For the love of Shill!

[tazzieterror]

My opinion was sought on the authenticity of bids for the following listing, and in turn I thought I might share it here for the purposes of entertainment, and to illustrate how eBay still allows this sort of thing to go seemingly unchecked.

Take a look at the bidding history for item #202884569822 ( Nikon D D5100 16.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with ADDITIONAL LENS  ) - at the time of me posting this, the winning bidder has a  next to their censored name, indicating theirs is a new account.

The item in question (a Nikon digital camera kit bundled with an additional lens) ended 29 Jan '20 and positive feedback was left by the seller for the buyer soon after, then reciprocal feedback left for the seller a few days later again. 

Interestingly, despite both the seller and buyer being happy with the transaction as detailed in their respective positive feedback comments, the seller decided to relist the camera again earlier this month (item #202901135414 - Nikon D5100 Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm lens and THREE batteries ), although that listing was ended by the seller on the 15th.

Similarly, the "ADDITIONAL LENS" from the first listing sold to your new "buyer" ended up with its own listing under item #202901133332 ( NEW IN BOX Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF D Lens ) which also ended up being cancelled by the seller on the 15th, but is now resurrected again under item #202906875681 ( NEW IN BOX Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF D Lens  ).

Also of note, the original "buyer" of the camera package seems to have struck gold with this seller, taking a keen interest and placing bids on a range of electronic, clothing, and nutritional items that seller was offering. Item numbers 202900388715, 202884560424, 202884553102, 202880935029, and 202880931829 all had bids placed on them by that same "buyer". A pity the buyer wasn't a little more aggressive in their bidding, as they've missed out on all five auctions and their activity has only served to cause the eventual top bidder to pay more than they might have otherwise.

Rest assured though, eBay has systems and prcesses in place to prevent shill bidding, so this must all be coincidence!

[brerrabbit585]

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@jasammalidabar wrote:
For a long time I had a feeling and I'm pretty sure I'm right that even ebay has staff/system that fake bidding as it's in eBay's interest also for the item to sell as high as possible. As eBay knows to tell you for what price approx the item you're selling is selling, like that they also know how much to play with the bidding to pump up the price

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Ebay might think they know what price our items usually sell for but in my experience they're way out.  In the past (haven't seen it for a while, but perhaps just haven't taken any notice) they've told me my item usually sells for around $10 when I've seen the same thing sell for $30, and they're usually way out.

I don't believe ebay would put in shill bids.  Apart from the fact that most of their staff wouldn't have the brains to do it, if they know the item will usually sell for a certain price, why would they waste time pushing the price up to that level if it's likely to get there by itself?  Ebay just wouldn't waste money paying staff to shill bid for the sake of a few cents extra in fees, especially if half the time the auction would result in a non-sale and therefore no fees at all.

[tazzieterror]

I'm 50:50 on this one: item #184170850971 - top bidder (new account with FB score of 1) is either very inexperienced, or the seller trying to push the price as high as they can - I'm leaning towards the latter.

If that's the case, unfortunately for the seller their competing bidder (FB score of 9) probably won't be going any higher as the day after bidding $345 on this item, they won item #193341377884 and probably aren't interested in this one now.

Only about 80 mins to go as I post this, so...we'll see.  The proof will be in the re-list...

[tazzieterror]

Item #202903533388 - Canon EOS M50 4K Vídeo 24.1 MP Digital Mirrorless Camera + Lens + Bag + Light 

Auction finished 19 Feb 2020 at 17:38:52 AEDST, with the winning bidder using a new, zero-feedback account, bidding on 4 different auctions all from the same seller.

Not even two minutes later, at 17:40:38 AEDST, the item was relisted - #202909193571 - Canon EOS M50 4K Vídeo 24.1 MP Digital Mirrorless Camera + Lens + Bag + Light 

And wouldn't you know it, the same winning bidder from the first auction is back there, biidding again and pushing the price up...

[*tippy*toes*]

They're not doing a good job then if the shill account keeps winning!

[tazzieterror]

Doing a good job of self-incrimination.

[tazzieterror]

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@tazzieterror wrote:

Item #202903533388 - Canon EOS M50 4K Vídeo 24.1 MP Digital Mirrorless Camera + Lens + Bag + Light 

Auction finished 19 Feb 2020 at 17:38:52 AEDST, with the winning bidder using a new, zero-feedback account, bidding on 4 different auctions all from the same seller.

Not even two minutes later, at 17:40:38 AEDST, the item was relisted - #202909193571 - Canon EOS M50 4K Vídeo 24.1 MP Digital Mirrorless Camera + Lens + Bag + Light 

And wouldn't you know it, the same winning bidder from the first auction is back there, biidding again and pushing the price up...

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Further to the above...silly sauasge seller won his own item again (#202909193571)!