ebay - where do I stand?

tania-jo

Hi, I bid on an item, which had a number of bids on it, but I was never the highest bidder, as it went higher than i was prepared to go, so I made an offer and won on a different item. The original item just ended, and 10 mins before the end, the highest bidder retracted their bid, so I won! I have emailed and explained my position, as I don't need this item now, but wondered where I actually stand with this? If seller won't cancel transaction, will I get a strike?
Hope this makes sense!
Thanks

QuackQuackOops

You are the winner of that auction and should not have bought another item before the first listing had finished.
Yes, the seller can open an unpaid item dispute against you and if you dont pay, you will get a strike.

shaun_from_Africa

I always get very suspicious when the high bidder retracts so close to the end of an auction as this is often a good indication that shill bidding has been going on.

You should check out how many retractions the bidder in question has made, and also check the sellers previous listings to see it this has happened before.

If you think that something dodgy has been going on, report it to ebay and see if they do anything.

hermum

Click on the amount of bids, and then the high bidder, that will show you how many selloers items they've bid on. If they only bid on your sellers, then they're probably shill bidding.

QuackQuackOops

Extremely bad advice ^
Regardless or whether they have 50%, 80% or even 100% bid activity or not with the same seller does not automatically mean that shill bidding is going on.

Ebay will not do anything regarding shill bidding for that item and you are obligated to pay for it.

tania-jo

The highest bidder has no feedback and only registered when the listing was active - doesn't appear to have bid on anything else. I never thought before that I had to wait for an auction to end before going else where incase of bid retraction. Don't think I've ever bid on an item where a bid has been retracted. Seems a bit weird that the bid on the item early on, then 10 mins before the end retract, but leaves me in a pickle! Seller hasn't replied yet.

QuackQuackOops

tania-jo wrote: »

The highest bidder has no feedback and only registered when the listing was active - doesn't appear to have bid on anything else. I never thought before that I had to wait for an auction to end before going else where incase of bid retraction. Don't think I've ever bid on an item where a bid has been retracted. Seems a bit weird that the bid on the item early on, then 10 mins before the end retract, but leaves me in a pickle! Seller hasn't replied yet.

It doesnt leave you in a pickle at all.
If you read Ebays rules you will see that it tells you to be sure of every bid you make as you will be required to pay for items even if you dont automatically win because other bidders may pull out.

That means that if you were the first person to bid on an item for £9.99 and 7 more people bid but then they all, over the next few days, have their bids removed or cancelled, you will be left as the highest bidder when the listing ends at £9.99

Your obligations do not stop just because you have been outbid.
Regardless of whether or not you think any shill bidding has gone on or not you cant prove it.

You could try bluffing the seller and message him saying that you are not prepared to pay for the item because you know that it was shilled on and that you are going to report them to Ebay. The seller might cancel instead of going through an UID.

But if he doesnt, he can and most probably will open a dispute.

QuackQuackOops

Oh, and it is quite feasible that a new user opened a new account and that seller was the first item he bid on. But, as he is new and not fully up to speed he may have made a mistake when bidding and asked the seller to cancel.

You cannot assume shill bidding just because they are new or they havent bid with anyone else.

Crowqueen

I agree with Quack. This can and does happen, is the buyer's responsibility (since it is under your control) when it happens, and is not direct proof in itself of shilling.

I've seen people struck off for shilling myself but the evidence has to be incontrovertible (e.g. I know one person came to the boards complaining about being suspended and we saw that her shilling ID had an identical picture so we had a good laugh and sent her packing) - simple bidding patterns could be genuine or they could be not. Since shilling is actually a criminal offence I would hope eBay do try and prove it beyond reasonable doubt. I'm not saying feedback or bidding patterns etc. shouldn't be followed up or reported, but eBay can and should have access to data which proves it one way or the other, and we don't, so to start flinging those sort of accusations around to simply try and get out of paying for an item like this is unwise.

Crowqueen

You could try bluffing the seller and message him saying that you are not prepared to pay for the item because you know that it was shilled on and that you are going to report them to Ebay. The seller might cancel instead of going through an UID.

That would not be a good idea. (a) Who is going to admit to shilling, a criminal offence? and (b) if that were me I'd probably open an NPB rather than go through a cancellation like I might otherwise do if someone contacted me being genuinely contrite and apologetic.

hermum

QuackQuackOops wrote: »

Extremely bad advice ^
Regardless or whether they have 50%, 80% or even 100% bid activity or not with the same seller does not automatically mean that shill bidding is going on.

Ebay will not do anything regarding shill bidding for that item and you are obligated to pay for it.

It doesn't automatically mean that they are shill bidding but in a lot of cases where someone cancels a bid with a few minutes to go it does appear to be shill bidding.