Accused of Shill Bidding ...

emby

Very stressful evening ...

Earlier today I received an email from the high bidder for one of my items stating that they no longer wanted to go through with the auction as they had checked the bidder below them on the item in question and noticed that this person had bid on 17 of my items within the last hour. They said this looked like shill bidding to them and i should either mutually cancel the auction or they would contact Ebay to and I quote 'declare the sale void'. Now the person who bid on the 17 items is a repeat customer of mine, they are based in Australia and bid on/buy up all of a certain themed item that i sell.

I replied to the 'paranoid' buyer and said I was not in the habit of shill bidding, that they were free to check the other bidders feedback profile and contact them if they wish, they instead replied saying they had made an official complaint with Ebay.

Now, i know i've done nothing wrong, everything is well above board, however i'm worried that Ebay will see their SHILL BIDDING complaint and throw me off the site without conducting an investigation of sorts. Obviously, if they do a quick check of my username and the person who has bid on 17 of my items they will notice countries / IP address / postal addresses / names etc. are completely different, but i'm worrying all the same.

Does anyone have any comforting words? I'm currently in line waiting to speak to an Ebay rep online, hopefully they'll quell my fears.

WelshPaul

emby wrote: »

Very stressful evening ...

Earlier today I received an email from the high bidder for one of my items stating that they no longer wanted to go through with the auction as they had checked the bidder below them on the item in question and noticed that this person had bid on 17 of my items within the last hour. They said this looked like shill bidding to them and i should either mutually cancel the auction or they would contact Ebay to and I quote 'declare the sale void'. Now the person who bid on the 17 items is a repeat customer of mine, they are based in Australia and bid on/buy up all of a certain themed item that i sell.

I replied to the 'paranoid' buyer and said I was not in the habit of shill bidding, that they were free to check the other bidders feedback profile and contact them if they wish, they instead replied saying they had made an official complaint with Ebay.

Now, i know i've done nothing wrong, everything is well above board, however i'm worried that Ebay will see their SHILL BIDDING complaint and throw me off the site without conducting an investigation of sorts. Obviously, if they do a quick check of my username and the person who has bid on 17 of my items they will notice countries / IP address / postal addresses / names etc. are completely different, but i'm worrying all the same.

Does anyone have any comforting words? I'm currently in line waiting to speak to an Ebay rep online, hopefully they'll quell my fears.

I would have done the same to be honest, ebay will see a lot more than an end user and will be able to identify a shill bidder!

If you have done nothing wrong then you have nothing to worry about.

gocurlygirl

I had never heard the term shill bidding before so read the post out of curiosity:o.I am sure that the buyer just panicked and the ebay team will see you are genuine.I would use sellers I had used before,i would feel I could trust them again.Good luck to you.:)

emby

Just spoke with a very nice guy over at Ebay live chat and he has put my mind at ease. He mentioned a system Ebay have in place to prove if shill bidding has occured.
I'm still a little worried that the buyer will continue to think I have shill bid and make some comment on this in the feedback [should they pay for the item]. But, hopefully i'll be able to get any such comments removed.

emby

Ok, so the buyer has now left me negative feedback, no words just '..........'

Is there anyway I could get this removed? She has done this purely because she thinks i was shill bidding, this is absolutely false, i'm really peeved that she's done this! Not sure what to do now.

amcluesent

>Not sure what to do now<

Block them to they can't wreck more auctions as a start!

emby

amcluesent wrote: »

>Not sure what to do now<

Block them to they can't wreck more auctions as a start!

Already done that.

alfiesmum

I think I read somewhere that unless a negative feedback actually mentions the direct problem with the item received, it might be removed by eBay. I can't find where I saw it though. Will have another look for it now.

emby

alfiesmum wrote: »

I think I read somewhere that unless a negative feedback actually mentions the direct problem with the item received, it might be removed by eBay. I can't find where I saw it though. Will have another look for it now.

Thanks afliesmum, I guess emailing ebay asking for it to be removed wouldn't be a bad thing, nothing to lose. I'll give it a shot and try and chat with someone on the live help.

alfiesmum

Other than that, be very good at your follow up reply. Ask pinkshoes on here, her replies are always exactly what is needed she has a gift for it! And 1 neg won't put buyers off, try not to worry too much. I can't find a ink for feedback removal, it may have been way back from the old feedback system, sorry. Ringing eBay won't hurt.

pinkshoes

I presume they actually won an item, paid for it, and have received it???

If it just says ".....", then has ebay removed it already? I'd just respond to the neg with "if you have a problem with your item, please contact me so it can be sorted".