Established business seller is shill bidding ?!!

littlecutiepie

Hi, I was looking for some matching sets and found a seller with over 600000 feedback selling the items that I want here in the UK. So I've chosen about 9 items and added them to my watch list, the starting price was 0.99 and because I bought the same items last year from a seller in USA, I knew that each item won't exceed £7 for the winning bidder.

The seller is setting his listings into private mode, so it is a bit hard to tell if he's shill bidding. But I was surprised when I bidded £10 and went outbid of ALL the items !

The seller is setting all auctions to 1 day only, so basically everyday there are new items listed. I selected few others in my watch list and bidded £13 on each and yes I was outbid again. So I decided to verify the bidding list on the items ending on the 10th that I had on my watch list, and found that actually the winner bid is the one showing that is placed at 11 am and strangely ALL the other ended auctions shows the winning bid was placed at 11 am ( auctions end around 9pm).

I also checked the auctions of yesterday and found that the winning bid on ALL of them is placed at 12:30 pm !

Now I decided to go more up to £20 for one item and guess what ? I'm the highest bidder LOL, I retracted my bid because I won't pay that much for an item that is worth 3 times less, but I was curious that a very well established seller would be shill bidding ! I know it is illegal and some normal (non business) sellers would do it, but I think the risk to be caught by eBay is a lot higher for business sellers !:eek:

What do you think ?

Collabora

may not be shill bidding, could be snipe bids - people use bid snips like Gixen.com so they bid what what they would go upto, but the seller and other bidders are not aware of these bids and in the last seconds of an auction these bids are placed

littlecutiepie

Collabora wrote: »

may not be shill bidding, could be snipe bids - people use bid snips like Gixen.com so they bid what what they would go upto, but the seller and other bidders are not aware of these bids and in the last seconds of an auction these bids are placed

Thanks for your reply, I just opened all his auctions that will end in 3 hours and ALL of them have 1 bid that is placed at 12:25 !!!
I used bid snipes before and can confirm that they show the bid in the last 5 seconds and not the time when you enter the bid, even if it was placed 3 days early they will show the bid placed at the last 5 sec.
His auctions normally end between 9 and 10 pm, and the bids are mostly placed in the morning which is bizarre !

theonlywayisup

Firstly as explained it could be snipes.

Secondly, if you bid, you should pay.

Thirdly, it is "bid".

littlecutiepie

I've also reviewed his old feedback and it looks like he changed his trade. he used to sell all sort of house decors, lights ... etc and now he only sells ladies accessories. I think he sold the account to someone else as I heard it is possible to buy accounts with great feedback for 100's of pounds!

theonlywayisup

littlecutiepie wrote: »

I've also reviewed his old feedback and it looks like he changed his trade. he used to sell all sort of house decors, lights ... etc and now he only sells ladies accessories. I think he sold the account to someone else as I heard it is possible to buy accounts with great feedback for 100's of pounds!

And this is relevant because.....

littlecutiepie

theonlywayisup wrote: »

Firstly as explained it could be snipes.

Secondly, if you bid, you should pay.

Thirdly, it is "bid".

(Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

Anyone can retract their bid if they changed their minds otherwise the option won't be available.

We are not talking about bidding, I'm discussing the possibility of SHILL BIDDING.

theonlywayisup

I would, ask the same. What is the purpose?

So you can bid, win and fail to pay but the seller is at fault?

Bid. Not "bidded". My point, you missed it.

(Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

soolin

there is actually no option to remove a bid because you change your mind. The option doesn't exist, you have to tick that either you can't contact the seller, or that you placed the wrong amount, if you choose the latter then you are expected to put the correct bid in.

eBay do not like buyers who routinely remove bids, a few is not going to make any difference, but don't get into a habit of doing it.

littlecutiepie

soolin wrote: »

there is actually no option to remove a bid because you change your mind. The option doesn't exist, you have to tick that either you can't contact the seller, or that you placed the wrong amount, if you choose the latter then you are expected to put the correct bid in.

eBay do not like buyers who routinely remove bids, a few is not going to make any difference, but don't get into a habit of doing it.

I've done it about 4 or 5 times in 7 years of ebaying. I've just cancelled the bid because I entered the wrong amount and ebay cancelled it without asking me to put the correct one. Thanks

soolin

Closed and referred to forum team