Buying on eBay

[jabaarli]

Is it possible for a seller to manipulate an items price with the help of a friend or collaborator . Because eBay is a big deal , and this question must have risen before , there must be ways to avoid being manipulated . I'd appreciate any advice . Thanx

[freightcar2009]

Yes they can get someone to push up the bidding however its not that common any more

[the-kazbar]

To avoid the possibility of paying more than you should, get an idea of the maximum you are willing to pay and then bid in the closing seconds of the auction. If you can't be at the computer at that time, use a sniping service like GIXEN to do it for you 🙂

[jameshouseofstyle]

Hi OP,

I have found over the time that it doesn't make any difference to me what they (the sellers) do.

I tend to bid as soon as I see something (as I used to forget, even with little self notes) and then kick myself, and it was always those items that went for a REALLY great price! Like seeing your numbers come up - and this is one time you didn't put the ticket in!

I put the absolute max I want to pay - then they can manipulate all they like - they can't possibly make me pay any more than what I wanted to in the first place, and if I loose it'll be because someone was prepaired to pay more - or the seller ended up with the item.

Don't know if I was just lucky - but I have won just about everything I have bid on doing it this way.

Couldn't stand those bids 50c, or a dollar - and they go on forever - a big waste of one's time and bidders like that always loose anyway as they are to scared to bid properly.

Good luck - you'll get some fantastic stuff around here no matter which way you do it!

Cheers, JHS

[kopenhagen5]

It's called shill bidding and it doesn't happen as much as it used to.

If you suspect something is very fishy, come to the boards and members can have a look, then advise whether it should be reported.

But as already stated, don't bid more than you are happy with.

😉

[apache929]

definately still happens, ive been following a particular item for 2 months now, there are 3 different sellers, two are definately the same company as they advertise their address, the other one has private listing bidders, and without fail there is always some  bidders with minimal transactions and its the same ones each time, ive reported many times,but nothing happens, you just need to be patient and hope you catch the item on the off chance they have slackened off

[omnicyber]

As the-kazbar wrote, sniping is a way of combating shill bidding (http://www.hidbid.com is another good service to use), but still, the shiller (the seller or his buddy) could just let their bid ride through the end of the auction, trying to jack up, but not exceed the next highest bid. Nothing really can be done about that, as, ebay doesn't let you see the bidder IDs anymore.