Does ebay ever act on shill bidding?

[ford12ford]

Item 153471126412 and others all relisted after being sold to the highest buyer with a feedback of 42 with 100% bids with just the same seller. This seller automatically relists after sold. Seems like a friend/relative to me. Just retracts after sold so no fees on either side. Shill bidding maybe at its worse but ebay do nothing. Ebay trust and safety not really working is ebay cannot pick this up after reporting it. Is it really worth reporting anything or have some ebayers had success there? 

[smev]

One way of getting around shill bidders is to use free sniping tools like Auctionstealer or gixen which posts bids a few seconds before the auctions close. So the shill bidders cannot place shill bids to raise the price.

[ford12ford]

I do not think that will really work as they have a preset bid wih their other ID who just ''won'' another item. It will just get relisted again soon I am sure. It does not dot them any fees if they just agree to cancel, and yes ebay do nothing

[tazzieterror]

It depends on how they do it. If they just use a shill account to set a "reserve" price, there's nothing you can do unless your high bid is above this.

Sometimes a seller will use the shill account to keep pushing up the price - allowing their bid to be beaten, then bidding higher, and so on - this is when using a sniping service can help minimise the effect of shill bidding. But that won't help you when some other regular bidder keeps responding to the shill bids - lots of inexperienced bidders don't know the signs and like the thrill of the chase, and inadvertently play right into the seller's hands.

[brerrabbit585]

Maybe it's too late in the day for my poor brain but I can't see anything to indicate the seller is shill bidding. Buyer '42' won a swarovski item in March and left feedback for it. The seller could have a heap of them so there's nothing suspicious about relisting the same item after it's sold. The same goes for the clothes - seller could have several the same (shop stock, etc) and the fact that the clothes are new makes me think it's most likely shop stock (or stolen).

When I was selling off lots of odds and ends I had people bid on totally unrelated items because something else would catch their eye, so buyer 42 bidding on tops, sunglasses and swarovski items isn't suspicious.

None of buyer 42's bid retractions (4 in last 6 months) were on this seller's items. If they were shilling for the seller I'm sure there'd be some retractions. They probably only left feedback for the first item and no others because the seller has never left anyone feedback. If the seller can't be bothered, why would you leave feedback for any subsequent items you bought?

Why would a seller get someone to shill bid in order to only run an item up by $1, which is what happened with the sunglasses (which 42 didn't win). They have items that sell for 99c so I'd say they're just an inexperienced seller who just wants to get rid of things and doesn't realise they're paying ebay and paypal for the privilege.

Buyer 42 won a top and then bought another one exactly the same - big deal!  If I really like something I'll buy two. I don't get sick of clothes (or most other things) - if I like it now I'll like it for the next umpteen years. I once bought seven pairs of shoes all exactly the same because I found them so comfortable. Alas, they wore out all too soon.

[tazzieterror]

Buyer '42' is most certainly shill account controlled by the seller - I won't disclose publicly here how I know but trust me when I say I've verified this. Happy to PM with details if curious.

[tazzieterror]

Check out completed auction #333182114223 for another example of likely shill bidding - the ol' Private Listing with Last Minute Bid Cancellation thrown in for extra Shilliness!

[tazzieterror]

Oh look at that, item #333182114223 got relisted barely an hour after finishing and despite a huge number of bids and three bid cancellations - what a surprise!

[collect247]

I know of 1 huge seller on ebay that has many others that shill for them lol,one bidder has bid on more than a thousand items and has made sure someone else wins the items.

So when I notice that there is a shill bidder bidding in one of my items I'm bidding on then I simply retract my bid and I don't give a flying **bleep** if anyone says that's not a reason to retract a bid to me it is and if ebay won't do anything about it then this is the only way lol.

The problem is this seller has got what I want and that's the reason I keep trying to win their items lol but I won't be playing their games when I see shilling going on.

[heihachi_73]

Just keep reporting the listings. Eventually a rep will get sick of it and take a look. If it has the same IP range the seller is stuffed. Of course though, if they happen to have two different PCs not connected to a LAN, or phones from different networks it will be a lot harder to track, but still possible if it's the same ones all the time.

[yeoldecoinco]

In the eBay coin business there are several (mostly Victorian) dealers who have shill bidders on their accounts.

They have been doing it blatantly for years and nothing ever gets done.

It is pathetic behaviour and it hurts other dealers who are more honest than them.

That is one reason (amongst many) why I never or very rarely run auctions.

I just list it at a reasonable buy it now price and hope someone eventually buys it.