Suspect bidding

[reganmatt11]

Hi 

I have some records listed at the moment and have had some suspicious bidding.

I have had one person go through my listings and make bids and retract them and then rebid at a lower amount (about 30 listings).

I can't see why someone would do this and it has caused one of my regular customers to owe several hundred dollars as it seems that this person has only targeted auctions where my regular customer has bid on.

What it looks like to me is, this person has gone through and put in bids to probe the top bids of others and then retract and then bid an amount that is under the top bid to boost the price, but I don't see how it benefits anyone. It makes me look like I am using a shill.

Should I report this activity to eBay?

As it stands I am going to cancel all the bids by this buyer.

Regards

Matt

[harley_babes_hoard]

You could report it but it won't do anything.

After you cancel the bids put the ID on your blocked bidders list so they can't keep doing it.

[padi*0409]

Matt, if it's the bidder with 443 feedback, WOW..............14 bids, and 55 retractions in 30 days, that's disgusting, if it was me I'd spend time phoning eBay, askinging to speak to a supervisor and reporting the mongrel to Trust and Safety for auction manipulation.

You could also alert other sellers that they've retracted bids on to their actions perhaps. 

As harley has said, it's hard to get eBay to do anything about serial retractors - even though it's a definite policy violation, but give it your best shot.

I had one a while back that was doing the same thing to one of my sellers, and eventually he had a win with the buyer being deregistered. 

[reganmatt11]

Yep, that's the one. I can't work out why though. 

I just spent an hour removing all his bids and blocking him.

The only person this could benefit is me, but then I look like I am using a shill bidder.

Very strange.

[padi*0409]

As you say it makes you look like you're using a 2nd account to shill-bid on, I would be emailing your regular buyer to let them know what's happening if you haven't done so already.

Looking at the total over 6 months, would all of those be on your auctions?  If so then the bidder has been targeting you for some reason (a competitor perhaps that's trying to get you in trouble with your other bidders?), if not then they still definitley need reporting to eBay ( by phone and through a supervisor), even if it's only to cover yourself against accusations of shill-bidding.

[cq_tech]

I wouldn't be too worried as the bid activity with this seller is 0% meaning that all of the bid retractions relate to other sellers' auctions. By the same token, they still need reporting for excessive bid retractions in general.

[pennyforum14]

Um cq, I think you'll find that since padi posted the screen shot, it is padi with whom this buyer has 0% bidder activity. 

[cq_tech]

Bugger, you're right Penny (must be bloody Monday again). 😞

[padi*0409]

Errrr, both wrong, the OP cancelled all the serial retractors bids so I presume that's why it's now 0%..............

"awards self a Wagon Wheel. Bourbon...............hahahaha"

[reganmatt11]

Yep, took over an hour to do, but I cancelled all the bids and blocked the buyer. 

I have never encountered this person before. Strange thing was, it was only on items that one ligitimate buyer was the top bidder.

Very strange business indeed.