Does eBay support shill bidding?

[abaca_1]

Situation: have attempted to buy an item off a seller who repeat lists item ie relists new item each time one is sold.
Listings are private.
I have been 2nd highest bidder 10 out of last 12 listings.
Through a glitch in system using mobile i discovered that i could actually see the scrambled identity of bidders under certain circumstances. I discovered that each time i lost it was to a (0) rated purchaser. Yes this could happen. So i checked the feedback left by seller..they have only once left a feedback giving a (1) rating to a buyer. I also discovered that the bidder that has beaten me each time, placed the winning bid at the same time ie 4 hours prior to items end time.
Any further investigation was hampered/hidden in the fold of "private listing". Armed with this information (plus screen shots of bidding on listings) I informed eBay. I also queried the necessity of private listings since buyer anonimity is protected by the id scrambler they have used for years.
Ebay responded saying private listings were still used for very high priced items (houses Ferrari's etc) or sensitive medical equipment. That is understandable. This item is neither. I proffered my information and was advised that there was not enough to proceed with an investigation.
I think to the contrary.
Private listing should only be available as an option on those categories that require it. Otherwise it doesnt protect the buyer at all. It only allows unscrupulous sellers to hide their shill bidding activities.

[imastawka]

A shill bidder is certainly not going to bid at the last second.

That defeats the purpose of shill bidding.

Your zero bidders want to win

[chameleon54 · Accepted solution]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

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@abaca_1 wrote:

And regarding suggestions. I have bid maximum amount i wish to pay, I have bid last second, I have even bid on excess of what I would pay. The only times I dudnt lose ti a (0) rated buyer was when the price went over a certain price, which would equate to retail price...and then woukd gave to pay postage. If the seller wants that price why dont they just post it at that price, and I wouldnt wate my time. That is how I list.

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To be honest, what you are describing here does not sound like shill bidding.  The idea of shill bidding is not to win the item but to forc the price up.

I would suggest that if 0 feedback buyers are winning items when you snipe at the last moment then they really want to win the item and are not forcing the price up for the seller.

A lot of members don't really now what to look for in shill bidding and just assume that every 0 feedback account that wins anything is a shill bidder.

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Whilst not strictly shill bidding, this sounds a lot like bait advertising. The seller lists the item with a low starting price that they have no intention of selling the item for. Bidders scramble in hoping to snare a bargain. For most of the auction, they believe they may actually buy the item at a cheap price and then four hours before auction ends the seller uses a second account to bid a higher price ( the sellers reserve price ). Buyers by then are keen and some inexperienced buyers may be tempted to keep bidding. until they win the auction.

This practice was common in the real estate industry until it was made illegal a couple of years ago. Personally I think it is similar to shill bidding and probably just as unethical.

[wornandnew24]

This is classic shill bidding on eBay Au, probably from a community using family members to inflate the price to ridiculas levels.
This is the worst example of shill bidding I have come across. Bidding starting at a 99c bid and 2 bidders with low feedback, bidding every few minutes to raise the price. The finale, is a bidder with 0 feedback jacking the price up by 100's of dollars for no reason! Now that this inflated price is reached, the seller waits for sucker legit bidders like ourselves to complete the sale and of course the final shill bidder will pull out of bidding.

I have reported this infringement to eBay, but because this is a high profile seller with over 40 items for sale and over 1300 followers,
probably nothing will eventuate. Always check the bidding pattern, before you place a bid. See for yourself the bidding pattern below.

Bidder Click here to know more about anonymous user IDs Bid Amount Bid Time
j***5 ( 122Feedback score is 100 to 499) AU $405.00
19-Dec-17 09:20:24 AEDST

