How can I get action when I have reported the same seller for shill bidding since November 2016

[lambpamel.zxebp]

I have reported the same seller repeatedly for shill bidding since November 2016.   7 emails, 1 phone call  [ref. no. 1-134206299430] and 6 reports directly on the listings ... and still this seller continues to use the same shill bidder.  Please don't tell me about privacy  as I can clearly see that this illegal activity is still continuing as of today.  If appropriate action had been taken the shill bidding would have ceased long ago.

[*tippy*toes*]

Well, that employee will be out of a job soon then as they have breeched the privacy policy. 

[enigmabear]

Yep. Wonder if it is the first time or just one of many?

Goodness knows what else they may have breeched . I'm sure ebay will be very interested in this thread 

[lambpamel.zxebp]

From what I can gather, their privacy policy only relates to what they can tell me about the action they take.   I have five other replies from Ebay (different employees) confirming the shill bidding activity.   They assure me they are taking the appropriate action, yet the shill bidding still continues ??

[go-tazz]

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@lambpamel.zxebp wrote:

This is part of one of Ebay's replies -

"I looked into this very carefully and have confirmed that they have indeed related to each other and have violated our Shill Bidding Policy".

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That and similar has being their standard reply for the last couple of years where there is shill bidding involved.

Normally you have to reply to their first Email as they try and say they can't see anything wrong but they have

escalated it,(some times they do fet it right the first time around).

This was one that I received back in July,(they had all their auctions cancelled and could only list BIN's:

Rest assured, appropriate action have also been taken into this account based on our policy because we definitely would not allow any form of activity that undermine eBay's integrity as a safe market place especially Shill Bidding.

[lambpamel.zxebp]

After my first complaint in November 2016, the seller's activities seemed to be restricted to BIN's for a short time, but after that the shill bidding has continued up until the present time.

[*tippy*toes*]

One that I reported, they were restricted to BIN for 4 weeks. It was blatantly obvious that there was shill bidding and feedback manipulation because the ID's were almost the same. e.g jenny123 and jenny1234 (not real ID's that I know of). Even with the restriction, they were still buying from each other to increase the shilling accounts feedback score. As far as I know, she is still buying paintings from herself and shill bidding. I gave up trying to stop it ages ago. EBay doesn't care.

Interestingly, the shill account was NARU for about 6 weeks, then suddenly was reactivated again, so I'm not sure what she did to get it reinstated given it was obvious to anyone froot loop what was going on.

[go-tazz]

eBay simply don't want to stop shill bidding as it brings in extra money for them,(along with other illegal activities

that they know about but refuse to stop).

The last account that I reported had 3 shill accounts that "won" on a regular basis and are still doing it now,

Reporting sellers is now a waste of time as they may have to "sit out" for a month but then go straight back to

shill biding/scamming.

As long as it's bringing in $$$ then they don't care what/how a seller lists and acts,(they will claim that they

can't be held criminally responsible because they'll claim that they are only a venue and if reports aren't acted

upon then they'll claim that they see/saw nothing wrong).

[springyzone]

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@lambpamel.zxebp wrote:

Sorry, but Ebay has confirmed that a...r is a shill bidder on all their replies to me.  How come this shill bidder often wins the items and NEVER leaves feedback and the item always goes back up for sale.  Also their bids are 100% with that seller.

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To me that has to be shill bidding. Not so much because the bidder never leaves feedback but because the item always goes back on sale.

If a seller had someone who spent a lot of time bidding on their items (and winning) but NEVER followed through and paid for them, they would have blocked them long since.

As others have said, maybe they aren't very good at it as the object is not to win  but obviously they have miscalculated a few times. Who knows, maybe they then put in an unpaid item dispute or whatever & get fees back. Let's face it, why would they care if the dummy bidder eventually gets blocked out of other accounts for too many strikes because they'll never get blocked from the seller account.

Sounds like ebay doesn't really care too much, as long as they get their fees & all the better if the items sell at higher prices.

Your only option is not to bid with this person at all or else to put in a bid but if you are outbid by the shiller, never up the ante. Oh and watch it. If you see the dummy come in and start nibbling away, retracting a bid the second it comes in over yours, cancel your bid too. I would never bid early with this seller either.