Any one done this? What happens to the auction if it is currently live? Will eBay get in contact to let me know if they think my report is worth while?
Cheers
Rusty
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Reporting shill bidding on eBay
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Posted 3 months ago #
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How can you prove shill bidding?
Posted 3 months ago # -
Can't prove it but the way the bids have been placed seems suspect and the percentage of bids from the bidder towards the seller is very high.
Posted 3 months ago # -
I've had it - put in bid on an item, another bidder bids and bids in increments until they find the ceiling of my bid by surpassing it by £1. About 15 mins later I get an email from the seller telling me a story about the bidder having to cancel their bid - some crap about a kid pressing the buttons, so the highest bid was withdrawn (not all the bids) leaving me as winning bidder at my highest price when in fact there wasn't anyone else in the auction. Called shenanigans and pulled my bid.
Posted 3 months ago # -
What is shill bidding please ?
Posted 3 months ago # -
Unless you really want it withdraw your bid.. and report it , but Ebay probably won't do anything TBH
Posted 3 months ago # -
I think ive had people pulling this shit on about 4/5 auctions ive bid on lately. Its a shame as it was never this rife before!
Posted 3 months ago # -
What is shill bidding please ?
something that happens in dictionaries and wikipedia
Posted 3 months ago # -
I think shill bidding is an acceptable practice morally. They are only pushing to to pay the highest amount you are prepared to pay. A bit like haggling.
Posted 3 months ago # -
I think shill bidding is an acceptable practice morally
Its completely unacceptable - either something is an auction or its not. Inviting offers is haggling, an auction isn't
Posted 3 months ago # -
It's not really different from a real life auctioneer gathering bids off the walls though, is it? Which is a common and accepted practice. It's also similar to having a reserve, except that it doesn't put people off bidding in the first place. If you only bid the max you are willing to pay, then it shouldn't matter, surely?
Posted 3 months ago # -
Sorry S B Z I'm with maccruiskeen on this one, if you are not prepared to sell for a lesser amount then put a reserve on or sell as buy it now. Shill bidding is just out of order.
Posted 3 months ago # -
If you only bid the max you are willing to pay, then it shouldn't matter, surely?
horseshit.
everyone does it on eBay - getting your mates to bid an item up to a certain price early on in the auction so that when it comes to the last minute of the auction you've already got what you want for the item and hopefully you'll get a bit of a bidding war from a couple of keen buyers.
if you really want something, you'll pay what you need to pay for it, not what you think it's worth. if the seller is artificially raising the price - then that's just not cricket.Posted 3 months ago # -
Its completely unacceptable - either something is an auction or its not. Inviting offers is haggling, an auction isn't
Why continue offering more than you want then?Posted 3 months ago # -
[edit]ignore me (early whisky)
Posted 3 months ago # -
no - it REALLY pisses me off and I suspect it happens on every auction I want to bid on
everything I want to buy* always seems to go for more than I think it's worth*bike frames
Posted 3 months ago # -
As yet I have not offered more than I am willing to pay. I will not be bidding any more. I went in with a substantial bid as I may not be about for the end of the auction. In the past I have gone in with big big bids when I knew I'd not be about but I won't be doing that again.
Posted 3 months ago # -
it's only skanking ebay, not other buyers.
ebay have only got themselves to blame for encouraging the practice by not allowing the seller to hide the fact that a reserve is in force. They know that the text 'reserve not met' puts people off and it's this that deters sellers from using it, not the fact that they might have to pay a reserve fee. So, sellers use this as a way to implement a reserve without having to advertise the fact.
if anyone bids higher than they're actually willing to pay because they assumed it wouldn't go up that far and then finds that it does, then it's their own daft fault.
bid what you're willing to pay, and if their shill bid comes in over that then they won't have sold it and you might find it gets second chance offered.
