topic Re: suss bidder in Buying

suss bidder

valu4you2010 — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 06:06:33 GMT

I've been watching item no. 381051845065 due to end in a couple of days. The underbidder (at this time) who I don't think I can name has 98% bids with the same seller in 30 days. When I go to this sellers other Items this bidder has opened or bid at least in the first 6 items listed (didn't go any further). The bidder has also 54 bid retractions in 30 days. I tried to report but I can't find a suitable option. Does this seem a bit suss to you?

Re: suss bidder

2106greencat — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 06:20:59 GMT

It sure does, but they are doing it well, not making any huge obvious jumps, just increasing incremtally to up the price gradually.

It if weren't for the HUGE amount of bid retractions noted once you clicked on the id, it would problably slide through.

Usually there is a 'report this listing' option -

Yep, found it - in the body of the listing scroll down and to the right of the postage details there is a Report Item button

Re: suss bidder

valu4you2010 — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 06:33:30 GMT

Thanks for checking it out greencat. I found the report button but could not find a suitable option in there (that is. Ebay's choise of options)to report it.

Re: suss bidder

2106greencat — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 06:35:21 GMT

Oh, Sorry can't help with that side of things, but someone will be along shortly who is expert at this stuff.

Tazz ????? are you free ??

Re: suss bidder

repentatleisure1952 — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 06:44:54 GMT

@valu4you2010 wrote:
I've been watching item no. 381051845065 due to end in a couple of days. The underbidder (at this time) who I don't think I can name has 98% bids with the same seller in 30 days. When I go to this sellers other Items this bidder has opened or bid at least in the first 6 items listed (didn't go any further). The bidder has also 54 bid retractions in 30 days. I tried to report but I can't find a suitable option. Does this seem a bit suss to you?

To report this activity go to Site Map at bottom of any page....then help topics....type in shill bidding....you will find a report link.

Re: suss bidder

nett_nanny — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 07:11:58 GMT

Don't waste your time like I did reporting this seller.

I rang eBay a few days ago and reported this suspicious bidding.

Of the 98 auctions running at the time, the shiller had bid on 97 of them. eBay rep. assured me no shill bidding was taking place .

The bidder had 98% bidding activity with this seller and 55 bid retractions in 6 months.

The rep. said they would action the bid retracting bidder but that was all. They placed their last bid on 17th. so it would appear action has been taken.

Will there be another waiting in the wings to take over? Yes.

Re: suss bidder

valu4you2010 — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 07:29:28 GMT

Thanks nett-nanny and others for taking the time to answer. (I've given you all a kudos). I was going to bid on this item but I don,t think I will now. I just hate dodgy practices (and "private listings") and I won't buy from them no matter how much I want the item. Also add GSP to my hate list while I'm at it. Thanks again.

Re: suss bidder

valu4you2010 — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 07:51:14 GMT

I have reported this buyer/bidder but don't expect any action. Oh, by the way they have plced a bid on the item I am watching on the 20th November so you are right about wasting my time.

Re: suss bidder

modestbods — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 10:55:56 GMT

OP, I entered this thread and started reading your opening post thinking to myself "here we go again, another sour grapes buyer making mountains out of molehills simply because they don't like not getting something for practically nothing...", as is usually the case it seems 9 times out of 10. But having read through your entire post and taking a look at that seller & bidder I'm in no doubt at all that you're right and this is blatant shill bidding.... well spotted, I hope ebay take action against them.

Re: suss bidder

go-tazz — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 20:42:28 GMT

To report these just click on the Report item above the item number.

Select Listing practices from the first box > Fraudulent listing activites from the second box > Seller is using

other accounts to inflate item price from the third.

Click continue and then Send Report.

Re: suss bidder

go-tazz — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 20:45:44 GMT

@2106greencat wrote:
Oh, Sorry can't help with that side of things, but someone will be along shortly who is expert at this stuff.

Tazz ????? are you free ??

You can always get the information from one of my guides,

http://search.reviews.ebay.com.au/members/go-tazz?uaid=648628246&uan=go-tazz&uqt=g

Re: suss bidder

nett_nanny — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 21:16:42 GMT

I started to report each listing via the Report item/Fraudulent listing etc. but doing it 97 times??? Too daunting, too time consuming and besides, I wasn't sure I'd live long enough to report that many one at a time .