u***v ( 0 ) AU $400.00
19-Dec-17 03:42:33 AEDST

u***v ( 0 ) AU $200.00
19-Dec-17 03:42:29 AEDST

u***v ( 0 ) AU $190.00
19-Dec-17 03:42:20 AEDST

i***0 ( 24Feedback score is 10 to 49) AU $180.00
18-Dec-17 23:56:56 AEDST

r***a ( 2 ) AU $175.00
19-Dec-17 03:25:09 AEDST

r***a ( 2 ) AU $170.00
19-Dec-17 03:25:05 AEDST

r***a ( 2 ) AU $165.00
19-Dec-17 03:25:03 AEDST

r***a ( 2 ) AU $160.00
19-Dec-17 03:24:58 AEDST

r***a ( 2 ) AU $155.00
19-Dec-17 03:24:54 AEDST

r***a ( 2 ) AU $150.00
19-Dec-17 03:24:50 AEDST

r***a ( 2 ) AU $145.00
19-Dec-17 03:24:48 AEDST

r***a ( 2 ) AU $140.00
19-Dec-17 03:24:37 AEDST

r***a ( 2 ) AU $130.00
19-Dec-17 03:24:30 AEDST

r***a ( 2 ) AU $125.00
19-Dec-17 03:24:27 AEDST

r***a ( 2 ) AU $120.00
19-Dec-17 03:24:22 AEDST

i***0 ( 24Feedback score is 10 to 49) AU $100.00
18-Dec-17 22:45:40 AEDST

4***2 ( 5 ) AU $100.00
19-Dec-17 03:18:46 AEDST

4***2 ( 5 ) AU $94.00
19-Dec-17 03:18:35 AEDST

4***2 ( 5 ) AU $92.00
19-Dec-17 03:18:32 AEDST

4***2 ( 5 ) AU $90.00
19-Dec-17 03:18:26 AEDST

4***2 ( 5 ) AU $84.00
19-Dec-17 03:18:14 AEDST

4***2 ( 5 ) AU $82.00
19-Dec-17 03:18:02 AEDST

4***2 ( 5 ) AU $80.00
19-Dec-17 03:17:59 AEDST

4***2 ( 5 ) AU $78.00
19-Dec-17 03:17:53 AEDST

4***2 ( 5 ) AU $76.00
19-Dec-17 03:17:44 AEDST

4***2 ( 5 ) AU $74.00
19-Dec-17 03:17:36 AEDST

4***2 ( 5 ) AU $72.00
19-Dec-17 03:17:33 AEDST

4***2 ( 5 ) AU $70.00
19-Dec-17 03:17:28 AEDST

4***2 ( 5 ) AU $68.00
19-Dec-17 03:17:24 AEDST

4***2 ( 5 ) AU $66.00
19-Dec-17 03:17:21 AEDST

4***2 ( 5 ) AU $64.00
19-Dec-17 03:17:18 AEDST

4***2 ( 5 ) AU $62.00
19-Dec-17 03:17:16 AEDST

4***2 ( 5 ) AU $60.00
19-Dec-17 03:17:13 AEDST

4***2 ( 5 ) AU $58.00
19-Dec-17 03:17:10 AEDST

4***2 ( 5 ) AU $56.00
19-Dec-17 03:17:07 AEDST

4***2 ( 5 ) AU $54.00
19-Dec-17 03:17:03 AEDST

4***2 ( 5 ) AU $52.00
19-Dec-17 03:17:00 AEDST

0***w ( 164Feedback score is 100 to 499) AU $50.00
18-Dec-17 22:33:48 AEDST

i***0 ( 24Feedback score is 10 to 49) AU $33.00
18-Dec-17 22:45:11 AEDST

a***g ( 136Feedback score is 100 to 499) AU $30.00
18-Dec-17 22:42:09 AEDST

f***0 ( 70Feedback score is 50 to 99) AU $23.87
18-Dec-17 22:29:13 AEDST

Starting Price AU $0.99
18-Dec-17 21:54:12 AEDST
If two people bid the same amount, the first bid has priority. Also, you can only retract your bid under certain circumstances. Learn more.

[lyndal1838]

So which bidder is the shill bidder and how do you know?

They are both low feedback members.  How many bids have they placed with this seller and on how many items?  What percentage of their bids are with this seller.

There is a lot more to shill bidding than just 2 members who want to win the same item, which is what this looks like to me without any other information.

[go-tazz]

The information for a shill bidder is all in the bids count,(go to the item in question and click on the number of

bids and click on the account ID that you think is doing the shilling:).

Above is a blatant shill bidder that eBay will not remove.

It's an absolutely waste of time reporting a shill bidder as this site doesn't have the integrity or will to remove

them as a shill bidder increases the amount of FVF that this site gets from those fraudulent accounts.

Two newish accounts nibble bidding is not shill bidding.

And:

[wornandnew24]

Get serious! What do you call a bidder, who raises the bid from $180 to $400 and then disappears into the sunset! Definately not genuine.

[lyndal1838]

I certainly do not call them a shill bidder without taking other factors into account.

Maybe that bidder disappeared into the sunset as you put it because they had reached the limit of what they were prepared to bid.

[abaca_1]

Tell me lyndal1838...why are you so defensive ...is it because you are self justifying the fact that you use private listings?

[abaca_1]

Any practice using a second account to artificially raise the buying price of an item is shill bidding. Your example if real estate is totally out of place as it Is a Sellers right to enter a starting bid or a sellersbid at anytime in the auction if it stagnated or other reasons....however the placement of Dummy bidders is just illegal as It Is ON eBay.

[davewil1964]

Lyndal doesn't have any listings. Lyndal has private feedback, which only a buyer can have. As you would know if you understood how eBay worked.