Strange bidding pattern - What's going on?

tigs78

My sisters' boyfriend has listed a sky digibox on e-bay. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=96970&item=5766810295&rd=1 It's his first time selling so he was thrilled to see that he had a high bid within a day of putting the auction on...

I was browsing through the other digiboxes of the same model to see what they were going for and I noticed that this same person 'hardi1l' is bidding on 13 other digiboxes. http://cgi6.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBidItems&userid=hardi1l&completed=0&all=1&rows=25&sort=3 The bids he is putting on are all quite high so it's not like he's out to get some bargains and sell them on. He has a feedback rating of 1 and this was obtained in September 2003 with no activity since.

I am guessing that this is some kind of scam but was wondering what my sisters' boyfriend should do next? Should he cancel this persons bid and block them? He had one other (unusually high) bid from 'j.gibson' prior to 'hardi1l' bidding but this person is also bidding on 13 of the same digiboxes!!

The auction has almost five days to run so he has a chance to salvage it, just wanted some advice as to what to do next...


Thanks in advance

tigs78

Thanks for your advice, I'm going to look into that and see who is at the bottom of this!!

To check what items a certain user ID is bidding on you need to...

Sign in to e-bay
Click 'Advanced search' (top right)
Click 'Items by bidder' (top left)
Enter their used ID
Click Search

quoia

Gadget_discount wrote:

I would definately cancel his bid and block him FOREVER. You just have to check which digibox he didnt bid on and know who is playing with the bids!!! Very obvious!!

Next step is, report to ebay and say that seller is using fake ids hardi1l and (the other one) to shill bid on other competitors' similar items and he should be removed on ebay in a few days!!!

First of all I wouldn't block anybody on this evidence.
Not sure what you mean by "know who is playing with the bids"

I've been buying and selling on eBay for years and whilst this might look a little odd, I've seen things that have appeared very odd but have been totally legit.

Re the 2nd paragraph.
Don't understand "seller is using fake ids" and the "to shill bid on other competitors' similar items"

The seller "76sully" is the boyfriend of the sister of tigs78 - the person that's raised this question.

What similar items and which competitior?
hardi1l is not selling anything so nobody is playing with his auctions.

j.gibson is selling quite a few things but none of them are "similiar items" in relation to hardi1l or 76sully

Also "shill bidding" is done by dodgy sellers to raise the price of their own auctions not by buyers such that they ultimately have to pay more for an item they could have got for less!

Tojo_Ralph

Gadget_discount wrote:

I would definately cancel his bid and block him FOREVER. You just have to check which digibox he didnt bid on and know who is playing with the bids!!! Very obvious!!

Next step is, report to ebay and say that seller is using fake ids hardi1l and (the other one) to shill bid on other competitors' similar items and he should be removed on ebay in a few days!!!

I have to disagree completely. Note, hardi1 has not yet won a digibox

The bidder is bidding on a number of same items, perhaps showing a degree of inexperience, but a quick look at what the bidder has actually won, tells me all I need to know... i.e. hardi1 has got everything they need to set up a digibox....... EXCEPT a digibox.

http://cgi6.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBidItems&userid=hardi1l&completed=1&all=1&rows=25&sort=3

Edit... I note your comment below came after your advice, which I had wrongly assumed was based on some research.

Gadget_discount wrote:

Do you mind telling me how to check how many bids is a buyer currently bidding on? Thanks

tigs78

Tojo Ralph

Thanks for your reply, I guess you are saying that 'hardi1l' is probably an inexperienced genuine buyer, maybe I was being a bit cynical!

The only thing that concerns me is that 'hardi1l' is currently highest bidder on some 9 digiboxes that finish before my sisters' boyfriends auction finishes. I'm thinking that if he/she wins just one of them (quite likely as some of his/her bids are very high, they total £320+ at the minute) then he is not going to pay if he wins. The only other person bidding on the item seems to be doing a similar thing. Between the two of them they've already pushed the price quite high so not sure it would atract any more bids.

stavros_2

If you look at his bidding history you can see he won 3 sky digital cards last night. Why don't you contact all the sellers and see if he's paid for them all yet (or get them to email you when he does, explaining the situation)? Your auction doesn't end for 4 days so you've plenty of time to cancel his bid if it seems he bids on everything and only pays for one

EDIT: just noticed only 1 of them offers paypal...BUT it isn't the cheapest one. I would advise you to contact the other 2 and see what he's said so far and ask for updates. Also, contact the one offering paypal only and get them to tell you if he does/doesn't pay then you'll have a better idea of whether to cancel his bid or not

EDIT AGAIN: you can do the same with j.gibson who has won 4 sky tv links in the last few days (all from the same seller)

stavros_2

Ok scrap the last post ... after some further investigation it does appear that something fishy is going on. It looks from the bidding that these 2 bidders could be a competitor selling a similar item and they are pushing up the price of the competition to make their own goods look more attractive. I'm basing this on the fact that they have made bids for items after they've already won the same item:

e.g.
j.gibson has already won a "Pace Sky Digibox" on 9th April
j.gibson placed bids on 2 "sky tv links" after already winning 2 of them
hardi1l placed a bid on a "SKY CARD ,yellow house, NO RESERVE" after having already won "Sky Digital Viewing Card Version 2 (YELLOW HOUSE)"

Tojo_Ralph

stavros wrote:

hardi1l placed a bid on a "SKY CARD ,yellow house, NO RESERVE" after having already won "Sky Digital Viewing Card Version 2 (YELLOW HOUSE)"

Just a thought (as I don't do bad things guv ) but is it not the case that these yellow house cards are, "fixed" to give free viewing on PPV channels?

If that is correct, then if they have a source to get them "fixed", then there is a very good reason to be buying more than one card.

Just a thought.

Tojo_Ralph

tigs78 wrote:

Tojo Ralph

Thanks for your reply, I guess you are saying that 'hardi1l' is probably an inexperienced genuine buyer, maybe I was being a bit cynical!

The only thing that concerns me is that 'hardi1l' is currently highest bidder on some 9 digiboxes that finish before my sisters' boyfriends auction finishes. I'm thinking that if he/she wins just one of them (quite likely as some of his/her bids are very high, they total £320+ at the minute) then he is not going to pay if he wins. The only other person bidding on the item seems to be doing a similar thing. Between the two of them they've already pushed the price quite high so not sure it would atract any more bids.

Personally, I don't like the fact they are bidding on so many items either, and I would be uncomfortable that should the bidder win, then they'll complete, and payment will be made. See Stavros's comments, monitor their bidding activity, give it 24 hours, and see where we are at tomorrow.

stavros_2

Tojo_Ralph wrote:

Just a thought (as I don't do bad things guv ) but is it not the case that these yellow house cards are, "fixed" to give free viewing on PPV channels?

If that is correct, then if they have a source to get them "fixed", then there is a very good reason to be buying more than one card.

Just a thought.

True, true, but it just seems too suspicious given the other stuff. Would recommend contacting the sellers of the things I've mentioned and then we'll have a clearer picture. At the moment it isn't looking good though. Personally I'd take the line of guilty until proven innocent and cancel the bids in a day or so if the other sellers haven't been paid

EDIT: just read your other post and I think we're on the same wavelength :cool:

biblejohn

I think its a bit dodgy too. Ive had people who are selling the same items as me bid (and win) on my items under a false id before in order to encourage people to buy their own, cheaper item.