Nibble bidding.. this look a tad Fishy?

[many*splendid*things]

Hi, I've been pulling out my hair this week dealing with a new seller (zero feedback, registered last year).

I was the winning bidder in their auction (last second snipe). Afterwards I took a look at the bid history and suspected the underbidder (newbie zero bidder, 100% activity with the seller) may have been up to a little nibble bidding on the sly (had been upping their bid numerous times by small increments while already the high bidder). Does the bidding pattern (below) look a bit fishy to anyone else?

Anyway, as the end price was below the buy it now price, I thought I'd let any report of shill bidding slide on this occasion just so the transaction would go ahead (I've no idea what happens in circumstances where ebay identify shill bidding- whether they remove the listing entirely or if just the offending bidder/bids are removed).

Now the seller has finally contacted me after I attempted to pay (after previously not responding to an earlier total request or follow up message). And I say 'attempted' to pay because the paypal payment was immediately flagged as pending and 'Unclaimed'.

Surprise, surprise now they don't want to sell for less than the buy it now price which was $60 more than the end price claiming they're new to listing on ebay and indicating they believed the buy it now price was the minimum they'd have to sell for (which just smacks of playing dumb to me).

Anyone know if there's any point reporting suspected shill bidding after a listing has already ended? (ie. do ebay do anything about shill bidding reports 'after' listings have ended?

Also, as I've left things in the seller's court for the moment on the off chance they might decide to come through on their side of the deal, is anyone able to offer advice on how to proceed? My understanding is that I should open a not received through ebay if they eventually don't send which I will do once I'm satisfied of their intention not to send, but can anyone advise what to do about the 'Unclaimed' paypal payment? Do I need the seller to sort out their paypal account in order to refund me, or can I cancel this by going into paypal myself? I should say that having being given the run around by the seller, I'm not too eager to 'agree' to cancel the sale, but I don't know if ebay still require you to tick that box regarding cancellations these days.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I've noticed from a couple of experiences now that it can be hard work at times dealing with new sellers - especially when it comes to receiving simple replies to messages (was a bit like this one was hoping it'd all just go away and I'd forget about paying -which is a bit hard to do when you've got ebay sending payment reminders daily).

BidderBid Amount Bid Time

	f***t( 364)	AU $132.50	20-Mar-17  21:41:43 AEDST
	f***r( 0 )	AU $130.00	20-Mar-17  17:11:11 AEDST
	f***r( 0 )	AU $125.00	20-Mar-17  07:53:39 AEDST
	f***r( 0 )	AU $120.00	20-Mar-17  07:53:23 AEDST
	f***r( 0 )	AU $115.00	20-Mar-17  07:53:13 AEDST
	f***r( 0 )	AU $110.00	19-Mar-17  15:52:07 AEDST
	f***r( 0 )	AU $105.00	18-Mar-17  20:52:09 AEDST
	3***y( 407)	AU $101.00	20-Mar-17  17:58:42 AEDST
	f***r( 0 )	AU $100.00	18-Mar-17  18:43:27 AEDST
	3***y( 407)	AU $95.00	13-Mar-17  16:19:22 AEDST
	Starting Price	AU $95.00	10-Mar-17  21:41:44 AEDST

[lyndal1838]

Ebay is not to way to go for an Item Not Received dispute....way too slow and cumberson and all sorts of rules about how long you have to wait to even open the dispute.   It is only good for Item Not As Described where you have to return the item.

Always use paypal for a Not Received dispute....you can open it at any time once the item is paid for.

[many*splendid*things]

Thanks lyndal, I was under the impression I needed to go through the ebay resolution process when not happy to 'agree' with a sale cancellation.

Last time I had an 'Item not received' issue I went through ebay and it gave me the choice of "I want the item" or "I want a refund" - does paypal ask for the same?

Also I looked in my paypal account but couldn't see any obvious 'cancel this payment' button (not that I'm wanting to at this stage, but just couldn't see where that option was relating to the specific transaction). If a paypal dispute is the only option here I will take your advice, I just thought I'd be able to go through the ebay resolution process where they ask for both parties to respond / negotiate before escalating to ebay to decide the outcome.

[lyndal1838]

With a paypal dispute you still communicate with the seller to try for a resolution.  If there is no success then you ask paypal for a refund.

In an ebay dispute when you ask ebay to step in the result is usually in the buyer's favour and you get a refund....it is just a quicker process through paypal.

[phorum_junkie*]

If it is still showing as unclaimed then you should be able to cancel the payment. If that is what is showing and you cannot find the link give Paypal a call and ask them to cancel it. There is no way you can force the seller to claim your payment so just get your money back and find another seller.

You can leave neg feedback if you want.

[lyndal1838]

PJ, the OP wants the item.  The hope was that the seller would decide to honour the sale if a dispute was opened....which is th reason I suggested not to cancel the payment.  It may not work but the OP will still get their refund either way.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

PJ, the OP wants the item.  The hope was that the seller would decide to honour the sale if a dispute was opened....which is th reason I suggested not to cancel the payment.  It may not work but the OP will still get their refund either way.

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the OP found another of these items and bid and won, then had trouble with the seller adding a $10 charge to the invoice.

Unless they want two of these, they will need to have one cancelled/refunded.

Spoiler

Note to OP: be careful if you ever have one of these items in your luggage when you fly.  You would need to pack it into checked luggage as I doubt they would appreciate you having it in carry-on 

[*tippy*toes*]

Interesting item! Never seen one like that before.  I'd imagine with something like that it would only be worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Maybe if the seller had more than 1 word in the title they may have had more interest.

[collect247]

If a payment is showing as unclaimed then the buyer can not cancel it.

The payment process needs to run its coarse and if it's not claimed within 30 days then it is returned to the buyer on the 31st day.

[lyndal1838]

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@k1ooo-slr-sales wrote:

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

PJ, the OP wants the item.  The hope was that the seller would decide to honour the sale if a dispute was opened....which is th reason I suggested not to cancel the payment.  It may not work but the OP will still get their refund either way.

---

the OP found another of these items and bid and won, then had trouble with the seller adding a $10 charge to the invoice.

Unless they want two of these, they will need to have one cancelled/refunded.

Spoiler

Note to OP: be careful if you ever have one of these items in your luggage when you fly.  You would need to pack it into checked luggage as I doubt they would appreciate you having it in carry-on 

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I give up......are we supposed to check if the OP has bought another item before giving any advice now?

The whole transaction is in danger of going pearshaped now.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

@lyndal

I only realised that the OP had won two of these when he posted about the $10 extra charge.  I had looked at the item in this thread when it was first posted, and the second one when the item number was posted.  Pretty distinctive item, and not one immediately forgotten about.

@tippy

Being a bit of photography kit, I have one of these sniper camera mounts.  Handy piece of kit as a shutter cable connects the sniper trigger to the camera shutter button.  Good for shooting birds (so to speak).