Shilling - What do I do?

dmg24

I recently bought an item off ebay, it was incredibly popular (or so I thought!) and there were over 50 bids for it. I have paid for the item and received it. Now I have looked at the list of bidders, and compared these to other items sold by the seller, I have found there was blatant shilling going on. I bought the item for £65 when without the shill bidding it would have gone for £30 ... not happy!

So I figure I have two options. 1) Report the seller for shill bidding. 2) Contact the seller directly and suggest that either I return the item for a full refund, or that she refunds me the difference in cost.

Any thoughts would be greatfully received ...

frivolous_fay

Do both.

Moglex

dmg24 wrote:

I recently bought an item off ebay, it was incredibly popular (or so I thought!) and there were over 50 bids for it. I have paid for the item and received it. Now I have looked at the list of bidders, and compared these to other items sold by the seller, I have found there was blatant shilling going on. I bought the item for £65 when without the shill bidding it would have gone for £30 ... not happy!

So I figure I have two options. 1) Report the seller for shill bidding. 2) Contact the seller directly and suggest that either I return the item for a full refund, or that she refunds me the difference in cost.

Any thoughts would be greatfully received ...

I don't understand.

You made a decision that an item was worth a certain amount of money, bid that amount, won the item, paid for it and got it.

Where is the problem?

It was entirely up to you to determine what you thought the item was worth. Nobody forced you to bid the amount you did.

rose_sparky

I disagree with you Moglex. IMO it makes a mockery of it all.

I'd report them.

dmg24

frivolous_fay,

Thanks for your opinion ... am thinking of going down that route.

Moglex,

Had the auction been run fairly then yes, I would have paid that amount. I would have been quite willing to pay the full RRP for the item. But that is not the point of ebay. The point is that you bid against other people who genuinely want the item, and the winner is the person who bids the highest, irrespective of how much higher they would have been willing to go.

Shill bidding is entirely against the ethos of eBay ... I doubt you would take such an opinion if it had happened to you.

frivolous_fay

I think this case is a good example of my 'false demand' theory of shilling.

People can play devil's advocate til the cows come home. Bottom line is: it's breaking the rules. If someone has a problem with being shilled, they shouldn't be criticised for complaining about it.

dmg24

I have put together the following email to send to the seller ... what do you think?

Hi xxx,

A while back I bought the above item from you on eBay. However, I have since become aware of shill bidding on this item. I am very unhappy that because of this illegal bidding the cost of the dress was greatly increased. I would therefore be grateful if you could agree to one of the following options:

I return the dress to you and you refund the full cost of the item (including postage), or
We agree an amount for you to refund to me so that the cost of the dress reflects what would have been a winning amount had the illegal bidding not taken place.
I do hope we can resolve this amicably. If this is not the case, I shall have no option to report you to eBay for shill bidding.

Best wishes,

Thanks again!

rose_sparky

How about saying someone gave you a link on how to discover shill bidders and that you put some of your recent purchases in and up popped hers!!

That way you're not DIRECTLY accusing her, sort of going in the back door instead!

dmg24

Good idea ... thanks!

Moglex

frivolous_fay wrote:

People can play devil's advocate til the cows come home. Bottom line is: it's breaking the rules. If someone has a problem with being shilled, they shouldn't be criticised for complaining about it.

The other bottom line, and one that does not require any detective work or policing is:

You decide what an item is worth to you and that is what you bid for it.

That's what I do, and I honestly couldn't give a flying fig how the amount I pay is arrived at.

If I buy something for £10, what should it be to me whether the seller decided at the outset that s/he wanted to sell something for £9 or decided during the auction that s/he was prepared to pay £9 (and waste ebay fees) to buy the item him/herself?

I made a decision on the item's worth and got it for that amount. End of story.

I'm glad I don't have to start nosing around after every auction where there are other bidders, worrying about whether or not I've been 'done'. Life really is too short.

davilown

Moglex wrote:

The other bottom line, and one that does not require any detective work or policing is:

You decide what an item is worth to you and that is what you bid for it.

That's what I do, and I honestly couldn't give a flying fig how the amount I pay is arrived at.

If I buy something for £10, what should it be to me whether the seller decided at the outset that s/he wanted to sell something for £9 or decided during the auction that s/he was prepared to pay £9 (and waste ebay fees) to buy the item him/herself?

I made a decision on the item's worth and got it for that amount. End of story.

I'm glad I don't have to start nosing around after every auction where there are other bidders, worrying about whether or not I've been 'done'. Life really is too short.

Moglex certainly has a point. The items I've bought recently have had shill bids on then but these have stopped well below the actual selling price. The best way to look at it is by determining who the final price was decided between. Then, if there have been shills bids to that final price, you have been done. pure and simple. The majority of items sold on ebay have shill bids against them because it's normally the shops who shill bid.
At the end of the day, ebay is all about a getting a bargain. If you believe you got one then leave it alone. If however, you paid over the odds because of shill bids, and not because you got carried away, then complain.

A hint for next time; if you want to buy an item, check the bid history and do simple searches to determine what the other bidder(s) have placed bids on. That way you'll never get caught out. The other thing is, if you can help it, never bid the highest you intend to pay for the item until the last few seconds. This way you won't get caught out in the last stage.

This is not aimed at the original poster, but at all those who have a limited understanding/user knowledge of ebay. At the end of the day (yes, I know, not correct English), you'll find the item you want, probably better condition/new, on this and similar forums, than ebay.

Regards

:beer: monster