Does eBay support shill bidding?

[abaca_1]

Situation: have attempted to buy an item off a seller who repeat lists item ie relists new item each time one is sold.
Listings are private.
I have been 2nd highest bidder 10 out of last 12 listings.
Through a glitch in system using mobile i discovered that i could actually see the scrambled identity of bidders under certain circumstances. I discovered that each time i lost it was to a (0) rated purchaser. Yes this could happen. So i checked the feedback left by seller..they have only once left a feedback giving a (1) rating to a buyer. I also discovered that the bidder that has beaten me each time, placed the winning bid at the same time ie 4 hours prior to items end time.
Any further investigation was hampered/hidden in the fold of "private listing". Armed with this information (plus screen shots of bidding on listings) I informed eBay. I also queried the necessity of private listings since buyer anonimity is protected by the id scrambler they have used for years.
Ebay responded saying private listings were still used for very high priced items (houses Ferrari's etc) or sensitive medical equipment. That is understandable. This item is neither. I proffered my information and was advised that there was not enough to proceed with an investigation.
I think to the contrary.
Private listing should only be available as an option on those categories that require it. Otherwise it doesnt protect the buyer at all. It only allows unscrupulous sellers to hide their shill bidding activities.

[*tippy*toes*]

Sellers quite often have multiples of the same item. If they are running auctions, they can only have one of the same item listed at once. Sellers who shill bid don't want to win the auction. It is pointless doing so. They shill bid to increase the price so the ultimate winner pays a higher price. If they are winning all their own auctions, they either lose all the fees paid or they have to keep cancelling the transaction. EBay will start to get suspicious if every transaction ends in a cancellation.

If the buyer you are talking about is a shilling account, they would more than likely cancel their bid prior to the auction ending as they can see by then what your highest bid was. They would then rebid with an amount just under yours so you win the auction at the higher price.

Without actually being able to see the bidding history, it's hard to tell whether there is something underhanded going on.

[boggo58]

Why do people keep posting on here complaining about shill bidding, when there is nothing wrong nor is it against ebay policy.

[falconsportspack]

I think you had better refresh your memory on eBay policy boggo. Shill bidding IS against eBay policy.

http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/seller-shill-bidding.html

[kopenhagen5]

In most western countries it is against the law.  

New fraud offences in the Fraud Act 2006

The new law

The Fraud Act swept all of the old statutory deception offences away. Instead a new offence of fraud has been defined as follows:

• The defendant must have been dishonest, and have intended to make a gain or to cause a loss to another.
  
  
• In addition, the defendant must carry out one of these acts:

Making a false or misleading representation.

Failing to disclose to another person information which he is under a legal duty to disclose. 
 
Abusing a position of trust.

The new offence of fraud is intended to be wide and also flexible, particularly as technology changes.

There is no reliance on the concept of "deception". It does not matter whether the false information actually deceives anyone, it is the misleading intention which counts.

The offence of conspiracy to defraud has not been abolished, but the government's objective is that reliance on it by prosecutors should be very much less.

The impact of the change

What will the impact on business of the new act? This will probably not be very profound outside the criminal law enforcement field, but several areas should be highlighted:

• The Fraud Act could be used to criminalise conduct which may previously only have amounted to a breach of contract or other civil law or moral obligation. Examples may include:

Breach of banking covenants. Where a loan contract contains an obligation by the borrower to draw an event of termination to the attention of the bank, then a failure to do so may now be a fraud.

"Shill bidding" on online auction sites. This is where sellers bid up the price of their own items using a second identity.

Certain advertising practices previously seen as sharp, but not illegal, for example paying for a favourable restaurant or hotel review in a publication which appears at first glance to be independent.

Breach of fiduciary duty by directors; and preferences and transactions at undervalue in insolvency situations.

• The Fraud Act significantly limits the right of a defendant to claim privilege against self-incrimination (the right to refuse to disclose documents or give evidence if doing so would expose him to the risk of a criminal prosecution) where he is being charged with a fraud offence.
  
  
• Finally, there is the money laundering legislation. As a result of the wider offence, the situations where parties may be obliged by the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to report suspicious transactions to the authorities have been increased.

[gladman5316]

You could make your best and only bid in the last few seconds of the auction, not giving shill bidders the opportunity to drive up the price or outbid you.  

I usually bid late in the auction and I choose not to bid against new members, bidders with 0 feedback or if I see suspect patterns in previous bids. I would not purchase from the seller if I suspected shill bidding. 

[lyndal1838]

Why would you choose not to bid against new buyers/0 feedback members if the price is still within the range of what you want to pay?

Quite often I find new bidders tend to use the bidding increments suggested by ebay and what you see is their highest bid.  I often find I can snipe an item from a newbie with a bid of a few cents more than what is showing.

[abaca_1]

I appreciate the comments about shill bidding portion of my question. It is apparent that most are aware of its presence and its illegality as well as poor practice. But the second portio n and my primary concern is eBays supporr of it by not removing private listings. The original purpose of private listings was to protect the identity of the purchaser of an item so they would not be targeted by unscrupulous people. However since the inception scrambled buyer identities this is no longer the case.
Ebay is aware that sellers can hide behind private listings for shill bidding, i have made sure of that. But lets address a couple of other faults and barriers private listings hide.
1. Details of items seller receives other than positive feedback on.(whether for poor quality, postage time,
2. Average pricing items sell for.
3. Buyers that sellers actually leave feedback for + item.

And regarding suggestions. I have bid maximum amount i wish to pay, I have bid last second, I have even bid on excess of what I would pay. The only times I dudnt lose ti a (0) rated buyer was when the price went over a certain price, which would equate to retail price...and then woukd gave to pay postage. If the seller wants that price why dont they just post it at that price, and I wouldnt wate my time. That is how I list.

[kopenhagen5]

Valid points abaca, but rather than try to educate eBay to better business practices, many of us long time eBayers gave up, learnt and teach others that it is caveat emptor (buyer beware).

Therefore I and others simply don't bid on private listings anymore especially if the item doesn't warrant a private auction. 

[lyndal1838]

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@abaca_1 wrote:

And regarding suggestions. I have bid maximum amount i wish to pay, I have bid last second, I have even bid on excess of what I would pay. The only times I dudnt lose ti a (0) rated buyer was when the price went over a certain price, which would equate to retail price...and then woukd gave to pay postage. If the seller wants that price why dont they just post it at that price, and I wouldnt wate my time. That is how I list.

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To be honest, what you are describing here does not sound like shill bidding.  The idea of shill bidding is not to win the item but to forc the price up.

I would suggest that if 0 feedback buyers are winning items when you snipe at the last moment then they really want to win the item and are not forcing the price up for the seller.

A lot of members don't really now what to look for in shill bidding and just assume that every 0 feedback account that wins anything is a shill bidder.