Much easier to pick up the phone and speak to a rep. who checked for shill bidding while I was talking to him. He couldn't find any shill bidding because this seller is a dab hand at it. He's been doing it for years and I've reported him a few times with the same outcome. He's obviously one of eBays protected species.

Re: suss bidder

iamanark — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 22:02:15 GMT

This seller has been mentioned on these boards before (at least a couple of times to my knowledge)

Re: suss bidder

springyzone — Sat, 22 Nov 2014 06:23:50 GMT

But having read through your entire post and taking a look at that seller & bidder I'm in no doubt at all that you're right and this is blatant shill bidding.... well spotted, I hope ebay take action against them.

------------------------------------------

Excellent detective work.

It absolutely is suss. This bidder just pops in every now and again to keep the auctions on the boil.

It's the % of deals with this seller and the number of bid retractions that gives it away.

Why ebay haven't jumped on it after it was reported, I don't know.

Surely the bidder could be sent a warning or copy of shill bidding policy.

Re: suss bidder

go-tazz — Sat, 22 Nov 2014 08:03:22 GMT

Shill bidding is one thing that eBay don't really want to stop as it increases their profit margin.

That's why it's near impossible to get them sanctioned.

Their fix seem to be to let the seller know and change their listings to private,(that way no one can accuse them

of shill bidding as the usual info isn't available).

It's worked for them in the past,

Re: suss bidder

i-love-my-sheep — Sat, 22 Nov 2014 13:34:40 GMT

If it's bidder r***z( 238), then I would totally agree that it's shill bidding. 515 items bid on with 1453 bids placed in the last 30 days, 98% with that seller and the already mentioned bid retractions. Shill bidding at its finest..

Re: suss bidder

nett_nanny — Sat, 22 Nov 2014 21:11:28 GMT

eBay know it's that bidder, the rep. confirmed the ID and number of feedbacks to me on the phone. And to add insult to injury the bidder is still at it.

Shame on eBay for allowing it to continue and shame on the seller who's no doubt laughing all the way to the bank.

Re: suss bidder

go-tazz — Sat, 22 Nov 2014 21:56:07 GMT

@nett_nanny wrote:
eBay know it's that bidder, the rep. confirmed the ID and number of feedbacks to me on the phone. And to add insult to injury the bidder is still at it.

Shame on eBay for allowing it to continue and shame on the seller who's no doubt laughing all the way to the bank.

So is eBay from all the shill bidding they allow.

Re: suss bidder

i-love-my-sheep — Sun, 23 Nov 2014 00:39:56 GMT

I've actually given up reporting shill bidding because I came to the conclusion that while the policies state it's not allowed, eBay think it is allowed and even condone it. It doesn't matter how often a dodgy seller is reported, nothing happens.

EBay even allow these accounts to buy from each other for the sole purpose of leaving feedback. I have been told a few times where they can definitely see that the accounts are owned by the same people who have left feedback for each other, yet still nothing is done.

If they do go so far as NARUing an account, you can be assured that the account will be reinstated so the fraudster can continue.

If I didn't have a conscience, I'd be tempted to open a few new accounts and do it myself.

Re: suss bidder

i-love-my-sheep — Sun, 23 Nov 2014 01:18:16 GMT

Something else that ebay condones is listing in the wrong category. Does this look like an Aboriginal painting to anyone here? 201219310576 If you have a look at her other items, she has quite a few listed as Aboriginal paintings.

Then on her other ID, she does it too 181590695048 On checking both those ID's feedback, you can see where she has left feedback for herself.

She knows she was being watched as most of her listings are now private. I have also noticed that some of her shilling accounts that were NARU'd, have been reinstated.

The ID with the higher feedback number was NARU'd after countless reports from members of this forum, along with an account of the same name, but with 1987 on the end. It was reinstated a few weeks later.

I have concluded that despite giving 100% concrete evidence on this seller on both shilling and feedback, eBay is happy for her to continue defrauding people. As I don't know where she is, it is pointless reporting her to the online fraud squad. When I looked into that, they wanted names and addresses and all I had was a suburb and an eBay username.