Shill Bidding

[crypt_keeper000]

I am bidding on this item at the moment (292825479835) and I have a nasty feeling someone is shill bidding, it might just be my imagination because over 10+ other bids I was bidding on (from China) the guy was blatantly doing just that, but I caught him out and reported him to Ebay.

So maybe I'm just imagining things with this one but I do find it strange that a person with absolutely "0" feedback is suddenly bidding on an expensive item, yet he has not one bid on anything else anywhere.

I am winning at the moment but if I see this guy again bidding on this item I am in two minds whether I should contact the seller and warn him if he is shill bidding he will be reported but also I really do not want to let this item go but I don't want to be overcharged for something I could have gotten cheaper.

Any advice is appreciated.

[imastawka]

Seller must be excited................there's 11 watchers, lol

[padi*0409]

Hahaha Stawks, and I'm not even in the "express zone" - even the "standard" AP postage is $139.85, that for an item that's 360mm x 430mm x 760mm and 5.5 Kgs....................

There's other listings of these cheaper on BIN's than the auction is now - with a much lower postage cost.

Tears to follow I suspect.

[imastawka]

Yeah, I also noticed the cheaper ones available.

I expect the OP is thinking NIB - but the listing doesn't show the actual item's condition.

[brerrabbit585]

I noticed the postage straight away but assumed it must have been really heavy or really large.

Years ago I had a bit of fun with someone who kept outbidding me and when I saw they had several bids above mine on several items from the one seller I deliberately put a couple more bids in just to run them up.  It was just tooooo tempting.  It's not shill bidding if it's not the owner or anyone associated with them.  I would have paid if I'd won but I knew I wouldn't.

Very occasionally I might have two or more bids above everyone else but only when I can't be there at the end (I've never used a sniping service) and when I decided I really would like to bid a bit higher.

[imastawka]

Just between you, me and the doorpost, I've been peeved at being outbid on something

and nibble-bid my opponent up, so they paid more too.    

And, no, that's not shill bidding.

And I'm not touching this listing with a barge pole.

[enigmabear]

I'm hoping it's the thingy in the photo and not just a photo of the thingy 

[imastawka]

It is the thing in the photo - not just a photo of the thingy.

Do you mean a life sized real thingy turning up on the doorstep?  

For lurkers, it's this thingy -

Spoiler

 

[enigmabear]

A fiendish thingy (as George would say)

[crypt_keeper000]

It might seem strange to you but that is how I bid, I have done it this way for 14 years in here and I have gotten heaps of bargins from doing it like that.

Everyone is different, you might like to auto bid or wait to the last minute to grab it, and I have tried that way to but that doesn't work for me.

I check every item I am bidding on, I know the price trends of the items I am bidding on and I know just how much I am will to pay for it, and it might look like a lot of bids to you but they are only ever going up by small denominations.

I have already won one item off this person a little while ago and I got that cheap to by doing the same type of bidding and when I pick it up today I will be having a civil conversation with the seller about the "0" feedback person, and if he gets offended by it and retracts my bids then so be it.

I might want the item but it's not kill me if I don't get it, there are plenty more items on Ebay to buy.....and I just saw some now :D.

Someone before said maybe he just joined so he could bid on this item...yeh, maybe he did that, and maybe I've won Gold in the last 3 Olympics. 😛

That bidder still hasn't bid on anything else on Ebay, not a paper clip, nothing.

But we will see what happens....3 days to go.....maybe he'll buy that paper clip and prove me wrong, who knows.

[imastawka]

But there's a cheaper one available and it's a BIN with freepost.

You haven't seen this actual item, only stock photos.

And then there's horrrendous postage on top of it all.

And I don't see how letting everyone nibble bid you to your max is getting items cheaply.

The idea is to not let anyone know you're interested until the last dying seconds.

(Or minutes if you don't trust your server's speed)