Spotted a definate shill bidder, ebay havent responded?

salthegal

Hi all,

A few days ago I spotted a definate shill bidder on an item my hubby was looking at and indeed thinking of bidding on. I have reported him twice but ebay have yet to remove take any action at all. The reason I know it is a definate shill bidder is because I actually sent the seller a question about the item ('play_thing257') and he for some reason or other responded from another account ('my_cougar49') which is the account he has been using to bid on the auction and drive the price up. :mad:

I've also noticed that he has actually bid on another of his auctions in the past and actually won the item (even left feedback!).

Here is the link to auction

Item no: 110026889558
Sellers Id: play_thing257
Shill bidding account: my_cougar49

Here is an item of his own which he has bid on in the past

and another one!

and another one!!

and another one!!!

Lordy knows how long its been going on.

Now obviously I think this is very sneaky and unfair by the seller but ebay havent bothered to do anything whatsoever.

The auction ends tomorrow, any advice??? Should I try and email the bidders?

Sal

frivolous_fay

Did you report all the IDs involved?

salthegal

Yup, because he has been quite subtle about it I guess nobody noticed it before or reported him, so ebay hasnt bothered with my claim.

I wouldnt have noticed at all, had he not accidenlty sent a response to my question from the shill bidding account!

Its rather annoying as the latest item he's doing it on will probably go for hundreds, and the bidders will be paying a lot more than they would have in a fair auction.

Maybe someone else could help report this devil too, then ebay might listen too me!

Link to shill report page

rose_sparky

Would ebay do anything about shill bidding if the bidders accomplice often won the auctions?

salthegal

I would like to think so, but you never know with ebay. :rolleyes:

smartie1976

plaything257 and my_cougar49 no longer registered.

pjala

The top item has now been removed, and the id's are not now members of ebay - so maybe ebay reads these messages?

Whoops same time as smartie

salthegal

blimey, that was quick. I'm going to guess thats because a few other helpful mse peeps also reported him. Bit annoying as they ignored me. It looks like ebay take higher prority over things if lots of people report something, didnt do anthing for 3 days when i reported him, but as soon as I post it here for a few other people to see, its gone in a flash!!

smartie1976

there's more power in numbers