Shill bids on ebay

Herongull

Just thought I would let you know of my recent experience of bidding on ebay against a shill bidder.

An item of furniture was being auctioned and there were only 2 other bidders, but one had bid low and never bid again. The other one had placed a single high bid - too high for me, so he was set to win the auction.

About a day before the end of the auction, the seller cancelled the high bidder's bid, but instead of the price dropping right back to just above the low bidders bid, it went to my highest bid. :question:The high bidder had somehow dropped his bid to match mine but I winning :question:

It looked like some sort of shill, so I contacted ebay via chat, and within a few minutes, they came back to me and confirmed it was shill bidding and they terminated the auction. I was impressed with their speedy response.

Afterwards I figured out what was done - the seller put in a high bid right at the start (within a few minutes of the auction opening) using his other ebay account (shill account). Then because he was going to end up selling the item to himself, he cancelled his shill bid. This brought the bids way down to just above the lower bid. But straightaway (within minutes), he used the shill account to bid up to equal to my highest bid, making mine the winning bid.

In future I will always scrutinise the other bids very carefully - I don't want to buy from anyone who shills. If they auction dishonestly, then they are crooks and I don't want to buy their stuff.

Oldfatgrumpy

I don't know the ins and outs of the system but I've been suspicious a few times about the Second Chance offers I've received, where for instance I've been outbid by a fiver over my top bid of £200 for a bike which had a starting price of £50: when only I and one other person have been bidding, then the other alleged bidder withdraws after beating me, so I get an offer to buy the bike for £200. If I had been the only bidder I'd have got it for £50, so why aren't I offered the bike for £50? Shouldn't the price offered to me be the highest price where I'd have outbid the genuine bidders, and not the (possibly) dodgy one?

Herongull

Second chance offers are often (but not always) an indication of shill bidding. If the shiller "wins" the auction, the seller offers to the item to the next highest bid.

Unless you are desperate to buy the item, do not accept 2nd chance offers, especially in auctions in which you bid high to defeat a single dodgy bidder.

You can try to make a lower counter offer, but the sellers now knows how much you were prepared to pay, so may not accept the offer. If that case, want away (unless you are desperate to buy).

Oliver14

Herongull wrote: »

Second chance offers are often (but not always) an indication of shill bidding. If the shiller "wins" the auction, the seller offers to the item to the next highest bid.

Unless you are desperate to buy the item, do not accept 2nd chance offers, especially in auctions in which you bid high to defeat a single dodgy bidder.

.

That is the silliest thing I have ever heard. There are many sellers who have multiples of items and offer them as second chances. Your total paranoia doesn't help I think if you're this paranoid about ebay maybe you shouldn't be buying there

poet123

I sent two second chance offers because the winners had bid on related items but lost them in the final seconds but won the other item and then asked for the transactions to be cancelled. So, sometimes there can be a legitimate reason.

I tried to send one second chance offer though and it seems you can set up your account to refuse them automatically, so if it bothers you so much you could do that.

Okydoky25

If I ever get offered a 2nd chance I respond saying I am happy to pay taking out all bids by the NOw "non payer". Normally they don't agree which sniffs out a shiller..

RFW

Okydoky25 wrote: »

If I ever get offered a 2nd chance I respond saying I am happy to pay taking out all bids by the NOw "non payer". Normally they don't agree which sniffs out a shiller..

It depends on the items sold, we often send out second chance offers when we have several of the same item for sale. Obviously if it's a one off item there will be a 'dropped out' or shill bidder. It's a bit annoying when you send a genuine second chance offer for a second item and the buyer either assumes you are dishonest and/or offers a lower amount than they bid.

Crowqueen

If I ever get offered a 2nd chance I respond saying I am happy to pay taking out all bids by the NOw "non payer". Normally they don't agree which sniffs out a shiller..

NPBs are such a common thing on eBay I think that is unfair on a seller. If you don't want the second chance offer, just decline it. Otherwise you have to pay what you originally bid.

There are too many false positives/people crying wolf over shilling, which damages the situation in the long run. eBay need to run a proactive education campaign - the only way of stopping shilling completely is to make it as unacceptable as drink-driving, and that takes time and money, not reporting people who might well be totally innocent.

Otherwise it is playing whack-a-mole with collateral damage.

soolin

Thank goodness many of my buyers understand what a second chance offer is and don't think I am a shill bidder.:eek:

If I have a line of stock to get rid of I often start at the absolute lowest price I need to break even . Then when I attract a number of bids I SCO the top few and shift (hopefully!) 3 or 4 items on a single listing. That works where I can afford to take a risk- ie with end of line stock and very often I'll use it for stuff that wouldn't sell as a BIN even at a lower price.

RFW

soolin wrote: »

Thank goodness many of my buyers understand what a second chance offer is and don't think I am a shill bidder.:eek:

I had a relatively new Ebayer who bid on an item a couple of weeks ago, I sent a second chance offer and he complained that I had pushed the price up. Fortunately he caught me on a good day and I explained what had happened and how it works and he purchased the sco and has purchased a few more lots since.

I've had it a few times in the past and also been accused of shill bidding a few other times, so know that it isn't always as it appears. I have quite a few customers who rarely buy from anyone else, so could look odd to an outsider. I'd presume that given we sell a lot wholesale that a number of buyers are just buying accounts that are largely inactive apart from buying from us.

Strapped

Okydoky25 wrote: »

If I ever get offered a 2nd chance I respond saying I am happy to pay taking out all bids by the NOw "non payer". Normally they don't agree which sniffs out a shiller..

Normally they don't agree because they have made you the offer based on a price you were happy to pay and they were happy to accept* but instead you try to screw them over. If I sent you a SCO and you responded like that I'd just block you because if you don't understand SCOs, what else won't you understand/complain about?

*Here's an example: I have 3 identical items. I list the item as an auction. I have 4 bidders for the item. I sell one item to the top/winning bidder, and send a SCO to the second highest bidder. However, I decide not to send a SCO to the other bidders because their bids are not at a level I'd be happy to accept; instead, I decide that it will be worth the listing fees to list the item again at a later date.

*sigh*