topic Re: Possible shill bidder? in Buying

Possible shill bidder?

cyo27 — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 13:02:59 GMT

Hi guys,

I'm very new to bidding so please excuse me if I'm way off the mark or not understanding things properly. I just want to get your opinion on whether or not I may be going head to head with a shill bidder. Below is the current bidding history for the item:

I normally don't bid at all until the last minute, but I was recently burned when a seller ended the auction early on an item I really wanted. So this time I thought I'd put my max bid in and see what happens.

I was the one who pushed the bid price up to $60, and I'm currently the highest bidder. It's the 5***2 fellow I'm not sure about. They seem to keep coming back every few hours to put a new bid in, and I just find it a bit odd that they keep trying despite getting beaten by my max bid every time. I checked out their profile and they've only bid on 2 other items this month, from different sellers and no retractions. Am I simply overthinking this or could this person be a shill bidder? Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Re: Possible shill bidder?

padi*0409 — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 13:27:20 GMT

Unlikely to be a shill bidder since they've bid on other seller's item and have no retractions. To me they just look like "a nibble bidder", that's the chances you take if you put your maximum bid in early.

Re: Possible shill bidder?

papermoon.lady — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 18:57:00 GMT

Most probably a newbie who followed the instructions on the screen "enter (the amount) or more" and got the message that he had been outbid every time up to your maximum bid. I remember that with my very first auction I did the same. And as padi said, that's exactly why people bid towards the end, but I know, sometimes sellers do accept offers or maybe they sell the item on another site, so they end the auction. It has happened to me too, although not so often.

Re: Possible shill bidder?

4channel — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 09:53:46 GMT

I think at this stage the best you can do is just look and see if the same thing happens with this seller's other auctions. If you see a pattern then your suspicions may be confirmed. The answer by papermoon.lady makes sense too.

Re: Possible shill bidder?

katistrophik — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 10:05:54 GMT

If it is shill bidding, they are not very good at it LOL

Re: Possible shill bidder?

4channel — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 11:57:38 GMT

@cyo27 wrote:
Hi guys,

I'm very new to bidding so please excuse me if I'm way off the mark or not understanding things properly. I just want to get your opinion on whether or not I may be going head to head with a shill bidder.

I normally don't bid at all until the last minute, but I was recently burned when a seller ended the auction early on an item I really wanted. So this time I thought I'd put my max bid in and see what happens.

I was the one who pushed the bid price up to $60, and I'm currently the highest bidder. It's the 5***2 fellow I'm not sure about. They seem to keep coming back every few hours to put a new bid in, and I just find it a bit odd that they keep trying despite getting beaten by my max bid every time. I checked out their profile and they've only bid on 2 other items this month, from different sellers and no retractions. Am I simply overthinking this or could this person be a shill bidder? Thank you in advance for your assistance.

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Below post from a switched on member, from another thread gives an insight into an angle that is worked occasionally

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Re: SHILL BIDDING

@skyrider12-au wrote:

Kopenhagen - thanks for your input. I agree with all you say however, if a seller hasn't reached his (undisclosed) reserve and doesn't want to quit his item then shill bidding, to an amount he is willing to sell at, would achieve an outcome the seller would be happy with.

https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Buying/SHILL-BIDDING/m-p/1674477#M52849

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I'd say that this tactic has been employed on various occasions. I've seen evidence of this in the past.

Re: Possible shill bidder?

cyo27 — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 12:02:50 GMT

The person stopped bidding the day after I posted this so looks like you and padi were on the money, just an inexperienced bidder who kept raising their bid until they hit their max *max* bid and bowed out. Thanks for your help. 🙂

Re: Possible shill bidder?

padi*0409 — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 12:46:55 GMT

@4channel wrote:
I'd say that this tactic has been employed on various occasions. I've seen evidence of this in the past.

4chan, it's been shown that there was NO shill-bidding happening in the OP's situation.

And dragging up a 6 year old thread by your mate, where even in that case it was uncertain if shill-bidding was going on, is quite simply putting up a smokescreen.

Re: Possible shill bidder?

k1ooo-slr-sales — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 13:04:01 GMT

@4channel wrote:

Below post from a switched on member, from another thread gives an insight into an angle that is worked occasionally

I followed the link, didn’t remember that I had posted on that thread til I read the last 3 posts. Yeah right, really switched on!

Re: Possible shill bidder?

4channel — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 13:58:27 GMT

@padi*0409 wrote:

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@4channel wrote:
I'd say that this tactic has been employed on various occasions. I've seen evidence of this in the past.
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4chan, it's been shown that there was NO shill-bidding happening in the OP's situation.

And dragging up a 6 year old thread by your mate, where even in that case it was uncertain if shill-bidding was going on, is quite simply putting up a smokescreen.

