Rampant Shilling That eBay Ignores

[warehouseclearers]

Does eBay ignore traders who shill ?

It took me 10 MINUTES with ZERO system access to identify a trader who (I suspect) has placed 170 shill bids in the last 30 days all for items worth a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars. ... yet eBay doesn't look or turns a blind eye or doesn't want to know. After all ... it makes eBay more money ... why would they want to stop it ???

In fact ... it is NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE to report it, when you try.

Does anyone care at eBay ... do buyers care they are being ripped off by a licensed dealer ???

[padi*0409]

How do you suspect that they are shill-bidding ?

Yes, it does happen but I suspect it's not as prevalent as some people think.

[sandypebbles]

Have you made contact with a supervisor with proof of shill bidding?

You have said eBay don't look, but then say (in capital letters) it is nearly impossible to report it

(eBay don't just check listings, and there is a report button on every listing)

As for buyers caring if they are being ripped off, maybe as much as you cared when you bought from two different dodgy as sellers in Hong Kong who you've negged

That is just a big part of the issue, many buyers simply don't care who they buy from and most don't even bother to look at feedback

I doubt very much eBay care, you would need to ask them

[warehouseclearers]

I can not find a link that leads me to a human being to report it. I do get (repeatedly) directed to FAQ style information that provides no solution.

Thanks for pointing out the "Report this item" link ... I think I am about to use it profusely. This British trader does $1million - $2 milllion per year in AUD ebay "auctions" and shills on a significant amount of those auctions. As a licensed precious metal dealer in his country, his practices are most likely illegal, not just a TOS breach.

Indicators of a shill account :

1. Shill account has placed 170 bids on 170 items in the last 30 days

2. 100% bid activity with the same eBayer

3. All bids placed 1 - 2 hours before auction ends, but ONLY on items from the same seller that are not performing well and only places one bid per item, though bids can cover a range of bids.

4. Old feedback shows seller tends not post items sold too cheaply. However, shilling works to avoid this. Seller trades in Sterling Silver items ranging from GBP50 -GPB15,000. It makes business sense not to supply at a loss, despite auction outcome. It also is highly rewarding to boost values as the account sells >GPB500,000 per year. This is a MAJOR trading account. We are not talking nickels and dimes.

Of course, with user level access, proving anything in this regard is not possible.

Any day of the week eBay could run a system report to identify all accounts that have stats that may involve shilling over a certain number of items wiht the same seller ... say, 100% acivity on more than 100 bids per month ... then dig deeper.

How fraud on this scale "gets through" eBay security is beyond me if they are serious.

[warehouseclearers]

Further on REPORT THIS ITEM link ....

The link disappears when the item ends, making it impossible to report an item after that time.

As the suspected shill seller places bids 1 - 2 hours before auction ends ... this is the "window of opportunity" to alert eBay to any possible shill bid activity. 

Seller ends bids (in listing sequence) at same time each day. Unfortunately for me, that is 3am - 4am my time. But I will jump through all the hoops eBay makes me jump through to bring this to their attention.

TIPS FOR SIMILARLY AGRIEVED EBAY USERS :

The location of the Report This Item link is to the right of the About This Item and Postage, Paymens and Returns tabs on the auction listing page.

Click on Repot This Item Link and you wil be taken to the File A Report page of preset drop-down respones -

On Report Category select Listing Practices

On Reason For Report select Fraudulent Listing Activities

On Detailed Reason select Seller Is Using Other Accounts To Inflate Item Price

I hope this helps others with similar concerns.

[warehouseclearers]

Please read my 3 posts on this thread and you may learn more about shill bidding and how to (possibly) identify it and report it.

[imastawka]

Report shill bidding

We thoroughly investigate every report we receive. Sometimes, though, what appears to be shill bidding may actually be a legitimate transaction. If there's evidence of shill bidding, we take action, ranging from listing cancellation to referral to law enforcement. Our User Privacy Notice prevents us from disclosing the details of our investigation to other members, including the person who reported the issue.

Investigating shill bidding

Our policy against shill bidding applies to all eBay members, regardless of their membership status, and we base our actions on the severity of the violation. To protect the marketplace, we can't talk about how we detect shill bidding or our investigative methods. We also can't disclose certain kinds of evidence if we think that doing so would give someone ideas on how to circumvent the rules.

Suspending sellers

We understand that some members may not know that shill bidding is wrong. So we're open to giving them a second chance, and to ensure they fully understand the seriousness of the violation, we may issue a temporary account suspension or any other action that's necessary. Keep in mind, though, that sellers may be suspended from using eBay permanently, even if it's the first time they violate our shill bidding policy.

Shill bidding policy | eBay

Report an issue with a seller | eBay

[repentatleisure1952]

Hi... can you provide just one item #.

Btw if I place 170 bids on 170 different items with the same seller in 30 days I too would have 100% activity with that seller ,,, does not mean that I am shill bidding.

I abhor shill bidding. However it only succeeds when others bid in response to the shill bid.

Which is why I place my one & only bid 2 seconds from the end  of an auction.

[gutterpunkz05]

Well for someone who supposedly is able to identify shill bidding, one would expect them to be able to figure out how to contact a real live person at ebay.

In addition, you state you suspect shill bidding.  guess what  ebay will not act on your mere suspicion, so you had better be 100% damn sure of your accusations before contacting ebay.

As for  there being no evidence after the sale is complete, what a load of rubbish,  any mere mug can still access the sale and all bidding records.

[farnarkles]

I suggest you read this whole  thread for better context.

And how often have you legitimately bid on more than 100 items with the one seller ?

Please enlighten us all.