continuous retractions after high bids

[hospvend]

Could anyone please advise on what can be done in the case of a bidder putting in high bids but when they go to the winning spot RETRACT their bid and put in a lower bid just behind the leader. It appears as if they are trying to inflate prices, which is okay for the Seller but not fair for a Buyer. one particular person has had 320 retractions in the last 6 months.

[kopenhagen5 · Accepted solution]

Each listing has a report item link.

It is known as shill bidding and is against the rules.

If you suspect shilling, report and let ebay look at it.

[siddieswans · Accepted solution]

As kopenhagen said; shill bidding. You can also contact eBay directly through the Contact button - for something complicated like this, email would be best. You should collect a number of the item numbers on which the bid retractions have happened, as eBay needs to be able to see a pattern of behaviour. Also if the retractions favoured a small  number of sellers, you should mention these as well.

It would not have happened exactly as you postulated; for shill bidding to succeed, the bidder increases in small bids until they are the top bidder, and then retracts the last bid, leaving their other bids intact. So an avid shill bidder should have a lot of non-winning bids. According to eBay rules, bids should not be retracted without good reason, but eBay does not police this. It was (partly) in order to protect against shill bidding that sniper bidding programmes were developed; where bids are placed only in the last minutes (or seconds) shill bidding is virtually impossible.

I would not hold your breath waiting for eBay to act on your reporting, but do at least try; if no-one does anything, then nothing will be done.

[hospvend]

Thank you all for your response. Much appreciation to siddieswans and kopenhagen.

What you have told me, is almost to the exact point that these "Buyers have done. I have already contacted ebay in the manner you suggest with little to nothing being done.

After much frustration of stopping these "Bidders" i also got to telephoning and in all spoke to 4 different people at ebay and they  all actualiy told me that this is good Buyer's Tactics in securing an Item. They did not appear to grasp what I was saying, as the Bidders do not want the Items, they are just tending to inflate the Price and "pull out".

As I have mentioned to everyone, one Bidder has 320 Retractions in 6 months (average of 2 per day) and goes against ebay RULES, however ebay personnel appear to just shrug it off - as it is either too hard to fix or ebay are making more money out of the inflated prices, so why stop it. This is only one person at random that I picked up on and after a little further probing, found many more, but not to the "320" high point. Why are these Customers allowed to continue with ebay's so called strict Rules.

If I may ask of another "favour" from you guys, "Sniper Bidding" - I have heard of it a few times and it sounds like a good tool. If someone could could explain or"walk me through it" so as I can utilize it.

Again, thank you all for your comments.

[siddieswans · Accepted solution]

Just google "ebay sniper bidding" or something similar - and you will find any number of these bidding tools. If you want a free one, add the word free. I am sure they all function effectively. Basically, you enter the maximum amount you want to bid, with some  the time before the auction you want to bid (maybe 10 seconds?) and the bidding tool will do the bidding for you. Your computer does not even have to be turned on. Some will have more features than others - for example, a "group bid" will allow you to bid on several similar items, and will only keep on bidding  until you are successful with one. I am always surprised that experienced eBay users do not use a sniper tool - to me it is a basic necessity when buying at auction on eBay. Of course auctions are very much in the minority these days - mostly it is BIN. The tool I used to use has become a paid service - if it is only an occasional thing for you a free one would make more sense. I only buy rarely on eBay these days - you could try goofbid - there are many others. Read some reviews and decide what is best for you.

I am sorry you have not had any support from eBay but as you say, it is in eBay's favour to have the sold price as high as possible. Also very many eBay CS people do not seem to have the tiniest grasp of eBay rules, or even of basic English sometimes. So if you can't get these rule breakers banned,  eliminate them from your concerns by using a sniper. As they don't actually want to win an item, by using a sniper to bid at the last minute, you should have the best chance of winning at a legitimate price. Good luck!

[hospvend · Accepted solution]

Hi siddieswans and thank you once again.

Your information on "Sniper Bidding" sounds good and I will tend to utilize it.

Your last Paragraph on ebay is so spot on re ebay personnel not knowing their own Rules, also their English  is very Basic and hard to grasp at times. I get more satisfaction and knowledge from people the likes of yourself. 

I also tend to think that a Business that set out to assist people like us at a low cost has now turned into another GIANT Conglomerate that is out to get every last cent that is possible.

Again, I thank you sincerely.

NB: Your "Name Tag" - siddieswans has got my curiosity and I do not intend to pry too much, however I am assuming you may follow the AFL Sydney Swans - if it be true, I would just like to tell you I follow a "Lowly Team" at present albeit has a now GREAT COACH. The Melbourne Demons.

[siddieswans · Accepted solution]

You are correct - however it may have started out, eBay is now merely Big Business - and VERY Big Business at that. It has shareholders to satisfy, and a CEO and other management who are paid bonuses which depend on the bottom line. I really have no idea, but I would guess that probably as much as 90% of eBay's profit comes from BIN (what a misnomer that now is, why not call it a purchase?) of brand new items, rather than the auction sale of second-hand items, and probably the very major part of that comes from High Street Traders - that is, bricks and mortar stores who choose to also have a presence on eBay. Target, Dick Smith, Country Road - you name it, they're either here, or thinking about being here (depending on what incentives eBay can offer them to make the journey.) And of course the latest option - buy here at eBay on-line, pick up later in store. This is one I simply don't understand - if you have the time to go to the store to collect, why not buy it there? Or from the store's own web site? It will be interesting to see how these major B&M stores' flirtation with eBay pans out here in Oz.

Anyway it is not surprising that eBay's CS representatives either are unaware of rules governing auctions, or perhaps are told not to bother policing them. It is however eBay's sand pit, and we either play by their rules (or lack of rules) or get out. As buyers and sellers, we remain on eBay because at the moment it is the venue that best suits our interests. If a better venue ever arrives (I wish! but not holding my breath)  or our presence here becomes untenable (sadly becoming more and more likely as eBay continues to strive to get rid of these pesky small sellers of second-hand items) we leave, humming quietly  "Thanks for the memories".

You have siddieswans right. We will always love Roosy, and I wish you a successful season in 2015 (though of course not quite as successful as ours! 

[hospvend · Accepted solution]

Thank you very much.

Very informative 

Cheers,

[hospvend]

I have another problem, of which you may be able to assist.

A Member Bid on an Item, then attempted to Bid on 2 more Items but was "Blocked" out.

He claims it is telling him at his end, he purchased product recently and that had something to do with it.

Both he and myself agree that he is a "NEW" customer and has never dealt with me.

Whichever way you look at it though, he has one Bid on one item accepted, but 2 Items of Bids knocked back.

Can you work out why this might of happened? It has me confused along with a NEW potential Customer.

[siddieswans · Accepted solution]

OK this is the only thing I think can have happened. Go to your Account - click on Site Preferences - click on Buyer Requirements - click on Edit. About the 5th one down is

"Buyers who may bid on several of my items and not pay for them" - make sure you do not have this requirement ticked. Though it would need to be for 1 item only. You may like to check all these buyer requirements while you're at it. If you want to change any, go to nearly the foot of the page and tick

Apply above settings to active and future listings.

If this does not seem to be the problem, (though from the Ebay message it may be), you should still be able to let him bid by adding him to your Buyer Exemption list.

Go to eBay Help and put in Selecting Buyer Requirements. Almost at the bottom you will see

Creating an exemption list

If you click on that, and then add the bidders ID in the box, click submit, it should override any blocks that may be preventing him from further bidding. (though it may take a few hours to take effect - maybe.) Good luck, let us know how you get on.