eBay

1951boodle · ‎09-20-2020

Has anyone received bids that are astronomically higher than the worth of the item? I put a power saw up for bid and bids went from $20 to $61 in a few days, then suddenly two new bidders started a war and ran the current bid up to $6,100! Is this an error or a scam?

shhboom · ‎09-20-2020

Sounds strange. You could try looking at their feedback history to see if there's anything odd. If they've sold anything, you could find out if they're located in your area (to be able to pick up your item). If you think they're messing with you, intending to withdraw all their bids right before the auction ends, you could end your auction now, making the current high bidder the winner and see what happens. Good luck.

collectfest · ‎09-21-2020

@1951boodle wrote:
Has anyone received bids that are astronomically higher than the worth of the item? I put a power saw up for bid and bids went from $20 to $61 in a few days, then suddenly two new bidders started a war and ran the current bid up to $6,100! Is this an error or a scam?

I'd be weary. I see its a pick up only. I know nothing about saws but 6100.00 seems a bit high. I'd advise eBay aware. Ive had some good rep's who may (or may not) have some good insight for you.

Regards.

pjcdn2005 · ‎09-21-2020

I would cancel those high bids now and block those bidders so that people who are serious about buying will have a chance to bid.

buyselljack2016 · ‎09-21-2020

@1951boodle

Possibly "bid shielding", but as ID's are private on this we can not see if that could be what is happening.

Two work together. Bid high to stop other bidders. Then one retracts, and the bid drops back to a low amount.

They win, you lose.

I like the "sell to the highest bidder" suggestion, but likely it would just result in a non paying situation.

mam98031 · ‎09-21-2020

I had this happen once, but years ago. I had a pattern book up for sale. Now granted it was OOS [out of print], but the bidding went crazy between two bidders from Canada. Odd stuff to be sure. Hundreds of $$ at stake. I cancelled both of their bids and even though I emailed the buyers, I never heard from them.

I agree with the others that say cancel the bids from those two and let the auction continue. Keeping a close eye on it of course.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

donsdetour · ‎09-21-2020

Scam. the item is not worth the price. Maybe just fools playing.

Could be to remove their bids right at the 12 hour mark or try to get you to cancel the bids so they get it cheaper.

Defiantly waisting your time.

u_cant_take_it_with_u · ‎09-21-2020

A legitimate bidder, willing to pay more than what an item is worth.... on ebay???

ittybitnot · ‎09-21-2020

Is this an error or a scam?

Another possibility is it is two scammers trying to outbid each other simply for the opportunity to send you something like this:

Please text me your email address so we can arrange payment.....

silverstatetreasureboxes · ‎09-21-2020

Yes collectfest, just a tad high...it's a 10yr old Miter saw...prob cost about $129 new? OP, there is somebody out there messing with your auction, get rid of those jokers and cancel their bids. That is crazy and this seems to be happening more and more gosh, has the whole world gone mad????

wesk_36 · ‎09-21-2020

They are ruining your auction.

Anyone looking to buy that saw would hit the back button after seeing the current bids.

Why aren't you deleting those bids and blocking them? They will not pay. Your disclaimer in the description won't do anything while leaving the scammer bidders bid, imo.

"As a seller, you can cancel bids on eBay in some situations: when you agree to a buyer’s request, when the item isn’t available anymore, if you made an error in the listing, or if you’re concerned the bidder might be fraudulent."
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/selling-auctions/cancelling-bid?id=4140

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Posting ID

a_c_green · ‎09-21-2020

@1951boodle wrote:
Has anyone received bids that are astronomically higher than the worth of the item? I put a power saw up for bid and bids went from $20 to $61 in a few days, then suddenly two new bidders started a war and ran the current bid up to $6,100! Is this an error or a scam?

Based on the current high bid, it's possible that the second-place guy meant to type $60.00 and missed the decimal point. When the current leader couldn't get ahead with normal bids, he decided to throw in a nonsense number like, I don't know, maybe $10,000.00, just to see what the second-place guy had.

I would delete the second-place bid, which should allow the price to collapse down to something sane. Granted, the current leader is guaranteed to win at this point, so I can't say whether to cancel all his bids as well.

As you have the bidders concealed, we cannot see their 30-day records, so we cannot see if either of the bidders might be bid-shielding the other (you can, by checking their Feedback as a Buyer page to see how many retractions they have), but my guess at this point is that you have one bidder who forgot his decimal point, and another bidder who's having some fun with that. (I guesstimating my theory here based on the timestamps of each bid, showing when they occurred and for how much, and I reserve the right to be wrong here.)

shhboom · ‎09-21-2020

There's someone else selling a Craftsman 10" Miter saw 90 miles from your location, with a $59.99 Buy-It-Now price, local pickup only. Maybe he's doing the "bid shielding" another commenter suggested. Also, if by some miracle you do sell it for $6100 (and even if you don't), the FBI might be looking at you for possible money laundering. So perhaps it's a good idea to cancel all those high bids now as others have suggested.

collectfest · ‎09-22-2020

@silverstatetreasureboxes wrote:
Yes collectfest, just a tad high...it's a 10yr old Miter saw...prob cost about $129 new? OP, there is somebody out there messing with your auction, get rid of those jokers and cancel their bids. That is crazy and this seems to be happening more and more gosh, has the whole world gone mad????

LOL LOL...I'm rolling on the floor laughing, I needed that, Thanks!

itsjustasprain · ‎09-22-2020

@shhboom wrote:
There's someone else selling a Craftsman 10" Miter saw 90 miles from your location, with a $59.99 Buy-It-Now price, local pickup only. Maybe he's doing the "bid shielding" another commenter suggested.

I dont see why - bidding was already at $60 when the craziness all started - plus its a BIN and its a local pickup only - so anyone interested in that one would have already bought it by now.

@shhboom wrote:
Also, if by some miracle you do sell it for $6100 (and even if you don't), the FBI might be looking at you for possible money laundering.

Oh please. 😂