Retracted bids on an item I was looking at buying. How many?

forgotmyname

Looking for another fairly rare item and put an initial bid in to remind me and hopefully stop the seller removing it and taking
an offer via private messages.

A few days into the auction I got outbid which was to be expected and then the price jumped substantially the day after. With
just two days left the price dropped where the highest bidder retracted their bid. Being nosey I checked to see if all retractions
were the same seller but no only one with this seller and 47 retractions so far in 2025 and triple figure retractions over the
last 19 months.

elsien

I’m not sure I’m getting your point?

HampshireH

Are you suggesting second ACC being used to drive up prices?
Bit confused by your post

forgotmyname

I checked the history to see if it was shill bidding but only a small percentage was with this seller unless they had
multiple accounts they use to retract bids?

It's the sheer number of bid retractions for a low feedback buyer an average of more than 10 retractions every
month since creating the account 19 months ago.  It certainly made the auction look less desirable when a bidder
puts in a large bid and then retracts it, especially on this one because the next bidder also retracted their bid.

All my old tools to link accounts no longer works, so maybe it's the same people? Put me off bidding more.

soolin

forgotmyname said:

I checked the history to see if it was shill bidding but only a small percentage was with this seller unless they had
multiple accounts they use to retract bids?

It's the sheer number of bid retractions for a low feedback buyer an average of more than 10 retractions every
month since creating the account 19 months ago.  It certainly made the auction look less desirable when a bidder
puts in a large bid and then retracts it, especially on this one because the next bidder also retracted their bid.

All my old tools to link accounts no longer works, so maybe it's the same people? Put me off bidding more.

It used to be that it was a simple case of shield bidding, using 2 accounts to artificially raise the price of the item, only to retract one bidder at last minute to drop the price and use the second account to win the item at a lower price, I didn’t think that still works though with the time frame imposed for bid retractions. 

ballisticbrian

Is there another item on eBay the same item, that has a lower bid? i.e. a competitor pushing out of reach your price so that theirs sells.