Ghost buyer

[chiselman07]

How can you find out if someone is bumping up the auction to help seller get better price. I've been bidding on item from a seller of Model trains . the other bidder is always private identity hidden. This was called shill bidding i believe. I used to be able tell if the bidder was helping the sale because the guys records show him bidding but never winning an item.  Now that buyers can be private. i can't check this , can ebay admin ?

[austeam]

When you look at the list of bids and point to the IDs which will look sometthing like a****b(123) then a box will open to show how much activity takes place between that buyer and seller.

[silversterio2]

"the other bidder is always private identity hidden"

This was called shill bidding i believe"

If the bidding history page shows private listing -- buyers' identities protected, it means the Seller has set it up as a Private Listing which is allowed.

Only you and the Seller can see your  ID. If you log out of ebay and have a look at the bidding history page, you'll see that your ID also shows as private listing -- buyers' identities protected

[***super_nova***]

. the other bidder is always private identity hidden.

Your ID shows the same to other bidders, if you log out and go to look you will see that.  But if you have any real reason that the seller is shill bidding, you can report the listing to eBay and they will check it out. 

[a_beautiful_room]

Yes ebay can check but will only act if there is a definite link between the two accounts - like same address, same ISP address etc. so the seller could be using a friend from their computer and it would be impossible for ebay to prove anything untoward.

But ...  why are you "bidding" and showing your hand to the seller, which in turns give them the opportunity to recognise interest and bid against you. That's what your "watch list" is for .. Put the item you are interested on your watch list, think about it, and then if you decide you want to buy, at the last minute place your maximum bid. That way the seller doesn't have the opportunity you are providing to bid the price up against you. If you place your bid within 10 or 20 seconds of the finish, it's too late. If you're not going to be by your computer there are heaps of free sniping services to place your bid for you.

And if you lose, we'll, you didn't want to pay that much anyway.

Sellers love bidders who just "nibble" the price upwards, but its no way to buy.

[*crikey*mate*]

is it possible that they're automatic bids?

ie - auction started at $1 - a buyer puts in a bid of $10 - but because he only needs 50c to become the highest bidder, that's all the highest bid gets shown as...

so now bid is $1.50

You come in and bid $5 - so for a nanosecond, you do become the highest bidder, BUT

Because buyer one has already said he'd go as far as $10, the automated system automatically outbids your bid to $5.50...

and the cycle continues until that $10 bid has been reached iykwim.

[chiselman07]

well thanks for that information.I still reckon there plenty going on . I only wish I could go private

[*bad*angel*]

I only wish I could go private

chiselman07 did you not read above where it was explained to you that you ARE private. To everyone else bidding you appear as private listing -- buyers' identities protected too.

Only you and the seller can see your name, same as the other bidders can see their own.