don't care either. Those seller's can keep doing what their doing, I'm done looking at them and their assembly line of items.

[luckythewinner]

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@silverstatetreasureboxes wrote:
I did just that, I checked the bidding history

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So what was the percentage?

[vrie39]

You know, if buyers want to spend their money on sellers who have horrible feedback I am not stopping them.

Nope, go right ahead, hope it works out for them.

What is going on, I don't care.

There is however a process that is unique to ebay's auction system known as nibbling.

You may wish to research this if you are bidding on items, as nibbling is encouraged by early bidders.

The only weapon against nibbling is sniping, I am a sniper, I will bid my maximum seconds before the auction ends.

I almost never get counterbidded at the very last, although sometimes the previous high bidder's highest is higher than my max, that does happen but when my bid is the highest I almost always walk away with it.