Car Auctions - 'spoiler' bidders/winners

johnatg

Does anyone have any experience/advice on how to deal with this? I auction a car. A bidder bids a stupidly unrealistic price and wins the auction. Then doesn't pay or turn up to collect the car. I read bidders feedback and spotted one of these bidding. So I blocked him (1) and cancelled his bid. I suspect that he then registered a new ID (2) and did it again. I messaged him and he replied, but on balance decided to keep him blocked and cancelled. Then, seconds before the end, he (3) bid again under a different ID (and won - stupidly high price) it was too late to block and cancel. By contacting previous sellers leaving feedback, I know for certain that 1 and 3 are the same guy and I suspect that 2 is, too. His postal address (on my invoice) is not complete. What can be done to remove these people from Ebay?

forgotmyname

Do a non paying bidder strike and move on.

Only allow approved bidders. Although this will be a PITA for people bidding late on the auction. So may get less and lower bids.

Why are they targetting your auction?

sham63

For future reference it's reasonably easy to block people like this.

Set your preferences to block anyone with 0 feedback and no credit card on file.

This should weed out people who set up a new account to wreck your auction - as it's unlikley that they would go to the trouble of adding a credit card to their account.

5rannoch

Why do people do this?

I have been having similar problems with a car that I have been trying to sell. The first time I advertised it, the winning bidder changed her mind and agreed to withdraw her bid. The other potential buyers who had bid did not accept the second chance option.

I then readvertised the car and it was purchased on a 'buy it now' but I have not had any contact from the buyer. It is really frustrating as I have just opened a case to get my fees reimbursed and I do not know if I should wait or readvertise the car elsewhere.

johnatg

Do as Sham63 suggests - it's not very obvious on the 'My Ebay' page but if you Google 'Ebay buyer requirements' you'll get to a page where you can block most of these spoiler bidders. (Many thanks, Sham63!)

Then try again!

I was fortunate - I sold my car to the second place bidder and have opened a case to get my fees back on the first one. 'Winning' bidder hasn't responded to my request for him to cancel transaction - he's got 24 hours left!

I only sell my own cars on Ebay - the last one was 6 years ago. But I got a spoiler then, but it was in the days when anyone could see bidders IDs and a friend alerted me to the spoiler so I could cancel his bid and block him. Now only you (the seller) can see IDs of bidders - read their feedback if they have any - you (as a seller) can't leave negative feedback for buyers, so they might have positive but it may say something like 'messer - didn't complete transaction'. Cancel and block them, and block anyone who bids with zero feedback. My spoiler had done the same to other people at least three times in the last three months, and probably more because he uses multiple IDs.

I guess they just do it because they can.......aaaaagh!!!!