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We don't know that for sure padi*0409. It is early days yet. I see papermoon.lady's post has been accepted as a solution and that's fine. She has offered an intelligent analysis of the situation no doubt! But possibilities other than her intelligent analysis may exist.

I just quoted a 6 year old thread post by skyrider12-au who is a very intelligent poster and who has shown quite a few probabilities and helpful examples in his posts. Nothing wrong in that!

The seller in question that relates to this subject should be checked up on by the OP down the track to see if there's a pattern.

Re: Possible shill bidder?

padi*0409 — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 14:12:20 GMT

@4channel wrote:
We don't know that for sure padi*0409. It is early days yet. I see papermoon.lady's post has been accepted as a solution and that's fine. She has offered an intelligent analysis of the situation no doubt! But possibilities other than her intelligent analysis may exist.

Rubbish 4chan, the bidder was a newbie who was nibble-bidding, had bid on other sellers items and had no retractions - or didn't you read the OP's post and look at the screenshot they provided ??? I'm guessing you didn't read the OP's final post either..............

Re: Possible shill bidder?

katistrophik — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 14:43:20 GMT

Just no idea 😄

SMH as I SIGH

sly switched on - my stomach hurts from laughing

Re: Possible shill bidder?

4channel — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 15:15:54 GMT

@padi*0409 wrote:
@4channel wrote:
We don't know that for sure padi*0409. It is early days yet. I see papermoon.lady's post has been accepted as a solution and that's fine. She has offered an intelligent analysis of the situation no doubt! But possibilities other than her intelligent analysis may exist.

Rubbish 4chan, the bidder was a newbie who was nibble-bidding, had bid on other sellers items and had no retractions - or didn't you read the OP's post and look at the screenshot they provided ??? I'm guessing you didn't read the OP's final post either..............

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It's highly possible that papermoon.lady was right. She's an astute poster. But it's also good to know about what goes on with sock-puppets in bidding.

And I have seen sockpuppet bidders (shills) doing exactly what that displayed bidder was doing. Anyway, this thread or any other isn't always just about what you say it should be. And the example by skyrider12-au could be helpful to the OP or anyone else that reads this. He's a very astute guy too.

Some years back I reported multiple scam auction to eBay. There were at least 8 possibly more IDs involved in a lot scam involving multiple auctions. I've noticed a few things regarding sockpuppet ID.

Re: Possible shill bidder?

k1ooo-slr-sales — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 15:40:06 GMT

please stop, you're killing me

Re: Possible shill bidder?

padi*0409 — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 22:00:37 GMT

@4channel wrote:

And I have seen sockpuppet bidders (shills) doing exactly what that displayed bidder was doing.

Perhaps you are unaware of the difference between "nibble-bidders" and "shill-bidders" 4chan.

One of them will RETRACT bids when they pass the other bidders high bid.

Re: Possible shill bidder?

repentatleisure1952 — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 23:25:17 GMT

Your very switched on/intelligent poster stated in that thread "I really don't know how shill bidding works".

Re: Possible shill bidder?

4channel — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 23:58:31 GMT

@padi*0409 wrote:
Perhaps you are unaware of the difference between "nibble-bidders" and "shill-bidders" 4chan.

One of them will RETRACT bids when they pass the other bidders high bid.

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Some crooked sellers who are just starting out on the bump-up game look like nibble bidders as well.. They bump it up a bit and then quit after a while. No need to retract. They've already been instructed on how high to go (estimate). In a similar situation years ago, I won an item that had the price bumped up bit by bit. I thought it was a nibble bidder but later discovered that the bidder was an associate of the seller working in a shill capacity. Other sellers who cannot or choose not to incorporate an associate into their game create sock-puppet IDs to do the bumping.

So Circle-padi*0409, I know the difference.

Re: Possible shill bidder?

4channel — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 00:01:20 GMT

The bumping up for newbie crooks in the game is a bit of a risk but there's more chance of a shill or sock-puppet bumping it up just enough to raise the price than becoming the leading bidder.

Re: Possible shill bidder?

papermoon.lady — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 01:26:59 GMT

A few years ago I witnessed some shill bidding and it was so evident I don't know how the seller could get away with it for so long (looking at past auctions). This shill bidder only placed bids on the seller's items (many, I must add), pushing up all prices, until an auction went wrong and the shill bidder won (this was the auction I was interested in, but luckily I noticed the pattern and didn't bid anyway). Soon after the shill bidder won, the item was listed again. The person who lost the auction, or maybe somebody else, must have noticed too, and suddenly all the bidders became private.

Re: Possible shill bidder?

katistrophik — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 04:59:53 GMT

Well at least the OP had the good sense to know whose advice to take, thank goodness.

How would they have felt had they reported that poor innocent buyer for doing nothing more than most nibblers do LOL