topic Re: Suspect bidding in Selling

Suspect bidding

reganmatt11 — Sun, 19 Apr 2015 18:41:00 GMT

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

Re: Suspect bidding

harley_babes_hoard — Sun, 19 Apr 2015 19:49:28 GMT

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.

Re: Suspect bidding

padi*0409 — Sun, 19 Apr 2015 21:23:35 GMT

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.

Re: Suspect bidding

reganmatt11 — Sun, 19 Apr 2015 21:36:44 GMT

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.

Re: Suspect bidding

padi*0409 — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 01:01:59 GMT

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.

Re: Suspect bidding

cq_tech — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 04:56:33 GMT

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.

Re: Suspect bidding

pennyforum14 — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 06:01:06 GMT

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.

Re: Suspect bidding

cq_tech — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 06:03:58 GMT

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

Re: Suspect bidding

padi*0409 — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 07:18:19 GMT

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"

Re: Suspect bidding

reganmatt11 — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 10:50:45 GMT

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.

Re: Suspect bidding

sprinklespowerpuff — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 11:02:00 GMT

Nothing new to me I can tell you. It's becoming the norm to find other bidders on auctions I'm interested in with 138 or so bid retractions. Just a joke.

Re: Suspect bidding

clarry100 — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 11:04:37 GMT

I've been following this story with interest and for the life of me cannot begin to fathom what they would hope to gain from doing this.
The only thing I can dream up is that for some weird reason they are trying to make it appear to your one particular genuine bidder that you are shilling in the hope that they will report you for doing that. But why? Could it be that you could have encountered them under some other id and had some kind of run-in?
Could they be a competitor in disguise?
I'm intrigued really.

Re: Suspect bidding

reganmatt11 — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 18:49:50 GMT

Yep, it's bizzare.

And I haven't heard back from the guy who's bids I cancelled.

I did upset a guy in Itay, who had implied that I was overcharching for postage, but these bids came from an account in the US

Anyway thanks to everyone for the advice and insight, very much appreciated.

Re: Suspect bidding

padi*0409 — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 19:20:55 GMT

@padi*0409 wrote:
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"

CQ and penny, you may post your abject apologies for your misunderstanding anytime you like.......

"hides behind something very large and dangerous..........like a feral cat..........."

Re: Suspect bidding

putney32 — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 21:35:40 GMT

@reganmatt11 wrote:
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.

there's the hint as to why. it is a 'enemy' of your one top bidder, someone who is trying to make HIM pay more for everything he buys.

(well thats my theory)

Re: Suspect bidding

clarry100 — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 21:46:01 GMT

Sounds feasible Putney.

Contact the bidder and ask if they have had any previous problems with this person.

They may be prepared to assist you in having them banned from ebay altogether.

Re: Suspect bidding

cq_tech — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 00:35:40 GMT

@padi*0409 wrote:

CQ and penny, you may post your abject apologies for your misunderstanding anytime you like.......

"hides behind something very large and dangerous..........like a feral cat..........."

No worries, Padi (raises a glass of GD 12 in your general direction by way of apology). >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Re: Suspect bidding

saarzi — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 01:05:52 GMT

Thats exactly what I was thinking. Someone is stalking the legitimate bidder.

Id block him and then contact him and ask what they think they are doing (really nicely). Tell them him youre asking because his bidding behaviour looks like a possible stalking cyber crime, and you know that couldnt possibly be the case, therefore youve asked Ebay to investigate for his benefit, to clear his ID.

Or you could keep out of it and just block him.

But I wouldnt be able to resist. Lol

Re: Suspect bidding

padi*0409 — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 02:16:19 GMT

@cq_tech wrote:

No worries, Padi (raises a glass of GD 12 in your general direction by way of apology). >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Haha, bet I've got more GD 12 left than you have now...............>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Re: Suspect bidding

cq_tech — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 14:39:25 GMT

That'd be a dangerous bet to be taking right now, Padi. I took a drive to DM's the other day and took full advantage of their pricing error (at $49.95 GD12 is actually 4c cheaper than GD8 at the moment) so I currently have 4 x 750ml bottles (less the 60ml with which I taunted you last night) and if they're still $14 below their normal retail on Friday, I've decided to grab myself another 4 bottles to keep me going through winter. Purely for medicinal purposes, of course.