Posted 3 months ago # -
"Minibus hire firm boss Paul Barrett, 39, from Stanley, County Durham, pleaded guilty to 10 offences at Skipton Magistrates' Court after using two separate eBay accounts to bid on and increase the prices of his own items.
He told the court he was unaware that bidding on his own items, including a pie- and pasty-warmer, was against the law. The case was adjourned for sentencing at Bradford Crown Court on 21 May.
Claire McKinley, trading standards officer, told the court: "Mr Barrett placed bids on items he himself owned to raise the price and left positive feedback on his own eBay site, leading buyers to believe his reputation was better than was the case."
Jo Boutflower, of North Yorkshire Trading Standards, said: "I think people do it either themselves or by getting friends and family to bid on their items and do not think they are doing anything wrong, but actually they are breaking the law."More here - including £5000 fines, ebay reckons it spends £3mil a year on trying to detect shills
Posted 3 months ago # -
Hence why I don't bid until last few seconds
Posted 3 months ago # -
Hence why I don't bid until last few seconds
Me too. I've never yet bid before there's about 10 seconds left. I know what my highest bids gonna be & if the price is already over that I don't bid, simples.Posted 3 months ago # -
If it causes you undue concern then use an automatic sniping program
Simply work out exactly the amount you are willing to pay for the item, including postage or fuel costs to check and collect in person . Buy a few snipes from Bidnip, they cost pennies .
C + P the item number , insert your absolute maximum , and a delay time . I use 5 seconds , so not really enough for a comeback bid .
Let the idiots bid and remove bids, or get their mates to bid to see your maximum . All becomes irrelevant doest it .
I even mail the sellers to say what Im doing (never tell them the amount ) Less risk of seller acepting a mid term offer as he knows snipes are pending .Posted 3 months ago # -
Singletrackmind, exactly. Shill bids are basically irrelevant. Other potential buyers who are either richer, less tight, or dafter than me, now they ARE annoying...
Sniping is the future.
Brakes;
if you really want something, you'll pay what you need to pay for it, not what you think it's worth
Surely if you are willing to pay it, then it IS worth it? ie; the value of any item is dictated not by what the seller wants, but what the market will pay.Posted 3 months ago # -
Posted 3 months ago #
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you can still easily be (and probably frequently are being) shilled, when you use sniping software
Posted 3 months ago # -
ebay do act on it and they take it very serious. I have been done, dont think bad of me, I only bid my item to a price I happy with (on day one) and i never increase it after that, i see it as putting a reserve on the item without paying the reserve fee.
If ebay was a little cheaper or even free to list then these sort of things would not happen imho, i dont see why they charge you to put a reserve, at the end of the day they only win by taking a larger cut if the item sells.
Posted 3 months ago # -
you can still easily be (and probably frequently are being) shilled, when you use sniping software
Yeah, but... So what? I'm only ever sniping with the highest amount i'd be happy to pay, anyway. I snipe to avoid encouraging the afformentioned
richer, less tight, or dafter
bidder to bid more than they really should...
Really don't see the problem with shilling. it's the same as a reserve, except eBay don't get their silly reserve fee, which I think is just fine. They get enough dosh as it is.Posted 3 months ago # -
you can still easily be (and probably frequently are being) shilled, when you use sniping software
Not as likely than if you bid say £876 on a bike on day 2 out of 7 . The previous high bid was £330 . So its now at £350 . Matey seller then gets his mate to bid in £100 increments to search out your high bid, and then 'returns' the £900 . You win at £876 .
What if no -one else in the world was going to bid more than £666. You would have won for £670 . You have just be shilled .
If you snipe it at 5 secs then the seller cant find out your high bid , and its the amount you WANT to pay . No silly bidding wars , having to be online when the auction ends , loosing your nerve as the countdown clock gets to 32 secs , and bidding , then loosing to an online comeback bid .It does matter that you are bidding against a hoax bidder , but if its what you are willing to pay , So what . Plus eventually the seller and his mate will be reported and struck off loosing any feedback .
Posted 3 months ago #
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