Obvious Shill bidder

[mj657657]

my brother inlaw bid on a iPhone 5 and won it, after he realised the lady sold the exact same phone not long before. She sold it for $300 and it had the same description and everything, she managed to get good feedback from this unknown person then she re-listed the same phone ??? It sold for $200, she obviously gathered she'll take whatever she could this time around. Anyhow after my brother inlaw realised whats been going on he decided not to pay for it, she's done a dispute against him. I'm just wondering what do I do next as my brother inlaw does not trust this seller. Thanks in advanced and I hope it all makes sense. Please use the item ID to check if I've lost my mind. see both exact same items . 1st sold 271316065737
Sold to my brother inlaw 271316050654

[digital*ghost]

I'm sorry but if your brother in law doesn't pay, they will have to cop the non-payment strike.

There is no shill bidding - there can't be when there aren't multiple bid(ders).

The buyer's feedback for the seller mentions nothing about the phone itself, just compliments the seller, so how do you know they paid for / received / kept the phone?

There was around 2 weeks between the purchase and the feedback, what if the original buyer returned it for a refund in that time?

In my personal opinion, there is no evidence to suggest the seller has done (or is doing) anything wrong, but not paying after buying is generally considered the wrong thing to do.

If your BIL had questions for the seller, about anything, they really shoud have asked before making the committment to buy.

[*sparklz*]

If he was happy to bid to the winning amount than he should just pay for it.

[lyndal1838 · Accepted solution]

I think you have a seller who has no idea what they are doing.  It is absolutely not shill bidding as it was a Buy It Now listing, but if you look at the seller's completed listings the same phone sold 7 times on the 8th November between 16.28 and 18.47 and at 2 different prices...$200 and $300.

Something is very screwy and I think you would have no trouble getting a strike overturned if you point this out to ebay.

[tstore]

It is a BIN item there can't be any shill bidding. In addition, $200 or $300 is cheap for an iPhone 5

[nicole-n-daz]

non payers annoy me.

[mj657657]

Thanks I'm sure Blind Freddie could of told me it was cheap. I don't think you're quite getting it. This seller is obviously Shifty, selling the same phone on more than one occasion? Looks like he'll just have to cop a unpaid strike.

[davewil1964]

Please explain how a seller can get an unpaid item strike.

[mj657657]

It's not the seller, it's the buyer who gets the unpaid strike against their name.

[davewil1964]

I'm fully aware of that, but you said the seller was going to get one.

I was just wondering how.