topic Re: SHILL BIDDING in Buying

SHILL BIDDING

sloanranger62 — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 23:47:11 GMT

I have caught out a EBAY TOP RATED SELLER in building products on shill bidding and Ebay do not care. I have been a detective for the past 12 hours identifying that this is what he is doing, and have informed them of his criminal actions which they regard as & call only a policy violation. Their investigation department doesn't even have phone support just email (that is how little they care). I sent him an email late last night stating he is a shill bidder & I am retracting my bids and since then strange things have disappeared from his site including he has closed down auctions.

Re: SHILL BIDDING

kopenhagen5 — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 00:03:58 GMT

Be careful.

I would now add him to your BBL so he cannot buy one of your items to leave a retaliatory negative.

Every listing has a report function and a topic specifically for shilling under fraudulent activity.

Often it can appear as shilling but isn't. However if he is pulling listings, that sounds suspicious.

Re: SHILL BIDDING

ytwo000 — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 21:02:09 GMT

@kopenhagen5 wrote:
Be careful.
I would now add him to your BBL so he cannot buy one of your items to leave a retaliatory negative.

Every listing has a report function and a topic specifically for shilling under fraudulent activity.
Often it can appear as shilling but isn't. However if he is pulling listings, that sounds suspicious.

i agree with kopenhagen5..Often it can appear as shilling but isn't...

Be careful before you accuse someone for shilling as this can back fire on you.

Re: SHILL BIDDING

bjmonty28 — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 22:41:46 GMT

There are some very high volume sellers that I too am suspiscous on.

I would imagine quite a lot of mutual transaction cancellations appearing on their account if it was the case. I am aware that eBay do not like to credit back FVF`s so they have a tool in place to alert them when certain sellers start to show an excessive number of mutual transaction cancellations.

Having said that though, shill bidding is never easy for buyers to detect anymore, since they introduced the hidden bidders usernames a few years ago (heck, it might have even been 5 years ago was it? oh boy time flies), and also with private bidding we will never know for sure.

eBay make fees regardless so they are not interested in making the reporting system too easy to navigate.

Phrase of the day: Save the Whales, Eat the Japanese.

Re: SHILL BIDDING

sloanranger62 — Sun, 02 Nov 2014 03:56:10 GMT

In what way can it backfire on me. I and my builder are certain he is shill bidding. I was bidded up to $2500 (which entailed 40+ bids) for a building item that my builder checked before end of auction and said was ridiculous and he will build it for cheaper and told me to retract the bids. I retracted my last bid and the item ended back at $140 (instead of $1900) and keeping in mind I needed to retract all my other bids . HOW DOES THAT FIGURE OUT? Every time I bidded & placed a maximun bid (it was reached virtually straight away) with 6 days to go. I google Ebay shill bidding and a expert on the topic who had a online tutorial said you can check their feedback to ascertain whether they may be shill bidding, which I did and low & behold he had the same private customer (lets say g*****y 22) littered throughout his feedback which is probably the account he is using for shill bidding. That account has glowing feedback & he advertises his goods in follow-up feedback, He regularly takes auction down and after he received my email he took heaps of auction down and did not return my email. He NEVER DOES BUY-IT-NOW and has 2 RED DOTS in his feedback calling him a criminal & stating inferior product. SEEMS LIKE SHELL BIDDING TO ME and I have told Ebay he needs to be reported to the police as he is dealing with building products which need to be of quality.

Re: SHILL BIDDING

imastawka — Sun, 02 Nov 2014 05:06:03 GMT

In what way can it backfire on me.

He and some friends can band together and buy small items from you

and then give you lots of negs.

Result - Trashed reputation. Or worse. Ebay could stop you from selling

BBL NOW

Re: SHILL BIDDING

bjmonty28 — Sun, 02 Nov 2014 05:23:19 GMT

I would be more worried about being summonsed on charges of libel or defamation or even plagarism

Re: SHILL BIDDING

modestbods — Sun, 02 Nov 2014 06:15:58 GMT

@kopenhagen5 wrote:
Be careful.
I would now add him to your BBL so he cannot buy one of your items to leave a retaliatory negative.

