Is this Shill bidding ????

didi_nodebt

I was bidding on 3 items from the same seller all ending at the same time. On 2 of the products, I was bidding against one other person, however due to my computer deciding to take a break at the very last minute, I missed out on the 2 products and they both went for the same amount. Fine no problems.

About 1hour 15mins later I got 2 emails from ebay at the same time for second chance offers on the 2 products I lost out on as the other bidders on both items could not complete. Well after my initial excitement at having the opportunity to get the products, I began to wonder / panic why the other 2 bidders had pulled out? Was there something wrong with the seller, I checked the feedback and everything seemed fine, 99.6% and a power seller.

I checked out the highest bidder for one of the products, 25 feedbacks 100% positive no negative, no mutual withdrawn, why would they not go through with the bid, the total cost was $10.00, I was tempted to email & ask why but did not. I checked the highest bidder on the 2nd item, no feedbacks nothing at all and has been a member of ebay since June 2002.

It then occurred to me that the seller also had similar items on the site for the same amount as the items sold for $10.00, then of course my mind crazy. It seems to me that the seller was bidding against me to drive up the price to the desired amount and then when I failed to win the bid, a second chance offer was then presented to me….on both items at my highest bid of the $9.00. If the "other" persons had not bided I would have won the items at $2.50.

So is this shill bidding, a major coincidence or am I getting way to paranoid…due to reading to many posts on this forum…..

frivolous_fay

Try searching here

http://search.ebay.co.uk/ws/search/AdvSearch?sofocus=bs&sacat=-1&catref=C5&fbd=1&sspagename=h:h:advsearch:Uk&from=R6&nojspr=y&fswc=1&fss=0&saslop=1&fls=4&floc=1&sargn=-1&saslc=0&salic=3&saatc=3&sadis=200&fpos=AL1%201EZ&sacur=0&sacqyop=ge&ga10244=10425&saslt=2&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saaff=afdefault&fsop=1&fsoo=1&fcl=3&frpp=50&sofindtype=3&pfid=

To see what else that person has bid on. If it's always items from the same person, I would detect a strong fish smell!

pennylane99

possibly the seller has more of the same item in stock....selling to you as a second chance will save in fees

second chance offers dont always mean the winning bidder has pulled out.

paul_h

Here's a useful link...

http://auctionpix.co.uk/shill_bidding.php

Punch in the auction number, and it checks the bidders against bidders on the sellers other current/previous auctions. Only works with items under £100 now though due to the recent eBay changes to bidder displays...

didi_nodebt

frivolous_fay wrote:

Try searching here

http://search.ebay.co.uk/ws/search/AdvSearch?sofocus=bs&sacat=-1&catref=C5&fbd=1&sspagename=h:h:advsearch:Uk&from=R6&nojspr=y&fswc=1&fss=0&saslop=1&fls=4&floc=1&sargn=-1&saslc=0&salic=3&saatc=3&sadis=200&fpos=AL1%201EZ&sacur=0&sacqyop=ge&ga10244=10425&saslt=2&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saaff=afdefault&fsop=1&fsoo=1&fcl=3&frpp=50&sofindtype=3&pfid=

To see what else that person has bid on. If it's always items from the same person, I would detect a strong fish smell!

Thank you all, will have to try this and see..but my paranoia got the better of me and I rejected the second chance offers, so I will wait to see if seller relists the items and will see who bids.....:whistle:

pennylane99

didi_nodebt wrote:

Thank you all, will have to try this and see..but my paranoia got the better of me and I rejected the second chance offers, so I will wait to see if seller relists the items and will see who bids.....:whistle:

but if he has several more of that product he will probably list them anyway...you wont know if its the same item, and the same people may even bid on it if they want another one....

for $10 give or take a couple of $ is it really worth stressing over...I would have taken the 2nd chance offer

didi_nodebt

Thanks Pennylane99 I can appreciate what you are saying, but hey I am curious and not that desperate for the products as such I can afford to see this through. If the person with the 0 feedback who has been a member since 2002 bids again and still has no feedback, then I really will be worried.

I still have to run the search suggested by frivolous_fay to see the bidding history...so for the moment I am at best very amused and at worst just amused. I can only be grateful its not something more expensive that I really want.

pennylane99

you cant see what people have been bidding on anymore with the Ebay search, only the items they have actually won....

frivolous_fay

Still worth trying IMO. If it really is shilling, even just the items won by that person should give a solid indication.

paul_h

pennylane99 wrote:

you cant see what people have been bidding on anymore with the Ebay search, only the items they have actually won....

That's another useful 'improvement' from eBay!:mad:

You can still choose whether to search for completed items or not - but it makes no difference anymore... crazy!

Having said that, the auctionpix shilling checker does the job.