Bidding question

[10bluey43]

I have a question about the bidding can the seller bid against their own item? reason why I am asking is there is a certain item that I have been bidding for, its going higher i have had a look who has been bidding against me and I have noticed that its the same name as the seller that why I am asking this seller seems to be getting greedy now

[putney32]

you cannot see the bidders names, so you cannot say it is the same name as the seller.

Sellers are NOT permitted to bid on their own items but you cannot possibly know who is bidding.

[nevillesdaughter]

The ID's you are seeing when you look at bidders is just a dummy allocated by eBay to conceal the bidders' ID's during an auction - usually something like cd***jj, which is why they look the same, or similar. You only see the ID of the top bidder.

If the bid keeps rising everytime you place a bid, it is more likely that someone has put in quite a high maximum bid, and therefore it will just rise incrementally until it hits its limit. This is how maximum bids work.

Cheers,

Marina.

[lyndal1838]

Marina, nobody but the seller and the bidder themselves can see the full ID of the top bidder....all bidders IDs are protected to everybody but the seller and the bidder.

[nevillesdaughter]

My apologies, I knew that but had a short circuit in the brain and was thinking as a seller! Might be time for my medicine.

Cheere,

Marina.

[wargul]

Can the bidder bid against his/her own item?  Yes if they have a account not linked to their seller account.  Or their cousin next door could do it.  Shill bidding is alive and well in all auctions - online and "real".  The only real protction is to not bid too early - either in person or by an auction sniper.  The thing you describe about the bidder names is no indication that it is happening though.

When you think about it.  You have a price you are willing to pay.  Bid that price as late in the auction as you can and you are pretty right.  If you miss out it was more than you wanted to pay anyway.