Every listing has a report function and a topic specifically for shilling under fraudulent activity.
Often it can appear as shilling but isn't. However if he is pulling listings, that sounds suspicious.

He could be pulling listings as a result of the OP retracting their bids;

> to be fair to other bidders that had their highest bids exposed by the OPs bidding,

> or to avoid being suspected/accused by the other bidders of shill bidding via the OPs ID... & if that seems farfetched? see here >> http://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Buying/why-items-can-be-removed-amp-re-listed-amp-removed-again-with/m-p/1589267

It's interesting to note that the OP only seems to have become suspicious AFTER having a change of mind following their builder offering to make the same thing cheaper. The term 'blame shifting' comes to mind.

Re: SHILL BIDDING

putney32 — Sun, 02 Nov 2014 06:24:41 GMT

if the ''so called shiller'' is really active and buying lots from this seller it is UNLIKELY to be a shill bidder at all

the whole point of shilling is to NOT win the auction (and pay hundreds of dollars to ebay in fees), but to inflate the price so others buy.

no Seller who knows how ebay works (and charges) is going to use a shill bid to WIN and PAY FEES. !

Re: SHILL BIDDING

imastawka — Sun, 02 Nov 2014 06:26:44 GMT

Re: SHILL BIDDING

modestbods — Sun, 02 Nov 2014 06:33:27 GMT

@modestbods wrote:
@kopenhagen5 wrote:
Be careful.
I would now add him to your BBL so he cannot buy one of your items to leave a retaliatory negative.

Every listing has a report function and a topic specifically for shilling under fraudulent activity.
Often it can appear as shilling but isn't. However if he is pulling listings, that sounds suspicious.
He could be pulling listings as a result of the OP retracting their bids;
> to be fair to other bidders that had their highest bids exposed by the OPs bidding,
> or to avoid being suspected/accused by the other bidders of shill bidding via the OPs ID... & if that seems farfetched? see here >> http://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Buying/why-items-can-be-removed-amp-re-listed-amp-removed-again-with/m-p/1589267
> or because with the OP bidding it up early on via a bidding war to $1900 it very possibly scared off other potential bidders that may have bid over the $140 highest bid (that it reverted to following the OPs retractions) if they had the opportunity, which given that the retractions came very late in the auction it would not have afforded much time for others to find/see that there was such an opportunity to bid within their budget after all.

It's interesting to note that the OP only seems to have become suspicious AFTER having a change of mind following their builder offering to make the same thing cheaper. The term 'blame shifting' comes to mind.

* edited: added another very good reason for pulling the auction

Re: SHILL BIDDING

sloanranger62 — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 04:22:04 GMT

Reading these replies I now remember why I hardly ever post to these boards (20 post only over the years). You do not get help just criticism & bullying. How can I be sued when no-one knows who this seller is because I have not named him. As far as my Ebayy reputation being ruined it doesn't matter anymore this site is dying.

Re: SHILL BIDDING

lyndal1838 — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 06:35:12 GMT

You have not read the posts properly. No-one here would be suing anyone but the seller might sue you....you have admitted that you sent him an email accusing him of shilling.

You have posted here accusing another member of a serious offence but don't want to know about it when it is pointed out that you could be/probably are wrong.

You are happy to criticise a seller, even if you don't name him (and that is against board policy and would be removed by the Moderators anyway) but don't like it when it is pointed out that you may well be wrong.

Re: SHILL BIDDING

sloanranger62 — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 12:26:15 GMT

I don't even know what you are talking about? I didn't say people on this blog are going to sue me besides from the fact that no moderators have taken this post down. All I know is that I am so mad because I truly believe this guy is a shill bidder (look at my feedback I am a prolific buyer and never complain about anything ever (no neutral or negative feedback has ever been left). Family and friends who have followed the history of this case along with me (which you only know a fraction of knowledge about) also believe he is shill bidder and Ebay is unvestigating this case. You with 8,000+ posts is just another unhelpful bully and I shall never post to these boards again as they are rarely helpful and far too toxic. ALL I STATED IS THAT I BELIEVE I HAVE BEEN DEALING WITH A SHILL BIDDER and the blog tangents of into me being the villain - (everyone knows they do exist and guess what some people are unlucky enougth to come across them and NO thanks for your lack of support).