Insider biddding.

[max-power-models]

Is it just me being paranoid or does anyone else think this sounds suss.

Last year I bid on and lost an auction, then received a second chance offer. Last week I bid on the same item from the same seller. Got another second chance offer.

I checked the "winning" bidder's feedback score of 9. 

I suspect this buyer is having someone bid up their items and then offering the item for a couple dollars extra.

[*sparklz*]

All you can do is report it to ebay and if they find shill bidding taking place they will take action on the accounts but if nothing is found then nothing will be done.

[lyndal1838]

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@max-power-models wrote:

Is it just me being paranoid or does anyone else think this sounds suss.

Last year I bid on and lost an auction, then received a second chance offer. Last week I bid on the same item from the same seller. Got another second chance offer.

I checked the "winning" bidder's feedback score of 9. 

I suspect this buyer is having someone bid up their items and then offering the item for a couple dollars extra.

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The very fact that you bid on the same item from the same seller months apart tells me that he sells these items regularly.  In these cases it is not unusual for sellers to send a second chance offer to the underbidder.....it is only for the amount that you were willing to pay in the first place.

It used to be popular with sellers who had multiples of items in the days when they had to pay listing fees as they only paid for the one listing.  The second chance offer only cost the seller the final value fee.

The true test of shill bidding is whether the winner was the same bidder on both listings and you can never know that as the IDs are hidden by ebay.  If it was the same bidder then they are not very good at shilling as it is not the idea to win the item, just to push the price up.

[whiznumber6]

I often have more than one of the same item, and send a Second Chance offer to the unsuccessful bidders. 

Comes down, to a certain extent, to the types of items being sold - if your seller has sold the "same" item (ie: identical to the earlier one, as opposed the actual item itself being sold more than once) over the space of a couple of months, he / she may well have more than one.

If you have suspicions, the easiest course is to just not bid with that seller...